God & Jesus
Is the Spirit a person or God’s power?
Christians speak of the Holy Spirit as “he”, a divine person. But the Bible also speaks of the Spirit being poured out, filling people and coming upon them. Is the Spirit a person, or God’s power at work?
1The question
Does the Bible present the Holy Spirit as a separate divine person?
2What Christians believe
Christians answer that the Spirit is a person, because he does what persons do: he teaches and reminds (John 14:26), speaks (Acts 13:2), and can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30). He is named with the Father and the Son in the baptism formula (Matthew 28:19).
The Council of Constantinople in 381 confirmed the Spirit’s full divinity, after debates with those who saw the Spirit as a creature. Christians see this as summing up what the New Testament teaches.
3What the texts say
The Spirit as God’s power
And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
The Spirit described as a person
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Personal language for God’s wisdom
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
4What scholars say
The Hebrew word for spirit, ruach, also means breath and wind. James D. G. Dunn (Jesus and the Spirit, 1975) studies how the first Christians experienced the Spirit as God’s power and presence among them.
Gordon D. Fee (God’s Empowering Presence, 1994) argues that Paul already thinks of the Spirit as personal. The full doctrine of the Spirit as a third divine person was settled at the Council of Constantinople in 381.
Scholars agree that the Bible uses both kinds of language, power and person, and that the formal doctrine came later.
5The Islamic perspective
The Qur’an says the Spirit comes by God’s command, and that people have been given only a little knowledge of it. The angels and the Spirit descend by their Lord’s permission:
They are asking thee concerning the Spirit. Say: The Spirit is by command of my Lord, and of knowledge ye have been vouchsafed but little.
The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees.
Muslims read the Bible’s language of the Spirit being poured out and coming upon people as God’s power and gifts, and its language of the Spirit speaking as God’s messenger speaking. Either way, the Spirit serves God and is not a second God beside him.
6Objections and responses
“The Spirit can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30), so the Spirit is a person.”
Response: The Bible often uses personal language for God’s qualities and gifts: Wisdom “crieth” and “uttereth her voice in the streets” (Proverbs 1:20), yet no one counts Wisdom as a separate god. Personal language does not by itself prove a separate divine person.
“In Acts 13:2 the Holy Ghost speaks and says ‘me’.”
Response: God’s messages often come through a messenger who speaks in God’s name. In the Qur’an, revelation comes through Gabriel, who brings God’s words. Muslims read the Spirit’s speech in the same way.
7Conclusion
Both sides agree that the Bible speaks of the Spirit both as God’s power poured out and in personal terms, and that the doctrine of the Spirit as a third divine person was settled in 381. Christians see a divine person. Muslims see God’s power and his messenger, both acting by his command.
Read Acts 2:1–21 and John 14:15–26 and note where the Spirit is described as power and where as a person.
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Sources
- Bible, King James Version:Judges 14:6Acts 2:17Luke 1:35John 14:26Acts 13:2Ephesians 4:30Proverbs 1:20
- Qur’an, translated by M. Pickthall:Qur’an 17:85Qur’an 97:4
- James D. G. Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit (1975)
- Gordon D. Fee, God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (1994)