The Personality of the Holy Spirit Matt 1:20 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In men’s Bible study last night, we taught a lesson on the personality of the Holy Spirit. It is helpful to know the definition of the word personality when discussing this topic. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, ‘personality’ is defined as “1. The quality or fact of being a person; 2. The quality or fact of being a particular person; personal identity; individuality 3. a) habitual patterns and qualities of behavior of any individual as expressed by physical and mental activities and attitudes; distinctive individual qualities of a person, considered collectively.”
In this study we are going to see that the Holy Spirit is a person with distinctive individual qualities and habitual patterns and qualities of behavior. We will study his qualities and personality traits.
The person of the Holy Spirit – ‘he’ is a ghost [Matt 1:20]. A ghost is a person without a body [Lk 23:46]. He conceives [Matt 1:20; Lk 1:35]. He saves [Jn 3:5-7]. He renews [Titus 3:5]. He speaks [Acts 1:16; Mk 13:11; Acts 2:4; Acts 13:2, 28:25; Heb 3:7]. He witnesses [Acts 5:32, 20:23, 21:11; Heb 10:15]. He sends [Acts 13:4]. He approves [Acts 15:28]. He forbids [Acts 16:6]. He appoints [Acts 20:28]. He teaches [Jn 14:26; 1 Cor 2:13]. He reveals [1 Cor 2:10]. He comforts, abides and dwells in you [Jn 14:16-17]. He reproves [Jn 16:7-8]. He seals [Eph 4:30]. He raised up Jesus [Rom 8:11]. And so forth. He is definitely a person!!
The distinctive individual qualities of the Holy Spirit – he is holy [Matt 1:20] as opposed to unclean. So he makes or desires to make whatever he is in holy. He inspires the words of God, so we have a Holy Bible. It’s holy if it hasn’t been corrupted by man. He is in us [1 Cor 6:19]. So he washes and sanctifies us [1 Cor 6:9-11] and by communion with him he desires to make us holy [2 Cor 13:14; 1 Pet 1:15-16].
He is a spirit [Is 63:10; Jn 4:24] and thus he is invisible [Jn 14:17]. So, he rarely makes his presence known because he doesn’t draw attention to himself. He has made his presence known at times by: descending like a dove [Jn 1:32], a rushing mighty wind [Acts 2:2], the utterance of tongues [Acts 2:4, 6, 17], shaking a place [Acts 4:31], the boldness of his preachers [Acts 4:31], by signs and wonders [Rom 15:19]. But these things were never done to draw attention to himself or to the men who were affected by these things. They were always done for the magnification of the gospel and the glorification of Jesus Christ [Jn 16:13-14]. Likewise, he lives in us to bring glory to God [1 Cor 6:20]. When signs like this are done by an unclean spirit they are always done to draw attention to that spirit or to the person doing the miracle.
He is fruitful [Gal 5:22-23]. He bears his fruit in us for the glory of God, not to bring attention to us and our spiritual qualities. People who clean up their lives and pretend to be holy, loving and joyful around others are not manifesting the fruit of the Spirit; they are just dressing up the old man. The Spirit of God has no part in that. You might as well be a corpse spruced up for a funeral.
The habitual patterns and qualities of the Holy Spirit’s behavior – he does what God directs him to do [Lk 24:49, Lk 11:13, Jn 14:26, 15:26]. Therefore, he’s not your errand boy. He moves [Gen 1:2, Acts 2:2; Jn 3:8]. Therefore, when he’s moving spiritual things are happening; and when he’s not moving, you would have to stage an act to make it look like he is. This is what’s going on in the modern mega church movement. He leads [Matt 4:1; Rom 8:14]. Therefore, he is not a follower, and he’s not pushy. “IF ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,” [Rom 8:13-14]. “IF ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law,” [Gal 5:18]. Those are big IF’s; the Spirit of God isn’t going to force you to do anything. He wants you to come along willingly.
Conclusion: the Spirit of God is definitely a person and the more you commune with him in prayer, in Bible and in obediently yielding to him, the holier you are going to truly be and the more glory you will bring to God.