Holy Spirit (Part 2)
April 26th, 2010 by Mark C.
Acts 5:3-4 is often used to prove that the holy spirit is God. Ananias is said to have lied to the holy spirit in verse 3, and it is equated with lying to God in verse 4. The holy spirit refers to the power and authority of God, which in this instance was invested in Peter. Just as “grieving the holy spirit” is another way of saying “grieving God,” saying he “lied to the holy spirit” is another way of saying he lied to God. This is showing the connection between God and His spirit which was working in Peter and the other apostles.
To lie to the apostles who speak for God is equivalent to lying to God, as Paul says, “He therefore that despiseth this, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us His Holy Spirit” (I Thessalonians 4:8). This is similar to the statement by Moses in Exodus 16:8, that “your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.” This did not make Moses and Aaron God, any more than the apostles were God when they spoke on His behalf. But the holy spirit, as well as those in whom God’s spirit worked, represented God. When Ananias lied to the apostles, he lied to God’s holy spirit working in and through them, and therefore he lied to God.
Those who speak on God’s behalf are said to have God’s spirit working and speaking through them. Throughout the Scriptures, God’s spirit is closely associated with His Word, and His words. When I speak words which reflect my mind and heart, I am communicating my spirit. Likewise, God’s Word communicates His spirit.
II Samuel 23:
2 The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.Job 26:
2 How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?
3 How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?
4 To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?Proverbs 1:
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I [wisdom] will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.John 3:
34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.John 6:
63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
My spirit is communicated by words which are spoken, and speaking literally involves breath. In the same way, God’s breath (the same word ruach that is translated “spirit”) is associated with His Word. He created all things by His breath, or His Word, according to Psalm 33:6 – “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” The breath of God is one way the Scriptures refer to His power being exercised (Exodus 15:8; Job 4:9; 37:10). God breathed life into man (Genesis 2:7; Job 27:3; 33:4), and His Word (which is “God breathed” according to II Timothy 3:16) is living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). God’s breath or spirit communicates His Word and exercises His almighty power.
Jesus Christ is called “the Word made flesh” in John 1:14. His very existance is due to the holy spirit begetting him in Mary’s womb (Luke 1:35). This is why he is the ultimate communication of God and His Word. (For more on this idea, see the Closer Look article on Who is Messiah.) Because of this, the words that he spoke were God’s words, spoken by the influence of God’s spirit (John 3:34). It was foretold by Moses that God would raise up a prophet and put His words in that prophet’s mouth (Deuteronomy 18:18). Jesus said his words were not his own but His Father’s (John 14:10-24). “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33). “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). This is why his words are the key to eternal life as we saw in the article on the New Birth.
When Jesus ascended into heaven he did not leave his followers without comfort and guidance. In John chapters 14-16 Jesus gave his most comprehensive teaching about the holy spirit. He said it would be a substitute for him, and would be their helper and comforter, and would be with them forever. It would bring to their remembrance everything that he had said to them, and teach them things that they were not yet able to bear at the time he was speaking. It would testify about Christ and convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. It would succor and strengthen them, and enable them to live a Christlike life.
I was once taught that Old Testament believers had the holy spirit “upon” them, while believers after Pentecost had holy spirit “in” them. But this does not hold true upon closer examination. Joseph was called “a man in whom the spirit of God is” in Genesis 41:38, and Joshua was called that in Numbers 27:18. God’s ministers were said to be filled with God’s spirit in Exodus 28:3; 31:3; and 35:31. Isaiah 63:11 reads, “Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?” On the other hand, we saw that the outpouring of the holy spirit in Acts was a foretaste of God’s promise to “pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh” (Acts 2:17). And Peter specifically states in I Peter 4:14 that, “the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.” Therefore the distinction between “spirit in” and “spirit upon” has no Biblical basis. But does this mean the holy spirit after Pentecost was no different than it was before?
It can’t be true that there was no holy spirit before Pentecost, since Jesus and the apostles worked many mighty miracles. Jesus specifically said that he cast out demons by the power of the holy spirit (Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20). Yet in John 7:38-39 Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” So there is a distinction between the spirit of God before Pentecost and what came after. Before Christ the spirit of God was God’s presence and power at work in people and situations. It is the same afterward, but with an added dimension. The spirit as concentrated and focused in the person of the risen Christ is now made to dwell in the believer.
Jesus said that God would give them “another” comforter, namely the spirit of truth. It is “another” comforter because it would comfort them the way he had done when he was with them. It is through the spirit that Jesus said he would come to them and abide with them.
John 14:
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Notice again the close association with the holy spirit and the words of Jesus. “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Remember we saw that the Word of God, as communicated through the words of Jesus, was the key to eternal life, and was the seed which provides the new birth. Here we see that the spirit indwells a person when they have the words of Jesus abiding in their heart. The spirit, besides being called the holy spirit and the spirit of God, is also called the spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9; I Peter 1:11) and the spirit of Jesus (Philippians 1:19). There is no difference since Jesus made God known and always did the Father’s will. In fact II Corinthians 3:17 says that “the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
God’s holy spirit is His personal power and presence, and Jesus said, “my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” It is by way of the holy spirit that God and His Son dwell in a person who believes the words Jesus spoke. This is how Jesus would be with them until the end of the age, as he promised in Matthew 28:20. While Jesus is physically in heaven, seated at the right hand of God, his spirit, which is also the spirit of God, is within each believer, and thus the Church is the Body of Christ with Jesus himself as the head. In this way Jesus can strengthen and encourage each member in a way that he could not do when he was physically present on earth.
The spirit of God, as communicated by the Word of God is what makes Jesus who he is. When a person accepts him as their Lord, that spirit of God in Christ dwells in them, and thus Colossians 1:27 refers to “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” It is the hope of glory because the Word is the Gospel of the coming kingdom of God, when Jesus will be glorified and rule the earth, with believers being glorified and ruling with him.
The words that a person speaks are an indicator of what sort of “spirit” he has. If he has the spirit of Christ, his words will sound like those of Christ. This is one way to tell whether a person who seems to be “spiritual” and manifests supernatural power is really showing forth God’s holy spirit or a counterfeit. Jesus warned us that there would be many counterfeit signs and wonders which we should watch out for (Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22). He specifically said that there would be people who seem to be Christians, and even consider themselves to be Christians, but in fact are not.
Matthew 7:
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
I used to think these verses referred to people who just talked about Jesus but didn’t follow through in their actions. But it is even more than that. The people he refers to will also include ones who even did mighty works in Jesus’ name – prophesied, cast out devils, etc. – but were not in fact doing the will of God. This tells us that doing these mighty works is not an indication that one is “saved” or even in a right relationship with the Lord. How does one determine if he is doing God’s will then? The next verse tells us. “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock…” (Matthew 7:24). In order to have a right relationship with God and His Son, you must hear and do his sayings. Doing mighty works without the right foundation of the words of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of the Kingdom, is building your house on the sand. It will not stand.
If a person is showing forth “signs and wonders” and not speaking the same Gospel as Jesus, he should be suspect. I was taught that speaking in tongues was the “positive proof” that you have the “right stuff.” Yet many Christians who speak in tongues, and even work miracles, do not have a true Biblical understanding of the Gospel message. They believe that the Kingdom is fulfilled now, that they will go to heaven when they die, or that the Kingdom Gospel has been set aside in favor of a new and different gospel. It is largely because of this that the modern Pentecostal movement should be regarded with suspicion, and we should heed the warning in I John 4:1, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
While I do not deny that miracles and supernatural healing still can occur, they are extremely overemphasized by most Christians, and are not the primary or normal activity of the holy spirit. The normal working involves growth and change of heart, which God is more interested in accomplishing in a believer. It is this growth, not “operating manifestations,” which produces the fruit of the spirit. As the Word of God, which is the heart of God, grows in a believer, the attributes of God become more and more evident in his life. Then a person realizes love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, which are called the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22. This is another way to tell if someone demonstrating power is genuine or not. Jesus said that we shall know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16,20).
These are the attributes of Christlike character that we must develop by cultivating the seed that is implanted in us, and cooperating with the power of the holy spirit that dwells in us. By doing this, we develop the godly heart that Jesus said would be necessary in order to enter the Kingdom of God. It is all by the power of God and not by our own ability, so that we have nothing to boast about. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (II Corinthians 4:7).
When one is born again and has the holy spirit dwelling in him, he is a new creature and old things are passed away (II Corinthians 5:17). The Christian walk is not a matter of changing one’s behavior from the outside, but living in light of what has changed on the inside. We will examine this in the next two articles.
Mark C.
That was a very long article but well worth the read. You quote Mathew 7:24 and then say, “In order to have a right relationship with God and his Son, you must hear and do his sayings.”
I agree completely. I try to follow all of Jesus’ teachings including his parables. BTW – Your links to “Who is Messiah” and “New Birth” are still giving me “Content encoding error.” I’m becoming convinced that my computer does not like your computer…
Thomas,
I don’t know why some links work for you and some don’t. Have you considered getting a different browser? You can download them for free.Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
Mark C.
It seems no one else is having a problem with your links. Just me. The next time my son comes over I’ll ask him to download a different browser for me. I enjoy almost all the articles posted here. I thank God for helping me to find this website and all the people here.
(Considering how bad I am at searching for things on my computer it really is a miracle that I even found you guys here)…
Mark C, you claim that “The holy spirit refers to the power and authority of God” in the first paragraph of your article. This is not Biblical.
Zechariah 4:6 “Not by might, NOR BY POWER, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Here is a direct contrast between God’s power and his Spirit; the Holy Spirit is not God’s power, and there is no direct statement to that effect. You try to “reason out” that he must be God’s power, but the Bible does not actually “say” that he is.
Acts 5:1-4. I read what you had to say on this verse, and I’d like to as this simple question. Can you lie to a car? If not, why not? Because it is not a person; lies are meant to deceive! You cannot lie to a force, therefore, for Annaias to lie to the Holy Spirit, he must be a person. You go on to say: “To lie to the apostles who speak for God is equivalent to lying to God,” but surely, he could only lie to the aostles if they were persons; the same is true of the Holy Spirit! If not, then this is the only example where someone tried to deceive a force. Just imagine trying to lie to the wind, or to a bottle of gas. It cannot be done. Why?
Again, Acts 13:1-4, 1 Cor 2:11; Acts 15:28 cannot be mere personifications. In Acts 15:28 the “seemed good” is applied not only to the Spirit, but to the apostles. Surely THEY were not being personified. It LITERALLY “seemed good” to them. The same is true of the Holy Spirit. Similar comments can be made concerning 1 Cor 2:11. So who is this person?
2 Cor 3:17,18 “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” So the Lord himself is that Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord.
I took used to believe that the holy spirit was just some impersonal power from God, but he, the Holy Spirit, opened my eyes. He has all the attributes of deity. He is eternal, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and immutable. His diety is established beyond refutation. I don’t want to make this post too long though; but I urge you to reexamine your doctrine on this.
Daley,
Welcome! Thanks for your input. The reference in Zechariah contrasts God’s spirit with “might and power.” Could it be contrasting God’s own power with His Spirit? Why would such a contrast be made? If the Holy Spirit is a person (specifically one of the three who are God) then He has all the power of God, as do the Father and the Son. There would be no need to make such a contrast. It is more logical to see it as contrasting human might and power with God’s spirit.
As for your question, “Can you lie to a car?” No, because my car is not an extension of myself. In contrast, God’s spirit is an extension of Himself, and thus can be said to possess the attributes of God. I exhort you to read Part 1 of this article. In it I explained more fully the understanding of the Holy Spirit as God’s personal presence and power (not just an impersonal force or a personification). It isn’t just “reasoned out” but demonstrated from the Scriptures.
I also put forth the following questions in that article:
If the holy spirit is a person:
-Why is it never given a proper name, as the Father (Yahweh) and the Son (Jesus) have?
-Why is it never addressed personally, as the Father and the Son are?
-Why is it not included in the greetings from the Father and the Son in the epistles?
-Why is it not included in references such as II Tim. 4:1, I John 2:22-23, and II John 9?
-Why does Matt. 24:36 say that no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, with no mention of the Holy Spirit?
Mark C
My son fixed the problem with my computer. Now I can get all the articles on your site. It turned out to be operator error on my part…
Marc,
I am in the process of investigating the identity of the Holy Spirit. I was raised trinitarian but have come to a unitarian understanding in recent months. Some of what the Kingdom Ready writers about the HS makes sense to me. But I have unresolved questions. How do you understand John 16:13? This passage says of the HS (in part): “…he will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come…”
This is exactly the same description Jesus applied to himself – that he could do nothing on his own, but rather was dependent on the Father. Unitarians rightly argue that this demonstrates Jesus is NOT God in an ontological sense. So why doesn’t the same argument apply in this nearly identical passage about the Holy Spirit? If the Holy Spirit is ontologically God, wouldn’t he indeed speak on his own rather than what he hears from someone else?
Sorry, meant Mark not Marc.
Sarah
First of all, the HS is not a “Person” seperate from God or Jesus. Unless, you are talking of Jesus AS “spirit”. Example, Jesus is identified with the spirit [parakletos] in John 14.15f.; 16.7; 1 John 2.1. This is because at his resurrection Jesus has BECOME, as Paul describes in 1Cor 15, “the spiritual man”. Which could mean he is now the sole giver of HS to the church.
In other words, as some have noted, “by virtue of his resurrection and exaltation Jesus the man of the Spirit became Lord of the Spirit; the one whose ministry was uniquely empowered by the (eschatological) Spirit became by his resurrection the one who bestowed the Spirit on others; or more precisely, by his resurrection he began to share in God’s prerogative as the giver of the Spirit.” [Dunn, Christology in the Making].
So you are right to pick out that the language of John 16 is analogous with that of Jesus himself. But, once again, this does not mean that the spirit in question is a distinct being/Person apart from both God the Father and the Son.
Other notable examples:
Heb 10.29 “trampled the Son of God…insulted the spirit of grace”
1Cor 15.42-49 “The first Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit…the heavenly man…”
2Cor 3 “…only in Christ is it taken away…whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit…”
Rom 8.1-16 “…the spirit of life in Christ…the spirit of Christ in you…”
Thanks for your thoughts, Xavier, although I’m not sure I read a direct answer to my question in your reply.
As best I can tell, the consensus on the Kingdom Ready site is that the Holy Spirit is another way of saying God. In other words, not distinct from God. Also, I don’t think anyone here believes the Holy Spirit and Christ are ontologically the same, but rather that Jesus by virtue of his sacrifice was granted to give the HS to his church. So the assertion presented on this site is that God created Jesus (I agree) while God and the HS are one and the same (I’m not sure if I agree or not).
So to reiterate the question: I’m just wondering if someone has a reasonable explanation for why the Bible says the HS will not speak on his own, and only what he hears? If he is God, who is he hearing from?
Sarah
Jesus could be talking in the “third person” here about the work he himself would do post-resurrection/exaltation as the “mediator” of God’s spirit/power/word etc.
I think the simple key in understanding some of Jesus’ sayings regarding the HS in the Johannine corpus lays in this: Jesus, as the supernaturally created [Lu 1.35; Mat 1.1, 18-20] HUMAN “Son of the Living God” [Mat 16.16], has been MADE a “spiritual/heavenly man [human]” who is now able to work in the stead of God through His spirit.
What about the OT? When God put his spirit on the 70 elders to assist Moses during the Exodus, who/what exactly was this spirit – Was it a spirit created by God? Or was it God himself?
In his paper “Who or What is the Holy Spirit”, Sean writes: “Therefore, the holy spirit is God in action (as we have seen from the OT and the Synoptics) PLUS the new added “comforting” aspects (presented in John) distributed under the auspices of the Father by the ascended Messiah in order to benefit the Church by allowing Christ to dwell within each believer.”
Here is my problem with this definition: it would make John 16:13 read: “…[God (in action + comfort)] will not speak on his own; [God (in action + comfort)] will speak only what he hears, and [God (in action + comfort)] will tell you what is yet to come…”
Sarah
Perhaps this link will answer many of your queries…
http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=139
Sarah,
My friend Robert believes that God’s first creation was a person named Wisdom and this person was with God from the beginning, and that Wisdom manifests itself as God’s holy spirit. He believes that Wisdom is our mother. Y’shua said in Luke 7:35;
“Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”
From what I understand he believes that “The Word”,”Wisdom” and “holy spirit” are synonymous with one another and mean the same thing. I’m not really sure if I agree with him or not, but it does seem to be a plausible possibility. So I don’t rule it out completely…
Sarah,
You may also find this helpful:
http://godskingdomfirst.org/holyspirit.htm
Sarah,
I don’t speak for KR, but I would say that this site definitely does not equate the holy spirit to God. The holy spirit is ‘of God’ but is not God. It certainly is not seen as another person of a godhead.
I relate to the holy spirit of God in a similar way I relate to the spirit of my Dad. He passed several years ago, but what I learned from him and what I know of how he would want me to conduct my life, that lives on within me. I can hear him speak to me, not literally, but ‘through his spirit’ if ever I were to do something counter to what he would want for my life. His spirit is ‘of him’ but it is not him.
The holy spirit speaks to me in that same way whenever I do something that is counter to what I read in the Bible or what resonates in my heart. It is just so much more so because it is of God.
I think what is confusing is the personification that has occurred, but I think that is a literary technique. I see the HS being personified, just like the wisdom of God was personified in the OT, but I don’t read that as wisdom = God.
So, I don’t disagree with your statements. I’m on board with them.
Xavier & Mark, thanks for the links, good content in both. I’ll bookmark them for reference.
Antioch, I guess I am struggling with the definition of “God in action”. In the articles I’ve read, it seems ambiguous as to whether this should be understood as a concept, a creation independent of God (albeit not a “person” in the trinitarian sense), or God himself.
DT, thanks for your input. I think there may be something to that idea and I am going to look into it further.
Right now I am considering the idea that the HS is not God himself, nor a concept, but rather was created originally as the spiritual component of the image of God, given to Adam as the breath of life. Could it be that the original ruach was corrupted by the fall, and that God breathed a new, pure ruach into Jesus, which is later divided up and given to his followers? We know that the spirit that originally lives in man will die, if not supplanted by the eternal nature of the breath of life God gave to Christ.
Also I think the HS is responsive (thus not completely impersonal) in the sense that it obeys the authority and commands of Christ. We know the HS comes in the name of Christ (Jn 14:25) and that it cannot act on its own (Jn 16:13) and that God put all things under Christ’s authority (Heb 2:8) – so the HS is under the direct authority of Christ, who in turn answers to God.
These are just some musings in the early stages of my study on this complex topic of the HS. Seems like the more I research, the more questions I have, but I’m learning a lot. Thanks for your help, all.
Sarah
Please read 1 John 2.1 where the word parakletos is defined for us. It is Jesus.
There is no reason to think of 2 parakletos. And the HS NEVER sends “greetings” nor “worshipped”.
The language of John here in 16.13 is suttle! Jesus appears to speak of himself as the spirit [comforter] which will come from his risen [resurrected] person. It is “the spirit OF Jesus” [Acts 16].
In this one verse think of “personfication”, Jesus speaking of himself AS IF he were “another person”. There is no need to make John 16.13 a basis for ANY OTHER MEANING than the meaning of those verses quoted by Xavier in post #9.
Again, think of “personification”. Jesus speaks of the spirit AS IF IT WERE SEPERATE FROM HIMSELF. And the balance of scripture shows that it is not LITERALLY so.