Is the Holy Spirit a person?

[postwriter]

The Holy Bible refers to The Holy Spirit as a He. The Holy Spirit is a He simply because The Holy Spirit is masculine spirit. The Holy Spirit is, but not limited to, the following: a molder and sculpter into that which inherits eternal life…(a retainer of the saved)…a disciplinarian…a Divine Spirit that has a personality, however, The Holy Spirit is not a person.

 

[porthos11]

The Holy Bible refers to The Holy Spirit as a He. The Holy Spirit is a He simply because The Holy Spirit is masculine spirit. The Holy Spirit is, but not limited to, the following: a molder and sculpter into that which inherits eternal life…(a retainer of the saved)…a disciplinarian…a Divine Spirit that has a personality, however, The Holy Spirit is not a person.

Contradiction in terms. One cannot have a personality and not be a person.

Besides, the Holy Spirit is clearly behaving as a Person in Scripture, not just as a mere force.

 

[runandsew]

The Holy Spirit is a Person

Luke 12:12 - the Holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what you ought to say. He (the Holy Spirit) teaches the faithful.

John 14:17 - the world neither sees Him or knows Him (“Him” is referring to the Holy Spirit). You know Him for He dwells with you.

John 14:26 - the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all I have said to you.

John 15:26 - the Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness to me. He = the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a thing.

John 16:7 - if I do not go, the Counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I (Jesus) will send Him to you.

John 16:7 - this verse also proves the filioque (that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son). The Father isn’t just loving the Son; the Son is loving the Father in return, in the same Spirit of love. Therefore, the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son.

John 16: 8 - when He (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

John 16:13-14 - when the Spirit of truth comes He will guide you into all truth. He will speak, He will declare and He will glorify.

Acts 8:29; 10:19-20; 11:12;13:2; Rev. 22:17 - the Holy Spirit speaks to us like a human person.

Acts 15:25,28 - it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. The Holy Spirit, as a divine person, thinks and makes judgments.

Rom. 8:26 - the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. It is the Spirit Himself, not itself.

Rom. 8:16 - it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The Spirit is a person.

Rom. 15:30 - I appeal to you by the Lord Jesus and the love of the Spirit. Only persons, rational beings, can love.

1 Cor. 12:11 - the Holy Spirit apportions His gifts to each one individually as He wills. He is the third person of the Godhead.

2 Cor. 13:14 - the Holy Spirit can have fellowship with the faithful like a human person.

Eph. 4:30 - the Holy Spirit can be grieved, just as human persons can be grieved.

 

[paarsurrey]

The Holy Bible refers to The Holy Spirit as a He. The Holy Spirit is a He simply because The Holy Spirit is masculine spirit. The Holy Spirit is, but not limited to, the following: a molder and sculpter into that which inherits eternal life…(a retainer of the saved)…a disciplinarian…a Divine Spirit that has a personality, however, The Holy Spirit is not a person.

Hi
I agree with you that “Holy Spirit” is not a person. A person having a separate personality ie endowed with a will or discretion to do or not to do a thing.
Holy Spirit or angels do what they are asked to do by GodAllahYHWH, not a vice versa. So truly speaking it is a misunderstanding of my friends that Holy Spirit is a person.
This is my view others could differ with me but with reason and arguments, no compulsion.
Thanks
The West, as I understand, due to certain disinformation has seen only MullahIslam or MullahShariah; the true face of Muhammad’sIslam and PromisedMessiahImamMahdi’sIslam is yet hidden from their eyes, which is truly speaking only peaceful.
GodAllahYHWH is All-Knowing and All-Wise; one should invariably give Claim and Reason on all important issues from one’s Revealed Book; one shouldn’t try putting one’s own words into God’s mouth.

 

[Brain]

isnt the HS nessessarilly a person, otherwise the fundamental doctrine of a trinity of three persons is out the window?

the trinity collaborates, but the Holy Spirit indeed is a person making his own decisions and acting on his own authority, though every act of God is shared in some way by all three persons, one cannot act without the others, but that does not mean that one is lesser than the others.

I dont understand the mechanics, hopefully I will someday learn a little more, but I will never quite understand it.

 

[MichaelTDoyle]

Nice post Runandsew. Must have taken some effort but clearly drives home the Truth of the Trinity as revealed through Jesus Christ.

edit: rrr nice website, too!

 

[toaslan]

The Holy Spirit is a He simply because The Holy Spirit is masculine spirit…The Holy Spirit is not a person.

Contrariwise. But that’s Christianity contrasted to Islam. Looks like we have here our two monotheistic faiths engaging on the doctrine of the Trinity. Cool.

(However, I also disagree that He is a “masculine spirit”–since spirit has no matter or body, and only the bodied have gender… we use the masculine pronoun for various reasons, but not because He is actually sexed…)

and yes, thanks, runandsew, for all those bible locations where the Holy Spirit sure looks like a person. Of course, since they are New Testament, we can’t expect Islam to be too interested, but I sure am.

 

[SyCarl]

The Holy Spirit is a Person

Luke 12:12 - the Holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what you ought to say. He (the Holy Spirit) teaches the faithful.

John 14:17 - the world neither sees Him or knows Him (“Him” is referring to the Holy Spirit). You know Him for He dwells with you.

John 14:26 - the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all I have said to you.

John 15:26 - the Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness to me. He = the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a thing.

John 16:7 - if I do not go, the Counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I (Jesus) will send Him to you.

John 16:7 - this verse also proves the filioque (that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son). The Father isn’t just loving the Son; the Son is loving the Father in return, in the same Spirit of love. Therefore, the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son.

John 16: 8 - when He (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

John 16:13-14 - when the Spirit of truth comes He will guide you into all truth. He will speak, He will declare and He will glorify.

Acts 8:29; 10:19-20; 11:12;13:2; Rev. 22:17 - the Holy Spirit speaks to us like a human person.

Acts 15:25,28 - it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. The Holy Spirit, as a divine person, thinks and makes judgments.

Rom. 8:26 - the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. It is the Spirit Himself, not itself.

Rom. 8:16 - it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The Spirit is a person.

Rom. 15:30 - I appeal to you by the Lord Jesus and the love of the Spirit. Only persons, rational beings, can love.

1 Cor. 12:11 - the Holy Spirit apportions His gifts to each one individually as He wills. He is the third person of the Godhead.

2 Cor. 13:14 - the Holy Spirit can have fellowship with the faithful like a human person.

Eph. 4:30 - the Holy Spirit can be grieved, just as human persons can be grieved.

You may also wish to add Acts 5:3 - The Holy Spirit can be lied to. Combined with Act 5:4 it also shows the divinity of the Holy Spirit since lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God.

Also 1 Corinthians 6:19. We are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Combined with 1 Corinthians 3:16, where the Holy Spirit dwells in us, it also shows the divinity of the Holy Spirit since it says we are temple to God, showing the Holy Spirit is God.

 

[tz620q]

Hi
I agree with you that “Holy Spirit” is not a person. A person having a separate personality ie endowed with a will or discretion to do or not to do a thing.
Holy Spirit or angels do what they are asked to do by GodAllahYHWH, not a vice versa. So truly speaking it is a misunderstanding of my friends that Holy Spirit is a person.
This is my view others could differ with me but with reason and arguments, no compulsion.
Thanks

Welcome to Catholic Answers Forums, You represent a faith that is very under-represented here. So I look forward to reading the wisdom that you have to offer.
With regards to the Holy Spirit, we do not see Him as another angel or another one of God’s creations. The mystery of the Trinity is that the one true God reveals himself to us in different ways. His first revelation was in the creation of the world and mankind. This aspect we call God the Creator or Father. He has also revealed himself through the prophets. These humans were guided by another aspect of the triune God, called the Holy Spirit. You might see this aspect as the Councillor or Comforter, that exhorts and corrects humans to obtain a closer communion with God. The final aspect is God, the Son, whom we believe came to earth as Jesus. Since Jesus was God in both a human and divine way, he was able to reveal God’s truth in the most humanly understandable way. In summary, each aspect is unique and individual, but one cannot say that because the Holy Spirit does God, the Father’s will, that the Holy Spirit has no free will. The will of God is singular, not divested among the different aspects. Peace be with you.

 

[Mintaka]

As long as you picture those ‘aspects’ as actual Persons, Three in One and One in Three.

Otherwise, it’s silly to say that “God is Love” all in Himself. You can’t have love without having someone around to love, and God is unchanging from eternity.

That is why God is Three Persons in One God and One God in Three Persons. Each of the Three Persons of the Trinity have always been. The Persons of the Trinity love each other, and so there never was a time when God was not Love.

Thinking of God’s Three Persons as just “aspects” or “roles” is the heresy of modalism.

Of course, I have probably explained this all wrong, so go with the Church’s explanation wherever mine is messed up.

 

[whatevergirl]

When we speak of the Trinity…the blessed Trinity…we are referring to three ‘persons,’ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Personas, can also be used when referring to this…after all, our Father is not a ‘person,’ as in human form. Jesus, out of the entire Trinity, was the only ‘human’ form …but Divine as well.

So…the Holy Spirit is a persona…

 

[Jerry-Jet]

God in Three Persons–Blessed Trinity!

 

[jmani56]

To the person who said angels are not persons, and merely do whatever God asks them to do with no free will:

Satan was an angel. He chose to leave. Angels are persons, not human persons but still persons in the sense that they have a persona with an intellect and a will.

Any teaching contrary to the Church in any matter of Scripture will always end in a circular argument. The Church proclaims that the Holy Spirit is a person, therefore it is true. If you believe that this is an error, and you are using Scripture to try and defend your position, how can you use Scripture at all when the Church defines what Scripture is and what it is not? How can you even trust Scripture if the Church is not infallible? The same Church that proclaims the Spirit a person also gave you the Scriptures that you trust in.

 

[paarsurrey]

Satan was an angel. He chose to leave.

Hi
As angels (Holy Spirit including) have no will of there own, they are not persons, nevertheless they cannot do anything except good, as per scheme of life by GodAllahYHWH.

Satan/Devil was never an angel, he also has no will of his own, devil is also not a person. Satan has been created by GodAllahYHWH as he has created angles. Devil cannot do anything except evil, as per scheme of life by GodAllahYHWH.
This is my opinion, others could differ with me with rational and reasonable arguments only.
Thanks
Please don’t mind. I have given some concepts from Quran, just for comparison to bridge the gaps between Christians and Muslims for peace and unity.

You might like to read
alislam.org/books/
Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran (English)
The Official Website of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

 

[toaslan]

As angels (Holy Spirit including) have no will of there own, they are not persons…

Paarsurrey (the HS is not an angel, but that’s not my point), why do you say that an angel has no will of his own??? Did you notice the example given by a prior poster of an angel making a choice?

Does your faith and the Christian faith have a common source that we can both agree upon for this question? Do you accept the Jewish Old Testament as true?

Please don’t mind. I have given some concepts from Quran, just for comparison to bridge the gaps between Christians and Muslims for peace and unity.

 

[Verbum]

Hi postwriter,

The Holy Bible refers to The Holy Spirit as a He. The Holy Spirit is a He simply because The Holy Spirit is masculine spirit.

God has no sex. He is a pure spirit. “Spirit” in Greek is “Pneuma”, which is a neuter noun, neither feminine nor masculine.

I don’t quite understand your reasoning. Do you mean that a spirit cannot be a person?

Verbum

 

[denver_faithful]

If i’m not mistaken Jesus is the only human form and is the only with a true gender. Before Jesus came he was also just spirit.

 

[jmani56]

I can bury you in Scripture references that prove that angels are indeed persons. They may not be human persons, but they are persons with an intellect and free will.

You stated that Satan was not an angel, and that God creates devils for the purpose of evil. This is contrary to the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures that describe Satan as a beautiful angel before his fall. The Bible quotes Satan as saying of his own free will, “I will not serve.”

If God creates devils, then why are we worshipping Him? A God of love does not create evil. If this God also creates angels without any free will and commands them to worship Him endlessly for all eternity, we are dealing with a type of deity that I would never worship. Christians do not worship the Lord because they are afraid of hell, or simply because He is almighty and they believe it is right. Christians worship the Lord because they are overwhelmed by His love and mercy.

The last poster asked if you hold the Old Testament as inspired Scripture. I would like an answer to that question. Then perhaps we can look at Catholicism and Islam and see which religion makes sense of the Hebrew Scriptures, and which religion has answers to every single prophecy. Islam is a beautiful and often misunderstood religion, but I need more than a book to attest to in my faith.

 

[vern_humphrey]

The Holy Bible refers to The Holy Spirit as a He. The Holy Spirit is a He simply because The Holy Spirit is masculine spirit. The Holy Spirit is, but not limited to, the following: a molder and sculpter into that which inherits eternal life…(a retainer of the saved)…a disciplinarian…a Divine Spirit that has a personality, however, The Holy Spirit is not a person.

Do you have a cite for this, or is it merely your personal opinion?

 

[jmani56]

For those of you who say that the Holy Spirit is not a person, by what authority do you claim this? How do you know that this interpretation of Scripture is true? Your idea that the Spirit is not a person is nothing more than a human interpretation of Scripture. Why is your interpretation true? How do you know it’s true? Only the Church has the authority to declare whether or not the Spirit is indeed a person, and the Church proclaims that He is. The Church in her authority gave you the Scriptures, and now you are trying to use that gift to prove her teachings wrong. That makes no sense. It is like looking at an egg and using it to prove that the chicken who laid it does not exist.