For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit
searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men
knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit
of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10-11)
Only persons "know" things. Electricity "knows" nothing, experiences nothing. Yet the Spirit knows the thoughts of God (the greatest
task to which the creature man can be called). We dare not miss what
else this means: The thoughts of God are infinite even as He is infinite.
Therefore, the Spirit must likewise be omniscient, an attribute of deity
itself.
The Spirit is likewise sovereign in His rule in the church. He sets
apart elders and overseers in the congregation:
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which
the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of
God which He purchased with His own blood. (Acts 20:28)
An overseer (elder, bishop) is one who truly holds that office at the
will of the Spirit, who guides and directs the church. Only a person
can appoint elders with wisdom so as to meet the needs of the church.
The Spirit is also a witness:
And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit,
whom God has given to those who obey Him" (Acts 5:32).
Another striking evidence of the personality of the Spirit is His role
in bringing the very love of God for His people into their lives.
... and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has
been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who
was given to us. (Romans 5:5)
The love of God has been poured out in the hearts of the redeemed
by the means of the Holy Spirit. How can such an assertion be understood apart from the personhood of the Spirit? Can love be poured
into our hearts by electricity? Flowing water? Nameless, faceless cosmic
forces? Love, by its very nature, requires that the one bearing it be
personal. Otherwise, it becomes something far less than the true love of God. Paul takes up this theme elsewhere:
Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the
love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to
God for me. (Romans 15:30)
The "love of the Spirit" was as common and understandable a reality to the Roman believers as was the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There simply is no reason to believe that the Spirit was not viewed in
as personal a category as the Lord himself. That is why Matthew would
record these words of the Lord Jesus without ever thinking them
strange:
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit"
(Matthew 28:19).
It is self-evident that the Father is a person; so also is the Son. How,
then, could two persons share a single name with a nonperson, a mere
force? The willingness of the Scripture writers to associate the Spirit
in this way with both the Father and the Son is plain evidence of His
personality.
Another of the many ways in which the personality of the Spirit is
shown comes to us from Jesus' teaching on the "unpardonable sin."
Both Matthew and Mark record the Lord's words:
"Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be
forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall
not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come" (Matthew 12:31-32).
"Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men,
and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an
eternal sin" (Mark 3:28-29).
Everyone would recognize exactly what the Lord is speaking of when He refers to "speaking a word against the Son of Man." The Pharisees had been doing this all through His ministry. Their words of blasphemy had been directed at Him personally. In the same way, then, the
words spoken "against the Holy Spirit" are placed in direct parallel
with the words spoken against the Son of Man. We have no reason to
believe that there would be any less personal element in their blasphemy when speaking of the Spirit than when speaking of the Son.
They were attributing the work of Christ in doing good to evil sources.
Jesus points out that in reality they are accusing the Holy Spirit of God
of doing the very deeds of the devil. Such an action shows such spiritual blindness and perversity that the Lord warns that they are committing an "eternal sin" by blaspheming the Spirit of God.
Not only can someone blaspheme the Spirit, they can insult Him
as well:
How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve
who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as
unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and
has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:29)
Likewise, the Spirit can be grieved:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed
for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)
An impersonal force cannot be grieved, pained, or injured, nor can
a mere "force" or "power" seal believers for the day of redemption.
And it was a serious accusation made by Stephen against the Jewish
people when he accused them of resisting the Holy Spirit:
"You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and
ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your
fathers did" (Acts 7:51).
But the single greatest indisputable testimony to the personality
(and, in fact, the deity) of the Holy Spirit is found in His giving gifts
to believers in the church. Paul explained to the Corinthians that there are different kinds of gifts given to members of the body of Christ, yet
there is only one church, one body. One of the ways the unity of the
church is seen is that there is only one source of these gifts: the Spirit
of God. He emphasizes this truth in explaining the various manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit:
... to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of
healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles,
and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of
spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the
interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all
these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
(1 Corinthians 12:9-11)
There is only one Spirit bringing all the gifts to the redeemed. And
He does this, not on the basis of how we think the gifts should be given,
but instead He gives them "just as He wills." The word translated
"wills" is the Greek term boulomai. It is used only of persons and refers
to the volitional act of the will. For example, the Son wills to reveal
the Father to His people:
"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no
one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the
Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills (bou-
lomai) to reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27).
Likewise, the Father "wills" using the same term:
In the same way God, desiring (boulomai) even more to show
to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose,
interposed with an oath. (Hebrews 6:17)
So if we can plainly see that the Son's willing is an act of a person,
and the Father's willing is likewise the act of a person, how can we
possibly avoid recognizing that the Spirit sovereignly and wisely gives
His gifts to the church just as He wills to do so, and that this makes
Him, inarguably, a person?
There is one concept used of the Spirit that is often thrown out as
evidence against His personhood. We often hear, "The Spirit cannot
be a person, because we are baptized in the Spirit, and hence, you can't
be baptized in a person, but in a substance or a force." Yet, in reality,
the Bible speaks of our being baptized into Christ Jesus in Romans 6:3
and Galatians 3:27, and neither passage is ever cited to make the point
that Jesus is not a person. All through the New Testament we are said
to be "in Christ" or "in Him," and this is never taken to mean that
Jesus is not a person. Likewise, being baptized in the Holy Spirit does
not deny He is a person-rather, it speaks to His omnipresence and
spirituality.
THE SPIRIT AS GOD
It can be well argued that once the personality of the Spirit is established, the argument about His deity is over. The "Spirit of God"
who is said to be omnipresent (Psalm 139:7), omniscient (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), and active in the very creation itself (Genesis 1:2;
Psalm 104:30) hardly fits the description of some kind of lesser being.
But the fact that this Spirit shares the one divine name with the Father
and the Son (Matthew 28:19) makes His deity indisputable.
Yet there are a number of references to the deity of the Spirit that
should be noted, especially since there are so many who denigrate the
Spirit's glory and deny His rightful honor. The most often cited passage
is found in the words of the apostle Peter:
But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie
to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?
While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after
it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have
conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but
to God." (Acts 5:3-4)
To whom did Ananias lie? To the Holy Spirit, or to God? Both, for
to lie to the Spirit is to lie to God.
Another group of witnesses falls into the same pattern as those that
testify to the fact that the Son is Yahweh. That is, we find the New Testament writers applying passages to the Spirit that were originally
written about Yahweh. Yahweh's words in the Old Testament become
the Spirit's words in the New. For example, we again find the temple
vision of Isaiah being used by the New Testament to reveal the richness
of the nature and character of God. The very same passage from the
commission of Isaiah is cited again, this time by Paul. In Isaiah Yahweh
speaks and sends His prophet to the people with a message of doom
(Isaiah 6:9). But note Paul's application:
And when they did not agree with one another, they began
leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word, "The Holy Spirit
rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying,
`GO TO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY, "YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT
WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL
NOT PERCEIVE"'" (Acts 28:25-26).
It might immediately be objected that Paul is not intending to say
that the Spirit literally spoke the words quoted, but instead caused
them to be written in the Scriptures, that is, "inspired" them. And such
would be a valid objection-but one that would only prove the point
being made. It is quite true that the Spirit is often said to be the speaker
of Scripture,' the One by whom the written Word was brought into
being. As Peter put it,
... for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will,
but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:21)
Literally Peter speaks of the Holy Spirit "carrying along" the human
writers of Scripture. This supernatural guidance results in it being
quite proper to speak of the Spirit "speaking" in the Scriptures, so intimately is He a part of the very fabric of the Holy Writings. But it is
just as true that the Scriptures are "God-breathed" and are the very
speaking of Yahweh himself (2 Timothy 3:16). Since there is no way to
separate out the Spirit from the Scriptures, and since they are literally
the words of God, only one logical conclusion can be derived: the Spirit
is fully divine. No mere force, no mere creature, could take the role in
the giving of the Holy Scriptures that is taken by the Spirit of God.
The intimate relationship of the Spirit to the other divine persons
is illustrated by the comparison of each of the Synoptic Gospels as they
record the Lord Jesus' promise to be with His people when they face
persecution for His name's sake:
"When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you
in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit"
(Mark 13:11).
Here the Lord Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will speak on behalf
of His followers when they are brought before the authorities. But note
Matthew's version of the same promise:
"But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or
what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you
are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your
Father who speaks in you" (Matthew 10:19-20).
Here we see that it is the "Spirit of your Father" who speaks in believers
at such times of danger and persecution. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit
of the Father. But Luke's version adds another viewpoint:
"So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend
yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none
of your opponents will be able to resist or refute" (Luke 21:14-
15).
Here the Lord's promise is direct, that it is He who will give them utterance. This is not a denial of the Spirit's role, nor a contradiction of
what is recorded in the other Gospels. Instead, the "interpenetration"
of the divine persons is seen in this passage, just as it is seen in the
promise of the Lord to be with His people:
Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will
keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to
him and make Our abode with him" (John 14:23).
Jesus promises that the Father and He will dwell with those who love Him and keep His word (i.e., the true disciples). Yet how does the Lord
do this? He does so by His Spirit, whom He sends in His place. This
is the point of the entire passage in John 14 and 16: Jesus sends another
Comforter to be with His people for all time. And that Comforter is
the Spirit. But so intimate is the relationship, so perfect the union, that
to be indwelt by the Spirit is to have the Father and the Son abiding
with us. So close is the relationship of the persons that Paul could describe the Spirit as the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ within
one short span: