Tuesday: Biblical Hints
There are various references to the Holy Spirit in the Bible that are interchangeable with references to God.
Read Isaiah 63:10-14 and compare it with Numbers 14:11 and Deuteronomy 32:12. To whom was the writer referring in these passages, and what does this tell us about the divinity of the Holy Spirit?
Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com
In Isaiah 63:10, the people rebelled and grieved the Holy Spirit. However, the parallel account, as found in Numbers 14:11, states, “The LORD said to Moses, ‘How long will this people spurn me?’ ” (NASB). And in Deuteronomy 32:12, we are told “The LORD alone guided him, and there was no foreign god with him” (NASB). Obviously the biblical writers saw God and the Holy Spirit on par with each other.
In 2 Samuel 23:2, we read that “the Spirit of the LORD spoke by me” (NASB) whereas in the parallel statement in verse 3, it says: “The God of Israel said . . . to me” (NASB). Again, the conclusion from this biblical parallel is that the Holy Spirit is considered to be equal to God.
Compare 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 with 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and compare 1 Corinthians 12:11 with 1 Corinthians 12:28. How are the references to the Holy Spirit and to God used interchangeably in these passages? What is attributed to God and to the Holy Spirit alike?
In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Paul uses similar language as in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. For the apostle Paul, to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit is to be inhabited by God. By equating the expression “God’s temple” (NIV) with a temple “of the Holy Spirit” (NIV), Paul points out that the Holy Spirit is God.
In 1 Corinthians 12:11, Paul writes that it is the Holy Spirit who distributes the spiritual gifts to each believer. A few verses later in 1 Corinthians 12:28, we are told that it is God who is doing it. The basic message is clear: the Holy Spirit does the same action as God is doing, powerful evidence that the Holy Spirit is equal to God.
| Read again Numbers 14:11. In what ways might this be applied to us today? Think about the miraculous ways God has worked in our church. Think about all the reasons He has given us to believe. How can we make sure we aren’t doing today what God’s people did thousands of years ago? |
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Saints what i understand is that, according to the verses that you are qupting, the Holy Spirit obviously is God.
Last week one of my younger Brother said we use NOT He when we talk about the Holy Spirit but IT, so i and others we disagree with him because as you said in your comment Ananias and his wife lie not to men but to God.
Yes, it bothers me when In scripture they use the word, (it) when talking about the Holy Spirit. I don't know if that is a false translation that was caused from people who had a wrong perception. I will need to research that. When I see that in scripture I always correct it in my mind out of respect.
Charles, you might want to show your younger brother John 14:17,26 and 16:7-14.
Language can be tough. Is God a male?
And the English language is especially tough for those who weren't born into it. 😉 As you probably know, until fairly recently the pronoun "he" was used to speak of people generically, rather than only to males. Somehow God has to communicate with us in human language, and that does kind of limit what we can understand.
Seeing it took both male and female to make up God's image, I think it's safe to conclude that God is not a sexual being like we are.
It is important to try to understand the nature of the HS. But how will men fully understand the nature of God? If God was something or someone men made up in their own minds, then this could be an easier task! But if the opposite happened (God made men), there might be a little bit more complexity to this subject. In His mercy, God may have defined Himself to men in three different ways, according to the nature of His work, just to help us understand Him a little better! Now, to question why He did that may take us to a circle. Is it possible to describe something of unccountable measure? Did any men on this planet find an end to the Universe?
Holy spirit is God? I do not want to believe that. I am seeing holy spirit as just a channel where God diseminate His information.
I believe that if you will pray for understanding and study all the Bible references in this series of lessons (not just this one), it will become quite clear to you that the Holy Spirit is, indeed God, just as is the Father and Christ. The next lesson (No. 4 in the series) will also help to make it clearer.
However, if you "do not want to believe that," you will not see it. It is essential to let go of our own ideas and submit ourselves to God for Him to reveal truth to us. In fact, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth. (John 16:13) I suggest reading the three chapters of John 14, John 15 and John 16 where Jesus talks to His disciples about the Comforter whom He will send in His place.
To answer: How can we make sure we aren’t doing today what God’s people did thousands of years ago?
(John 3:21, GNT) "But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God."
Limited by our society and enfeebled in wisdom it is human tendency to try and make Godliness to make fit to our limitation, than to allow our limitation to be elevated to Godliness. No wonder it doesnt make sense that God triune has no hierrachy whatsoever as our earthly monarchies.
NOTE: God is not what we think he is but he is what he says he is. Ephesians 4:4-6 says '....there is one Spirit (Holy Spirit),one Lord (Christ), one God (the Father).Each of them countless times is named God, all of them combined make one God. Then the greatest of all miracles is how this mighty God through the will of the father, the deeds of the Son and the presence of the Holy Spirit is working tirelessly to transform so degraded a race as ours to perfect alignment to his will, and likeness to his very Holy character. On our own being Christlike is attempting an impossibility but through the working of the Spirit in us daily, we are transformed into the very likeness of God.
How can we be sure we are not following in the steps of unbelieving Israel? Only if it is our greatest purpose to be One with the Lord by taking His yoke upon us and learning of Him, will we be safe from deceiving ourselves. But if we love “the pleasures of sin” more than we love the Truth, we will eventually believe lies(2 Thess 2:10-12). We can study to show ourselves approved unto God, praying in faith for the eye salve, and by repentance, will gain the object desired(Rev 3:18-20).
When we are baptized it is done with the blessing of God the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which to me explains them as the Holy trinity being as one within the other. When our minds become more receptive when we study His word, He gives us more wisdom, knowledge and understanding for the works we are to do, under His guidance. We will never be lost or forsaken if we follow our Lord and Saviour as He guides us with diligence, faith, obedience and Love.
Here is one quote from Ellen white.
Also read The Southern Review, September 13, 1898
Letter 66-1894, April 10, 1894 par. 18
9 Testimonies to the Church, p. 196
Those are only a few that are crystal clear and harmonize with the Bible. People are not studying. So when truth is presented it is rejected .What was Ellen White's response to Dr.John Harvey Kellogg declaring to Arthur Daniells, the GC president, that he, Kellogg, believed in the Trinity - that he believed in God the father, God the son, God the holy spirit. Here is part of the letter she wrote to him,
These sentiments of Kellog were published in a book called The Living Temple which Ellen White called "the alpha of deadly heresies." She also called it pantheism for Kellogg said that "God fills all space."
With this coming from Monday lesson, why do then say that Holy Spirit is God?
"But perhaps the most amazing work of the Holy Spirit is His ability to change human hearts and minds. It is the Holy Spirit who accomplishes a new spiritual birth (John 3:5-8). He has the power to accomplish something that only God can do".
The fact that the Holy Ghost is God should be abundantly clear to all Seventh-day Adventist believers. The Adventist Fundamental Belief #5 categorically states:"God the eternal Spirit was active with the Father and the Son in Creation, incarnation, and redemption. He inspired the writers of Scripture. He filled Christ’s life with power. He draws and convicts human beings; and those who respond He renews and transforms into the image of God. Sent by the Father and the Son to be always with His children, He extends spiritual gifts to the church, empowers it to bear witness to Christ, and in harmony with the Scriptures leads it into all truth." The Holy Bible ascribes to the Holy Spirit works of creation, conversion, and inspiration. The Holy Spirit is called God in the Bible (2 Pet 1:21).
It would be much easier if the bible said that the Holy Spirit was a person.It does not.
The Holy Spirit is God.
God is a creature / being unlike anything we know.
A person is a human being regarded as an individual.
There is God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), Angels, and demons none of which fit the category of person.
The Holy Spirit is what the bible says He is: GOD/ Holy Spirit.
I would submit that the word we are searching for is not "Person," but rather "sentient being."
Indeed, sometimes we would like it if we wouldn't have to study so much to understand what the Bible says. 🙂
But a person - especially a spirit Person - does not necessarily have a body. (See Wikipedia article.) Thus God is consists of three Persons - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Angels are persons, demons are persons and humans are persons. But a God Person is different from human persons - indeed, different from anything or anyone we know. And that's why we have a hard time wrapping our minds around the concept. One member of my Sabbath School class proposed using the term "God Person" for God, rather than just "Person." Perhaps you will find this helpful.
For more on the subject of Persons of the Godhead, see these follow-up lessons:
Sunday: Jesus’ Description of the Holy Spirit
Monday: Personal Aspects of the Holy Spirit – Part 1
Tuesday: Personal Aspects of the Holy Spirit – Part 2
As I understand the English language, a person is a "sentient being" (i.e. feels and perceives things). This would include animals. But a person is more. A person is also able to think, plan, create and make moral judgments - especially a spiritual person. (A "legal" person is another subject altogether.)
Sorry, but God is not a creature, for the word on it\'s own implies that he was created. He may be a creature maker but not a creature. ?
I have come to believe that it is not asking or begging for "More" of the Holy Spirit. Makes God sound like He will only give it if we ask or beg. I believe the Holy Spirit is always available and as much as we can handle as we move along on our journey. Are we listening and responding?
Are we expecting Sinai or the mouth of the cave(?) where Elijah listened carefully to the still small voice (transformation) and was taken to heaven shortly after.