IS THE HOLY SPIRIT A PERSON? – Part 1
This article is in two parts. Part 2 continues and concludes the article.
The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “person” as (1) human, individual; (2) a character or part in or as if in a play: GUISE; (3a) one of the three modes of being in the Trinitarian Godhead as understood by Christians; (3b) the unitary personality of Christ that unites the divine and human natures.
The dictionary also defines “personality” as the quality or state of being a person; personal existence.
In defining personality, Kendra Cherry says, “The word personality itself stems from the Latin word persona, which refers to a theatrical mask worn by performers in order to either project different roles or disguise their identities. At its most basic, personality is the characteristic patterns of thought, feelings, and behaviours that make a person unique. It is believed that personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life.”
In an online article titled “Is the Holy Spirit a person, or just a force?” by Roger D. Campbell, published by the Klang Church of Christ he says, “A person possesses intelligence, will/desire/purpose, moral consciousness, and individual existence. Since the Holy Spirit meets such criteria, then He is a person.”
On his part, Don Stewart in an online article titled “Is the Holy Spirit a Person?” writes, inter alia, “By “person” we mean one who has their own identity or individuality as a rational being. They are conscious of their own existence. When we say that the Holy Spirit is a person some assume that He has eyes, feet, and hands. But these are not the marks of a person. The marks of a genuine person are knowledge, feeling, and will.”
Like Don Stewart and Roger Campbell, most modern Trinitarians, after giving the definition of person, proceed to give the Bible verses with which they try to prove that the Holy Spirit is indeed a person. The following are among the verses cited by them:
- The Holy Spirit speaks with His own voice (Acts 8:29; 13:2).
- The Holy Spirit teaches and reminds (John 14:26; 1 Cor. 2:13).
- The Holy Spirit makes decisions (Acts 15:28; 20:28).
- The Holy has feelings; He can be grieved (Eph. 4:30).
- The Holy Spirit is intelligent and has intellect (1 Cor. 2:10,11).
- The Holy Spirit can forbid or prevent the preaching of the Gospel in certain places (Acts 16:6,7).
- The Holy Spirit apportions spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:11).
- The Holy Spirit helps us, intercedes for us, and has a mind of His own (Rom.8:26,27).
- We have fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – the three persons that make up the Holy Trinity (2 Cor. 13:14).
Critical Examination of these Claims
On their face values these arguments are plausible. But with proper analytical examination of the Bible and insight, one finds that these claims do not stand up to the test of scrutiny. For Christians who desire to know the truth, these passages do not teach what Trinitarians have supposed of them. They make these conclusions because they have been deceived by the Trinitarian dogma.
First, the Hebrew Bible, named Old Testament by Christians, which contained the scriptures read by Jesus Christ and His apostles never viewed the holy spirit of God as a separate and distinct person from God. The holy spirit of God has been clearly shown to be a part of God. The New Testament has not taught anything to the contrary. God’s holy spirit has been portrayed as either God’s essence which encompasses His will, feelings and knowledge or His power at work in His creation. He transmits or emanates this power divinely by means of His divine and invisible breath.
The key message of Paul in 1 Cor. 2:10,11 is that as the spirit of a human being is part of the human, so is the holy spirit of God a part of God. The human spirit is never another person from the human being. So too is God’s holy spirit not another person from God. What the Bible has clearly shown is that people or things which have been dedicated to the service or worship of God are given the adjective “holy.” In the case of inanimate things, it is not because they are capable of being sinful or sinless. They are termed “holy” because they have been set apart for the service of the Holy One, e.g. the vessels used for the sacrifices in the temple are called “holy vessels.” Everything that is part of the Holy One or that emanates from Him are also described as “holy,” e.g. God’s name, arm, spirit, eyes, promise, law, et alia. This is the reason His spirit within Him is sometimes called His “holy spirit.” See my article titled “Why is God’s spirit called His holy spirit?”
Now, let us examine some of the passages which Trinitarians use to support their theology:
The Holy Spirit speaks with His own voice. This statement alone is a clear proof that many people do not understand the Bible. They are simply incuriously following the teachings of men. The divine breath of God with which He anoints His true servants, known as the holy spirit, does not have a voice of its own because it is not a person. But the divine power of God in it tugs, reminds, heals, revives, sanctifies, and empowers people to speak or do things as God wills. All these things are done by God Himself by means of His divine breath known as the holy spirit. This is one reason the holy spirit has been anthropomorphically called “the hand of the LORD” (Josh. 4:24; 1 King 18:46; 2 King 3:14,15; Ezra 7:6,28; etc.); “the hand of God” (2 Chron. 30:12; Psa. 139:7-10); “the finger of God” (Luke 11:20 (cf. Matt. 12:28); Exod. 8:9). The clear lesson from these passages is that the holy spirit of God is not another person from God; it is a part of God. It is figuratively called the hand of God to make us understand that God does all His works by means of His holy spirit. And when God’s “hand” is whispering to our minds or moving the tongues of prophets to utter God’s words, it is not another person, let alone another God, who is doing it. It is God Himself doing the things.
When God speaks directly from heaven, His speech is ascribed to Him (Matt. 17:5; 2 Pet. 1:17). When Jesus also spoke to Saul also known as Paul on the way to Damascus, the voice was said to be that of Jesus (Acts 9:5). But whenever God or Jesus speaks through the mouth of a prophet(s) the message is often ascribed to the holy spirit. This is a motif that is found especially in the book of Acts. Therefore in the places where Luke, the writer of the Acts of the Apostles, wrote “the Holy Spirit said,” as seen in Acts 8:29 and 13:2, or where he wrote that Paul and Silas were “prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia” (Acts 16:6) or that the Holy Spirit “has made you overseers” (Acts 20:28), Luke had no third literal and separate person in mind. He was writing about Jesus Christ doing all these things by means of His spirit residing in the prophets, one of whom was Saul (Paul). (There was no change in name from Saul to Paul. His Jewish name is Saul, but as a Roman citizen he must have a Roman name which is Paulus, Anglicised as Paul.)
Proof that Jesus Christ is the one called the Holy Spirit in Acts of the Apostles
- In Acts 20:28, Luke wrote this as part of Paul’s address to the leaders of the Church in Ephesus:
“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He [the Holy Spirit] purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28 NKJV, words in square bracket added for clarification).
Here, Paul said the Holy Spirit is the one who appointed the elders as overseers of the Ephesian church.
He also said the Holy Spirit purchased them with His own blood. The one called the Holy Spirit must be Jesus Christ who made the choice through the lips of the prophets in the Ephesian church. Note that he said the Holy Spirit purchased the church (all the members) with His own blood. This cannot be God whom John said is Spirit (John 4:24). Neither can it be God’s holy spirit (Isa. 63:10). God and His spirit have no flesh. Therefore, they don’t have blood. Blood is found only in flesh. See Lev. 17:10-14; Luke 24:39. We know that blood is formed in the marrow of the bones. Jesus Christ is the one who became flesh, that is, human being (John 1:14; Heb. 2:14; 10:5). He is the only one who purchased for God with His own blood people from every tribe, language, people, and nation (Rev. 5:9). The Bible also say this about Him: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement [through His shed blood] for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:14-17 NIV, words in square brackets added by me).
- In Acts 13:1,2 we read, “Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:12 NIV, italics added for emphasis).
Who is the one called the Holy Spirit here? Is it the “third person of the Trinity” according to Trinitarians? No, it cannot be. For if “he” is the one, “he” could not have said, “I have called them.” Jesus Christ is the one who have called them into the apostolic ministry to the Gentiles. Although the call of Barnabas is not clearly documented, we see that of Saul (Paul) copiously recorded by Luke in Acts 9. Jesus Christ is the one who called him. He told Paul, “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:6 NIV). Before Paul and his companions entered Damascus, Jesus had told Ananias where to meet Paul and what to do to him (Acts 9:10-16). Verses 15 and 16 say, “But the Lord [Jesus Christ] said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16 NIV).
What did Paul later say about his call to the apostolic ministry? He said, “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ (Acts 26:15-18 NIV, italics and underscore added for emphasis).
In most of his epistles, he introduced himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:1; 1 Tim. 1:1; 2 Tim. 1:1; Tit. 1:1). In Gal. 1:1 he said, “Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead” (Gal. 1:1 NIV). The word “apostle” is derived from Greek “apostolos” which literally means “delegate, person sent, ambassador” e.g of Jesus Christ. Therefore, being an apostle of Jesus Christ means he was sent by Jesus Christ. He was a messenger of Jesus Christ.
Conclusively, what Luke meant in Acts 13:2 by saying “the Holy Spirit spoke” is that Jesus Christ who had called Barnabas and Saul made the declaration in Acts 13:2 through Christ’s spirit that moved the lips of one or some of the prophets that were fasting and worshiping God in the Antiochan church. It was not the so-called “third person of the Holy Trinity.” Moreover, God’s holy spirit does not have a voice of its own. It uses the mouths of men to declare God’s words to people.
Correction of some Misunderstood Verses Acts 8:29
The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” (Acts 8:29 NIV).
This was by an inner witness within Philip. The holy spirit does not have a voice of its own.
Ephesians 4:30
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Eph. 4:30 KJV).
When Isaiah said in Isa. 63:10 that the Israelites grieved the holy spirit of God, he did not mean another person than God Himself. God’s spirit is part of God. There is ample biblical account that the Israelites made God angry for forty years during their exodus from Egypt (Num. 32:13; Psa. 78:17-41; 95:10,11; Heb. 3:10,17; Acts 13:18). What we read in Isa. 63:10 is Isaiah’s account of the same unbelief and provocation of God by the Israelites. He was simply saying the people made God angry.
It is against this backdrop that Paul warned the Ephesian believers not to go the way of the Israelites in the wilderness. He used the same words employed by Isaiah. Neither Isaiah nor Paul meant any other person than God in Isa. 63:10 and Eph. 4:30. God’s spirit is not a different person from God. What Paul meant in Eph. 4:30 is that Christians should not make God angry through disobedience and unbelief.
2 Corinthians 13:14
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14 NIV).
Some people erroneously think that three persons are mentioned here. But the truth is that the subject of the verse are three qualities that should be in the lives of true believers – the grace of God through Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the holy spirit.
To have “fellowship of” the holy spirit means to have a share of, or to be a partaker of, the holy spirit. This means that all believers who have been filled with the holy spirit are having their share of, or fellowship of, the holy spirit. In Heb. 6:4, KJV says “partakers of the Holy Ghost.” The Good News Translation (GNT) renders the phrase as “received their share of the Holy Spirit.” The NIV renders it “have shared in the Holy Spirit.”
The words “fellowship of” is used also in 2 Cor. 8:4; Eph. 3:9; Phil. 3:10 where they mean having one’s share of the thing mentioned, e.g Christ’s suffering (Phil 3:10). Compare 2 Cor. 1:7 and 1 Pet. 4:13 where it is called partaking of His suffering.
It should be noted that we have fellowship with God and Jesus Christ, and with ourselves (1 John 1:3,6,7). But note also that Paul did not say we have fellowship “with” the Holy Spirit. We cannot have fellowship or rapport with something which is not a person. We can only have fellowship of it, which means we can have our own share of it. For a clear explanation on 2 Cor. 13:14, see my article titled “Does 2 Corinthians 13:14 support the Trinity?”
1 Corinthians 12:11
“But it is one and the same Spirit who does all this; as he wishes, he gives a different gift to each person” (1 Cor. 12:11 GNT).
Is the one called Spirit here God’ s holy spirit? The answer is NO! Compare this passage:
“How, then, shall we escape if we pay no attention to such a great salvation? The Lord [Jesus Christ] himself first announced this salvation, and those who heard him proved to us that it is true. At the same time God added his witness to theirs by performing all kinds of miracles and wonders and by distributing the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his will. (Heb. 2:3-4 GNT, italics added for emphasis).
Who is the one here distributing the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will? Paul, in the verse, says it is God. This is supported by Rom. 8:27 which says the one who exercises the will is God. So God is the one called the Spirit in 1 Cor. 12:11. It is not the holy spirit of God as Trinitarians have erroneously supposed. Paul would have contradicted himself if he said in 1 Cor. 12:11 that the holy spirit of God is the one distributing the gifts contained in itself according to “his” will, and then say in Heb. 2:4 that God is the one distributing the gifts according to His will. The gifts of the holy spirit cannot be distributed by the holy spirit; it does not have a will. But I need to emphasize that God exercises the will but does the distribution of the gifts through Christ. See Luke 24:49; Acts 2:33; Eph. 4:8. And we should also understand that everyone can be anointed with the holy spirit. But within the same anointing are different gifts for different individuals as God wills. Jesus Christ, in His humanity, is the only one who had all the gifts of the holy spirit in Him (John 3:34). No other person has all the gifts in him or her.
Romans 8:26-27
“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26-27 KJV).
Here, the Holy Spirit is the one referred to as the one helping us in our prayers. But that does not confer separate individuality on it. The same Apostle Paul tells us, “For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying” (1 Cor. 14:14 NLT). We cannot say here that based on what Paul has written, his spirit is a different person from him. If it is wrong to understand Paul as saying his own spirit is another person, it is equally wrong to say that God’s spirit which helps us properly direct our prayers is another person from God. Note the neuter noun “itself” used by Paul in verse 16 which means he did not regard the holy spirit of God working in us when we pray as a literal spirit person like God and individual angels.
1 Corinthians 2:13
“So then, we do not speak in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual truths to those who have the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:13 GNT).
There is no doubt that the holy spirit of God teaches us spiritual things, as said here. Jesus Christ had said so in John 14:26. But the fact still remains that the holy spirit of God is not another person from God. To those who have the spirit of God, God is the one teaching and reminding them of His words by means of His spirit dwelling in them. God Himself had spoken through the prophets that He will personally teach His words to His people by means of His spirit living in them. Please read Isa. 54:13; Jer. 31:33,34; Mic. 4:1,2. When making reference to these prophetic promises, the New Testament writers put them this way: “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me” (John 6:45 NKJV). “But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another” (I Thes. 4:9 NKJV). “But you have an anointing [the holy spirit] from the Holy One [God], and all of you know the truth. As for you, the anointing you received from him [God] remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his [God’s] anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him [God]” (1 John 2:20, 27 NIV, words in square brackets added for clarification). Note the impersonal pronoun “it” used in verse 27 for the holy spirit which is here called “anointing.”
That we are taught by the spirit of God does not automatically confer individual personality on it. The Bible says our Lord Jesus Christ learnt obedience from the things He suffered (Heb. 5:8). This means His sufferings taught Him obedience. The law which is also not a literal person is called a tutor or teacher (Gal. 3:24,25). Even in our contemporary time, we often hear “experience is the best teacher.” The fact that we learn from past mistakes do not confer personality on the mistakes.
