We take up first the question of the Deity of the Holy Spirit. The fact
that the Holy Spirit is a person does not prove that He is divine.
There are spirits who are persons but who are not God. There are five
distinct lines of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy
Spirit is God.
1. The first line of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit is that
_each of the four distinctively Divine attributes are ascribed to
the Holy Spirit in the Bible_. There are four distinctively divine
attributes; that is to say, there are four attributes which God alone
possesses, and any person who has these attributes must therefore
be God. The four distinctively divine attributes are omnipotence,
omniscience, omnipresence and eternity.
(1) First of all, _omnipotence is ascribed to the Holy Spirit_, for
example, in Luke 1:35: +"And the angel answered and said unto her,
the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the most high
shall overshadow thee: wherefore also that which is to be born shall be
called holy, the Son of God."+ This passage plainly declares that
the Holy Spirit has the power of the Most High, that He is omnipotent.
(2) In the next place, _omniscience is ascribed to the Holy Spirit_.
This is done, for example, in I Corinthians 2:10, 11: +"But unto us
God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For who among men knoweth the
things of a man, save the Spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so
the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God."+ Here we
are distinctly told that _the Holy Spirit searcheth all things and
knoweth all things_, even the deep things of God. We find the same
thought again in John 14:26: +"But the Comforter, even the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all
things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you."+
Here we are distinctly told that the Holy Spirit teaches all things,
and therefore must know all things. This is stated even more explicitly
in John 16:12-13: +"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He
shall guide you into all the truth."+ In all these passages it is
either directly declared or unmistakably implied that the Holy Spirit
knows all things, that He is omniscient.
(3) In the third place, _omnipresence is ascribed to the Holy Spirit_.
We find this in Psalms 139:7-10: +"Whither shall I go from thy
Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up
into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou
art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the
uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy
right hand shall hold me."+ Here we are told in the most explicit
and unmistakable way that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is
everywhere; that there is no place in heaven, earth or hades whither we
can go from His presence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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