The Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit Is the Personal Presence of God Himself
God is one in being, and three in Person: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We do not worship a solitary God, and we do not worship three Gods or three Beings.
However, our experience with “persons” is with human beings, and if our understanding of “person” is based on humans, we find it difficult to think that there can be three persons in one being. Spirit beings are different than human beings, and spirit persons might also be different, but people still wonder whether it is appropriate to call the Spirit a person.
We think that “person” is a good word to use. It indicates that God deals with us as persons. Whenever the Holy Spirit deals with us, God is dealing with us in a personal way, and when we respond to the Spirit, we do so in a personal way. The Bible describes our interactions with the Holy Spirit as a person-to-person relationship. The Spirit is the personal presence of God.
The Spirit is personal
Scripture describes the Holy Spirit as having characteristics normally associated with persons:
- The Spirit lives (Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 3:16).
- Numerous verses say that the Holy Spirit spoke (Acts 8:29; 10:19; 11:12; 21:11; 1 Timothy 4:1; Hebrews 3:7; etc.); he can use the first-person pronoun “I.”
- The Spirit may be lied to (Acts 5:3), which indicates that the Spirit may be spoken to. The Spirit may be tested (Acts 5:9), insulted (Hebrews 10:29) or blasphemed (Matthew 12:31), which implies personal status.
- Thomas Oden notes that the Spirit is described as “guiding (Romans 8:14), convicting (John 16:8), interceding (Romans 8:26), calling (Acts 13:2), commissioning (Acts 20:28)…. Only a person can be vexed (Isaiah 63:10) or grieved (Ephesians 4:30)” (Life in the Spirit, page 19).
- The Holy Spirit gives us new life (John 3:5). The Spirit sanctifies us, making us holy (1 Peter 1:2) and leads us in that new life (Romans 8:14). The Spirit gives abilities to people to build the church up (1 Corinthians 12:7-11), and throughout the book of Acts, we see that the Spirit guides the church.
- The Spirit “knows” (1 Corinthians 2:11). Romans 8:27 refers to “the mind of the Spirit.” A decision “seemed good” to the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:28). These verses imply intelligence. 1 Corinthians 12:11 says that the Spirit “chooses,” showing that the Spirit can make decisions.[1]
- The most “personal” activity of the Holy Spirit is intercession: “We do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words… The Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).
Intercession involves not only receiving a message, but also sending that thought further on. The Holy Spirit is an intelligent and divine Helper who lives within us. God lives within us, and the Holy Spirit is God.
Sometimes not mentioned
One argument used against the Spirit’s personal nature is based on some verses in the New Testament in which God and Christ are discussed together, but they do not mention the Spirit. People ask, “If the Holy Spirit is divine in the same way as the Son and the Father, why is the Spirit not mentioned in these verses?”
This argument assumes that all three Persons of the Trinity must be mentioned together if they are equally divine. No biblical reason is given for that idea. The Father is often mentioned without the Son, and the Son is often mentioned without the Father or the Spirit. The book of Acts often mentions the work of the Holy Spirit without reference to the Father or the Son.
In short, it is a false assumption to think that the Holy Spirit must always be mentioned wherever the Father and Son are discussed.
In the conclusion of 1 Corinthians, Paul refers to “Christ Jesus” and the “Lord Jesus,” but makes no mention of the Father or the Holy Spirit (16:23-24). Should we then conclude that only Jesus is divine?
In the beginning of 2 Corinthians, Paul mentions Christ twice and God twice, but doesn’t refer to the Holy Spirit (1:1-2). However, in his conclusion, Paul says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (13:13). Here all three divine Persons are mentioned together.[2]
Simply counting words cannot tell us whether a person is divine, or whether a word refers to a person. Even so, we note that there are many passages in the New Testament where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are mentioned together. Here are the most important places: Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:13; 1 Peter 1:1-2; Romans 14:17-18; 15:16; 1 Corinthians 2:2-5; 6:11; 12:4-6; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 2:18-22; 3:14-19; Ephesians 4:4-6; Colossians 1:6-8; 1 Thessalonians 1:3-5; and Titus 3:4-6.
If we want to understand the relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit, we should focus on these scriptures, since they are the ones that mention all the relevant parties.
Does the Holy Spirit have a “face”?
Some say that the New Testament does not present a personal “face” for the Spirit in the same way that it does for the Father and Son. They use that to support their conclusion that the Holy Spirit is impersonal, a power that God uses. Some use the analogy of electricity: just as humans use electricity to carry out their work, God uses the Spirit as a power to do his work.
It is true that the Holy Spirit is not featured as prominently as the Father and Son are in the New Testament. The New Testament does not tell us to worship the Holy Spirit – nor does it say we should not.
The Spirit performs his own distinctive work in redemption: he enlightens, transforms, guides and sanctifies the followers of Christ. The Holy Spirit is sent to draw attention to Jesus, not to himself. He does not present a “face” because his role is to point to Christ.[1]
- When Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit in John chapters 14-16, he says: “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf” (15:26).
- Later, Jesus says: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own…. He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (16:13-14).
The Word became a human so we might see God more clearly, and the Spirit does not bring us any revelation that is different than Jesus, the Word who became incarnate. The Holy Spirit has no “face”, but it is through the Spirit that we see the face of Christ, and in the face of Christ we see the face of the Father. That is the role of the Spirit.
The Paraclete
The “face” of the Holy Spirit has not been revealed directly. Yet, in one place Jesus does give us something of a personal “face” for the Holy Spirit. When Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit to the disciples on the night he was betrayed, he used the Greek word parakletos to refer to the Spirit (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7).
Parakletos has been translated by such words as “Comforter,” “Advocate,” “Helper” and “Counselor.” Some versions simply write the Greek word with Roman letters, as the “Paraclete.”
In Greek and Roman society, a paraclete could refer to a person called on for assistance as a legal advisor, advocate or helper in a court of law. However, the meaning “attorney” or “lawyer” is rare. A Greek dictionary explains: “In the few places where the word is found in pre-Christian and extra-Christian literature as well, it has for the most part a more general sense: one who appears in another’s behalf, mediator, intercessor, helper.”[2]
Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17). The disciples’ first Advocate was Jesus; the Spirit would be another Advocate, continuing his work.
Like Jesus, the Holy Spirit teaches, gives evidence, convicts, guides and reveals truth (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:8, 13-14). These are personal roles. Since the Holy Spirit can “replace” Jesus in this role, we conclude that the Spirit is equal to Christ. Otherwise, how could the Spirit be able to come in the place of Jesus?
For those who want a personal “face” for the Holy Spirit, Jesus has given it to us when he refers to the Spirit as a “Paraclete.” He doesn’t say, “I’m going to send a non-personal abstract power to you instead of me.” Rather, he says, “The Holy Spirit will be an Advocate for you, like I have been.” This is a personal role.[3] The Spirit is like Jesus.
We must use human language when we speak of the Persons of the triune God, because we have no other language to use. But we should remember that our language can point in only an approximate way to the reality of God.
The New Testament gives us the human-like analogy of “Father” and “Son” for two Persons of the Godhead, through which we can think of personal “faces.” But they are not father and son in exactly the same way as humans are. One does not have some chromosomes from a father and some from a mother.
Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Similarly, whoever sees Jesus also sees the Holy Spirit. Father, Son and Spirit are one in their characteristics of power, intelligence, creative purpose and love.
Only a force?
To help us understand that the Holy Spirit is God, we can look at the work of Jesus for our salvation. Jesus as the Son must be fully divine for his work to be effective in our salvation. Only God himself is our Savior (Isaiah 45:21).
Even if there were an ordinary human without any sin, the death of that person could not pay for the salvation of all other humans. Only the Creator could redeem and ransom all humanity.
Jesus could not have been simply a special human being to whom God gave a mission, in the way he did to Old Testament prophets such as Moses or David. Our Savior had to be God with us, as a human being, in order to perform his saving work.
Salvation is the gift of eternal life given to creatures who do not have that kind of life within themselves. We are spiritually fallen, mortals who eventually die. How can mortal creatures be given eternal life – something that we do not have and cannot get on our own? We must somehow be taken up into God so that the eternal life that only God has may apply to us as well. An ordinary human cannot bring us into the life of God – only God can do that.
John 14:5-27 explains how the life of God can be in us. This explanation demands that the Holy Spirit be true God of true God. After dying for us on the cross, Jesus will send the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will be “in” the believers, and through him, the Father and Jesus will make their “home” with them (verses 17, 23).
Through the Spirit, the disciples can be in Jesus and he in them (verse 21). The passage shows the unity of the saving work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three Persons bring about the salvation of believers, and all must be true God of true God in order to do this.
As 1 Peter 1:3 states, we have a “new birth into a living hope” through the Holy Spirit. We are joined to God through the Spirit, and the eternal life of God is given to us in that union. God’s people “have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).
The apostle Paul explains that the completion of our salvation results in the “putting on” of immortality (1 Corinthians 15:50-54). In another place, he says: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).
It is not some “power” that does this miracle, but the presence of God himself in the Person of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit lives in us, God lives in us. When the Holy Spirit gives us new birth, we are children of God. We are joined by the Holy Spirit to God, and through the Holy Spirit we become God’s children as he gives us life and changes us (verses 15-16). It is a personal work.
We are created beings, and we will always remain so. But God can unite himself to us so that he can share his eternal life with us. God must be present for this union to occur, and he is present in the Person of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
In saving us, the Holy Spirit cannot be “something” outside of God. The Spirit must be divine – God of God – working in the church and transforming human creatures into the image of Christ.
For us to participate in the eternal life that belongs to God alone, it is necessary that the Holy Spirit – who transforms our minds and hearts from within – must be divine.
Thanks be to God, who sent Jesus to reconcile us to himself by the forgiveness of sin. Jesus as Son of Man and Son of God overcame every enemy of God – including sin and death – on our behalf. In the Person of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent, we are transformed and united to God, and we share in the eternal life that is God’s alone.
Christians sometimes wonder whether they have been given God’s Holy Spirit. What are some guidelines we can use in trying to understand our spiritual state? Since the Holy Spirit is spirit, we cannot feel, touch or sense the Spirit in the way that we might study a physical object. We can’t talk about having the Spirit in those terms.
Our emotions and feelings are part of our spiritual life. But we can sometimes “feel” as though we are in tune with the Holy Spirit and at other times “feel” as if we aren’t. Both feelings can’t be right, because the Holy Spirit does not repeatedly come and go. When we are born of God’s Spirit, we are a new creation and always have the Spirit within us.
How can we know we have the Holy Spirit? Let’s answer a few questions.
- Do we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord (Romans 10:9)?
- Are we moved in prayer in ways that sometimes surprise us (Romans 8:26-27)?
- Do we want to obey God in love and have the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:6-18, 22-25)?
- Do we love others and show them acts of kindness as we have opportunity (James 1:27)?
- Do we see the need to avoid things that are contrary to God’s way (James 1:27; 1 John 2:15-17)?
If we can answer “yes” to these questions, we can be assured that God’s Spirit is leading us. As we live in Christ, we will find more clear marks of his presence in our thoughts, action and life.
Even with God’s Holy Spirit, we will sin (1 John 1:8-2:5). We will never be perfect in this life. This may cause us to feel as though God is not with us. But the things mentioned above will be working in our lives because we do have the Spirit. When we sin, we go to God in prayer acknowledging our sinfulness and our need for his mercy (Luke 18:9-14). That in itself is a demonstration that we have the Holy Spirit.
We can always have confidence in the fact that once God begins to work with us and gives us his Spirit, he will never leave us. Despite the ups and downs of life, despite the problems we may have, we can be confident of God’s faithfulness. In the words of the apostle Paul: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
Endnotes
[1] The Greek word means “he or it determines.” Although the Greek word does not specify the subject of the verb, the most likely subject in the context is the Spirit. To find a different subject, one would have to backtrack through five verses and six mentions of the Spirit. But this grammatical leapfrogging is not necessary. Since we know from other verses that the Spirit has mind and knowledge and judgment, there is no reason to reject the conclusion in 1 Corinthians 12:11 that the Spirit also has a will.
[2] We are assuming in this verse that Paul’s reference to “God” is not absolute, but that he uses the term relatively of the Person of the Father.
[1] Thomas Torrance summarizes: “It is not the function of the Spirit, then, to bear witness to himself in his distinctive personal Being, but to bear witness to Christ and glorify him as Lord and Savior” (The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being Three Persons, 66).
[2] A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 4th edition, revised and edited by Frederick William Danker, page 766.
[3] Jesus used the masculine form of parakletos; he did not consider it necessary to make the word neuter or to use neuter pronouns. In John 16:14, masculine pronouns are used even after the neuter pneuma is mentioned. It would have been easy to switch to neuter pronouns, but John did not. In other places, neuter pronouns are used for the Spirit, following normal grammatical rules. Scripture is not finicky about the grammatical gender of the Spirit, and we need not be either. We use personal pronouns for the Spirit to acknowledge that he is personal, not to imply that he is male.
1 “Person” is the English word we use in place of the Greek hypostasis. The word “Person” shows that God in his Triune Being is personal and that we are dealing with the personal presence of God in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The word “Person” has its drawback in that people may wrongly apply to God, in an anthropomorphic way, our experience of persons as individual human beings.
2 Here are the most prominent places: Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Peter 1:1-2; Romans 14:17-18; 15:16; 1 Corinthians 2:2-5; 6:11; 12:4-6; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 2:18-22; 3:14-19; Ephesians 4:4-6; Colossians 1:6-8; 1 Thessalonians 1:3-5; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; Titus 3:4-6.
3 A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 4th edition, revised and edited by Frederick William Danker, page 766.
Author: Paul Kroll, edited by Michael Morrison in 2026
