The Personhood of the Holy Spirit

The Personhood of the Holy Spirit

The personhood of the Holy Spirit was a topic of discussion in our LifeGroup this week.  In follow-up to that discussion I thought others might find the following thoughts helpful.

When we look to Scripture for our understanding of God we will find the Bible speaks of the Father as God (Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Philippians 1:2); Jesus as God (…waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Titus 2:13); and the Holy Spirit as God (But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? …..Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?  You have not lied to man but to God.”(Acts 5:3-4)

This is not simply about perspective (how we see God) or purpose (the way God works).  The Bible also makes it clear that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons.

For example, “God so loved the world that He gave his Son” (Jn 3:16), so they cannot be the same person.  Jesus and the Father are separate persons because the Bible makes clear that Jesus was sent by the Father and Jesus repeatedly spoke of returning to the Father (for example: Jn. 5:30, Jn. 6:38, Jn 7:29, Jn. 14:12, Jn. 16:10, Jn. 20:17)   After the Son returned to the Father, the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit into the world (Jn 14:26; Acts 2:33).  So the Holy Spirit is a distinct person from the Father and the Son.

I found the following insight from John Piper helpful on this point: “Sometimes the Personhood of the Father and Son is appreciated, but the Personhood of the Holy Spirit is neglected.  Sometimes the Spirit is treated more like a "force" than a Person.  But the Holy Spirit is not an it, but a He (see Jn 14:26; 16:7-15; Acts 8:16).  The fact that the Holy Spirit is a Person, not an impersonal force (like gravity), is also shown by the fact that He speaks (Heb 3:7), reasons (Acts 15:28), thinks and understands (1 Cor 2:10-11), wills (1 Cor 12:11), feels (Eph 4:30), and gives personal fellowship (2 Cor 13:14). These are all qualities of personhood.”

Certainly this is a difficult topic and can be very confusing.  Yet it is important you have at least a basic understanding of this truth.  Here is an online source for further study from Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology - An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Zondervan, 1994).  I hope you will find it helpful.

"God in Three Persons. The Trinity.  How can God be three persons, yet one God?"