Acts 5:3-4
Theme: The Scriptures
reveal the Holy Spirit to be God, with all the defining characteristics of a
divine being.
Saying that the Holy Spirit is a person does not say
that He is God. Yet, there is ample additional evidence in Scripture to verify
that He is divine.
A. The Holy Spirit has Divine Names.
1.
The Spirit is called God in Acts
5:3-4; this is the most direct statement.
And this is in opposition to a mere man; Ananias thought he was only talking to
Peter. Two converted Jews, Ananias and his wife,
Sapphira, sold a piece of land they owned and brought the proceeds of the sale
to give to the fledgling church in Jerusalem. Their sin
was in claiming to give all, while only giving some. No one had asked or forced
them to sell their property. After it
was sold, they were not obligated to give everything. But they pretended a total dedication
of all funds, while they actually kept some of the proceeds of the sale of the land for themselves
and gave the rest to the apostle Peter and the church. Perhaps
they wanted to make
themselves look more spiritual, or desired to receive the praise of men
for this act of kindness, so they sold the
possession and gave a portion of the proceeds to the apostles.
i.
An Accusation.
Peter learned of their deception and said, “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy
Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4, Whiles it
remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own
power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied
unto men, but unto God.” Peter declares that to lie to the Holy Spirit is to
lie to God. Can any statement assert Deity more clearly?
ii.
A Temptation. About three hours
later (5:7), when Sapphira appeared, Peter accused her of collaborating
with her husband, Ananias, “to
tempt [test] the Spirit of the Lord” (5:9). Here the Spirit is
referred to as “Lord”! To tempt the Holy Spirit is to see how much
one can get away with before He judges; it means to presume on Him, to see if
He will perform His Word, or to stretch Him to the limits of judgment (Ex.
17:2; Deut. 6:16). They were deliberately disobeying God and seeing how far God
would go. Actually they defied God and dared Him to do something about it—and “the Spirit of the Lord” acted, with swiftness and
finality.
iii.
A
Retribution.
Obviously the Spirit is portrayed as God in this judgment. “Thou shalt
not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matt. 4:7). This was God’s personal judgment. “The
Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God” (Heb. 10:30–31). Had Ananias and Sapphira judged their own sin,
God would not have judged them (1 Cor. 11:31).
iv.
A
Clarification.
We must keep in mind that their sin was not in robbing God of money, but
in lying to Him and robbing Him of glory. They were not required to sell the
property; and, having sold it, they were not required to give any of the money
to the church (Acts 5:4). Their lust for recognition conceived sin in their
hearts (Acts 5:4, 9), and that sin eventually produced death (James 1:15). –Wiersbe: The Bible Exposition
Commentary
2. The
Spirit is called the Lord in 2 Cor. 3:17-18.
“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18, But we all, with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
i.
A Proposition. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” One key result of the New Covenant is liberty. In Gal. 4:24-31, Paul compared Jews
under the Old Covenant to children of slavery and Christians under the New to
children of freedom. This freedom is possible because Christ has redeemed us believers from the penalty
of the Law so that we have become children of God (Gal. 4:5-7). This freedom as
children is confirmed by the Spirit, who enables us Christians to call God
Father (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Therefore,
wherever Jesus Christ is recognized as Lord or Jehovah, there is liberty, that is, freedom from the bondage of the law,
freedom from obscurity in reading the Scriptures, and freedom to gaze upon His
face without a veil between.
ii.
A Process.
Christians can experience an ever-increasing Christ-likeness, glory, as
a result of the Spirit’s sanctifying work. As we are occupied with the glory
of the risen, ascended, exalted Lord Jesus Christ, “we are changed [being transformed] into the same image.”
This is the secret of Christian holiness—occupation with Christ. Not by
occupation with self; that brings only defeat. Not by occupation with others;
that brings disappointment. But by occupation with “the glory of the Lord,”
we become more and more like Him. This marvelous, transforming process takes
place “from glory to glory,”
that is, from one degree of glory
to another. It is not a matter of instant change. There is no experience
in the Christian life that will reproduce Christ’s image in a moment. It is a
process, not a crisis. It is not like the fading glory of the law, but an
ever-increasing glory.
iii.
A
Power. The power for this
wonderful process is the Holy Spirit of
God—even as by the Spirit of the Lord. As we
behold the Lord of glory, study Him, contemplate Him, gaze on Him adoringly, the Spirit of the Lord works in our life the marvelous miracle
of increasing conformity to Christ. Christ-likeness is the goal of the
Christian walk (Eph 4:23-24; Col 3:10). The Holy Spirit is the One who produces
godlike character in the believer (Gal 5:22-23), because He himself is God.
iv.
A
Parallel.
It is “the Spirit of the Lord” who leads
Christians from justification through sanctification to glorification.
1. Paul’s
words “the Lord is that
Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17, 18)
are not meant to confuse these two Persons (Lord Jesus & Holy Spirit) of
the Godhead.
a. Instead,
the phrase affirms the deity of the Holy Spirit. He is the personal “Agent” of
Christ; He is “the Spirit of
the Lord” (Rom.
8:9). Both divine Persons are united in purpose (John 15:26; 16:6-15) and in
result (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 5:1).
b. The
meaning of the word “Lord” is “supreme
authority, master, or sovereign controller.” For the Spirit to exercise
sovereign universal authority, He must be God.
2. The
phrase “the Spirit of the Lord” (2Cor. 3:17, 18)
again equates Christ and the Spirit in the cooperative work of salvation (Jn.
7:39; 15:26; 16:6-14).
a. While
this title does not confuse the two Persons of the Godhead, it does verify the
divine nature of the Holy Spirit. Just
as Christ is Lord, so is the Spirit!
b. The
Holy Spirit’s names and titles associate Him with the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ freely and often, thus revealing the Spirit’s divinity (1Cor. 3:16; Isa.
11:2; 61:1; 2Cor. 3:3; Rom. 8:9; 1Pet. 1:11; Gal. 4:6; Phil. 1:19).
3. Other Passages in the Old
Testament Referring to God are in the New Testament Made to Refer to the Holy
Spirit. Compare Isa. 6:8–10 with Acts 28:25–27; and Exod. 16:7
with Heb. 3:7–9.
B. The Holy Spirit Has Divine Characteristics (Attributes).
These defining characteristics of God
are the fact that the Spirit is eternal
in his nature, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.
1. He
is Eternal—Eternity (Heb. 9:14).
i.
The Holy Spirit is called the Eternal Spirit
signifying that He is without beginning or ending—independent of time. His
duration is infinite; He is an ever remaining Presence.
ii.
“One of the
deaf and dumb students in the institution of Paris, desired to express his idea
of the eternity of the God, said: ‘It is
duration, without beginning or end; existence, without bounds or dimension;
present, without past or future. His eternity is youth, without infancy or old
age; life, without birth or death; today, without yesterday or tomorrow.’”—Evans, William
iii.
Through the Eternal Spirit Christ offered
Himself without blemish to God. Just as the Holy Spirit had a part in the birth
of Christ (Luke 1:35), in the same way He also had a part in the sacrificial,
all sufficient, atoning death of Christ.
2. He is all-knowing—Omniscience
(1Cor. 2:10–12). Someone
other than man must know about God. The spirit of man (the human spirit) knows
the things pertaining to humanity; the Holy Spirit knows about God. The Holy
Spirit searches the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10); the same term depth (Gk. bathos) is used of the knowledge of God. It is unfathomable to
man, but God the Holy Spirit knows the otherwise unsearchable and unfathomable
(Rom. 11:33).
3. He is all-powerful—Omnipotence
(Gen. 1:2; Job 33:4; Luke 1:35).
i.
The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit
is seen in creation. In Genesis 1:2 the Holy Spirit is seen hovering over
creation as a hen over its young; the Holy Spirit gave life to creation. Accordingly, the Spirit
participated with God in the creation of the world, implying His omnipotence.
ii.
The omnipotent Spirit is the answer
to Mary’s question, “How shall this
be?” (Luke 1:34). How could she bear a child when she had never had
relations with a man? The answer
was that the Holy Spirit would
creatively bring about the physical conception of Jesus (1:35). This miraculous
conception and Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ was necessary because of His deity
and preexistence (Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Gal. 4:4). The Holy Spirit would come
upon her, and the awesome power
of God would overshadow her. To Mary’s problem of “How?”—it seemed impossible to human reasoning—God’s answer is the
all powerful “Holy Spirit!”
4. He is everywhere simultaneously—Omnipresence
(Ps. 139:7–10; John 14:17).
i.
In Psalm 139
David exclaims that He cannot flee from the presence of the Holy Spirit; if he
ascends to heaven, He is there; if he descends into the depths of the earth,
the Spirit is there also. Even if he could fly away swiftly, he could not
escape the presence of the Spirit.
ii.
The omnipresence of the Spirit is
also taught in John 14:17 where Christ taught
the disciples that the Spirit would indwell them all, another affirmation of
the Spirit’s omnipresence.
5. He
is Living—Life (Rom. 8:2). Life is an attribute of deity in contrast to dead idols (Josh.
3:10; John 1:4; 14:6; 1 Tim. 3:15). As the Father and the Son have life in
themselves, so the Holy Spirit has life in Himself.
6. He
is Holy—Holiness (Matt. 12:32).
i.
One important aspect of deity is
that God is holy, entirely set apart and separated from sin and sinners. The
most common name for the Spirit is Holy Spirit, indicating the third person of
the Trinity also possesses this transcendent attribute of deity.
ii.
It is His holiness by which He
desires to be remembered as that is the attribute which most glorifies Him. Let
us bear this fact in mind as we study this attribute of the divine nature. It
is just this vision of God that we need today when the tendency to deny the
reality or the awfulness of sin is so prevalent. Our view of the necessity of
the atonement will depend very largely upon our view of the holiness of God.
Light views of God and His holiness will produce light views of sin and the
atonement. –Evans: The
Great Doctrines of the Bible
7. He
is Loving—Love (Gal. 5:22). The Holy Spirit is love and produces love in the child of
God. If He did not possess love as a primary attribute He could not produce
love in the believer.
8. He
is True—Truth (John 14:17). The Holy Spirit is termed the “Spirit of truth” in John 14:17
and 15:26. Just as Christ is the truth (John 14:6) so the Spirit is the truth
and leads people into the truth through the Scriptures.
C. The Holy Spirit Performs Divine Works.
The
Holy Spirit was responsible for the miraculous conception of Jesus, restrains
sin in the world, and gives spiritual gifts to Christians. The complete
evidence from Scripture leaves little doubt that the Holy Spirit is a divine
person.
1. Creation
(Gen. 1:2). Several
Scripture passages affirm that the Holy Spirit was involved in the work of
creation. Genesis 1:2 indicates that the Spirit hovered over creation, bringing
it to life. In Psalm 104:24–26 the psalmist describes the creation, and in v.
30 he indicates how God created: “Thou dost send forth Thy Spirit, they are
created.” Job 26:13 expands the creation of God to the heavens; the Holy Spirit
created not only the earth but also the heavens.
2. Generating
Christ (Matt. 1:20). The
overshadowing of Mary by the Holy Spirit guaranteed the sinless humanity of
Christ. Christ in His deity is eternal, but the Holy Spirit begat the sinless
human nature of Christ. He brought the humanity of Christ into being. It is too
often assumed that Mary the mother of Christ contributed His humanity and that
the Holy Spirit contributed His deity; but a moment’s reflection would disclose
that the deity of Christ was His own from all eternity, and therefore was not
originated at the time of His birth. He became incarnate when His eternal
Person took on the human form. The
Spirit caused the humanity of Christ to originate and that is His act of generation.
3. Inspiration
of Scripture (2 Peter 1:21).
i.
There is an analogy between the Holy
Spirit’s generating Christ’s humanity and the Spirit’s superintending the
writers of Scripture; just as the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, guaranteeing
the sinlessness of Christ’s humanity, so the Holy Spirit superintended the
human writers to guarantee an inerrant Scripture. By analogy, a denial of one
necessitates a denial of the other.
ii.
The writers of Scripture were
carried along by the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing the inspiration of the books of
Scripture. The Spirit’s work in inspiration is synonymous with the Father’s activity
who breathed the Scriptures (2Tim. 3:16).
4. Regeneration
(Titus 3:5). To
regenerate means to give life. The Holy Spirit causes the new birth; He is its
author. Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is the spiritual counterpart of human
reproduction in the physical realm. Human generation produces human life;
spiritual regeneration produces spiritual life. The Holy Spirit produces the
new birth, but He does it through the instrumentality of the Word of God (1
Peter 1:23). The same truth is taught in John 3:6 where Jesus indicates the
Holy Spirit produces the new birth in that He regenerates the person.
Clearly,
based on all of this biblical evidence, we can conclude the Holy Spirit is
indeed God very God. By His holy names, all the defining characteristics of a
divine being, and common activities with the other members of the Godhead, we can
correctly view Him as distinctively God. I have a friend, Missionary-Pastor Woody serving in Germany, who would periodically say, "If it walks like a duck, quacks like duck, flies like a duck, and swims like a duck, then it is safe to conclude it is indeed a duck." I also learned in one of my first theology courses years ago that "things that are different are not the same." I'd like to suggest that the opposite is also true..."things that are NOT different are the same!" Beloved, just as the Father and the Son are indeed God very God, so it is with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is wonderfully deity like the other members of the Godhead. Again, all of the evidence in
Scripture verifies that He is divine. Will you then relate to Him and treat Him like
God?
