What does the Holy Spirit do?

The Holy SpiritIn theological review

The short answer

He convicts the world of sin, guides believers into the truth, teaches and reminds them of Jesus's words, and produces a different kind of life in them: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. His work always points to Jesus rather than to himself, and its fruit shows up in character, not in show.

The fuller answer

Jesus describes the Spirit's work in two great movements. First, conviction: when he comes, he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. The Spirit is the one who makes sin feel like sin rather than like a lifestyle, and who presses the claims of Jesus on people who would rather not think about them.

And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:

John 16:8 (BSB)

Second, guidance. The Spirit of truth guides Jesus's people into all truth, not by adding new revelation on top of Christ, but by opening up what Christ said and did, and declaring what is to come. He takes what belongs to Jesus and makes it known. A claimed leading of the Spirit that contradicts Jesus or Scripture should be tested, and the test is the Bible itself.

However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.

John 16:13 (BSB)

The result in a life is called fruit, and Paul lists it: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and more. His instruction is practical: walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. The Spirit's presence is not measured by volume or excitement. It is measured by a life that is slowly coming to look like Jesus.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Galatians 5:22 (BSB)

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Galatians 5:16 (BSB)

Sources

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)
The Nicene Creed (AD 325, enlarged 381)

Review status: in-theological-review. Every Contend page passes a human theological review against the Statement of Faith before it is published as approved teaching. This section is in that queue.

Dig deeper

No answer here is a dead end. Follow the question on, test it in practice, or work the method yourself on the Dig deeper page.

Who is the Holy Spirit?The Holy Spirit is God himself, the third person of the Trinity, not a force, a feeling, or God's power in the abstract. He is there at creation, hovering over the waters. He speaks, teaches, and can be lied to, and when Peter confronts Ananias he says the lie told to the Holy Spirit was a lie told to God.When do Christians receive the Holy Spirit?At conversion, when a person hears the gospel and believes. Paul tells the Ephesians that in Christ, having heard and believed the word of truth, they were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not a second stage reserved for a spiritual elite. He is the seal of everyone who belongs to Jesus.What is the Trinity?The Trinity is the Christian confession that there is one God, and that this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons, each fully God, equal in power and glory. The word itself is not in the Bible. The reality is taught everywhere in it, and the church forged the word to protect what the Bible says from being flattened in either direction.