The Holy Spirit is a distinct person from God the Father

A good beginning point here is to note the number of passages in the New Testament that mention all three persons of the Trinity together, often within the space of either one or two verses. The following is a list of such passages. It is not an exhaustive list as there are other passages where two of the persons are mentioned, but the presence of the third can be assumed by implication. Having listed these passages, I will look at several which are especially significant.

The very fact that so many passages can refer to each of the three persons of the Trinity, with each having a distinctive role in our salvation, is the strongest possible evidence that the Holy Spirit is distinct from God the Father, just as Jesus is distinct from God the Father.

The following passages are particularly significant:

At the baptism of Jesus we read, "...he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love...'"(Matthew 3:16:17). You will note that the Spirit descends on Jesus to empower him for his public ministry, while God the Father speaks from heaven.

Jesus' final commands to his disciples, recorded in Matthew's Gospel, includes the command to baptise converts, "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Baptism signifies our initiation into the divine family. I will explore some of the implications of this further in Part 2. Baptising "into the name" (literal translation) is a Hebrew form of expression. Note that it includes under a singular name not only the Father, but the Son and the Holy Spirit.

"In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us. For example, when we don't know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words. All our thoughts are known to God. He can understand what is in the mind of the Spirit, as the Spirit prays for God's people. We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him" (Romans 8:26-28). This passage expresses the remarkable truth that when our praying is prompted by the Holy Spirit we are caught up in the free and open communication that takes place between two members of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit and God the Father. Both of these desire our good. One writer, Martin Smith, puts it this way:

Our prayer is not making conversation with God. It is joining the conversation that is already going on in God. It is being invited to participate in the relationships of intimacy between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is an eternal dance already in full swing, and we are caught up in to it. Prayer is allowing ourselves to join the dance and experience the movements, the constant interplay of the Persons of the Trinity.