For it seemed good to the
Holy Spirit, and to us,
to lay upon you no
greater burden than
these necessary things:
that you abstain from
things offered to idols,
from blood, from things
strangled, and from
sexual immorality.
If you keep yourselves
from these,
you will do well.
Farewell.
Acts 15:28-29
If then the Holy Spirit can "feel good" a question comes quickly to mind: "How can an inanimate, impersonal power have any feelings that would be ascribed to a person? It can't! Notice also that the Holy Spirit along with the Apostles deemed it "good" for a person to remain apart from idols and then add with that admonishment that a person is to remain free from "sexual immorality" conjoining those abhorrent things that a Christian should avoid. I say Christian and not all because if you are not a child of God then that commanded request is not for them, only for the children of God. Why would God condemn those already condemned and those who are living outside of His commandments? They are already accused, but for His elect there are not to associate themselves with the world, that is, in those activities that are condemned by God.
Let us explore the Scriptures together and see for ourselves whether or not the Scriptures ascribe personhood to the Holy Spirit.
1. Acts 13:2: "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." It is the Holy Spirit speaking and calling, this then is not just a power for it does what any person, unless disabled, speaks.
2. Romans 8:25: "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do no know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Here the Scripture demonstrates that not only does the Holy Spirit speak, but, He speaks for those who do not know what to say, and is our help.
3. John 15:26: "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." The Spirit is called the "Spirit of Truth" and Jesus says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Three aspects of God are present in this verse, the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. Those aspects are Persons as all have the attributes of Personhood. Jesus is Truth, The Spirit is Truth and proceeds from the Father and testifies of Jesus Christ.
4. John 14:26: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." The Holy Spirit is a teacher and causes a person to remember that which Jesus has spoken. Notice this one fact: The Holy Spirit will cause a person to remember, that then presupposes that what is to be remembered is already in the mind of man but at times there must be a "dusting away of the cobwebs of forgetfulness having that which was learned to be remembered and used. There then is an admonition in this verse that we need to study God's word.
5. Acts 8:29: "Then the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go near and overtake this chariot." Not only is the Holy Spirit speaking, He is leading, this cannot be assigned as something done by that which has no meaning, that which is not a thinking and sentient being. Then after this meeting with the Ethiopian eunuch the Spirit caught Philip away (vs. 39), (cf. Romans 8:14).
I will not attempt to over whelm by too many verses at one time, therefore, each blog until complete will give more verses denoting the personhood of the Holy Spirit. Why is this Doctrine important? Why not just believe in Jesus Christ and be done with it? Oh! We may believe in the Father, that there is a Godhead, but do we actually attribute the fact that the Holy Spirit is God. Jesus Christ is God, the Father is God, so to demean in any manner one of the Persons of the Godhead is to demean God. If we do not acknowledge the Holy Spirit to be God then we have destroyed the Godhead, and call into question the work of Jesus Christ as Savior. If all three are not God, all of the same essence, each being a different mode or a different thing or being then all we have for surety of our salvation hangs on the hope that a power can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves and does that work without any caring and just acts as it proceeds from the Father. Somehow this power leads, guides, speaks, etc. in some form but not as a person. In fact if Jesus Christ is not God then all that we have for a sure hope is that Jesus Christ is such a being, so separate from all other living beings, that He cannot in anyway sin. This then would mean that Jesus Christ has not a free will or that He could sin and there was not definite assurance that He would not sin. Nowhere in Scripture are the Persons of the Godhead giving anything about them except that they are Persons. When we are baptized or baptizing, it is commanded that we baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Why? Because they are One, all the same essence, and all are Persons doing the work of God. Be assured! We have a Savior who truly saves, a Father who truly loves us, and a Helper who cares for us.
But God be thanked
that though you
were slaves of sin,
yet you obeyed
from the heart that
form of dectrine
to which you were
delivered.
Romans 6:17
May Your Feet Bring Peace
Richard L. Crumb
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