The Personality of the Holy Spirit

There are a lot of Christians and other religious sects or cults, specifically Jehovah Witness, that either have a misunderstanding or just a blatant disregard for who the Holy Spirit is. It seems that a lot of Christians see the Holy Spirit as a necessary tool that the Father and the Son utilize to accomplish their will. Or that the Holy Spirit is important but not as important as the work of the Father or the sacrifice of the Son. I know from experience that I have heard much more preaching on the Father and the Son than I have on the Holy Spirit. This needs to be very balanced.

The Jehovah Witness’ believe that the Holy Spirit is nothing more than the impersonal power of God. In other words, the Holy Spirit is the force that the Father creates when He performs an action. An example of this would be when a baseball player throws a ball. They would say that if the player is God then the Holy Spirit is the power in the body that throws the ball. What this does is totally disregard the Trinity. They have to do this in order to stand on their argument that Jesus is a god who was created by God. Arguing with a Jehovah Witness is usually pretty pointless other than developing your own abilities of discussion but if you are able to show them the personality of the Holy Spirit you will have rocked their world and hopefully get them on the right track. The best way to stand your ground against a Jehovah Witness is to know the Scriptures.

Anyway, I have compiled another list of Scriptures. I did not dive into any specific discussion but instead created a reference list to use for future study and discussion and to show the personality of the Holy Spirit. At the very base this is just to show that the Holy Spirit is every part of the Trinity that the Father and Son are and that He is not just an impersonal force that doesn’t have a will or isn't able to accomplish an independent action. So here are a few of His characteristics.

Teaches- Luke 12:12, John 14:26, John 2:27
Intelligence- John 14:26, John 15:26, Romans 8:16
Imposes His will- Acts 16:7, 1 Corinthians 12:11
Affections- Isaiah 63:10, Ephesians 4:30
Creates- Genesis 1:2
Strives- Genesis 6:3
Witness’ or testifies- John 15:26, Acts 5:32, Hebrews 10:15
Judges- John 16:8
Commands- Acts 8:29, 13:2
Raises the dead- Romans 8:11
Searches- 1 Corinthians 2:10-11
Indwells- Ephesians 2:22, Ezekiel 36:27, John 14:17, Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 3:16
Empowers- Acts 1:8
Takes on an offense- Acts 5:3, Ephesians 4:30
Guides- Acts 10:19-20
Chooses works- Acts 16:6
Gives life- John 6:63, Romans 8:11, 2 Corinthians 3:6, 1 Peter 3:18
Guides truth: John 16:13
Juxtaposition with the apostles, Christ, Father and Son- Acts 15:28, John 16:14,
Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14, 1 Peter 1:1-2