Basic HTML Version
86
power, I Cor. 1:24; Heb. 1:3, and of mercy and grace, are especially ascribed to Him, II Cor.
13:13; Eph. 5:2,25.
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT OR THE THIRD PERSON IN THE TRINITY.
a. The name applied to the third person of the Trinity.
While we are told in John 4:24 that God
is Spirit, the name is applied more particularly to the third person in the Trinity. The Hebrew
term by which He is designated is ruach, and the Greek pneuma, both of which are, like the
Latin spiritus, derived from roots which mean “to breathe.” Hence they can also be rendered
“breath,” Gen. 2:7; 6:17; Ezek. 37:5, 6, or “wind,” Gen. 8:1; I Kings 19:11; John 3:8. The Old
Testament generally uses the term “spirit” without any qualification, or speaks of “the Spirit of
God” or “the Spirit of the Lord,” and employs the term “Holy Spirit” only in Ps. 51:11; Isa.
63:10,11, while in the New Testament this has become a far more common designation of the
third person in the Trinity. It is a striking fact that, while the Old Testament repeatedly calls God
“the Holy One of Israel,” Ps. 71:22; 89:18; Isa. 10:20; 41:14; 43:3; 48:17, the New Testament
seldom applies the adjective “holy” to God in general, but uses it frequently to characterize the
Spirit. This is in all probability due to the fact that it was especially in the Spirit and His
sanctifying work that God revealed Himself as the Holy One. It is the Holy Spirit that takes up
His abode in the hearts of believers, that separates them unto God, and that cleanses them
from sin.
b. The personality of the Holy Spirit.
The terms “Spirit of God” or “Holy Spirit” do not suggest
personality as much as the term “Son” does. Moreover, the person of the Holy Spirit did not
appear in a clearly discernible personal form among men, as the person of the Son of God did.
As a result the personality of the Holy Spirit was often called in question, and therefore
deserves special attention. The personality of the Spirit was denied in the early Church by the
Monarchians and the Pneumatomachians. In this denial they were followed by the Socinians in
the days of the Reformation. Still later Schleiermacher, Ritschl, the Unitarians, present-day
Modernists, and all modern Sabellians reject the personality of the Holy Spirit. It is often said in
the present day that those passages which seem to imply the personality of the Holy Spirit
simply contain personifications. But personifications are certainly rare in the prose writings of
the New Testament and can easily be recognized. Moreover, such an explanation clearly
destroys the sense of some of these passages, e.g. John 14:26; 16:7-11; Rom. 8:26. Scripture
proof for the personality of the Holy Spirit is quite sufficient: (1) Designations that are proper to
personality are given to Him. Though pneuma is neuter, yet the masculine pronoun ekeinos is
used of the Spirit in John 16:14; and in Eph. 1:14 some of the best authorities have the
masculine relative pronoun hos. Moreover, the name Parakletos is applied to Him, John 14:26;
15:26; 16:7, which cannot be translated by “comfort,” or be regarded as the name of any