If the Holy Spirit is God, did God manifest Himself as a dove when Jesus was being baptized?
I appreciate your very good question, my dear friend. The Holy Spirit is indeed God, co-equal with the Father and the Son. However, I think it would be more correct to think of God being manifested to us in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ rather than His being manifested as a dove. God the Son did in fact become true man when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and this is why He was to be called “Emmanuel,” or “God with us” (see Matthew 1:23; Philippians 2:5-8). God came to earth and dwelled with man as a true man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, thus God was manifested to us as a true Man, the Son of God, Emmanuel. By way of contrast, we do not read that God became an actual dove at the baptism of Jesus in the same manner by which God the Son became a true Man, but that the Holy Spirit was visible “like” a dove. In Luke 3:22 we read: “And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him…”. We find a similar account in John 1:32 “And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him,” (see also Matthew 3:16). The Spirit came in “a bodily form” as a testimony to all who witnessed this, and to us who read the Scriptures, that Jesus is the Christ of God.
Thus, in conclusion, we do not read in these accounts that the Holy Spirit “became” a dove, but that He rested upon the Lord Jesus “in bodily form “like” a dove. The likeness of the Holy Spirit to a dove is, I believe, just that-the dove is a simile given to us in order to help us understand that the Holy Spirit had visibly descended upon the Lord Jesus, part of the testimony from heaven that He was the Christ of God.
It is interesting to note here that this permanent “abiding” of the Holy Spirit with men is not seen in the OLD TESTAMENT. We might read of the Holy Spirit coming upon various ones, but then, He did not necessarily remain with them (see 1 Samuel 16:14). This is why David prayed “…take not Thy Holy Spirit from me” (Psalms 51:11). But, praise God, we who are born again would never have to pray this kind of prayer because the indwelling of the Spirit for Christians is permanent when we are saved (see John 14:16). Now, as to the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Christians, in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, we read in verses 2 and 3: “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” You might note in this passage in Acts 2 that on this day, there was no likeness of a dove mentioned, but rather the coming of the Holy Spirit was heard and seen as the sound of a rushing wind and what appeared like cloven tongues of fire. After this account, I do not believe that we see the Holy Spirit mentioned again in a visible form, though He certainly does indwell believers and is active in our hearts (Romans 12:2; 1 Peter 1:23). (SF) (616.5)