The New Testament clearly presents the Holy Spirit as a person. The Spirit is described as doing things and experiencing things that only make sense if the Spirit is a person. For example, the Spirit guided Jesus (Luke 4:10) and provides moral guidance to believers (Rom 8:13-14, Gal 5:18). The Spirit speaks (Acts 20:23, 21:11, 1 Tim 4:1, Heb 3:7, Rev 2:7, 22:17). The Spirit can be slandered (Mark 3:29), lied to (Acts 5:3-4), grieved (Eph 4:30) or insulted (Heb 10:29). All of those descriptions only make sense if the Spirit is a person. The fact that he is called a “spirit” also personalizes the Spirit; we think of a human spirit as being the inner person; and demons are called “spirits” in the New Testament.

Sometimes another proof for the personhood of the Spirit is suggested: that masculine pronouns for the Spirit in the New Testament are proof that the Spirit is a person. But I want to suggest that this is not a good argument, for the following reasons:

First, the Holy Spirit is almost always referred to with neuter pronouns, but this does not make the Spirit into a non-person. Here are some examples:

John 7:39 “But this he spoke of the Spirit, whom (ὃ, neuter) those who believed in Him were to receive.”

John 14:17 “… the Spirit of truth, whom (ὃ, neuter) the world cannot receive”

Acts 5:32 “… the Holy Spirit, whom (ὃ, neuter) God has given…”

Rom 8:26 “… the Spirit himself (αὐτὸ, neuter) also helps our weakness…”

Others: John 14:26, 15:26, 1 Cor 12:8, 2 Cor 11:4, Jas 4:5, 1 John 4:3.

All of these uses are grammatically correct: in Greek, a pronoun matches the gender of the noun it refers to. Since Spirit (πνεῦμα) is neuter, the pronouns (who, himself and which) normally have to be neuter in Greek. English translations render these neuter pronouns as “who” because they refer to a person.

Is the Spirit ever referred to with masculine pronouns in Greek? Yes, but only when he is called the Helper, or Paraclete (παρακλήτος), which is a masculine noun. Here are the places:

John 14:26 “But the Paraclete (παρακλήτος, masculine), the Holy Spirit (πνεῦμα, neuter), whom (ὃ, neuter, referring to the Spirit) the Father will send in my name, he (ἐκεῖνος, masculine, referring to the Paraclete) will teach you all things.” (cp. John 15:26)

John 16:7-13 “… unless I go away, the Paraclete (παρακλήτος, masculine) will not come to you… but if I go, I will send him (αὐτὸν, masculine) to you. 8 When he (ἐκεῖνος, masculine) comes, he will convict the world… 13 But when he (ἐκεῖνος, masculine), the Spirit of truth, comes…”

And that leads to the second point: some Greek words referring to persons are neuter and so require Greek neuter pronouns; this does not turn them into non-persons.

Matt 2:13 “… Herod is going to search for the child (παιδίον, neuter) in order to destroy him (αὐτό, neuter)”

Luke 9:47 “Jesus… took a child (παιδίον, neuter) and stood him (αὐτό, neuter) by his side”

In other cases, children or babies are described using neuter articles, adjectives or participles:

Luke 2:12 “… you will find a baby (βρέφος, neuter) wrapped (neuter) in swaddling cloths and lying (neuter) in a manger.”

Luke 18:15 “they were bringing even their babies (τὰ βρέφη, neuter article and noun) to him…”

1 Pet 2:2 “like newborn babies (ἀρτιγέννητα βρέφη, neuter adjective and noun), long for the pure milk of the word...”

These examples are all of the most common kind of neuter noun that refers to a person: words that refer to children. But it’s important to know that many words for people in Greek do not follow the grammatical gender rules that we expect from an English perspective. For example, a group of people, including both men and women, can be called ἄνθρωποι, (masculine, “people”); ψυχαί (feminine, “souls”); τέκνα (neuter, “children”), or ἀδελφοί (masculine, “brothers/sisters”). The most common word for demon is δαιμόνιον (neuter), but they can also be called δαιμών (masculine) or πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον (neuter).

Finally, this view requires a mistaken view of how the gender of pronouns work in Greek. In English, a person is referred to with masculine or feminine pronouns (he or she), and non-persons are referred to with neuter pronouns (it). So from an English perspective, we are uncomfortable calling the Spirit “it” if the Spirit is a person. That works for English. But nouns and pronouns work differently in Greek. Every Greek noun has a grammatical gender that does not necessarily correspond to what we think of as biological sex or gender. So, for example, the Greek word for “spirit” is neuter (πνεῦμα), while the word for “soul/life” is feminine (ψυχή). Hand, scripture and kingdom are feminine words. Eye, house and scroll are masculine. Knee, tree and light are neuter. Sometimes synonyms have different genders. The mind is either masculine (νοῦς) or neuter (νοήμα). There is rarely any meaning to these assigned genders for nouns. (However, personal names in Greek, like Paul and Lydia, and titles, like “King” and “Queen,” have the grammatical gender that corresponds to the person.)

Another fact that confirms that these genders are arbitrary: a given word does not necessarily keep the same gender when translated into another language. For example, “sea” is masculine in Hebrew (יָם), feminine in Greek (θάλασσα), neuter in Latin (mare), feminine in French (mer), masculine or feminine in Spanish (mar) and German (Meer).

In English, we would use the pronoun “it” to refer to the eye, the head or the knee. But Greek doesn’t work that way. Since the eye (ὀφθαλμός) is masculine, Greek uses the masculine pronoun (αὐτός) to refer to it. The head is feminine, so the feminine pronoun (αὐτή) is used to refer to it. And the knee (γόνυ) is neuter, so the neuter pronoun (αὐτό) is used to refer to it. New Greek students often make the mistake of translating Matt 5:29 as “if your right eye causes you offense, tear him out…”, because Greek always uses masculine pronouns to refer to eyes.

To say it another way: in English, we have he, she, and it. “He” and “she” refer to persons, and “it” refers to things. In Greek, we have αὐτός, αὐτή and αὐτό. Αὐτός can refer to males (“he”) or masculine objects, like scrolls, eyes or houses (“it” in English). Αὐτή can refer to females (“she”) or feminine objects, like hands, Scripture or kingdoms (“it”). And αὐτό can refer to things (“it”) – but it can also refer to persons who are identified by a neuter word, like child, spirit or demon.