Thank you much for your prayers. I am going over the many articles you have written on the subject  of the trinity.  One thing I haven’t found is an article on “What is the Holy Spirit”.  My current reply to this question is the Holy Spirit is the mind, thoughts, character and power of God, but I am sure there is more to this than currently comes to mind.  Have you written anything about what the Holy Spirit is so I can learn and be ready with an answer? D____

Hi D____,
I can’t think of where it is, but I know I have written on this before.
The scripture which is often quoted as “God is a spirit…” is not properly translated. God is not ‘a spirit;” God IS spirit, and He is “the Father of spirits.” All that is seen is not made out of nothing but “of things that do not appear,” of God’s holy spirit.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit : and they that worship him must worship [ him] in spirit and in truth.

So it is with the holy spirit of God that he creates and accomplishes all things. God not only breathed into Adam the breath of life, He also breathed into every creature the “breath of life.”
Here is how God works with His creation through His spirit:

Psa 104:24  O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
Psa 104:25  So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
Psa 104:26  There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.
Psa 104:27  These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give [ them] their meat in due season.
Psa 104:28  That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.
Psa 104:29  Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
Psa 104:30  Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

How does God “send forth His spirit? The Father has given all that He owns to the Son:

Joh 16:15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

The “all things” to which Christ refers is specifically a reference to the holy spirit of God, “the spirit of Truth… the comforter which is the holy spirit.”

Joh 16:13  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  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 16:15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Yes, Christ is called our “advocate” or our “parakleetos,” the same Greek word translated “comforter which is the holy spirit.” But He is not called that because that is what He is. He is called that because that is what has been given to Him, just as Joseph was given all the power of Egypt, but not the power of the throne.

Joh 14:26  But the Comforter [ Greek, parakleetos, advocate], which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

So Christ is our advocate and our comforter because God has given Him all things, THEREFORE, Christ can say “they are mine.”

Joh 16:15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

The word “therefore” makes it clear that Christ Himself is not God’s spirit but a creation of that spirit “of whom are all things and we of Him.” Christ is rather God’s first creation “by whom are all things and we by Him.”

1Co 11:3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
1Co 11:12  For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

It is the husband and wife relationship which is “the things that are made” that make even God’s eternal power and Godhead clearly understood:”

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

And what is clearly seen in that relationship is that the man was not made for the woman but the woman for the man.

1Co 11:8  For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
1Co 11:9  Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

This is the most basic Truth in scripture. If we get this wrong, everything else we try to learn about our heavenly Father will be based upon a false premise and will be in error. God is not a spirit He IS spirit and the Father of spirits, including the spirit of Christ.

(ALT)  “God is Spirit [ or, [ is] as to His essence Spirit], and it is necessary [ for] the ones prostrating themselves in worship before Him to be prostrating in worship in spirit and truth.”
(BBE)  God is Spirit: then let his worshippers give him worship in the true way of the spirit.
(CEV)  God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth.

(CLV) God is spirit, and those who are worshiping Him must be worshiping in spirit and truth.”

  … and all those who have come through Christ :

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him [ Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [ they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Why has Christ “the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, in all things preeminent?” Is it because he is co- equal’ with the Father? No, here is the reason Christ is all of these things:

Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

I hope this is of some help. I hope this makes it clear that Christ is not the holy spirit, but the holy spirit has been given to Christ and come to us “by Christ;”  that God is not ‘a’ spirit, but “IS spirit,” and that all He is and does is through that spirit. What we cannot understand, is that God equates His spirit with His Word. This is true to the extent that He tells us that He delivers us through His Word:

Psa 107:19  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, [ and] he saveth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered [ them] from their destructions.

Who is “His Word?” What is the spirit of God? Here is “the sum of Thy Word” as to what is God’s life giving holy spirit:

Joh 6:63  It is  the spirit that quickeneth; [ Greek, gives life] the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

If anything is still not clear, please let me know.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike