LYING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT = LYING TO GOD?

Answer:

            These verses you quoted (Acts 5:3-4, New King James Version) undeniably point out that to lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God. But does this mean that the Holy spirit is God? No, it does not. For it did, then it would contradict the essential truth about God. As Apostle Paul clearly stated, “there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came” (I Cor. 8:6, New International Version). The Almighty Father Himself said, “I alone am God and that there is no one else like me” (Isa. 46:9, Today’s English Version).

            Why, is it, then, that if one lies to the Holy Spirit, he also lies to God? To answer this, let us quote the following statements of Christ concerning the Holy Spirit:

            “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26, NKJV, emphasis ours)

            “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” (John 15:26, Ibid. emphasis ours)

            “Most assuredly, I say to you he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (John 13:20, Ibid. emphasis ours)

            The Lord Jesus Christ taught that “the Helper” or the Holy Spirit is sent both by the Father and the Son. Furthermore, Christ declared that anyone who receives whomever He sent equally receives the one who sent  Him-the Father who is the only true God (John 17:1,3). Hence, whatever a person does to the one sent by Christ and by the Father, he likewise does it to God Himself. And since the Holy Spirit is sent by Christ and the Father, lying to the Holy Spirit necessarily means lying to God Himself. It is not surprising therefore, that when Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit, the Bible teaches that he, in effect, lied to God.

            The problem with believing that the Holy Spirit is God is just because lying to the Holy Spirit is tantamount to lying to God the Father is that this would have several erroneous ramifications. For example, the apostles would then be Gods also because when Christ was commissioning the apostles, to them He proclaimed:

            “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” (Luke 10:16, NKJV)

              Here, Christ Himself says quite clearly that rejecting the apostles is the same as rejecting Him and God. If we were to follow the line of thinking of those who argue that the Holy Spirit is God, then we would be forced to accept that the apostles and all other messengers are God as well!

            Historically, the erroneous belief that the Holy Spirit is God became an article of faith of the Catholic Church through the Council of Constantinople only in 381 A.D., more than three centuries after the Bible had been written (Discourses on the Apostles’ Creed, p. 206).