THE DEITY
OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT
The Divine Attributes
of the Holy Spirit.
Christianity holds that four attributes distinguish a divine being from all
else: (1) omniscience, (2) omnipotence, (3) omnipresence,
and (4) eternalness. Each of the four distinctly Divine Attributes is
ascribed to the Holy Spirit.
See The Nature of God
The Holy Spirit is
eternal.
Hebrews 9:14 How much more, then, will
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished
to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we
may serve the living God!
The Holy Spirit
is omnipresent.
Psalms 139:7-10 [7] Where can I
go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? [8] If I go
up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are
there. [9] If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far
side of the sea, [10] even there your hand will guide me, your right
hand will hold me fast.
The Holy Spirit
is omnipotent.
Luke 1:35 The angel answered, "The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow
you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
The Holy Spirit
is omniscient.
1 Corinthians 2:10-11 [10] but
God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things,
even the deep things of God. [11] For who among men knows the thoughts
of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows
the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and
will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of
truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his
own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to
come.
The Divine Works of
the Holy Spirit
Three distinctively divine works are ascribed to the Holy Spirit.
Creation is ascribed
to the Holy Spirit.
Job 33:4 The Spirit of God has made
me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Psalms 104:30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.
The Holy Spirit imparts
life.
John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the
flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they
are life.
Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him
who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from
the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who
lives in you.
Genesis 2:7 the LORD God formed the
man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and the man became a living being.
The Holy Spirit quickens
mortal men; He makes them spiritually alive.
Note that there is a difference between "quickening" man and physical "life."
To "quicken" means to give spriritual life.
Colossians 2:13 When you were
dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,
God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our
sins,
Compare the following two passages:
Genesis 2:7 the LORD God formed the
man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 2:17 but you must not eat from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will
surely die.
John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the
flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they
are life.
In the following passage, note that Paul says the Spirit
will give life, indicating a future action. The people he is
talking to are already physically alive. Clearly, he is talking about spiritual
life.
Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him
who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from
the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
The Holy Spirit
is the author of divine prophecies.
2 Peter 1:21 For prophecy never had
its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried
along by the Holy Spirit.
2 Samuel 23:2-3 [2] The Spirit
of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue. [3] The God
of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: "When one rules over men
in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, "
The Holy Spirit forgives
sins.
John 20:22-23 [22] And with that
he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. [23] If you
forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they
are not forgiven."
Verse 23 is a source of fundamental doctrinal disagreement between Protestants
and Catholics. According to the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., at Pentecost
Jesus expressly gave those present (or at least the Apostles) the power to
forgive men's sins or to deny forgiveness. This is the verse the Catholic
Church relies on in claiming that, as the successors to the Apostles, Catholic
priests, and only Catholic priests have the power to forgive
sins.
Protestants, on the other hand, interpret the two verses differently. In
the first sentence, "Receive the Holy Spirit," Jesus is addressing those
at Pentecost, e.g., the Apostles. In the second sentence, "If you forgive
...," Jesus is speaking to the Holy Spirit. He is speaking aloud so that
those present will know the commission Jesus has given the Holy Spirit. He
is also confirming that sins are not always forgiven -- the Holy Spirit
determines whether the sinner is truly repentant.
This is like an emcee saying to an audience "Folks, please welcome Jerry
Seinfeld! Why don't you tell us a few jokes?" Would you
expect each member of the audience to start telling jokes?
There is not even one verse in the entire New Testament where any apostle
or disciple claimed to have the power to forgive sins.
The Holy Spirit
refuses to forgive the sins of the unrepentant.
See the discussion of John
20:22-23 in the previous point.
Statements which
refer to the Lord of Jehovah in the Old Testament that are applied to the
Holy Spirit in the New Testament.
Statements which in the Old Testament distinctively name the Lord, God, or
Jehovah, as their subject are applied to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.
That is, the Holy Spirit occupies the position of Deity in the New Testament
thought.
Analogous passages between the Old Testament and
the New Testament.
Isaiah 6:8-10 [8] Then I heard
the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" [9] He said, "Go and tell this people:
`Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
[10] Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and
close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their
ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
Acts 28:25-27 [25] They disagreed
among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement:
"The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through
Isaiah the prophet: [26] `Go to this people and say, "You will be ever
hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving."
[27] For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear
with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see
with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn,
and I would heal them.'"
This same passage is applied to Jesus Christ. May it be that in the threefold
"Holy" of the seraphic cry:
Isaiah 6:3 And they were calling to
one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full
of his glory."
We have a hint of the tri-personality of the Jehovah of Hosts and hence the
propriety of the threefold application of the vision?
Exodus 16:7 and in the morning you will
see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him.
Who are we, that you should grumble against us?
Hebrews 3:7-9 [7] So, as
the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, [8] do
not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing
in the desert, [9] where your fathers tested and tried
me and for forty years saw what I did."
Psalms 95:8-11 [8] do not harden
your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert,
[9] where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what
I did. [10] For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said,
"They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways."
[11] So I declared on oath in my anger, "They shall never enter my
rest."
The way in which the
Name of the Holy Spirit is coupled with that of God.
The name of the
Holy Spirit is coupled with that of God in a way that it would be impossible
for a reverent and thoughtful mind to couple the name of any finite being
with that of the Deity.
1 Corinthians 12:4-6 [4] There
are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. [5] There
are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. [6] There
are different kinds of working, but the same God works all
of them in all men.
Matthew 28:19-20 [19] Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with
you always, to the very end of the age.
2 Corinthians 13:14 May the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you
all.
The Holy Spirit
is called God.
Acts 5:3-4 [3] Then Peter said,
"Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have
lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money
you received for the land? [4] Didn't it belong to you before it was
sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made
you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to
God."
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