Trinitarians sometimes claim the holy Spirit is person because of Jesus’ words:“Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19 LSB), and conclude that the holy Spirit has a personal name. Therefore, we do well to ask, “Is the holy Spirit a person”?

 

EXAMINING MATTHEW 28:18-20

“Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”—Matthew 28:19 LSB

If we take “name”t literally at Matthew 28:19, then the three have only one name, because “name” is singular, not plural.

“Name” represents “authority” (Matthew 28:18 LSB), similar to “in the name of the law”.

The Father, the Son and the holy Spirit do not all have the same PERSONAL name. How do we know this? Let’s see:

 

THE FATHER’S PERSONAL NAME

“I am Yahweh, that is My name”—Isaiah 42:8 LSB

“All have one Father . . . one God . . . Yahweh”—Malachi 2:10,12 NASB

 

THE SON’S PERSONAL NAME

“You are to give him the name Jesus”—Matthew 1:21 NIV

“You shall name him Jesus . . . the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God”—Luke 1:31,35 NAB

 

THE HOLY SPIRIT

No PERSONAL name for the holy Spirit is found anywhere in the scriptures.

 

BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF “NAME” USED TO REPRESENT AUTHORITY OR REPUTATION

Biblical examples of this are:

“Minister in the name of Yahweh”—Deuteronomy 18:5 LSB

“My words which he shall speak in my name . . . the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name . .  .or which he speaks in the name of other gods . . . When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh . . . “—Deuteronomy 18:19-22 LSB

“He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus”—Esther 8:10 LSB

“David . . . so his name was highly esteemed”—1 Samuel 18:30 LSB

“I will make you a great name, like the names of great men who are on the earth”—2 Samuel 7:9 LSB

“He has inherited a more excellent name than they”—Hebrews 1:4 LSB

 

CONCLUSION

Nowhere in the scriptures do we find any personal name for the holy Spirit, which is another of the many evidences in the Bible that the holy Spirit is not a person. When the holy Spirit is mentioned, it never has a name. For example:

“And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him, and he judged Israel” (Judges 3:10 LSB).

Note: For more information please see the article, “Is The Holy Spirit a Person”, on this website.