So it didn’t take me a year this time to make the next entry. Here’s (some of) what the book of Acts has to reveal to us about the Holy Spirit.
It starts with Jesus telling his disciples / apostles that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes and then they will tell people about him throughout the entire world (Acts 1:8). I’m going to jump off here because one of the fascinating things I found in my reading was that whenever the Holy Spirit gave direction, or prevented it, (see 8:29, 10:19, 13:2, 16:6-7, and 20:22) it was usually partial. Go here or there, go with these people, talk to that person etc. But what always happened after that was a sharing of the gospel. So my first take away is that when the Holy Spirit directs a person somewhere, it is for the purpose of sharing the gospel and making Jesus known. The other interesting point about direction is that in 20:22 Paul says he is bound / compelled by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, but then in 21:4 there are other believers who through the Spirit urge Paul not to go to Jerusalem and in 21:11 a very specific prophecy (from the Holy Spirit) telling Paul he’ll be bound and handed over in Jerusalem, but not giving him specific direction on whether he should go or not. All that to say, reading the book of Acts has shown that this whole being directed by the Holy Spirit thing is much less clear than I’d like it to be. Beyond direction we also see the Holy Spirit linked with boldness (4:13, 4:31), joy (13:52), and wisdom (6:3,10). We see that it is there to be a witness to Jesus (5:32).
As for the powers or abilities the Holy Spirit gives, we see tongues ( 2:4, 10:46, 19:6), speaking through both OT ( 4:25, 26:25) and contemporary (to the book of Acts at least) prophets (11:28, 21:11). We also see other things like exposing lies (5:3), making a person disappear (8:39), and publicly calling out specific people for service (13:2). The Holy Spirit also signified God’s acceptance of people (15:8) and was considered a partner in making major decisions (15:28) and appointing elders / overseers (20:28). As far as being filled with the Holy Spirit, it is talked about as both a characteristic long term kind of thing ( 6:5, 11:24) and an in the moment kind of thing (4:8, 7:55, 13:9).
So what I’ve really gathered from Acts is that the Holy Spirit is certainly a lot bigger than a few specific gifts. And being directed by the Holy Spirit is not a simple thing. I also wonder if everyone knew it was the Holy Spirit when the book was being written, or if it is only in retrospect that people are like “Yeah, that was the Holy Spirit doing that.”