God, the Holy Spirit

The Bible clarifies the divine nature of the Holy Spirit. The eternal existence of Holy Spirit with God is stated in: Gen. 1:1-2, “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while the Mighty power of the Spirit of God was moving over the waters” (the original word used in the Bible here for the Spirit of God is ‘ruah’ which always comes in the scripture to denote Holy Spirit. Ref: Jerome Biblical Commentary, PG. 11). It shows that before the creation of heaven, the Holy Spirit was existing. Eternal existence of Holy Spirit shows he is God. Only God exists eternally.

Holy Spirit is not an angel or one of the seven spirits as Iglesia Ni Cristo tries to interpret. If the Holy Spirit is one among other spirits, it will never be called ‘The Spirit.’ The Bible never mentions such seven ‘holy spirits.’ The ‘Holy Spirit’ is God as the word ‘Holy’ is only attributed to God at the time of Jesus and in the Old Testament: “God is Holy, He is the Holy One.” (Is. 43:3); “I, the Lord your God, am Holy.” (Lv. 19:12); God is called ‘holy’ by angels in heaven (Is. 6:3). If Holy Spirit is not God, he will never be called ‘Holy’ in heaven. More than that, He is referred as singular ‘The Holy Spirit,’ as a person, not as plural ‘seven spirits.’

Jesus reveals the divinity of the Holy Spirit

Mat. 12:32-Jesus said: “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Sin against the Holy Spirit is so serious as it is a blasphemy. For the Jews, blasphemy is a sin that is done against God. If Holy Spirit is not God, Jesus would not make such a statement.

Holy Spirit is explicitly called God in the Bible as a Divine Person in union with the Father and the Son. 2 Cor. 3:17-18: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father in union with Jesus. John 15:26-“But when the Comforter comes, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify me.” The Bible uses the Greek word ‘pneuma’ (pnyoo’-mah’) for the Holy Spirit, which means ‘breath’ or ‘life giving spirit.’ When God created man He ‘breathed’ on Adam and gave him life. Jesus breathed on apostles and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn. 20:22). Holy Spirit is the Breath of the Father and the Son, who is proceeding from both of them.

St. Paul strongly defends the divine nature of the Holy Spirit and unity of three Divine Persons in Galatians 4:6-“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son unto your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

St. Paul teaches the equality of the Spirit of God with the Spirit of Christ when he writes: Romans 8:9-“But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that, the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Here Paul equates the Spirit of God with the Spirit of Christ.

Our body is God’s temple and God’s temple is the same as the temple of the Holy Spirit. This strong argument to support the Divine nature of the Holy Spirit is seen in: 1 Cor. 3:16-“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” This temple of God is identified as Temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor. 6:19-“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” 2 Cor. 6:16-“For we are the temple of the living God!”

God is actually living in the person of Holy Spirit, a deep mystery of God that we know almost nothing here in this world. Eph. 2:22-“And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.”

Peter calls the Holy Spirit, God: Acts 5:3-4 -“Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money… What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”

In the letter to the Hebrews 3:7-9, we read “The Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did.’” ‘Fathers tested and tried me’ here, me is Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit the fathers tested and tried is Lord God himself according to Exodus 17:7-“And He called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” So, it is clear that the Holy Spirit whom the fathers tested and tried is the Lord God.

Paul clarifies the Hypostatic union of the Holy Spirit with God: 1 Cor. 2:10-11-“But God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except  the Spirit of God.” See? The Spirit of God comes from within the Father, who knows even the inner thoughts of God; He is Almighty.

All these biblical passages lead us to the essential conclusion of early Christian faith. There is only one God in three equal, co-eternal and co-substantial persons-Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We call that mystery: “TRINITY.” It is beyond our understanding, just like all other divine truths such as: virgin birth of Jesus, redemption through his death, presence of evil in this world, nature of heaven and earth… But we believe in all these mysteries because we trust the words of Jesus who is “The Truth.”

Next: Sign of the Cross