THE HOLY SPIRIT

I. The Holy Spirit Is a Person

One of the distinguishing marks of a Christian is his belief in the Holy Spirit as a Person. From the early days of the church to present-day Modernism, there have been those who have denied the personality of the Spirit in one form or another. Many so-called Christian preachers and theologians refer to the Spirit as an “it,” and not as a “he.” They consider him to be an impersonal influence or power or energy, and not the third Person of the Trinity. Such a view would rob us of some of the great blessings of our salvation. Furthermore, it is not Biblical.
In several ways the Bible reveals to us that the Spirit is a Person. First of all, it attributes to him a mind, will, and emotions, which are exclusively characteristics of a person. Impersonal objects do not have these qualities, but the Spirit of God does. Paul presupposes that the Spirit has a mind when he writes that “the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:10, 11). Here Paul ascribes to the Holy Spirit knowledge, which an influence or a power does not have, but a person does. The Bible also pictures the Spirit as possessing the personal quality of a will. We read that when Paul, Silas, and Timothy wanted to go to Bithynia, “the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to” (Acts 16:7). And in I Corinthians 12:11 Paul tells us that the Spirit gives many gifts to Christians, “just as he determines.” As far as emotions are concerned, Ephesians 4:30 assumes that the Spirit can have grief, for it commands us, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.”
A second way in which the Bible reveals that the Spirit is a Person is by placing him in juxtaposition with other persons. For instance, we know that the Father and Son are Persons, and so when Jesus speaks of baptizing disciples “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19), he indicates thereby that the Holy Spirit is a Person, too, just as the Father and the Son are. James, in authorizing certain instructions to the early church, wrote, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements” (Acts 15:28). He very clearly considers the Holy Spirit a Person capable of the same thoughts and ideas as he and the apostles had.
Furthermore, it would be a meaningless redundancy to say that Jesus returned from the wilderness “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14) if the Spirit were simply an impersonal power. Read the phrase again, substituting the word power for Spirit.
How thankful we must be that the Spirit is a Person! For it is just because he is a Person that he can convict us of sin and thereby lead us to God, dwell within us and give us power over sin, inspire the Bible and illuminate our minds so that we can understand it, guide us so that we know what the will of God is for us, lead us in prayer, and call ministers, elders, and deacons as office-bearers of the church.
Just because the Holy Spirit is a Person we may also react unfavorably toward him. We may resist, grieve, despise, and blaspheme him. This is displeasing to him, and it will surely work harm for us. May we never deny the personality of the Spirit, but believe in him and experience the blessings that can come to us because of this fact.

II. The Holy Spirit Is a Divine Person

Some have believed that the Holy Spirit is a Person, but they have considered him to be a created personality, and not God himself. They have realized that the Spirit is not an impersonal “it,” but they have considered him to be inferior to the Father. The Bible, however, attributes to the Holy Spirit not only personal characteristics, but also divine qualities. These divine attributes mark the Holy Spirit as being God.
According to the Scriptures, the Spirit of God is omnipotent, for he has his role in creation (Gen. 1:2), in providence (Ps. 104:30), in the supernatural conception of Jesus (Luke 1:35), in regeneration, and in the equipping of each Christian with spiritual gifts.
He is also omniscient, as Isaiah intimates when he asks: “Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor has taught him? With whom did he take counsel, and who instructed him and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?” (40:13, 14). Paul would have us believe the same thing when he writes that “the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (I Cor. 2:10).
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit may be characterized as being omnipresent. The psalmist eloquently asks: “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” (Ps. 139:7). He says that he can never escape the Spirit’s presence, not even if he ascends to heaven, or descends to Sheol, or flees to the seas, or hides in the blackness of the night. The Spirit is everywhere. In the New Testament we read that the Spirit dwells in believers, and the great number of Christians does not hinder him from being present in each one.
Hebrews 9:14 tells us that Christ “through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God” thus ascribing to the Holy Spirit the divine quality of eternity.
Another proof of the deity of the Spirit is to be found, in the fact that both the Old and New Testaments at times interchange the phrase “the Spirit said” and the phrase “the LORD said.”
Lastly, the mere coupling of the name of the Holy Spirit with the names of the Father and the Son, as in the great commission (Matt. 28:19) or in the apostolic benediction (II Cor. 13:14), shows that the Spirit is put on the same level as, the other two Persons and, therefore, is considered to be divine. It would be most incongruous to couple the name of a created being with that of the Godhead in such tightly knit expressions.
The fact of the deity of the Holy Spirit is important for us. If he were not God, he could not perform his beautiful work in creation, or his authoritative work in inspiration, or his illuminating work in men’s minds. Neither could he have overcome our depravity to regenerate, indwell, and sanctify us. We may well be grateful that he is not a finite being but a divine Person.