Editor’s note: This post is part of a series featuring outstanding excerpts from student papers at the BibleMesh Institute, which offers affordable online training for local churches, schools, and ministries. The author’s name has been withheld for privacy and security purposes. She is preparing to serve as a missionary overseas.
Possibly the most natural way of exploring the divine nature of the Holy Spirit is by His attributes. When God created man in His own image, He shared, to some extent, some of His attributes with mankind. However, there are certain attributes only God has.[1] These attributes are found in all three persons of the Godhead, including the Holy Spirit. In particular, the Holy Spirit is eternal and possesses omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence.[2]
One of the greatest examples of the Spirit’s omnipotence is His part in the conception of Jesus within a virgin.[3] He is also the agent through whom God created all things.[4] He cannot be limited by space, evidenced by the fact that He created it.[5] David specifically applies omnipresence to the Spirit in Psalm 139 when he says, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” He is a being without size or dimension[6] and He is present throughout His creation.[7] Just before identifying the Holy Spirit as God in 1Corinthians 2:11, in verse 10 His omniscience is pointed out, “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.”[8]
Because God is the being that existed before creation of time and space and is not limited by them, the Holy Spirit is eternal.[9] Hebrews 9:14 says explicitly that the Spirit is eternal, which is only attributed to God.[10] This also is implicit in the fact the Spirit was the agent of creation, including time, as discussed above. These attributes of the Godhead possessed by the Holy Spirit are vital to our understanding of and submission to Him.
Another testament to the Holy Spirit’s divinity is the work He does which is only possible for God. He inspired the writing of Scripture, which is the Word of God.[11] In Matthew 10:20, Jesus tells His disciples that the Spirit will inspire what they are to say as witness. It is the Spirit who divinely joins us with Christ to have access to the Father according to Ephesians 2:18.[12] In this same way, it is the Spirit who brings about new life in us, just as He brought about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.[13] James Boice rightly states, “If we know and constantly recognize [the Holy Spirit’s] deity, we will recognize and rely on his work. If not, we will inevitably and foolishly rely on our own limited abilities and forfeit the benefits which he alone provides.”
[1] Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994.
[2] Bray, Gerald. The Attributes of God. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021.
[3] Boice, James Montgomery. Awakening to God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979.
[4] Ochs, William B. This I Believe. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1951.
[5] Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ochs, William B. This I Believe. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1951.
[8] Pache, Rene. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. Chicago: Moody Press, 1954.
[9] Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994.
[10] Bray, Gerald. The Attributes of God. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021.
[11] Murray, John. “The Inspiration of Scripture.” Monergism. November 16, 1939.
http://files1.wts.edu/uploads/images/files/WTJ/Murray,%20John%20-%20The%20inspiration%20of%20Scripture.pdf (accessed July 14, 2021).
[12] Divines, Westminster. “Ligonier Ministries.” Ligonier Ministries. 1647.
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/westminster-shorter-catechism/ (accessed July 14, 2021).
[13] Pache, Rene. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. Chicago: Moody Press, 1954.