Is God a person?
Is God a Person?
Yes — and far more than what we ordinarily mean by that word. Scripture reveals God not as an impersonal force, a vague influence, or an abstract principle, but as a living, personal Being who speaks, loves, acts, purposes, sends, grieves, and rejoices. The full revelation of Scripture shows this one God existing eternally in three distinct Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God Exists in Three Distinct Persons
W. W. Fereday sets out the foundational truth:
W. W. FeredayScripture is most plain, whatever unbelief may say, that there are three distinct persons in the Godhead, equal in power, majesty, and glory, each taking His own part in all that is done, whether in creation or redemption, yet ever acting in perfect unity and communion.
He points to the baptism of Christ as the moment the Trinity was "first clearly revealed":
What can be clearer to a simple mind than this! The Father speaks, the Son receives His testimony, and the Holy Spirit descends to seal and anoint Him. Three persons, yet but one God.
Morrish's Bible Dictionary summarizes:
Morrish's Bible DictionaryThat there are three divine Persons (if we may so express it) is plain from scripture. The Father sent the Son, and He came to earth. The Father sent the Holy Spirit, and the Lord Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, and He came from heaven. He is a divine Person, of which there are many proofs. There is but one God.
The Holy Spirit Is a Person, Not a Mere Influence
This is a point the writers return to again and again. Fereday devotes the opening section of his work on the Holy Spirit to establishing His divine personality:
The personality of the Holy Spirit has been called in question by not a few, some speaking of Him as though He were a mere influence; others alas! sinking in their ideas lower still.
He demonstrates from Scripture that only a Person can do what the Spirit does:
Could the following be said of aught but a person! "I will send Him to you." "When He is come." "He shall testify of me." ... He can be resisted, vexed, grieved, lied to, and, solemn to say, blasphemed.
And concludes:
Faith may therefore rest assured that the Holy Spirit, whereof we speak, is a person, and properly and essentially divine.
Frank Hole reinforces this:
Frank HoleThe Spirit of God is a Person. He wields an incalculable influence. Yet it is as a Person He indwells. ... He is not given to us as a power or influence at our disposal, but rather that we may be at His disposal.
J. Holden puts it concisely:
J. HoldenThey have the presence of the Holy Spirit — a divine Person, not a mere influence — in their midst, as our Lord has promised.
G. F. Jacob, speaking on 1 Corinthians 12, adds:
G. F. JacobIt is, of course, an immense thing to get hold of the truth that the Holy Ghost is a person, just as much a person as the Father or the Son. He is really God. The Holy Ghost is God, and He is a person. I use the word "person" for want of a better. This comes out in that part of the chapter where it says, "Dividing to every man severally as He will." An influence could not do that. It could only be done by a divine person, who has a will of His own.
The Son Has Eternal, Distinct Personality
Frank Hole traces out from John 1:1-4 the personality and deity of the Word:
Frank Hole1. "In the beginning was the Word." ... The Word has eternal existence. 2. "The Word was with God," and if with then He must be distinguished as having a Personality of His own. The Word has distinct Personality. 3. "The Word was God." Though distinct as to His Person yet none the less God. The Word has essential Deity. 4. "The same was in the beginning with God." He is not, therefore, merely a manifestation of the Deity in time. The Word has eternal Personality.
An article in Thoughts and Things marvels at what this means:
This is the marvellous thing that takes our breath away. A divine Person has been through human experience from birth to death. He who is God, remembers His human experiences from birth to death, and sympathises with us in our infirmities. One who is both God and Man feels for us for He has felt the same.
And another article carefully distinguishes the Persons:
The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father. Divine Persons cannot be separated but they can be distinguished.
God's Nature Is Personal
Morrish's Bible Dictionary states:
Morrish's Bible DictionaryScripture reveals what God is in Himself, 'God is love' (used absolutely), 1 John 4:8; and 'God is light' (used relatively, in opposition to darkness), 1 John 1:5.
Love and light are not attributes of an impersonal force. They require a Person to exercise and express them — a Person who knows, who feels, who acts, who relates.
Synthesis
God is not a person in the way a human being is a person — He infinitely transcends the creature. But He is undeniably personal. He has will, intelligence, affections, and sovereign purpose. He speaks, He loves, He sends, He grieves, He acts. The full testimony of Scripture reveals that this one God exists eternally in three distinct Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — each fully God, each possessing personality in the deepest sense. The Son became Man and walked this earth as a real Person. The Spirit indwells every believer as a real Person. The Father relates to His children as a real Person. As Fereday writes: "Three persons, yet but one God."