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Is the Holy Spirit a Deity?


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Author's Bias | Interpretation: conservative | Inclination: dispensational | Seminary: none

Is the Holy Spirit like an angel or human being who is a personal being but without having a divine nature and being a god?

1. What can be learned from the names for the Holy Spirit? Make a table from your study (Gen 1:2; 1 Cor 3:16; Isa 61:1; Luke 4:18; 1 Cor 6:11; 2 Cor 3:3; Judg 3:10; Num 11:29; Ps 139:7; Matt 10:20; Gen 6:3; Rom 8:11).

Bible Verses Name for Holy Spirit
Genesis 1:2; 1 Corinthians 3:16 Spirit of God
Isaiah 61:1 Spirit of the Lord God
Luke 4:18 Spirit of the Lord
1 Corinthians 6:11 Spirit of our God
2 Corinthians 3:3 Spirit of the Living God
Judges 3:10 Spirit of the LORD (Yahweh)
Numbers 11:29 His Spirit
Psalms 139:7 Your Spirit
Matthew 10:20 Spirit of your Father
Genesis 6:3 My Spirit
Romans 8:11 Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead
Philippians 1:19 Spirit of Jesus Christ
1 Peter 1:11 Spirit of Christ
Acts 16:7 Spirit of Jesus
Galatians 4:6 Spirit of His Son
Acts 8:39 Spirit of the Lord

The names indicate that the Holy Spirit has a relationship with two distinct persons: God the Father and God the Son. This special relationship implies the possession of deity.

2. What other names for the Holy Spirit that can be found in the Bible that conveys Divine attributes? Make a table of your study (Matt 28:19; Heb 9:14; 1 Pet 4:14; John 14:17; 16:13; Rom 8:2; Heb 10:29; Eph 1:17).

Bible Verses Divine Attributes
Matthew 28:19 Holy
Hebrews 9:14 Eternal
1 Peter 4:14 Glory
John 14:17; 16:13 Truth
Romans 8:2 Life
Hebrew 10:29 Grace
Ephesians 1:17 Wisdom and Revelation

These divine attributes are ascribed to both God and Jesus; thus, their association with the name of the Holy Spirit denotes His deity.

3. What are attributes of God that could only be qualities that belong to God that are found in the Holy Spirit? Study Isaiah 40:13-14; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11; Psalms 139:7-10; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Job 33:4 and Romans 15:18-19.

Omniscient

Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding? (Isa 40:13-14)

Isaiah teaches that no one can teach the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit already knows everything.

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of 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 Cor 2:10-11)

Paul teaches that the Holy Spirit knows all of what God knows.

Omnipresence

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. (Ps 139:7-10)

By indicating the impossibility of fleeing the Holy Spirit in life or death, David is asserting that the Holy Spirit is everywhere.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. (1 Cor 6:19-20)

Paul indicates that that Holy Spirit simultaneously indwells all Believers regardless of time and location.

Omnipotent

The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (Job 33:4)

Elihu credits his personal creation and life to the Holy Spirit.

For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. (Rom 15:18-19)

Paul credits his work of miracles to the power of the Holy Spirit.

Like God the Father and God the Son, God the Holy Spirit has qualities that can only belong to God.

"If you do not love the blessed and truly divine words of Scripture, you are like the beasts that have neither sense nor reason. In our natural desire for life we eat and drink, we talk and listen; and in the same way with an insatiable thirst we should devote ourselves to reading the words of God."

Nilus of Ancyra (430), Greek monk

References:

1. Swindoll CR, Zuck RB eds., Understanding Christian Theology, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, (2003).

2. Grudem W, Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, (2000).



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Topical Index: Holy Spirit>Deity of the Holy Spirit>Divinity


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