The Holy Spirit Is God
Since the purpose of this book is to bring you into a full, personal, and soundly biblical relationship with God the Holy Spirit, we need to first show that the Holy Spirit is one of the three Persons of the Godhead.
The church has accepted throughout its history that there is one God who exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the Scriptures we find Them working together in total harmony for the redemption of man. Paul confessed to Timothy that the Godhead was a great mystery; for us to try to fully comprehend it is a futile expenditure of mental energy.
Many cult groups (such as Jehovah’s Witnesses) take advantage of this gulf between the finite and the infinite to attack the triunity of God by denying the deity of Jesus Christ and passing off the Holy Spirit as an essence.
Other groups deny the existence of the Father and the Holy Spirit, and say that Jesus alone is God. One of the common marks of every cult is a denial of the deity of Jesus Christ and the Person of the Holy Spirit.
T h e Tr i u n e G o d
of the Holy Spirit, but also why we believe in His deity. The word trinity is not found in the Bible, but it is a convenient term that theologians use to describe the three Persons of the one God. Perhaps the term triunity would more accurately describe God.
He is not 1 + 1 + 1 = 3, but 1 x 1 x 1 = 1.
In Genesis 1:1 we read, “In the beginning God…” The Hebrew word translated God is “Elohim,” which is plural for El (God in the singular). In Hebrew there is a singular, dual, and plural tense. “God” in the singular is El, in the dual is Elah, and in the plural is Elohim.
There can be no denying that the word Elohim at least suggests the triunity of God.
Continuing in Genesis 1:2 we read, “…the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The Holy Spirit is the first Person of the Godhead to be identified separately in the Bible.
In Genesis 1:26 we read, “And [Elohim] said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” He did not say, “I will make man after my image.” In other words, the three Persons of the Godhead were speaking jointly.
T h e A t t r i b u t e s o f t h e H o l y S p i r i t
To establish that the Holy Spirit is God, we will first show that attributes which can be ascribed to God alone
are ascribed to the Holy Spirit. One of the divine attributes is the eternal nature of God. He has always existed. In Hebrews 9:14 we read that Christ through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God. If the Spirit is eternal, and this is an attribute that can only be ascribed to deity, then the Spirit is God.
Notice also how the three Persons of the Trinity are linked in the verse.
Another attribute of God is His omniscience. God knows all things, as James said in Acts 15:18: “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”
This attribute is also ascribed to the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:10–11 we read, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” Here the knowledge of God is attributed to the Spirit of God.
Another attribute of deity is omnipresence.
God exists everywhere in the universe at once.
In Psalm 139:7 David asks, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” God exists in the heavens, in hell, and in the uttermost parts of the sea. The Spirit is with me now where I am, and at the same time He is with you wherever you may be reading this book right now. God is omnipotent.
This is a word used to express that He is all powerful.
When Sarah laughed at the announcement that she was to have a son in her old age, the angel of the Lord asked, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14). Jesus said, “With God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27).
In Luke 1:37 He said, “With God nothing shall be impossible.” The angel said to Mary when she questioned him on how she, a virgin, could bear a child, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee” (Luke 1:35).
Here the Holy Spirit and the power of the highest are used synonymously.
T h e Wo r k s o f t h e S p i r i t
The Spirit was also an active force in creation. In Genesis 1:2 the Spirit is described as moving over the face of the waters. The Spirit was in conference with the Father and the Son when God said, “Let us make man in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). In Psalm 104:30 we read, “Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created.”
Another work of God is that of giving life.
We recognize that God is the giver and sustainer of life. In 2 Corinthians 3:6, as Paul was referring to the letter of the law, he said, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” In John 6:63 Jesus said, “It is the spirit that [maketh alive].”
The Bible was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, yet we properly refer to the Bible as the Word of God.
Second Peter 1:21 tells us, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy [Spirit].” In 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul declares, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” Peter says that the writers were moved by the Holy Spirit and Paul says that they were inspired by God. Thus the Spirit is recognized to be God.
This is why many Scriptures in the Old Testament which declare that the Lord spoke are attributed to the Holy Spirit when quoted in the New Testament. In Isaiah 6:8–9 the prophet said, “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.”
When Paul quoted this passage in Acts 28:25–26 he said, “Well spake the Holy [Spirit] by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying, …hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive.” Isaiah said the Lord spoke; Paul said the Holy Spirit spoke.
They can both be right only if the Holy Spirit and the Lord are one.
T h e Tr i n i t y Wo r k i n g To g e t h e r
In Acts 5:1–11 we have an interesting account of discipline in the infant church as God was seeking to preserve its purity. Motivated by love, many Christians attempted to establish a Christian community by selling all their possessions and turning the proceeds over to the apostles, so that the Christians might have all things in common. A certain couple, Ananias and Sapphira, sold their property, but together decided to hold back a share of the price for themselves.
When Ananias brought his portion to Peter, Peter asked, “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy [Spirit], and to keep part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God” (Acts 5:3–4). Peter said that Satan had filled the heart of Ananias to lie to the Holy Spirit, then declared that he had lied to God, thereby making the Holy Spirit and God one.
Throughout the New Testament we see the Trinity working together or coupled together. When Jesus commissioned the disciples to go out and teach all nations (Matthew 28:19–20), He told them to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
These three names distinguish the three Persons of the one God.
In 2 Corinthians 13:14, in his apostolic benediction, Paul said, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy [Spirit] be with you all. Amen.”
Here again the three Persons of the one God are linked together.
In 1 Corinthians 12:4–6 Paul says, “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” In verse four he refers to the Spirit, in verse five to the Lord (Jesus), and in verse six to God (the Father).
So, though there may be diversities in the gifts and in their operation and administration, there is a unity because God is behind it all.
A c c e s s T h r o u g h t h e S p i r i t
essence from God?”
Because the Spirit is a part of the Godhead, it is proper to worship Him, and we are correct when
we sing, “Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” God has
ordained that we relate to Him through the Spirit.
It is in the realm of the Spirit that man can touch God.
It is my spirit brought into union with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
Paul also said, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit” (Romans 8:16).
If I am to have communion with God, I must recognize the Holy Spirit and realize that He is the One that makes this fellowship possible.
Man has never had direct access to the Father; this is a common fallacy among people who forget the awesome holiness of God. When God manifested Himself on the Holy Mount to the Jewish people (Exodus 19), He had them set boundaries around the mountain so they wouldn’t get too close to the manifestation of God and be put to death.
When the people saw from afar the awesome demonstration of God, they said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will hear, but don’t let God speak to us lest we die.”
The veil in the tabernacle demonstrated the separation that must exist between the Holy God and an unholy
people. This veil could only be penetrated after an elaborate cleansing and sacrifices by the high priest, and this only one day in the year, and by only one man, the high priest.
Jesus said, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Jesus told the Jews that they really didn’t know the Father. He also told them that Moses would be the witness against them. They do not follow the prescribed way to God that was given to Moses by God, but today seek to approach Him on the basis of their good works without sacrifice.
Sin has always been the barrier between man and God, and until something is done about man’s sin, there can
be no approach to God.
In Isaiah 59:1–2 we read, “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
Jesus provided a way to cleanse us from our sins, thus making the approach to God possible.
Through faith in Jesus Christ my spirit is made alive, and thus can be united with God’s Spirit.
In this way God and man are joined in the Spirit.
