Is the Holy Spirit a Person
We can see from the grammar in all these texts, that the personal pronouns and verbs refer to a person and not an object just as God is a person but still spirit. John 4:24.
Personal pronouns are: he, me, say, myself, I.
All these words are characteristics of a person and what a person can do e.g., lied to, testify, oppose, decided, been hindered by, set, said, sent, name, goes, intercedes, desires, sanctified, foretold, teach, reminds, convince, guide, speak, hear, preach, glorify, take of mine, blasphemously against the Holy Spirit.
Acts 5:3. Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit.
Acts 5:32. We are witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit.
Acts 7:51. You always resist the Holy Spirit.
Acts 13:4. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit.
Acts 15:28. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit.
Acts 16:6. They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word.
Acts 20:28. Which the Holy Spirit made you overseers.
Matthew 28:19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:26. But the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us.
Rom. 8:27. The mind of the Spirit .
Rom. 15:16. Sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Luke 2:26. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.
Acts 13:2. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
John 14:26. But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you.
John 16:7. The Comforter will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send him to you.
John 16:8. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
John 16:13. However, when he, the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he hears he will speak, and he will tell you things to come.
John 16:14. He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it unto you.
Mark 3:29. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is subject to eternal condemnation.
In the other texts of the Bible, where the Holy Spirit is mentioned as the Spirit, i.e. ρvεύμα in Greek. It is not masculine or feminine, but neuter.
But here in John 14:26, 16:8, 13, 14. the Holy Spirit is mentioned as εκειvoς in Greek, and it is masculine, i.e. “he” is a gender. It is the only place in the Bible where it is mentioned.
Personification
Can one give the explanation that the Holy Spirit in these scriptures is just personified, that is, a thing that is made to a person without actually being so?
Louis Berkhof (professor of biblical theology) writes in his book ‘Systematic Theology’ page 95.
It is rare to use personification in prose writing in the New Testament, and you can easily recognize it. Moreover, such an explanation would destroy the meaning of some of these following texts: John 14:26, 16:7-11. Rom. 8:26.
Charles Hodge (professor of biblical theology) writes in his book ‘Systematic Theology’ page 524.
The Holy Spirit is much referred to as a person in the Bible, not only in poetry or in an exalted spoken language, but in simple narrative and in special teaching. And his personality is supported by so many parallel proofs that if you want to explain the use of the personal pronoun in connection with him as personification, you are violating all the rules of interpretation of scripture.
A. M. Strong (professor of biblical theology) writes in his book ‘Systematic Theology’ page 355.
When one gives the explanation that the Holy Spirit is personified in the Bible, it means that one must interpret the Bible narratives with the same rules that are used in poetry. Such an explanation is completely contrary to the rules of Hebrew poetry. Such an explanation would destroy the meaning of many scriptures.
It is very clear that wisdom is personified in the book of Proverbs, sin is personified in some places in Paul’s writings, death and hell are personified in the book of Revelation, but the English grammar cannot agree to interpret the Holy Spirit as something personified in all these scriptures that are mentioned.