Monday, April 6, 2020

Ether 5:4 and the Personality of the Holy Spirit


In Ether 5:4, we read the following:

And in the mouth of three witnesses shall these things be established; and the testimony of three, and this work, in the which shall be shown forth the power of God and also his word, of which the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost bear record-- and all this shall stand as a testimony against the world at the last day.

This is good text to show that the Book of Mormon teaches that the Holy Spirit is not just "personal" but a person. Just as the Father and Son are independent witnesses, so, too, is the Holy Spirit (or "Holy Ghost" as in the text), which would require personality. This passage, in many respects, mirrors Acts 13:1-2, one of the better texts from the New Testament about the personality of the Holy Spirit.