Notes compiled by Marty Zide and Steve McAtee
Certain actions are attributed to the Holy Spirit which cannot be attributed to a mere force or power. These actions prove His personhood.
Some of His actions that prove His personality:
He teaches
He leads people
He convicts
He commands people
He calls people for special service
John 14:26 - But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
Rom 8:14 - For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
John 16:7 - But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.
Acts 8:29 - Then the Spirit said to Philip, go up and join this chariot.
Acts 13:2 - While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
These are not actions that could be performed by something that did not possess personality.
Actions Performed to the Holy Spirit Prove His Personality
Certain actions are done to the Holy Spirit which cannot be performed to a mere force or power. These actions prove His personhood.
Some of these acts that are done which proves His personality:
He can
He can be resisted
He can be grieved
He can be insulted
Acts 10:19-21 - While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are looking for you. But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself. Peter went down to the men and said, Behold, I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for which you have come?
Acts 5:3 - 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?
Acts 7:51 - 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.
Eph 4:30 - Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Heb 10:29 - 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?
It was very important that we clearly establish the personality of the Holy Spirit. If He is not a person, many of the things that we are going to study would not make any sense or be of any value.
The Deity Of the Holy Spirit
The Word of God gives abundant proof that the Holy Spirit is not only a person, but that He is also Deity just as God the Father and God the Son are. This of course has been challenged by false teachers.
A debate began shortly after AD 311 when a priest named Arius came from Antioch and was appointed to a major Alexandrian church. Arius was persuasive and soon turned Alexandria upside down with his controversial views about the nature of the Godhead. Arius held the Holy Spirit to be a person—but a creature— the first creature namely, which the Son brought into existence by the Father’s instruction, after His own creation.
Eusebius persuaded Constantine to call a general council of the Church to resolve the issue. Constantine found the controversy distressing simply because it was divisive. He didn’t really care which way the bishops decided the issue, as long as they unified the church. The Council was called for 325 and met under Constantine’s watchful eye in Nicea. Arius lost the theological debate. The Nicene Creed, reflecting the teaching of the Council, upheld the Bible’s teaching on the Divine nature of all the members of the Trinity.
The Council of Nicea did not end the Arian controversies, however. Athanasius, who had come to Nicea with bishop Alexander at the age of 30, had attracted the wrath of some very powerful political figures. When he succeeded Alexander as bishop of Alexandria, was forced to defend his position repeatedly.
The Deity of the entire Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit continue to be denied is various cults and denominations to this day.