How Can I Know the Holy Spirit Is a Person?

Doubts find us. 

Maybe for you it’s when you’re scrolling through YouTube and an atheist’s video shows up in your feed. Or maybe your classmate keeps asking you questions about your Christian faith that you just don’t know the answers to.

For me, my doubts decided to come right to my doorstep — literally. They came in the form of a short, sweet, well-dressed woman who wanted to teach me about the Bible. Except, she wasn’t what you or I would call a Christian. She was a Jehovah’s Witness.

Over the course of many months I met with her and other Jehovah’s Witnesses to talk about what they believed. Any disagreements we had largely centered around beliefs about who God is. Is Jesus God? Is the Trinity real? Is the Holy Spirit a person, or just God’s active force?

These questions gave me pause, because I had never really considered another religion’s objections to these Christian doctrines. And they were not silly objections that I could just set aside — there was sincere thought behind these objections to my faith. Real people were sitting in front of me who held these beliefs with conviction.

So, I had to confront the questions. Not only so I could attempt to lead them to Christ, but because now I wondered if what I believed was true.

Why does it matter that the Holy Spirit is a person?

Admittedly, my reason for wanting to do my homework on the personhood of the Holy Spirit is because I wanted to make sure I had a right view of God. After all, throughout Scripture, God is pretty intent on us worshipping him — not an idol or a false idea of who he is.

But there is another reason why this topic is important. Say that, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe, the Holy Spirit is just God’s active force. If this were the case, then God is distant. He may send us his “force” to help us spiritually in life, but there is still a separation between God and us. But if the Holy Spirit is personal (and is God), then our Christian life is much more than just receiving God’s power and doing as he says. Rather, we are indwelt by God himself and are drawn into direct fellowship with him. If the Holy Spirit is personal, then God gives himself to us as a gift. That is a much more beautiful picture than a distant God sending us his power from far-far away. 

If the Holy Spirit is personal (and is God), then our Christian life is much more than just receiving God’s power and doing as he says.

Michael Reeves said it well in his book, Delighting in the Trinity:

“…the Spirit’s personal presence in us means we are brought to enjoy the Spirit’s own intimate communion with the Father and the Son. If the Spirit were not God, he could not do that. It is all because God is three persons — Father, Son and Spirit — that we can have such communion. If God was in heaven and his Spirit a mere force, he would be more distant than the moon.”¹

Now, that’s great and all — but it doesn’t do us a whole lot of good if it’s not true. So, in this article we’ll look at some evidence from the Bible for how we can know the Holy Spirit is God himself. I don’t want to come across as having everything all figured out (because I sure don’t). But I do want to give you the reasons why I continue to believe the personhood of the Holy Spirit is a truth that the Bible reveals. 

The Holy Spirit and God (The Father)

Before we look at specific texts that attribute personhood to the Holy Spirit, it’s important to note that the Bible presents the Spirit as distinct from God the Father. So “Spirit” is not simply another name for God the Father.

At this point, I won’t present a full defense of the doctrine of the Trinity (for that, you can read this article), but it’s safe to say that God is presented as “Father” in both the Old and New Testaments (Isaiah 63:16, 64:8; John 17:1-3). And, we can observe in the Bible that there is a distinction between God the Father and his Spirit. The Father sends his Spirit (John 14:26), the Spirit proceeds from the Father (John 15:26), and the Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are God the Father’s children (Romans 8:15-16).

So, if we see attributes of personhood being credited to the Spirit, we should take those as being true of the Spirit, as distinct from the Father.

Biblical Evidence for the Personhood of the Holy Spirit

1. The Holy Spirit has a will and makes decisions

There are some things that are intrinsic to persons that cannot apply to non-persons. One of those things is that a person has their own will — they can make decisions. 

We see this characteristic applied to the Holy Spirit when Paul writes about how believers receive spiritual gifts:

“All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who apportions them to each one as He determines.” (1 Corinthians 12:11)

This passage reveals that every spiritual gift is distributed according to the Spirit’s will. Having this agency and the ability to make intelligent decisions is something that an impersonal force can’t do. Electricity, for example, cannot make decisions.

We see evidence that the Spirit possesses a will in Acts 15:28 as well. When the Jerusalem council was writing their letter to the church of Antioch, they wrote that “it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit” to not burden gentile Christians with the entire Law of Moses. Only a person can give approval in this way.

2. The Holy Spirit has a mind

Another characteristic of personhood is that a person possesses a mind. This is something the Spirit also has, according to the Apostle Paul:

“And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:26)

A mere power or force does not have a mind — having a mind is something that is unique to a person, and Scripture clearly presents the Spirit as having a mind.

A mere power or force does not have a mind — having a mind is something that is unique to a person, and Scripture clearly presents the Spirit as having a mind.

3. The Holy Spirit’s emotions

Another compelling reason to think the Holy Spirit is a person is because he possesses another trait of personhood: he has emotions.

For example, Paul says this when encouraging the Ephesians to keep from sinning:

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)

It seems, then, that our sin as Christians grieves the Holy Spirit.

Another example can be found in Hebrews 10:29:

“How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29)

These passages show that the Spirit can be grieved and insulted. This would only make sense if the Holy Spirit were a person.

4. The Holy Spirit performs actions that require personhood

The Spirit intercedes

Let’s take another look at Romans 8, where Paul is exhorting Christians to endure through suffering:

“And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:27)

Saying that the Holy Spirit intercedes for believers could itself count as evidence for the Spirit’s personhood. It’s difficult to think of how an impersonal force could “intercede” for anyone. Interceding implies that the one doing the interceding has agency and a will to do so. But on top of this, Paul continues on in verse 34:

“Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34)

So, not only do we read that the Spirit intercedes for us, but we see this same action being performed by Jesus in the same passage. This solidifies the idea that intercession, especially in the context of the passage, is something that is done by a person.

The Spirit is a helper

Finally, when Jesus foretold the sending of the Holy Spirit, he referred to the Spirit as “another Advocate” (also translated as “Helper” or “Comforter”):

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth…” (John 14:16-17a)

Throughout John 14-15, the Holy Spirit is spoken of in a personal way. But specifically in John 14:16, we get some extra insight. The Greek word Jesus uses for “another” is allos, which “generally denotes numerical [distinction]”² in contrast to a “qualitative difference”³. What this means is that Jesus is saying “a helper like me is coming to be with you.” From this, we would expect that he is referring to another person.

Also, Jesus is saying this in order to comfort his disciples — that he would not leave them as “orphans” (John 14:18), but a comforter (the Spirit) would come to them. This would hardly be comforting if the Spirit were not actually a person being sent to help the disciples. 

5. The Holy Spirit can be sinned against

The final piece of evidence for the personhood of the Holy Spirit is that the Bible reveals him as someone who can be sinned against.

The Spirit can be blasphemed

In Matthew 12, we read of the Pharisees’ reaction when they see Jesus casting out demons:

“But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, ‘It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.’” (Matthew 12:24)

Jesus was not casting out demons by Satan’s power, but by the Holy Spirit. So he replied,

“And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matthew 12:31-32)

A couple things are worth noting here. First, the Pharisees claim that Jesus is driving out demons by Satan’s power. They seem to already be attributing this power to a person. As John Owens puts it,

“The Pharisees blasphemed, saying, that ‘he cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils.’ A person they intended, and so expressed him by his name, nature, and office.”⁴ (John Owens, Pneumatologia)

Of course, this by itself is not hard proof of the Holy Spirit’s personhood — after all, the Pharisees were wrong about a lot of things. However, it counts as evidence of the Holy Spirit’s personhood because the argument of the Pharisees is over a question of ‘agency’ (i.e. by whose authority is Jesus casting out demons?).

Perhaps more convincingly though, Jesus says that anyone who “blasphemies” the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. The word Jesus uses is βλασφημία, which is defined as “abusive or scurrilous language, blasphemy” (Strong’s Greek). In the New Testament, this word can be translated as “blasphemy” or “slander” or words of a similar kind. 

Throughout the New Testament, “blasphemy” or “slander” are sins that are directed towards another person — either against God or humans. Jesus himself says that he is able to be slandered in verse 32. This heavily implies that the Holy Spirit is a person that can be sinned against.

The Holy Spirit can be lied to

Additionally, it is possible to lie to the Holy Spirit. In Acts 5, Luke records that there was a couple named Ananias and Sapphira who lied about the amount of money they sold a piece of land for:

“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 you received for the land?’” (Acts 5:3)

It would be odd to accuse Ananias of lying to an impersonal force. Lying is a sin that is committed against a person.

Conclusion

While much more could be said about the personhood of the Spirit, I hope these reasons will help you see that the Holy Spirit is more than just an impersonal force that God sends to empower his followers. He is a person — the third person of our Triune God — who lives in you if you’re a believer in Christ. Because of him, you are now in fellowship with God himself and can start living in the ultimate purpose for your eternal life: knowing and enjoying God.

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Footnotes

¹Reeves, M. (2012). Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith (p. 90). Ivp Academic.

²(1889). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (J. H. Thayer, Trans.; Corrected, p. 29). Harper & Brothers. (Original work published 1885)

³Ibid.

⁴Owen, John. The Life and Works of John Owen. A.co, 9 Apr. 2016, a.co/d/06Hrut4v.