Evidence · Case 04 · The Trinity
The Spirit speaks and commissions, Acts 13:2
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
While the church at Antioch worships, the Holy Spirit says, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul.” That is speech, with a first-person purpose, not a vague impression.
Sources
Acts 13:2, NASB.
Objections & responses
- The Spirit “speaking” in Acts is almost certainly through a prophet in the congregation. That’s God’s inspiration at work, not a third person talking.
Probably through a prophet, yes. But the text attributes the words to the Spirit as speaker, with a first-person for me, and Acts elsewhere reports the Spirit forbidding Paul’s travel, snatching Philip away, and being lied to. The objection has to explain every one of those as figurative. The point is not that one verse proves personhood but that Luke’s habitual way of describing the Spirit is as an agent who acts and speaks.