Chapter Seven – Defining the Holy Spirit

Next Part Holy Spirit is Not the Father

We now come to a central question: Who or what is the Holy Spirit? Many people answer this in the following way: “He is the third person of the Trinity.” However, close examination of Scripture reveals a totally different picture—if one can let go of previously conceived notions.

One must be aware that Satan counterfeits every aspect of true Christianity. The truth about the Holy Spirit would be no exception. It serves the devil’s purpose to deceive people into believing that the Holy Spirit is a person in the Godhead. He understands that if he can convince people to believe this, then they will never be able to understand their own awesome potential. Satan knows that human beings are ultimately to be offered an opportunity that he will never receive.

Is the Holy Spirit a Person?

We learned that the central tenet of the trinitarian god is that all three of its members—“persons”—are actually one being. But is the Holy Spirit a separate person? Some background must be put in place to help us proceed through a variety of different elements related to the Holy Spirit, explained throughout this chapter. As in previous chapters, it is necessary to repeat some earlier points because different issues now apply to them. To explain the full truth of the matter, we must examine many scriptures.

Simply stated, a person is a person. Three persons cannot be more or less than three persons. Each is distinct, separate and unique. If the Holy Spirit is a person, it cannot be part of a triune godhead of one being. Some will say that it is not accurate to label God as a person, however, most trinitarians do. Of course, they then wander off into abstract, philosophical ideas. As stated, it seems as though many have not read II Corinthians 11:3: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

To better understand the fallacy of the argument that the Holy Spirit is a person, and one-third of the Godhead, it would be helpful to read I Kings 3:16-27. In this well-known account, there was a dispute over who was the rightful mother of a baby. Solomon offered the following solution: Cut the baby in two and give each woman half. Obviously, a person cannot be cut in half and live. Likewise, individual human body parts do not regenerate, and will eventually corrupt, if they are cut off.

This is relevant because we have already explained how the trinity concept does not permit Christ to “extricate” Himself in order to come to earth as Saviour. Here is the point. Neither can the Holy Spirit be locked into the Father and Son in the same way. If it is a person, it is distinct and separate. However, the rest of the chapter will make plain that the Holy Spirit is NOT a person!

God expects Christians to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Pet. 3:18). If the Holy Spirit is a person, how would it be increased within the Christian who has it? In order for a person to increase the amount of the Holy Spirit within him, he has to exercise it. How could this be done if the Spirit were a person? It is either present or it is not, with no way to be increased or decreased. Take a moment and read the parable of the pounds found in Luke 19:11-26. In this parable, Christ is instructing His listeners to increase the amount of the Holy Spirit within them. (To learn more about how the Spirit of God grows in a person, read our vital article “Exercise God’s Spirit!”)

In Psalm 51:11, confessing his sin, King David implored God, “Take not Your Holy Spirit from me.” If the Holy Spirit were a distinct personage, with a mind and consciousness of its own, would David have not said, “Holy Spirit, do not leave me”? Would the Holy Spirit not have the power to come and go as “He” pleases? Luke 11:13 makes plain that the Holy Spirit is given by God to those who ask for it. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is not a person that comes of its own volition, but rather is seen to be something that God gives.

In this regard, notice that in Acts 8:18-20, Peter did not rebuke Simon Magus for referring to the Holy Spirit as power, as opposed to a person, when this man sought this “power” for himself. He rebuked Simon because he thought that he could “purchase” such a power with money.

Christ Revealed the Father, Not the Holy Spirit

As we have seen, an important aspect of Christ’s ministry, overlooked by many, is the fact that He revealed the Father. We can now ask: How was this done?

Before Christ’s time, the world was not aware of the Father. Israel had been worshipping the Word—Jesus Christ before He became flesh—and they were led out of Egypt by Him, not the Father. Referenced earlier, now notice: “Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea [the Red Sea, upon leaving Egypt]; and were all baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (I Cor. 10:1-4).

Christ revealed what the Father is like, and He did this through the power of the Holy Spirit. Consider. If the Holy Spirit were a person, would not Christ have also revealed “Him”? We might then ask: How could He reveal the Holy Spirit through the Holy Spirit? This would make no sense and, of course, Scripture makes no mention of such a thing.

The Holy Spirit was dwelling in Jesus Christ. Therefore, it would make no sense for Christ to utter any of the following statements, if the Holy Spirit (as a person) were the one doing the works within Him. Notice the stark omission of any reference to the Holy Spirit or its “work” in the following passages:

“If you had known Me, you should have known My Father also: and from now on you know Him, and have seen Him” (John 14:7).

“Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father; and how say you then, show us the Father?” (John 14:9).

“Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works” (John 14:10).

As you can see, in all of these passages, Christ speaks of the Father. Again, where is the Holy Spirit mentioned? If the Spirit were a person, would not that have been a good time to announce this? Think of the insult to the Holy Spirit that Christ committed by such blatant omission time and again of all that this “person” was supposedly doing within Him.

Instead of looking at Scripture that supposedly identifies the Holy Spirit as a person, trinitarians should systematically observe the many scriptures that omit any mention of “Him” when such mention would seem so necessary.