The Spirit is God?
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Dictionary of Bible Themes 1511 Trinity, relationships between the persons
The Spirit is identified with God
The Spirit is identified with God?
The Spirit is identified with God?
Now we're going to look at the Holy Spirit and whether or not the Holy Spirit is identified with God as an equal. Because the doctrine of the Trinity does not believe that the Holy Spirit is the father or is the son we need to look and see if the Holy Spirit is being equated with the God the father. Now just because the Holy Spirit is spoken of alongside the father and the son doesn't necessarily mean that they are coequal or that they are consubstantial nor does it mean that they are coeternal. I think it's safe to say that they are mentioned together the father the son and the Holy Spirit. does that but as we've already examined it doesn't mean that they are all three consubstantial and all God together. But this is the assumption in the doctrine of the Trinity who believe that they are consubstantial that just because you see them together then it means that they are all one God and consubstantial.
Because the Bible shows the father as God the only true God regardless of who else is mentioned being involved in anything God does, does not mean that he considered them equal with him or that they are equal with him. This would be like looking at Moses and saying because Moses was involved in the parting of the Red Sea then therefore Moses is also coequal and consubstantial with God because these miracles were done through him. But if we look at that reasoning that anybody who was used for a miracle could be or would be a candidate for being added to who the true God is. And since that is not reason enough because King Saul for example operated in prophecy after being rejected. It doesn't necessarily mean that everyone who is operating in a miraculous act that God is using this person for a miraculous act. It doesnt mean that, that person should be considered consubstantial or coequal with the only true God. That goes for the Holy Spirit and that goes for Jesus if they are not the only true God then just because they're involved in activities that involve God that's not reason enough to say that they are coequal and consubstantial with God.
“The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.
“The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me,
‘He who rules over men righteously,
Who rules in the fear of God,
Let us examine this verse we will begin with the "the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me and his word was on my tongue" this is saying that the speaker was influenced by the spirit of the Lord. God's Spirit influences all the Bible as we know God sends his spirit to influence us in our daily walk. And then it says "the God of Israel said the rock of Israel spoke to me" So really what David is saying here is that he is speaking prophetically and that in his words are prophetic truth that were given to him through the Spirit of God. When it talks about the God of Israel said and the rock of Israel spoke to David is not saying that the Spirit of God is the God of Israel and that's who we should understand is God that the Holy Spirit is God Almighty. What we are to understand is that it's saying that the Holy Spirit influenced David prophetically and he heard the God of Israel speak to him through the Holy Spirit. Not that the Holy Spirit is God nor that the Holy Spirit is the God of Israel but that through the Holy Spirit he heard the God of Israel. This is very important for you to understand because it's easy to miss understand the role of the Holy Spirit as a messenger or a vehicle to bring information to you from God. And equating that with God it's a mistake to do so. The best way to understand the Holy Spirit is to acquaint the Holy Spirit with the Internet but this is the spiritual Internet that is connected to God himself and is connected to Christ because God has anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit. And so when you understand that the Holy Spirit is the anointing that connects Jesus and the father in a spiritual communication and that we who are anointed or baptized in the Holy Spirit also are plugged into the Internet of the spirit connecting us to the father and the son and the rest of the church we can see why through the Holy Spirit communication happens. But we are not to look at the Holy Spirit as God himself but a divine essence from God for communication and for being children of God because not only is the Holy Spirit from God but it is his nature that we get that makes as part of his family so it's not just spiritual Internet network but it's also what makes you part of God's actual literal family. It's kind of like the nature of God of the DNA of God and when you get this DNA of God you are brought into a new world of communication with the father and the son and the church.
You may be asking what how do I know that the Holy Spirit is a vehicle of conversation and communication and not God himself.
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.
So here is Jesus explaining the Holy Spirit to us. He says when the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth. So that means that it's going to be like GPS in your spirit always guiding you towards truth. And then it says "for he will not speak on his own initiative" this means that the Holy Spirit will not speak from something within himself. So the Holy Spirit is not communicating his own thoughts and reasoning and desires. The Holy Spirit is not an authority figure giving directions according to his own will. God the father is always in control because he is the true God and because the spirit comes from him he is directing it to do his will. So the Holy Spirit is not in charge because the Holy Spirit doesn't say what it wants to say but it is under authority. The next part of the verse says "but what ever he hears, he will speak" God the father does not need to hear what to say next God just says what he wants. So the Holy Spirit is not the father because the Holy Spirit doesn't have the authority to say anything it wants to. The Holy Spirit must be told what to say and then it relays the information to whom it IS set. So this is not modalism that says that the father and the Spirit are the same person, the Holy Spirit is not the father because the Holy Spirit doesn't say what he wants to but the father does say what he wants to. And so this kind of gives you the better understanding that the Holy Spirit is a network from God that can access to being children of God in reality and is the communication channel God Jesus and the church. This is why it says that whatever he hears he will speak in other words whatever God sends through the Holy Spirit to you is what it will give you from God. Just like the Facebook messenger is going to send you the messages that someone else is sending and not adding to it its own opinions. In the same way the Holy Spirit is not going to say what it wants but what it hears it will speak. So when we're talking to someone through messenger we're not assuming that messenger is that person we understand that the messenger is the vehicle through which we are communicating. In the same way the Holy Spirit cannot be assumed to be God but the vessel through which we are communicating with God. So that takes us back to the original verse.
“The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.
“The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me,
‘He who rules over men righteously,
Who rules in the fear of God,
2 Sam 23:
When we read this verse the first time we look at it and looked as though it was saying that the Holy Spirit spoke to David and that because the Holy Spirit was speaking to David that it was God that was speaking to David that the spirit of the Lord and God are synonymous. But now that we are looking closer at the Holy Spirit and the role of the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit doesn't say what it wants but is only relaying what it hears. We can understand that it's saying that David was influenced by the Holy Spirit and he heard the words of God through the Holy Spirit and that that's why he heard the God of Israel say things to him. But someone who is desperate to try to prove the doctrine of the Trinity is good to see this and say the spirit of the Lord spoke to David and it says that David heard the God of Israel and so therefore the Holy Spirit is the God of Israel. And that's the most simplistic way to look at it because it kind of sounds like that's the doctrine of the Trinity to them. But as we look deeper into the role of the Holy Spirit we realize that Holy Spirit is only a vehicle through which communication is done. And not only communication but that's when the gifts of the Spirit come through God sends his gifts through the Holy Spirit to us the working of miracles and healings all of those things revelation all come through the Holy Spirit that's why the Holy Spirit is so important but we cannot make the Holy Spirit God Almighty. We must understand the role of the Holy Spirit and see the Holy Spirit for what it is and not for equating what we get to the Holy Spirit with who standing that information to the Holy Spirit.
Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Ps 51
So in this verse were seeing that the psalmist is saying please don't take your presence for me and also is and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. And so when that Trinitarian's want to say that seeing the presence of God is equal to the Holy Spirit and so therefore the Holy Spirit is God. But actually it's talking about two different things . So God's presence is being asked not to be taken away, the Holy Spirit has a connection with the presence of God because the Holy Spirit is the vehicle through which God is bringing his presence to David. Through the Holy Spirit David is getting in touch with and encountering the presence of God, we talked about before how the Holy Spirit is connecting us with the father and the son and that we become children of God through the Holy Spirit joining with our spirit. And we get in touch with this network of spirituality and connection with God the father that we have a closeness with God through the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit is not God himself but is a vehicle through which we get communication, gifts, healing, revelation, direction, and God's presence. He's saying don't take your presence away don't take the Holy Spirit away because he knows that they are connected. The way he's getting the presence of God is through the Holy Spirit but is not saying that the presence of God is the Holy Spirit is the vehicle by which David is encountering God's presence.
1 Cor 3:16
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
In this verse it's much more clearer Paul says do you not know that you are the temple of God in other words saying that because the Holy Spirit is within the church that they are the vehicle through which the people in the city are encountering the presence of God. Because the Holy Spirit is within you the people you encounter are encountering the presence of God through you because the Holy Spirit is in you and God's presence comes forth through the Holy Spirit and you, therefore you are the temple of God. So because you are a vehicle through which God's presence is known to others we are not going to equate you with being God Almighty. Because we already know that we are not God Almighty but just a vehicle used to bring forth the presence of God to others. The same way with the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is within us God's presence is within us through the Holy Spirit but God is greater than the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is under the direction of God. So we have to see the cascading connections from God and where he's at the Holy Spirit is the vehicle through which we get God's presence and we in turn are God's presence to others on earth but God is in all of that and we are not God because of it. We need to understand the role of the Holy Spirit and understand our own role and see that God is not the Holy Spirit not us but we and the Holy Spirit can be used as a vehicle to bring forth the presence of God to others. Because the Holy Spirit is not acting on his own we understand that they Holy Spirit is not God and that the Holy Spirit is not the father because the only true God is the father so because of the behavior of the Holy Spirit we understand that the Holy Spirit is under authority does not act on its own and is a vehicle through which we get a lot of blessings from God