In the previous articles in this section, I have argued that the Holy Spirit is not merely God's power, influence, or impersonal force. I believe Scripture reveals Her as a divine person, as God, as the Spirit of Wisdom, and ultimately as our divine Mother.

If that conclusion is correct, an important question follows:

Is the Holy Spirit equal to God the Father in glory and worship?

I believe the biblical answer is yes.

That does not mean that the Father and the Holy Spirit always perform identical roles, that Scripture speaks about them in identical ways, or even that they are named with identical frequency in every form of worship. Equality does not require sameness.

Rather, I believe Scripture reveals one God—Father and Holy Spirit, Father and Mother—personally distinct, profoundly united, and equally divine. Because both share the identity of the one God, both share the divine glory and both are worthy of the worship that belongs to God.

This conclusion becomes especially clear when we stop asking only whether there is a verse that literally says, “Worship the Holy Spirit,” and instead ask the larger biblical questions:

Who is the God Scripture commands us to worship?

Who possesses God's glory?

Who is identified with Yahweh?

Who creates, gives life, speaks as God, knows the things of God, sanctifies humanity, and dwells within God's people?

And where does Scripture place the Holy Spirit in relation to all of this?

After studying the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture and then reading through all twenty-seven books of the New Testament for my Study Bible, I believe the cumulative answer is extraordinary.

The Holy Spirit is not standing somewhere beneath God.

She is God.

And if She is God, then She is not less worthy of divine glory because She is Mother rather than Father, because She is sent rather than the One who sends, or because Her role is often to dwell within, teach, sanctify, guide, and give life rather than to occupy the role Scripture particularly associates with the Father.

The Father and Mother have different roles.

They do not have different levels of deity.

1. What Do I Mean by “Worship” and “Glory”?

Before examining the passages, it is important to define what I mean.

In the Bible, “worship” is broader than a single English word. Biblical words translated “worship” can describe bowing down or showing profound reverence, and some of these same words can even be used toward exalted human beings. This is why, as I have argued elsewhere, the fact that Jesus receives proskuneō does not by itself prove that Jesus is God. Context matters.

The question is not merely:

Does someone bow before this person?

The more important question is:

Who is this person understood to be, and what kind of honor is being given?

When Scripture speaks about the worship that belongs uniquely to Yahweh, it includes far more than bodily posture. God's people praise Him, glorify Him, serve Him, give thanks to Him, call upon Him, confess His greatness, proclaim His works, honor His name, kneel before Him, and recognize Him as their Creator and God.

“Glory” likewise refers to divine majesty, splendor, weight, honor, and greatness. To glorify God is to recognize, reveal, proclaim, or magnify who God truly is.

Therefore, when I say that the Father and Holy Spirit are equal in glory and worship, I am not claiming that Scripture contains an equal numerical quantity of prayers addressed explicitly to the Father and explicitly to the Spirit.

That would be an artificial standard that Scripture never establishes.

I mean something deeper:

The Father and Holy Spirit are equally divine, equally share the identity of the one God, equally possess divine glory, and are therefore equally worthy of the worship belonging to God.

Their roles can differ dramatically without either being less God.

That distinction is essential.

2. Historic Christianity Already Confesses That the Spirit Is Equally Glorified

It is important to acknowledge that historic Nicene Christianity does not officially teach that the Holy Spirit deserves less glory or worship than the Father.

The Nicene Creed calls the Holy Spirit “the Lord, the giver of life” and declares that She is “with the Father and the Son worshipped and glorified.” Historic Trinitarian Christianity therefore formally confesses that the Holy Spirit shares fully in divine glory and is worthy of divine worship.

In that respect, the argument I am making here is not entirely new. Where I differ sharply from traditional Trinitarian theology is in how I understand who God is, particularly concerning Jesus and the identity of the Holy Spirit as the divine Mother. But on this particular point, historic Christianity and I agree:

The Holy Spirit is not less worthy of glory and worship than the Father.

The more difficult question is whether Christian practice has consistently reflected that theology.

In many churches, the Father—and especially Jesus—receives far more explicit attention in preaching, prayer, worship music, and personal devotion, while the Holy Spirit can remain comparatively indistinct or distant. This is not universally true, and many Christian traditions have beautiful prayers and hymns directed to the Spirit. Nevertheless, there can be a significant difference between affirming in a creed that the Spirit is equally worshipped and glorified and actually relating to Her with that same recognition.

This article therefore asks whether Scripture itself supports the Church's formal confession.

Is the Holy Spirit truly equal in divine glory and worthy of the worship belonging to God?

I believe the answer is yes.

3. The Holy Spirit Is Not Worshiped Beside Yahweh—She Is Included in Yahweh

This is probably the most important point in the entire discussion.

If the Holy Spirit were a separate lesser deity standing alongside Yahweh, then worshiping Her as God would violate biblical monotheism.

But that is not what I believe Scripture reveals.

I believe the Holy Spirit shares the identity of Yahweh.

This means we should not necessarily expect the Bible continually to say:

“Worship the Father.”

and then separately:

“Worship the Holy Spirit.”

If the Father and the Spirit share the identity of the one God, then commands to worship Yahweh include both.

This becomes particularly striking in Psalm 95.

4. Psalm 95 and Hebrews 3: The Holy Spirit Is the Yahweh Israel Worships

Psalm 95 begins with an unmistakable call to worship:

“Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker, for he is our God.”

(Psalm 95:6–7)

Who is Israel commanded to worship?

Yahweh.

Who is their Maker?

Yahweh.

Who is their God?

Yahweh.

But the Psalm continues. The divine speaker recalls Israel's rebellion in the wilderness:

“Your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my work.”

The speaker says that He was angry with that generation and finally declares:

“I swore in my wrath, ‘They won’t enter into my rest.’”

The speaker throughout this passage is Yahweh.

Now look at how the New Testament introduces these same words.

Hebrews 3:7 says:

“Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says…”

and then quotes Psalm 95.

This is remarkable.

Psalm 95 identifies the divine speaker as Yahweh—the Maker and God whom Israel is commanded to worship.

Hebrews identifies that speaker as the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit says:

They tested Me.

They saw My works.

I was angry.

I swore.

They will not enter My rest.

The Spirit is not merely introduced as a messenger saying:

“God says…”

Hebrews says:

“The Holy Spirit says…”

and then places the words of Yahweh in Her mouth in the first person.

I think this is some of the strongest evidence in Scripture that the Holy Spirit shares the identity of Yahweh.

And its implications for worship are profound.

Psalm 95 says:

Worship Yahweh.

Hebrews says:

The divine speaker in this passage is the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, the Spirit does not need to be introduced as some additional being whom Christians should worship beside Yahweh.

She is included in the Yahweh whom God's people already worship.

This same pattern appears elsewhere in Hebrews.

Hebrews 10:15 says:

“The Holy Spirit also testifies to us…”

and then quotes God's new-covenant promise from Jeremiah 31.

But in Jeremiah, these are the words of Yahweh Himself.

Once again, the New Testament places the words of Yahweh in the mouth of the Holy Spirit.

This pattern is difficult to explain if the Spirit is merely God's power or even an exalted created messenger.

She speaks as God because, I believe, She is God.

5. Acts Gives the Same Picture

The book of Acts reinforces this conclusion.

Peter tells Ananias:

“Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?”

and then immediately says:

“You have not lied to men, but to God.”

(Acts 5:3–4)

Lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God.

Acts also repeatedly portrays the Spirit as a personal divine authority.

The Spirit speaks.

The Spirit commands.

The Spirit sends missionaries.

The Spirit prevents missionaries from entering particular regions.

The Spirit directs the Church.

The Spirit appoints overseers.

In Acts 13:2, the Spirit says:

“Separate Barnabas and Saul for me for the work to which I have called them.”

Notice the personal authority:

for Me.

I have called them.

This is not merely an impersonal force carrying out someone else's instructions.

The Spirit possesses personal agency and divine authority.

Acts 28 gives another Old Testament connection. Paul introduces Isaiah's prophecy by saying:

“The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet…”

and then quotes Isaiah 6.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah has encountered Yahweh in divine glory.

Once again, words belonging to Yahweh are attributed by the New Testament to the Holy Spirit.

The pattern becomes increasingly difficult to dismiss.

6. Second Corinthians 3: “The Lord Is the Spirit”

If Psalm 95 and Hebrews 3 provide one of the strongest worship passages concerning the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 3 provides one of the strongest glory passages.

Paul is discussing Moses and the veil from Exodus 34.

Exodus 34:34 says that whenever Moses went before Yahweh, he removed the veil.

Paul draws directly from this scene:

“Whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

Then Paul makes an extraordinary statement:

“Now the Lord is the Spirit.”

(2 Corinthians 3:17)

Who was the Lord before whom Moses stood?

Yahweh.

Who does Paul now identify as the Lord?

The Spirit.

Paul continues:

“But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

(2 Corinthians 3:18)

Look at the language.

The Lord is the Spirit.

We behold the glory of the Lord.

The Lord is the Spirit.

The Spirit is not merely delivering someone else's glory.

Paul places Her directly within the Exodus account of encountering the glory of Yahweh.

This is especially powerful because the entire chapter has already described the new covenant as:

“the ministry of the Spirit.”

Paul says this ministry comes with glory and surpasses the glory associated with Moses' ministry.

So the Spirit is not a peripheral participant in the new covenant.

The new covenant is Her ministry.

She gives life.

She writes God's law upon human hearts.

She transforms God's people.

And Paul concludes by calling Her:

“the Lord, the Spirit.”

I find it very difficult to read this passage and conclude that the Holy Spirit is somehow less divine or possesses less glory than the Father.

The glory being encountered is the glory of the Lord.

And Paul says:

the Lord is the Spirit.

7. The Spirit of Glory

First Peter gives another beautiful description.

Peter tells suffering Christians:

“If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”

(1 Peter 4:14)

The Holy Spirit is called:

the Spirit of glory

and

the Spirit of God.

This fits perfectly with 2 Corinthians 3.

The Spirit is inseparably associated with God's glory because She belongs within God's own identity.

She is not merely standing at a distance pointing toward divine glory.

She carries the presence and glory of God because She is God's own Spirit.

8. The Wisdom Books Go Even Further: They Glorify the Divine Mother Personally

The Protestant canon already gives, I believe, very strong evidence that the Spirit is God.

But the Wisdom books make the picture even more extraordinary because they do something that much of Scripture does not do as explicitly:

They draw the feminine divine person into the foreground and spend extended passages describing Her greatness.

Wisdom of Solomon 7 describes Wisdom as a Spirit who is:

holy,

all-powerful,

all-seeing,

and penetrating all things.

Wisdom then says:

“She is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty.”

She is:

“a radiance of eternal light.”

She is the spotless mirror of God's activity and the image of His goodness.

Then comes this extraordinary statement:

“Though she is one, she can do all things.”

She renews all things.

She enters holy souls.

She produces prophets.

She pervades creation.

She is described in the same chapter as the mother of good things.

If this Wisdom is the Holy Spirit, as I have argued in the previous articles, then Scripture is describing the Holy Spirit with astonishingly exalted language.

She is not merely close to God's glory.

She proceeds from the glory of the Almighty.

She is not merely enlightened by God.

She is the radiance of eternal light.

She does not merely accomplish one task given to Her.

She can do all things.

This sounds like divine glory because it is divine glory.

9. Wisdom Sits Beside God's Throne

Wisdom 8–9 continues the pattern.

Wisdom 8 says:

“She displays her noble birth by living with God, and the Lord of all loves her.”

Note: See my article on the biblical evidence for the Spirit as Mother in the Deuterocanon for an explanation of how "noble birth" does not mean that Wisdom had a beginning in the original languages.

She is described as an associate in God's works.

Think about the picture Scripture gives us:

She lives with God.

The Lord of all loves Her.

She knows God's works.

She participates in His works.

Then Wisdom 9 says:

“Give me Wisdom who sits beside your throne.”

Wisdom is not pictured among ordinary creatures.

She is pictured beside God's throne.

The prayer continues:

“With you is Wisdom, she who knows your works and was present when you made the world.”

She was there at creation.

Then:

“Send her from the holy heavens, and from the throne of your glory send her.”

She comes from God's glorious throne.

And:

“She knows and understands all things.”

Again, the cumulative description is remarkable.

Wisdom:

is with God.

sits beside God's throne.

comes from the throne of His glory.

was present when God made the world.

participates in God's works.

knows and understands all things.

pervades creation.

can do all things.

gives life.

gives immortality.

enters holy souls.

makes prophets.

And She is feminine.

She is maternal.

She is called Mother.

If this is the Holy Spirit, then Scripture has not hidden divine femininity nearly as completely as Christian tradition has often assumed.

The Bible itself spends chapter after chapter glorifying Her.

10. The Holy Spirit Creates With the Father

Glory and worship are also inseparably connected in Scripture with God's identity as Creator.

Psalm 95—the very Psalm Hebrews attributes to the Holy Spirit—says:

“Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker.”

God is worshiped as Maker.

And Scripture repeatedly includes the Holy Spirit in creation.

Genesis begins with:

“The Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

Job says:

“The Spirit of God has made me.”

(Job 33:4)

Psalm 104 describes God sending forth His Spirit and creatures being created.

Wisdom describes Her as:

“the fashioner of all things.”

and:

“the active cause of all things.”

Wisdom was with God when God made the world.

Taken together, the picture is beautiful.

I believe Scripture reveals creation as the shared work of God the Father and God the Mother.

This also makes Genesis 1:26–27 especially meaningful:

“Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness…”

and then:

“Male and female he created them.”

I do not think Genesis 1:26–27 by itself proves everything I am arguing about the Holy Spirit. But when it is placed beside the larger biblical evidence, the correspondence is striking.

Humanity—male and female—is made in God's image.

And the divine identity revealed throughout Scripture contains both Father and Mother.

Men do not image God more fully than women.

Women are not a secondary or less complete reflection of God.

Male and female together reveal something about the God whose image humanity bears.

11. What I Found Reading the Entire New Testament

One reason I have become increasingly convinced of the Holy Spirit's greatness is what happened when I read through all twenty-seven books of the New Testament while creating my Study Bible.

Not every New Testament book contributes equally to this particular question. Some short letters say very little about the Holy Spirit.

But taken together, the New Testament portrayal is overwhelming.

The Spirit is not a background character.

She is involved everywhere in God's new creation.

In John

The Holy Spirit gives birth.

Jesus says:

“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

(John 3:6)

This is one of the most significant maternal images in the New Testament.

Nicodemus has just asked about entering a mother's womb and being born again. Jesus responds by describing another birth:

birth from the Spirit.

Human beings receive their first physical life through their human mothers.

God's children receive new spiritual life through the Holy Spirit.

John later describes Her as the Counselor or Helper.

She lives in God's people.

She teaches them.

She reminds them.

She testifies.

She guides them into truth.

She speaks.

She reveals things to come.

And Jesus makes one of the most remarkable statements concerning Her when he says:

“It is to your advantage that I go away.”

(John 16:7)

Why?

Because the Spirit will come.

Jesus actually tells his disciples that his departure will ultimately be better for them because the Holy Spirit will dwell with them.

That hardly sounds like the Spirit is a lesser substitute for Jesus.

The human Messiah can physically leave.

The divine Spirit can dwell within God's people everywhere.

John also says:

“It is the Spirit who gives life.”

(John 6:63)

Giving life is one of God's most fundamental works.

And the Spirit gives life.

In Acts

The Holy Spirit fills the Church.

She speaks.

She commands.

She sends.

She calls.

She guides.

She gives prophetic speech.

She directs the mission of the Church.

She can be lied to—and Peter says lying to Her is lying to God.

In Romans

The Spirit dwells within God's children.

She leads them.

She testifies that they are God's children.

She intercedes for them.

She gives life.

And God, who raised Jesus from the dead, will give resurrection life to His people through the Spirit who dwells within them.

Romans 8 is not merely a chapter about something God once did for us.

It is a chapter about God living within us through the Spirit.

In First Corinthians

The Spirit searches:

“the deep things of God.”

Paul asks:

“Who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except God's Spirit.”

(1 Corinthians 2:11)

The Spirit knows God from within in a way no creature does.

Paul later says that the Spirit distributes spiritual gifts:

“to each one individually as she wills.”

(1 Corinthians 12:11)

The Spirit possesses a will.

She decides.

She distributes divine gifts according to Her own will.

In Second Corinthians

The Spirit gives life.

The new covenant is Her ministry.

And Paul declares:

“The Lord is the Spirit.”

Christians behold the glory of this Lord and are transformed by:

“the Lord, the Spirit.”

In Ephesians

Christians have access to the Father through Jesus:

“in one Spirit.”

The Spirit seals God's people.

The Church becomes God's dwelling place:

“in the Spirit.”

God is not merely above His children.

Through the Spirit, God lives in them.

In Hebrews

The Spirit speaks the words of Yahweh.

She testifies as Yahweh.

And Hebrews calls Her:

“the eternal Spirit.”

(Hebrews 9:14)

In Peter's Letters

The Spirit sanctifies God's people.

The Spirit inspired prophecy.

And Peter calls Her:

“the Spirit of glory and of God.”

In Revelation

The risen Jesus repeatedly tells the churches:

“Hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.”

At the end of the Bible, one of Scripture's final invitations to humanity comes from:

“The Spirit and the bride.”

They say:

“Come!”

(Revelation 22:17)

From Genesis to Revelation, the Spirit is there.

At creation:

the Spirit of God.

In the prophets:

the Spirit speaks.

In Jesus' ministry:

the Spirit empowers.

In the Church:

the Spirit indwells.

In sanctification:

the Spirit transforms.

In revelation:

the Spirit teaches.

In resurrection:

the Spirit gives life.

At the end of Scripture:

the Spirit calls humanity home.

This is not a force.

This is not a minor divine assistant.

This is God.

12. But Doesn't the Spirit Glorify Jesus Rather Than Herself?

Jesus says of the Spirit:

“She will glorify me.”

(John 16:14)

Someone could argue:

If the Spirit glorifies someone else rather than Herself, doesn't that mean She occupies a lower position?

I do not think so.

The Father also glorifies Jesus.

That does not make Jesus greater than the Father.

God's love does not operate through competition for attention.

The Spirit's willingness to glorify Christ reveals Her role in God's saving work; it does not establish a lesser divine nature.

Likewise, Jesus says that the Spirit:

“will not speak from herself.”

But again, role should not be confused with nature.

The same Spirit elsewhere:

distributes gifts as She wills,

commands the Church,

calls apostles for Her work,

forbids and permits missionary activity,

appoints overseers,

searches the depths of God,

creates,

gives life,

and is called:

“the Lord.”

Wisdom is likewise sent by God while simultaneously being called all-powerful, all-knowing, the fashioner of all things, the radiance of eternal light, and the one who can do all things.

Therefore, being sent cannot mean being a lesser kind of being.

It describes relationship and role.

13. Being Sent Does Not Mean Being Inferior

This is important because Scripture frequently describes the Father as sending the Spirit.

Some may therefore assume:

sender = greater

and:

sent one = lesser.

But that conclusion does not necessarily follow.

Two persons can be completely equal in nature, dignity, and value while taking different roles in a shared work.

Human marriage provides an imperfect but helpful analogy.

A husband and wife are equally human.

One is not 80% human while the other is 100% human because their roles in a family differ.

Different roles do not create different levels of humanity.

Likewise, if Scripture reveals the Father and Spirit as both possessing the attributes and identity of Yahweh, the fact that they relate to one another differently does not require one to be more God than the other.

The Father sends.

The Mother goes.

The Father gives.

The Mother indwells.

The Father is frequently presented as the One to whom Jesus directs prayer.

The Mother is frequently presented as the One who lives within God's children, teaches them, gives them life, sanctifies them, guides them, and transforms them.

Different roles.

One God.

14. Why Is the Father More Explicitly Addressed in the New Testament?

There is a real question here that should not simply be ignored.

The New Testament frequently directs prayer, thanksgiving, and explicit worship toward God the Father.

Jesus himself prays to the Father.

Jesus teaches his followers:

“Our Father in heaven…”

Paul repeatedly thanks God the Father.

So if the Spirit is equally God, why is She not named just as frequently as the explicit recipient of prayer?

Before answering that question, however, an important logical point should be made.

Equality of deity cannot be measured by counting verses, prayers, or mentions.

Equal representation would not prove that the Father and Spirit are equally God, and unequal representation cannot prove that one is less God than the other. Scripture gives far more attention to some people and themes than others for many different reasons.

The real question is not how often the Father and Spirit are named.

The real question is:

Who does Scripture say they are?

What identity does Scripture give them?

What attributes?

What works?

What authority?

What relationship do they have to the glory and worship of Yahweh?

Those questions are far more important than numerical representation.

I think two additional distinctions help.

First, frequency of explicit address does not determine deity.

If the Spirit is included within the identity of Yahweh, She is already included in the worship of the one God even when She is not separately named.

Psalm 95 is the clearest example.

Israel is commanded to worship Yahweh.

Hebrews identifies the divine speaker as the Holy Spirit.

Second, Scripture presents the Father and Spirit in different relational roles.

The New Testament particularly emphasizes our relationship to the Father through Jesus, while the Holy Spirit becomes God's indwelling presence within us.

Ephesians 2:18 captures this beautifully:

“Through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.”

Jesus brings us to the Father.

The Spirit enables and inhabits that relationship.

That difference in role does not make the Spirit less divine.

In fact, it may help explain why the Spirit is so often present in Christian prayer without being explicitly named as its destination.

Romans 8 portrays the Spirit Herself interceding within us.

Christians pray in the Spirit.

Christians live by the Spirit.

God's presence is not external to them.

She lives within them.

The separate question of whether Scripture therefore supports directly addressing the Holy Spirit in prayer deserves its own careful discussion, and I address that separately.

For this article, the narrower point is enough:

The absence of an equal number of explicit prayers beginning “Holy Spirit…” does not establish that the Holy Spirit possesses less divine glory or is less worthy of the worship belonging to Yahweh.

15. What About the Wisdom Literature? Isn't Prayer Still Directed to God?

Yes.

That should be acknowledged.

Wisdom 9, for example, is a prayer directed to God asking God to give and send Wisdom.

That passage does not show Solomon directly praying to Wisdom.

I do not want to claim more than the text establishes.

But notice what it does establish about the One being sent.

She sits beside God's throne.

She was with God at creation.

She knows God's works.

She knows all things.

She comes from God's glorious throne.

She guides humanity.

Elsewhere She is all-powerful, pervades everything, gives life, produces prophets, and can do all things.

So the prayer does not diminish Wisdom.

It actually gives us one of Scripture's most exalted descriptions of Her.

The question of direct prayer and the question of divine identity and worthiness of worship overlap, but they are not identical questions.

This article concerns the second.

And on that question, I think the cumulative evidence is extremely strong.

16. Are the Father and Mother Equal?

I believe so.

Not identical.

Equal.

The Father is not the Mother.

The Mother is not the Father.

They interact.

They love.

They work together.

One sends and another is sent in particular passages.

They fulfill different roles.

But Scripture attributes to the Holy Spirit realities that belong to God.

She is eternal.

She creates.

She gives life.

She is omnipresent in Her activity (Psalm 139:7–10).

She knows the deep things of God.

She can do all things.

She gives gifts as She wills.

She speaks with divine authority.

She sanctifies.

She inspires Scripture.

She gives life, including resurrection life.

She is lied to as God.

She speaks the words of Yahweh as Her own words.

She is the Lord.

She possesses and communicates divine glory.

She is the Spirit of glory.

She is the breath of God's power.

She is the radiance of eternal light.

She sits beside God's throne.

She comes from the throne of His glory.

She was present when God made the world.

And She is Mother.

None of this sounds like a lesser deity.

And biblical monotheism leaves no room for a lesser deity anyway.

The better conclusion, I believe, is the one the evidence has been pointing toward all along:

God is Father and Mother.

17. The Father and Mother Are Glorified Differently Throughout Scripture

There is also a beautiful larger pattern that I did not fully appreciate until studying all of this together.

Throughout much of the Old Testament, God is primarily revealed collectively as:

Yahweh.

The emphasis is the one God of Israel.

Within that revelation, however, the Spirit of God is continually present.

Then the Wisdom literature does something remarkable.

It brings Wisdom—whom I believe is the Holy Spirit—personally into view.

These books devote extraordinary attention to Her.

Her beauty.

Her glory.

Her power.

Her wisdom.

Her motherhood.

Her creative work.

Her place beside God's throne.

Her relationship with God.

Her work in humanity.

Then Jesus comes.

And Jesus particularly reveals:

the Father.

He speaks constantly about his Father.

He prays to his Father.

He teaches humanity to pray to the Father.

He reveals the Father's love.

He says eternal life is knowing:

“You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent.”

(John 17:3)

Through Jesus, the Father comes into extraordinary personal focus.

But Jesus does not erase the Mother.

Quite the opposite.

Jesus promises that after he leaves:

She will come.

She will live in God's children.

She will teach them.

She will guide them.

She will give them life.

She will transform them.

The Father is revealed to us.

The Mother comes to live within us.

I find that symmetry profoundly beautiful.

18. Equal Glory Does Not Require Equal Visibility

Perhaps the Holy Spirit's relative invisibility within much of Christian theology actually makes sense of Her biblical role.

The Spirit continually gives life to others.

She points people toward truth.

She glorifies Jesus.

She brings God's words to humanity.

She dwells quietly within God's children.

She teaches.

She comforts.

She sanctifies.

She transforms.

But a person who serves quietly is not less valuable than one whose role places that person more visibly at the center.

A mother can shape nearly every aspect of her children's lives while receiving less public attention than a father.

Her lesser visibility does not mean lesser worth.

And I increasingly wonder whether Christianity has made a serious mistake by confusing the Spirit's quieter role with a lesser identity.

The Bible does not treat Her as less worthy of divine glory.

Christian practice has often treated Her as though She were.

The Bible does not say women image God less fully.

We have often behaved as though they do.

The Bible does not describe divine femininity as weak.

Wisdom is all-powerful.

The Bible does not describe Her as passive.

She can do all things.

The Bible does not place Her far from God's throne.

She sits beside it.

The Bible does not separate Her from God's glory.

She is the radiance of eternal light, comes from the throne of God's glory, is called the Spirit of glory, and Paul identifies Her as the Lord whose glory Christians behold.

Perhaps the problem has never been a lack of biblical glory given to the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps we simply stopped seeing it.

Conclusion: God the Father and God the Mother

After studying the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture, including the evidence from my New Testament Study Bible, I believe the cumulative biblical picture is clear.

The Holy Spirit is not a lesser person within God.

She is not God's assistant.

She is not merely God's power.

She is not a created intermediary between God and humanity.

She is God.

Psalm 95 commands God's people to worship Yahweh their Maker, and Hebrews identifies the divine speaker of that Psalm as the Holy Spirit.

Second Corinthians places the Spirit in the Exodus encounter with Yahweh and says:

“The Lord is the Spirit.”

Christians behold: