The Holy Spirit

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Nicene Creed confesses the Holy Spirit as “the Lord, the giver of life,” who “with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.” Scripture shows the Spirit at work from the first verses of Genesis — “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2) — to the last invitation of Revelation: “the Spirit and the bride say, Come” (Revelation 22:17).

Yet the Spirit remains the most mysterious Person of the Trinity. Much of what Scripture reveals about the Spirit comes through symbol and allegory — a dove, a wind, fire, water, a lampstand, a tree. Seven Lamps Before the Throne was written to gather those images and ask what they reveal together.

What Scripture says the Spirit does

The Spirit who gives birth

The heart of Yona Tree’s study is the Spirit’s work in birth. Jesus told Nicodemus that a man must be “born of water and of the Spirit,” and Nicodemus immediately thought of “his mother’s womb” (John 3:4–5). The Father begets; the Spirit gives birth; the Son is the only begotten. Walk through the eleven questions.

The Spirit in symbol

The dove at the baptism of Jesus, the hen gathering her brood, the eagle over her nest, the comforting mother of Isaiah 66:13, the wind that blows where it wills, the whirlwind of Ezekiel’s vision, the seven lamps before the throne, and the Tree of Life — Yona Tree reads all of these as portraits of one Person. Explore the dove, the hen and the eagle.

Grammar and identity

English Bibles call the Spirit “He.” Greek uses a neuter word for spirit and a masculine word for Comforter; Hebrew and Aramaic use feminine words. Yona Tree’s position is that grammar alone does not settle the question either way. Read The Pronoun Problem.

Search the Scriptures

Whatever you conclude, the Spirit’s invitation is the same: to be born again, filled, comforted and led into the truth. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13).