Let's address the question. Is the Holy Spirit God? Either the Holy Spirit is God, or He is not. He either possesses the Divine nature along with the Father and the Son, or He is the creation of God, and maybe a little higher than the angels, but not part of the divinity.
The Deity of the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit God?
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS CALLED GOD IN THE BIBLE
The most obvious place to start is looking into Scripture and seeing whether the Bible calls the Holy Spirit God. The Bible is our standard for any of these questions.
Example 1 - Acts 5:1-4 - Now a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. 2 He kept back part of the proceeds with his wife's knowledge, and brought a part of it and placed it at the apostles' feet. 3 Then Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to deceive the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, was it not your own? And when it was sold, was it not under your authority? Why have you conceived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to men, but to God."
If lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God, that tells us He must be God.
Example 2 - 1 Corinthians 3:16 - Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
Saints, Christians are called "the temple of God," and the reason for this is "the Spirit of God dwells in you."
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - What? Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own? 20 You were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your Spirit, which are God's.
The individual Christian is described as "the temple of the Holy Spirit," followed with the encouragement, "therefore glorify God in your body."
Here the Holy Spirit is identified as the Diety that dwells in Christians, and for this reason, they are the temple of God. The Holy Spirit and God are equated to be the same person.
Example 3 - 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 - There are various gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 There are various operations, but it is the same God who operates all of them in all people.
Here the Holy Spirit is spoken of as "the same Spirit" (v. 4), but then is also compared or identified with and equal to "the same Lord" (v. 5), "the same God" (v. 6).
Example 4 - In 2 Corinthians 6:16, the Spirit is called "the living God." - What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live in them and walk in them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS JEHOVAH
In asking the question is the Holy Spirit God we can look into titles or names referenced in scripture when talking of the Spirit. Jehovah is a name that can only be applied to the Lord God Almighty. We will see a verse in the Old Testament that refers to the Lord or Jehovah as their subject. Then when that verse is quoted in the New Testament, the name changes to the Holy Spirit. That tells us that He is considered Deity in scriptural thought.
Example - Isaiah 6:5 - And I said: "Woe is me! For I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts."
The word LORD is capitalized and refers to the self-existent or eternal one, also known as Jehovah. It says here the Lord, Jehovah, was the one speaking to the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 6:8-10 - Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me." He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn and be healed."
If we go over into the New Testament, in Acts 28, that passage from Isaiah is quoted, and the title or name is changed from Lord to Holy Spirit. Again, the Bible identifies the Holy Spirit as God by recognizing Him as Lord or Jehovah.
Acts 28:25-27 - Being in disagreement with one another, they were dismissed after Paul had said one word: "The Holy Spirit accurately spoke to our fathers through Isaiah the prophet, 'Go to this people and say: You shall certainly hear, but never understand; and you shall certainly see, but never perceive; for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.'
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS COMPARED TO THE MOST HIGH
Another title for God in Scripture is the Most High. When Israel tempted God in the wilderness, this is described in Psalm 78 as testing God and provoking the Most High. However, Isaiah 63:10 refers to rebelling against and grieving the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 78:17-19 - They sinned yet more against Him by provoking the Most High in the wilderness. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food that they craved. They spoke against God by saying, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
Isaiah 63:10 - But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore, He turned Himself to be their enemy, and He fought against them.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS REFERRED TO AS HOLY
God's holiness (wholeness, perfection) is observed in the Spirit. The one who possesses the characteristics of God must be recognized as God. Only God is Holy.
Exodus 15:11 - Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
If He is holy, then He must be Deity. Not only is the word Holy part of the name of the Spirit, but in Romans, He is called the Spirit of Holiness.
Romans 1:4 - and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS DIVINE ATTRIBUTES
Only God has the characteristics of being eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. The Holy Spirit is God if these attributes are found in Him.
Eternity - is Eternal
Hebrews 9:14 - how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Omnipresence – is Present Everywhere
Psalm 139:7-10 - Where shall I go from Your Spirit, or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell at the end of the sea, even there Your hand shall guide me, and Your right hand shall take hold of me.
Omniscience – is All-Knowing
1 Corinthians 2:10-11 - But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man, except the Spirit of man which is in him? Likewise, no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God.
John 16:12-13 - I have yet many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority. But He will speak whatever He hears, and He will tell you things that are to come.
Omnipotence – is All-Powerful
Luke 1:35 - The angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you. Therefore the Holy One who will be born will be called the Son of God.
THREE DIVINE WORKS ATTRIBUTED TO THE SPIRIT
Just like only God has specific attributes, only God can accomplish certain activities or works. If the Holy Spirit is part of those activities, then Holy Spirit is God.
The Holy Spirit in Creation
Job 33:4 - The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.
Job 26:13 - By His breath (Spirit) He has made fair the heavens; His hand has formed the fleeing serpent.
Psalm 104:30 - When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the surface of the ground.
The Holy Spirit Imparts Life
John 6:63 - It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are Spirit and are life.
Romans 8:11 - But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that lives in you.
Genesis 2:7 - Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.
The Holy Spirit Authored Scripture
1 Peter 1:20-21 - But know this first of all, that no prophecy of the Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. For no prophecy at any time was produced by the will of man, but holy men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Acts 28:25 - Being in disagreement with one another, they were dismissed after Paul had said one word: "The Holy Spirit accurately spoke to our fathers through Isaiah the prophet,
CONCLUSION
The Bible makes it very clear. The Holy Spirit has divine attributes and characteristics that only God can possess; therefore, the Holy Spirit is God.
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