THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A SOMEONE NOT A SOMETHING.

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This post follows my previous post “Is God a Trinity“. If you have not read it but are interested in looking at the arguments for and against God is a Trinity then I suggest you do so before you read this testimony of Dr Walter Wilson.

The testimony of Dr Walter Wilson is powerful. Converted on December 21st, 1896, Walter had a deep love for the scriptures yet it bothered him that his life did not seem to bear spiritual fruit. In 1913 he was challenged by a missionary with the question, “What is the Holy Spirit to you?”

Wilson answered, “He is one of the persons of the Godhead, a Teacher, a Guide; the third person of the Trinity.

The missionary responded with: “He is just as great, just as precious, just as needed as the other two persons of the Trinity. But you still have not answered my question, What is He to you?”

“He is nothing to me”, Wilson said, surprised at his own candour. “I have no contact with Him, no personal relationship, and get along quite well without Him,” Wilson replied.

“It is because of this that your life is so fruitless even though your efforts are so great“. The missionary’s words taunted Wilson into the next year. He wanted to bear the fruit of the Spirit but feared becoming a fanatic, giving an inferior place to Jesus Christ. On January 14th, 1914 everything changed when Wilson heard a sermon preached by Dr James Gray (he became President of Moody Bible Institute) on Romans 12:1

SERMON BY DR JAMES GRAY
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1

Notice this verse does not tell us to whom we should give our bodies? It is not the Lord Jesus…..He has his own body. It is not God the Father….He remains upon His throne. Another has come to earth without a body….God gives you the privilege and indescribable honour of presenting your bodies to the Holy Spirit, to be His dwelling place on earth. 

After hearing this sermon Walter Wilson prayed the following prayer:

“My Lord, I have mistreated You (HOLY SPIRIT) all my Christian life. I have treated you like a servant….I shall do so NO more. Now I give you this body of mine ; from my head to my feet……………., I hand it over to YOU for YOU to live in it the life that YOU please.”

Walter Wilson, the beloved physician often testified, “Concerning my own experience with the Holy Spirit, I must say the transformation of my life on Jan 14th, 1914 was greater, much greater than the change that took place when I was saved Dec 21st 1896.

Make sure you do not treat the Holy Spirit as a “something”. He is a “someone”.

IS GOD A TRINITY?

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I am convinced that God is a trinity of three persons. There is no dispute about God the Father and God the Son as persons but there is certainly dispute about the Holy Spirit.

The United Church of God is one church denomination that believes the Holy Spirit is something not someone. Their main arguments include the following:

If God were a Trinity, surely Paul, who was taught directly by the resurrected Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11-12) and who wrote much of the theological underpinnings of the early Church, would have comprehended and taught this concept. Yet we find no such teaching in His writings (which I will dispute). Moreover, Paul’s standard greeting in his letter to the churches, as well as individuals to whom he wrote, consistently mentions “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” And in each of his greetings, he never mentions the Holy Spirit! (The same can also be said of Peter in the salutations of both his epistles.) The same greeting, with only minor variations, appears in every epistle with Paul’s name. Notice how consistent he is in not including the Holy Spirit in his greetings: Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, Colossians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2 Thessalonians 1:1-2, 1 Timothy 1:2, 2 Timothy 1:2, Titus 1:4, Philemon 1:3.

The Holy Spirit is always left out of these greetings—an unbelievable and inexplicable oversight if the Spirit were indeed a person or entity coequal with God the Father and Christ! Paul’s epistles record no attempt on his part to explain the Trinity or Holy Spirit as a divine person equal with God the Father and Jesus Christ. However, in 2 Corinthians 13:14, we have “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:14

They would argue that in visions of God’s throne recorded in the Bible, although the Father and Christ are seen, the Holy Spirit as a third person is completely absent.

They also argue that Scripture reveals the Holy Spirit not as a person, but as something much different—the divine power through which God acts.

They also claim no theological or biblical justification for referring to the term “Holy Spirit” with masculine pronouns, even in Greek. The Greek word pneuma, translated “spirit” (but also translated “wind” and “breath” in the New Testament) is a grammatically neuter word. So, in the Greek language, pronouns equivalent to the English “it,” “its,” “itself,” “which” or “that” are properly used in referring to this word translated into English as “spirit.”

This information was extracted from the book: Is God a Trinity? United Church of God.

The Scriptures they have difficulty with are the following:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

Jesus told the disciples and therefore us that He must go so His Father could send the Holy Spirit to be our counsellor, teacher, comforter, and helper.

“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 have said to you.” John 14:26

“When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit.” Mark 13:11

It is difficult to understand how “a power” can be our counsellor, teacher, and comforter. Particularly when Paul tells us to make sure we do not grieve the Holy Spirit or quench His work in our lives. You cannot grieve a “power “or “something“.

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 28:19-20

“Do not quench the Spirit“ 1 Thessalonians 5:19

THE HOLY SPIRIT ACTS AS A PERSON:

•HE SPEAKS: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches” (Rev 2:7), “And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” Acts 13:2

•HE TEACHES: “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

•HE WITNESSES: “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 bear witness of me” (John 15:26) “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” Romans 8:16

•Directs your path (Prov. 3:4-5, Proverbs 143:10).

•Helps you and He lives within you forever (John 14:16).

•Guides you in all truth (John 14:17, 16:13a).

•Brings to your remembrance all things He said to you (John 14:26b).

•Tells you things to come (John 16:13).

•Reveals to you the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:10).

•Freely gives you all things (1 Cor. 2:12).

•Offers you the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God..” Romans 8:16

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Romans 8:26

Paul also tells us that the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, kindness, and self-control. He is also the one who provides the gifts for ministry, all nine, as needed.

JESUS IS LORD, HE MUST ALWAYS BE CENTRE STAGE. THE HOLY SPIRIT ALWAYS REVEALS JESUS MORE FULLY.  Where the Holy Spirit is in control, Jesus is proclaimed the Head – the Holy Spirit, His executive.

THE POWER BEHIND CHRISTIANITY

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Jesus told the disciples not to do anything until the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. The third person of the Trinity is the reason Christianity grew to be the major religion in the world. Do the traditional/institutional churches really acknowledge that fact?

Despite evolution, most people still believe in a Supreme Being. Also, most people believe Jesus Christ lived on this Earth 2,000 years ago. We have our calendar to testify to that fact (2024). Moreover, we have many descriptions of Jesus in the New Testament such that we, like the first converts have good grounds to conclude that he is something more than a prophet. Other historians like Josephus testify to his life and ministry. However, it is quite another thing to believe that God is three. There is a Third person, a ghostly wind of God, Holy Spirit.

The Bible words for “spirit,” in both Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament), also mean “breath” and “wind.” So it is symbolically apt that when the early Christians were awaiting the promised Spirit in an upstairs room in Jerusalem on Pentecost Sunday, there came the sound of a violent wind. That sound was accompanied by a visual symbol. Over each person’s head, a flame or “tongue” as of fire came to rest, also symbolic of the presence of God—as in the Old Testament fire of Mount Sinai and the pillar of fire that led ancient Israel toward the Promised Land.

On the night he was betrayed and arrested, Jesus told the twelve disciples (John 14-16, John 16:7) that He would go away and it was better that He went away. Why? Jesus said that he would ask the Father for Another One to come. And this One would do even better than what Jesus did. Who is this “Another One” who will come? He is the Holy Spirit. He will come to dwell within us so that we can perform miracles, proclaim the gospel, and live as examples to the world.

How many institutional/traditional churches believe we can do the things the Bible says the Holy Spirit will empower us to do? He will produce the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) in our lives: love, joy, peace, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, kindness, patience, and self-control. He will provide the gifts of the Spirit for ministry:

“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:7-11

The Holy Spirit continues to this day to manifest himself—in the spectacular gifts given in this Scripture but also more commonly in other gifts, such as (effective) teaching, evangelism, leadership, service, and hospitality. Are these signs manifest in your church? If not, can I suggest you look for a church where they are evident.

 The Holy Spirit continues to give people the New Birth. God animates us by his Spirit: anima in Latin means “the breath of life,” hence animal. And then God by the Holy Spirit, in the process of sanctification (sanctus being Latin for “holy”) makes us mature children of God.