JW's believe Holy Spirit is just the active force of God and not a person. They believe when the scriptures say that the Spirit bears witness and teaches, etc; it is mere personifcation and does not prove personality. Lets see what the NWT has to say!
Spirit not a person?
Romans 8:34 Who is he that will condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, yes, rather the one who was raised up from the dead, who is on the right hand of God, who also pleads for us.
Now, do you think, that one could plead for us if he was not a person?
Already in Romans chapter 8 mentions that there is another Person who pleads for us, and that is why Christ Jesus is mentioned as ‘also’ pleading.
Already in Romans chapter 8 mentions that there is another Person who pleads for us, and that is why Christ Jesus is mentioned as ‘also’ pleading.
Who is the other person who is pleading?
Romans 8:26 In like manner the spirit also joins in with help for our weakness; for the [problem of] what we should pray for as we need to we do not know, but the spirit itself pleads for us with groanings unuttered. Yet he who searches the hearts knows what the meaning of the spirit is, because it is pleading in accord with God for holy ones.
Clearly the other person is the Holy Spirit!
Also note that the Spirit is pleading with God for holy ones. Therefore He cannot be the Father or extension of him, for he is not pleading with himself. Thus, the Spirit is a separate person like Jesus who “also” pleads” for us.
Is Holy Spirit really another person seperate from the Father and the Son?
John 14:16,17 And I will request the Father and he will give YOU another helper to be with YOU forever, the spirit of the truth, which the world cannot receive, because it neither beholds it nor knows it. YOU know it, because it remains with YOU and is in YOU.
Jesus refers to Him as “another [Greek allos] helper,” one who intercedes for someone else. He is called “another” because Jesus is also a helper (1 John 2:1). Only a person can function as a helper.
1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing YOU these things that YOU may not commit a sin. And yet, if anyone does commit a sin, we have a helper with the Father, Jesus Christ, a righteous one.
1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing YOU these things that YOU may not commit a sin. And yet, if anyone does commit a sin, we have a helper with the Father, Jesus Christ, a righteous one.
More proof of his personality
Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit
Father and Son are persons, therefore Holy Spirit must also be a person.
Only a person can be grieved, not a force
Ephesians 4:30 Also, do not be grieving God’s holy spirit, with which YOU have been sealed for a day of releasing by ransom
You cannot grieve a force, you can only grieve someone with feeling and the attributes of personality.
Spirit has his own impulse
John 16:13 However, when that one arrives, the spirit of the truth, he will guide YOU into all the truth, for he will not speak of his own impulse, but what things he hears he will speak, and he will declare to YOU the things coming.
It says he will not speak on his own impulse, but what he hears from the Father. The Spirit surely must be a seperate person from the Father!
Holy Ghost calls Himself ‘me.’
Acts 13:2 As they were publicly ministering to Jehovah and fasting, the holy spirit said: “Of all persons set Bar´na·bas and Saul apart for me for the work to which I have called them
Is Holy Spirit God?
2 cor 3:17 Now Jehovah is the Spirit; and where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom.
Acts 5:3,4 But Peter said: “An·a·ni´as, why has Satan emboldened you to play false to the holy spirit and to hold back secretly some of the price of the field? As long as it remained with you did it not remain yours, and after it was sold did it not continue in your control? Why was it that you purposed such a deed as this in your heart? You have played false, not to men, but to God
Lying to Holy Spirit equals Lying to God.
Hebrews 3:8-9 For this reason, just as the holy spirit says: “Today if YOU people listen to his own voice, do not harden YOUR hearts as on the occasion of causing bitter anger, as in the day of making the test in the wilderness, in which YOUR forefathers made a test of me with a trial, and yet they had seen my works for forty years.
Exodus 17:2, 7 And the people fell to quarreling with Moses and saying: “Give us water that we may drink.” But Moses said to them: “Why are YOU quarreling with me? Why do YOU keep putting Jehovah to the test?” So he called the name of the place Mas´sah and Mer´i·bah, because of the quarreling of the sons of Israel and because of their putting Jehovah to the test, saying: “Is Jehovah in our midst or not?”
Exodus 17:2, 7 And the people fell to quarreling with Moses and saying: “Give us water that we may drink.” But Moses said to them: “Why are YOU quarreling with me? Why do YOU keep putting Jehovah to the test?” So he called the name of the place Mas´sah and Mer´i·bah, because of the quarreling of the sons of Israel and because of their putting Jehovah to the test, saying: “Is Jehovah in our midst or not?”
Was Holy Spirit present in the Old Testament?
Isa 63:10 But they themselves rebelled and made his holy spirit feel hurt. He now was changed into an enemy of theirs; he himself warred against them.
Gen 6:3 After that Jehovah said: “My spirit shall not act toward man indefinitely in that he is also flesh. Accordingly his days shall amount to a hundred and twenty years.
Exo 31:3-5 And I shall fill him with the spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in every kind of craftsmanship
Judges 14:6 Then Jehovah’s spirit became operative upon him, so that he tore it in two, just as someone tears a male kid in two, and there was nothing at all in his hand.
Judges 6:34 And Jehovah’s spirit enveloped Gid´e·on so that he went blowing the horn, and the Abi-ez´rites got to be called together after him.
1 Sam 10:10 Saul So they went from there to the hill, and here there was a group of prophets to meet him; at once the spirit of God became operative upon him, and he began to speak as a prophet in the middle of them.
Ps. 139:7 Where can I go from your spirit,And where can I run away from your face?
Isaiah 63:10 But they themselves rebelled and made his holy spirit feel hurt.
Psalms 50:11 Do not throw me away from before your face;And your holy spirit O do not take away from me.
More texts of His Personality!!!!
Remember, a personality must have Emotions, Intellect and a Will. God the Spirit has all these.
Acts 10:19,20 As Peter was going over in his mind about the vision, the spirit said: “Look! Three men are seeking you. However, rise, go downstairs and be on your way with them, not doubting at all, because I have dispatched them.”
1 Cor 12:11 But all these operations the one and the same spirit performs, making a distribution to each one respectively just as it wills.
Acts 13:4 Accordingly these men, sent out by the holy spirit, went down to Se·leu´cia, and from there they sailed away to Cy´prus.
Acts 16:6 Moreover, they went through Phryg´i·a and the country of Ga·la´ti·a, because they were forbidden by the holy spirit to speak the word in the [district of] Asia.
2 Pet 1:21 For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.
Matt 12:31 On this account I say to YOU, Every sort of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but morthe blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven.
Matt 12:31 alone proves the deity of the Holy Spirit for one can blaspheme against a person who is Divine or God.
Conclusion: The Holy Spirit is a seperate person from the Father & the Spirit is Jehovah too!