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Is the Holy Spirit God?

A visitor to our website writes:

Is there Scripture that clearly states the Holy Spirit is God?

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Dear friend,

One of the ways that the Holy Spirit is shown in Scripture to be God is by the fact that He is always associated with the other two Persons of the Trinity.  We are told by Jesus, for example, that we are to make disciples, "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).  All three divine Persons were present at Jesus' baptism (3:16-17); and all three are mentioned together in Paul's blessing: "The grace fo the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  Amen" (2 Corinthians 13:14).

Another way is by the fact that He is often described in the Bible as "the Spirit of" the other two Persons.  He is, for example, called "the Spirit of the Lord" in Acts 8:39; and "the Spirit of our God" in 1 Corinthians 6:11.  Jesus, in John 14:16, used the word "another" to describe how the Spirit is "another Helper" like Himself; and the word Jesus used (Greek: allos) means "another in addition to" or "another of the same kind" (as opposed to heteros; which means "another of a different kind").

A third way is by the fact that the New Testament writers quote Old Testament passages in which God spoke; but when they do, they often attribute what is said to the Holy Spirit.  In Acts 28:25-27, Paul quotes what God says in Isaiah 6:8-10; but Paul prefaced his quote by saying, "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying . . ."  In Hebrews 10:15-17, the writer of Hebrews quotes what God says in Jeremiah 31:31-34; but he introduces it by saying, "But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before . . ."  So in quoting these Old Testament passages in this way, the New Testament writers are affirming that the Holy Spirit is God who spoke.

There are other ways to show this from the Bible.  For example, the Holy Spirit is said to have done things that only God could do; such as being presented as presiding over the work of creation (Genesis 1:2), conceiving the Son of God in the womb of Mary (Luke 1:35), and giving inspiration to those who wrote the word of God (2 Peter 1:21).  The Holy Spirit is even presented as being able to be "blasphemed" against (Matthew 12:31)--which is something that we would only understand to be true of God.  One of the most interesting passages of this kind is where Peter asked Ananias, in Acts 5:3, "Ananias, why hs Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?"  In the very next verse, he said, "You have not lied to men but to God" (v. 4).

That's quite a bit; but I think it shows that there's lots of clear proofs that the Scriptures affirm the Holy Spirit to truly be God--the third member of the triune Godhead.

Pastor Greg

(All Scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version.)

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