Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, in Christian belief, the third person of the Trinity, the other persons being God the Father and God the Son. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ refers to the Holy Spirit as "the Counselor . . . whom the Father will send in my name" (John 14:26). A theology of the Holy Spirit developed slowly, largely in response to controversies over the relation of Jesus Christ to God the Father. In 325, the Council of Nicaea condemned as heresy the Arian teaching that the Son was a creature, neither equal to, nor coeternal with, the Father. In 381, the Council of Constantinople condemned the logical extension of that view, that the Holy Spirit was created by the Son. The council stated: "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father. Together with the Father and the Son he is adored and glorified." Later pronouncements brought only one important doctrinal change, the 9th-century addition of filioque to the creed of Constantinople. That addition, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the son, has been a source of discord between Eastern and Western Christianity ever since. The Holy Spirit is frequently presented in Scripture through symbols: the dove (see Mark 1:10), symbolizing peace and reconciliation; a whirlwind (see Acts 2), symbolizing strength; and as tongues of fire (see Acts 2), symbolizing the ecstasy of believers. The Holy Spirit is considered the sanctifier, who leads and guides the church and its members. Some of the prophets of Israel had characterized the "last days" as a time when God would pour out his Spirit on the whole of humanity. The New Testament claims that promise was fulfilled in the days of Jesus. The Spirit of God, an expression representing the active presence of God, is therefore used throughout the New Testament; this entity is variously referred to as the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Spirit of Christ, or the Spirit of truth (see Holy Spirit; Trinity). The Spirit empowered Jesus, and it enabled the church to continue what Jesus had begun to do and to teach. Within the individual disciple, the Spirit produced the qualities appropriate to that life and equipped the person to work and serve the good of the community. Understandably, the category "Spirit" was subject to a wide range of interpretations and created problems in many churches. The New Testament reflects the struggle to find clear criteria for determining if a congregation or a person really was influenced by the Holy Spirit. D4Kingdom of God According to the New Testament, the central message of Jesus was the kingdom of God. He called for repentance in preparation for the kingdom that was "at hand." The kingdom of God referred to the reign or rule of God, and in Jesus' ministry that reign of God was announced as present. The presence of the kingdom, however, was not full and complete, and, therefore, was often referred to as a future event. Students of the New Testament have argued over whether Jesus and his followers expected the kingdom of God to be fully present in their generation. The unresolved state of that debate is registered in the two expressions often used to characterize the New Testament teaching about the kingdom: "already" and "not yet."
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