A____ wrote:
Hello Mike, I pray you and your family are doing well. I have a question about the Spirit that descended like a dove. Is this the “Holy Spirit”?  And is John saying he saw the Spirit? I have been asked this question by someone, and I am not ready with an answer. Can you please help me discern these scriptures? I am hoping to be in Salisbury, Lord willing. I do love the fellowship of the conferences. Our group in Indiana is still getting together every couple of weeks, and we have had several good discussions. I am looking forward to your response. May God bless you and your family.

Mat 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Mat 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Mar 1:10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
Mar 1:11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Luk 3:22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
Joh 1:32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
Joh 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. 

Love in Christ,

A____

Hi A____,
It is good to hear from you. I am glad that you are getting together there in Indiana, and I am really looking forward to seeing you again in Salisbury. Let me take this opportunity to thank you once again for your servant’s attitude you showed in Hamlin. It is such a blessing to actually ‘see’ Christ in a brother.
The answer to your question is, yes, the holy spirit, actually descended in bodily form as a dove and lit on Christ. Every verse you reference makes that very clear.
I am supposing that you are wondering how that is possible if Jesus is the holy spirit. Well, if I am correct in my surmising, the answer to that is that Christ is NOT the holy spirit. The holy spirit is not a person. When the scriptures tell us that Christ was born “of the holy spirit” we are not being told that the holy spirit, a person, had sex with Mary. What we are being told is this:

(Mat 1:20 KJV)  But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

Everything God does is “of the holy spirit.” Hebrews tells us that “the things that are seen are made (not of nothing, but) of things which do not appear:”

(Heb 11:3 KJV)  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

We are not told that God came down as an angel and had sex with Mary. Instead the words are “that which is conceived in her is of the holy ghost [ Greek – spirit]. Mary’s conception of Christ, just “as Isaac” by Sarah, [ Gal. 4:28] was a miracle. It was “by promise” so as to make it very clear that the flesh was not involved in this conception. That is the whole point of telling us:

(Gal 4:28 KJV)  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

Contrary to what our flesh wants us to believe, “heirs according to the promise” has nothing to do with the flesh:

 (Gal 3:29 KJV)  And if ye be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

“The promise” of Isaac’s birth was a miracle which involved the flesh as a type of a miracle involving our hearts and minds. The real promise behind the shadow of Isaac’s supernatural physical  birth to parents who were beyond child bearing age, was the promise of God’s spirit doing in us exactly what it did to the baby in Mary’s womb. Christ was born of the spirit from his mother’s womb, to become the only person ever to be so born:  “that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”
What you and I are given after being crushed and humbled is what Christ was given from His mother’s womb.

(Joh 3:34 KJV)  For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

And yet Christ still lived in a body of Adamic flesh which came to him via his mother. So it was through her that he was “the seed of the woman” who was “taken out of Adam.” If Christ were not the same flesh as you and me, then He was not really be the “seed of the woman… the mother of all living:”  It was through Mary that Christ, as being in Adam, became sin.

(Gen 3:20 KJV)  And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

So Christ is both “of the holy ghost” and “the seed of the woman.” This is as basic as Christianity gets and we believe this on faith which is given to us just as is this spirit which also “begets us in Christ.” Christ’s physical begettal of the holy ghost is a type and a shadow of our spiritual begettal of the holy ghost.
How then, can Christ be the holy ghost? Again, I repeat, He is not the holy spirit. He Himself answers this question:

(Joh 16:13 KJV)  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
(Joh 16:14 KJV)  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew [ it] unto you.
(Joh 16:15 KJV)  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Just as the Pharaoh gave Joseph all his kingdom to rule, so can Christ say “all things the Father has are mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of mine…” The holy spirit, “the spirit of Truth which is the comforter,” is God’s spirit “of which are all things.” Here are two sections of scripture which make this clear, Roman 11 and 1Co 11:

(Rom 11:36 KJV)  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

(1Co 11:8 KJV)  For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
(1Co 11:12 KJV)  For as the woman [ is] of the man, even so [ is] the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

As we can both attest, being born of the holy spirit does not mean that we do not “learn from the things that we suffer.” 
In summary, Christ was born “of the holy spirit” which “came over Mary” and also “appeared in bodily form as a dove” at Christ’s baptism as a witness to John. Look at the context of that statement by John about God giving His spirit without measure to Christ:

(Joh 3:28 KJV)  Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
(Joh 3:29 KJV)  He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
(Joh 3:30 KJV)  He must increase, but I [ must] decrease.
(Joh 3:31 KJV)  He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
(Joh 3:32 KJV)  And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
(Joh 3:33 KJV)  He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
(Joh 3:34 KJV)  For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure [ unto him].
(Joh 3:35 KJV)  The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

“The Father loves the Son, and has given all things (including the holy spirit) into His hands.” Now Christ can truly say that the holy spirit, the advocate, the spirit of Truth which is the comforter, “is mine.”  “Therefore I said, He shall take of mine and show it to you.”
Christ can now give the holy spirit to whom He will, simply because he wills to give it only to those to whom His Father wills:

(Luk 10:22 KJV)  All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.

I hope this makes it clear that Christ is not the holy spirit, that the holy spirit is not a person and that the holy spirit is the medium through which the Father creates all things in heaven and in earth:

(Heb 11:3 KJV)  Through faith we understand that the worlds [ Greek – aions – the life times of all mankind] were framed by the word of God [ by Christ] so that things which are seen [ The entire physical creation and every man ever born of Adam] were not made of things which do appear [ but were made of the holy spirit].

If I have missed your question please let me know.
Mike