The Holy Spirit
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50 free The Holy Spirit trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Christians call the Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity, yet for many people the Spirit is the least familiar of the three. The Holy Ghost, as older English has it, runs through the whole of Scripture, from the opening lines of Genesis to the day of Pentecost and the letters of Paul. This quiz follows that thread. It covers the Spirit in the Old Testament, in the ministry of Jesus and in the book of Acts, then turns to the gifts and fruit of the Spirit, charisms, and the doctrines and church traditions that grew up around them. It is written for Sunday school classes, youth groups, small-group leaders and anyone studying what the Scriptures say about the Spirit. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you can play it straight through or print it for a group.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Luke's account of the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit descends in bodily form like which bird?
Dove
Dove imagery for the Spirit comes from this scene, recorded in all four Gospels, where a voice from heaven then tells Jesus, 'with you I am well pleased'.
Q 02When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost in Acts 2, what seemed to come to rest on each believer?
Tongues of fire
Tongues of fire appeared after a sound like a violent wind filled the house, and the believers then began speaking in languages they had never learned.
Q 03What did mockers in the crowd at Pentecost accuse the Spirit-filled apostles of being?
Drunk
Drunk on 'too much wine' was the jibe, and Peter replied that it was only nine in the morning before preaching his first sermon.
Q 04Which sin against the Spirit did Jesus say would not be forgiven in this age or the age to come?
Blasphemy
Blasphemy against the Spirit is often called the unforgivable sin, and Jesus named it after Pharisees claimed he drove out demons by the power of Beelzebul.
Q 05Which angel told the virgin Mary that the Holy Spirit would come on her and she would bear a son?
Gabriel
Gabriel added that 'the power of the Most High will overshadow you', and Mary answered, 'I am the Lord's servant.'
Q 06Warning against sexual immorality, Paul tells the Corinthians the body is what of the Holy Spirit?
A temple
A temple of the Holy Spirit is Paul's image in 1 Corinthians 6, and he follows it with 'You are not your own; you were bought at a price.'
Q 07Where did the Spirit lead Jesus right after his baptism, to be tempted by the devil for forty days?
The wilderness
The wilderness was no detour: Mark says the Spirit 'sent him out' there at once, and he stayed among the wild animals while angels attended him.
Q 08Pentecost, from the Greek for 'fiftieth', falls that many days after which Christian festival?
Easter
Easter Sunday is counted as day one, so Pentecost always falls on a Sunday too, and Greek-speaking Jews first used the name for the harvest festival of Shavuot.
Q 09Which judge of Israel tore a lion apart bare-handed when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him?
Samson
Samson is empowered the same way in Judges 15, when his ropes fall away and he strikes down a thousand men with the fresh jawbone of a donkey.
Q 10Which 1611 English Bible, still widely read, typically calls the Holy Spirit the 'Holy Ghost'?
King James Version
The King James Version says 'Holy Ghost' because the Old English gast meant spirit, and modern Bibles switched partly because 'ghost' came to mean only the spirit of a dead person.
Q 11Which Pharisee visited Jesus by night and was told that he must be born of the Spirit?
Nicodemus
Nicodemus was baffled, so Jesus compared the Spirit to the wind, which 'blows wherever it pleases' though no one can tell where it comes from.
Q 12Which letter of Paul lists joy, peace, kindness and gentleness among the fruit of the Spirit?
Galatians
Galatians sets the fruit of the Spirit against a darker list of 'acts of the flesh' that includes hatred, jealousy and fits of rage.
Q 13The term charism, used for a gift of the Holy Spirit, comes from the Greek charis, meaning what?
Grace
Grace is the root idea, since a charism is a favour freely given, and the same Greek family of words gave English 'charisma'.
Q 21Which of the Spirit's seven gifts shares its name with a cardinal virtue and concerns courage?
Fortitude
Fortitude, for Thomas Aquinas, meant endurance as much as bravery: firmness of mind both in doing good and in enduring evil.
Q 22The seven gifts of the Spirit come from which prophet's vision of a shoot from Jesse's stump?
Isaiah
Isaiah's Hebrew text names only six qualities, and the seventh, piety, entered the list through the ancient Greek translation.
Q 23Which prophet's promise, 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people', did Peter quote at Pentecost?
Joel
Joel had pictured sons and daughters prophesying, young men seeing visions and old men dreaming dreams, and Peter announced that the day had come.
Q 14Which relative of Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit as her unborn baby leaped at Mary's greeting?
Elizabeth
Elizabeth then exclaimed, 'Blessed are you among women', a greeting that was later woven into the Hail Mary prayer.
Q 15In which city did the risen Jesus tell his apostles to wait for the promised gift of the Spirit?
Jerusalem
Jerusalem was where the Spirit came days later, among crowds that included visitors from Rome, Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Q 16After listing spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians, which quality does Paul rank above faith and hope?
Love
Love outlasts every gift in Paul's argument: prophecies will cease and knowledge will pass away, yet love 'never fails'.
Q 17In the armour Paul urges Christians to put on, what does the sword of the Spirit stand for?
The word of God
The word of God is the only weapon in the kit: the belt, breastplate, shield and helmet that Paul lists alongside it are all for protection.
Q 18Which prophet saw a valley of dry bones rise again as God promised, 'I will put my Spirit in you'?
Ezekiel
Ezekiel heard the bones rattle together and watched them stand up as 'a vast army', a picture of exiled Israel being brought home.
Q 19Which ruler begged God not to take the Holy Spirit from him after his adultery with Bathsheba?
David
David made the plea in Psalm 51, one of only three places where the Hebrew Bible uses the exact phrase 'holy spirit'.
Q 20In Catholic teaching, which sacrament completes baptism and strengthens the Spirit's seven gifts?
Confirmation
Confirmation is called chrismation in Eastern churches, where it is given to infants immediately after baptism rather than years later.
Q 24Which couple fell dead in Acts after Peter said they had lied to the Holy Spirit over a land sale?
Ananias and Sapphira
Ananias and Sapphira kept back part of the money while appearing to give it all, yet Peter said the land and its price had been theirs to keep.
Q 25Which first Christian martyr, full of the Holy Spirit, saw heaven open just before he was stoned?
Stephen
Stephen died praying, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them', while his killers left their coats at the feet of the future apostle Paul.
Q 26Which sin is named after the sorcerer who offered Peter money for the power to give the Spirit?
Simony
Simony, the buying or selling of church offices, recalls Simon Magus of Samaria, whom Peter told, 'May your money perish with you'.
Q 27What does Paul say the Spirit of adoption leads believers to cry out?
Abba
Abba, Aramaic for father, is the same intimate address Jesus used when he prayed in Gethsemane on the night of his arrest.
Q 28In the second verse of Genesis, before light is created, the Spirit of God is hovering over what?
The waters
The waters lay in darkness over an earth still 'formless and empty', in what is the Bible's first mention of the Spirit of God.
Q 29What did the risen Jesus do to his disciples in John 20 as he said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'?
Breathed on them
Jesus breathed on them behind locked doors on the evening of his resurrection, then added, 'If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven.'
Q 30Which doctrine holds that spiritual gifts such as prophecy and healing ended with the apostolic age?
Cessationism
Cessationism took shape among Calvinists during the Reformation, as a reply to Catholic claims that miracles proved their church's authority.