The historic orthodox Christian Church has always held to the Biblically based belief that the Holy Spirit is a Person and that He is as much God as are the Father and Son.
"You will note, too, that these accounts relate conversations between the Devil and God, and between the Devil and Jesus Christ. Both Jehovah God and Jesus Christ are persons. Also, the Bible calls Satan a manslayer, a liar, a father (in a spiritual sense) and a ruler. Only an intelligent person could fit all these descriptions."
We can likewise apply the Society's above criteria to the Holy Spirit:
The Holy Spirit spoke to people:
Acts 8:29 - "and the spirit said to Philip, "go up and join the chariot."
Acts 10:19,20 - "The Spirit said to Peter, "Behold, three men are looking for you."
Ezekiel 3:24 - "Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house."Philip, Peter and Ezekiel are PERSONS. Can an unintelligent force speak to people?
Also, the Holy Spirit:
Can be grieved, can be lied to, is a helper, is a guide, teaches, testifies, prophecies, makes a decree, can be blasphemed and has a mind. All of these traits are personal in nature.So the same guidelines that are used to prove that Satan is a real person can be used to prove the personality of the Holy Spirit!
GRAMMATICAL PROOF
The rules of Greek grammar demonstrate the personality of the Holy Spirit.Before getting into the details, here is a brief overview for those of us who need a "refresher" on grammar in general :
A PERSONAL pronoun can be "he" (masculine), "she" (feminine, or "it" (neuter).
A RELATIVE pronoun such as "this one" or "that one" are classified as masculine, feminine or neuter, depending on its antecedent, i.e., the word which it refers to.In the Bible, the following verses that refer to the Holy Spirit use the relative pronoun "that one" in the original Greek. The word is "ekeinos". The last 2 letters, "-os," denotes that the word is in the MASCULINE gender. (The Society's Kingdom Interlinear shows this.)
John 14:26 - Another helper..."he" (that one - ekeinos - masc.) will teach.If the Holy Spirit was an impersonal "it", as in an "active force," then the Greek would have been "EKEINO." Yet the inspired Greek writers were fully aware that they were referring to a person.
John 15:26 - the spirit of the truth ...."he" (that one - ekeinos - masc.) will bear witness.
John 16:13 - the spirit of the truth ..."he" (that one - ekeinos - masc.) will guide.The relative pronoun "that one" can have 3 different endings in the Greek:
"-os" (masculine)
"-oi" (feminine)
"-o" (neuter)
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD
It is my firm belief that the Bible verses below reveal the personality and the Deity of the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul advised us to take in the WHOLE counsel of God (Acts 20:27), therefore it is considered wise to compare scripture with scripture to arrive at Biblical conclusions. All Scripture verses are taken from the Society's New world Translation."COMPARING SCRIPTURE
WITH SCRIPTURE"
The Holy Spirit participated in the creation of man. Job said in
Job 33:4:Only GOD created man!
" The Spirit of God hath made me,..."
Genesis 1:26,27 says: "Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all[1] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
Acts 5: 3,4
"But Peter said: "Ananias, why has Satan emboldened you to play false to the holy spirit and to hold back secretly some of the price of the field?"
"As long as it remained with you did it not remain yours, and after it was sold did it not continue in your control? Why was it that you purposed such a deed as this in your heart? You have played false, not to men, but to God."The apostle Peter draws a parallel here. In verse 3 Peter told nAanias that he lied to the Holy Spirit. Can something "impersonal" be lied to? In verse 4 Peter reiterates his accusation more strongly and emphasizes that the Holy Spirit who Ananias lied to was actually God!
Compare Isaiah 6: 9,10 with Acts 28:26-27
Isaiah 6: 9,10:
JEHOVAH said:
"Go and you must say to this people: "Hear again and again, O men, but do not understand, and see again and again, but do not get any knowledge. Make the heart of this people unreceptive, and make their very ears unresponsive, and paste their very eyes together, that they may not see with their eyes and with their ears they may not hear, and that their own heart may not understand and that they may not actually turn back and get healing for themselves."Acts 28: 26,27:
"The HOLY SPIRIT aptly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your forefathers saying:
"Go to this people and say, "By hearing you will hear but by no means understand, and looking you will look, but by no means see."
"For the heart of this people has grown unreceptive, and with their ears they have heard without response, and they have shut their eyes; that they should never see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn back, and I should heal them."
The New World Translation in its center column references cites that this quote in Acts is from the Isaiah verses. These words were uttered only once - by Jehovah God. Attributing these statements, in the New Testament, as being spoken by the Holy Spirit puts the Spirit in the same classication of being God in His nature.
Compare Psalm 95: 9-11 with Hebrews 3: 7-11
Psalm 95: 9-11:
JEHOVAH said:
"When your forefathers put me to the proof; They examined me, they also saw my activity.
For forty years I kept feeling a loathing toward [that] generation,And I proceeded to say:"They are a people wayward at heart,And they themselves have not come to know my ways";
Concerning whom I swore in my anger: "They shall not enter into my resting-place."Hebrews 3: 7-11
The HOLY SPIRIT said:
"For this reason, just as the holy spirit says: "Today if YOU people listen to his own voice,
do not harden your hearts as on the occasion of causing bitter anger, as in the day of making the test in the wilderness,
in which your forefathers made a test of me with a trial, and yet they had seen my works for forty years.
For this reason I became disgusted with this generation and said, 'They always go astray in their hearts, and they themselves have not come to know my ways.'
So I swore in my anger, 'They shall not enter into my rest.'"The New World Translation attributes the source of these words as coming from the Psalms veses above. Again, the words spoken by the Holy Spirit are attributed to those of Jehovah. The Holy Spirit is God.
Compare Jeremiah 31:33,34 with Hebrews 10:15-17
Jeremiah 31: 33,34:
JEHOVAH said:
"For this is the covenant that I shall conclude with the house of Israel after those days," is the utterance of Jehovah. "I will put my law within them, and in their heart I shall write it. And I will become their God, and they themselves will become my people.
And they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, 'KNOW Jehovah!' for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them," is the utterance of Jehovah. "For I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more."Hebrews 10: 15-17:
The HOLY SPIRIT said:
Moreover, the holy spirit also bears witness to us, for after it has said:
"'This is the covenant that I shall covenant toward them after those days,' says Jehovah. 'I will put my laws in their hearts, and in their minds I shall write them,'"
[it says afterwards:] "And I shall by no means call their sins and their lawless deeds to mind anymore."The Holy Spirit said the words that are ascribed to having beed spoken by Jehovah God.
I Corinth. 6:19
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"The Kingdom Interlinear Translation renders "temple as "divine habitation", so that means it is a dwelling place for some sort of "god." We know from history that there were temples for pagan deities and other false gods. But in the Jewish culture, we read of the True God inhabiting their temple. If the Apostle Paul says that our bodies are temples, then does a false god or true God dwell there?
ROLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Figuratively speaking, a person can be "filled," "poured out," "be entered," into another person."filled"
Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives IN me."
II Corinth. 5:17 "If any man is IN Christ, he is a new creature."
Ephesians 5:18 "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,"When Paul used the term being "filled," the Greek verb tense renders it as being CONTINUOUSLY filled. He was not giving an option or suggestion. His choice of words was framed as a command. We are to be continuously filled with the Spirit.
It is important to get the precise meaning of the word "filled" as Paul used it. He was not speaking of being filled UP; he had in mind the idea of being filled THROUGH, or permeated by the Holy Spirit's influence.
We often speak of people being "filled" with anger or "filled" with joy. We mean they're totally under the control of those emotions. That's what Paul had in mind - we are to be utterly controlled by the Holy Spirit."poured out"
Philippians 2:17 "But even I am being poured out as a drink offering."
II Timothy 4:6 "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.""entered into"
Luke 22:3 "And Satan entered into Judas."
(Satan is a person)"baptized"
"
Romans 6:3 "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?"
Galatians 3:27 "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
WATCHTOWER MISQUOTES
The Society's book "Reasoning From the Scriptures" quotes from the New Catholic Encyclopedia in regard to the identity of the Holy Spirit:The "Reasoning..." book says on p. 407:<
"The Majority of the New Testament texts reveal that God's spirit is something, not someone; this is especially seen in the parallelism between the spirit and the power of God." (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol.XIII, p.575)However, the Watchtower Society's writer(s) deliberately overlooked these other statements on the same page of the Encyclopedia:
"Although the New Testament concepts of the spirit of God are largely a continuation of those in th Old Testament, in the New Testament there is a gradual revelation that the Spirit of God is a Person."
"The Trinitarian formulas employed by St. Paul indicate a real personality."
"So clearly does St. John see in the Spirit a person who takes Christ's place in the Church, that he uses a masculine pronoun, "ekeinos," in reference to the Spirit."The "Reasoning..." book also makes this quote on p. 407:
"The Apologists [Greek Christian writers of the second century A.D.] spoke too haltingly of the Spirit; with a measure of anticipation, one might say too impersonally." (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. XIV, p.296)Once again, the Society has been very selective in their quotes and omitted these following statements on the same page of the Encyclopedia:
"The divine unity, Tertullian writes, is "disposed into trinity." (Against Praxeas, ch.2). From the same passage, , it is clear that he thinks of the three as three individuals. Elsewhere, to designate the proper and distinct reality of both Son and Spirit, he introduces the word Person explicitly."CONCLUSION:
Apparently the Bible can refer to the Holy Spirit as both a power and a person at one time. The primary function of the Spirit of God in the Old Testament is as "the spirit of prophecy." (inspiring force) - the motivation of prophets and their inspired message. The Holy Spirit as a person is not directly revealed until the New Testament writings.
OTHER STATEMENTS FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
"And the Holy Spirit, either from the person of His Father, or from His own person, answers them, 'The Lord of hosts, He is this King of glory.'" Justin Martyr - Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 36"And the Holy Spirit, either from the person of His Father, or from His own person, answers them, 'The Lord of hosts, He is this King of glory.'" Justin Martyr - Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 36
"[God speaks in the plural "Let us make man in our image] because already there was attached to Him his Son, a second person, his own Word, and a third, the Spirit in the Word....one substance in three coherent persons. He was at once the Father, the Son, and the Spirit." - Against Praxeas, ch. 12
"The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God. Each is God. Yet we have never given vent to the phrases 'Two Gods or Two Lords'." - Against Praxeas, ch. 13
"The connection of Father and Son, of Son and the Paraclete [Holy Spirit] makes three who cohere in a dependent series. And these three are one thing; not one person." - Against Praxeas, ch. 25
"The Son of God is identical with God. The Spirit of God is God." - Against Praxeas, ch. 26
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