Jesus has many descriptive names and titles – Alpha & Omega, Bread of Life, Chief Cornerstone, Good Shepherd, Head of the Church, Emmanuel, Lamb of God, Redeemer, and so on.

The Holy Spirit also has many descriptive names and titles – Spirit of Adoption, Spirit of Judgment, Spirit of Glory, Spirit of Grace, Spirit of Wisdom, Spirit of Prophecy, Spirit of the Fear of the Lord, and more.

But the Holy Spirit is still most often called plainly “the Holy Spirit”.

We might overlook the obvious, starting with the article “the” rather than “a”.

The English language describes something indefinite with the article “a”. A book in a shop, a flower in a garden, and a student in a school refers to any book in a shop, any flower in a garden, and any student in a school.

In describing something definite, the English language uses the article “the”. The bank, the school, the person, the country refers to a particular bank, a particular school, a particular person, a particular country.

This is an important distinction in understanding the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not just any spirit. There are many spirits – angel spirits, demon spirits, human spirits.

Rather, the Holy Spirit is separate, distinct, unique from other spirits. God the Holy Spirit is particularly “the” Spirit of God and “the” Spirit of Jesus.

There is only “one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13). He is not “a” holy spirit. He is “the” one and only Holy Spirit. He is unique. He is fully God. There is no other.

And “the” Holy Spirit is God’s Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity: Equal in nature. United as one God. Distinct as a Person. Different in role and function.

For more than two decades, Angelo Dundee was the cornerman for the famous boxer Muhammad Ali. As the cornerman, he made Ali float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Dundee was also a boxing coach for fifteen other world boxing champions.

Angelo Dundee described his job as a cornerman this way: “When you’re working with a fighter, you’re a surgeon, an engineer, and a psychologist.”

As Christ followers, we have something even better than a surgeon-engineer-psychologist in our corner – the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the Helper, the Comforter, the Advocate, the Counselor, the One who comes alongside to help us in our time of need (John 14:26).