THE HOLY SPIRIT

Is the Holy Spirit a person? Let’s examine the Bible and not doctrines founded on tradition.

The Holy Spirit is not a power. The fruit of the Spirit (Isaiah 11:2, Galatians 5:22-23) is with us because the Spirit of God is with/in us. Everything that God is, love and truth and the way (of righteousness) and generally all human values and ideals and justice and (right) judgement exist as manifestations of the Spirit of God. If theoretically you take the Spirit of God away, all mankind will become evil. If the opposite happens, you take away the devil and his armies, what remains is the Kingdom of God.

The devil’s influence can be cut off on the individual level with the death of the flesh, committed by the Spirit of the Lord (John 3). In the New Testament the Spirit is opposed to the flesh and not to Satan (Galatians 5,6). Is the Ephesians 4:30 “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” about grieving a power?

Energy, power and presence are terms borrowed from the demonic occult. Power of the Holy Spirit is a term found in the early stages of the church in the Bible, when God was constructing his Church mostly through the work of the apostles. Their ministry included signs and wonders following their sermons. The miracles of Jesus were also done with the power of the Holy Spirit. Power is a term whose interpretation has a specific purpose and is not meant to be used today. It’s a way the Holy Spirit works and it’s not power itself. Believers have to be safeguarded from the occult and not pushed in it with dangerous teachings leaving them false impressions.

Prophet Elisha thought of the Spirit of God as some kind of energy (he wanted a double portion of it) up until the time the Lord brought him to reality with the inability to resurrect the dead boy with his staff (2 Kings 4:18-37). There was no “anointing” in his staff as he thought. The resurrection of the boy would be purely a result of God answering his prayer. Certain events are described in the Acts 5:15, Acts 19:12, 1 Samuel 16:23, and Judges 16:17, but the student of the Bible should practice discernment because on many occasions the Bible doesn’t clarify if people did the right or the wrong thing. Many false teachings came to existence because people tried a wrong thing and God allowed this thing to work. Those events I mentioned above are nothing but the practical application of Jesus’ teaching “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way… He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.” (Matthew 13:24-30). This is why the Bible is not the Word of God interpreted. God wants men to seek the truth through a genuine spirit in order to find it.

The Greek masculine pronoun “o” before the word Paraclete doesn’t prove the Paraclete is a person. Other words in the masculine genre in the Greek language like the map or the computer are preceded by the same pronoun. The translation of “o” in the English Bibles into “he” is misleading. The Spirit or Holy Spirit in the Greek language is preceded by the neutral pronoun, read as “to”. So the pronoun changes in regards to what you choose to say, Holy Spirit or Paraclete? I will mention another example. In the Greek language both nouns in the phrase ark of covenant are of female genre preceded by a letter sounding i (like in ship), the equivalent of she. All names of women are preceded by the same pronoun as well as another noun that in the book of Proverbs is personified, wisdom. In Proverbs 1:20-33, 8:1-36 and 9:1-6, Wisdom is presented as a woman but she is not a person. It is God’s wisdom manifested to us through his Spirit.

In Luke 1:35 the Holy Spirit is defined as the “power of the Highest”. In the same book in 4:14 Jesus “returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee”. In 2 Timothy 1:7, the Holy Spirit is defined as “the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”. In the Acts 1:8 it is more clearly equated with power “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you”. In Romans 15:19, mighty signs and wonders are committed by “the power of the Spirit of God”. In Luke 5:17 it is more clear that the healing miracles were done with “the power of the Lord”. In Micah 3:8, the Lord gives power through His Spirit. Could we describe our Lord and our Father as “power”? Certainly not, but we can say that God is Love or the Truth or the Way or the Life for example, as indicated by apostle John.

In Psalms 139:7-10, God is everywhere because His Spirit is everywhere. We see so far that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord, while Jesus is stated as an actual person, as the Son of the Lord. Jesus is never equated with power, an impersonal attribute. Let’s see more from this perspective. In Acts 2:17, 2:33, Isaiah 44:3, Ezekiel 39:29, Zechariah 12:10 the Holy Spirit is poured out. In Acts 10:45 we learn further that the Holy Spirit is a gift. Can you reflect on God as a gift? In John 7:37-39 and John 4:10-15, the Holy Spirit is the living water that is given and not sent, and is also drunk. Jesus is not drunk, His blood is drunk (John 6:53-56) and His flesh is eaten. In John 14:16,26 the Holy Spirit as a Paraclete is both given and sent. In Acts 2:4 and Ephesians 5:18 people can be filled with it. In Acts 6:3 the apostles urge believers to look for men “full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom”. In Acts 11:24, Barnabas “was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith”. In Acts 13:52, the disciples “were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost”. In 2 Corinthians 6:4-8, Paul gives instructions to approve themselves as ministers of God in all things, “By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;”. The way the Holy Ghost is mentioned with the other words including the phrase “the power of God”, is another confirmation it is not a person. If otherwise, Paul could had said for instance “in the name of the Holy Ghost”.

In 2 Timothy 1:6 the Holy Spirit is the gift of God that can be stirred up. In Mark 8:1 John the Baptist states “I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” In Matthew 3:11 and Luke 3:16, John the Baptist says Jesus will baptize people with the Holy Ghost and with fire, in contrast to himself, who was baptizing with water. Let’s stress that it is the Holy Ghost and fire. Similarly in John 3:5 Jesus says “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Wouldn't it be an odd statement if hypothetically Jesus said if you were born of water or fire, “and my Father”? Water and fire, as well as air, implied in John 20:22, are not symbols of a person. In Acts 2:2 the Holy Spirit came as wind. The Hebrew word ruach found in the Old Testament and translated as Spirit (of God) actually means spirit, breath or wind. Jewish people studying their scriptures didn’t think of ruach or Spirit as a person.

Titus 3:5 says: “according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost”. In Ephesians 1:13 we “were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise”. Ephesians 1:17 says “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him”. God the Father and Jesus Christ, who is our Lord, are clearly identified as persons but the Father gives us not a person, but the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Acts 10:38 says “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Clearly, the Father did not empower one person, Jesus, with another person, the Holy Ghost, in order for Jesus to do miracles. Anointing is symbolized with oil, another impersonal symbol of the Holy Spirit (Psalm 45:7, 1 Samuel 16:13, Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18, James 5:14, Matthew 25:1-10). In Psalm 45:7 the Holy Spirit is described as oil of gladness and in Isaiah 61:3 as oil of joy. In Galatians 5:22, joy is the fruit of the Spirit. Oil is used in ceremonies instructed by God in the Old Testament. In Exodus 40:9-11, Leviticus 8:10,11 and Numbers 7:2, the tabernacle and the altar are anointed with oil in order to be sanctified. In several other verses in books of both the Old and the New Testament and mostly in Leviticus, blood is sprinkled around the altar or other items or on people in order to be cleansed. In Leviticus 14:6,7, the blood of a bird is sprinkled on the leper to cleanse him of his leprosy, and in the case of Syrian Naaman, he had to dip himself seven times in Jordan river for the same purpose, to be cleansed of his leprosy (2 Kings 5:14). In Leviticus 8:30 we see the blood and oil used together: “And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons' garments with him; and sanctified Aaron, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.” In 1 Peter 1:2 we read why. “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” As we see, we are not offered two symbols, one of a person of the Trinity and another of blood, which is the life (Deuteronomy 12:23, Leviticus 17:14, Genesis 9:4).

In John 7:37,38 the Holy Spirit is referred to as the living water. “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” In John 6:63 we read “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Romans 8:11 says “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you”.

In Matthew 1:20, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. However Jesus addressed God the Father as His Father. He didn’t say the Holy Spirit is his Father (Matthew 10:32-33, 11:25-27, 12:50). In visions of God's throne in the Bible, the Father and Christ are seen, but the Holy Spirit is never seen (Acts 7:55-56, Daniel 7:9-14, Revelation 4, 5 Revelation 7:10). Jesus is repeatedly mentioned as being at the right hand of God, but no one is mentioned as being at the Father's left hand. In Revelation 21 and 22 we have scenes with God and the Lamb. The Holy Spirit is not mentioned.

God the Father bestows the Holy Spirit upon whomever He chooses, as seen in Numbers 11:17, 25, 29, Isaiah 42:1, 44:3, as opposed to Jesus who was sent to us by his Father. 1 John 4:9,14 “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him… And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” You can see the great difference between God pouring out His Spirit to people, and sending his Son. 1 John 4:20 continues “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” There is a big difference between what God is doing with his Spirit, and God the Father and the Son Jesus dwelling in the people who believe in God and keep His commandments: John 14:23 “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.”

Numerous Old Testament verses confirm further than the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God: Genesis 1:2, 2:7, 6:3, Job 33:4, Psalm 104:30, Exodus 31:3, 35:31, Numbers 11:17, 25, 24:2, Deuteronomy 34:9, Judges 3:10, 6:34, 11:29, 13:25, 14:6, 19, 15:14, 1 Samuel 10:6, 10, 11:6, 16:13, 19:20, 2 Samuel 23:2, 1 Kings 18:12, 1 Chronicles 12:18, 2 Chronicles 15:1, 24:20, Nehemiah 9:40, Isaiah 11:2, 30:28, 40:13, 42:1, 59:19, 21, 61:1, 63:10, Ezekiel 2:2, 11:5, 24, 36:27, 37:14, Joel 2:28, Micah 3:8, Haggai 2:5, Psalm 139:7. In Psalm 139:7 the Spirit of God is related to His presence: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?“

I quote Numbers 27:18 “So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him”. God didn’t say that himself is in that man, but his Spirit is. It isn’t one person of the Trinity in and one person out. God was inside Joshua through His Spirit. He was a righteous man, that’s why the Spirit was in him.

Believers who claim that God is Trinity support their case with three verses in the gospel of John. John 14:26 “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.” John 16:7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” John 15:26 “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me”. As mentioned earlier, in the Greek language, the male pronoun doesn’t prove anything. On the other hand, in Proverbs 1:20-33 and Proverbs 8:1-9:12 we see Wisdom personified, but Wisdom is not a person. In Luke 7:35 Wisdom is presented as having children “But wisdom is justified of all her children.” In Romans 5:14 “death reigned from Adam to Moses”. In Romans 5:21 “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Death and sin and grace “reign”.

The strongest evidence that the Holy Spirit is not a person is the omission of it by Paul in his salutations in the opening lines of 13 out of 14 of his epistles. His standard greeting is “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” A few times it is “Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.” The epistle to the Hebrews, attributed to Paul, doesn’t have an introduction from the author. James introduced himself as a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter introduced himself with these words: “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord”

Jesus is the Truth, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Truth that guides us to the Truth (John 16:13). Did Jesus in John 20:22 breathe to his disciples the third person of the Trinity? Would the Spirit of the Lord’s mouth be a person in 2 Thessalonians 2:8? Was Adam created in the image of the Holy Spirit? (Genesis 1:25,26). In Ephesians 5:5 we have inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Where is the Holy Ghost? Similarly, the Holy Ghost is absent in Mark 13:32 “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father“. John 14:26 states: “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.” But in 1 Thessalonians 3:11 we learn who guides us “Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.” John 2:27 states: “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” Anointing doesn’t sound like a person.

In 1 John 1:3 we read that we have fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. But in Hebrew 6:4 we are partakers of the Holy Ghost. In 2 Peter 1:4 we are partakers of the divine nature. In Hebrew 12:10 we are partakers of God’s holiness. In 1 John 2:22-26 the antichrists deny the Father and the Son. Why not the Holy Spirit? The same is repeated in 2 John 1:9 and Judas 1:4.

In Acts 5:3 Peter said that Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Ghost. In 2 Corinthians 11:31 we learn who is watching whether we are lying: “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.” In Ephesians 3:5 we read that “Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” In Matthew 16:17 we learn where revelation comes from: “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” The fact that Jesus promised in the gospel of John chapters 14 to 16 that his Father would send the “Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name” to teach and guide his disciples, doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit before that moment was absent. Jesus was referring to a very active guidance by the Holy Spirit, unlike anything they had experienced before. When Simon Peter said in Matthew 16:16 “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”, the revelation came to him from the Father through His Spirit. Nehemiah in Nehemiah 9:20, reveals that their instruction came from the Spirit of God “Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.”

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father (Romans 8:11, 1 Thessalonians 4:8, Matthew 10:20, Luke 4:18) and the Spirit of the Son (Romans 8:9, Philippians 1:19, Galatians 4:6, 1 Peter 1:11). In John 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” We are not asked to know the Holy Ghost. In Acts 20:28 Paul said “the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers” and four verses earlier he said “the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus”.