The Holy Spirit, Part 1: He Creates
/It should be understood that the Holy Spirit is a person. We believe in the Godhead as a trinity or triune. God is 3 distinct personalities, moving and functioning in our lives in 3 distinct ways; yet, God is one in purpose and essence.
The Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is God, and must be reverenced and respected in this manner. There are some forms of Pentecostalism that do not ascribe to this position; rather, they believe the Holy Spirit is a force or power emanating from the Father, who they say is really Jesus.
I have spoken to multiple people who believe this way, and some of them reference Him as "it." To them the Holy Spirit is an "it," but to Jesus, the Holy Spirit was:
John 16:7-8
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. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
The translators and all the Greek scholars agree the right translation here is "He." Once again, the Holy Spirit is not an “it,” He is the third person of the Godhead.
The main scripture that people of the "oneness" persuasion use to defend their position is:
Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel:The Lord our God is one Lord:
First, it should be reiterated that the position of this student and many much smarter scholars that have gone before believe that the God we serve is one as already stated; nevertheless, it should be understood that the context of this passage is specifically written to God's people, Israel, who are about to enter the land of Canaan (Promised Land, Israel, Palestine...); furthermore, at this time, the land was filled with a plethora of false gods.
The warning God is giving His people is that there is only one God and that God is the great "I am" known as Jehovah.
We will not talk in circles about this topic much longer. Rather, I will simply state that anyone who assumes that our finite human intellect can understand all there is to know about God on this side of the veil is...well, that man would be foolish in his thinking.
Jesus is the physical manifestation of God (Philippians 2:6). In Him dwells the entire Godhead bodily (Col 2:9). He told Phillip, "When you see me you've seen the Father (John 14:9-11). Yet, we're told that the Father was seated on the throne and the Lamb takes the scroll from His hand (Revelation 5:1, 8). We're told that at the baptism of Jesus, the Father spoke from heaven and the Holy Spirit, descending, lighted upon the man Jesus. Lastly, when He was born as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, please tell me, Who was manning the universe as the blessed baby lie in the manger completely dependent upon His earthly parents?
One of the points this persuasion will also make is, "God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33); therefore, God can't be a triune being who is one, because that confuses me and God's not confusing."
Let me tell you what would be confusing sir, or ma'am, whoever you are that may be tending towards this form of doctrine, "It would be most confusing to find out that there wasn't really a Father, but instead, Jesus was just playing around."
In this sense, when He prayed, He wasn't really praying. Instead, He was just talking to Himself because there was no one there. In Gethsemane, facing the most perilous time of His human existence, while bloody sweat rolled down His cheeks, He went ahead and took the time to pray to a Father that wasn't really there, in order to make an example for us to pray to a Father, who isn't really there and instead is Him???
Matthew 6:9
9 After this manner therefore pray ye:Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Ok, if you say so. If that's the Jesus, you pray to ok, but it doesn't sound like the testimony of Jesus Himself who mentioned His Father hundreds of times throughout scripture.
Without a doubt, the New Testament points us to attributes that are distinctively the Father and not the Son; furthermore, we are pointed to attributes that are distinctly the Son and not the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds forth from both of them.
Now, I digress to my original point: there is a trinity, and the Holy Spirit is a person not just some floating essence. Furthermore, He is to be respected and reverenced as such. He is to be asked into our daily circumstances, we are to call upon Him for guidance, and we should cry out to be filled to overflowing with His person, so that Jesus will be emanating from us because He and Jesus are one.
The Holy Spirit Creates--
Chapter 1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
...darkness was upon the face of the deep...the spirit of God moved [brooding] upon the face of the waters, and God (Jesus [as the pre-incarnate eternal Word]) said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And so we see in the act of creation an awesome plan orchestrated by the Father in heaven, spoken by the eternal Word of God [Jesus, thousands of years before His incarnation, spoke the worlds into existence (Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2; John 1:1-3; Revelation 19:13)] And once the eternal Word spoke the eternal plan of the eternal Father, the eternal Spirit was hovering or brooding, He was poised ready to create that which was spoken from the eternal Word, and it was so.
Creation of a New Heart
Similar to the creation of the worlds, the creation of a man's new heart when he is born again, sees the characteristics of the triune God in operation.
Once again the Father has a plan:
1 Peter 1:18-21
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
The word became flesh (John 3:14), lived His life perfectly as the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45); thereby, making right the first Adam's wrong (Romans 5:12, 15, 17) and removing the debt of sin (Romans 6:23) and death (Hebrews 2:14), which previously plagued the human race.
Now, during this time called the Church Age, the Holy Spirit hovers or broods over the heart of man, waiting, for the Word of God to be spoken regarding the Christ. Once the written Word is preached in reference to the eternal Word (Jesus) and the believer responds through faith a creative miracle takes place and the heart of man is forever changed.
Ezekiel 36:25-27
Then will I sprinkle clean water [represents the cleansing of the cross, (Hebrews 9:18-22)] upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. [Beginning with the portion of the new heart, through the end of this passage we're covering, it's the ministry of the Holy Spirit performing these miraculous changes of regeneration].
Back up & start reading at Titus 2:6
Titus 3:5-7
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Two main words from this passage should receive further attention: regeneration and renewing.
AV (2) - regeneration 2; new birth, reproduction, renewal, recreation, regeneration hence renovation, regeneration, the production of a new life:
When a man is born again, his life is changed, his desires are changed, his thoughts are changed… He begins to concern himself with what God desires more than his own desires. He doesn’t hold on, without conviction to the things he knows God isn’t pleased with in his life!
When any man, woman, or child is willing to exhibit faith in the eternal gospel and repent of their sin, the miracle of a transformed heart spoken of in Ezekiel and right here in Titus immediately produces a spiritual conversion from sinner to saint, a miracle enacted by the "hands" of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13, 4:30), a miracle made possible because of the finished work of Jesus on Calvary's tree.
AV (2) - renewing 2; a renewal, renovation, complete change for the better.
Jesus finished His work on the tree, allowing the sinner an opportunity to be saved, faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified results in the Holy Spirit producing the regenerated heart. Through this miracle, it's almost as if we are given a spiritual receiver, an ability to tune into the frequency of the Holy Spirit, who from that day forward progressively changes our inner man to look more like Jesus and less like us (conformed).
Sometimes the renewing is slow in seasons of disobedience, and sometimes fast in those of obedience, but the Holy Spirit is always committed to His ministry of renewal (conforming the believer into the image of Christ - Romans 8:29). The greatest assistance the believer can give to the Holy Spirit and His ministry of our renewal is to keep their faith anchored in Jesus Christ and Him crucified for righteous standing and purity with God, because the cross has always been and will always be the access point to God's presence, and it’s in the presence of the living God that the believer is changed.