Scripture
Acts 5:3-4
Peter treats lying to the Holy Spirit as lying to God.
Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land? Did it not belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How could you conceive such a deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God!”
The Spirit can be lied to
Peter’s words do not treat the Spirit as an impersonal power. The sin is described as lying to the Holy Spirit and lying to God.
Where this passage comes up
- The Holy Spirit is not a personThe Bible's spirit teaches, speaks for itself, chooses, forbids, and can be lied to and grieved, and it is named with the Father and the Son. A force does not do those things.
- The Trinity is paganThe word and formula are later, but pagan triads were three gods, and Christians worshiped Jesus two centuries before the councils that defined the Trinity.
- The Holy Spirit is a personWhat the Spirit does, and how he can be treated, are things only a person does or suffers. A single pronoun carries little of the weight.
- The Trinity is monotheismThe Bible says there is one God, distinguishes the Father, Son, and Spirit from one another, and treats each as that one God. The Trinity is the summary that keeps all three.