In the very early hours, I was strongly impressed to digress a little from Genesis and bring to light a couple of passages from elsewhere in the Bible.  They have to do with the personhood of the Holy Spirit.

Some people have become very vocal in recent times in their attempt to show that there is no third person in the Godhead. Without being deeply theological about the issue, or wanting to debate anyone on it, I had two passages impressed upon my mind.

In John 16:7-11 Jesus says:

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. ⁸And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

The other passage was Acts 19:2.  Paul is speaking to a group of believers he found in Ephesus and he says to them:  “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

Some people today are perhaps willingly unaware of the fact that there is a Holy Spirit. Personally, I see evidence of the personhood of the Holy Spirit from the beginning to the end of the Bible; from the time He moved upon the face of the deep at creation, through the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary, the anointing and empowering of Jesus the Messiah, the powerful conversion of thousands on the day of Pentecost and always He is referred to as “He” not “It”.

All the prophets were inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit  – “prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21)

Of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, “He will glorify Me.” (John 16:14) The Saviour came to glorify the Father by the demonstration of His love, and just so the Holy Spirit was to glorify Jesus by revealing His grace to the world and convicting men of their need for the Saviour’s grace.

If you want to see the Holy Spirit at work in the modern world, I suggest you  attend a Literature Evangelist congress (such as I will be attending  at Yarrahapinni tomorrow!) There, theological “fluff” is set aside as these men and women of God tell how the Spirit leads in their work of seeking out souls and leading them to Jesus!

Have a great day!