“For there are three that bear
witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three
are one.” (1 John 5:7 NKJV).
The Holy Spirit is not a mere breath,
wind, force or power of God; He is God Himself. While we might not yet fully
comprehend the mystery of the Godhead or Trinity, yet the Scripture furnishes
us with ample proofs to show that there are three distinct personalities in the
Godhead who are one and equal in every aspect.
The Holy Spirit is
the third Person in the Godhead and He is equal to God the Father and God the
Son in every aspect of divinity. The Holy Spirit is not inferior to God the
Father and God the Son in any way. Therefore, it is derogatory and blasphemous
to consider and treat the Holy Spirit as one who is subservient or subordinate
to God Almighty.
You insult and
grieve the Holy Spirit when you fail to recognize, reverence, or relate with
Him as God Almighty. The Scripture clearly reveals that Holy Spirit possesses
and manifests all the divine attributes of the Almighty God.
Let us consider some
of these attributes.
First, the Holy Spirit is Eternal.
As God, the Holy
Spirit is from everlasting to everlasting. His existence has no beginning and
will have no ending (John 14:16). The Scripture
calls the Holy Spirit “the eternal Spirit.” (Heb. 9:14).
The Holy Spirit was
with God at the beginning before anything was created. When the earth was still
without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, the Scripture
states that: “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
(Gen. 1:2 NKJV).
Second, the Holy Spirit is the
Creator.
Not only was the
Holy Spirit present with God at the beginning, He was also a co-creator of
everything with God the Father and God the Son. This is why God said, “Let Us make man in
Our image, according to Our likeness…” (Gen. 1:26 NKJV).
Job testifies: “The Spirit of God
has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4 NKJV).
The Psalmist also
testifies that God created all things through His Spirit, saying, “You send forth
Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth.” (Psa.
104:30 NKJV).
Being the creator,
the Holy Spirit is God in every sense of divinity!
Third, the Holy Spirit is
Omnipresent.
The Holy Spirit is
present everywhere at the same time. He is free from the laws of limitation of
space.
The Psalmist
testifies to this truth as he exclaims in Psalms 139:
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or
where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are
there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead
me, And Your right hand shall hold me. (NKJV).
Only God can be
present everywhere at the same time. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is God.
Fourth, the Holy Spirit is
Omnipotent.
The Holy Spirit is
the All-Powerful One. He wields unlimited authority and power. The power of the
Holy Spirit was seen at the beginning in the creation of the heavens and the
earth and all that dwell in them.
The power of the
Holy Spirit was also revealed in the mighty miracles and wonders performed by
Jesus Christ (Acts 10:38). When the
Pharisees claimed that the Lord Jesus was casting out demons by Beelzebub, the
ruler of demons, the Lord refuted their claim, saying, “But if I cast out
demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
(Matt. 12:28 NKJV).
Apostle Paul also
declared that all the mighty signs and wonders accomplished in his ministry
were done “by the power of the Spirit of God…” (Rom. 15:19 NKJV).
Fifth, the Holy Spirit is Omniscient.
The Holy Spirit is
all-knowing; He knows all things. As God, the Holy Spirit has perfect knowledge
of everything and His understanding is infinite.
Paul states in 1 Corinthians 2:
9 But as it is written: Eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which
God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us
through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of
God.
11 For what man knows the things of a
man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the
things of God except the Spirit of God. (NKJV).
Because the Holy
Spirit searches the deep things of God and knows the thoughts of God, He can
therefore reveal, teach and communicate them to those who humbly ask Him in
faith.
Sixth, the Holy Spirit is inherently
holy.
The Holy Spirit is
righteous in all His ways and doings. He will never do any unrighteousness, for
there is no unrighteousness in Him. In more than 90 places, the Bible calls the
Spirit of God “the Holy Spirit.” (Lk. 11:13).
He is also called
“the Spirit of holiness.” (Rom. 1:4). Holiness
is essentially the nature of the Holy Spirit. He also sanctifies or makes
holy (Rom. 15:16, 1 Pet. 1:2, 2 Thess. 2:13).
Because the Holy
Spirit is absolutely holy and can make holy, He is therefore God, for only God
is absolutely holy, perfect and righteous in all His ways and doings and it is
only God who can sanctify or make holy (Zeph. 3:5, Rom. 9:14).
Lastly, the Holy Spirit gives Life.
God is the source of
life. Nobody can quicken or give life except God Almighty.
The Lord Jesus bears
witness to the divinity of the Holy Spirit, saying, “It is the Spirit
who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are
spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63 NKJV).
It is the Holy
Spirit who quickens and regenerates the repentant heart of anyone who receives
and confesses Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. The Holy Spirit is God, for
only God can quicken, regenerate or save a sinner from sin and eternal
damnation.
You are born again
through the operation of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts
you of your sins, reveals Christ to you as the Saviour, and communicates the
life and nature of God to your heart (John 3:5-6).
The Scripture
states: “God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through
sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” (2 Thess. 2:13 RSV).
It is also through
the quickening power of the Holy Spirit that the believers will be resurrected
at the second coming of Christ.
The Scripture
states: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells
in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Rom. 8:11 NKJV).
Moreover, in some
places, the Bible uses “the Holy Spirit” and “God” interchangeably. In Acts 5:3, Peter
queried Ananias,“why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit…”
But, in Acts 5:4, Peter
said to Ananias, “You have not lied to men but to God.” This
indicates that “the Holy Spirit” and “God” are interchangeable and thus that the
Holy Spirit is God.
Another word
interchange can be seen in 1 Cor. 3:16-17 and 6:19-20 where
the Bible refers to the believers as “the temple of God” and “the temple of the
Holy Spirit” interchangeably.
The divinity of the
Holy Spirit and His equality with God the Father and God the Son are also
revealed in the Great Commission charge that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to His
disciples before His ascension.
The Lord Jesus said
to His disciples in Matthew 28:
19 “Go therefore and make disciples
of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit,
20 “teaching them to observe all
things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end
of the age.” Amen. (NKJV).
The divinity and
equality of the Holy Spirit with God the Father and God the Son are also
revealed in the apostolic benediction.
The Scripture
states: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and
the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” (2 Cor. 13:14 NKJV).
The Early church Fathers all taught
that the Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit’s Divinity is a subject that
was always understood. To make a distinction between the nature of God the
Father and the Holy Spirit from the Bible is an act of
futility. Because of common sense, the early church understood God’s Spirit is
of the same nature of God. The divinity of the Holy Spirit was not a
heavily debated topic in the early church.
Here are some of the
early Church Father's quotations on the person of the Holy Spirit:
·
We wish you, brethren, all happiness, while you walk
according to the doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; with whom be glory to
God the Father and the Holy Spirit, for the salvation of His holy elect, after
whose example the blessed Polycarp suffered, following in whose steps may we
too be found in the kingdom of Jesus Christ! I have collected these
things, when they had almost faded away through the lapse of time, that the
Lord Jesus Christ may also gather me along with His elect into His heavenly
kingdom, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory for ever and
ever. Amen. The Encyclical Epistle of the Church at Smyrna Concerning
the Martyrdom of the Holy Polycarp Chapter XXII.—Salutation.
·
"Wherefore, when our Lord breathed on His disciples,
and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” He certainly wished it to be understood
that the Holy Ghost was not only the Spirit of the Father, but of the only
begotten Son Himself. For the same Spirit is, indeed, the Spirit of the Father
and of the Son, making with them the trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit, not a
creature, but the Creator. For neither was that material breath which proceeded
from the mouth of His flesh the very substance and nature of the Holy Spirit,
but rather the intimation, as I said, that the Holy Spirit was common to the
Father and to the Son; for they have not each a separate Spirit, but both one
and the same." Augustine The City of God Book 13 Chapter 24"
·
If the Holy Ghost took upon Himself so
great a concern for our instruction, that we might know from what everything
was produced, would He not in like manner have kept us well informed about both
the heaven and the earth, by indicating to us what it was that He made them of,
if their original consisted of any material substance, so that the more He
seemed to have made them of nothing, the less in fact was there as yet made,
from which He could appear to have made them?" Against Hermogenes.
Chapter XXII.—This Conclusion Confirmed by the Usage of Holy Scripture in Its
History of the Creation. Hermogenes in Danger of the Woe Pronounced Against
Adding to Scripture."
·
Ignatius(Disciple of Apostle John) A.D. 30–107 "But
the Holy Spirit does not speak His own things, but those of Christ, and that
not from himself, but from the Lord; even as the Lord also announced to us the
things that He received from the Father. For, says He, “the word which ye hear
is not Mine, but the Father’s, who sent Me.” And says He of the Holy Spirit,
“He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever things He shall hear from Me.”
And He says of Himself to the Father, “I have,” says He, “glorified Thee upon
the earth; I have finished the work which, Thou gavest Me; I have manifested
Thy name to men.” And of the Holy Ghost, “He shall glorify Me, for He receives
of Mine.” The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians Chapter IX
·
Ignatius(Disciple of Apostle John) A.D. 30–107 "They introduce God
as a Being unknown; they suppose Christ to be unbegotten; and as to the Spirit,
they do not admit that He exists. Some of them say that the Son is a mere man,
and that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but the same person, and that the
creation is the work of God, not by Christ, but by some other strange
power".The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians Chapter VI
·
Tertullian A.D. 145–220:
"Then there is the Paraclete or Comforter, also, which He
promises to pray for to the Father, and to send from heaven after He had
ascended to the Father. He is called “another Comforter,” indeed; but in what
way He is another we have already shown, “He shall receive of mine,” says
Christ, just as Christ Himself received of the Father’s. Thus the connection of
the Father in the Son, and of the Son in the Paraclete, produces three coherent
Persons, who are yet distinct One from Another." Against Praxeas Chapter XXV
·
Origen A.D. 185–254:
"Now, what the Holy Spirit is, we are
taught in many passages of Scripture, as by David in the Psalm 51, when he says, “And take not Thy
Holy Spirit from me;” and by Daniel, where it is said, “The Holy Spirit which
is in thee.” And in the New Testament we have abundant testimonies, as when the
Holy Spirit is described as having descended upon Christ, and when the Lord
breathed upon His apostles after His resurrection, saying, “Receive the Holy
Spirit;” and the saying of the angel to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon
thee;” the declaration by Paul, that no one can call Jesus Lord, save by the
Holy Spirit. In the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit was given by the imposition
of the apostles’ hands in baptism. From all which we learn that the person of
the Holy Spirit was of such authority and dignity, that saving baptism was not
complete except by the authority of the most excellent Trinity of them all,
i.e., by the naming of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and by joining to the
unbegotten God the Father, and to His only-begotten Son, the name also of the
Holy Spirit. Who, then, is not amazed at the exceeding majesty of the Holy
Spirit, when he hears that he who speaks a word against the Son of man may hope
for forgiveness; but that he who is guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
has not forgiveness, either in the present world or in that which is to come!
We are of opinion that this distinction may be
observed in the Old Testament also, as when it is said, “He that giveth His
Spirit to the people who are upon the earth, and Spirit to them who walk
thereon.” For, without doubt, every one who walks upon the earth (i.e., earthly
and corporeal beings) is a partaker also of the Holy Spirit, receiving it from
God. My Hebrew master also used to say that those two seraphim in Isaiah, which
are described as having each six wings, and calling to one another, and saying,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts,” were to be understood of the
only-begotten Son of God and of the Holy Spirit. And we think that that
expression also which occurs in the hymn of Habakkuk, “In the midst either of
the two living things, or of the two lives, Thou wilt be known,” ought to be
understood of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. For all knowledge of the Father is
obtained by revelation of the Son through the Holy Spirit, so that both of
these beings which, according to the prophet, are called either “living things”
or “lives,” exist as the ground of the knowledge of God the Father.
For as it is said of the Son, that “no one
knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him,” the
same also is said by the apostle of the Holy Spirit, when He declares, “God
hath revealed them to us by His Holy Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all
things, even the deep things of God;” and again in the Gospel, when the
Saviour, speaking of the divine and profounder parts of His teaching, which His
disciples were not yet able to receive, thus addresses them: “I have yet many
things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now; but when the Holy Spirit,
the Comforter, is come, He will teach you all things, and will bring all things
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” We must understand,
therefore, that as the Son, who alone knows the Father, reveals Him to whom He
will, so the Holy Spirit, who alone searches the deep things of God, reveals
God to whom He will: “For the Spirit bloweth where He listeth.” We are not,
however, to suppose that the Spirit derives His knowledge through revelation
from the Son. For if the Holy Spirit knows the Father through the Son’s
revelation, He passes from a state of ignorance into one of knowledge; but it
is alike impious and foolish to confess the Holy Spirit, and yet to ascribe to
Him ignorance. For even although something else existed before the Holy Spirit,
it was not by progressive advancement that He came to be the Holy Spirit; as if
any one should venture to say, that at the time when He was not yet the Holy
Spirit He was ignorant of the Father, but that after He had received knowledge
He was made the Holy Spirit. For if this were the case, the Holy Spirit would
never be reckoned in the Unity of the Trinity, i.e., along with the
unchangeable Father and His Son, unless He had always been the Holy Spirit.
When we use, indeed, such terms as “always” or “was,” or any other designation
of time, they are not to be taken absolutely, but with due allowance; for while
the significations of these words relate to time, and those subjects of which we
speak are spoken of by a stretch of language as existing in time, they
nevertheless surpass in their real nature all conception of the finite
understanding.
Nevertheless it seems proper to inquire what is
the reason why he who is regenerated by God unto salvation has to do both with
Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and does not obtain salvation unless with the
co-operation of the entire Trinity; and why it is impossible to become partaker
of the Father or the Son without the Holy Spirit. And in discussing these
subjects, it will undoubtedly be necessary to describe the special working of
the Holy Spirit, and of the Father and the Son. I am of opinion, then, that the
working of the Father and of the Son takes place as well in saints as in
sinners, in rational beings and in dumb animals; nay, even in those things
which are without life, and in all things universally which exist; but that the
operation of the Holy Spirit does not take place at all in those things which
are without life, or in those which, although living, are yet dumb; nay, is not
found even in those who are endued indeed with reason, but are engaged in evil
courses, and not at all converted to a better life. In those persons alone do I
think that the operation of the Holy Spirit takes place, who are already
turning to a better life, and walking along the way which leads to Jesus
Christ, i.e., who are engaged in the performance of good actions, and who abide
in God."
Origen
De Principiis. Book I Chapter III – On the Holy Spirit Section 4 and 5
