Is the Holy Spirit a Person?

"that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you." - John 14:17 (NASB)

"the spirit of the truth, which the world cannot receive, because it neither beholds it nor knows it. YOU know it, because it remains with YOU and is in YOU." - John 14:17 (NWT - New World Translation)

Is the Holy Spirit a person?  Is it a personal being?  Some believe so and others do not.  In a recent conversation with a Jehovah's Witness follower, I was again confronted with the notion of the Trinity.  It is difficult if not impossible to explain that God is One God but that, as Scripture teaches us, He is also three in one.  How can this be?  Where do we find such a church doctrine supported in Scripture?

The Trinity is often described as God who is in 3 persons.  He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  There are three distinct personhoods in the Godhead.  Yet, how do we come to grips with this fact?  Where else in nature do we see three in one?  Some have suggested water.  It can be liquid, solid, or a mist.  Others suggest lemonade.  It is the combination of three ingredients:  Lemon, Sugar, and Water.  Without the three, the one is not the same.

Yet, all of these analogies fail.  In this afternoon's passage of Scripture, the NASB states that the Holy Spirit is a person.  No less than four times in this one verse do we see Jeus referring to the Holy Spirit as a person.  He uses the noun "He".  No inanimate object is ever referred to with a personal pronoun. 

Jehovah's Witnesses define God's Holy Spirit as His "active force in the universe".  They believe that God acts through this force but that it is not separate from God Himself.  It has no identity and can do nothing on its own.  Therefore, they do not see the Holy Spirit as a person.  It is not a "He" but rather an "it" (see the bolded words above).  Thus, the New World Translation is purposefully mistranslating the original Greek in order to maintain its theological bias.  It has to translate the Greek Word AUTOS to be "it". 

Yet, the word literally means "he, same, or self".  The English word "automobile" means a "self-propelling vehicle".  It is a distinct thing used to carry passengers.  It is an individual, unique, and separate vehicle.

The Greek word AUTOS is similar but refers to a unique individual person.  Thus, this word refers to a "He" - a distinct person.  When the meaning of "same" is used, it implies that the two are one in the same.  Thus, it implies that Jesus and God are the "same" in essence.  When used to mean "self", it is a way of emphasizing such as saying "I myself".  This same word is used in John 16:27 when it says "the Father Himself (autos) loves you".  Thus, it is an emphatic expression of identity.

The point here is that it is uncommon if ever translated as "it".  Nor should it be.  The normal and most common translation is "He".  Therefore, Jesus is referring to a He.

Moreover, we can conclude that in fact the Holy Spirit is a person and that the doctrine of the Trinity is correct - even if we don’t quite understand it fully.

Joshua