The Holy Spirit–Third Person of the Trinity

The truth of the Spirit transcends, but does not contradict reason. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one and only one God.” – Herbert Lockyer

My finite mind certainly can’t grasp everything about the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—three distinct Persons, yet one in essence. But the following analogy helps me better understand the Godhead relationship.

WATER

Water (H2O) is a compound composed of three common states: solid, liquid, and gas. According to Wikipedia, water may take many different forms on Earth: water vapor and clouds in the sky, seawater in the oceans, icebergs in the polar oceans, glaciers and rivers in the mountains, and liquid in aquifers in the ground.

Each property of water plays a unique and vital role not only in our lives, but also in our ecosystem. Without water, life would cease to exist.

THE TRINITY

The Bible clearly states there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). The term Trinity signifies the “threefoldness” of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Spirit (Genesis 1:26; 11:7; Matthew 28:19). In reference to these three members, the Greek term homoousious means: “of the same essence or substance [God].” All three are coequal and coeternal.

Of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Lockyer writes, “Each has some characteristics which the other does not. Neither is God without the others, and each with the others is God . . . . The Father loves the Son—the Son honors the Father—the Spirit testifies of the Son.”

God the Father is the original Source of everything (Genesis 1:1).
God the Son follows in the order of revelation (John 5:24-27).
God the Spirit is the Channel through which the blessings of heaven reach us (Ephesians 2:18). (Source: All the Doctrines of the Bible)

How important is the Holy Spirit’s Work?

I like what Tony Evans says about the centrality of the Holy Spirit:

Without the Holy Spirit, humankind wouldn’t be here. There would be no creation or principle of life. There would be no Virgin birth, or victory over Satan in the wilderness (since the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted). There would be no Bible, no Christians, no one to restrain sin in our world, and no hope of Christ returning.”

Without the Holy Spirit, there would be nothing.

The following music video features the song “How Great Thou Art” sung by nine year-old Rhema Marvanne. Enjoy!