The Personality of God is Wrapped Into The Character of the Holy Spirit

Though they may reject the life giving truths of the bible, evil men often misuse the words and concepts of scripture. They strive to weaken the perceived character of God. In foolish pride, they argue that the Holy Spirit is not a person. The wickedness of their heart moves them to slander the Divine Person of God. If mankind can be stirred to view the Holy Spirit as a weaker and lesser creature, the fullness of the Godhead can be falsely challenged. Scripture can be erroneously reshaped. The end goal aims to cast doubt upon the person of Jesus Christ as God in the flesh come to redeem fallen mankind.

For the soul of your children as well as yourself, I beg you to understand that God is true, Jesus Christ is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is your guide to a correct understanding of these grave matters of life and death. Here then, in short words, is evidence that the Holy Spirit is a person.

Scripture begins with creation of the physical universe. It ends with the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. See at both the start of the old (Gen. 1:2), and the start of the new (Rev. 22:17), the real and living presence of the Holy Spirit. As was the Father and the Son, so too was the Holy Spirit a partaker in the plan and the creation.

Is The Holy Spirit A Person?

Personality consists of emotion, intellect, and will. The fact that the Holy Spirit has never assumed the physical body of a human being cannot invalidate the characteristics of personality. Otherwise, God the Father, who also has never become incarnate, must by a false definition of personality be denied the position of Divine Person.

In truth, three simple statements answer the question:

1. The Holy Spirit has Emotions.
2. The Holy Spirit has Intellect.
3. The Holy Spirit has free Will.

Emotions

The Holy Spirit feels grief, sorrow, love, hate, and more. For example, the Holy Spirit is grieved by our refusal to walk in the will of God:

"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you," ( Ephesians 4:30-32).

Other passages speak of the Holy Spirit's pouring out the love of God, of His work as a comforter, and of His desire to keep men from sin. You cannot share love if you do not know love. You cannot comfort if you cannot relate to hurt, sorrow, and shame. You cannot withhold the power of sin unless you are empathic to the pain that sin creates. No one hates sin more than God, for sin is the product of a free will that separates the creature from the Creator.

Intellect

In the finite limits of the human mind, there exist no capacity to understand the infinite workings of an eternal God. Scripture states that we do not even understand the whole of our prayers. We need an interpreter, one with the intellect to understand our inner being, and who can share our greater needs with God the Father. Furthermore, we need one who is capable of understanding all that the Father has to share with us, and who is willing to translate these matters into terms that we can comprehend. It is written:

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God," (1 Corinthians 2:9-12).

Will

The Holy Spirit is of the same nature and character as God the Father and God the Son. He teaches; he quickens; he speaks. He loves; he exists; he is ever present. He is all-powerful, all knowing, and here yesterday, today, and forevermore. He is our helper, our wisdom, and our strength.  It is He who sanctifies and justifies the true believer:

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God," (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

Critical Understanding

Perhaps you wonder why a correct understanding of the Holy Spirit is so critical to our life on this earth, and to our eternal existence. Consider that Jesus Christ stands before God the Father as our advocate in heaven (1 John 2:1). So too stands the Holy Spirit as our advocate on the earth. When Jesus walked the earth, he was the all-in-all to his disciples. He answered their questions, took away their fears, corrected their misunderstands, supplied all their needs. But he also spoke of a day when he must leave.

Jesus has ascended back into the third heaven from where he came. He abides there now with God the Father, but he has not left us unprotected. The Holy Spirit has come as a substitute. He will keep us during our absence from Christ.

But remember: the Comforter speaks not of Himself. He comes to exalt the Son. He comes to conform the true believer into the likeness of the living Christ. Never seek to make the Holy Spirit of God into your personal magician. He is not here to satisfy our whims. He is here to strengthen, correct, and maintain the bride of Christ.