The Personality of the Other Comforter.!6!. AN UNLIKELY STORY When my wife and I made arrangements to come to Africa this time, the travel agent informed us that we would first be taking a flight from Detroit to London. Then a bus would transport us to another airport nearby to catch another flight on to Accra. What if, when we got off the bus, all we could see was a miniature airport with only toy airplanes? We would have thought that surely someone was playing a joke on us. Why? Because someone we trusted had used the word another to promise us the same kind of service we had with the earlier flight. THE PROMISE Before He left the earth, Jesus promised His disciples another Comforter: And I [Jesus] will pray the Father, and He [the Father] shall give you another Comforter, that He [the Comforter] may abide with you for ever (John 14:16). The Greek word for Comforter $para,klhtoj = PA-RA-KLE-TOS) means helper!... that is, one who is called to someone s aid. 1 The same word is also translated Advocate in I John 2:1; but there it refers to Jesus: My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. For three-and-a-half years, Jesus had been their Comforter. However, upon His departure, the disciples could then expect another Comforter... the Spirit of Truth 1 Arndt & Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), page 623. 27
(John 14:17), the Holy Ghost 2 (John 14:26)... to come and actually live in them (John 14:17). Whereas Jesus had to leave them, this other Comforter would remain with them permanently:...that He [the other Comforter] may abide with you for ever (John 14:16c). The obvious implication of this promise is that this other Comforter would be for the disciples everything Jesus had been: personal, as their Friend; authoritative, as their Leader; and reliable, as their Guide. Had this not been true, the disciples would have been as dismayed and shocked as my wife and I, if all we had seen at that other airport were just toy airplanes! DENIAL OF PERSONALITY This absurd illustration about toy airplanes is intended to draw a fitting parallel with the misguided reasoning about the Holy Spirit: Some would have us to believe that this other Comforter, unlike the former One (Jesus), is a something, and not a Someone. It is never explained how a something can adequately replace a Someone. Nevertheless, they still insist that the Holy Spirit has no personality, but instead is just the impersonal, active force, energy, or life of God. Why do these people fail to recognize the personality of the Holy Spirit? Primarily, because to them, this concept contradicts the truth of one God (However, properly interpreted, it does not.); and partly, because God s full revelation of it came relatively late (just a few hours before Christ was crucified). Consequently, this truth is not readily seen in earlier portions of Scripture. That, however, does not make it less true. EARMARKS OF PERSONALITY What exactly constitutes personality? If we do not know what it is, how can we ever recognize it? At the risk of oversimplification, I suggest three basic aspects of personality: 1) INTELLIGENCE... the ability to know. 2) VOLITION... the ability to choose specific action. 3) EMOTION... the ability to respond to situations with feeling. Wherever these three attributes exist, one has all the necessary ingredients for a complete, functioning personality which manifests itself in a state of consciousness... causing one to be aware of self, as well as others; with the capacity to respond intelligently to the surrounding environment. 2 Spirit and Ghost are both translations of the same word in Greek: pneu/ma (PNEU-MA). 28
REVELATION OF THE SPIRIT S PERSONALITY First of all, the Spirit acts like a person. Scripture reveals that the Holy Spirit does possess each of the three attributes of personality: 1) INTELLIGENCE... the ability to know. a) John 14:26... the Holy Ghost...shall teach you all things. Teaching requires intelligence. To teach, one must know: the subject, the level of the student, and the proper occasion to present the information. b) I Corinthians 2:10... the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Searching requires intelligence. To search, one must have: a desire to know, and the ability to understand. c) Romans 8:26-27... Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Itself 3 maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Interceding requires intelligence. The Spirit must know us (for whom intercession is made), and He must know God (to whom intercession is made). 27 And He [God] 4 that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit... So the Spirit has a mind... an intellect. However, the intelligence of the Spirit (who is interceding) is distinct from the intelligence of God (who is searching hearts). God knows the Spirit s intent and purpose. A conscious goal is a clear indication of intelligence. 3 Proof of the Spirit s personality is not based primarily upon the gender of pronouns. The word spirit $pneu/ma = PNEU-MA) is neuter in Greek, so neuter pronouns are regularly used with it in accordance to the rules of grammar. However, sometimes masculine pronouns are employed when it refers to the Holy Spirit. For instance: In John 16:13-14, the masculine pronoun He $evkei/noj = E-KEI-NOS), finds its natural antecedent in the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13). The personality of the Spirit is the only justification for something so ungrammatical. 4 It is God who searches the hearts: I the LORD search the heart (Jeremiah 17:10a). 29
...because He [the Spirit] maketh intercession for the saints... Again, interceding requires intelligence. The Spirit is not praying to Himself, any more than did Jesus in John 17....according to the will of God. Knowing the will of God requires intelligence. 2) VOLITION... the ability to choose specific action. a) I Corinthians 12:11... But all these [spiritual gifts] worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He [the Spirit] will. The Spirit decides who gets what gift. b) Acts 10:19-20!... 19 While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. 20 Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I [the Spirit] have sent them. The Spirit expressed His will by sending three men to get Peter. The Spirit then commands Peter to accompany them. That was a further expression of His will. c) Acts 13:2... As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I [the Holy Ghost] have called them. The Holy Spirit chose these men to do a special work in the ministry. (No impersonal force can say, I, or Me. ) 3) EMOTION... the ability to respond to situations with feeling. a) John 16:8... And when He [the Comforter] is come, He will reprove the world of sin... This reproof not only indicates the Spirit s awareness of sin (which requires intelligence), but also the Spirit s hatred of sin. Hate is an emotion. 30
b) Ephesians 4:30... And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God... Sadness is an emotion. c) Galatians 5:22... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace... The Spirit cannot reproduce in us what He Himself does not possess. Not only does He act like a person (with these genuine attributes of personality), the Holy Spirit can also be treated like a person. For example: 1) He can be obeyed. After the Spirit told Peter to go with the strangers who had come for him, he did so: And on the morrow, Peter went away with them (Acts 10:23c). 2) He can be lied to. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? (Acts 5:3a). 3) He can be insulted....and hath done despite unto [insulted] 5 the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:29h). To be insulted, one must be conscious of self as well as others. This is a clear indication of personality. (Consciousness is the feeling of knowing you have feelings.) COMPARISONS If the Holy Spirit is just an impersonal power or active force, how can the Spirit both act like a person, and be treated like one as well? Is there any other impersonal power or mere energy like that? No. Think about it: Electricity is a form of energy or power, so is it sad when you turn it off? Does the wind command you to go where it wants you to be? Do you insult fire when you put it out? If you spill gasoline, does it grieve? Can water reprove you? Of course not. But the Spirit can! 5 Arndt & Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), page 269: evnubri,saj (E-NU-BRI-SAS) is an aorist participle from evnubri,zw (E-NU-BRID-ZO). 31
Yes, the Holy Spirit is likened to wind (John 3:8), and water (John 7:37-39). However, this does not mean the Spirit is impersonal, any more than is Jesus, who is called bread (John 6:48), the door (John 10:7), and even a stone (I Peter 2:4). POWER Some think the Spirit is impersonal because of passages like Luke 4:14... And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit... or Romans 15:13......that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. They claim this indicates the Holy Spirit is just God s power, and nothing more. However, this does not mean the Spirit is impersonal, any more than is Jesus who is called the power of God (I Corinthians 1:24), or even Simon the sorcerer, who was considered by some to be the great power of God (Acts 8:10). FILLED Since various people can be filled with the Holy Spirit at the same time (Acts 2:4), some teach that this indicates the Spirit is not a person. They say, If the Holy Ghost is a person, then you could have Him, and I couldn t. A person can only be in one place at a time. They don t understand divine attributes, do they? Paul clearly teaches that the whole church together ( ye...!plural for you )......might be filled with all the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:19). No one questions the personality of God. In Ephesians 4:10, Paul also speaks of Jesus filling all things. Certainly, Jesus is a person. In fact, Jesus Himself told His disciples: Abide in Me, and I in you (John 15:4a). Did He mean He would abide in them just one at a time? Of course not. The word you $u`mi/n = HU-MIN) is plural. Therefore, nothing requires the Holy Spirit to be something impersonal in order to dwell in each of us all at the same time. 32
BLOOD Those who teach that the Holy Spirit is the impersonal life of God, often stress a parallel with the blood. Since the Spirit is life (Romans 8:10), and the life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11a), they say that the Spirit is like the blood. Some even call the Spirit white blood. Those who use this terminology actually claim it was not the red blood of Jesus which saves us, but His white blood! This heresy tragically denies the efficacy of the literal blood-sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. Peter warns us about such:...there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them (II Peter 2:1). Anyone who denies the blood, denies the Lord. It is then suggested that there is an intelligence in the blood which is like the intelligence of the Holy Spirit. They point out that natural blood knows when and how to supply the cells of the body with the food and oxygen they need. It is also aware of disease germs that enter the body, and commissions white corpuscles to combat them. Yet, no one thinks of the blood as being a person. So they feel justified in saying neither is the Holy Spirit. However, this so-called intelligence in the blood is, in reality, just chemical reactions. There certainly are no actual thought processes involved. Various hormones and enzymes are simply interacting. Do white corpuscles go to reprove the invaders? Do they know they are giving their lives for the body? Do red corpuscles grieve when they are removed from the blood stream in order to be destroyed and replaced? Of course not. In fact, after a red corpuscle matures and enters the blood stream, it loses its nucleus (the control center). Although there may be some legitimate parallels between the blood and the Spirit, one cannot deny the personality of the Holy Spirit on that basis. As we have seen, the Bible shows conclusively that the Spirit has all the essential attributes of that which we understand to be personality. The blood does not. ELIEZER It is interesting to note that those who reject the personality of the Spirit often teach that Eliezer is a type of the Spirit. Abraham (a type of God the Father) sends his most trusted servant (Genesis 15:2; 24:2) to find a bride (Genesis 24:4) for his son Isaac (a type of Christ). If finding a bride for Isaac required a person, how can the One who finds a bride for Christ be less than personal? This inconsistency is never explained. 33
PERSONAL MINISTRY It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to convict and to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8); as well as to indwell, to guide, to teach, and to empower the believer (John 14:17,26; 16:13-14; Acts 1:8). Something impersonal is incapable of accomplishing anything like that. The Spirit is called Holy because it is His function to make holy. Thus He actualizes the saving work of Christ on the cross in the life of the believer: God hath...chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit (II Thessalonians 2:13c). Furthermore, it is the Spirit who makes the work of Christ effective in the life of the church: For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth (Ephesians 5:9). Although the Holy Spirit is the activating, energizing force in the lives of Christians (Romans 8:4), He is not impersonal. From the Biblical evidence herein presented, the personal nature of the Holy Spirit is quite unmistakable. 34