I N D E X
3
The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
There is no doubt whatsoever that a knowledge of what the holy Scriptures teach concerning the Holy Spirit
is of supreme importance. The need to get a Bible-based view of the Holy Spirit becomes more and more
evident as various charismatic movements appear on the scene.  The study is indeed profound as any
consideration of the great eternal God must be. The Unitarian, who denies the deity of Christ, has the same
problem regarding the Holy Spirit. His personality is denied and He is relegated to being merely a divine
influence or a manifestation of divine power. Judged by the Scriptures, this view is completely defective and
must be rejected by all who value and want to attain to the knowledge of God's truth.
We make no attempt in this work to deal with the Trinity. This has been done in other studies. We would
re-iterate that while the word `Trinity' does not occur in the Bible, yet the fact of it does. Owing to the way the
word `person' is used today, usually being synonymous with an individual, separate from all other individuals,
this word is better avoided as far as possible in dealing with the Godhead, though it is very difficult not to use it,
as we have no satisfactory English word as an alternative.
As Dr. W.H. Griffith Thomas wisely remarks, `instead of meaning the fact of separate individuality,
personality in God is intended to convey an idea of inner distinction which exists in the unity of the divine
Nature. The facts from Scripture demand from us an acknowledgment of the unity of the Godhead and at the
same time those interior distinctions between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which we can only express by our
word "person". While therefore, it is true that the term is used today in connection with human life in a way that
is quite different from its use in connection with the Godhead, it is also true that no other term has yet been
found adequate to express the essential distinctions in the Godhead' (The Principles of Theology p.95).
Let us consider the following passages of Scripture:
`Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost' (Matt. 28:19).
`The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you
all. Amen' (2 Cor. 13:14).
It should be obvious that both Matthew and the apostle Paul place the same emphasis on the Holy Spirit as
they do on the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It would be quite improper, irreverent and misleading to
associate the Holy Spirit in this way with the Godhead unless He was equal with the Father and the Son.
Moreover, in connection with the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, Peter accuses them of lying to the Holy
Ghost (Acts 5:3), lying to God (verse 4), and tempting the Spirit of the Lord (verse 9). It is obvious from this
that Peter considered the Holy Spirit to be God and not just a power or an influence. It is impossible to lie to a
force. Furthermore, Paul, in Ephesians 4:30 exhorts members of the Body not to `grieve the Spirit of God
whereby they are sealed unto the day of redemption'. Again, it is quite impossible to grieve power. We live in
an age of power, which has come to the fore today as it has never done in times past. Yet no one in their senses
would think it possible to grieve, let us say, atomic power, tremendous though this may be. One can only grieve
a moral being. When one considers this and the whole revelation of the Bible concerning the Holy Spirit, there
should be no doubt whatever that He is a manifestation of the one God Who declares that there is `none else'
beside Him (Isa. 42:8; 43:10; 44:6; 45:18,21). Anything less than this is, as we have before said, utterly
defective and is therefore misleading and dangerous.
The deity of the Holy Spirit may raise problems in our minds, but the first thing we must always do, if we
want nothing but truth is to believe what God says in His Word, even if we do not understand it. Anything less
than this dishonours Him and exhibits an heart of unbelief which comes under His condemnation. If we are
only going to believe what we can understand, our creed will be a small one indeed and moreover we are then
open to the deception of the enemy; because our loins are not girded about by truth (Eph. 6:14).
The closeness of the relationship between the three manifestations of the triune God is seen by how one
honours the other.