THE PERSONALITY AND MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: A REGENERATED MIND?S APPROACH
INTRODUCTION
Many people, in a bid to describe the Holy Spirit have fallen into serious heresies simply because their efforts were based merely on their personal knowledge of the Bible. For anyone to understand the Holy Spirit, it takes the grace of God and the direction of the Holy Spirit Himself. So many arguments have been raised concerning the personality of the Holy Spirit. Many have advanced a lot of postulations to prove that the Holy Spirit is not a person but an ordinary influence. Some people especially the anti-Trinitarian groups use some biblical passages to deceive people saying that the Holy Spirit is not a person. For example, the say that the Holy Spirit is directly called the power of God in Luke 1:35 and hence, cannot be a person but a mere power. They also say that the Holy Spirit is neuter gender in scripture proving it is an “it” not a person. Other questions being, “how could the Holy Spirit fill 120 disciples at the same time?†The Holy Spirit, Father and Son all comprise a unified Godhead known in Christianity as the “Trinity.†A common misconception is that Christians believe in three different gods. This isn’t correct. While each “personage†is distinct in function, each shares together in the same deity and each reflects the divine attributes of the one living God. It is therefore my intention in this piece of work to present my understanding of what the Bible teaches about the personality and the Ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons (Trinity) of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For many of us, this is a very difficult concept to comprehend. The Bible clearly makes us to understand that there is only one living God, yet we learn from scripture that He comprises three separate personages. One way to partially visualize this concept is to examine the nature of water (H2O). Water is a single compound that can exist in three states – liquid, ice and vapor. An egg is another picture. It is comprised of the white, the yoke and the shell, yet it is still one egg. Of course, by no means do these examples paint a complete picture of our God, but they are illustrative of the fact that His three “persons†in no way invalidate His oneness.
THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A PERSON
The questions here are: Is the Holy Spirit a person, one that possesses “personality”? Or is the Holy Spirit simply an “influence”, or “impersonal force “that emanates from God? Members of the Watchtower Society (who call themselves “Jehovah’s Witnesses”), would have us believe for example that, “As for the ‘Holy Spirit’, the so-called ‘third person of the Trinity’, we have already seen that it is, not a person, but God’s active forceâ€. I wish to refute this erroneous claim by stating categorically that the Holy Spirit is a person, the third person in the Blessed Trinity. As a person, the Holy Spirit possesses personal characteristics just as a normal person does. The Holy Spirit is not a vague, ethereal life force. He is not impersonal or unthinking. The Holy Spirit is a “person†equal in every way with God, the Father, and God, the Son. The Bible tells us that all the characteristics of God apparent in the Father and the Son are equally apparent in the Holy Spirit He has a mind as in “the mind of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:27).this means that the spirit of God being a person is capable of thinking on its own. The Holy Spirit equally knows things just as the spirit of human beings know certain things. This is seen in the Bible, He “knows the things of God”(1 Cor.2:11). An ordinary impersonal force does not possess feelings or affection. The Holy Spirit of God does, hence, He can love as in “the love of the Spirit” (Rom. 15:30) according to St. Paul. Like human beings have will, the Holy Spirit of God also has will and determines what gift should be given to anyone. “The same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills” (1 Cor. 12:11).
The Holy Spirit equally performs activities as a person. The Spirit speaks to people and the people understand Him clearly. The Spirit spoke and gave directions to Philip( Act. 8:29).He spoke to Peter and gave him charge concerning the Gentiles (Act. 10:19-20).He spoke to the brethren at Antioch concerning Paul and Barnabas where He said that the people should set apart Paul and Barnabas for the work which He had assigned them.(Act.13:1-4). The Holy Spirit teaches as teacher. He was to teach the apostles all things (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit also bears witness. He was to testify of Jesus (John 15:26-27).Just as the apostles (who were “personal beings”) would bear witness, so also the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides, hears, speaks and tells…â€He would carry on and complete the work started by Jesus†(John 16:12-13). He also forbids things or actions just like you and I do. He prevented Paul and his companions from going into certain areas of Asia (Act. 16:6-7). This He did by “forbidding” them, and “not permitting” them, despite their initial efforts. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us just Moses did for the Israelites in the wilderness. The “Spirit Himself (note Paul’s use of the personal pronoun) makes intercession for us” (Rom.8:26). Just as Christ “also makes intercession for us” (Rom. 8:34).All these works of the Holy Spirit manifest personality. In a nut shell, this could be summarised as follows: He communicates (‘speaks’) (Acts 13:2), (steps in on behalf of someone) (Rom. 8:26), intercedes and testifies (John 15:26), guides (John 16:13), commands (Acts 16:6,7), appoints (Acts 20:28), leads (Romans 8:14), reveals to someone how wrong, foolish, or sinful he/she was (John 16:8). Seals God’s promise in believers’ hearts (Ephesians 1:13-14), shapes the life of each person and community to Christ’s (Romans 8:1-17).
The Holy Spirit can equally be insulted, grieved or disrespected as the case may be. “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God”(Eph. 4:30) He can be made sorrowful through our willful neglect. This shows that the Holy Spirit as a person suffers slight pains as we do. Note that the unforgiveable sin one can commit is to blaspheme the name of the Holy Spirit. That is, to be spoken evil of, in attributing His deeds to the works of Satan, the “unforgivable sin”(Mt 12:31-32). Just the way we insult one another`s personality at times, the Holy Spirit of G od can equally be insulted. One who has “trampled the Son of God underfoot” has also “insulted the Spirit of grace”(Heb. 10:29).This is done by sinning “willfully”(Heb. 10:26 ). The Spirit can be lied to because He is a person as Ananias and his wife Sapphira were guilty of doing. “…why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit…?” (Act. 5:3). He can be resisted as Stephen charged the Jewish leaders of doing (Act. 7:51 ).This they did by resisting the message and persecuting the messengers who were inspired by the Holy Spirit (Act. 7: 52-53).
From the evidence presented above with their corresponding biblical references, it is of paramount importance to note that a mere principle or influence cannot sustain these slights, only a personal being; so it is clear therefore, that the Holy Spirit is one. The Bible presents the Holy Spirit as a personal being. We should regard the Holy Spirit as a “He”, not an “itâ€.
THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The promise made by Jesus to the disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit was fulfilled officially on the day of the Pentecost. This however does not mean that the Holy Spirit has not been manifesting before then. God’s Spirit moved upon the Old Testament writers and prophets in a remarkable and powerful way. Some of them may not have been unaware of this fact, but they were granted revelations direct from God, so that His word could be spread abroad. As we read the Prophets we understand that His will, plans and purposes were being made known to Israel and the nations. This inspirational ministry of the Holy Spirit was largely on a personal level, that is, through individual men (and sometimes women such as Miriam, Esther and Ruth.). Therefore, one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to inspire. The Holy Spirit is the principal efficient cause in the writing of the sacred scripture whereas those who were inspired to write are the material cause. This means that inspirari, which means to breathe into or to inspire, is the sole function of the Holy Spirit of God. I know that many people will argue, and ask whether the presence of the Holy Spirit was not with the people of the old. The Holy