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The Holy Spirit is God and the third Person of the Trinity. The Bible repeatedly and consistently uses personal pronouns to refer to the Holy Spirit as a Person and as God. The Holy Spirit is called He, Him and not it.
The Holy Spirit is God
In 2011, I attended a 9-week Bible School in England. At this particular School together with my colleagues I learned many new wonderful things about God and His Kingdom. Perhaps the most precious lesson for me was the one about the Holy Spirit.
The memory of the first day of the second week at the Bible School is still vivid in my mind. I remember that after breakfast a new teacher came in our classroom and began teaching. Our new teacher was an old lady by the name of Margreth. When I saw her in the front of the class, I had no idea she would be teaching about the Holy Spirit.
Immediately after she began speaking we all felt the anointing of the Holy Spirit on her. Moreover, I was able to relate to her story as she came from a Baptist background.
I grew up in the Baptist Church and in 2011 I had been walking with the Lord for almost two years. But I cannot ever remember someone saying what that woman said about the Holy Spirit.
My number one takeaway from her course is the truth that the Holy Spirit is God. I think I was shocked when I realized that. It was the biggest revelation of the day and perhaps of my whole time in England.
Not everybody believes the Holy Spirit is God
The personal revelation I received regarding the fact that the Holy Spirit is God was followed by many more revelations; the one about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and in particular the gift of speaking in tongues and prophecy.
Nevertheless, the doctrine of the deity of the Holy Spirit is very much under attack today. I’ve read a few articles on the Internet claiming that the Holy Spirit is not God. Many say He is only a power, energy or force. Many so-called Christian denominations deny the place of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity and do not consider Him a Person. And many treat the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh in Hebrew) as something or an it rather than a Person as Yeshua/Jesus or the Father.
You might ask where can one read in the Bible that the Holy Spirit is God? One of the texts I want to point out is Acts 5:1-4 (TLV)
On the other hand, a man named Ananias together with his wife, Sapphira, sold a property. He kept back some of the proceeds, with his wife’s full knowledge, and brought part of it and set it at the feet of the emissaries. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has satan filled your heart to lie to the Ruach ha-Kodesh and keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, it was your own, wasn’t it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? How did this deed get into your heart? You haven’t lied to men but to God.”
Notice Peter’s words of rebuke to Ananias and Sapphira that they lied to the Holy Spirit (Ruach ha-Kodesh). Next, Peter said, you haven’t lied to men but to God. The lie that Ananias told to the Holy Spirit was basically told to God, and the implication is that the Holy Spirit is God [Elohim].
Attributes and works of God
In the New Testament we read that the Holy Spirit is described as having attributes that are divine. In Hebrews 9:14 (TLV) we read that the Holy Spirit is eternal:
how much more will the blood of Messiah—who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God—cleanse ourconscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Moreover, in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 (TLV) we read that the Holy Spirit is omniscient:
But God revealed these things to us through the Ruach. For the Ruach [Spirit] searches all things—even the depths of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the things of God except the Ruach Elohim [Spirit of God].
You can read more about the omniscience of the Spirit of God in John 14:26 or John 16:12-13.
We read in Luke 1:35 (ESV) that the Holy spirit is omnipotent:
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God
More attributes and works
Omnipresence is ascribed to the Holy Spirit in Psalm 139:7-10 (TLV)
Where can I go from Your Ruach [Spirit]? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to heaven, You are there, and if I make my bed in Sheol, look, You are there too. If I take the wings of the dawn and settle on the other side of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me
We can understand that the Holy Spirit is God when we read the narrative of creation in Genesis 1:1-3 (TLV)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was chaos and waste, darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the Ruach Elohim was hovering upon the surface of the water. Then God said, “Let there be light!” and there was light
The creation, according to the Bible, is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. In Job 33:4 (ESV) we read:
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
And in Psalm 104:30 (ESV)
When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.
A couple more attributes of the Holy Spirit
You can see that the Holy Spirit is God when you read about the resurrection of Yeshua in Romans 8:11 (ESV)
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
But in Acts 2:24 (and others verses) we read that God raised Jesus from the death—the Holy Spirit is God. A. R. Torrey makes a wonderful connection in his book The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit pointing out that Genesis 2:7 seen in the light of the New Testament is about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life (John 6:63).
You can see that the Holy Spirit is God when you read 2 Peter 1:21 (ESV)
For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Peter, in this verse, talks about the prophecy of the Scriptures. We can learn that the authorship of divine prophecies is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. The same thing can be seen in many verses of the Old Testament too (as in 2 Samuel 23:2-3).
You need a personal revelation that the Holy Spirit is God
In 2011 while I was in England I understood deep down in my heart that the Holy Spirit is God. I am not sure why it took me so long, but it did. The revelation of the deity of the Holy Spirit changed completely the way I related to God and to the Holy Spirit. Actually, it changed everything in my walk with the Lord.
It brought so much comfort to me to know that even though Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to His Church. And that God the Holy Spirit knows everything about me. He knows my struggles with sin, with fear and how I relate to other people. Moreover, it gave me so much encouragement to know that He is everywhere and in my heart too (2 Timothy 1:14). To know that the Holy Spirit is omnipotent increased my hope. Through His help I can serve and worship God, take care of my family, overcome sin. Through His power I can preach, write blogs, run a Bible School, and the list could be endless. My heart is filled with joy in knowing God the Holy Spirit is here to empower me to be a witness of Yeshua.
However, just as I received this revelation that the Holy Spirit is God, you also need it. I am sure your life will be transformed too.
Now what?
To know that God the Holy Spirit wrote the Scriptures makes me read and study the Bible much more carefully and in dependence of Him. And knowing that God the Holy Spirit once hovered upon the face of the earth when the earth was in chaos (Genesis 1:2) gives me hope that the Holy Spirit can come upon the mess of my life and make something beautiful out of it. Wherever the Holy Spirit comes, He brings life and liberty with Him.
Often I pray the Holy Spirit will hover over my calling, gifts, family, finances, business, web blog, thoughts, desires and friendships. We need to invite the Holy Spirit in all the areas of our lives. I know the Holy Spirit made all the difference in my fight against pornography.
Listen, friend, I know God has a calling for your life; a calling you cannot fulfil in your own strength—you need the help of the Holy Spirit. I want to encourage you right now to pray to God and ask Him for grace to learn how to better collaborate and work with the Holy Spirit, in every detail of your life. The Holy Spirit is God!
Do you agree?
Let me know if there is anything special going on in your life or if you want prayer! Share this post with your friends and don’t forget to leave a comment.
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I am a blogger, writer, pastor, Director of Zion Romania Bible School, husband to Olguta, a father and, most importantly, a child of God. I also completed my studies at the King’s University where I earned a B.A. in Theology with a concentration in Messianic Jewish Studies. I love Israel and I love the ‘Jewishness’ of the Bible.
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