If God Is Spirit, What Is the Holy Spirit? Discussions for Curious Christians: Conversations for Curious Christians

By John Zehring

Jesus revealed to the Samaritan woman at the well that "God is spirit."  Even though we may project onto God human-like characteristics, of course God is spirit.  As curious Christians who incline to believe in the Holy Trinity, how do we understand the difference between God is Spirit and the Holy Spirit?  If God is spirit, what is the need for another kind of Spirit?  What does the Holy Spirit do?  How does the Holy Spirit act in our lives?  This book is designed as an eight-week adult study group to stimulate engaging conversations in understanding the Holy Spirit.  Each chapter begins with discussion starters to kindle the conversation.  Then, reflections are provided as background information.  A helpful Appendix offers resources for basic questions to consider in bible study and a fast facts chart to understand the Authors of the Gospels and how they differ from one another.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Zehring
• Release date: Feb 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215489048

John Zehring

John Zehring served United Church of Christ congregations as Senior Pastor in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine.  Prior to parish ministry, he served as a vice president and teacher at colleges, universities, and a theological seminary.  He is the author of more than fifty books and is author of recent Judson Press books on church growth and on stewardship.  He graduated from Eastern University and holds graduate degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, Rider University, and the Earlham School of Religion.

Book preview

Contents

Introduction

ONE:  The Trinity

TWO:  Should we even be talking about this?

THREE:  The Paraclete Passages, part one

FOUR:  The Paraclete Passages, part two

FIVE:  The Paraclete Passages, part three

SIX:  The Paraclete Passages, part four

SEVEN:  Hymns of the Spirit

Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart

Holy, Holy, Holy

Come, Thou Almighty King

Spirit Divine, Attend Our Prayers

EIGHT:  Write your own credo

Appendix

The teaching methods of Jesus

Basic questions to consider in bible study

FAST FACTS:  Authors of the Gospels

About the Author

John Zehring’s Series for Curious Christians

Books by John Zehring

Introduction

"God is spirit,

and those who worship him

must worship in spirit and truth."

John 4:24

––––––––

In one of the most intimate conversations between Jesus and anyone, he was at the well with a nameless Samaritan woman.  It was one of his most profound theological discussions with any other person.  The disciples had gone into the town, about two miles away.  Jesus and the woman were at a historical site – Jacob’s well.  He asked her for a drink.  She remarked that Jews and Samaritans did not usually converse.  She didn’t have to note that it was highly unusual for a Jewish man to initiate a conversation with an unknown woman.  He told her that he was the living water.  They spoke further.  She said that she knew the Messiah would be coming.  He, in a whisper, acknowledged for the first time ever, ever so simply, I am he. (John 4:26).  You might think that Jesus’ first announcement about being the Messiah would have been shouted from the rooftops accompanied by cymbal crashes and tympani rolls, but it was spoken alone to a woman out in the middle of nowhere.  Then, Jesus, the Son of God, the self-proclaimed Messiah, revealed something very important about God.  Perhaps it should come as no surprise, but a million things could be written about his answer.  Jesus revealed to the woman God is spirit.

Now, of course that makes sense.  God is not a human being.  As spirit, God does not have a gender, although so much of the patriarchal history of Israel portrays this spirit as a male.  And yet, God has no more gender than a ship, a car, or a rest room.  That being the case, we are well-served to favor inclusive language which does not portray the Divine as one gender or another.  We anthropomorphize, which means, we give God human-like characteristics – sort of like Walt Disney gave human characteristics to animals, trees, rocks, and fish.  We limit God’s knowledge to the same way that we as humans know things.  We limit the Eternal to sensing reality by the same five senses as we sense our universe.  We limit the Creator to the three dimensions of height, width, and length that we can perceive.  We limit God to time, space, and reality as we know it.  But God is spirit.  There is a spiritual dimension which transcends human understanding and knowledge.  I once asked a Ph.D. physicist if he thought there were only three dimensions.  He answered There could be eleven dimensions... or a hundred... or a thousand... in the spiritual realm. 

From the lips of Jesus, we learn that God is Spirit.  The bible speaks about the spirit of the Divine.  Centuries before Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, the Bible spoke of the Holy Spirit:  Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.  (Psalm 51:11).  Hold the phone!  How can the Holy Spirit arrive (for the first time?) fifty days after Jesus’ ascension, at Pentecost, if the Holy Spirit was recognized hundreds of years prior? 

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.  (Acts 2:1-4)

Pentecost is acknowledged as the coming of the Holy Spirit.  In a very real sense, Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit – becomes the presence of the absent Jesus.  While Jesus was present, the Spirit was not needed.  But when Jesus has gone, what comes next?  The Holy Spirit.

Except... wasn’t the Holy Spirit already at work in the lives of women and men?  Did not the Hebrew Scriptures speak of the Holy Spirit centuries before Jesus’ ascension?  And the biggest question:  If God is spirit, as Jesus so brilliantly explained to the Samaritan woman at the well, then what is the Holy Spirit? 

Are there two different kinds of spirits, God as spirit and the Holy Spirit?  In the doctrine of historic Trinitarian creeds, there is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Or, to use the language of Thomas Ken in 1674, there is the Creator, the Christ, and the Spirit, One. 

And so, as curious Christians who incline to believe in the Holy Trinity, how do we understand the difference between God is Spirit and the Holy Spirit?  If God is spirit, what is the need for another kind of Spirit?

Not only that, do we have some sort of cautious hesitation to even raise this question?  Why?  Because of Jesus taught about the unforgiveable sin:  And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.  (Luke 12:10).  If we raise curious questions about the Holy Spirit, might we be in eternal danger of committing a sin which God will not forgive?  Might our questions trigger some kind of potential doom?  It is of life-or-death consequence that we deal with this issue before we can dig too deeply into allowing our curiosity about God’s spirit to proceed.   

Adding to our interesting study of God’s spirit are two key biblical Greek words that talk about the spirit.  There is the word pneuma, which describes God’s nature.  This is the word which Jesus used when holding his late-night intimate conversation with Nicodemus:  Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.  (John 3:5-8).  The word which Jesus used here, pneuma, is translated as wind.

And then there is a second important word Jesus used for Spirit, which he used four times in the Gospel of John:  Paraclete.  This is something new.  It is translated as counselor, advocate, comforter, or helper:  "I have said these things to you while I am still with you.  But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you."  (John 14:25, 26).  This is one of the most important commas in the bible.  The Advocate, COMMA, the Holy Spirit, COMMA.  Those commas could be an equal sign.  They are both the same thing.  The paraclete is the Holy Spirit.

And so, curious Christians are left with the question... If God Is Spirit, What Is the Holy Spirit?  Are there three characteristics, personalities, or qualities to the nature of the Divinity?  Or, what?  What indeed is the Holy Spirit?

This book is designed to stimulate engaging conversations for adult study groups as you consider the Spirit.  Each chapter begins with discussion starters to kindle the conversation.  Then, reflections and background information are provided.  Please feel welcome to venture off the main path to explore new territory as the conversation leads.  This study format recognizes that learning by discovery is the most powerful form of learning.  Rather than a lecture, sermon, or having a teacher, it is preferred for the group to lead itself by considering provoking questions and conversation.  A convenor might be appointed to help coordinate the