2. The spirit of God

This is pure, perfect and limitless. God by His spirit is creating a world which is perfect (see Genesis 1:1; Psalm 104:30), and which will be inhabited eventually by His children, who are men and women influenced by His spirit, and who will at the end be made perfect when Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, returns. The spirit of God also describes God's character, His principles and His purpose, which are revealed to us in the word of God and in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ (see Romans 8:1-17; 1 Corinthians 2:5-16; Colossians 1:9-12).

In the Old Testament the Hebrew word ruach is translated into English (in the KJV) as 'Spirit' (240 times). It is also translated 'wind' (92 times), 'breath' (25 times), 'life', 'mind', and in other ways. In the New Testament the word pneuma is translated 'spirit', or 'Holy Spirit' in the sense of the power of God, 217 times, and 151 times it is translated as 'breath'. This close link between 'spirit', 'wind', and 'breath' and 'life' in both the Old and New Testaments shows that the 'spirit of God' is God's invisible power which is everywhere, and is the power through which God gives us life. It makes us live physically, and can raise us to spiritual awareness of God through the knowledge of His will:

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding…giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light." (Colossians 1:9-12).