[This article is by someone else and is presented here with comments interleaved as a review of the content. The use of Scripture in this article is like that of those who use Scripture to claim that Sunday is the Lord’s day rather than the seventh-day Sabbath. This presentation regarding the Holy Spirit is based in paganism and traditions of men and is not a rightly divided biblical understanding. Not every objectionable point will be commented upon here. Hopefully just enough rebuttal is provided to encourage a sincere seeker of God’s truth to delve into further personal study.]
THEME 17 – Holy Spirit
THE HOLY SPIRIT DWELLS WITH THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and temperance. Against these things there is no law” (First Corinthians 3:16; Galatians 5:22, 23).
God
Q: How is deity presented in the Bible?
A: As a single God. As the apostle James expresses it: “Do you believe that there is one God? You do well”. We call this monotheism. One God, in the form of three distinct Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit: “Go therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Exodus 20:2, 3; Deuteronomy 6:4; James 2:19; Matthew 28:19).
This claim that the diety is presented in the Bible as three distinct persons is here made as a bare assertion – a logical fallacy. This is the main question at issue and cannot be responsibly just put forth as the conclusion without full biblical support, which this article fails to provide. The Bible in fact teaches that there is only one true God, the Father. This Father has an only begotten Son who is also divine by virtue of being the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God. Begotten does not mean created as many trinitarians claim. Begotten means begotten, born of, tore from the bosom of God, from the very material of God. We do not understand the nature of God or how He can beget a Son, but God has plainly revealed to mankind that He has a begotten Son. We know the fact of Christ’s sonship before creation and we know the identities of God the Father and His Son, but we do not know what God has not revealed about the specific nature of divinity. Ours is to accept what has been revealed by God.
Q: Does the word Trinity appear in the Bible?
A: No, just as the words millennium, monotheism, theology, theocracy, among others, do not appear.
Q: What main role is played by each Person of the Godhead in the plan of salvation?
A:
-the Father, gives: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16);
Don’t miss that God the Father stipulates that in order to avoid perishing that we must believe in His only begotten Son. The trinity doctrine denies that the Father is actually a Father, that the Son is actually a Son and creates a false third god called God the Holy Spirit. The Bible consistently refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God, not God the Spirit.
– the Son, gives himself: “Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself for us” (Ephesians 5:2);
– the Holy Spirit acts and applies salvation in the lives of believers: “Nevertheless… it is expedient for you that I go; for if I am not the Comforter, he will not come to you… And when he comes, he will convince… of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment”; “And in the same way the Spirit helps our weaknesses; for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groaning”; “Therefore, the churches throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and were built up and multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit” (John 16:7-11; Romans 8:26; Acts 9:31).
Jesus frequently refers to Himself in the third person. Trinitarians claim that the use of the third person pronoun must mean a literal third being, but this is not consistent with a rightly divided understanding of Scripture – or Spirit of Prophecy. In John 14 Jesus describes the Comforter in the third person chiefly characterized by the fact that Christ’s followers will see the Comforter but the world cannot see the Comforter. In John 14:22 we read: “Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” Here Judas is clearly acknowledging that he understands Jesus to be the Comforter but doesn’t understand how Jesus will manifest himself to “us” but not “unto the world.” Jesus has two natures, divine and human. Jesus never gave up His divine nature when He became human. The divinity of Christ was veiled such that Christ lived as our example as a human with all of our limitations and temptations demonstrating that it is possible to do our Father’s will. When Christ returns the second time He will return as the Second Adam, as a man, as our high priest, Lord and King. In His divine capacity Christ has never left us. Christ remains with His church and people through His Holy Spirit. At Pentacost, Jesus issued His Holy Spirit from Himself by breathing it out upon the people. The Holy Spirit is Christ Himself in His divine capacity. We do not understand the nature of the Holy Spirit of God in Christ, but the identity of the Holy Spirit of God has been clearly revealed to us through God’s Word and it is Christ Himself, not a third false god being.
Q: How else can this triple function be expressed of Divinity?
A:
– the Father: God and us;
– the Son: God with us;
– the Holy Spirit: God in us.
Creative philosophizing, but not biblical.
The Person of the Holy Spirit
Q: What other names are given to the Holy Spirit?
A:
– The Comforter (John 15:26);
– The Spirit of Truth (John 16:13);
– The Spirit of God (Ezekiel 11:24);
– The Spirit of Glory (First Epistle of Peter 4:14).
These are not names of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit and as such does not have a separate distinct name. The Holy Spirit apart from God has no name, no throne and no crown. This is because the Holy Spirit is not a third god being.
Q: What characteristics of the Holy Spirit show that He is a Person and not a force?
A: The Bible declares that the Holy Spirit:
-He is an intelligent being, who does not allow himself to be deceived;
-He speaks;
– Feel sad;
– Teaches;
– Help and intercede;
-Love us;
– Grants gifts.
(Acts 5:3, 4, 9; First Timothy 4:1; Ephesians 4:30; First Corinthians 2:13; 12:11; Romans 8:26; 15:30).
The Holy Spirit indeed has these personal characteristics because the Holy Spirit is the divine Son of God, a very personal being. These personal characteristics do not support a conclusion that the Holy Spirit is a third being separate from the Father and Son.
Q: Here on this Earth, who is the temple where the Holy Spirit dwells?
A: We are each one of us: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Holy Spirit dwells in you?” (First Epistle to the Corinthians 3:16; 6:19, 20);
Q: After Jesus’ ascension, who stood as his representative on this Earth?
A: The Holy Spirit: “But that Comforter who
Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and remind you of all that I have said to you” (John 14:16, 26).
Christ in His divine capacity represents Himself in His human capcity. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit is a third being.
The work of the Holy Spirit
Q: What did Jesus say the Holy Spirit would do other than teach, remember, and guide?
A: “And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment”; “…he will guide you into all truth.” Jesus also attributes to the Holy Spirit the work of the new birth, through baptism. Indeed, in his dialogue with Nicodemus, he emphasizes: “…unless he is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 16:8, 13; 3:3-5).
Q: Where and Who is the Truth to which the Spirit Holy guide?
A: “Sanctify them by the truth, thy word is truth”; “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth”; “Jesus said to him, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 17:17; 14:6; Psalm 119:142).
It is quite clear, therefore, that truth is found in the Bible and is embodied in Jesus; and it is to Him that the Holy Spirit guides us.
Yes, the divine Holy Spirit of Christ guides us to our High Priest human Christ. There is only ONE way to be restored to the Father and that is through the righteousness of His only begotten Son who became our sacrifice for sin – as a human.
Q: In contrast to the fruits of the flesh, what are the fruits of the Holy Spirit?
A: “…But the fruit of the Spirit is:” love, joy, “peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22).
The unforgivable sin
The unforgivable sin, the grieving of the Holy Spirit of God, is abundantly demonstrated in this article. Biblical truth is ignored, denied and trivialized in favor of pagan traditions of men. It is indeed a serious matter to reject truth and evidence as given through the revealed Word of God. This article is committing the unforgivable sin by teaching false doctrine and a false god.
Q: What is the sin that will not be forgiven?
A: The sin against the Holy Spirit: “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men” (Matthew 12:31).
Q: How is the unpardonable sin committed?
A: The Holy Spirit calls us all to repentance, with the intention of taking up residence in us, in order to prepare us for eternal life. But if we reject this call, covering up our sins and refusing to heed God’s messages and appeals, thus hardening our hearts to divine initiative, even despite so many signs, the result is that we self-incapacitate and close ourselves to the influence of God. divine calling.
By voluntarily remaining in sin, it becomes impossible to apply Christ’s atoning sacrifice to the sinner. Thus, the Holy Spirit consequently ceases to persuade the sinner because he no longer finds receptivity in him.
No one need look upon the sin against the Holy Ghost as something mysterious and indefinable. The sin against the Holy Ghost is the sin of persistent refusal to respond to the invitation to repent. 102SDA Bible Commentary 5:1093 – FLB 58.8 – https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/131.444#452
The sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit does not lie in any sudden word or deed—it is the firm, determined resistance of truth and evidence. 6LtMs, MS 30, 1890, par. 16 – https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/4972.1#21
This case is placed on record for our benefit. Just what took place in Pharaoh’s heart will take place in every soul that neglects to cherish the light and walk promptly in its rays. God destroys no one. The sinner destroys himself by his own impenitence. When a person once neglects to heed the invitations, reproofs, and warnings of the Spirit of God, his conscience becomes seared, and the next time he is admonished, it will be more difficult to yield obedience than before. And thus with every repetition. Conscience is the voice of God, heard amid the conflict of human passions; when it is resisted, the Spirit of God is grieved. –5T 120.1 – https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/113.573#601
Many at first appeared to receive the warning; yet they did not turn to God with true repentance. They were unwilling to renounce their sins. During the time that elapsed before the coming of the Flood, their faith was tested, and they failed to endure the trial. Overcome by the prevailing unbelief, they finally joined their former associates in rejecting the solemn message. Some were deeply convicted, and would have heeded the words of warning; but there were so many to jest and ridicule, that they partook of the same spirit, resisted the invitations of mercy, and were soon among the boldest and most defiant scoffers; for none are so reckless and go to such lengths in sin as do those who have once had light, but have resisted the convicting Spirit of God. {emphasis supplied} PP 95.2 – https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/84.336#355
By way of illustration: It is as if the parts that allow programs to be received were self-destructing inside our television. The broadcaster continues to broadcast its programming, but our device has become unable to receive it.
However, there is encouraging news: If a person is saddened and wonders if they have sinned against the Holy Spirit, this is proof that they have not committed that sin, because it is the Holy Spirit who “convicts of sin”. This is yet another call to accept forgiveness and salvation in Jesus (John 16:7, 8).
Q: How does the Bible describe the experience of those who sinned against the Holy Spirit?
A: They are “dark in understanding, separated of God’s life because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts. Who, having lost all sense, gave themselves up to dissolution, to commit all uncleanness with greediness” (Ephesians 4:18, 19).
Q: Will there be another alternative?
A: Yes, there is; God doesn’t want it to be that way; Instead of bitterness, sadness, hardness of heart and impurity, God gives us Jesus, who gave Himself for our Salvation. We also receive the Holy Spirit who guides us, so that in this life we can enjoy the fruit of the Spirit which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22).
The right response to the loving action of the Holy Spirit
Q: What should we do when the Holy Spirit calls us?
A: “… If today you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts …”, that is, it is important to respond to this continuous call from God while we still can. “For” He “says: I heard thee in an acceptable time, and helped thee in the day of salvation; behold now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation” (Hebrews 3:15; Second Epistle to the Corinthians 6:2).
Q: What does “not hardening your heart” really mean?
A: It is not to persist in a life of sin, but to be receptive to the invitation: “Repent therefore and be converted, so that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).
Q: Upon understanding that this is the path that leads to truth and eternal life, what should our attitude be?
A: “And your ears will hear the word behind you, saying: This is the way, walk
in it, turning neither to the right nor to the left” (Isaiah 30:21).
Conclusion: Christianity is a monotheistic religion, which presents itself in the form of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Of the three Persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the least known to Humanity. The Bible, however, refers to the Holy Spirit more than a hundred times in the Old Testament and more than two hundred times in the New Testament, a total of more than three hundred times.
The Holy Spirit is not the least known to humanity. The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift God could give mankind after Christ’s resurrection and is the active agency by which our hearts are transformed through repentance and dying to sin. The Holy Spirit is Christ Himself in His divine capacity ministering unto us – Christ in us our hope of glory. The people who do not recognize and know the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, are those people of the world. Christ’s true followers recognize the Holy Spirit.
Jesus compared the Holy Spirit to the wind which, although not visible, produces its effects. God wants to fulfill His promise to be in us, in the person of the Holy Spirit. He wants us to live and overcome sin and thus prepare for the Kingdom of Peace and Light.
As God, however, loves us and respects our free will, we are visited by the Holy Spirit to encourage us to accept salvation through Jesus, who lovingly says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to his house, and will dine with him, and he with me” (John 3:8; Ezekiel 37:14; Zechariah 4:6; Revelation 3:20).
Exactly, it is Christ who stands at the door of our hearts here and now, not a third god being.
He who opens the door of his heart, obeying and letting God guide his life, through faith, will already enjoy happiness and peace on this Earth. God is the source of true joy, security and certainty of salvation, which is guaranteed to us by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus and elaborated by the action of the Holy Spirit. In this entire process: accepting Jesus as our Savior, claiming his righteousness, deciding, through God’s grace, to abandon sin and live in obedience to God’s Law is the work of the Holy Spirit.
That said, it is pertinent to consider the following quote, which summarizes the work of the Holy Spirit, in the context of the Trinity, in His interrelationship with God the Father and God the Son, for our salvation: “God, the Eternal Spirit, played an active part with the Father and the Son in Creation, Incarnation and Redemption. He inspired the writers of Scripture. He filled the life of Christ with power. He attracts and convinces human beings; and those who are sensitive are renewed and transformed by Him, into the image of God. Sent by the Father and the Son to be always with His children, He bestows spiritual gifts upon the Church, enables it to bear witness to Christ, and, in harmony with the Scriptures, guides it into all truth” (Seventh-day Adventists Believe, 1989 Edition , page 56).
This quote is not biblical. This quote does not possess the blessing of the Spirit of Prophecy. This quote has been fashioned by what Ellen White describes as books of a new order that count the pillars of Adventism as error but have a foundation of sand that will be swept away by storm and tempest. The SDA church officially voted to change gods in 1980 and this quote is the fruit of that change. We will be judged by God’s Word (John 12:48), not by institutionalized beliefs formulated contrary to God’s Word and Spirit of Prophecy.
Given the importance and timeliness of this topic, more information is available for interested listeners for further study (listen or read Reference Note number 6).
NR 6
When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, the reality of the Trinity became evident: the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, proclaims from the Father: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16, 17).
No, the Bible says that God the Father’s voice was heard declaring His Son in whom He is well pleased. It is not the voice of a third false god being that proclaims anything. The Holy Spirit of God is real and very important but is not proven to be a third god being by the baptism of Jesus. The voice of God was heard. The Spirit of God was perceived as a dove. This is an example of grieving the Holy Spirit of God, to misuse the truth and evidence that God has revealed.
Exactly at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the Trinity appears in action; significantly, the same happened at the moment of Creation, when ELOIM, God in the plural form, says: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).
Again, this is terribly unbiblical. There are three powers in Heaven that are revealed to mankind, but not three separate beings. Creation does not provide any evidence at all of three separate gods. The plurality of God at Creation is satisfied with an understanding of God the Father and His Son. God created all things through His Son. Additionally, the word ELOHIM in its plural form does not always convey plurality. ELOHIM also conveys divine majesty and is biblically illustrated when God told Moses that Moses would be ELOHIM to Pharaoh. It is very important to rightly divide the Word of God, to accept what God has revealed and to avoid adding pagan interpretations.
Christianity, undoubtedly, is one of the three monotheistic religions in the world, and there is countless proof of this in the Bible. Christianity, however, has an advantage over Judaism and Islam because, being one God, it exists and functions
in the form of Three Persons. Hence the word “Trinity”, so attacked by current Anti-Trinitarians, or Unitarians, who are, in reality, the heirs of Arianism.
Arianism is typically understood to be the claim that Jesus was created. This is despite evidence that Arias did not teach that Jesus was created. Nevertheless, the accusation of Ariansim is to accuse a belief that Jesus was created. Non-trinitarians of the historical Adventist persuasion emphatically believe that Jesus was not created but rather begotten. To accuse these non-trinitarians of being Arian is to bear false witness which is a lie which is not consistent with the character of God or the Holy Spirit.
“There is but one way of escape for the sinner. There is but one agency whereby he may be cleansed from sin. He must accept the propitiation that has been made by the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. The shed blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” A complete offering has been made; for “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,”—not a son by creation, as were the angels, nor a son by adoption, as is the forgiven sinner, but a Son begotten in the express image of the Father’s person, and in all the brightness of his majesty and glory, one equal with God in authority, dignity, and divine perfection. In him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” ST May 30, 1895 par. 3
Without intending to explain the inexplicable, consider, however, two points for reflection on this topic too sublime for human limitations: yes, the term “Trinity” does not exist in the Bible, as well as many other terms that are part of our lexicon religious. But although the terms may be absent, what they define is clearly revealed.
It is, however, within our power to accept and understand that there can be unity in diversity. We have the example of the term Humanity, which is the set of billions and billions of human people, of the same nature, but distinct and with different functions. In the case of the Trinity, it is a single God, formed by three people of the same nature, but with different functions.
It is also true that we cannot understand how 1 can equal 3, but this should not be a cause for concern.
At a wedding ceremony, the officiant warned the groom: “João, there will be delicate moments in your marital life with Alícia, when you, astonished, will say: ‘Alícia, I don’t understand you’, but don’t worry about that; What Alícia needs most is for you to love her, even when you don’t understand her.”
This episode makes us think: “If I can’t sometimes understand my wife, how can I understand the Trinity? in other words, how can I understand God, in his fullness?”
The good news is that God doesn’t need me to understand Him. He simply wants me to love Him. By superimposing understanding on love, man enters a dead end.
God expects us to use our best efforts to understand what He has revealed. To that extent we must absolutely understand Him. Otherwise, we are avoiding and rejecting truth and evidence which is to grieve the Holy Spirit of God.
It will be enough to imagine three virtual situations, without the Trinity in the plan of salvation; only the Creator God, the One God who emptied “Himself, taking the form of a servant…” (Philippians 2:7-8):
a) at the birth of the Messiah it would be the One God who would be born a man from the womb of Mary;
The One God, the Father, has an only begotten Son who became our Messiah and sacrifice. It is the trinity doctrine that denies that Jesus was actually our sacrifice by claiming that there is no difference between God the Father and God the Son, that they are just role playing. That would preclude Jesus being our sacrifice which destroys the entire gospel of Jesus. This is why Adventist pioneers like James White said, “of “a certain class who deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. This class can be no other than those who spiritualize away the existence of the Father and the Son, as two distinct, literal, tangible persons, also a literal Holy city and throne of David… The way spiritualizers this way have disposed of or denied the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ is first using the old unscriptural trinitarian creed.”
b) in baptism, the One God would proclaim Himself “I am he in whom I am well pleased”;
The Bible clearly teaches that God the Father declared that Jesus was His Son in whom He was well pleased. Where does this drivel, “the One God would proclaim Himself “I am he in whom I am well pleased” come from?
c) on the cross, he would have to say to himself before he expired: “…to me I commit my spirit.”
The Bible plainly says that Jesus committed His Spirit into His Father’s hands.
The most chaotic and forbidding situation, however, would be the fact that God’s throne in Heaven would be empty, as God had stripped Himself and would be on this Earth, “in the form of a servant”, dead in the tomb for three days and three nights. The enemy could launch the most ambitious attacks to take control of the Universe, because the One God was limited to the human condition. That would be unthinkable!
God’s throne would never be empty. God the Father, the one true God, remains in full control at all times. Mankind is separated from Him by Sin. It is Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, who experience death in the tomb and was resurrected to be restored to His Father. It is urgent that we remain biblically founded in all things taught in the name of God.
Enough of purely human fiction. It is tragic for man, just because he cannot understand the Trinity, to risk making a farce of the Redeemer and the plan of salvation. It is better to recognize his human limitation, accepting gratefully and joyfully that “the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
With this posture of humility and intellectual honesty, the limited human being, thanks to the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent action of God, exemplified in the Trinity, is led to love God more and can feel happy and secure with the “grace of Jesus Christ , the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit” (Second Epistle to the Corinthians 13:13).