Why is the third person of the Trinity called the Holy Spirit? Today, R.C. Sproul explains that one reason lies in the Spirit’s redemptive work of making us holy in our sanctification.
Why is He called the Holy Spirit? Well, there are a couple of reasons for that, not the least of which is that that term_ holy_ as it refers to the Spirit certainly has a view to the particular task that the Spirit performs in our redemption. It is the Holy Spirit who principally is the actor among the Trinity working for our sanctification, for enabling that process by which we are being conformed to the image of Christ by which we are being made holy.
So often I hear Christians ask me, “What’s the will of God for my life?” Or they will speak of being led by the Spirit. And I try to direct them to the pages of the Scripture and say, “Please try to hear what the Scripture says, and don’t try to just simply listen to the terminology or the jargon of your Christian subculture where you live.” Yes, the Holy Spirit at times leads people from place to place, to specific destinations or to a specific task. But the primary leading of the Spirit in Scripture is leading where? To holiness. And what is the principal will of God for your life? Is it to marry Susie or Sally or Janet? No, the principal will of God for your life—if you want to know the will of God for your life, the Scriptures tell us, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3, KJV). And that is an enterprise that takes place in conjunction with, in cooperation with, the power and the presence and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
