The Holy Spirit

In the New Testament the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is closely related to Christology. The Spirit comes upon and overshadows Mary when her child is conceived. The Spirit hovers over and alights on Jesus at his baptism. In his first sermon at Nazareth, he defines his messianic mission with the OT words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” (Lk. 4:18). This Spirit dwells in Jesus throughout his life, enabling him to speak with authority, to heal sickness and to cast out demons.

…the Spirit serves as the organ for the transmission of divine revelation. For example, in the Old Testament the prophet Jeremiah declared that “the word of the Lord came to him, saying…” (1:11). Similarly in Acts, Peter receives a vision showing him that Christians need not continue the dietary rules of the Torah. In both cases, a spiritual experience gave new revelation which supplemented, clarified and corrected the sacred writings of their day. Thus, the Fourth Gospel describes the Holy Spirit as “the spirit of truth” which will reveal things which the original disciples either did not or could not understand when Jesus was on earth. The Spirit authorizes continuing revelation.

Finally, the apocalyptic tradition in both Judaism and Christianity assumed that the arrival of the messianic age would be accompanied by a marvelous outpouring of the Holy Spirit. As the prophet Joel predicted, the Day of the Lord will be ushered in when God’s Spirit is poured out on all mankind. Old men shall dream revelatory dreams and young men shall see visions (2:28,29).

Having seen how varied Biblical usage is concerning the Holy Spirit, it is easy to understand why no official doctrine has been generally agreed upon. Who or what then is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ? In the early Church, three questions were especially perplexing. First, is the Holy Spirit a person, a self-conscious entity different from God the Father or Jesus Christ the Son? Second, if the Spirit is a distinct being, is it masculine, feminine or neuter? Third, as a separate entity, is the Spirit equal to or subordinate to God the Father and Christ the Son?

…most Christians thought of the Holy Spirit as a separate masculine entity. The term Paraclete, used in the Johannine Gospel, means “Comforter” and possesses the masculine gender. Also, the Jewish tradition was on the whole extremely masculine-oriented and hostile to all feminine definitions of the Godhead. Consequently, at Nicea and Chalcedon the ecumenical councils affirmed that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were distinct yet equal, consubstantial and all of the same sex.

However, according to Divine Principle, since God possesses polarity, there is a sense in which it is legitimate to refer to the feminine activity of the Holy Spirit. Because the Spirit carries out maternal functions of comforting, nourishing and nurturing individual Christians, it serves as a mother spirit. As Macquarrie points out, the Holy Spirit most clearly introduces a feminine element into the doctrine of God. When the Spirit is described as hovering over the waters of the deep (Gen. 1:2), like a hen brooding on her nest, so that God gives birth to the world, this clearly suggests the feminine principle.⁴⁰ At the same time, as God’s energy at work, the Holy Spirit manifests masculine qualities. To conclude, in different ways, God’s Spirit appears feminine, masculine and impersonal.

Unification theology also stresses the multiplicity of spirits affecting our world and influencing human destiny. Besides the spirit of God the Father and the spirit of Jesus, there exists a multitude of benevolent ancestral spirits and angels who make contact with earth and attempt to guide men’s lives. Especially at a crucial point in God’s dispensational program, the whole host of heaven descends to our earthly plane in order to actualize God’s plan. That is why the Christians at Pentecost were suddenly able to speak in foreign tongues. They were assisted by discarnate spirits working to realize God’s providential purpose. If then the Holy Spirit refers to the working of the transcendent God within history and inside the human soul, this helpful and providential activity may be carried out by numerous ancestral or angelic messengers rather than being limited to a single agent. Like God himself, the Spirit is invisible and incorporeal — a bright light or a field of magnetic energy, so to speak. Therefore when the Holy Spirit needs a definite form, it uses and works through the medium of a discarnate human spirit or an angel. It should now be obvious that the term “Holy Spirit” has been used rather loosely to cover all kinds of work by spirits.