The Spirit of God

The Bible teaches that God's spirit is His power which He used to create life (Psalm 104:30; Genesis 1:1 cp Jeremiah 10:12; 51:15), and it is His spirit that maintains life (Job 34:14-15) and it is how God is everywhere present (Psalm 51:11; 139:7). The Holy Spirit is a portion of God's power that is set apart (the meaning of "holy") and has been granted to certain people at certain times for specific purposes (2 Peter 2:21; Exodus 35:30-31; Numbers 11; Deuteronomy 34:9). Jesus was given this power without measure (John 3:34) to display he was from God and to enable him to proclaim the kingdom of God. This is the same reason the disciples were given the Holy Spirit (to a limited extent 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14) during Jesus' ministry (Luke 9:1-2) and also afterwards (Acts 5:14-16). The gifts of the Holy Spirit had a limited range (Acts 2:39) and a limited life time (1 Corinthians 13:8-10). The Holy Spirit was given to believers by one method only (with one notable exception) and that was by the laying on of hands of the apostles (Acts 8:12-19; Acts 19:6). The gifts will be poured out once again at Jesus' return upon the remnant of the Jewish people (Hebrews 6:4-5; Joel 2:15-32).

Written by Matthew Smith