(4) He guides. “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them now.  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth” (John 16:  12, 13).

(5) He leads and forbids. “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden of the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and when they were come over against Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not” (Acts 16:6, 7).

(6) He searches. “But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit:  for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:10).

In the above passages the Holy Spirit is said to speak, to testify, to quicken, to teach, to guide disciples, to lead, to forbid and to search.  All these things unite in showing the Holy Spirit to be a person, for nothing but a person can do them.

2.  HE HAS THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A PERSON.

We will mention a few of them: 

(1) Mind. “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:27).

(2) Knowledge. “Even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11).

(3) Affection. “Now I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me” (Rom. 15:30).

(4) Will. “But all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will” (1 Cor. 12:11).

(5) Goodness. “Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them” (Neh. 9:20).  Goodness, will, affection, knowledge and mind are all characteristics of a person.  By no stretch of the imagination can they be ascribed to a mere impersonal influence or principle.  These five characteristics form the fingers in the hand of certainty by which we grasp the personality of the Holy Spirit.

3.  HE SUFFERS SLIGHTS AND INJURIES THAT CAN ONLY BE ASCRIBED TO A PERSONALITY.

(1) He can be grieved and vexed. “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).  “But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit:  therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them” (Isa. 63:10).

(2) He can be despited. “Of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant where-with he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace” (Heb. 10:29).

(3) He can be blasphemed.  “Therefore I say unto you, Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.  And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come” (Matt. 12:31, 32).