Understanding the

Holy Spirit

Is the Holy Spirit a third person in a trinity? How can the Holy Spirit be in a Christian if the Holy Spirit is a person?

By Bernard W. Schnippert

It was the shock heard around the world. It was the first atomic bomb detonated in anger, exploded over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945.

The real shock heard around the world, of course, was not that of the blast ----- as unfathomable as it was ----- but rather the shocking realization the blast produced: Man had unleashed a source of power so vast, so tremendous, so utterly unstoppable that its destructive power could, unchecked, obliterate civilization into a cosmic cinder cloud!

Yet, as awesome as the invention of the atom bomb was, and immensely powerful as the unleashed atom can become, this tremendous force had already even before its discovery ---- been dwarfed by the coming into the human realm of another power much more dynamic and all-encompassing than the power contained within the atom!

For, on the day of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2, a power was given men far greater than the atom ---- in fact, so far greater that this power is destined to swallow up the power of the atom itself and turn its very destruction into life!

And just what is this power? It is the power of the Holy Spirit of God Almighty and of His Son Jesus Christ! It is the power of God Himself, a power He has offered as a free gift to you and to me upon repentance, belief and baptism.

But we do not much see this power in action today in traditional Christianity. To be sure, we clearly see the physical power of the atom. It literally obsesses the thoughts of all mankind, living under the ominous and constant shadow of nuclear war. The power of the atom bomb and of its even more sinister sister, the hydrogen bomb, is real. Yet the power of the Holy Spirit is not real to most people.

Why?

The answer is deceptively simple. The Spirit of God ---- that is, its identity, its nature, its form and value ---- is simply not understood by most people ---- even most sincere and professing Christians. Yes, many assume they know, but they do not really understand. They are deceived. This is a shame. Men know, understand and believe in the destructive power of the atom bomb ---- a power that brings death ---- and they quake in fear at its very thought. Yet, of the Holy Spirit of God ---- of the very spirit of power and life ----- they remain in ignorance.

And why? Because men have believed a lie. They have been told the truth about the power of the atom, but they have been told untruths about the Spirit of God.

Shrouded in false hood

The truth about God's Spirit can be explained by going directly to the Bible and reading what God's Word says about it. But the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus (II Corinthians 11:3) has been shrouded through the years by man's endless, unfounded and complex speculations about God.

Among those speculations about God is the doctrine that God is three equal but separate and divine persons ---- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit ---- somehow combined into one.

But have you ever looked at history of this doctrine of the trinity?

The Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 is generally given most credit for legitimizing the idea of the trinity. And what of the Council of Nicaea? Who called it? What authority did it have? This council was not called by church leaders, as one might assume. To the contrary, it was called by Emperor Constantine. And what were his motives?

Notice:

"In 325 the Emperor Constantine called an ecclesiastical council to meet at Nicaea in Bithynia. In the hope of securing for his throne the support of the growing body of Christians he had shown them considerable favor and it was to his interest to have the church vigorous and united. The Arian controversy [one of the sides in the trinity dispute] was threatening its unity and menacing its strength. He therefore undertook to put and end to the trouble.... Constantine himself of course neither knew or cared anything about the matter in dispute but he was eager to bring the controversy to a close" (A History of Christina Thought, volume I, page 258).

No biblical basis

The story of how the decision in support of the trinity doctrine was reached is thoroughly detailed in history. You should look up the circumstances in one or more of the major encyclopedias. The trinity doctrine was synthesized over two centuries from the speculations of men whose roots were in pagan and Jewish philosophy. The trinity was only finally thrust upon the church in the fourth century by a council called at the direction of the Roman emperor, who was not a Christian.

The trinity teaching shares striking similarities with the triads common in the ancient pagan religions of Egypt, Babylon and other societies.

Holy Spirit a person?

Now consider this: If the Holy Spirit is a separate person of the Godhead, then He is Christ's Father. For Matthew 1:20, speaking of Mary, states, "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." See also Luke 1:35, which shows that the power of the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and caused conception.

Yet Christ plainly called God His Father, and not the Holy Spirit (John 20:17). And He prayed to the Father ---- not to the Holy Spirit (John 17:1). Of course, common sense tells us that Jesus would not have called God the Father His Father unless God the Father was His Father.

Further, if the Holy Spirit were a separate person of the Godhead, then the apostle Paul hadn't heard about it. For in the introductions of his epistles, he routinely invoked the name of the Father and Son in greeting the brethren, but always omits mentioning the Holy Spirit. What an offense this would be if the Holy Spirit were a person coequal with Father and Son!

As if this were not enough, Paul continued his effrontery to the Holy Spirit (effrontery, of course, only if the Holy Spirit is indeed a person) by ignoring "him" at other crucial times.

In Roman 8:17 Paul identified Christians as heirs of the Father and of Christ, but left out the Holy Spirit. In I Corinthians 11:3 we see man pronounced the leader of the wife, Christ the Head of the man and God the Head of all. No mention is made of any person called the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:5 mentions the Kingdom of God and of Christ, but skips over the Holy Spirit. And I Timothy 2:5 says Christ is the mediator between God and man, yet the Holy Spirit ----- which is credited in other places as being an intercessor for man with God (Romans 8:27) ---- is not mentioned as a person. Why, if the Holy Spirit is a person?

Further, although numerous verses depict God's throne with the Father and Christ sitting or standing, we see not even an empty chair reserved for the Holy Spirit. Read Colossians 3:1, Acts 7:55-56 and Revelation 5:1-9, 7:10.

God is a family

The truth about the Holy Spirit depends upon the proper teaching about who or what God is. The trinity doctrine places the Holy Spirit into the God group as a person or coequal being, so we first must understand about the Father and Son before we can understand about the Spirit.

And the truth about God is as astounding as it is vital. Simply put, it is this: God is a family composed of, at present, two spirit beings, the Father and the Son, who are separate yet are both God, for God is a family. This truth is so plainly stated in the Bible that one must almost purposely construct mental excuses to deny it.

The full revelation of the nature of God as a family did not come until the New Testament. Nonetheless the truth can be seen, in retrospect, in the Hebrew Old Testament. For example Genesis 1:1, 26 and 3:22. These verses translate the word God from the Hebrew Elohim. This Hebrew word allows for plurality, such as may the English word team. It shows that God is more than one being. See also Genesis 11:6-7 and Isaiah 6:8, which also grammatically indicate that God is more than one by the use of the word us or some similar phrasing.

Some argue ---- and that is all it is: an argument ---- that the plural here is merely used because it is the plural or majesty or the plural that a writer may use in an article when he speaks of himself. Nonetheless, many theologians see these verses as indicating exactly what they do indeed show ---- the plurality of God.

Now let us come to the New Testament. We need look no further than John 1:1-2 to learn that the God group certainly consists of two beings. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." There it is ---- it is undeniable! Two beings. But still, we don't know the relationship between the two. So we need to look into the Bible and read what God the Father and Christ tell us about themselves. The answer need not be left to our imaginations, for the biblical statements are clear and unavoidable.

God is a family of two beings, the father and the Son. How do we know? Simply because God says Christ is His Son, and Christ says that God is His Father. They are not liars. And they tell us these things plainly. Look first at the plain statement recorded in the Bible of Christ's baptism: "Then Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water.... And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'" (Matthew 3:16-17). There it is. The Father called Christ His Son. How can people believe this and not see God is a family?

And look at John 10:22-39. Here Jesus repeatedly called God His Father. And consider this: These references, and many others like them, are not mere descriptions of God by an outsider like a poet or author. They are indeed actual words spoken by Christ and the Father about themselves, to clearly describe themselves.

Re-read John 10:22-39, just referred to. The Jews knew Christ was calling God His literal Father, for they accused Him of thereby saying He Himself was god (which, of course, the true Son of God would have to be). They understood His words so clearly that they felt He had blasphemed and wanted to stone Him for it. They knew He meant it. Most of professing Christianity today, which holds to the trinity doctrine, doesn't really believe Christ meant what He said!

Here, then, we have the simple truth of how God can be one God yet two persons, for the Scriptures plainly teach there is but one God (Deuteronomy 4:35, I Kings 8:60, I Corinthians 8:4, James 2:19). God is a family. And God is a family name. It is a family name for a family of two beings on the same level of existence. There is one God Family, but two beings.

Who or what, then, is the Holy Spirit? And how can we know? Again, we must let the Bible interpret itself.

What about the Holy Spirit?

God's spirit is the power that emanates from God ---- from the Father and the Son.

Look at John 4:24 and understand. Here it says, "God is Spirit." Compare this with us humans. We are flesh, not spirit. And there is a vast difference between flesh and spirit. In our case, our minds are fleshly and so are our bodies. We are made from the dust of the earth (Genesis 3:19). We know the things flesh can know. We have the powers flesh has. We operate within the limits of the flesh. When we act, such as when we move an arm, we act with an arm of flesh and do the things a fleshly arm can do.

But God is spirit. And spirit is superior to flesh. For one, God is holy (John 17:11, Revelation 3:7). God is also immortal. God thinks and operates on a completely different level than we do. God, composed of spirit, can move in ways our arms and bodies cannot move.

In talking to the Pharisee Nicodemus, Jesus compared spirit to the wind: "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the spirit" (John 3:8).

God can reach out and extend Himself in ways that we humans composed of flesh, are hard pressed to understand. How? Through His Holy Spirit, the power by which He acts. God's Spirit responds to His will. It serves His needs and desires, and so is like a remote arm or agent He uses. The Holy Spirit, as God's means of thought and action, is His mind, His energy, His motivation, His attitude, His power and his nature. God's Spirit works in the human mind to produce conversion.

Science has determined that within the chromosomes if each cell of our bodies are locked the key codes for all of our essential characteristics ----- eye color, height, facial features. In short, if science knew how, it could construct a twin of any person by looking at the code contained in one small cell. Each of our cells carries all our characteristics.

In the same way, God's Spirit carries His qualities of power, character and mind ---- His very nature! It is supremely important, then, to notice the sharp differences between spirit on one hand and flesh on the other. It is the key to understanding how and why the Bible speaks as it does of the Holy Spirit. When the Bible mentions God's Spirit ---- the Holy Spirit ---- it usually does so to emphasize some characteristic of God unique to Him.

God's power in action

The Holy Spirit is spoken of as the power or mind of God: "And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2, Authorized Version).

Notice also II Timothy 1:7, which states that God's Spirit is not one of fear, "but of power and love and of a sound mind." The Holy Spirit is the power or energy by which God creates, inspires His servants, imparts His mind and attitude to his people and performs, in this physical realm, works that would be physically impossible ----- even resurrection from the dead!

When God acts, the power of the Holy Spirit carries out His desires. To be sure, His Spirit is far more powerful than the physical arms and strength we might use, say, to build a bookcase. Some of God's powers defy our abilities to understand or describe, yet all the actions He takes can be ascribed to His Spirit. So, for example, the Bible tells us that "by His Spirit He adorned the heavens" (Job 26:13).

In addition, God is able to take His Spirit and actually put it within us humans. When He does so, He puts some of Himself, and thus some of His power, or mind or character, or nature, into us.

God's Spirit, His power or nature, emanates from Him and can thus be said to be "poured out" (Joel 2:28), "shed" (Titus 3:5-6, AV), "breathed" (John 20:22), to "fill" someone (Acts 2:4) and to "anoint" someone (Acts 10:38) or "proceed" from the Father (John 15:26).

None of these verbs in reference to the Holy Spirit could describe a person. They are used to describe actions taken by God's power!

Some people puzzle over verses that represent the Holy Spirit in symbol. Believers in the trinity seem to think that God's Spirit would not be so represented unless it were a person. Hence they view Matthew 3:13-17, where a dove, as the symbol of the Holy Spirit, descends upon the baptized Christ and a voice from heaven speaks, as proof that God is three persons.

But consider this: Spirit cannot be seen by humans unless it is given a physical form or shape. God used a dove, a symbol of peace, to symbolize the Holy Spirit at the baptism of the Prince of Peace! Certainly, God's Spirit is not a dove.

On this occasion God the Father revealed His spirit in symbol so people could see that God was present in spirit and approved of His Son and His Son's baptism. The Holy Spirit was here represented as a dove, and in other places as fire (Acts 2:3), water (John 4;14), oil (Psalm 45:7), wind (John 3:8) and a seal (Ephesians 1:13), among other symbols.

But why does God represent His Spirit in Symbol? Because these symbols illustrate the attributes of God. God uses different symbols at different times to convey different aspects of His character. Remember, though that neither God nor Christ is literally water, a dove, fire or wind. These are mere symbols.

An extension of God

Look at Acts 13:2. It states "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, 'Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'" If the Holy Spirit is not a separate person of the God Family, how can this verse be understood?

Such verses, in part, may be examples of a figure of speech known as personification. Personification is the practice of attributing human qualities to inanimate objects to add color or life to description. The Bible uses such a device from time to time, but consider also this: The Holy Spirit is at times spoken of as if a person because it is the extension of a person ---- the person of God the Father or of the Son, but not of a separate person or being from the two. When the Bible says the Holy Spirit spoke or moved or remembered or in some other way acted like a being, it is telling us that either the Father or the Son did something by means of their spiritual power ---- the Spirit of God.

Let us now see some places where God's Spirit is spoken of in a way that shows other of God's qualities ---- that is, that illustrate other differences between righteous spirit and carnal flesh.

Misunderstood verses

In some Bible verses, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are mentioned together in one phrase, verse or closely related series of verses. Notice, for instance, Matthew 28:19, I Peter 1:2, II Corinthians 13:14, John 14:26 and I Corinthians 12:4-11.

Consider one of scriptures most often quoted in support of the trinity, Matthew 28:19. It says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in ["into" in the original Greek] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Trinitarians say this verse proves God is a trinity. If the Holy Spirit is not a being, why be baptized into it?

The answer is simple. When we are baptized into the Family of God in the name of by or by the authority of Jesus Christ. When we are baptized into this Family, we are promised the Holy Spirit ourselves. The spirit of God is what adds us to the God Family (I Corinthians 12:13). Hence by directing that we be baptized into that Spirit God calls attention to this important point.

Notice also Matthew 12:31 and Luke 12:10, where Christ says that blasphemy against the Son will be forgiven, but not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Why the distinction, if the Holy Spirit is not a person? Look at the context. The Pharisees didn't want to believe that Christ was God, but they couldn't deny His power. So it is today. When most people curse God otherwise blaspheme, they don't really know what they are doing, for they don't know the true God ---- they have not been converted and begotten with God's Spirit. Therefore, if the blaspheme, they do so against a false conception of God. The true God they do not recognize. Hence they can be forgiven.

But the times comes when they learn of the true God. This occurs when they have received the Holy Spirit through conversion, or have at least truly been touched by its power through being called by God, or having God's truth clearly revealed to them. If they then reject God, with full, willful knowledge of what they are doing, they are indeed blaspheming.

Hence, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is mentioned because to blaspheme one must actually reject and fight against the true power of God, and not against a mere mental image one holds based upon some deception.

John 14:15-21 deserves special comment. These verses speak of the "Comforter" (AV) or "Helper" (Revises Authorized Version), which Christ promised to send the apostles after His death. Plainly, that Comforter was to be the Holy Spirit (verse 17).

These verses seem to imply the Spirit is a being because 1) the language in the English translation is language we would use to describe a being, and 2) the Comforter is referred to with the pronouns "He" and "Him." But again, the trinitarians are in serious error.

Who is the Comforter?

The pronouns "He" and "Him" in John 14:15-21 refer to the word Comforter, a word that in the Greek language demands a male pronoun regardless of what it refers to. Some languages assign gender to all nouns, which must be referred to by pronouns of matching gender.

Even in English we sometimes assign gender to objects, such as when we name a hurricane after a man or woman and then refer to it as a "he" or "she." But some languages require such assignments for many nouns. Greek is one of these. the use of "he" here instead of "it" is therefore an idiosyncrasy of grammar and nothing else. The male person does not imply that the Comforter is actually a person.

(Note also that in Greek the original word for "Spirit" is neuter and that the proper grammatical pronoun in reference to spirit is "it," a neuter pronoun.)

But consider these passages even further. Notice that in verse 18 Christ says, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." And also verse 20, "At that day you will know that I am My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."

Who, then is the Comforter? By Christ's own statement, He Himself lives in a person after that person has been begotten with the Spirit by the Father. That is why Christ said He could not come unto the disciples unless He went to His Father ---- was resurrected as a spirit being with the power to live in a person through the Holy Spirit (John 16:7). While He was flesh, He had no such power.

Even Paul stated clearly that it was Christ who lived in him (Galatians 2:20). But it was not the human Christ. It was the Christ who lived in his mind and actions through the character-changing power of the Holy Spirit!

Finally, many laymen will turn to I John 5:7-8 to try to document the trinity argument. Theologians will not do so, however, for it is well established, even by those who believe in the trinity, that much of these verses are spurious additions and not of the inspired text. With the spurious parts removed, no such proof of the trinity appears.

Why it all matters

In review, we have seen a wonderful and astounding truth. The Holy Spirit of God is the mind, the power and the nature of God the Father and Jesus Christ. But the most important and truly startling truth is yet to come! What difference does all this make? Why does it matter just what the Holy Spirit is? It makes a great difference indeed. For the Family of God ---- now composed of the Father and the Son ---- is not yet complete. It is God's incredible purpose to add more beings ---- you and me ---- to that family! And He uses His Holy Spirit to do it!

Isn't it incredible!

But the big question is how? The big answer is by the power of the Holy Spirit, that's how. Let us now explain.

Man is mortal and fleshly, and subject to death. God, who is spirit, is immortal. Man has sinned and will therefore die, "for the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Yet, for God to make a man a member of His family, He must make him immortal. To do this He will add an important, immortal ingredient ---- His Holy Spirit.

Notice, for example, Romans 8:9-11, which declares that the mortal, fleshly body will, due to sin, inherit death, but that if the Spirit of God dwells in you, "He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you." That is, He will give you eternal life!

Or turn to I John 5:11-13, which states that if Christ lives in us by the power of the Spirit, then we have eternal life dwelling within us, but if the Spirit is not in us, we have no such life. See also I Peter 3:18.

Of course, the first question that pops into the minds of most is how one may receive that Spirit. The answer is that we can only receive it as a gift from God, but only if we are baptized properly after repentance from sin and belief in the true God and the message He sent by Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38). When we are baptized and have hands laid on us by God's true ministers, we receive a small portion of that Spirit. That Spirit is like a seed. It will grow, with our effort at overcoming.

The bit of Spirit we receive from God the Father at baptism is like the physical sperm with which a physical father impregnates the mothers ovum. And, like the fertilized egg, the begotten child of God must grow until birth. The birth of the spiritual fetus (you and I after baptism) does not take place until we are born anew at Christ's return, when mortality is swallowed up of life ---- that is, when that begotten, faithful Christian, having overcome, is born as an immortal son of God (II Corinthians 5:4).

We explained earlier how each cell of a person's body ---- through key codes in the chromosomes ---- carries all the characteristics of the person. In like manner, when the Father puts His Spirit into us, His Spirit imparts to us all of God's characteristics, such as immortal life, His mind, His understanding and His character of love, joy, peace and other fruits of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). We become partakers of the divine nature (II Peter 1:4). Of course, God's Spirit is not exactly like the sperm cell from a man's body. This is an analogy.

Key to eternal life

The Holy Spirit of God is the key to eternal life! If you don't have it, then you do not have eternal life dwelling within you. Most don't have it, because they don't understand what it is. They believe that it is a part of a trinity ---- a third person in a God head closed to entry by mankind.

Belief in the trinity hides from man the very power of God that can live within us and make us into powerful spirit beings with eternal life and the character, nature, form and shape of the living God.

When we understand the truth, what a delight and a supreme gift the Holy Spirit of God is!

God is not a trinity. God is a family of, at present, two persons, who think and act with the power of the Holy Spirit. When God begets us with that Spirit, we are impregnated with eternal God life, to grow in God's qualities of mind and power until the Second Coming of Christ, when we shall be born into God's Family as His literal children!