Theology is a massive field of study. There is comparative theology, systematic and biblical theology, and various types of cultural theologies. But theology proper is the study of God himself, his attributes, person, and works.

When Christianity speaks of the person of God it reflects the biblical presentation of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit…all co-eternal persons of one single essence. You can read that again if you like, but there is a degree of mystery in it. God is not a man (Num. 23:19), and we cannot fully understand him by thinking in human terms. That is where Scripture comes in. It points to truths about God for which we may have no real analogy.

The accusation is sometimes made that certain denominations (like Baptists!) under-emphasize the role of God the Spirit. I personally think this is a red herring. One of the good things about expositional preaching is that the text determines the emphasis—we just preach what is “up next” in the passage!

Still, I think there is value in teaching doctrinal survey in our worship time. The need for clarity and good biblical teaching has surely never been greater than in our day. With that in mind, this Sunday I will begin a new, brief series of studies on the Biblical teaching about the Holy Spirit. Why? A few reasons are in order here…

It is a biblical truth. The place of God’s Spirit in his creation is “front and center” throughout the biblical narrative. This is one reason, perhaps, that there are so many versions of this doctrine. You can’t read Scripture very long without bumping into some reference to it.

You will encounter distortions of this truth.  Some of the distortions are odd, some are pure heresy…but there are many. I have met people who have invented their own private doctrinal ideas about the Holy Spirit, and there are denominations that self-identify by a particular belief about the Holy Spirit. Sometimes they will present their view as a “key” that unlocks true Christianity.

It is an important to you. Ok, the Holy Spirit will be at work in your life whether you have a good doctrinal understanding of him or not. I am not saying that this series will change everything. But understanding how God is present and at work in our lives is a powerful reality that deserves our attention and focus.

This series will survey biblical teaching about the Holy Spirit as a person (May 9), about the promise of the Spirit to the church (May 16), the Spirit’s presence in the believer’s life (May 23), and finally the power of the Spirit for the believer (May 30). Since the study is a survey we will  look at a number of Scriptural passages in each message.

Questions are always welcome! If you have a particular question about the Holy Spirit that you want me to address, feel free to send me your question at . Hope to see you this Sunday and we will get started!