I. THE DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We take up first the question of the Deity of the Holy Spirit. The fact that the Holy Spirit is a person does not prove that He is divine. There are spirits who are persons but who are not God. There are five distinct lines of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit is God.
1. The first line of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit is that each of the four distinctively
Divine attributes are ascribed to the Holy Spirit in the Bible. There are four distinctively divine attributes; that is to say, there are four attributes which God alone possesses, and any person who has these attributes must therefore be God. The four distinctively divine attributes are omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence and eternity.
(1) First of all, omnipotence is ascribed to the Holy Spirit, for example, in Luke 1:35: "And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the most high shall overshadow thee: wherefore also that which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God." This passage plainly declares that the Holy Spirit has the power of the Most High, that He is omnipotent.
(2) In the next place, omniscience is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. This is done, for example, in I Corinthians 2:10, 11: "But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God." Here we are distinctly told that the Holy Spirit searcheth all things and knoweth all things, even the deep things of God. We find the same thought again in John 14:26: "But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said
unto you." Here we are distinctly told that the Holy Spirit teaches all things, and therefore must know all things. This is stated even more explicitly in John 16:12-13: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the truth." In all these passages it is either directly declared or unmistakably implied that the Holy Spirit knows all things, that He is omniscient.
(3) In the third place, omnipresence is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. We find this in Psalms 139:7-10: "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." Here we are told in the most explicit and unmistakable way that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is everywhere; that there is no place in heaven, earth or hades whither we can go from His presence.
(4) Eternity is also ascribed to the Holy Spirit. This we find in Hebrews 9:14, where we read: "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Here we find the words "the Eternal Spirit" just as elsewhere we find the words "the Eternal God"
(e.g., Deut. 33:27): Putting these different passages together, we see clearly that each of the four distinctively divine attributes, the four attributes that no one but God possesses, are ascribed to the Holy Spirit.