I. Personal Attributes

The Holy Spirit: Person of "Force"

Introduction
Part 1: Personal Attributes
Part 2: Historical Evidence
Part 3: "Impersonal" Attributes
Conclusion

Part 1: Personal Attributes

Grammar:

In Hebrew, ruach, "spirit," is generally feminine gender, "she" — though sometimes masculine, as in 1 K 19:11. ["The Heb., like all the Shemitish languages, has but two genders, the masc. and fem .... [the] neuter form [is] regarded in Heb as either masc or fem, par­ticularly the latter." — Wilson's OT Word Studies, "Intro. to Heb.", "OF FORMS WHICH MARK THE GENDER OF NOUNS", 1.] In Greek, pneuma is neuter, "it." But of course we realize that "gender" in grammar is not synony­mous with "sex," nor with character. English is not a language which aids in this understanding, but any of the Romance languages, or German for example, demonstrates this clearly. In Greek, infants (Lk 1:41), children (Mk 39-41), girls (Mt 9:24-25), unclean spirits (Mt 12:24, 27-28), and angels (Heb 1:14) are all neuter gender — they are "its." Does being called by a neuter term make something a "force"? Is a child, or a girl, a force? So is it legitimate to call the Holy Spirit a force because "spirit" is a neuter term in Greek?

The Holy Spirit is almost always referred to as the "Spirit" rather than by a pronoun, and I have found only one instance where the HS is explicitly called "it" - in Jn 14:17. The other four times that an unambiguously gendered personal pro­noun is used of the Holy Spirit, it is "He" (also in Jn). In other words, 80% of the specific gender pronoun references to the Holy Spirit which I have found are masculine, rather than neuter. Third person singular verb ending are not relevant.

In chapters 15-16 of John's Gospel, against the rules of Greek grammar, the neuter noun Pneuma is accompanied with the masculine pro­noun; instead of "it," "He" is used: “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me (Jn 15:26).” “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell things to come. He will glorify Me...(Jn 16:13-14).”

There is no grammatical excuse for using "He" in these verses. "He" does not describe the masc. parakletos, "Helper," because Jn 14:16-17 uses the neuter pronoun for the “Spirit” used in the same passage (Spirit is given precedence over Helper): “I shall request the Father and another Helper [masc.] He [Father] will give to you ... , the Spirit [neut.] of truth, which the world is not able to receive, because it does not see it [Spirit]”. However, in 15:26, this same word order appears, but "He" rather than it is used; and in 16:13 "Helper" does not appear, so cannot be a masc. antecedent. Jesus deliberately calls the Spirit "He," not as some obscuring attempt at poetic language, but because the masculine pronoun is rigorously consis­tent, given how thoroughly the character attributes of the Holy Spirit are presented, consistently through­out Scripture, as we’ll now see.

Personality:

The requirements of personality are to have: 1) mind or reason, 2) emotions, and 3) will or volition. Any definition can be argued, but this is a classic, and very reason­able. I would add to the list one more item: "a sense of self-identity". The definition of "person" as a moral agent is valid, but implicit in the list above. No indi­vidual is without these three requirements. Even John in the womb evinced two of them: by leaping for joy in the presence of his Saviour (Lk 1:44), he demonstrated that in spirit he felt something about recognizing Jesus. Some fetus, huh? So, if some unknown "thing" were to meet this standard – not only in some isolated poetic passages, but consis­tently, in even historic and didactic passages - then there are no grounds for denying that "it" is a person. Does the Holy Spirit meet this test?

Mind

The Holy Spirit searches (1 Cor 2:10 – see Arndt, eraunao, p. 308: "Search, examine, investigate"). The same word is used of God, who examines the heart (Rom 8:27), and of Christ (Rev 2:23), and of those who search the Scriptures (Jn 5:39). The Father knows the mind of the Spirit (Rom 8:27). "Mind" is phronema: “way of thinking, mind-(set); aim, aspiration, stri­ving” (Arndt and Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon, 2nd ed., p. 866; it is used in Greek solely of people). The Holy Spirit understands the depths of the mind of God (1 Cor 2:10-11), which are unsear­chable (Rom 11:33). Does a force have "a way of thinking," or a "mind" for God to know? Can a force understand or know anything, or examine as God examines?

Emotions

The Spirit loves (Rom 15:30 - the Jehovah’s Witness mis-translated bible, NWT, is inaccurate here; the genitive is used in the same way for each person of the Trinity mentioned here, and there is no grammatical jus­tifica­tion for treating the Holy Spirit differently). He feels grief (Eph 4:30; like Paul in 2 Cor 2:2,5). He can feel vexed or hurt (Is 63:10). He also feels joy (1 Thes 1:6 – charas, joy, is here genitive singular: it does not refer to "you imitators", but to the Holy Spirit. It is subjective, done by; not objective, directed towa­rd; it is His joy, which is received). He is kind (Ps 143:10). He feels de­sire (Jn 3:8 – thelo, the "wish of desire", also to "take pleasure in, like," as Mk :38 - Arndt, p. 354-5; also Thayer's, p. 286, # 4: thelo "proceeds from inclination. This ap­pears…from the fact that the LXX express the idea of pleasure, delight, by the verb the­lien.”), and perhaps envy (Js 4:5 - the Greek is equivocal). Could one ever grieve photons? or vex gravity? or share in the joy of electro-magnetism? or know the love and the kindness of covalent bonds? A Hindu can accommodate such ideas. One who knows the God of the Bible cannot.

Will

He gives gifts as He wills (1 Cor 12:11; cf. Jms 1:18, of the Father). The word for “will” is bouletai, and refers to “decisions of the will after previous deliberation” (Gingrich, p. 146; cf. boule, "plan"; Vine's says: “usually expresses the deliberate exercise of volition more strongly than thelo” - 'Will', C., 2., p. 677). Acts 16:6 has the Holy Spirit exercising His will by forbid­ding certain ac­tions; He does not allow (Acts 16:7). His will is obeyed as in Acts 10.

It would seem that the Holy Spirit meets the three specific re­quire­ments of personality. If these few examples are not enough, here’s a more thorough list, though perhaps not exhaustive. The Holy Spirit:

— allows, or not, (Acts 16:7) as Jesus does or does not allow (Lk 4:41);

— anoints (Lk 4:18 — chrio) as God anoints (2 Cor 1:21);

— appoints (Acts 20:28) as Jesus appoints his own life as a sacrifice (Jn 10:15), and as the Father appoints sinners to their place (Lk 12:46);

— commands (Acts 13:2);

— convicts or shows (Jn 16:8 – elencho, to "point something out to someone", Arndt, p. 249), as Jehovah does (Heb 12:5);

— desires (Jn 3:8) as Jesus did (Mt 23:37), and the Father (1 Tim 2:4);

— directs (Acts 8:29) as the Father does (Ex 16:9);

— foretells (2 Sam 23:2; Acts 1:16) — if the Father speaking through the Holy Spirit makes the Spirit a force, then the Spirit speaking through David would make David a force: is this reasonable?;

— gives life (Jn 6:63) as Jesus gives life (Jn 5:21,11:25), and as the Father gives life (Gen 2:6; 1 Sam 2:6; Acts 17:25);

— guides (Jn 16:13; Rom 8:14 - Cf. Thayer's, p. 437 #3594), as Jesus guides (Rev 7:17);

— has an opinion (Acts 15:28) as disciples have opinions (v. 18), and a Jesus has an opinion (Lk 17:9);

— hears (Jn 16:13) as any person hears;

— helps or comforts (Jn 14:16) as Jesus helps (1 Jn 2:1) and as the Father does (Rom 15:5);

— intercedes or prays (Rom 8:26) as Christ intercedes (Rom 8:34, Heb 7:25);

— is eternal (Heb 9:14) as God perforce must be;

— justifies (1 Cor 6:11) as Christ does (Gal 2:17), or God (Rom 8:33);

— prohibits (Acts 16:6);

— regenerates (Tit 3:5, Eze 36:25-27) as does the Son of God (Jn 5:21);

— resurrects Jesus (1 P 3:18; Rom 1:4) as God did (Eph 1:19-20; Ps 16:10), and as Jesus raised Himself (Jn 2:19,21; 10:18);

— sanctifies (2 Thes 2:13; Heb 10:14-15; 1 P 1:2) which is to choose and set apart, as God does (Jn 10:36), and as Jesus does (Heb 13:12);

— sends out (Acts 13:4);

— strives (Gen 6:3 - "To rule, to regulate … to subdue, to subjugate … to judge … to con­tend with" - Gese­nius, p. 198, #177­7), with men, as men strive with God (Eccl 6:10);

— teaches (Neh 9:20, Jn 14:26, Lk 12:12) as Jesus teaches (Mt 5:2, Jn 8:2) and as the Father teaches (Jn 8:28);

— testifies (1 P 1:11; Rom 8:16; Jn 15:26) as disciples testify (Jn 15:27), and as the Father does (Acts 15:8);

— wills, feels, understands, thinks, loves, allows, etc., as noted above;

— witnesses (Rom 8:16, Heb 10:15; Jn 15:26 - marturia) as Jesus is a witness (Jn 4:44) and as the Father is (1 Jn 5:9; Acts 15:8);

— speaks (Rev 2:7; 1 Tim 4:1) - “Now the Spirit speaketh expres­sly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils”. (“Expressly” is rhetos, etym: "to say". Arndt: "explicitly" or literally. One cannot say something expressly if one does not actually say it with actual words.) The Bible teaches that the Spirit literally speaks, with words as any intel­ligent being might, warning that in the latter times some will fall away to demonic doc­trines. Those who have not been taught this bib­lical doc­trine, that the Spirit speaks expressly, have been listening to teachers of something other than the word of God;

— created (Gen 1:2; Ps 33:6, 104:14-16, 30; Job 26:13). In these verses we can interpret ruach as "person" just as easily as "force." The word rendered "moved"(rahap) - the Spirit moved - in Gen 1:2 is used only one other time in the Bible (Deut 32:11), and it means "to brood or to hover," as an eagle over its nest; it is translated "move" in the sense of nestling, arranging, hovering as an example, teaching to fly; in the piel verb form of Hebrew - intensive - it more likely mean hover. Obviously an eagle is closer to a person than a force: people can brood, both figuratively and literally - an abstract force (gravity, electricity, etc.,) cannot, in any sense, "brood" or hover; a hovering, static force is not "active" but passive (potential, not kinetic, energy). In Ps 33:6 (LXX), the Logos (a person) established the heavens, and the Pneuma made the heavenly hosts; is not the more "personal" task to make "hosts," armies, rather than literal stars? — yet it is the Spirit, not the Logos, who is so personal (the Spirit made Job - 33:4). In any case, “I am the LORD Jehovah, who makes all things, who stret­ches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by Myself.”(Is 44:24) Jehovah alone created, without using any "he­lper," so since the Holy Spirit (and Jesus) created, then He must be Jehovah, the Triune God;

— is called God (Acts 5:3-4, 1 Cor 3:16, 2 Cor 3:17) as the Father is called God, and as Jesus is called God (Jn 1:1; Titus 2:13; Col 2:2; Acts 20:28, to cite only a few – some translations are because corrupt theo­logy sacrifices reliability for the sake of bias). Of course there is much to say on this subject, but I ask one question now: how many kinds of gods are there? The Bible explicitly says there is the true God (whom Or­thodox, historic, apostolic Christianity knows to be the Triune God Jehovah), and there are false gods. Where does it say there is a third category for Jesus and the Holy Spirit, neither true nor false? What verse teaches such a doctrine, of demigods? I’ll return to this idea later.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is treated as a person. He can be:

— addressed (see where He speaks) as the Father is spoken to;

— communed or fellowshipped with (2 Cor 13:14) as with Jesus (1 Cor 9:1);

— grieved by others (Is 63:10, Eph 4:30) as Paul was grieved;

— insulted or outraged (Heb 10:29) as God is so "cursed" (Lev 24:11, LXX, Alexandrian Codex);

— lied to (Acts 5:3) as to the Most High God (Ps 78:36, LXX);

— obeyed (Acts 10, 13:2);

— resisted (Acts 7:51) as Jehovah was resisted (Num 27:14, LXX);

— sent (Jn 14:26) as the Son was sent (Jn 6:38)

— tested (Heb 3:9; Acts 5:9 — "peirazo") as Jesus was tested (Mt 4:1), and as the Father is tested (Acts 15:10);

— blasphemed or reviled (Mt 12:32, Mk 3:29) as are the Father (Rev 13:6, 16:9) and Son (Mt 27:39, Lk 23:39): and it is far worse to even speak against the Spirit than any other (Mt 12:32), Father or Son (it is the Spirit who indwells believers, and if He is rejected or blasphemed He cannot take up residence to make known the Savior - He is God in us, cf. 1 Jn 3:24. Jesus says all sins and blas­phemies will be forgiven (Mk 3:28) - paid for on the cross - but if the price is not accepted, there remains the one, eternal, sin - which is against the Spirit.)

This is as rounded a list of personal attributes as we might hope for. If someone could make such a list even a fraction as varied, of some real "force" given personifying attributes, I’d be very sur­prised indeed. The language that seems to personify the Holy Spirit would not be used of a force – we do not obey, address, lie to, insult, anger, vex, blaspheme a finger or a force - only a person. A force does not pray for us. We do not say the TV or radio said something, we say that we heard something on it. The Bible does not say we learn through the Holy Spirit, but from Him.

Whether one agrees that the Holy Spirit is a person, Acts 13:2 (cf. 10:20; Heb 3:9, and nume­rous other passages) not only has the Holy Spirit speaking, but referring to Himself: “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” The person of the Holy Spirit is speaking, and referring to Himself — He seems to consider Himself a person. "Forces" do not have "selves" to refer to.

The Father also addressed the Holy Spirit as a distinct in­dividual. For example, in Is 48:9 the LORD says: “Awake, awake, put on strength, O Arm of the LORD; awake as in the days of old, the genera­tions of long ago. Was it not Thou who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon?” “He [God, El Shaddai] ... by His understanding He shat­tered Rahab. By His breath (Spirit) the heavens are cleared; His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent” (Job 26:12-13). “Thou [O LORD God of Hosts] Thyself didst crush Rahab like one who is slain; Thou didst scatter Thine ene­mies with Thy mighty Arm” (Ps 89:10). Notice the "O Arm" in Is 48:9: "O" is a form of direct, formal address, called "voca­tive" in grammar; it is not mere poetic verbiage. The Father addresses the Spirit as a distinct Person. The Arm of the LORD cut Rahab, yet the LORD God of Hosts Himself crushed Rahab. Either there is hopeless confusion here, a poetic muddle, or the Trinity is valid – is there a third option? In any case, the Holy Spirit is addressed by the Father as an individual; the Father is either talk­ing to Himself, or to another person of the Trinity.

Jesus seems to consider the Holy Spirit to be a person as well, and by the evidence wants His disciples to think likewise: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever” (Jn 14:16). The word "another" is allos (“anoth­er of the same sort” — Vine's), as opposed to heteros (“another of a dif­ferent sort”). Thayer's (p. 29, #243) says allos compared with heteros “denotes numerical in distinction from qualitative difference ... generally denotes simply distinction of individuals, [while heteros] involves the secondary idea of difference of kind.” Jesus is saying He will send another Helper who is like Himself - one who is different in individuality, numerically, but not different in kind, qualitatively. What kind or quality was Jesus - a person, or a force? Jesus implies the Spirit is of the same kind as Himself.

Jesus says this (distinct, individual) Helper will bear wit­ness, and the disciples also are to bear witness (Jn 15:26-27). In whatever way the Holy Spirit bears witness, the disciples are also to bear wit­ness. I don't know that a person can bear witness as a "force" would; I don't know that a force can bear witness at all. And if the Holy Spirit is to bear witness figuratively, then are the disciples also to bear witness figuratively? Faithfulness to such a context would suggest so.

Again, in Jn 16:13, Jesus says the Holy Spirit “will not speak on His own (authority); He will speak only what he hears.” A force does not "hear" anything; a force does not have "authori­ty." The clear as­sumption is that Jesus knows that the Spirit does have authority; Jesus does not say the Spirit cannot, but will not speak on His own – rather, teaching the Father’s will. As we have seen, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have the same authority (Mt 28:19) which proceeds from the Father.

Identified as God

Some of the Biblical proofs of the identity of the Holy Spirit are listed below:

— In Acts 5:3-4, the Holy Spirit is clearly called God - lying to the Spirit is lying to God. There is no textual indication of figura­tive language.

— Paul contrasts “dumb idols” with speech given by “the Spirit of God” (1 Cor 12:2-6) - false gods, demons who are worshipped, contrasted with God;

— Luke (1:68,70) tells us that “the Lord God of Israel ... spoke by the mouths of His holy prophets”; and this same Luke tells us (Acts 1:16) that “the Holy Spirit spoke ... by the mouth of David”;

— the saint's body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit” wherein he wor­ships God (1 Cor 6:19, 21), and the saint is “the temple of God”;

— the saint is a temple because the “Spirit of God dwells in” him (1 Cor 3:16), so the Holy Spirit is “the living God”, who “will dwell in them ... I will be their God” (2 Cor 6:16; see Jer 10:10);

— Israel sinned in the wilderness against God, provoking the Most High (Ps 78:17-18), while their rebellion was “against and vexing the Holy Spirit” (Is 63:10);

— in the wilderness, “the LORD alone did lead them”(Deut 32:12); which is to say “the Spirit of the LORD did lead them” (Is 63:14);

— Jehovah the Holy Spirit told Isaiah to speak (compare Is 6:8-9 with Acts 28:25-26);

— the Lord who is the Spirit directs us into the love of God and into the patience of Christ (2 Thes 3:5; see 1 Thes 3:11);

— “the Lord is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:17). Who is Jehovah? Does the Bible say He is the Spirit? It does not say the Father is the Spirit, nor that Jesus is the Spirit ... but Jehovah, the Triune God, is the Spirit, as He is Jesus (the LORD Jesus), and as He is the Father. If you deny the Spirit, you make yourself a son of perdition. (Note that the word "Jehovah" never appears in the Greek NT. When the OT is quoted, "Jeho­vah" is always trans­lated "LORD". Any insertion of "Jehovah" into the NT is, at best, presumptuous: the inspired writers are being "corrected". "Jehovah" may be placed legitimately in the NT only when directly quoting an OT verse - any other excuse is self-serving theological bias.)

God and gods

Jehovah teaches us what a false god is in Is 44:7,17: it cannot proclaim or declare; a man “falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god.’” We must not confuse semantics with theology — that words translated as "god" are used of other, "mighty," things is no excuse for thinking that anything other than God is called God. If one worships, and prays to, and seeks delive­rance from someone, than this is their god; but if one looks to someone to proclaim and "Deliver," and He does deliver in the sense of salva­tion, and proclaims truly, this is the true God. Since the Bible ac­tually tells us to worship Jesus (Phili 2:10, Heb 1:6), and Steven actually prays to Jesus (Acts 7:59), and Jesus certainly is our Deliver­er, and Jesus does pro­claim, and declare, then how is Jesus, for exam­ple, not God? It is the son of perdition who opposes “all that is called God” (2 Thes 2:4 – all is panta, anarthrous, means "all things severally" [Vine's p. 21, 1.]; Thayer’s says "any, every one ... with the Singular [noun]" - not everyone, but every member "of the class indicated by the noun" [p. 491, Pas, 3956, I., 1., a.]; Arndt says "all things, everything," [p. 632, Pas, 2., a., delta]). The all that is called God is not all false gods, but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are as I have shown each called God, in a theologi­cal, not merely linguistic, sense.

The Holy Spirit, and Jesus, are surely not in the same class of "god" as Satan, the would-be usurper (Is 14:14), the false “god of this age” (2 Cor 4:4), one of the “so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth” (1 Cor 8:5); nor in the class of the false judges of Ps 82, who are mere corrupt men (compare vv. 1 and 8 — these "gods" are earthly), and die like men (v. 7): that Jesus is translated by John (from the Hebrew Psalm into the Greek) as saying they are so-called "theoi" is no statement of theology, but merely reflects the limits of language. And the great Prince of Tyre, mighty though he was, is expressly said to be a man, and not any sort of god (Eze 28:2,9). Lucifer is the covering Cherub, not a god; Moses was "as" or "for" a god to Pharaoh (Ex 4:16), but clearly not a "god" — he is tacitly another false god to Pharaoh, who was a pagan given to saying that what was not God, was God. Angels are called "elohim" (Heb 2:7), but cannot in any theistic sense be called gods, if for no other reason than that they do not receive worship, proskuneo, (Rev 19:10, 22:9). But Jehovah Jesus does receive worship, proskuneo, (Lk 24:52, Phili 2:10, Heb 1:6). All of these created things are not God, and they are expressly said to be ‘not God’ (see Jer 2:15. 5:7, 16:20; Gal 4:8). Bowing down in reverence to them is damnable.

But the Holy Spirit (like Jesus) is called God, and nowhere is this qualified. Rather, the Spirit is said to have the very attributes of God:

— the defining characteristic of the Holy Spirit is His very holiness (Rom 1:4), as God is glorious in holiness (Ex 15:11);

— only God can be blasphemed unto damnation, and the person of God so blasphemed is the Holy Spirit (Mk 3:29-30);

— the Spirit is good (Neh 9:20, Ps 143:10), and only God is good (Mt 19:17);

— the Spirit is eternal (Heb 9:14), as the LORD is everlasting (Is 40:28): “For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy ... I will not contend forever (Is 57:15,16; cf. Gen 6:3: "My Spirit will not contend forever....")”;

— He is sovereign (Jn 3:8, 1 Cor 12:11), as God elsewhere is sovereign (Ex 33:19 & Rom 9:15), and Jesus also (Phili 2:10);

— He is omnipresent (Ps 139:7) as God is (Eph 3:19, 1 K 8:27, Jer 23:23), and also Jesus (Eph 1:23, 4:10);

— He is omniscient (1 Cor 2:10), as God is (Job 36:4, Is 40:26-28, Eze 11:5), and also Jesus (Col 2:3);

— He is omnipotent (Micah 2:7), as the Lord Jehovah must be (Is 26:4, Rev 21:22) and so Jesus (Rev 1:8);

— He created, He sanctifies, He gives life ... these are the things that God does, and none other than God. How then is it possible for the Holy Spirit not to be God?

Contextual Trinity (Is 48:15-17)

In whatever way the Lord Jesus Christ (a person) gives grace, and God the Father (a person) gives love, in that same way the Holy Spirit (not a person?) gives fellowship (2 Cor 13:14). Christians are elect “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father (person), through sanctification of the Spirit (not a person?), unto obedience and sprink­ling of the blood of Jesus Christ (person) (1 P 1:2).” And as there are diversities of operations but the same God (person), and differences of administrations but the same Lord (person), so there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit (not a person?) (1 Cor 12:4-6). The Father (person) who raised Christ (person) will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit (Rom 8:11). Spirit, Lord, God ... contex­tually equated, in a practical Trinity, of persons. We are to make disciples in the one name, the same and singular name, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19. See Jn 14:15-24; Eph 1:13f., 2:18; 2 Thes 2:13f.) The Spirit of the Father (Jn 14:26) is the Spirit of the Son (Gal 4:6), of Christ (Rom 8:9), of the Lord (Acts 8:29). God is Spirit (Jn 4:26). The Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:17). That the Trinity is not taught explicitly in the Bible is not to be argued. That it is taught impli­citly is here to be seen.

_____

JH