Within the Trinity, we have a picture of equality and roles. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. All important. None less than the others. What can women learn from the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives? How can we reflect Him in our marriages, homes, and communities?
In this post I reflect on some attributes of God the Holy Spirit, not because there is anything feminine about it (we relate to God as thoroughly MALE), but because it is one part of a unit just as we are – if yet in our own limited and imperfect way.
Holy Spirit the Helper
John 14:26 – But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
John 14:15,16 – If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth
John 16:7 – Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you
Genesis 2:18 – And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Woman was created by God to help man in his calling to rule and subdue the earth. Adam had a mission and it was not good for him to do it alone,. So woman was made to help him!
Another man would have also been helpful to an extent, but God made a helper “meet”, or suitable, for him. Women are perfectly suited for this role, in part, because we are not exactly the same.
Nor is the Holy Spirit exactly the same as God the Father. We interact with it a bit differently and it has a different role in our lives. Slightly different, yet suitable and helpful and more helpful than the one alone. God is not lacking and it would be just fine if God the Father were alone. However, as reflected in man and women, the Holy Spirit is a “force multiplier”, if you will, as a good woman is for her man.
The Teacher
John 14:26 – But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Deut 6:7 – And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Deut 4:9 – Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
Prov 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
As the Holy Spirit has a teaching role, so do women. The family is the first place where teaching needs to take place between mothers and children. Of course, this happens through the guidance of the husband.
Although you may be enforcing many rules and carrying out vision made by your husband, you have the privilege of spending most of the teaching hours with the children, especially in their early years at home with mom. There are invaluable things children can only learn from dad. At times it will feel like he is the superhero of the house and you are moldy cheese to them despite your grueling work, but never diminish the work of teaching your children! You not only must, but get to, teach them about the Lord, daily life, and the world.
Titus 2:2, 4 – The aged women likewise….that they may teach the younger…
Later on in life, God may place you in a community where you can mentor, guide, and disciple younger women in their roles as ladies for God’s kingdom. They may be single, married, mothers, or barren. Whatever stage in life, you will pass down some wisdom to them as you teach the next generation. It is important not to neglect the cycle of teaching and learning in the body of Christ.
Holy Spirit the Comforter
“Helper” can also be translated as comforter.
This is something women are specially equipped for as we have extra sensitivity to feelings and emotions. Most women feel things more deeply. This helps up to sympathize, empathize, and comfort others.
It’s wonderful for children, especially to have a comforting presence in their life as fathers are more equipped to lead and guide with less emotion. This can seem cold (it’s not necessarily), so having both is beneficial to children.
Holy Spirit Alongside
Verses translated “comforter” or “counselor” are from the Greek word parakletos which literally means “one called to the side of another”.
It is one of three ways the Holy Spirit interacts with us – other ways being epi “upon”, and en “in/within”.
Being alongside can remind us of how Eve was made from Adam’s side (Genesis 2:21). She was created specifically to be alongside him, not under or behind him.
Holy Spirit the Unnamed Servant
In Genesis 24 we have the account of Abraham’s servant being charged with seeking and bringing back a wife for Isaac. The symbolism (typology) of Abraham as God the Father, Isaac and the Son, the unnamed servant as the Holy Spirit whose job it was to find and bring back Rebecca (bride of Christ) for a marriage is so beautiful.
It’s really fun to jot a note down as you read through the whole bible and see how many unnamed servants are mentioned. Notice if you can see any reflections of the work of the Holy Spirit in them.
It’s awfully unpopular to speak for women as servants, but for the Christian, we are all servants, not just women. We are first servants of Christ, and then married women serve Christ by serving their families. The Lord can also show other ways to serve your community and local church body.
The fact that many servants in the bible go unnamed shows humility and submission to their authority. They were not going in their own name, but their masters’.
Before “master” sounds oppressive, let me point out that servants were very commonplace in Bible times. Abraham, for example, was a very wealthy man with many servants, land, and animals to look over. Being a servant in his house was a job (a hired servant), not the same as being sold as a slave (bondservant).
The Bible even speaks of servants that love their masters so much that they pledge to stay in their household for life instead of going free when it was their appointed time for such. Similarly, this is our life as servants to God. We have pledged to stay with Him because He is GOOD and we don’t want to be elsewhere!
In a similar way, we are bonded to our husbands to serve them and their household. It becomes our household to care for and look after. What a blessing! When we serve with humility, there is peace in the home. Souls are nourished and ministered to, and God’s kingdom is expanded.
Holy Spirit the Interceder
Roman 8:26 – Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Have your kids ever asked you something and you told them, “I have to ask/talk to daddy”? This is kind of like interceding. You are going between. Your children also have their own relationship with their father, but many times, you go between.
Oftentimes, I have found myself giving field reports on the children to my husband who is simply not in the home as much to collect the info himself. I have been able to give nuance to situations that might be met with too severe of correction because it looks different with my added insight. Other times, I am able to help the kids express to daddy things they aren’t quite sure or mature enough how to say.
I enjoy this role as go-between very much. I feel important and helpful to everyone!
Holy Spirit Bears Fruit
Gal 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Psalm 127:3 – Lo, children [are] an heritage of the LORD: [and] the fruit of the womb [is his] reward.
Physically, we have the blessing as women to bear the fruit of the womb. It is the beautiful result of the union with our husbands. It reflects the spiritual truth that when you fellowship – koinonia – “know” (Old Testament phrase for sex) God intimately, when you become one with Him, you bear fruit. He plants the seed (His Word – Jesus His Son) and it grows in you and you bear it.
We do not have a physical or erotic union with God. Simply, our spiritual union with Him is reflected in our physical marriage union.
Holy Spirit the Gift
Acts 2:38 – And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
1 Cor 6:19 – Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own
John 14:15, 16 – If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth
Luke 11:13 – If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
As the Holy Spirit is a gift to us, so is a godly woman a gift to a man. Eve was brought, like a gift is brought, to Adam by God. The Proverbs 31 woman is a gift to her husband because she enhances his reputation, manages and expands his income, cares for his household, and he can safely trust in her.
Proverbs 18:22 tells us “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”
Proverbs 12:4 says that an excellent wife is the crown of her husband
Lastly, Proverbs 19:14 House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord
Now, you won’t be much of a gift if you don’t cultivate the skills and spiritual growth necessary, but the design and opportunity is there. Take it!
Holy Spirit the Gift Giver
As there are the gifts of the Spirit, women also reflect this attribute to give. We tend to love picking out gifts, wrapping them up beautifully, and watching our loved ones open them. Their reaction is the best part, right?!
And not that I condone this media, but men are usually the butt of “bad gift giving” jokes because they have a different angle on it. They are usually… uncomfortably practical. They are even more prone to forget altogether that a gift occasion is coming up.
Once, a family member got his wife the most hilarious Christmas gift – a mutli-colored plunger! His reason: “well, she’s the ones that cleans the toilets!” Very true, very true. A good gift…..? The world will never know. It seems like the world’s worst gift ever… but we reminisce about this occasion every year with great fondness.
Personally, I think ladies take the cake with gifting skills.
Holy Spirit Under Headship/Authority
John 16:13 – When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority
Last, but certainly not least, is a brief look at women under headship.
Eph 5:22-23 – Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
1 Peter 3:1 – Likewise, ye wives, [be] in subjection to your own husbands
1 Tim 2:12 – But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man
Col 3:18 – Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
The point here is simple. Wives’ submission to their husband is a reflection of the Holy Spirit acting under God’s authority. It is hard for our finite minds to try to understand. The Holy Spirit is just as God as the Father, yes! But, somehow, there is a mystery (as Paul calls the church submitting to Christ). Thankfully, it will be revealed to us one day how he is submitted to the Father.
In Closing
In closing, I hope you enjoyed reading these reflections of the Holy Spirit in the lives of women. We have so much to learn, but God’s grace.
Remember, it is not that the Holy Spirit is a feminine figure, but that there are attributes of his which we can learn from. Another day you will read about attributes of the Father and the Son that we reflect also (and similarly, not because we are masculine like they are).
Are you unsure about the Holy Spirit in your own life? Ephesians 1:13 tell us that “In Christ ye also trusted after ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, in Whom also after ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise..” The Bible teaches that once you get saved (born again), the Holy Spirit dwells in us, sealing us into God’s Kingdom. Nothing can undo this seal, and nothing can breech it either , such as demons trying to possess us.
There is much more to learn about the Holy Spirit, but his is just the starting point for believers these days. If you are not a believer, unsure, or don’t know what that means, check out Are You A Christian?
