Most Christians assume that the Holy Spirit is the “Third Person of the Trinity,” co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son. But when we look carefully at Scripture itself, we find a very different picture.
The holy spirit is God’s own presence, power, and mind in action, not a separate divine Person called “God the Spirit.”
The following is a list of both Old and New Testaments verses to show how the Bible consistently describes the Spirit of God.
The Spirit as God’s creative breath/power:
Gen 1:2–3 – “the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters… Then God said…”
Gen 2:7 – God breathes into Adam the breath (neshamah/ruach) of life.
Job 33:4 – “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
Ps 104:29–30 – God hides His face and creatures die; “You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the ground.”
Spirit + God’s word = creative power, not “God the Spirit” acting separately.
The Spirit identical with God’s presence
Ps 139:7 “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?”
The poetic parallel shows “Your Spirit” = “Your presence,” not a distinct divine person beside Yahweh.
Isa 63:10–11 Israel grieved His Holy Spirit, yet the same section speaks of “the angel of His presence” and Yahweh Himself. God’s spirit is His own presence with His people.
Ezek 3:14; 8:1–3; 37:1 – “the Spirit lifted me up… the hand of Yahweh was on me.” “Spirit” and “hand of Yahweh” are used interchangeably.
The Spirit as God’s mind
Isa 40:13 – “Who has measured the Spirit of Yahweh, or who, as His counselor, has informed Him?”
Paul quotes this in 1 Cor 2:16 as “who has known the mind of the Lord?” So “Spirit of Yahweh” = “mind of the Lord.”
The Spirit Poured out like power, not approached like a second deity
Joel 2:28–29 – “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh…”
Acts 2:17–18, 33 – Peter says this is fulfilled: God pours out “from” His spirit. Persons are not poured out; God shares His presence and power.
Acts 10:45 – “the gift of the holy spirit had been poured out also on the Gentiles.”
The Spirit Given from God and Christ – not a separate, distinct Person.
Rom 5:5 – “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through holy spirit which was given to us.”
1 Thess 4:8 – “…God, who gives His holy spirit to you.”
John 15:26 – The spirit of truth “proceeds from the Father” and is sent by Jesus. A co-equal “third person” is not usually sent by the other two.
John 3:34 – “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the spirit without measure.” – the Father “measures out” (or not) the spirit.
Gal 3:2, 5 – “Did you receive the spirit by works of law or by hearing with faith?… He who supplies the spirit to you…”
The spirit is something received from God, not another God receiving worship.
The spirit as power, not a separate “mind” alongside God’s. These verses explicitly link spirit and power:
Luke 1:35 – “holy spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”
Parallelism: holy spirit = power of the Most High.
Luke 4:18 – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… to preach good news…” – the spirit is the anointing power enabling Jesus’ ministry.
Acts 1:8 – “You will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you…”
Rom 15:13, 19 – “in the power of holy spirit… in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s spirit.”
The Spirit = God’s mind at work in us:
1 Cor 2:10–12, 16 – “God revealed [spiritual things] to us through the spirit… no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God… we have the mind of Messiah.”
Spirit of God = knowing mind of God, shared with believers.
2 Tim 1:7 – “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and sound mind.”
This spirit is something God gives us (our inner disposition), not someone we pray to.
The Spirit can be quenched, grieved, resisted:
1 Thess 5:19 – “Do not quench the spirit.”
Eph 4:30 – “Do not grieve the holy spirit of God, by which you were sealed…”
Acts 7:51 – “You always resist the holy spirit.”
These are relational terms for God’s own presence being resisted or ignored—just as Israel “grieved His Holy Spirit” in Isa 63:10.
The Spirit as something filling people / being “in” them:
Eph 5:18 – “Be filled with the spirit.”
Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9 – people “filled with holy spirit.”
Luke 1:15, 41, 67 – John, Elizabeth, Zechariah “filled with holy spirit.”
We do not usually speak of being “filled with” a separate divine person; we speak of being filled with God’s power, wisdom, joy, boldness—His own life shared with us.
The Spirit as God’s gift, seal, and down payment:
Eph 1:13–14 – believers “were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, which is the down payment/earnest of our inheritance.”
2 Cor 1:21–22; 5:5 – God “sealed us and gave the spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”
Here the spirit functions like God’s signature and deposit, not another “I” beside Him.
The Apostolic greetings are always from God (the Father) and the lord Jesus, not the spirit
Scan the openings of Paul’s letters:
Rom 1:7 – “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the lord Jesus Messiah.”
Same pattern: 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Phil 1:2; Col 1:2; 1–2 Thess 1:1; Philem 3; 2 Jn 3.
The spirit is never listed as sender of grace and peace. Buzzard notes: “It is remarkable that greetings at the opening of Paul’s epistles are never sent from the Holy Spirit. Nor is the Holy Spirit ever addressed or prayed to.”
Nowhere in Scripture is the Holy Spirit prayed to or worshipped… nowhere is the Holy Spirit praised in song… nowhere is the Holy Spirit said to send his personal greetings… and nowhere is the Holy Spirit given a personal name.”
Yet in many churches today, the spirit is addressed, sung to, and treated as a third worship-object—something never modeled in the Bible.
The final throne scene: God and the Lamb—no third throne:
Rev 5:13 – “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
Rev 22:1, 3 – “the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
If a third co-equal Person existed, Revelation is a very strange place to leave him out of the worship and the throne.
“Another Comforter” – still Jesus and the Father, by spirit. Trinitarians often run to John 14–16. But notice the language carefully:
John 14:16–18 – “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper… I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you.”
John 14:23 – “We will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
John 16:13–14 – the spirit “will not speak from himself, but whatever it hears it will speak… it will glorify me, for it will take of mine and will declare it to you.”
The “Helper” language personifies the spirit’s role as Jesus and the Father continuing their work in the believers.
Summary
If you’re talking with your pastor or friends, you might boil it down like this. The Bible never says “one God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” but it does clearly say “one God, the Father” (1 Cor 8:6; John 17:3).
In the OT, “Spirit of Yahweh” means God’s own power, breath, presence, and mind, not a second Person:
Ps 139:7; Isa 40:13; Job 33:4; Ps 104:29–30; Ezek 37:1, etc.
The spirit is poured out, given, supplied, measured:
Joel 2:28–29; Acts 2:17–18; Acts 10:45; Rom 5:5; John 3:34; Gal 3:2, 5; 1 Thess 4:8.
That’s how you speak of God’s power, not a co-equal Person. The spirit is closely equated with power, word, mind:
Luke 1:35; Acts 1:8; Rom 15:13, 19; 1 Cor 2:10–16; 2 Tim 1:7.
The NT never has:
greetings from the Holy Spirit;
prayers to the Holy Spirit;
hymns to the Holy Spirit;
a throne for “God the Spirit” in Revelation.
Sunday, February 22, 2026
Verses Showing the Holy Spirit Is Not a Third Person of the Trinity
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