How often does the Holy Spirit cross your mind? If you stop to think about it, how much do you truly know about him? If you are like many Christians, you may be surprised as you realize you know shockingly little.
Many in the church do not dwell on the wonders of the Holy Spirit anywhere near as much as they should. This is odd. He’s mentioned countless times throughout scripture. He is pivotal to our ministry and the growth of God’s kingdom. Perhaps most importantly, the Holy Spirit is divine. He is one of the three distinct persons that are God.
While we dedicate consistent worship and study to the Father and the Son, as we should, we do not devote the same attention to the Holy Spirit. There could be any number of reasons for this. Don Stewart, a prolific theologian and defender of the faith proposes that we neglect him because teachings on topics such as the Father’s deep love for creation or Christ’s sacrifice for mankind’s sin appear more important.
To a lot of people, the Holy Spirit is just that third vague, abstract member of the Trinity. They may regard him as more of an it than a he. If you were to ask them who he is, they might tell you he is a Godly soul or Star Warsy force that comes to live with us, guiding us through life with profound wisdom and knowledge as well as fueling us spiritually…and yes, they would tell you he’s a member of the Trinity, but they would not be able to tell you the implications of that.
The Holy Spirit is fully God, just like the Father and just like the Son. He is worthy of devotion and worship just like the other two. God is not God without the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is God.
Today, we are going to explore three pieces of evidence that demonstrate the Spirit’s divinity.
Evidence #1: The Holy Spirit Is God’s Spirit
The Holy Spirit isn’t just an otherworldly, heavenly being sent by God to do his bidding. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God himself who comes in the name of Jesus Christ to equip the saints and expand the kingdom of God. Take a look at some of the passages that show this:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Genesis 1:1-2
For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Matthew 10:20
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17
And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2:22
These scriptures illustrate the fundamental misunderstanding many Christians have today regarding the Spirit. He is more than an impersonal force. He is more than a friendly ghost we can refer to as an “it.” He is not lesser than the Father and the Son. If God can live in us, making us his dwelling place through the Spirit we have received, then clearly the Spirit is God. If, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:17, the Lord is the Spirit, then the Spirit must be God. Finally, if, as Jesus explains in Matthew 10:20, the Spirit is the Father’s spirit, then he is undoubtedly God because the Father is God.
Furthermore, this was one curated selection of passages. There are many ore throughout the Bible pointing to the Spirit as God.
Evidence #2: The Holy Spirit Has Immense Power
There is nobody like the Spirit of God. Read the Bible cover to cover, and you will find no person with more power or ability. Let’s unpack a few supporting verses together.
For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
1 Corinthians 2:11-12
God is an infinite, all-powerful being. He is outside of time and space, fully eternal in nature. To wrap your mind around him is to wrap your mind around the incomprehensible. Who can hope to grasp the concept of infinity or the concept of forever? Such a feat would require someone to transcend the material, linear world. Yet, the Holy Spirit, as we see in this passage, knows completely the thoughts of an infinite and eternal God. This is something only God could do.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Galatians 5:22
This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
1 Corinthians 2:13
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
1 Corinthians 12:7-11
But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
2 Thessalonians 2:13
In these readings, we see the incredible and pivotal work of the Holy Spirit in God’s ministry here on earth, as well as in the individual lives of believers. It is the Holy Spirit who has the divine power to provide Christians with spiritual gifts so that disciples may be made and the body of Christ may be edified. The Holy Spirit helps us, in his great power, to be more like God in conduct and character, sanctifying us and giving us the fruits of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is he who grants us understanding of God and guides us along in our teaching of others. Without the awe-inspiring power and authority of the Spirit, there would be no effective ministry, no effective proclamation of the Gospel. So profound and overwhelming is this power, it directs us to the reality of the Holy Spirit’s identity: he is fully God.
There is nobody else in the Bible endowed with as much spiritual authority or influence than the Spirit, save for the other Persons of the Trinity.
Evidence #3: The Holy Spirit is Co-equal
Have you ever heard the saying, when someone was comparing two allegedly similar things, that one “should not even be mentioned in the same breath” as the other? It is an expression used to convey extreme distaste at the thought of pitting two specific entities against each other as one so clearly reigns supreme that it shouldn’t even be a discussion. In a sports debate, for example, an avid LeBron James fan might forcefully assert that “Michael Jordan shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as LeBron James.”
Setting that silly example aside, we see the Holy Spirit mentioned in the same breath as the Father and Jesus. Observe the scriptures below:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28:19
May 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
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:4-6
When the speakers in these scriptures mention all of them in the same breath like this, it is deliberate. In passages such as these, the persons of the Trinity are established as co-equals. To describe God, each one is mentioned—including the Holy Spirit. This means the Holy Spirit is God. He is co-equal with the Father and the Son. If the Father and the Son are God, then he must be God too, since he is on equal footing with them.
So What?
Some many wonder why a study on this topic even matters. After all, since the Holy Spirit is God isn’t learning about God the same as learning about the Spirit? Why single out the Holy Spirit in particular?
R.A. Torrey answers this question well. Consider this quote:
If the Holy Spirit is a divine person, worthy to receive our adoration, our faith and our love, and we do not know and recognize him as such, then we are robbing a divine being of the adoration and love and confidence which are his due.
R.A. Torrey
Also, as if the previous tragic statement is not enough, neglecting the Holy Spirit does more than rob God of much-deserved glory: it keeps us from knowing and loving him as we ought.
Think about relationships with other people. In order to grow into closer community and friendship with them, you must learn more about them. Gradually, you discover who they are—their aspirations, their deepest longings, their personality quirks—and this brings you closer. Relationship with God, in this respect, works the same way. To learn more about God and his nature is to grow in relationship with him, or, to put it even more plainly, to grow in understanding of God is to deepen the most important relationship of your life.
Lastly, learning about the Holy Spirit’s divinity informs us of the many amazing ways he advances the Gospel to every corner of the earth. Next week we will explore more intently how he works to accomplish this when we look at the role of the Holy Spirit.