In this article, I will present evidence that the Holy Spirit Himself is God from the Holy Bible.
First, let's take a look at the Old Testament.
"Now these are the last words of David: The oracle of David, the son of Jesse, the oracle of the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel: 'The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; his word is on my tongue. The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God," (2 Samuel 23:1-3)
This verse teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the God who inspires the prophets to speak his oracles. We do know that David was a prophet. Thus, this verse shows that the Holy Spirit has the characteristics of God, in that he inspires His prophets.
"The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life." (Job 33:4)
This verse proves that the Holy Spirit is the creator of man. Here is what John E. Hartley says in his commentary on this passage:
"To add authority to his speaking Elihu affirms his own origin in terms that allude to the account of the creation of the first man recorded in Gen. 2:7. Just like Adam, Elihu was made by the spirit [ruah] of God when the breath [neIama] of Shaddai gave him, a lump of clay, life (cf. Job 32:8). The thought is that God was personally involved in his own creation, not just in that of the first man or pair. In referring to his origin in this way Elihu claims two things: he is equal to both Job and the comforters, and his words are worthy of careful attention, for they are inspired." (John E. Hartley, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament: The Book of Job, pg. 438)
Similarly, the Holy Spirit resurrects things that are dead in nature:
"When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground." (Psalm 104:29-30)
Here is what the expositor Steven J. Lawson said in his commentary:
"If God were to hide his face, withdraw his presence, and stop providing food, the entire earth would be terrified. All creation depends on God for its birth, life, and length of life. The number of days man has to live is set by God (Job 14:5; Ps. 139:16), who then will take away their breath. When God sends his Spirit, man is made a living soul (Gen. 2:7)" (Steven J. Lawson, Holman Old Testament Commentary: Psalms 76-150)
You can view the Google Books version of Lawson's commentary here.
The Bible also teaches that the Holy Spirit is omnipresent. Lets take a look:
"Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,' even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you." (Psalm 139:7-12)
Notice verse 7 in particular. This is putting forth a few rhetorical questions. The first question in verse 7 is this: "where shall I go from your Spirit?". The answer is quite obvious: nowhere! This shows that the Spirit is omnipresent, one of God's incommunicable attributes.
What does the Bible teach about the omniscience of the Spirit? Quite a bit.
"Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel?" (Isaiah 40:13)
"these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God." (1 Corinthians 2:10-12)
Notice carefully what this verse says. It says that "God has revealed to us through the Spirit". Paul makes some sort of distinction here between the Spirit and God. But he also says that the Spirit comprehends the thoughts of God. The Holy Spirit is distinct from God the Father in person, but not in being.
"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Romans 11:33)
Notice that this verse says that the judgments of God are unsearchable. Yet we just looked at 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 which teaches that the Holy Spirit searches the things of God! Thus, the Holy Spirit is omniscient according to Scripture.
Now we will return to another Old Testament passage which will show us something quite interesting:
"But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them." (Isaiah 63:10)
This verse most certainly proves that the Holy Spirit has emotions. The two verbs "rebelled" and "grieved" are elsewhere used of God the Father himself.
"How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!" (Psalm 78:40)
What the Israelites did in the Old Testament, Paul warns Christians not to do in the New Testament.
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:30)
Lets return to Isaiah 63
"Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit," (Isaiah 63:11)
Why would God put His Spirit in the midst of all these people? Lets keep reading:
"Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name." (Isaiah 63:14)
According to Exodus 12:37, there were about six hundred thousand Israelites who were leaving Egypt at that time (at that is excluding the men!). How could one give rest to that many people at the same time? This proves that the Holy Spirit is omnipresent as well as omnipotent.
According to the Old Testament, God was the one who gave the Israelites rest in the wilderness during their journey to the Promised Land:
"And he said, 'My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. ' " (Exodus 33:14)
Here it says that God gave them rest, but then in Isaiah 63:14, it says that the Holy Spirit gave them rest. There is no contradiction here, rather this is saying that the Holy Spirit is God!
Let us see what the Lord Jesus said concerning this issue:
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)
This is very Trinitarian. God the Father gives people rest (Ex. 33:14), the Lord Jesus gives people rest (Matt. 11:28), and God's Spirit gives people rest (Isaiah 63:14).
Let's keep digging into the Old Testament.
"But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, 'Go, shut yourself within your house." (Ezekiel 3:24)
This verse proves that the Spirit empowers the holy Prophets of God.
"And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, 'Say, Thus says the LORD: So you think, O house of Israel. For I know the things that come into your mind.' " (Ezekiel 11:5)
Notice what happens here: the Spirit comes upon the prophet Ezekiel, speaks to him. What does he say? "Thus says the Lord"! Here the Hebrew divine name YHWH is used. Thus, this teaches that the Holy Spirit is Yahweh Himself (the NWT reads the same way!)
Now it is going to get even more interesting.
"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." (Ezekiel 36:25-27)
This verse shows that the Holy Spirit works regeneration or new birth in the believer. This yet again shows that the Spirit is omnipresent, since he has to be present in every believer in order to do what the above passage says that He does!
These are just a summary of the overwhelming biblical evidence for the truth of the doctrine of the Trinity. It is indeed fundamental to Christian theology in every sense.
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