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 (廔, neuter) those who believed in Him were to receive.

John 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom (廔, neuter) the world cannot receive

Acts 5:32 the Holy Spirit, whom (廔, neuter) God has given色

Rom 8:26 the Spirit himself (帢廔廔, neuter) also helps our weakness色

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 (彖庰彃缶樁) 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 (帢帢庥弇峸怷), which is a masculine noun. Here are the places:

John 14:26 But the Paraclete (帢帢庥弇峸怷, masculine), the Holy Spirit (彖庰彃缶樁, neuter), whom (廔, neuter, referring to the Spirit) the Father will send in my name, he (廒庥庰彃彖怷, masculine, referring to the Paraclete) will teach you all things. (cp. John 15:26)

John 16:7-13 unless I go away, the Paraclete (帢帢庥弇峸怷, masculine) will not come to you but if I go, I will send him (帢廔廔裕, masculine) to you. 8 When he (廒庥庰彃彖怷, masculine) comes, he will convict the world 13 But when he (廒庥庰彃彖怷, masculine), the Spirit of truth, comes色

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 (帢庣帤巹怷彖, neuter) in order to destroy him (帢廔, neuter)

Luke 9:47 Jesus took a child (帢庣帤巹怷彖, neuter) and stood him (帢廔, 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 (帣峟怷, neuter) wrapped (neuter) in swaddling cloths and lying (neuter) in a manger.

Luke 18:15 they were bringing even their babies (廔 帣峟庢, neuter article and noun) to him色

1 Pet 2:2 like newborn babies (廒庣帠峟彖彖庢帢 帣峟庢, 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 its 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 廒彖庛怷庣, (masculine, people); 帢巹 (feminine, souls); 峟庥彖帢 (neuter, children), or 廒帤庰弇怷巹 (masculine, brothers/sisters). The most common word for demon is 帤帢庣弮彖庣怷彖 (neuter), but they can also be called 帤帢庣弮彖 (masculine) or 彖庰彃缶樁 廒庥峎庛帢怷彖 (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 (彖庰彃缶樁), while the word for soul/life is feminine (峸). 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 (彖怷彃羊) or neuter (彖怷峸弮帢). 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 (硌), feminine in Greek (庛峎弇帢帢), 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 doesnt work that way. Since the eye (廔庛帢弇弮) is masculine, Greek uses the masculine pronoun (帢廔) to refer to it. The head is feminine, so the feminine pronoun (帢廔峸) is used to refer to it. And the knee (帠彖) is neuter, so the neuter pronoun (帢廔) 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色, 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 帢廔, 帢廔峸 and 帢廔. 廔 can refer to males (he) or masculine objects, like scrolls, eyes or houses (it in English). 廔峸 can refer to females (she) or feminine objects, like hands, Scripture or kingdoms (it). And 帢廔 can refer to things (it) but it can also refer to persons who are identified by a neuter word, like child, spirit or demon.