“I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (John 14:16-18 ) KJV
God Is Spirit
As we study the person of the Holy Spirit we must, at the outset, remember the truth that God is spirit. It is imperative that we recall the fact that God does not of necessity have a body. With this in mind it will not be difficult for us to conceive of a person in the Godhead who is God the Spirit. The questions we must ask of the Scriptures are: who is the Spirit, what is His nature, and how is He related to the Father and the Son?
One With Father and Son As Shown in The Creation
First of all, we find that the Spirit of God is one with the Father and the Son. We see this from the account of the creation of the worlds. The Word of God tells us that “In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth.” (Gen 1:1) KJV We also read that “ God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.” (Heb 1:1,2) KJVThese two passages of Scripture tell us that the Father and the Son are one, and that both of them were active in the creation of the worlds. In the same place where we find that God created the heavens and the earth we also find that the Spirit was present and active. “ And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Gen 1:2) KJV In fact, the power of life that belongs only to God is said to also be the power of the Spirit. “It is the spirit that quickeneth…” (John 6:63) KJV We also find that Job attributed creative power to the Holy Spirit (See Job 26:13;27:3;33:4). All of these show us that the Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son.
Spoken of As Having The Divine, Incommunicable Attributes
Another thing that leads us to understand that the Holy Spirit is more than just an influence or ethereal willow-the-wisp is the fact that He is spoken of as having the divine incommunicable attributes. That is, the Holy Spirit has attributes that belong only to God.
He is eternal as God is eternal. “ Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” (Ps 90:1,2) KJV “If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 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?” (Heb 9:13,14) KJV
The Holy Spirit is also spoken of as being omniscient. All knowledge belongs to God and no one else. “The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” (Heb 4:12,13) KJV This attribute also belongs to the Spirit of God. “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” (1 Cor 2:10) KJV
The Spirit of God is also spoken of as being omnipresent, which is also a divine attribute. “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” (Jer 23:23,24) KJV “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. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” (Ps 139:7-12) KJV
We also find that to lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God (Compare Acts 5:3 with Acts 5:4).
Finally, the Holy Spirit is spoken of as being omnipotent just as God is omnipotent. “I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” (Rev 19:6) KJV “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. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:35-37) KJV
