In the previous article, we looked at the biblical evidence that the Holy Spirit is a Person. He thinks, speaks, teaches, guides, makes decisions, intercedes, bears witness, and can be grieved. But that raises another important question: What kind of person is He?
Is the Holy Spirit an angel or some other created spiritual being? Is He a representative of God who carries out God’s instructions? Or does Scripture teach something much greater?
The Bible’s answer is clear. The Holy Spirit is not merely a messenger from God. He is not one of God’s created servants. Scripture attributes to the Holy Spirit characteristics that belong to God, describes Him doing things only God can do, and in some passages directly identifies the Holy Spirit with God.
The Holy Spirit is divine.
Peter Identifies the Holy Spirit as God
One of the clearest passages occurs in Acts 5. The early Christians were voluntarily selling possessions and using the proceeds to help one another. Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, sold a piece of property but secretly kept back part of the money while pretending they had given the entire amount.
Peter confronted Ananias:
“Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?” (Acts 5:3)
Then, in the very next verse, Peter explains the seriousness of what Ananias had done:
“You have not lied to men, but to God.” (Acts 5:4)
Notice the connection. Peter first says Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit. Then he says Ananias lied to God. He does not describe the Spirit merely as God’s representative. The language directly connects lying to the Holy Spirit with lying to God.
This is powerful evidence, but it is far from the only evidence Scripture gives us.
The Holy Spirit Is Eternal
Everything in the created universe had a beginning. God did not. He is eternal. Psalm 90 says, “From everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Psalm 90:2).
Scripture attributes this same eternal nature to the Holy Spirit. Hebrews speaks of Jesus offering Himself as a sacrifice through the Spirit:
“How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14)
The Spirit is described as eternal. He is not presented as a created being who came into existence at some point in history. He shares an attribute that belongs to God Himself.
The Holy Spirit Was Present at Creation
We do not have to read very far into the Bible before encountering the Holy Spirit. In fact, He appears in the second verse of Genesis:
“The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2)
Before humanity existed, before Israel existed, and long before Pentecost, the Spirit of God was already present and active. His involvement in creation appears elsewhere in Scripture as well. Job says:
“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4)
The Holy Spirit is not introduced in the New Testament as a new spiritual being sent into the world. He was active from the beginning. Scripture connects Him with God’s creative work and with the giving of life itself.
The Holy Spirit Knows the Mind of God
There are limits to what created beings can know about God. We know what God chooses to reveal to us. Yet Paul describes the Holy Spirit’s knowledge in a very different way:
“For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:10)
Paul then makes an interesting comparison. No one knows another person’s innermost thoughts in the same way that person’s own spirit knows them. He applies that principle to God:
“For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:11)
The Holy Spirit does not merely possess information about God. Paul says the Spirit searches even the depths of God and knows the thoughts of God. This is another indication that the Spirit’s relationship to God is fundamentally different from that of any created spiritual being.
The Holy Spirit Is Present Everywhere
God is not confined to a physical location. David beautifully describes this truth in Psalm 139. Wherever he might go, God’s presence would already be there. Significantly, David expresses God’s presence in terms of God’s Spirit:
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7)
David continues by imagining the most extreme possibilities. If he ascended to heaven, God would be there. If he descended to the depths, God would be there. If he traveled to the farthest reaches of the sea, God’s hand would still lead him.
Notice again the connection between God’s Spirit and God’s presence. David cannot escape the Spirit because he cannot escape the presence of God.
We Are God’s Temple Because His Spirit Dwells in Us
Paul makes another remarkable connection between God and the Holy Spirit when writing to the church at Corinth:
“Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)
Under the Old Covenant, the temple represented the dwelling place of God’s presence among His people. Paul now tells Christians that they are God’s temple because God’s Spirit dwells within them.
He makes the connection even more explicitly later in the same letter:
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God…?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
Christians are not described as temples because an angel or created spiritual power resides within them. They are God’s temple because the Holy Spirit dwells within them. This truth will become especially important when we examine the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in greater depth later in this series.
The Holy Spirit Does the Work of God
The divine nature of the Holy Spirit becomes even clearer when we consider His work. Scripture does not merely give Him divine characteristics. It repeatedly describes Him participating in the work of God.
He was active in creation (Genesis 1:2). He gives life (Job 33:4). He inspired the prophets and the writers of Scripture (2 Peter 1:21). He was involved in the miraculous conception of Jesus (Luke 1:35). He descended upon Jesus at His baptism (Matthew 3:16). Jesus performed miracles through the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:28). Christ offered Himself through the eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14). The Spirit was involved in raising Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11). And He now dwells within God’s people.
This is not the description of a minor supporting character in the biblical story. From creation to redemption, the Holy Spirit is intimately involved who God is.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Jesus Himself places the Holy Spirit alongside the Father and the Son when He gives His apostles the Great Commission:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)
Notice that Jesus says “in the name” rather than “in the names.” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinguished from one another, yet they are brought together under one name.
Paul uses a similar pattern when closing his second letter to the Corinthians:
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)
Again we see Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together. These passages help form the biblical foundation for what Christians have historically called the Trinity.
One God, Three Persons
The word Trinity does not appear in the Bible, but the word is an attempt to summarize what Scripture reveals. The Bible teaches that there is one God. It also reveals the Father as God, the Son as God, and the Holy Spirit as God, while distinguishing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from one another. One Being – Three Persons.
This is not an easy concept to fully comprehend. In fact, we should probably expect some mystery when finite human beings attempt to understand the nature of an infinite God. Every simple analogy eventually breaks down because nothing in creation is exactly like the Creator.
Our goal, therefore, should not be to force God into an illustration that makes Him easy to understand. Our goal should be to affirm what Scripture reveals, even when we cannot fully explain how everything about God’s nature works. A very wise man once told me, “A God you can understand is no God at all”.
There is one God. The Father is God. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Yet the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are personally distinct. That is the biblical foundation from which the doctrine of the Trinity emerges.
Why the Deity of the Holy Spirit Matters
This is much more than an abstract theological question. If the Holy Spirit is God, then His presence within the Christian takes on extraordinary significance. Christianity is not merely about following a set of teachings left behind by Jesus two thousand years ago. God has chosen to dwell within His people through His Spirit.
That should change the way we think about the Christian life. When Scripture tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit, it is not talking about offending an impersonal force. When we are told to walk by the Spirit, we are not being told to tap into spiritual energy. When we read about the fruit of the Spirit, we are seeing the character God produces as He transforms His people.
The Holy Spirit is a Person, and the Holy Spirit is God. Those two truths provide the foundation we need before we begin asking what He does and how He works in our lives.
But there is another important piece of the picture. If the Father is God, Jesus is divine, and the Holy Spirit is divine, how are we to understand their relationship while still affirming that there is only one God?
That is where we turn next: The Holy Spirit and the Trinity – How Do Father, Son, and Spirit Relate?
Want to Go Deeper?
This article is adapted from my book, Understanding the Holy Spirit: A Scriptural Study Guide. If you’d like to explore the Holy Spirit in greater depth, including His indwelling presence, His work in our lives, the fruit of the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, spiritual gifts, and much more, the complete study is available on Amazon.