🤔 Is the Holy Spirit God or just God's power in action? This question cuts to the heart of Christian theology.

📖 In Acts 3, Peter makes it clear: when Ananias lies to the Holy Spirit, he lies to God directly.

🧵 Think of theology like a tapestry rather than a box of Legos. With Legos, you can remove pieces you don't like without affecting the whole structure. But in a tapestry, pulling one thread can unravel the entire image.

⚠️ When we question whether the Holy Spirit is truly God, we start down a path that often leads to questioning whether Jesus is God too.

🌫️ Soon, God becomes an abstract force rather than a personal being.

💦 We're baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This isn't random – it reflects a deep truth about God's nature — that God is a Trinity.

✝️ Jesus is both fully God and fully human, and the Holy Spirit is fully God too. Yes, this is complex. Our human mathematics (1+1+1=3) doesn't work here because God transcends our limited understanding (1+1+1=1).

👥 We see the distinct roles of the Trinity throughout scripture: God the Son died on the cross (not the Father or Spirit), while the Holy Spirit works through preaching and sacraments today.

🙏 When you're baptized, it's God claiming you.

❤️ As the Small Catechism states, we can't even believe in Jesus through our own effort; it's the Holy Spirit who calls us through the gospel and maintains our faith.

📜 This is why the Church holds firmly to the three creeds (Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian) that clearly express the Trinity.

📚 While the word "Trinity" isn't in the Bible, the reality it describes – one God existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is woven throughout scripture.

💫 Understanding the Holy Spirit as God isn't just theological hairsplitting – it's essential to understanding who God is and how He works in us and his church.

Contributor Rev. Harrison Goodman is the Higher Things Content Executive.

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