CHRIS LEE | Contributor
In Part I of this study on the Trinity, we covered two important truths that God has revealed about Himself: 1. There is only one God, there are no others. 2. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. The first biblical truth corrects such heresies as polytheism (many gods) and tritheism (three gods). The second biblical truth rules out such heresies as Arianism (the belief that Jesus is a lesser being that is not fully God in the same sense as the Father) and Macedonianism (the idea that the Holy Spirit is not fully God or is an impersonal force). In Part I we reviewed passages teaching the full divinity of the Spirit but did not fully address his personhood. That’s where we’ll pick up in Part 2.
The Holy Spirit is a Person
Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God to mankind, so we can readily identify with him as the God-man. It is sometimes more challenging for us, as finite humans, to identify with the Holy Spirit in a personal sense, and yet it is difficult to escape the scriptural teaching that He is a person. The Holy Spirit is sent to be our Helper, our Teacher, our Guide, and a Witness to the Truth of Jesus. As we are transformed by the Spirit and grow in the Spirit, we will become ever more aware of the scriptural reality that He is a person who is in personal relationship with every believer in the most intimate of ways.
First, we should note that the Holy Spirit has a name. Although it is possible that a name might be given to something other than a person, here we see the Father and Son named as well, so it seems clear that the passage is using the names of three persons:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”— Matthew 28:19 (NASB).
Secondly, we see that not only are personal pronouns used of the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit is described in ways that could only be applied to a person.
The Holy Spirit is a Helper
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;” — John 14:16 (NASB)
The Holy Spirit is a Teacher
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”— John 14:26 (NASB)
The Holy Spirit is a Witness
“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”— John 15:26-27 (NASB)
The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He is a guide, speaks truth, discloses what is to come and glorifies Christ.
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
“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. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”— John 16:7-14 (NASB)
So, we have now seen biblical evidence that the Holy Spirit is both fully God and possesses personhood. This completes our review of the second biblical truth that forms the basis of the Trinitarian doctrine.
However, if we simply stopped there, we might fall into a third heresy known as “modalism”. Modalism teaches that God goes into different modes at different times. According to modalism, God is sometimes the Father, at other times the Son, and at still other times the Spirit. In the modern form of the modalism heresy, known as “Oneness Pentecostalism”, God was the Father prior the incarnation, the Son during the incarnation, and the Holy Spirit after the ascension.
This teaching runs directly counter to the teaching of Scripture as we shall see today. Because this ancient heresy seems to again be gaining a foothold, including with at least one popular television evangelist, it is important to review the strong biblical evidence that the Father, Son, and Spirit are personally distinct from each other. For length, I will break this study up into two parts.
The Father, Son, and Spirit are Personally Distinct
The Bible is quite clear that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God and, as we have already said, they are one God (one Being of one essence or substance). It is difficult for us, as corporal creatures limited by time and space, to conceive of such a being as described in the Bible. Nevertheless, we must submit to the Scriptures, even when some concepts are difficult to fully grasp.
The picture of God that emerges, when the entirety of Scripture is considered, is of one being who has always existed in relationship to Himself. This means He is perfect and complete in Himself. He has never been lonely; He has never been without love; He has never been without communication; He has never had a need for anyone or anything. God creates as an act of grace, not need. God shares his love, grace, and the gift of life with His creation.
Anything we know about love, relationship, and communication comes from the fact that we were created in the imago dei (the image of God). We reflect, however incompletely, the communicable attributes of God such as love, relationship, communication, and so forth. These attributes are eternal and essential to God because He has eternally, simultaneously, existed as the Father, Son, and Spirit, three distinct persons in relationship to each other and yet one being of one essence or substance.
As we began Part II of this study by examining the evidence for the Holy Spirit’s full divinity and personhood, let’s continue in the same vein by demonstrating that the Spirit is also personally distinct from the Son and the Father.
Jesus is not the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is “Another Helper”
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;”—John 14:16 (NASB)
Jesus Sent the Holy Spirit
“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,”— John 15:26 (NASB)
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”— John 16:7 (NASB)
The Holy Spirit Glorifies Jesus
“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.
“He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”—John 16:13-14 (NASB)
The Son and the Holy Spirit are Distinguished as Two Persons
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,”—Matthew 28:19 (NASB)
The Holy Spirit Descended Upon Jesus
Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”—Luke 3:21-22 (NASB)
The Father is not the Holy Spirit
The Father Also Sent the Holy Spirit
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”—John 14:26 (NASB)
“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,”—John 15:26 (NASB)
The Holy Spirit Intercedes with the Father for Us
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.—Romans 8:26-27 (NASB)
The Father and the Holy Spirit are Distinguished as Two Persons
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,”—Matthew 28:19 (NASB)
In Part 3, our final installment of this study, I will present biblical evidence that the Father and Son are also distinct persons.
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