--- title: "Is the Holy Spirit a third person?" description: "The objection “The Holy Spirit isn’t the Father or the Son; He speaks, teaches and can be grieved, so He is a distinct third person.”, stated at full strength and answered from Scripture." url: "https://onegodapologetics.com/academy/lab/the-spirit-as-a-third-person/" source: "One God Apologetics" section: "The Objection Lab" tags: ["godhead"] license: "Free to read and quote with attribution." --- # Is the Holy Spirit a third person? > The objection, in the words its strongest advocate would use: “The Holy Spirit isn’t the Father or the Son; He speaks, teaches and can be grieved, so He is a distinct third person.” *An objection answered at https://onegodapologetics.com/academy/lab/the-spirit-as-a-third-person/* ## The objection at full strength The Holy Spirit has every mark of a person. He teaches and brings things to remembrance (John 14:26), testifies (John 15:26), guides, hears and speaks (John 16:13), and commissions: “Separate me Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 13:2). He can be grieved (Eph 4:30), and He intercedes (Rom 8:26–27). Lying to Him is lying to God (Acts 5:3–4). He distributes gifts “as he will” (1 Cor 12:11). And He is distinct from the Father and the Son. Jesus prays the Father to give “another Comforter” (John 14:16), whom the Father sends in Jesus’ name (John 14:26) and Jesus sends from the Father (John 15:26). The Spirit “shall not speak of himself” but will glorify Christ (John 16:13–14). He is named with the Father and the Son in the baptismal command and the apostolic blessing (Matt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14). A force does not glorify someone else. A person does. ## The ninety-second answer The Holy Spirit is personal, because the Spirit is God Himself, not a force. The question is whether He is a different person, and Scripture says no. “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24); there is “one Spirit” (Eph 4:4); “the Lord is that Spirit” (2 Cor 3:17). The Spirit is to God what a man’s spirit is to the man (1 Cor 2:11). And Jesus explained “another Comforter” with “I will come to you” (John 14:18). ## The five-minute answer **1. Agree with every personal description.** Oneness believers affirm that the Holy Spirit teaches, speaks, can be grieved and intercedes. The Spirit is not an impersonal force. The Spirit is personal because the Spirit is God: the one God in His activity, especially His work in and among His people. The real question is whether the Spirit is a *different* person from the Father and from Jesus. **2. One Spirit, and God is that Spirit.** > God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. > > — John 4:24 (KJV) > **4** There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; **5** One Lord, one faith, one baptism, **6** One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. > > — Ephesians 4:4–6 (KJV) Scripture never presents the Father as one spirit and the Holy Spirit as another. There is “one Spirit,” and “God is a Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of God,” God’s own Spirit. Paul supplies the analogy: > For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. > > — 1 Corinthians 2:11 (KJV) A man’s spirit is not a second person alongside the man. It is the man himself, knowing and acting. So it is with God and His Spirit. **3. The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ.** Paul moves freely between “the Spirit of God,” “the Spirit of Christ” and “Christ … in you” (Rom 8:9–10). The Spirit is “the Spirit of his Son” (Gal 4:6) and “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:19). Paul says it outright: > Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. > > — 2 Corinthians 3:17 (KJV) Trinitarian interpreters often read “the Lord” here as the LORD of Exodus 34, to whom Moses turned (2 Cor 3:16). Even so, the verse identifies the Lord and the Spirit rather than separating them. **4. “Another Comforter” is Christ, present in a new way.** Read John 14 to the end of the thought: > **16** And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; **17** Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. **18** I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. > > — John 14:16–18 (KJV) Jesus promises “another Comforter” and in the same breath says, “I will come to you.” A few verses later He adds, “my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). The Comforter is not a stranger. He is the Spirit of the Jesus they already knew, dwelling “in you” and no longer only “with you.” “Another” marks a new way of being present, not a new divine individual. **5. The conception of Jesus.** Mary “was found with child of the Holy Ghost” (Matt 1:18), and the angel told Joseph, “that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Matt 1:20). Yet Jesus calls God His Father. If the Holy Spirit were a person distinct from the Father, the one who begot the Son would not be the Father. Read plainly, the Holy Ghost who overshadowed Mary is the Father: the one God in His creative power (Luke 1:35). **6. The texts that name all three.** Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 name Father, Son and Holy Ghost together. Naming three is not the same as counting three persons, and Matthew 28:19 speaks of one “name.” ## The trap to avoid Don’t call the Holy Spirit “it” or “a force.” That is not Oneness theology; it is the Jehovah’s Witness view, and your opponent will say so. The Spirit is God Himself and fully personal. Your argument is that the Spirit is not a *different* person from the Father and the Son. Also avoid the slogan “Trinitarians need three spirits.” A Trinitarian will answer that the three persons share one spiritual nature, and you will have spent your time on a line instead of a text. Make the positive case: one Spirit (Eph 4:4), the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9), “I will come to you” (John 14:18). ## A model answer I agree the Holy Spirit is personal. He teaches, He speaks, He can be grieved. That’s because the Holy Spirit is God Himself, not a force. The question is whether He’s a different person from the Father and from Jesus, and the Bible says no. Jesus said, “God is a Spirit.” Paul said there is “one Spirit.” Not a Father-spirit and a separate Holy-Spirit-spirit. One. And Paul gives us the analogy: “what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” My spirit isn’t a second person next to me. It’s me. God’s Spirit is God. Who is that Spirit? “The Lord is that Spirit.” Paul calls Him “the Spirit of Christ” and says “Christ in you.” And when Jesus promised “another Comforter,” what did He say next? “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” The Comforter is Jesus, present by His Spirit. One more question. Mary conceived “of the Holy Ghost.” Who is the Father of Jesus? If the Holy Ghost is a different person from the Father, you have a problem. If the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the Father, you have the Bible. ## The verses - John 4:24 - Ephesians 4:4 - 1 Corinthians 2:11 - 2 Corinthians 3:17 - Romans 8:9–11 - Galatians 4:6 - John 14:16–18 - Matthew 1:20 ## Read the case in full - [Oneness Theology: A Working Compendium](https://onegodapologetics.com/library/oneness-theology-a-working-compendium/) — A short but complete map of Oneness theology: the one God of Israel, manifested in flesh as Jesus Christ. It works through the Hebrew and Greek of the key Old and New Testament texts, the typology of the angel, the tabernacle and the priesthood, and the apostolic practice of baptism in Jesus’ name. Each contested text is set beside the strongest Trinitarian reading before it is answered. - [Ten Objections to Oneness, Answered](https://onegodapologetics.com/library/ten-objections-to-oneness-answered/) — The ten objections Oneness believers hear most often, each stated first in its strongest Trinitarian form and then answered from Scripture. The final section tests the claim that the church always confessed three persons, with names and dates from Noetus and Praxeas to the councils of 325 and 381.