so like, what is the holy spirit?
the father i get, thats god. the son i get, thats jesus. but where does the holy spirit come from??? i asked a bunch of my christian friends in high school and the only good explanation i got was that it’s jesus’ ghost, and that the reason it still exists after he revived is bc he exists outside of time?? so he’s a time-traveling jesus force-ghost?? which doesn’t really make sense to me bc it seems kinda sci-fi-y. so like. what is the holy spirit?
I’ve heard the Holy Spirit described as the love that binds the persons of the Trinity together. Like a lot of things in Christianity, the nature of the Trinity is kind of a mystery; most efforts to describe it in an analogy or even just using words end up accidentally doing heresy. Mostly we just have to confess that there is one God in three Persons, coequal, coeternal, consubstantial. I recommend the Creed of St. Athanasius; it’s rather painstaking but it covers basically all the important ground as far as Trinitarian theology goes.
If you’re asking what the Holy Spirit does, that’s a bit easier to answer. The Holy Spirit is God present in all people and all things, working for his Kingdom in Creation. He (the Spirit) is especially present in people when they’re praying through/with/in Christ or doing acts of mercy/charity. Christian prayer, properly described, is allowing the Holy Spirit to pray in us, rather than anything we do ourselves. Most Christians would confess that the Spirit is ultimately responsible for all virtuous deeds; since human beings are totally fallen, it requires the inspiration of God through the Holy Spirit for us to act rightly. It’s important to remember that all three Persons of the Trinity are present in the actions of all three, but that’s the special ‘charism’ of the Spirit as far as that goes.
Idk if that helps!