Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 27/1 (2016): 24-36.

Article copyright 2016 by Jo Ann Davidson.

A Power or Person:
The Nature of the Holy Spirit

Jo Ann Davidson
Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary
Andrews University

The biblical canon is the primary source for any knowledge of the God
of heaven. Within its pages God reveals Himself with a triune identity. His
divine nature cannot be fully understood without God the Holy Spirit, along
with Jesus and the Father. When the Bible is studied attentively and listened
to carefully this becomes apparent. This paper surveys and reviews the
broad biblical testimony of one member of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.
Gods personal plurality revealed in Scripture, presents one of the three
persons within the divine Godhead as the Holy Spirit. When God incarnate,
Jesus, came to earth people could walk with Him, hear His voice, touch
Him, and see His footprints when He walked along the shore of the Sea of
Galilee. However, the Holy Spirit doesnt leave footprints. Because He has
never been incarnated as Jesus was, the Spirit is more inscrutable, making
misunderstandings possible when trying to understand Him. For example,
even after his baptism, Simon had to be sharply rebuked by Peter for his
wrong thinking about the Holy Spirit (Acts 8). Ellen White is instructive:

The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because
the Lord has not revealed it to them. Men having fanciful views may bring
together passages of Scripture and put a human construction on them, but
the acceptance of these views will not strengthen the church. Regarding
such mysteries, which are too deep for human understanding, silence is
golden.1

1
Ellen White, Acts of the Apostles, 52.
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Yet, there is much that can be known about the Holy Spirit in the canon.
It is critical knowledge because it affects our understanding of God along
with any study of inspiration, revelation, sanctification, and even the
churchfor the Holy Spirit is clearly involved with all of these. Paul also
counsels to test the spirits for not every spiritual power is guaranteed to
be the Holy Spirit. That there are false spirits implies, however, there must
be a true one. Christians must not let the depersonalized, nonregenerative
pneumatology2 of liberal theology throttle their thinking.3
Jesus compares the Holy Spirit to the wind: The wind blows where it
wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from
and where it goes (Jn 3:8). Wind cannot be captured or restrained. Though
elusive and invisible it is nonetheless real. Trees swaying, flags fluttering,
and dangerous storms make it manifest. So with the Holy Spirit. He is
intangible and invisible but more real and powerful than the most ferocious
wind. Dorothy Sayers suggests:

why books about the Holy Ghost are apt to be curiously difficult and
unsatisfactorywe cannot really look at the movement of the Spirit, just
because It is the Power by which we do the looking.4

2
David F. Wells, God the Evangelist: How the Holy Spirit Works to Bring Men and
Women to Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), xii.
3
The deity and personality of the Holy Spirit are generally denied by liberal, critical
theology. Process theology tends to be vague and abstract with respect to the Spirit. Neo-
orthodoxy and existential theology either ignore the Holy Spirit or freely expresses doubt
and uncertainty about Him.
4
The quote in its entirety reads thus: We cannot follow the movement of our own
eyes in a mirror. We can, by turning our head, observe them in this position and in that
position with respect to our body, but never in the act of moving themselves from one
position to the other, and never in the act of gazing at anything but the mirror. Thus our idea
of ourself is bound to be falsified, since what to others appears the most lively and mobile
part of ourself, appears to us unnaturally fixed. The eye is the instrument by which we see
everything, and for that reason it is the one thing we cannot see with truth. The same thing
is true of our Power of response to a book, or to anything else. . . this is why books about
the Holy Ghost are apt to be curiously difficult and unsatisfactorywe cannot really
look at the movement of the Spirit, just because It is the Power by which we do the
looking. The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers, quoted by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip
Yancey, In His Image (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1987), 180 (emphasis added; It is
Sayers emphasis).

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The Holy Spirit is referred to in the Bible as He, an evidence of His
personal nature. Pronouns such as I, you, he, and she are used when
speaking about persons. Such pronouns are also ascribed to the Holy Spirit.
For example, Jesus speaks of the Spirit this way:

When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;
for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He
will speak; and He will tell you things to come. . . when the Helper comes,
whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds
from the Father, He will testify of Me (Jn 16:13, emphasis added).5

Jesus earthly mission is also described as Spirit-initiated and Spirit-

oriented. The Holy Spirit was the agent of Jesus birth for Jesus was
conceived. . . of the Holy Spirit; the incarnation of the Son involves the
Spirit (Matt 1:20; Luke 1:35). Later, Jesus public ministry is inaugurated
by the Holy Spirit at his baptism (Matt 3:16). Afterwards He was driven
into the desert by the same Spirit (Mark 1:12). Following that, Jesus returns
to Galilee in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:14). The Holy Spirit, through
whom He was conceived, baptized and anointed is the divine agent in
exorcisms (Matt 12:18, 24-32; Mark 3:22-30). It is by the eternal Spirit
that Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice for sin (Heb 9:14), and by the same
Spirit that He rose from His grave (Rom 8:11). Later Peter instructs
Cornelius that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and
power (Acts 10:38). Because the Holy Spirit was so intimately associated
with the entire earthly life of Christ, He obviously is the one who can
correctly interpret and inspire the record of it in Scripture (2 Tim 3:16).
Jesus never abandoned His human nature and remains truly God and
truly human. He is presently absent from the earth, yet He is with us
according to His promise (Matt 28:20). Followers of Jesus live by faith in
His words through the vicarious work of the Spirit, who mediates the
presence of both Father and Son (Eph 1:13-14). Jesus calls the Holy Spirit
another Paraclete, who will continue His ministry (Jn 14:16). This second
Paraclete gave intelligible directives to the fledgling New Testament

5
Some have suggested that in this text the Greek word for Helper is not the masculine
gender and that, according to the rules of grammar, the pronoun must agree with the noun
in gender. However, there is an intervening clause (the Spirit of truth who. . .) that uses
the neuter gender for Spirit. It is followed immediately by the word He. The writer
deliberately uses a masculine pronoun He in close conjunction with a neuter noun. This
is again noted in the paper below.
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Church just as Jesus had done. Jesus portrays the Spirit as a person like He
is.
John underscores this point by using the personal pronoun ekeinos
(he) to render Jesus references to the Spiritwhereas Greek grammar
normally would use the neuter ekeino (it) to agree with the neuter noun
pneuma (Spirit, the Greek equivalent of ruach). This personal pronoun,
used in the great Trinitarian address given by Jesus (John 14-16), and is all
the more striking because in 14:17, where the Spirit is first introduced, John
uses the grammatically appropriate neuter pronouns (ho and auto). The
subsequent shift to the masculine pronoun conveys Johns theology which
the Holy Spirit inspired! The Spirit affirms His personhood with personal
pronouns.
In addition to personal pronouns being ascribed to the Holy Spirit, the
Spirit also speaks and gives instructions. Only a person can act with
intentionality. Intentions are limited to personal beings. Abstract forces
never intend to do anything. Biblical writers present the Holy Spirit with
other characteristics of a personal nature, giving Him intelligence and
knowledge. For example, He will teach you (Jn 14:26). Hebrews 3:7
presents the Holy Spirit saying what is written in Psalm 95:7-11; and again
in Hebrews 10:16-17 quoting Jeremiah (32:33-34). In Hebrews 9:8, the
Holy Spirit explains a function of the heavenly sanctuary, implying His
knowledge of it. The Holy Spirit is also the Author of Scripture: prophecy
never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:21). He engaged human writers to
record the revelation of God in human language. The Holy Spirit then
subsequently speaks and interprets these inspired words to each generation
of believers as the canons paramount interpreter.6
An intimate relationship between the Holy Spirit and Jesus is portrayed
in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of
Christ (Rom 8:9; 1 Pet 1:11), the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7), the Spirit
of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:19), and the Spirit of his Son (Gal 4:6)and is a
source of divine power. Many New Testament passages speak of the Son
and the Spirit side by side, aligning them in an obvious way: churches walk
in fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:31); the Holy

6
Emil Brunner rightly observes: the Scripture without the Spirit produces false
legalism. . . so the Spirit without the Scriptures produces false Antinomianism, and
fanaticism. Emil Brunner, The Divine Imperative (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1947),
85.
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Spirit dwells in you. . . Christ in you (Rom 8); the Holy Spirit loves. . .
Jesus loves (John 14:21); both can be rejected: trampled the Son of God
. . . insulted the Spirit of grace (Heb 10:29); consolation in Christ. . .
fellowship of the Spirit (Phil 2:1). Divine directives are given by both:
JesusI say (Matt 5); Holy Spirit:the Spirit says to the churches; both
bring justificationyou were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by
the Spirit of our God (1 Cor 6:11). In the book of Acts, Pentecost is about
both the coming of the Spirit and the Lordship of Christ who sends the
Spirit: Exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the
Father the promise of Holy Spirit, He has poured out that which you now
see and hear (Acts 2:33).
Many times the Father, Son and Spirit are linked as collaborators in
their work of grace (see John 14:16-16:15; Rom 8; 1 Cor 12:4-6; 2 Cor
13:14; Eph 1:3-13; 2:18; 3:14-19; 4:4-6; 2 Thes 2:13-14; 1 Pet 1:2). The
Spirit-inspired Word of God is the source and norm of the gospel. His
revealing work assures of the love of Christ. The Spirit also enables the
human heart to see the truth of the gospel and respond. Even more, He
molds a believer into the likeness of Christ, bringing sanctification (2 Thes
2:13; 1 Pet 1:2).
In the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is promised to those who repent and
are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts
2:38). Johns Gospel speaks similarly, for Jesus declares that the Spirit
would come in My name (14:26); the Counselor comes, whom I will
send to you from the Father in order to testify about Me (15:26); I will
send Him to you (16:7); andHe breathed on them and said, Receive the
Holy Spirit (20:22).
The book of Acts includes many reminders that the Holy Spirit is more
than an abstract force. He is portrayed as the personal agent who instructs
the disciples, granting them the power needed to fulfill the gospel
commission given to them by Christ. Lesslie Newbigin insightfully recounts
one example:

The events recounted with great care in Acts 10 and 11 are often
summarized as the conversion of Cornelius, but they were equally the
conversion of Peter and of the Church. It was no missionary zeal, and no
native liberalism of Peter, which took him to the house of an
uncircumcised Roman soldier and placed him in the position of having to
tell the story of Jesus in that pagan household. It was the Spirit who put
him there, and it was the Spirit who shattered all of Peters strongest
religious certainties by giving to Cornelius and his household exactly the

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same experience of deliverance and joy as the Apostles themselves had
received. In the presence of the fait accompli Peter, andlaterthe whole
Church had simply to follow where they were led.7

When Peter and Cornelius are brought together by the Holy Spirit, more
than the conversion of Cornelius occurs. It is also Peters conversion to
the inclusive gospel which breaks down all barriers, even those between
Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, slave and free, male and female.8
Salvation is accomplished on the cross of Christ, but is applied to each
person by His Spirit. The salvific role of the Third Person of the Godhead
is crucial. If it wasnt for the work of the Holy Spirit, no one would ever be
converted. The curse of sin with its resulting alienation from God is a
fundamental assumption all through Scripture. Thus, the active ministry of
the Holy Spirit in convicting of sin (John 16:8-11) is critical. According to
Paul, a person doesnt naturally seek God: none is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands, no one seeks for God (Rom 3:10-11). Because there
are people who are searching for God and to receive salvation is evidence
that the Holy Spirit is at work, convicting of sin and righteousness, and
drawing to Christ.9 In the final analysis, no one rejects Christ because of

7
Lesslie Newbigin, The Light Has Come: An Exposition of the Fourth Gospel (Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1982), 216.
8
Cultural divisions always exist. In the ancient world, the division of Jew and Gentile
was a fact. The alienation of Gentiles from Israel left the Gentiles, in Pauls words,
Separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants
of the promise, without hope and without God in the World (Eph. 2:12). The wonder of
Christs work is that he abolished that wall, bringing to an end the hostile divisionand
preached peace, so that through Him we both [Jews and Gentiles] have access to the Father
by one Spirit (2:18). It was the outworking of Gods mission: to preach to the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8; cf. Gal. 3:15; 1 Tm 2:7; Rm 15:15-22). It is a
mystery now made known:
The mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations
as it has now been revealed by the Spirit of Gods holy apostles and prophets. This
mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel,
members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus
(Eph 3:4-6).
See also Galatians 3:27-29.
9
See also: The office of the Holy Spirit is distinctly specified in the words of Christ:
When He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
John 16:8. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts of sin. If the sinner responds to the quickening
influence of the Spirit, he will be brought to repentance and aroused to the importance of
obeying the divine requirements.
To the repentant sinner, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, the Holy Spirit
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lack of information and argumentation, but because the ministry of the Holy
Spirit has been rejected. Ellen White is clear:

Christ declares that the divine influence of the Spirit was to be with His
followers unto the end. But by some this promise is not appreciated as it
should be; its fulfillment is not realized as it might be. Learning, talents,
eloquence, every natural or acquired endowment, may be possessed; but
without the presence of the Spirit of God, no heart will be touched, no
sinner won to Christ. When His disciples are connected with Christ, when
the gifts of the Spirit are theirs, even the poorest and most ignorant of
them will have a power that will tell upon hearts. God makes them the
channel for the outworking of the highest influence in the universe.10

A dramatic example of the convicting work of the Holy Spirit is seen

as Peter preaches on the Day of Pentecost: when the people heard this, they
were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles: Men and
brethren, what shall we do? (Acts 2:37) The word cut [to the heart] used
of the Spirit in Acts 2:37 is the same word used to describe the soldier
piercing the body of Jesus on the cross.11 Peters Pentecost speech not only
interprets what has happened, it causes something to happen.12
The Holy Spirit also exhibits emotions: He can be grieved(Israel
grieved the Holy Spirit; do not grieve the Holy Spirit, Eph 4:30). He
can be resisted (you always resist the Holy Spirit, Acts 7:51); and lied to
(Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:3-4, 9)thus indicating a Person who can be
spoken to. He can even be blasphemeda grave sin done to God (Matt
12:31; Mark 3:29). He speaks (the Spirit said to Philip. . . Go, Acts 8:29);
teaches (Holy Spirit will teach you, Luke 12:12); reveals the future (to
Simeon, Luke 2:26; to Paulthe Holy Spirit testifies in every city what
awaits, Acts 20:23); searches (the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep
things of God, 1 Cr 2:10, 11); calls to ministry (Paul and Barnabas, Acts
13:2); gives precise instructions (Peter insists, the Spirit told me to go with

reveals the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He shall receive of Mine,
and shall show it unto you, Christ said. He shall teach you all things, and bring all things
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you, John 16:14; 14:26. Ellen White,
Acts of the Apostles, 51.
10
Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, March 15, 1910.
11
The Holy Spirit is often described in the book of Acts as piercing mens hearts (the
same verb used to describe what the Roman centurion did to the body of Jesus on the cross)
which brought them to repentance and contrition.
12
Robert Tannehill, Narrative Unity. . . , vol 2, 26.
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them, Acts 11); and bears witness (the Spirit bears witness that we are the
children of God, Rom 8:15, 16). It is possible to quench Him (Do not
quench the Spirit, 1 Thes 5:19); to be assured by Him (in the Holy Spirit
and in much assurance, 1 Thes 1:5); and insult Him (insulted the Spirit of
grace, Heb 10:29).
Significantly, the Holy Spirit also makes intercession for us. . . with
groanings (Rom 8:26). Paul stresses that both Christ and the Holy Spirit
intercede for us (Rom 8:26-34). Intercession can only be done by a personal
being. In Acts 9:31 the church is described as living in the fear of the Lord
and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, suggesting that the Spirit is
comforting believers. The Holy Spirit is portrayed as something far more
than divine energy or power without personhood.
In both the Old and New Testaments, God insists that He can foretell
the future, and that this is a mark of His divinity (Isa 41; Rev 1). The Holy
Spirit also declares things to come. In one of Peters speeches, he describes
the Spirit foretelling what would happen to Judas (Acts 1:16). The prophet
Agabus also tells Paul, Thus says the Holy Spirit: This is the way the Jews
in Jerusalem will bind the man (Acts 21:11). The Spirit is plainly
portrayed as divine here with the use of the prophetic formula thus says the
Holy Spirit. In Miletus Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit telling him that
imprisonment and persecution await him in Jerusalem (Acts 20:23). There
are also various references to the Holy Spirit in Revelation, many of them
having to do with the Spirit as the source of Johns prophecy (especially
Rev 2-3). Abstract power is not conscious of time.
Martin Luther asserts that the Holy Spirit is the guarantor of truth: The
Holy Spirit is no Skeptic, and it is not doubts or mere opinions that he has
written on our hearts, but assertions more sure and certain than life itself
and all experience.13 A mere abstract power has no intelligence let alone
any understanding of truth. This attribute of the Holy Spirit is vital as Glenn
Tinder notes:

Christians who are very anxious about the fate of Gods truth must have
forgotten the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which implies that God does not
send his truth into history like a ship that is launched and then forgotten.
He is the source at once of the truth human beings face and of the
inspiration that enables them to recognize it as the truth and, in a measure,
to understand it. If God were not the Holy Spirit, who provides

13
LW 33:24.
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understanding, his Word would be inaudible and the life of Christ without
significance. It was not his intent that revelation should be
inconsequential. His Word, he assures us, shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.14

In the Bible believers are taught to believe in the Holy Spirit. We are
baptized into His name as well as the name of the Father and the Son.
Benedictions in the New Testament include reference to fellowship and
communion with the Holy Spirit: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2
Cor 13:14). The Spirit is Someone our prayers come to. Believers are not
to pray to things. This would be praying to idols which is forbidden in
Scripture.
The gifts of the Spirit are proof that Gods grace has been extended and
accepted. It is one of the chief themes in the New Testament. Robert
Tannehill is insightful: The emphasis on the Spirit as gift indicates that the
Spirits presence is a powerful experience of Gods grace. Thus the Spirit
is not merely a means to an end, but part of the blessings of salvation and
is presented as such.15 The coming of the Spirit marks the expansion of the
gospel at Pentecost (chap. 2): among the Samaritans (chap. 8); to the
Gentiles (chaps 10-11); and to the disciples of John the Baptist (chap 19).
It is the evidence Peter appeals to at the Council of Jerusalem: God who
knows the heart acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as
He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their
hearts by faith (Acts 15:8-9).
At these dramatic events, God brought men and women, slave and free,
Jews and Gentiles, together in fellowship. Jesus had promised to do itand
He did it through the Holy Spirit:

The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He could solicit from His
Father for the exaltation of His people. The Spirit was to be given as a
regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have
been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries,
and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could
be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third
Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but

14
Glenn Tinder, The Political Meaning of Christianity: An Interpretation (Baton
Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1989), 131.
15
Tannehill, Narrative Unity. . . , vol. 2, 13.
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in the fullness of divine power. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what
has been wrought out by the worlds Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the
heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of
the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to
overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies of evil, and to impress
His own character upon His church.16

The Holy Spirit enables the ethical life. It is only those who have the
Spirit, who have the mind of the Spirit, who are in the Spirit, who are
indwelt by the Spirit of God and have the Spirit of Christ, who are able to
do that which is well-pleasing to God (Rom 8:5-13). Newness of life,
described as the newness of the Spirit (Rom 7:6), is compared to Jesus
resurrection, for it is the Spirit who makes alive (2 Cor 3:4-6). Believers are
led of the Spirit (Rom 8:14) having been freed from the works of the flesh
(Gal 5:17)and now they walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16, 25).
The virtues which develop in the new life in Christ are the fruit of the
Spirit (Gal 5:22-24). The love which is the fulfilling of the law is the love
of the Spirit (Rom 15:30; Gal 5:22; cf. Col 1:8; Gal 5:14-16; Rom 13:8-14).
It is the regenerating of the Holy Spirit (Tit 3:5) that brings newness of life
which defines the life well-pleasing to God. The true believer is indwelt,
governed, and directed by the powerful Person of the Holy Spirit. Such a
Spirit-filled life will be no mere white-washing of the present, but a brand
new life!17 When Paul describes the distribution of spiritual gifts by the
Holy Spirit he presents the Spirit as a rational being making personal
choices.
The Old Testament holds out the promise that all Gods people will
share in the gift of the presence and power of the Spirit (Joel 2). In
Ephesians, Paul speaks of the access both Jews and Gentiles have to the
Father by one Spirit (2:18). Addressing Gentiles he specifically refers to
their reception of the Spirit: Having believed, you were marked in him
with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our
inheritance until the redemption of those who are Gods possessionto the
praise of His glory (1:13-14).

16
Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages, 671, emphasis added.
17
Those who consecrate body, soul, and spirit to God, will constantly receive a new
endowment of physical, mental, and spiritual power. The inexhaustible supplies of heaven
are at their command. Christ gives them the breath of His own Spirit, the life of His own life.
The Holy Spirit puts forth His highest energies to work in heart and mind. Ellen G. White,
Gospel Workers, 113.
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The ministry of the Spirit is completely centered in and shaped by the
gospel. Redemption is His project.18 He convicts the world of the truth,
brings new birth, helps Christians to be like Christ, and energizes the church
as the body of Christ: Jesus promises When He, the Spirit of truth, comes,
He will guide you into all truth. . . . He will bring glory to Me by taking
from what is mine and making it known to you. (Jn 16:13-14).
To be possessed by the Spirit is to be empowered by God. To flee from
the Spirit is to flee from God. Encountering the Spirit, we encounter God.
The Holy Spirit is the very presence of God taught in both Testaments, with
Jesus specifically instructing:

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with
you foreverthe Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it
neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with
you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans (Jn 14:16-20).

The Holy Spirit is not an nonpersonal power at our disposal. Rather, He

is sovereign. We are His auxiliary. Jesus doesnt promise that the Spirit will
help the disciples to bear witness. Rather He states that the Spirit will bear
witness and that, secondarily, we testify:

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise
as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will
deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will
be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to
them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry
about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that
hour what you should speak: for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of
your Father who speaks in you (Matt 10:16-20).

18
Ellen White: The Spirit is given as a regenerating agency, to make effectual the
salvation wrought by the death of our Redeemer. The Spirit is constantly seeking to draw
the attention of men to the great offering that was made on the cross of Calvary, to unfold
to the world the love of God, and to open to the convicted soul the precious things of the
Scriptures.
Having brought conviction of sin, and presented before the mind the standard of
righteousness, the Holy Spirit withdraws the affections from the things of this earth and fills
the soul with a desire for holiness. He will guide you into all truth (John 16:13), the
Saviour declared. If men are willing to be molded, there will be brought about a
sanctification of the whole being. The Spirit will take the things of God and stamp them on
the soul. By His power the way of life will be made so plain that none need err therein. Acts
of the Apostles, 52.
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The Spirit, the Father and the Son are all revealed as Persons in
Scripture, and all three are presented as divine. For example, 2 Corinthians
13:14 includes a Trinitarian benediction: the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with
you all. Each Person of the Godhead brings blessings of grace, love and
fellowship to believers:

I will pour out My Spirit on all people. . . And everyone who calls on the
name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors
whom the LORD calls (Joel 2:28, 32).

New Testament writers refer to the deity of the Holy Spirit in a notable
manner. Only God is holy, yet biblical writers call the Spirit holy no less
than 89 timesthe only member of the Godhead with this title regularly
attached. Glory is also a divine attribute. Yahweh being the God of
glory (Ps 29:3); the Father is the glorious Father (Eph 1:17); Jesus is
the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8; James 2:1); and the Spirit is the Spirit of
glory (1 Pet 4:14). Similarly, as the Father and the Son give life, so the
Spirit gives life (John 5:21, 26; 6:32-33, 63: Rom 8:2; 2 Cor 3:6). Jesus
also calls God Spirit (Jn 4:24). In the Old Testament David prays for the
Holy Spirit (Ps 51:11), equating this to the presence of God.
The Old Testament is clear that when encountering the Spirit, one is
encountering God. Equally strong is the New Testament testimony that
when one encounters the Spirit one is encountering a Person. The Holy
Spirit is included the New Testament references to the threefold God (Matt
28:19; Rom 1:3-4; 1 Pet 1:12). He is divine, and a divine person. Dealing
with the Spirit, we encounter the awesome presence of God Himself.19 One
of the final invitations in Scripture is given by the Spirit: the Spirit and the
Bride say come (Rev 22:17). A Christianity neglectful of the Spirit is
hardly biblical Christianity at all. No wonder Ellen White urges:

Pray that the mighty energies of the Holy Spirit, with all their
quickening, recuperative, and transforming power, may fall like an
electric shock on the palsy-stricken soul, causing every nerve to thrill
with new life, restoring the whole man from his dead, earthly, sensual
state to spiritual soundness. You will thus become partakers of the divine

19
How vastly different is this than the description of Christianity given by Kant and
Freud.
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nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust; and
in your souls will be reflected the image of Him by whose stripes you are
healed.20

Amen and amen.

Jo Ann Davidson, Ph.D., is Professor of Systematic Theology at Andrews

University Theological Seminary, Berrien Springs, MI. She completed her Ph.D.
in Systematic and Biblical Theology in 2000 at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
in Deerfield, IL. Davidson has previously published articles in the Andrews
University Seminary Studies, the Journal of the Adventist Theological Society and
many other publications as well as contributing chapters to numerous books. She
has also authored the books Jonah: the Inside Story and Toward a Theology of
Beauty: A Biblical Perspective.

20
Ellen White, Amazing Grace, 312, emphasis added.
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