Who is Holy Spirit for paper
Jesus said to his disciples “ All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you”. John 14: 25, 26
Most Christians would agree with the following statement about the Holy Spirit: “God the Father makes perfectly good sense to me, and God the Son I can quite understand; but the Holy Spirit is a not so easy to visualize or comprehend.” There are so many different and contrasting pictures of the Spirit in the Scriptures. The Spirit appears as a dove; then as tongues of fire; then again, as a loud, rushing wind; in other places as a quiet whisper. It’s enough to make you say: Will the real Holy Spirit please stand up?
Jesus uses a very unique word to describe the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word is “parakeets”, which literally means “one who is called to and stands by one’s side.” This word is translated in a number of different ways in various versions of the Bible: “Helper,” “Advocate,” “Comforter,” and “Counselor.” Jesus lets his disciples know he is going away, but says “don’t worry, don’t be afraid; let not your hearts be troubled. I am leaving behind for you and for Christians of all times and in all places a Helper, a Comforter, a full-time, free-of-charge Counselor, the Holy Spirit”, and the Holy Spirit is “The World’s Best Counselor.”
According to Jesus in John 16, one of the most important things the Holy Spirit does as our Counselor is a rather unpleasant thing. He counsels us by convicting us of our sin. “When he (HS) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment”. John 16: 8
He uses God’s Word to confront us with those secret or not-so-secret areas of our lives that are not pleasing to our heavenly Father. The best counselors in our lives are people who care so much about us that they have dared to speak the truth in love, even when they knew the truth would probably hurt, even when they knew that we might suffer and be hurt as a result of them speaking the truth. That’s the kind of Counselor the Holy Spirit is. Always loving, always compassionate, always looking out for our best interests—but excruciatingly honest, never afraid to tell us the truth, too concerned about our welfare to hide from us the sin that’s harming us.
As I mentioned earlier, some versions of the Bible translate this word “Counselor” as “Comforter.” That’s a good and scripturally meaningful translation as well, because that’s the Holy Spirit’s ultimate mission and goal: to convince us and to keep on reminding us that although we are poor, miserable sinners, God still loves us more than we can possibly imagine and delights to claim us as his dear children in Christ Jesus.
The Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Scriptures and tells us that, because of what Jesus has done for us by dying on the cross, our sins have been removed from us as far as the east is from the west, that though our sins are like scarlet, we have been made as white as snow through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit also speaks through the words of the pastor, who has been called by God to say to those who stand before God with humble and repentant hearts: “I forgive you all your sins,” not by my power, not by my authority, and certainly not by any special holiness in me, but in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ whom I serve on your behalf. The Holy Spirit also comforts us daily as we claim the promises God made to us at our Baptism, and he comforts us by feeding us with the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins. The Spirit also comforts us through one another as we speak to each other the words of forgiveness that Christ has spoken to us and he also works in our lives in many other ways.. But if we ever forget that we are sinners, we might as well forget everything else we’ve learned about God and about the Christian faith.
The Holy Spirit’s job is to make sure, first of all, that we never forget that we are sinners, and secondly, to make sure that we never stop believing that we are God’s precious, holy, forgiven children through the life and death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Everything else that he does for us and in us and through us depends on his work as Convicter and as Comforter. And as he convicts and comforts us day by day, he promises to work powerfully in our lives in many other ways as well, as we allow him to, as we invite him to, as we work with our divine Counselor to be and become the holy people that the Holy Spirit calls and empowers us to be.
Blessings