It is inconceivable that any mere creature should say, “God is greater than I am,”or should be spoken of as ultimately and in a mysterious way becoming “subject to God.” In his state of humiliation Christ was subject to the Spirit (Acts 1:2—“after that he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit”; 10:38—“God anointed him with the Holy Spirit ... for God was with him”; Heb.9:14—“through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God”), but in his state of exaltation Christ is Lord of the Spirit (κυρίου πνεύματος—2 Cor. 3:18—Meyer), giving the Spirit and working through the Spirit. Heb. 2:7, marg.—“Thou madest him for a little while lower than the angels.” On the whole subject, see Shedd, Hist. Doctrine, 262, 351; Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk, 1:61-64; Liddon, Our Lord's Divinity, 127, 207, 458; per contra, see Examination of Liddon, 252, 294; Professors of Andover Seminary, Divinity of Christ.
C. The Holy Spirit is recognized as God.
(a) He is spoken of as God; (b) the attributes of God are ascribed to him, such as life, truth, love, holiness, eternity, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence; (c) he does the works of God, such as creation, regeneration, resurrection; (d) he receives honor due only to God; (e) he is associated with God on a footing of equality, both in the formula of baptism and in the apostolic benedictions.
(a) Spoken of as God. Acts 5:3, 4—“lie to the Holy Spirit ... not lied unto men, but unto God”; 1 Cor. 3:16—“ye are a temple of God ... the Spirit of God dwelleth in you”; 6:19—“your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit”; 12:4-6 “same Spirit ... same Lord ... same God, who worketh all things in all”—“The divine Trinity is here indicated in an ascending climax, in such a way that we pass from the Spirit who bestows the gifts to the Lord [Christ] who is served by means of them, and finally to God, who as the absolute first cause and possessor of all Christian powers works the entire sum of all charismatic gifts in all who are gifted” (Meyer in loco).
(b) Attributes of God. Life: Rom. 8:2—“Spirit of life.” Truth: John 16:13 “Spirit of truth.” Love: Rom. 15:30—“love of the Spirit.” Holiness: Eph. 4:30—“the Holy Spirit of God.” Eternity: Heb. 9:14—“the eternal Spirit.” Omnipresence: Ps. 139:7—“Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?” Omniscience: 1 Cor. 12:11—“all these [including gifts of healings and miracles] worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will.”
(c) Works of God. Creation: Gen. 1:2, marg.—“Spirit of God was brooding upon the face of the waters.”Casting out of demons: Mat. 12:28—“But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons.” Conviction of sin: John 16:8—“convict the world in respect of sin.” Regeneration: John 3:8—“born of the Spirit”; Tit. 3:5—“renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Resurrection: Rom. 8:11—“give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit”; 1 Cor. 15:45—“The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
(d) Honor due to God. 1 Cor. 3:16—“ye are a temple of God ... the Spirit of God dwelleth in you”—he who inhabits the temple is the object of worship there. See also the next item.
(e) Associated with God. Formula of baptism: Mat. 28:19—“baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” If the baptismal formula is worship, then we have here worship paid to the Spirit. Apostolic benedictions: 2 Cor. 13:14—“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” If the apostolic benedictions are prayers, then we have here a prayer to the Spirit. 1 Pet. 1:2—“foreknowledge of God the Father ... sanctification of the Spirit ... sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”
On Heb. 9:14, Kendrick, Com. in loco, interprets: “Offers himself by virtue of an eternal spirit which dwells within him and imparts to his sacrifice a spiritual and an eternal efficacy. The ‘spirit’ here spoken of was not, then, the ‘Holy Spirit’; it was not his purely divine nature; it was that blending of his divine nature with his human personality which forms the mystery of his being, that ‘spirit of holiness’ by virtue of which he was declared ‘the Son of God with power,’ on account of his resurrection from the dead.” Hovey adds a note to Kendrick's Commentary, in loco, as follows: “This adjective ‘eternal’ naturally suggests that the word ‘Spirit’ refers to the higher and divine nature of Christ. His truly human nature, on its spiritual side, was indeed eternal as to the future, but so also is the spirit of every man. The unique and superlative value of Christ's self-sacrifice seems to have been due to the impulse of the divine side of his nature.” The phrase “eternal spirit” would then mean his divinity. To both these interpretations we prefer that which makes the passage refer to the Holy Spirit, and we cite in support of this view Acts 1:2—“he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles”; 10:38—“God anointed him with the Holy Spirit.” On 1 Cor. 2:10, Mason, Faith of the Gospel, 63, remarks: “The Spirit of God finds nothing even in God which baffles his scrutiny. His ‘search’ is not a seeking for knowledge yet beyond him.... Nothing but God could search the depths of God.”