NAMES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me.
ISAIAH 61:1
The best way to approach the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is to notice the names or the descriptive titles given to this blessed Person. First of all, there are the many names that relate Him to the
Father. Let me enumerate some of them: “the Spirit of God” (Genesis1:2); “the Spirit of the Lord” (Luke 4:18); “the Spirit of our God”
(1 Corinthians 6:11). Another is “the Spirit of the Lord GOD,” which
is in Isaiah 61:1. Our Lord speaks, in Matthew 10:20, of “the Spirit
of your Father,” while Paul refers to “the Spirit of the living God”
(2 Corinthians 3:3). “My Spirit,” says God in Genesis 6:3, and the
psalmist asks, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit?” (Psalm 139:7).
He is referred to as His Spirit—God’s Spirit—in Numbers 11:29; and
Paul, in Romans 8:11, uses the phrase “the Spirit of him [God the
Father] that raised up Jesus from the dead.” All these are descriptive titles referring to the Holy Spirit in terms of His relationship to the Father. In the second group are the titles that relate the Holy Spirit to the Son. First, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
his” (Romans 8:9), which is a most important phrase. The word
“Spirit” here refers to the Holy Spirit. In Philippians 1:19, Paul
speaks about “the Spirit of Jesus Christ,” and in Galatians 4:6 he
says, “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son.” Finally He is
referred to as “the Spirit of the Lord” (Acts 5:9). The third group comprises the direct or personal titles, and first and foremost here, of course, is the name Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. Some people are confused by those two terms, but they mean exactly
the same thing. The English language is a hybrid that has borrowed from other languages, and “Ghost” is an old Anglo-Saxon word, while “Spirit” is derived from the Latin spiritus.
A THOUGHT TO PONDER
Notice the names or the descriptive titles given to the Holy Spirit.