What The Bible Says

An honest Bible reader cannot help but conclude that the holy spirit differs from official church descriptions of it as a person. Consider the following Bible accounts.

1. When Mary, the mother of Jesus, visited her cousin Elizabeth, the Bible says that the unborn child in Elizabeth's womb leaped, "and Elizabeth was filled with the holy spirit." (Luke 1:41) Is it reasonable that a person would be "filled" with another person?

2. When John the Baptizer spoke to his disciples about Jesus as the one who would succeed him, John said: " I, for my part, baptize you with water... but the one coming after me is stronger than I am, whose sandals I am not fit to take off. That one will baptize you people with holy spirit." (Matthew 3:11) John could hardly have been referring to the holy spirit as a person when he spoke of baptizing people with it.

3. While visiting a Roman army officer and his family, the apostle Peter spoke of Jesus as having been anointed by God "with holy spirit and power." (Acts 10:38) Shortly afterward, "the holy spirit fell upon" the army officer's household. The account says that many were amazed "because the free gift of the holy spirit was being poured out also upon people of the nations." (Acts 10:44,45) Here again, the terms used are inconsistent with the idea of the holy spirit being a person.

It is not unusual for God's Word to personify things that are not a person. These include wisdom, discernment, sin, death and undeserved kindness. (Proverbs 8:1- 9:6; Romans 5:14, 17, 21; 6:12) Jesus himself said that "wisdom is proved righteous by all its children." or its good results. (Luke 7:35) Clearly, wisdom is not a person that has literal children! Likewise, the holy spirit is not a person simply because in some instances it is personified.