What does it mean to say the Holy Spirit is a person?
To describe the Holy Spirit as a person is to say that he has personal attributes. For instance, Jesus refers to Him with the personal pronouns "he," "him," and "himself." The personal pronouns used for the Holy Spirit have been highlighted in the verses below.
I will pray the father and he will send you another comforter that he may abide with you always...
John 14.16 KJV
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, 'The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.'
John 16:13--15
Why is the Holy Spirit referred to with the impersonal pronouns "it" and "itself" in the Bible?
Since the personhood of the Holy Spirit is as valid as that of the Father and the Son, it is an error to refer to Him as "it." However, in spite of this fact, the King James Version of the Bible, for instance,
refers to Him with it in some portions. We highlight the impersonal pronouns in the following three verses.
The spirit itself beareth witness...
Romans 8:16 KJV
The spirit itself maketh intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered
Romans 8:26 KJV
This is due to the fact that the Greek word translated Spirit in these verses is pneuma. Pneuma is also the word used for wind, evil spirits, human spirits, and any spirit at all.1 Hence, Romans 8:16 from the Greek is similar to
Even the pneuma agrees with our pneuma that we are God's children.
Hence, translating it as "The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God" may be reasonable, granting ignorance of the fact that the pneuma of God is actually a person.
Other personal attributes and characteristics of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit can be grieved
Grieve not the Holy Spirit...
Ephesians 4.30
The Holy Spirit has a will--He decides, determines, prevents, forbids, etc.
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
1 Corinthians 12.11 KJV
It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
1 Corinthians 12.11 NLT
The Holy Spirit did not want Paul and his team to minister in the province of Asia so he forbade (KJV) them. The NLT says He prevented them.
Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.
Acts 16.6 NLT
The Holy Spirit speaks
Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly
1 Timothy 4.1 NLT
The Holy Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and walk along beside the carriage."
Acts 8.29 NLT
1 http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G4151&t=KJV↩
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