Most people know that the Holy Bible sometimes refers to God as “the Father,” and in the previous articles {1} God helped me to write, along with many other resources on and off the Internet, the deity of Christ is shown to be declared in the Holy Bible. Let us now explore the written Word of God to see what it says about the Holy Spirit.

True trinitarians state there is only One God, Who subsists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (or Ghost). In this series we have already presented two articles about how the Holy Scriptures reveal the deity of Christ and, God willing, there shall be a few more in the future. We now turn our attention to the Holy Spirit and because the Holy Spirit is described by some cults as just a force of God, we will also see what the Holy Bible says in regard to that matter.

 

The Deity Of The Holy Spirit

 

As noted in a previous article {1}, there are five attributes that only God has, viz., omnipresent (present everywhere), omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful according to His nature), eternal, and immutable. As we read the Holy Bible, we see four of these attributes are used in connection with the Holy Spirit. While there is no passage, according to my current knowledge, that directly links immutability with the Holy Spirit, the lack of a verse specifically stating His immutability does not disprove His deity, since only God can have any of the exclusive attributes.

 

The following exclusive attributes of God are linked with the Holy Spirit:

 

Omnipresent:

Psalm 139:7-10 -- Where shall I go from Your spirit? or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend up 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 shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.

 

Omniscient:

1 Corinthians 2:10-11 -- But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11 For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God.

 

Omnipotent:

Job 26:13 -- By his Spirit he has garnished the heavens; His hand has formed the crooked serpent.

 

Eternal:

Hebrews 9:14 -- How much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

 

In regard to immutability, it would be ludicrous to think that the Holy Spirit is not immutable because, after all, this is the Spirit of God, and God, of course, is immutable.

 

The Divine Work Of The Holy Spirit

 

In addition to His connection with the exclusive attributes of God, we see that the Holy Spirit is also mentioned as working divine works.

 

Creation:

Genesis 1:2 -- And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

 

Regeneration:

John 3:5-8 -- Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto you, you must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell from where it comes, and where it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

 

Sanctification:

Romans 15:16 -- That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

 

Resurrection:

Romans 8:11 -- But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.

 

The Direct Connection With God

 

By now, you have seen from these verses and passages that the Holy Spirit is directly connected with God. However, to underscore this point, there is John 4:24, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

 

Then, there is the account of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5 where the couple had agreed to sell a piece of property then lie about the sale price before the Church of God. The Holy Spirit revealed their lying to the apostle Peter. In rebuking Ananias, Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4 Whiles it remained, was it not your own? and after it was sold, was it not in your own power? why have you conceived this thing in your heart? you have not lied unto men, but unto God.”

 

The Personal Expression Of The Holy Spirit

 

All of the following are just some of the passages that show the Holy Spirit is not just some type of force of God. And, it is also good to note that whether we are reading in the Old Testament (OT) or New Testament (NT) that in the NT the Greek word pneuma translated as “spirit" may also be translated as “ghost" as directed by the context, and the same is true for the Hebrew ruwach {2} for the OT. In some cases, given the context, the terms wind and breath might be used in some passages, but the object of this article at this point is to focus upon the personal expression of the Holy Spirit.

 

At this point I will now list a number of personal expressions of the Holy Ghost. In most, if not all the passages about to be presented, one can easily substitute the word “Ghost” for “Spirit.” Instead of printing out all the verses, you can look them up online with the links provided in the notes section of this article {3}.

 

Passively, the Holy Spirit (Ghost), can be . . .

blasphemed -- Matthew 12:31-32.

grieved -- Ephesians 4:30.

insulted by us -- Hebrews 10:29.

lied to -- Acts 5:3.

resisted -- Acts 7:51.

provoked -- Acts 5:9.

 

The Holy Spirit’s personal activity is seen in the following because He . . .

communes -- 2 Corinthians 13:14.

works -- 1 Corinthians 12:11.

searches -- 1 Corinthians 2:10.

speaks -- Acts 13:12, Revelation 2:7.

testifies -- John 15:26.

teaches -- John 14:26.

reproves -- John 16:8-11.

intercedes -- Romans 8:26.

guides into truth -- John 16:13.

glorifies Christ -- John 16:14.

calls Christians into service -- Acts 13:12.

forbids -- Acts 16:6.

restrains -- Acts 16:6-7.

defends -- Isaiah 59:19.

worked in creation -- Genesis 1:2.

regenerates -- John 3:5.

sanctifies -- Romans 15:16.

raises -- Romans 8:11.

 

As you can see from all the above, the Holy Ghost (Spirit) is not just some type of energy or force from God. He is the One true God revealed to us in a variety of ways as shown by the written Word of God.

 

Notes:

 

Do not bookmark this article here, but bookmark instead http://thesureword.sapphirestreams.com/index.htm#DPEHS where you will hopefully find viable links to the article whenever the article has to be moved. http://thesureword.sapphirestreams.com/index.htm#DPEHS hopefully will be active within 72 hours of this article being published.

 

{1} Please see The Deity Of Christ Proved By The Attributes Of God by selecting a link at http://thesureword.sapphirestreams.com/index.htm#DCAG. Also see Eight Passages That Plainly Show The Deity Of Christ by following a link at http://thesureword.sapphirestreams.com/index.htm#EPDC .

 

{2} Wilson, William: Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies (MacDonald Publishing Company, McLean, VA) p411

 

{3} You can look up these verses, and all Holy Bible verses, at http://www.biblegateway.com or http://www.blueletterbible.org/ .

 

Much of this article was based upon the study notes about the Holy Spirit written by Walter Beuttler.

 

Find more apologetics information at http://thesureword.sapphirestreams.com/ , and please visit this ministry’s apologetics index at http://sapphirestreams.com/life/api.html .

 

Unless otherwise noted all Holy Scripture is from the 1769 Authorized Version with spelling of some words updated for our time in addition to changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates. An * next to the abbreviation for another translation or version indicates the same for the text presented.

 

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