The Holy Spirit

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." John 14:16, NKJV


"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement:" John 16:7-8, NKJV

The word that the King James Bible translated to Comforter, is in the ancient Greek - παράκλητος (paráklētos, that can signify "one who consoles or comforts, one who encourages or uplifts; hence refreshes, and/or one who intercedes on our behalf as an advocate in court"). This term is translated in many ways; Paraclete, Counselor, Advocate, Helper, Redeemer, and I'm sure others. Four times it is used to describe the Holy Spirit and once to describe Jesus Christ.
Jesus is very clear that there will be another - meaning there will be one similar to Him. This other Paraclete will be like Him, but will offer even more than Jesus could as one human man. One way to view this is that the Holy Spirit is to believers as Jesus Christ was to His apostles. Someone who is with us always and forever. Where Jesus was limited to His singular presence, while a human man on Earth, the Holy Spirit is unlimited and offers to us all what Jesus brought to His apostles.
This all brings me to a question I have been studying for the past few months - who and what is the Holy Spirit? God the Father is described as an "unapproachable light" who created the universe and whose vastness and power are truly unimaginable by His creation, man. God the Son has the appearance of a human man, because He was the model used by the Father, when man was created. Because man was modeled after the Son, there has always been a special, unbreakable, unconditional love for mankind by the Son. It is clear to me, that God, the Father had a very conditional love for man, and was continually disappointed and heart broken by His creation. 
God the Father was attempting to create with man, what He had with the Son. The love bond between God, the Father and God, the Son is so strong and unbreakable, it became a "new flesh" - God, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit therefore has both components of the Father and the Son.
This model of love is behind the separation of Adam into a male and female, so as to allow them to be in relationship, to create "one flesh" - both the committed love relationship and the creation of a child "one flesh". This is also the model envisioned by Jesus when He spoke of himself as Bridegroom and the Church as Bride - to come together in a perfect union to create one flesh, an entirely new entity with the power of both.
Man had been created to choose a love relationship with the Father, but all too often chose the world instead. The Father tried to be more specific through the tablets and law of Moses, but to no avail, man continued to disappoint. The Son, who loves the Father and man, decided to correct this "dysfunctional" relationship for all time, by extending the Holy Spirit to man. It was clear to the Son that in order to extend the Holy Spirit to man, the Son must become man, fulfill the Law and the Prophets, become sin, die and be resurrected, overcoming sin, then return to heaven. Only then could man be seen by the Father as the Son and have the Holy Spirit extended to him.
I hope this helps clarify who and what the Holy Spirit is, the tremendous power He brings us, and the comfort He bestows. I also understand the confusion about the Holy Spirit, for even in the King James Bible, the Holy Spirit is given the "little h" - now you know, he is He!!! The Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God - for those who have eyes to see


In God's love,
The Reverend Doctor Douglas Stephenson