Proposition # 22: In Acts 13:1-5, the Holy Spirit acts as a Person. He spoke to the leaders of the church at Antioch. He instructed them, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (v.2) Notice the personal references “to Me” and “I.” The Holy Spirit, along with the Antioch leaders sent out the missionaries. (vss. 3, 4) There are many other contexts in which the Holy Spirit is shown to be a Person. Therefor the Holy Spirit is a member of the Trinity.
Act 13:1-5 REV Now there were prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. (2) And while they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to do.” (3) Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (4) So they, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. (5) And when they were at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they also had John as their attendant.
Response: Here the holy spirit is being used as a means of communication by the Lord.
I might say, ‘The radio said that there is going to be rain today.’ Do you conclude from this that the radio is a person, or that a person is utilizing this mode of communication?
As for proving the holy spirit’s personality by its ability to speak and the use of the personal pronoun, consider Luke 11:49,
“Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute.’”
Here the Wisdom of God is portrayed as speaking and using the pronoun I. Should we now conclude that there is a fourth person in the Godhead, namely, God the Wisdom?
At stated above, the holy spirit is reflective of personality, and that personality can be the Father’s or the Son’s. This principle applies in every context used to prove personality of the holy spirit. Since the holy spirit is God’s means of communication and inspiration we can grieve it or insult it when we act contrary to its leading. At Matthew 14:24 it says that the disciples’ boat was tossed by the waves. The Greek word used here is basanizo and is translated in other verses as tormented, vexed, or pained. (Matthew 8:6; 2 Peter 2:8; Revelation 12:2) Since it could be said that a boat can be tormented, vexed, or pained should we conclude that it is a person? If not, why are we forced to conclude that the holy spirit is a person because it can be grieved?
Of course, God is grieved when we act contrary to the leading of His holy spirit.