Articles
The Person of The Holy Spirit (3)
The “Person” of The Holy Spirit (3)
By Greg King
The “Trinity” is something that some struggle with tremendously. God the Father, God the Son, God the H.S. Three Persons yet one God. “God” is a general term for deity like human is a general term for mankind. There is one God like there is one man. Man is made up of millions of individuals. God is made up of three. Father, Son, H.S. and we see them in the scripture.
- The Father is God – John 20:17, but He isn’t Christ – John 8:16. Nor the Holy Spirit – John 14:26.
- Jesus is God – Heb. 1:8-9 (Jesus is Deity), but He isn’t the Father – John 8:16. Nor the Holy Spirit – John 14:16, Acts 10:38.
- Holy Spirit is God – Acts 5:1-5, but He isn’t Jesus – John 14:16. Nor is He the Father – John 14:26
All 3 were present at creation.
- Genesis 1:1-2 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
- John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Elohim is the plural of “EL”(God) and is used over 2,570 times in the OT. Our first encounter with God in His Holy Word uses this term, “In the beginning God…” God’s revelation begins with the presentation of multiple personages possessing that Divine essence.
All 3 were present at the baptism of Jesus.
- Matthew 3:16-17 “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
This creates a bit of a problem for those of the “oneness doctrine” as well as John 14:16-17.
- John 14:16-17 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Jesus is going to pray to the Father to send the Holy Spirit to aid His disciples after His death. The Holy Spirit is going to help them do all the work they needed to do, He would guide them into all truth, He would bring them to remembrance the things Jesus had said. He would care for them. The Holy Spirit had a work to perform.
The Holy Spirit is a “HE” not an “it”. He is real. He has feelings. We can despise Him, insult Him, and bring grief to Him by our actions. I don’t know if we think about harming God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit by the action of our lives. I hurt myself when I sin, but God sees that too. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
He is interested in us as one person is in another. As a person we need to develop a relationship with Him. That’s what God is asking us for throughout the pages of the word. The Father, Son, & Holy Spirit want to know us and they want us to know them and grow closer and closer.
- 2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
There is an intimate relationship to be had with the Holy Spirit just as there is with the Father and the Son. There is a relationship there that transcends words.
The Holy Spirit has feelings, desires, and goals in mind for every one of us. He’s real and we ought to treat Him as real. Not as some intangible thing that we know nothing about. He may not be as obvious as God the Father and the God the Son but being Divine He deserves some of our attention. When we think of God the Holy Spirit, we can think among other things of the fact that Christ sent Him, that He convinced the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:7-11); and that He revealed and confirmed the Word so that we now have all truth. This should affect how we view Him, honor Him and use His work.
