The Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2Cor 13:14).

Is the Holy Spirit a he, she, or it? It’s all too common today for people to think of the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force rather than as a person of the Godhead. The scriptures, however, insist that the Holy Spirit is a he, not an it. Even though the Greek term for “spirit” has a neuter gender, the NT authors always use masculine pronouns when speaking of the Spirit. For example, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me” (John 15:26).

The personality of the Spirit is also demonstrated by the things he does. He advocates (as above). He speaks (eg, Acts 10:19-20, 13:2). He intercedes (Rom 8:26-27). We have fellowship with the Spirit (2Cor 13:14).

Also, he is described in Romans 8:27 as having a mind: “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

Rick Cornish points out Acts 10:38 (“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power”) saying, “If the Holy Spirit is only God’s impersonal power, Peter is speaking nonsense by repeating himself: ‘God anointed Jesus with power and with power.’”¹

Most who think of the Spirit in impersonal terms do so out of ignorance, perhaps because of the pervasive influence of New Age thought in our culture. There are modern day Arians who deny the deity of Christ and the personality of the Spirit, though, and they must maintain a willful misunderstanding of the scriptures.

But saying the Holy Spirit is a person doesn’t make him God. Is he?

When the Nicene and post-Nicene era Christians debated the deity of the Holy Spirit, the go-to passage for the pro side seems to have been the baptismal formula given by Christ: “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...” (Matt 28:19). Just as it boggles the mind to think that Jesus would tell us to baptize in the name (again, singular) of God, his created Son, and a force, it’s incredibly unlikely (once we’re convinced of the deity of Christ) that he told us to baptize in the name (singular!) of God, the divine Son, and some other non-divine being or impersonal force. This formula strongly implies, if not requires, a trinitarian view of God.

There are other trinitarian formulas in scripture. For example, in 2Cor 13:14 (“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”), the Spirit is treated the same way as the Father and the Son. (See also, 1Pet 1:1-2, Heb 9:14, Acts 20:28, Jude 1:20-21). These passages link the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit in a way that only makes sense if the Spirit is also divine.

The scriptures also speak of the Spirit as God. Lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God (Acts 5:3-4). The Holy Spirit can be “blasphemed” (Mark 3:28-29), a term that is only applicable to God. The Spirit is called “eternal” in Heb 9:14, and only God is eternal. The Holy Spirit has a “temple” in the Church (1Cor 6:19), something only God may have. The inspiration of scriptures is said to be both the work of God (2Tim 3:16) and the work of the Spirit (Mark 12:36, 2Pet 1:21). The Holy Spirit is said to be omniscient (1Cor 2:11) and omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-10). He was part of the work of creation (Gen 1:2). It should be clear that the prophets and apostles believed in the deity of the Holy Spirit.

Why does this matter? Boice tells us:

If we think of the Holy Spirit as a mysterious power, our thoughts will be, “How can I get more of the Holy Spirit?” If we think of the Holy Spirit as a person, we will ask, “How can the Holy Spirit have more of me?” The first is nonbiblical, pagan. The second is New Testament Christinianity.²

“The Holy Spirit is the point at which the Trinity becomes personal to the believer.”³ The Spirit is not a force to be employed. He is the God who lives in us and among us (more on that later). He loves you and wants to see you be all you can be. And he looks forward to the day when you will finally be fully conformed to the image of Christ. Love him and worship him as part of our triune God.


The classic defense of this doctrine is On the Holy Spirit by Basil the Great.

1 Rick Cornish, 5 Minute Theologian
2 James Montgomery Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith
3 Millard Erickson, Introducing Christian Doctrine


Part of Christianity 101