The Holy Spirit · The Person
Who the Holy Spirit Is
Scripture never introduces the Holy Spirit as a power to acquire but as a Person to know: he speaks, he chooses, he searches the deep things of God, he can be grieved — and, in Peter’s terrible sentence to Ananias, he can be lied to, and the lie is a lie to God. He was there in the Bible’s second verse, brooding over the waters; he is there in its last chapter, saying “Come.” This page is the front door of the series: who he is, before anything about what he gives.
A Person, Not a Force
— the grammar Scripture refuses to softenThe oldest mistake about the Holy Spirit is the word it. A force can be stored, aimed, used; Scripture’s Spirit does things only a person does — and the texts are ordinary narrative and instruction, not poetry that might be stretching. A.W. Tozer spent a preaching lifetime (the sermons gathered as The Counselor) pressing exactly this point on a church that had made the Spirit a doctrine to affirm rather than a Person to know; Derek Prince opens his own treatment in The Spirit-Filled Believer’s Handbook the same way.
FIVE THINGS ONLY A PERSON CAN DO
a force is used · a Person is known
HE SPEAKS
a command in the first person — “the work whereunto I have called them”
HE WILLS
the gifts are distributed by his choice, not drawn down by ours
HE KNOWS
knowledge from the inside — as your own spirit knows your own thoughts
HE IS GRIEVED
you cannot grieve electricity; you can grieve a friend
HE CAN BE LIED TO
and the next verse names who was lied to: “not… unto men, but unto God”
But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.knowledge from the inside — the analogy is your own spirit knowing your own thoughts.
Only the Spirit can search everything. The human soul cannot do this, which is why it needs to be strengthened by the Spirit if it is ever going to penetrate the depths of God.
Origen of Alexandria· Commentary on 1 Corinthians (c. 253), on 1 Cor 2:10
God revealed these things through his Spirit to believers, because the things of God cannot be understood without the Spirit of God, who is of God and therefore knows everything about him.
Ambrosiaster· Commentary on Paul's Epistles (c. 384), on 1 Cor 2:10
This proves the impossibility of any knowing the things of God, save by the Spirit of God (who alone knows them, since even in the case of man, so infinitely inferior in mind to God, none of his fellow men, but his own spirit alone knows the things hidden within him).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on 1 Cor 2:11
He Is God
— Acts 5:3-4 — one sentence, two names, one PersonPeter says Ananias lied to the Holy Ghost; one verse later he says the lie was not unto men, but unto God. No argument is being made — which is what makes the argument so strong. The interchange is casual, apostolic, and fatal to any account of the Spirit as a created power. The church fathers saw the weight of it immediately: Bede’s dry verdict is that a heresy three centuries away was answered before it existed.
Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land? Did it not belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How could you conceive such a deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God!”You have not lied to men but to God. Before, he had said he lied to the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is indeed God, and the error of Macedonius was condemned before it existed.
Bede· Commentary on Acts (735), on Acts 5:4
"Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God": First, we understand that he called the Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Lord. Then, since he mentioned first the Holy Spirit and added: "Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God," you must necessarily either understand the oneness of the Godhead in the Holy Spirit, since when the Holy Spirit is tempted a lie is told to God; or, if you endeavour to exclude the oneness of the Godhead, you yourself according to the words of Scripture certainly believe Him to be God.
Ambrose of Milan· On the Holy Spirit, Book 3 (397), on Acts 5:4
Peter was not with Ananias and Sapphira when they sold their possessions, but he was present by the Spirit; Why, he says, hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? There was no accuser; there was no witness; whence knew he what had happened? Whiles it remained was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? The unlettered Peter, through the grace of the Spirit, learnt what not even the wise men of the Greeks had known.
Cyril of Jerusalem· Catechetical Lecture 16.17 (386), on Acts 5:3
Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.the Bible's second verse — the Spirit at creation, brooding like a bird over the waters.
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,one Name — singular — carried by three: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit fittingly moved over the earth, destined to bear fruit because by the aid of the Spirit it held the seeds of new birth which were to germinate according to the words of the prophet: "Send forth thy Spirit and they shall be created and thou shalt renew the face of the earth."
Ambrose of Milan· The Six Days of Creation (397), on Gen 1:2
This globe, at some undescribed period, having been convulsed and broken up, was a dark and watery waste for ages perhaps, till out of this chaotic state, the present fabric of the world was made to arise. the Spirit of God moved--literally, continued brooding over it, as a fowl does, when hatching eggs.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on Gen 1:2
Where the deity of the Spirit rests — the texts, gatheredthe case in brief
He is called God:Acts 5:3-4 (lying to the Spirit is lying to God); 1 Cor 3:16 with 6:19 (God’s temple because the Spirit dwells there).
He has God’s attributes:omniscience (1 Cor 2:10-11), omnipresence (Ps 139:7 — “whither shall I go from thy spirit?”), eternity (Heb 9:14 — “the eternal Spirit”).
He does God’s works: creation (Gen 1:2; Ps 104:30), inspiration of Scripture (2 Pet 1:21), regeneration (John 3:5-8), resurrection (Rom 8:11).
He shares God’s Name: Matt 28:19 — baptized into one name, named three ways. The full doctrine, with its history, lives on the Trinity page.
As He Will
— the Spirit's own choices — 1 Corinthians 12:11 and Acts 13:2Two texts show the Spirit’s personhood in motion. In Corinth, the gifts are distributed “as he will” — Jerome noticed the pronoun: not the member’s will, the Spirit’s. And at Antioch he speaks in the first person and redirects the history of the world: “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto Ihave called them.” Chrysostom’s question is the right one — what being could say that, if not of the same authority as God?
All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who apportions them to each one as He determines.While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”Notice that Paul does not say "according to the will of each and every member" but "according to the will of the Spirit."
Jerome· Against the Pelagians 1.16 (420), on 1 Cor 12:11
The Spirit spoke also in the patriarchs and the prophets, and finally the apostles then began to be more perfect after they had received the Holy Spirit. Thus there is no separation of the divine power and grace, for although "there are varieties of gifts, yet there is the same Spirit."
Ambrose of Milan· On the Holy Spirit 2.12.138 (397), on 1 Cor 12:11
But mark also the authority of the Holy Ghost: "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul." What being would have dared, if not of the same authority, to say this? "Separate," etc. But this is done, that they may not keep together among themselves. The Spirit saw that they had greater power, and were able to be sufficient for many. And how did He speak to them? Probably by prophets: therefore the writer premises, that there were prophets also. And they were fasting and ministering: that thou mayest learn that there was need of great sobriety. In Antioch he is ordained, where he preaches. Why did He not say, Separate for the Lord, but, "For me?" It shows that He is of one authority and power.
John Chrysostom· Homily on Acts 27 (407), on Acts 13:2
Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them - This was not ordaining them. St. Paul was ordained long before, and that not of men, neither by man: it was only inducting him to the province for which our Lord had appointed him from the beginning, and which was now revealed to the prophets and teachers.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), on Acts 13:2
The Emblems
— dove, wind, fire, oil, seal, earnest — pictures, honestly labelledScripture gives the Spirit emblems the way it gives Christ titles — each carries one truth and none exhausts him. The dove descends and abides (John 1:32); the wind blows where it wills and is known by its effects (John 3:8); fire sat on each of them at Pentecost (Acts 2:3); oil is the anointing that sets apart prophet, priest and king; the seal is ownership pressed into wax; the earnest is a first installment that guarantees the rest. The emblems are pictures OF a Person — the moment they replace him, they have been misread.
Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us, placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come.four verbs in two verses — established, anointed, sealed, given the earnest.
Who also hath sealed us - Stamping his image on our hearts, thus marking and sealing us as his own property. And given us the earnest of his Spirit - There is a difference between an earnest and a pledge. A pledge is to be restored when the debt is paid; but an earnest is not taken away, but completed.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), on 2 Cor 1:22
Shepherds brand their sheep so as to distinguish the ones which belong to them from others. This is what Christ has done to us.
Severian of Gabala· Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church (c. 425), on 2 Cor 1:22
Having received the sacraments, you have fully understood everything that you were baptized in the name of the Trinity. In all that we have done, the mystery of the Trinity has been preserved. Everywhere, there is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one operation, one sanctification, although some things may seem special. How? God who anointed you, and sealed you, and placed the Holy Spirit in your heart. Therefore, you have received the Holy Spirit in your heart.
Ambrose of Milan· On the Sacraments, Book 6 (397), on 2 Cor 1:21
Where It Points
— the Person whose delight is to point away from himselfThe deepest thing Jesus said about the Spirit’s character is a thing about direction: “he shall glorify me.” The Spirit of God is the member of the Godhead whose joy is the spotlight’s beam, not its stage — which is why a church full of the Spirit is always a church full of Christ, and why every page in this series ends where this one does.
However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.Closing
A Person who broods over chaos until it becomes a world; who cannot be deceived and was lied to anyway; who distributes gifts by his own will and spends his glory on Someone Else. The rest of this series is about what he does in you. It had to start with the only safe foundation for all of it: who he is.