Tag: Isaiah 42:1

Home / Isaiah 42:1

The Holy Spirit is Clearly a Person

This episode expounds on the testimony of the personhood of the Holy Spirit from the New Testament. While Jews affirm the deity of the Holy Spirit, they deny that the Spirit is a distinct person of the godhead, mostly claiming that references to the Holy Spirit are simply manifestations of God. But this "manifestation" rubric doesn't adequately do justice to the clear personal qualities attributed to the Holy Spirit, who can be lied to (Acts 5:3), tested (Acts 5:9), resisted (Acts 7:51), insulted (Hebrews 10:29), grieved (Ephesians 4:30), and blasphemed (Matthew 12:32). Rejection of the distinct personhood of the Holy Spirit therefore means that Jews do not believe in the same God as Christians.

The Trinity Revealed in the Old Testament

In addition to rehashing several Old Testament passages on the personhood of the Holy Spirit, this episode cites three passages from Isaiah where every member of the godhead is present in the same verse. Isaiah 42:1 declares "I [God the Father] have put my Spirit[God the Holy Spirit] upon Him[God the Son]." A godhead without distinctions makes no sense, and Isaiah 48:16 also bears this out, "And the Lord God has sent Me, and His Spirit." The "Me" refers to the Messiah, the suffering Servant, who together with the Holy Spirit, are sent by God the Father. Finally, in a passage quoted by Christ Himself (Isaiah 61:1) (Luke 4:18-19), Isaiah declares, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.." All three persons of the Trinity are present, and the Christian doctrine of 3 persons comprising one God finds its roots solidly in the Old Testament.