The Holy Spirit is God

Many people question the doctrine of the trinity.  I John 5:7 declares, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”  This is the clearest statement about the trinity in the Bible, stating that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are a single unit, a unity.  It is the same concept he used in Genesis 2:24, when Adam said, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”  Though they are separate individuals, they are physically and emotionally connected and form a single unit. 

Genesis 1:1-2 tells us, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,” making it clear that the Holy Spirit was present at creation.  Speaking of Jesus Christ, John 1:3 tells us, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made,” clearly indicating Jesus is God, and as Colossians 2:9 tells us, “…in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”   Various other references make similar statements. 

Genesis 1:27-27 tells us, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”  Notice that he said, “let us”, indicating there were more than one while stating he created him in his (singular) own image. supporting the statement of I John5:7 that God is a single entity composed of three different beings.

All three members of the trinity were present at the baptism of Jesus.  Luke 3:21-22 tells us, “Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.”

There is no earthly object or concept that fully portrays the trinity although several illustrations such as the egg, which is composed of the shell, the yolk and the white give only a partial understanding of the relationship, and any effort to describe it runs into a similar limitation.  Jesus Christ is the Physical manifestation of God on earth, dealing with the world primarily on a physical level.  The Holy Spirit primarily interacts with the world on a spiritual level, affecting people’s attitudes and mental processes.   The father oversees and directs everything, making the plans and seeing they are implemented, although all three can perform any of the functions  and can exercise all God’s power when needed. 

For the purposes of our study, we need to remember that the Holy Spirit is God, and has been involved with the planning and creation of the world from the very beginning.  While he primarily works in the spiritual realm, he has access to all the power of God.