In the preceding chapter we have seen clearly that the Holy Spirit is a
Person. But what sort of a Person is He? Is He a finite person or an
infinite person? Is He God? This question also is plainly answered in the
Bible. There are in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments five
distinct and decisive lines of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit.
I. _Each of the four distinctively Divine attributes is ascribed to the
Holy Spirit._
What are the distinctively Divine attributes? Eternity, omnipresence,
omniscience and omnipotence. All of these are ascribed to the Holy Spirit
in the Bible.
We find _eternity_ ascribed to the Holy Spirit in Heb. ix. 14, “How much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the _eternal_ Spirit offered
Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?”
_Omnipresence_ is ascribed to the Holy Spirit in Ps. cxxxix. 7-10,
“Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy
presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in
hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead
me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.”
_Omniscience_ is ascribed to the Holy Spirit in several passages. For
example, we read in 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11, “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._” Again in John xiv. 26, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall _teach you all
things_, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you.” Still further we read in John xvi. 12, 13, R. V., “I have yet
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He,
the Spirit of truth is come, He shall _guide you into all the truth_: for
He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He shall hear,
these shall He speak: and He shall declare unto you the things that are to
come.”
We find _omnipotence_ ascribed to the Holy Spirit in Luke i. 35, “And the
angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and
the _power of the Highest_ shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
II. _Three distinctively Divine works are ascribed to the Holy Spirit._
When we think of God and His work, the first work of which we always think
is that of creation. In the Scriptures creation is ascribed to the Holy
Spirit. We read in Job xxxiii. 4, “The Spirit of God _hath made me_, and
the _breath of the Almighty_ hath given me life.” We read still again in
Ps. civ. 30, “Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, _they are created_: and Thou
renewest the face of the earth.” In connection with the description of
creation in the first chapter of Genesis, the activity of the Spirit is
referred to (Gen. i. 1-3).
The impartation of life is also a Divine work and this is ascribed in the
Scriptures to the Holy Spirit, We read in John vi. 6, A. R. V., “It is the
Spirit that giveth life: the flesh profiteth nothing.” We read also in
Rom. viii. 11, “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also
quicken your mortal bodies _by His Spirit_ that dwelleth in you.” In the
description of the creation of man in Gen. ii. 7, it is the breath of God,
that is the Holy Spirit, who imparts life to man, and man becomes a living
soul. The exact words are, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils _the breath of life_; and man
became a living soul.” The Greek word which is rendered “spirit” means
“breath” and though the Holy Spirit as a Person does not come out
distinctly in this early reference to Him in Gen. ii. 7, nevertheless,
this passage interpreted in the light of the fuller revelation of the New
Testament clearly refers to the Holy Spirit.
The authorship of Divine prophecies is also ascribed to the Holy Spirit.
We read in 2 Pet. i. 21, R. V., “For no prophecy ever came by the will of
man: but men spake from God, _being moved by the Holy Ghost_.” Even in the
Old Testament, there is a reference to the Holy Spirit as the author of
prophecy. We read in 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, 3, “_the Spirit of the _LORD_ spake_
by me, and His word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of
Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the
fear of God.”
So we see that the three distinctly Divine works of creation, the
impartation of life, and prophecy are ascribed to the Holy Spirit.
III. _Statements which in the Old Testament distinctly name the __LORD__
or Jehovah as their subject are applied to the Holy Spirit in the New
Testament, i. e., the Holy Spirit occupies the position of Deity in New
Testament thought._
A striking illustration of this is found in Isa. vi. 8-10, “Also 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.
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut
their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their heart, and convert and be healed.” In verse five we
are told that it was Jehovah (whenever the word LORD is spelled in
capitals in the Old Testament, it stands for Jehovah in the Hebrew and is
so rendered in the American Revision) whom Isaiah saw and who speaks. But
in Acts xxviii. 25-27 there is a reference to this statement of Isaiah’s
and whereas in Isaiah we are told it is Jehovah who speaks, in the
reference in Acts we are told that it was the Holy Spirit who was the
speaker. The passage in Acts reads as follows, “And when they agreed not
among themselves, they departed after that Paul had spoken one word, Well
spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go
unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not
understand; and seeing ye shall see and not perceive: For the heart of
this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with
their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and
I should heal them.” So we see that what is distinctly ascribed to Jehovah
in the Old Testament is ascribed to the Holy Spirit in the New: _i. e._,
the Holy Spirit is identified with Jehovah. It is a noteworthy fact that
in the Gospel of John, the twelfth chapter and the thirty-ninth to
forty-first verses where another reference is made to this passage in
Isaiah, this same passage is ascribed to Christ (note carefully the
forty-first verse). So in different parts of Scripture, we have the same
passage referred to Jehovah, referred to the Holy Spirit, and referred to
Jesus Christ. May we not find the explanation of this in the threefold
“Holy” of the seraphic cry in Isaiah vi. 3, where we read, “And one cried
unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole
earth is full of His glory.” In this we have a distinct suggestion of the
tri-personality of the Jehovah of Hosts, and hence the propriety of the
threefold application of the vision. A further suggestion of this
tri-personality of Jehovah of Hosts is found in the eighth verse of the
chapter where the Lord is represented as saying, “Whom shall I send, and
who will go for _us_?”
Another striking illustration of the application of passages in the New
Testament to the Holy Spirit which in the Old Testament distinctly name
Jehovah as their subject is found in Ex. xvi. 7. Here we read, “And in the
morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that He heareth your
murmurings against the LORD: and what are we that ye murmur against us?”
Here the murmuring of the children of Israel is distinctly said to be
against Jehovah. But in Heb. iii. 7-9, where this instance is referred to,
we read, “Wherefore, _as the Holy Ghost saith_, To-day if ye will hear His
voice, harden not your hearts, and in the provocation, in the day of
temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted _Me_, proved _Me_,
and saw My works forty years.” The murmurings which Moses in the Book of
Exodus says were against Jehovah, we are told in the Epistle to the
Hebrews were against the Holy Spirit. This leaves it beyond question that
the Holy Spirit occupies the position of Jehovah (or Deity) in the New
Testament (cf. also Ps. xcv. 8-11).
IV. _The name of the Holy Spirit is coupled with that of God in a way it
would be impossible for a reverent and thoughtful mind to couple the name
of any finite being with that of the Deity._
We have an illustration of this in 1 Cor. xii. 4-6, “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.” Here we
find God, and the Lord and the Spirit associated together in a relation of
equality that would be shocking to contemplate if the Spirit were a finite
being. We have a still more striking illustration of this in Matt. xxviii.
19, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the _Father_, and of the _Son_, and of the _Holy Ghost_.” Who, that had
grasped the Bible conception of God the Father, would think for a moment
of coupling the name of the Holy Spirit with that of the Father in this
way if the Holy Spirit were a finite being, even the most exalted of
angelic beings? Another striking illustration is found in 2 Cor. xiii. 14,
“The grace of _the Lord Jesus Christ_, and the love of _God_, and the
communion of _the Holy Ghost_, be with you all. Amen.” Can any one ponder
these words and catch anything like their real import without seeing
clearly that it would be impossible to couple the name of the Holy Spirit
with that of God the Father in the way in which it is coupled in this
verse unless the Holy Spirit were Himself a Divine Being?
V. _The Holy Spirit is called God._
The final and decisive proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit is found in
the fact that He is called God in the New Testament. We read in Acts v. 3,
4, “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to
the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles 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_.” In the first part of this passage we
are told that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit. When this is further
explained, we are told it was not unto men but unto God that he had lied
in lying to the Holy Spirit, _i. e._, the Holy Spirit to whom he lied is
called God.
To sum it all up, by the ascription of all the distinctively Divine
attributes, and several distinctly Divine works, by referring statements
which in the Old Testament clearly name Jehovah, the Lord, or God as their
subject to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, by coupling the name of
the Holy Spirit with that of God in a way that would be impossible to
couple that of any finite being with that of Deity, by plainly calling the
Holy Spirit God, in all these unmistakable ways, God in His own Word
distinctly proclaims that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person.