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The Nature of the Spirit Questions

AustinC

Well-Known Member
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.”

Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."
 
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Charles Perkins

Active Member
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.”

Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."

These two scriptures don't really tell me that the Holy Spirit is God.
 

Charles Perkins

Active Member
Indeed, this thread is regarding suffering. Thank you for clarifying. Your word usage indicated you do not view Jesus, nor the Holy Spirit as God. I will leave it at that.

Actually I view Jesus as God, who is , was and always has been God though for a brief time he was flesh.. I have questions about the Holy Spirit being God.
 

tyndale1946

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
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.”

Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."

That's the one I've been thinking of, The Holy Spirit was in the garden and The Holy Spirit's manifestation at the baptism of Jesus descending like a dove skipped my mind... Hey I've been on this board a long time and I'm 74 and I don't remember as well as I use to when I was younger... Thanks for helping out Austin... Brother Glen:)
 
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Charles Perkins

Active Member
The Holy Spirit was in the garden and The Holy Spirit's manifestation at the baptism of Jesus descending like a dove skipped my mind... Hey I've been on this board a long time and I'm 74 and I don't remember as well as I use to when I was younger... Thanks for helping out Austin... Brother Glen:)

The Spirit is mentioned in Genesis 1:2 during the creation week. There we are told that the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

The only reference I find in the Garden of Eden is Genesis 3:8 which uses the Hebrew word "ruwach" Strong's 7307. In context the KJV translates it cool, suggesting the cooling effect of the wind.

Is there another I'm missing?
 

Charles Perkins

Active Member
I just finished The Holy Spirit by John Owen and it was quite in depth and a great study and resource book but I also like Arthur Pink and soon as I take care of my other irons in the fire so to speak am going to read his work on The Holy Spirit... I left this link to the book if anyone wants to read it and I do trust the writings of Pink having read and studied his writings many times in the past and his works are full of spiritual biblical truths as I'm sure my friend and yoke fellow in the faith Kentucky can agree, him being a pinkofile like me and I'm just diving into the three volume book Exposition Of The Gospel Of John by Pink... Take heart I will be posting some of his thoughts in the future... I will probably be reading and studying back to back Pink... The Holy Spirit and Exposition Of The Gospel Of John together!... Hey I have plenty of time and they won't let me go anywhere... Enjoy the link Charles and the rest of you too... Brother Glen:)

The Holy Spirit

I'll take a look, thanks.
 

SavedByGrace

Well-Known Member
Acts 5:3-4, "But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

the words, "ψεύσασθαι σε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον", to lie to the Spirit the Holy", plainly show that the Holy Spirit is not "impersonal", but a "Person", like The Father and The Son are. "He" has been lied to. In the next verse, Peter tells Ananias that by lying to the Holy Spirit, he has actually "οὐκ ἐψεύσω ἀνθρώποις ἀλλὰ τῷ θεῷ", not "lied to a human, but to the God". Nothing can be clearer from this passage, to show the Personality of the Holy Spirit, and His Deity.

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commands: "πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος". that is, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". There is One Name of Almighty God, as Moses was told in Exodus 3:15, " God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My Name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. In Matthew, the Three Persons, Whose distinction is clear in the Greek, with the use of the definite article with each, "τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος". THE Father and THE Son and THE Holy Spirit". Three distinct Persons, Who are Yahweh.

In Job 33:4, it says, "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life." Here "`asah" (Make), is the same Hebrew word that is used in places like Genesis 2:2, which is on the whole of Creation, "And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had made (`asah), and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had made (`asah). Note in Job that The Spirit of God", is here distinguished from "the breath of the Almighty", which shows that the Holy Spirit is not just an "active force", or "impersonal power", as the cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses, and others wrongly teach. The Holy Spirit is the Creator, as the Father and Jesus Christ are. In Genesis 1:1, we read, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth", where "God" in the Hebrew is "elohim", which is masculine and plural. Not as some try to water this down by suggesting the nonsense of "plural of majesty", but, as we read in places like Genesis 1:26, "Then God said, “Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness", shows the Plurality of Persons. As do texts like Ecclesiastes 12:1, "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth", where in the Hebrew, "Creator" is in the plural number, "Creators", as in the Holy Trinity.
 

37818

Well-Known Member
I am not sure what the problem is. The short answer is the Persons, who are God the Father, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit are the one and the same God by reason they are Spirit as God. And it is by their One Spirit that is by which we actually know God.

Romans 8:9, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

Romans 8:16, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: . . ."

John 4:24, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
 

SavedByGrace

Well-Known Member
I am not sure what the problem is. The short answer is the Perons, who are God the Father, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit are the one and the same God by reason they are Spirit as God. And it is by their One Spirit that is by which we actually know God.

Romans 8:9, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

Romans 8:16, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: . . ."

John 4:24, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

Do you believe that the Holy Trinity is Three distinct Person Who are coequal coessential and coeternal and are one in essence or nature. The Father is 100% God. The Son is 100% God and the Holy Spirit is 100% God
 

Charles Perkins

Active Member
Acts 5:3-4, "But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

the words, "ψεύσασθαι σε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον", to lie to the Spirit the Holy", plainly show that the Holy Spirit is not "impersonal", but a "Person", like The Father and The Son are. "He" has been lied to. In the next verse, Peter tells Ananias that by lying to the Holy Spirit, he has actually "οὐκ ἐψεύσω ἀνθρώποις ἀλλὰ τῷ θεῷ", not "lied to a human, but to the God". Nothing can be clearer from this passage, to show the Personality of the Holy Spirit, and His Deity.

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commands: "πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος". that is, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". There is One Name of Almighty God, as Moses was told in Exodus 3:15, " God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My Name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. In Matthew, the Three Persons, Whose distinction is clear in the Greek, with the use of the definite article with each, "τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος". THE Father and THE Son and THE Holy Spirit". Three distinct Persons, Who are Yahweh.

In Job 33:4, it says, "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life." Here "`asah" (Make), is the same Hebrew word that is used in places like Genesis 2:2, which is on the whole of Creation, "And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had made (`asah), and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had made (`asah). Note in Job that The Spirit of God", is here distinguished from "the breath of the Almighty", which shows that the Holy Spirit is not just an "active force", or "impersonal power", as the cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses, and others wrongly teach. The Holy Spirit is the Creator, as the Father and Jesus Christ are. In Genesis 1:1, we read, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth", where "God" in the Hebrew is "elohim", which is masculine and plural. Not as some try to water this down by suggesting the nonsense of "plural of majesty", but, as we read in places like Genesis 1:26, "Then God said, “Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness", shows the Plurality of Persons. As do texts like Ecclesiastes 12:1, "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth", where in the Hebrew, "Creator" is in the plural number, "Creators", as in the Holy Trinity.

Thanks, it is scriptures like this that indirectly suggest that the Holy Spirit is a person that cause me to pause. There many other scriptures though that speak of the Holy Spirit as well.
 

Charles Perkins

Active Member
I am not sure what the problem is. The short answer is the Persons, who are God the Father, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit are the one and the same God by reason they are Spirit as God. And it is by their One Spirit that is by which we actually know God.

Romans 8:9, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

Romans 8:16, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: . . ."

John 4:24, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

These are all very clear scriptures. We are to worship God in the spirit and in truth. We have been born new to lead a spiritual life filled with the Holy Spirit. We are also told that God will dwell in us and we in God.

What they don't make clear to me is that the Holy Spirit is God. Many others have the clarity they need I trust that God through his Holy Spirit has given this understanding. I have examined myself and know that God is working in me, for some reason the Spirit has not given me the same clarity yet, that others have. I will always trust God because I know that he is more than able to accomplish his will and desire.

Am I less Christian because I honestly speak from my heart my lack of clarity? It is God who reveals the truth through his Spirit and God has not revealed it yet to me in this matter.
 

Van

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I must have missed it - the definition of "spirit." I would think such a word would have several meaning, liking having a lot of spirit meaning rambunctious to the divine or human spirit possessing life and the power to act. Can the divine spirit be one God in three persons, with one of those persons being the Holy Spirit? I think so. Does this "person" manifest personhood in scripture, demonstrating will, intellect and emotion? I think so.

Is being unsure about the personhood of the third person of the Trinity, different than denying the Trinity? I think not.
 

SavedByGrace

Well-Known Member
Thanks, it is scriptures like this that indirectly suggest that the Holy Spirit is a person that cause me to pause. There many other scriptures though that speak of the Holy Spirit as well.

Do you not believe that the Holy Spirit is a distinct Person from the Father and Jesus and is Almighty God
 

Charles Perkins

Active Member
Do you not believe that the Holy Spirit is a distinct Person from the Father and Jesus and is Almighty God

I neither believe nor disbelieve it at this time. We are told to prove all things. I trust God and his word. I also trust in God's guidance for without God there can be no real spiritual understanding of any kind.
 
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SavedByGrace

Well-Known Member
I neither believe nor disbelieve it at this time. We are told to prove all things. I trust God and his word. I also trust in God guidance for without God there can be no real spiritual understanding of any kind.

What problems do you have with the very clear passage from Acts chapter 5, verses 3-4? It is evident that the Holy Spirit is here referred to as God
 
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