The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit: Introduction

Holy Spirit, Sunday School Lessons, Theology 8 Minutes

Blogger’s Note: This post is a manuscript of a Sunday School lesson taught at First Baptist Church of Ticonderoga, NY, on July 20, 2025. You can find an audio recording of this lesson here.

Please join me in John 14:16-18.

As you turn there, I want to give you idea of our purpose today. We are simply introducing the study on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. Do not allow the amount of information overwhelm you and do not think every class with be quite this loaded. Each class will be mind blowing, since we are looking at who God is, and God is mind blowing. This will likely feel like drinking from a water hose, but that is not my intention at all. I want you to see the view from 30,000 feet then in the weeks ahead we will come down and look at the forest then at some of the individual trees in the forest. 

John 14:16-18, I am reading from the English Standard Version…

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 

The Helper who is given to Christ’s people is God, the Holy Spirit. He has been given to all who trust in Christ alone as their Lord and Savior. He comes along side of believers and helps us. This Helper is not only with us, but he is IN us. Christ said this to his apostles right before the cross, resurrection, and ascension. It was before Pentecost in Acts 2. In Acts 2, the Lord Jesus Christ poured the Holy Spirit out on his people, and it was the start of the New Testament Church. It was the start of the Church as the body of Christ. It was the birth of the Church. So, although Christ is saying this would be future to the apostles, it is our current reality as believers in Christ. 

He is not only with us, but he is in us. He is not just any helper, but he is another Helper. According to the MacArthur Study Bible, the word for “another” is the Greek word for “another of the same kind.” The Helper is God, the Spirit, just as the Lord Jesus is God, the Son. 

We have not been left alone as orphans; we have been given the gift of God himself to be in us and with us. He is helping us.

And he is going to be the subject and theme of this Sunday School class. 

We will be studying…

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit Who is the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit do?

WHO? WHAT? These are our main questions as we study the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. Who is he? What does he do? 

To answer these questions, we will need to study the Bible’s teaching on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Let me open this up to you all for a bit. How does the Bible answer this question? Are there any answers that you already know? And please keep it to just one answer per person. Since we want the Bible as our authority, try to give me a place in the Bible that teaches the answer you give.

He is a Person

Now, this is incredibly important. Cults, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that the Holy Spirit is not a person but an impersonal force or power. Sadly, there are many people who claim to be Bible-believing who would say on paper that they believe the Holy Spirit is a person, but in practice and day-to-day life treat him as though he is impersonal and even refer to him as “it” or as God’s power. But the Bible is clear that the Holy Spirit is a Person. 

In John 14:16-18, the Lord Jesus refers to the Spirit in masculine pronouns (he, him). In Ephesians 4:30 we are told that the Holy Spirit can be grieved; you can’t grieve an impersonal power. According to 2 Corinthians 13:14, he can be communed with, which means we can live in relationship with him, and you can only do that with a person. He can be lied to, which was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:3-4. We will look at this in further detail later.

He is a Divine Person – He is God

It is not far enough to say that the Holy Spirit is a person. That is true, but it does not go as far as the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is God. In John 14:16-18 – Jesus said the Father would send another Helper (again, “another” is the Greek word for another of the same kind. The Holy Spirit is the same kind as God, the Son, which means he is also God. The Baptismal formula in Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” places him alongside the Father and Son. And in that formula, he shares one name with the Father and Son. He is God. The Apostolic Blessing of 2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” He is named alongside the Father and Son. He is also God. He is a Divine Person. 

He is the Third Person in the Trinity

He is the third person in the Godhead. What does this mean? It is not enough to say that he is a Person. It is also not enough to say that he is God. Mormons teach that the Holy Spirit is a god. But we do not believe in three gods. We believe in one God. The Bible teaches that there is one living and true God who eternally exists in three Persons. One God. Three Persons. One God. One Divine Nature. Three Persons. All 100% God. Each one distinct, yet one. It blows the mind. It is beyond our ability to comprehend. But it is true. And when the Bible teaches something, we must by faith accept it and embrace it, and trust that God knows all the answers even when we don’t. The Trinity cannot be understood. It is not a doctrine to be understood. It is a doctrine to be embraced and believed. I once heard a lesson by Warren Wiersbe, and in it he something like, “When I don’t understand, I worship.” That is wise council. That is the goal of this study. Biblical evidence of this is in Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14.

We will also take time to look at titles for the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures – He is the HELPER, the PROMISE OF THE FATHER, the SPIRIT OF TRUTH.

We will ask “Who is the Holy Spirit? But we will also ask, what does the Holy Spirit do? Now, we cannot separate these perfectly, so there will be some crossover.

What does the Holy Spirit Do?

How does the Bible answer this question? Again, each person who chooses to answer, limit to one answer, and point us to the Bible for your answer. 

Here is a brief list of things the Holy Spirit does, or we could say, the ministries of the Holy Spirit:

Again, this is just a short list of things that the Holy Spirit does. We will look at these and more as we go along. 

Now, let me ask, as we prepare to study the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, why is this study important?

Why is the study of the Person and Work of the Spirit important?

Again, only one answer per person who wants to answer. Why is it important to study the Holy Spirit?

  • To develop a right view of God so we can rightly know and worship God.
  • The Spirit has been given to dwell in us and commune with us; we cannot commune with someone we do not know.
  • To grow in our understanding of his work; to better recognize true works of the Spirit and the satanic counterfeits.
  • To clear up confusion and wrong beliefs
  • So, we may better keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25)
  • To better understand the Holy Spirit’s empowerment to witness to Christ in the world and live the Christian life (Acts 1:8; Ephesians 5:18). 
  • To grow in assurance of the security that is ours by the Spirit in Christ (Ephesians 1:12-14; Ephesians 4:30)

As is always the case in Bible study, there are going to be challenges that we face as we study the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. 

What are some challenges we will face as we study the Holy Spirit?

  • We have an Enemy who loves to use ignorance and confusion (1 Peter 5:8; John 8:44)
  • There is great confusion, misconceptions, and false teaching in the Universal Church (and false church) regarding the Holy Spirit.
  • There is a tendency in Bible-believing churches to overcompensate for wrong teaching. We often allow wrong teaching (and a desire to avoid wrong teaching) to govern our own beliefs rather than the Bible’s teaching.
  • We are studying an infinite Person, which means we are limited in our ability to understand. Thankfully, the One we are studying is our Helper.
  • The Holy Spirit points people to Christ and not himself. 
  • The Bible does not answer all our questions, so we must be content with what we can know and worship.

But the Word of God is bigger and more powerful than any of these obstacles.

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, because Jesus has died, risen, and ascended all who are united to him through faith have the Holy Spirit. Every true believer without exception has the Holy Spirit. He dwells with us and in us. He is the gift of God the Son whom the Son poured out after receiving the promise of the Spirit from the Father (Acts 2:33). He is the promise of the Father to all he calls to himself (Acts 2:39). Believers are baptized by Christ in the Holy Spirit, sealed by the Father with the Holy Spirit, gifted for service by the Holy Spirit, and given the gift of his presence. 

May our hearts be encouraged in this study and may we all be blown away in wonder at the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.  

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