What is the Holy Ghost?

Question

What function does the Holy Ghost have?

Answer 1

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity states there is one true God who is made up of three separate but equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

God, as the Holy Trinity, has always existed.

We know the least about the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost). Most of what we know is through His (or Her) actions. He is never at rest. Symbols of the Holy Spirit are a flame and a flying dove.

"No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." (1 Cor 2:11)

Now God's Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself.

The Spirit who "has spoken through the prophets" makes us hear the Father's Word, but we do not hear the Spirit himself.

We know him only in the movement by which he reveals the Word to us and disposes us to welcome him in faith.

The Spirit of truth who "unveils" Christ to us "will not speak on his own." (John 16:13)

Such properly divine self-effacement explains why "the world cannot receive [him], because it neither sees him nor knows him," while those who believe in Christ know the Spirit because he dwells with them. (John 14:17)

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

The "Holy Ghost" was Jesus as perceived by the Marcionites, a powerful early Christian sect. The function of the Holy Ghost, that is to say the reason it was added to the Catholic-Orthodox pantheon, was to reconcile the Marcionites to their enforced merger with the state church of the Late Roman Empire.

From A Previous Post:
"The first organized sect to emerge based around the worship of Jesus, the Marcionites, did not believe that Jesus had ever physically existed. When all the Christian sects were united at the Council of Nicaea, the Marcionite version of Jesus was incorporated into the new mythos as the so-called "Holy Spirit". It appears to have been a political compromise to get them to cease resisting and join the Roman state church (which still exists today as the Catholic & Orthodox sects). The description and attributes of the Holy Spirit in these sects are identical to those that Marcion ascribed to Jesus."

As to what it is now and/or what function it serves, you'd have to ask the believers; they're the ones who's belief in this symbolic entity gives it whatever reality it has.....

Nimadan

Answer 3

A gift from God. A Comforter, Counselor, Teacher. The Holy Spirit (Ghost) is given to every man to profit withal - or in every area of life.
The function of the Holy Ghost can be described in 1Cor. 12.

Answer 4

the holy ghost is what you feel when you been saved. the holy ghost is the third part of the trinity. Jesus, God, and The Holy Ghost, or The Holy Spirit. This is the part of God that you can feel.

Answer 5

The Holy Ghost, also known as the Holy Spirit is God within us.

Answer 6

The Third Divine person of the Holy Trinity. The Teacher, the giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and Son.

Two times in the Bible do we see the "Breath of God" at work. In Genesis God "Breathes life into Adam" and at the end of the Gospels, after the crucifixion and Resurrection, Jesus "Breathes" on the Apostles when he gives them Apostolic authority to loose and bind. This is the power of the Holy Spirit.

As the "Teacher", we are also supposed to pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us to understanding when we read Sacred Scripture to help us from coming up with bogus personal interpretations of what we read.

Answer 7

No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God."7 Now God's Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself. The Spirit who "has spoken through the prophets" makes us hear the Father's Word, but we do not hear the Spirit himself. We know him only in the movement by which he reveals the Word to us and disposes us to welcome him in faith. The Spirit of truth who "unveils" Christ to us "will not speak on his own."8 Such properly divine self-effacement explains why "the world cannot receive [him], because it neither sees him nor knows him," while those who believe in Christ know the Spirit because he dwells with them.9


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The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit:


in the Scriptures he inspired;

in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses;

in the Church's Magisterium, which he assists;

in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ;

in prayer, wherein he intercedes for us;

in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up;

in the signs of apostolic and missionary life;

in the witness of saints through whom he manifests his holiness and continues the work of salvation.

For a more thorough presentation on theHoly Spirit go to this link:
http://www.usccb.org/catechism

Peace and every blessing!

Answer 8

The spirit of God.Teacher of the Word,comforter,leads others to Jesus.<><

Answer 9

To tell what comes from God...The Truth only

Answer 10

Non-existent, so you don't have to worry about it.