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Who They Are & Their Story
When people say “the Holy Spirit,” they usually mean the divine Spirit in the Abrahamic traditions, with different meanings in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The idea reaches back to the ancient Near East. In the Hebrew Bible, the word is ruach—breath, wind, or spirit—appearing as ruach Elohim in Genesis 1:2, the divine breath hovering over the waters at creation. That same ruach empowers prophets, craftspeople, and kings. In Greek, the term is pneuma; in Latin, spiritus. Those words carry philosophical echoes too: in Hellenistic thought, pneuma could mean the animating principle of life, which shaped how early audiences heard the term even if biblical authors used it with distinct theological aims. These terms later inform Christian pneumatology.
For Christians in the first century CE, the Holy Spirit becomes central to the story of Jesus of Nazareth and the early church. The Gospels describe the Spirit descending on Jesus at his baptism, and the book of Acts recounts Pentecost—traditionally dated to the early 30s CE—when the Spirit is said to come upon Jesus’s followers, empowering speech and mission. The Gospel of John calls the Spirit the Paraclete, the Advocate or Comforter who teaches and guides.
Over the next three centuries, Christian thinkers clarified how the Spirit relates to God and to Christ. The Council of Nicaea in 325 CE affirmed the divinity of the Son; the Council of Constantinople in 381 CE expanded the creed to confess the Holy Spirit as “the Lord and giver of life.” Key voices included Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil of Caesarea in his treatise On the Holy Spirit (c. 375), and Augustine of Hippo in De Trinitate (early 5th century). Later, the Latin West added the filioque—“and the Son”—to the creed’s line on the Spirit’s procession, first regionally at the Third Council of Toledo in 589. Disagreement over that addition contributed to tensions leading up to the East–West Schism of 1054.
What They Do & Why They Matter
Across scriptures and traditions, the Spirit is associated with life, revelation, and transformation. In the Hebrew Bible, God’s Spirit creates, sustains, and inspires. In the New Testament, the Spirit empowers proclamation, distributes charismata—spiritual gifts such as wisdom, healing, or tongues as in 1 Corinthians 12–14—and forms character, the “fruit of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, and so on. In Christian theology and classical pneumatology, the Spirit indwells believers, sanctifies them, unites communities, and is active in sacraments such as baptism and confirmation. Eastern Christianity emphasizes the Spirit’s role in theosis—participation in the divine life—while many Western theologians stress the Spirit’s work of grace and sanctification. The Spirit also animates prayer and worship; for example, the ancient Christian epiclesis invokes the Spirit to consecrate the Eucharist.
Historically, teachings about the Spirit have shaped movements and institutions, a focus of pneumatology. The Protestant Reformers retained trinitarian doctrine and highlighted the Spirit’s role in illuminating Scripture—John Calvin spoke of the “internal witness of the Holy Spirit.” From the early 20th century, Pentecostal and charismatic movements, often traced to the 1906 Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, emphasized experiential gifts of the Spirit and have grown to hundreds of millions of adherents worldwide, influencing global Christianity.
How Different Faiths See Them
Judaism speaks of the Ruach Ha-Kodesh—the Holy Spirit—as God’s holy presence or inspiration, not a separate person. Rabbinic literature often treats the Holy Spirit as a manner of speaking about prophetic insight or divine favor, and some texts associate it with the Shekhinah, the indwelling presence. Many sources suggest that full prophetic inspiration ceased after the last biblical prophets, though divine guidance continued in other ways.
Christianity is broadly trinitarian—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—though with important internal distinctions. The Eastern Orthodox Church professes that the Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father; the Roman Catholic Church teaches procession from the Father and the Son (the filioque). Most Protestant traditions share the classic trinitarian confession. Some groups differ: Jehovah’s Witnesses describe the holy spirit as God’s active force rather than a distinct divine person; Oneness Pentecostals hold a non-traditional, non-trinitarian view of God’s unity; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that the Holy Ghost is a distinct personage of spirit within the Godhead.
In Islam, the Qur’an refers to al-Ruh al-Qudus—the Holy Spirit—most often understood by classical commentators as the angel Jibril (Gabriel), the messenger who delivers revelation to prophets, including Muhammad (for example, Qur’an 2:87 and 16:102). The Qur’an also uses related terms like al-Ruh al-Amin, the Trustworthy Spirit. The Spirit strengthens Jesus (Qur’an 2:253) and supports believers by God’s leave.
Why People Still Believe in Them
People continue to believe in and appeal to the Holy Spirit because the idea unifies several human intuitions: that life has a source beyond us, that guidance can be given, and that communities can be transformed. The concept is deeply scriptural and liturgical—embedded in creeds, prayers, and festivals like Pentecost and Shavuot—and it has been reaffirmed by councils, scholars, and teachers across centuries. It is also experiential. Many testify to a sensed presence in prayer, to changed character over time, or to gifts and callings they attribute to the Spirit. And even beyond formal religion, the ancient vocabulary of breath and spirit continues to offer a way to speak about life, inspiration, and meaning.
