“Hear, O Israel:
Yahweh, is our God,—Yahweh alone.” (Deut.6:4)
“Hear, O Israel:
The LORD our God is one LORD:” (Deut. 6:4)
In the last article, in this series,
I presented what the Doctrine of the Trinity teaches and explicitly
states. In this article, we will look at
the first part of the Athanasian Creed, as well as the statements of Christian
Trinitarian apologists and compare to scripture.
The
above verse from Deuteronomy is called “the Shema”. This is the declaration of Who God is and
introduces the first and greatest commandment and was quoted by our Lord Jesus
Christ, when answering the lawyer who asked, “Rabbi, what is the greatest
commandment?” in Matthew 22.
That we worship
one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,
neither blending their persons
nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
the person of the Son is another,
and that of the Holy Spirit still another. (from the Athanasian Creed)
neither blending their persons
nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
the person of the Son is another,
and that of the Holy Spirit still another. (from the Athanasian Creed)
Dr. James R. White stated on page 27 of his book, “The Forgotten Trinity”, that “When speaking of the Trinity, we need to realize that we are talking about one what and three who’s. The one what is the Being or essence of God; the three who’s are the Father, Son, and Spirit. We dare not mix up the what’s and the who’s regarding the Trinity.” My contention is that when it comes to the doctrine, Trinitarian apologists count on you confusing “the What with the Who’s” and even do so themselves as we will soon see.
There is an important distinction
between the Old Testament and the New Testament that should be made in this
article, as it is very important in determining whether the doctrine of the
Trinity is actually a scripturally true concept of God. In the Old Testament, we have recorded not
only statements about God, but
statements made by God. The statements made by God in the New Testament (with the exception of the book of the
Revelation of Jesus Christ) are quotations from the Old Testament. Why is that?
The reason is because God began to communicate in a way He had not done
in the ages past.
“God, who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by
his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the
worlds;” (Hebrews 1:1-2)
In times past, God spoke to the
fathers through the prophets in many different ways, and “has spoken to us in
these last days by His Son”. There is a
lot packed into such a short passage of scripture. Throughout the Old Testament, are recorded,
God’s direct statements (such as in the Genesis creation account), instances
where God is quoted by the prophets in “Thus sayeth The LORD” statements. But, with His Son, God did something
different. We had a perfect Spokesman;
One Who “unfolds/interprets/declares” (see John 1:18) God. Jesus Christ, being the only begotten Son,
was sent to make God known. He spoke on
God’s behalf to us. He made this point explicitly and expressly
when He said, “Believest thou not that I
am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak
not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” (John
14:10)
Here, Jesus Christ was making a
distinction in that the things He said, the doctrine He taught, the works He
did, were not His own, but the Father’s.
Trinitarians would argue, “Yes, there is a distinction between The Son
and The Father and that is why “The Father” is spoken of here, and not
“God”.” But, the question then becomes,
“Who did not only the disciples believe the Father was/is, but also Who did
Jesus Christ believe the Father was/is?
Jesus Christ, in His earthly
ministry, was really the first to speak of God as our Father. The idea of God as
presented by the prophets was a more distant relationship; than that of a
Father. Although the Old Testament
scriptures did describe angels as “sons”, the prophets and writers of the Old
Testament did not reveal God as a Father; with one very notable but logical
exception; King David . King David, in several of the Psalms, such as: Psalm
68:5 (“…a father of the fatherless…”),
Psalm 89:26, (“…thou art my father, My
God…”) portrayed God as a father.
Perhaps this understanding of God’s character being one of a father is
one reason why God declared that David was “a
man after mine own heart”; in that David to some extent understood the true
heart of God. However, the Greater David
(Jesus Christ) would perfectly reveal God as “Father”. The reason why the disciples referred to
“God” many times as “The Father”, because that is how their Lord and Teacher
revealed God to them. But Who, exactly,
was “The Father” to Christ and His disciples?
“The Father” is the singular God, and “The LORD”, and “YHWH”, and the “I
am that I am” of the Old Testament scriptures.
If we carefully note the 10s of
thousands of singular personal pronouns used by God when quoted in the Old
Testament (with the exception of 5 occurrences of plural pronouns as noted in
“Part 1”), and the singular personal pronouns used by the One Who knows God the
best; His only begotten Son; we will easily see that God is not only One in
essence but also One in person and only One Person, The Father, is “the only true God”(John 17:3).
Many, if not all
Trinitarian theologians will admit that the doctrine of the Trinity is not evident in the Old Testament. I argue that with respect to the New
Testament, the Trinity Doctrine; not only is not explicitly stated, but is not
implied. The Trinity Doctrine is, at
best, created by attempting to link passages of scripture with others, ignoring
the immediate context, and refusing to read the scriptural words through the
necessary lens of understanding the Hebrew mindset which wrote the words. If we ignore the meanings of those words and
how those words would have been understood and used by those writing the very
words we are attempting to read and comprehend, we are doomed to folly.
When it comes to the English Word, “God”,
translated from the Greek word, “theos”, we find it 1,343 times in the New
Testament. As discussed in the first
article in this series, the Hebrews (including first century believers) had a
much more broad understanding of the word “theos” (god) than we have. If you are new to this series, I would
encourage you to read articles 1-3 to gain an understanding of how the words
translated as “god” are used in the scriptures and to whom the words can be
applied.
For the purposes of our present discussion, I am not making a
distinction here between “God” and “god”, because there was no such thing as
capitalization in the ancient Greek, which the New Testament was written using. Whether or not to capitalize (in order to
refer to Almighty God) was the decision of the translators of the scriptures
and its usage and context in the particular passage.
When
it comes to the word, “god”, and its 1,343 occurrences in the New Testament, we
find it used almost without exception to be referring to God, the Father. There are exceptions, but there are very few. Below, are listed the occurrences (that I
have been able to identify) in which “theos” is used to apply to people,
persons, beings, or things, other than God, the Father:
“Jesus answered
them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? 35 If he called them
gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;” (John
10:34-35)
“In whom the god
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them.”(2 Cor. 4:4)
“Whose end is
destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who
mind earthly things.” (Phil. 3:19)
“And upon a set
day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration
unto them. 22 And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god,
and not of a man.” (Acts12:21-22)
“In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
“No man hath seen
God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared him.”(John 1:18)
“And Thomas
answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.”(John 20:28)
With the exception of the above
passages, when it comes to the identity of whom is being spoken about by the
title, “God”, it is very clear that a normal reading of the passage would
indicate that the Father is Who is being referred to when “God” is used. This fact becomes inescapably evident when
taking the whole of scripture into consideration and when noting what is
actually being stated in the scriptures.
In the list above, did you notice
that I did not provide a verse which refers to the Holy Spirit as “God”? In a church service, I would imagine that
(particularly at a baptism service), you have likely heard the phrase, “…God,
the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit…” used. Would it surprise you to learn that neither
the phrase “God, the Son” nor “God, the Holy Spirit” can be found anywhere in
the entire Bible? The exact phrase of
“God, the Father”, by contrast, can be found over a dozen times in the New
Testament.
The Trinitarian Doctrine (as noted in the
first section of the Athanasian Creed, cited in the opening article) teaches
that the Holy Spirit is the third “Person” of the triune “godhead”, distinct
from The Father and the Son. The Trinity
Doctrine teaches that the Holy Spirit is one of the “who’s” which makes up the
Triune God, and that the Holy Spirit is both co-equal and co-eternal with the
other two members of the Trinity. It is
equally important to note that the doctrine of the Trinity is emphatic that The
Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, The Holy Spirit is not the
Father, the Father is not the Holy Spirit, and so forth.
The focus of this particular article
is to examine the Trinitarian claims regarding the Holy Spirit and determine if
these claims are consistent with scripture.
To summarize the previous paragraph, the doctrine of the Trinity claims
that:
· The Holy Spirit is
the third person of the Triune Godhead; Co-Equal and Co-Eternal with God, The
Father, and God, the Son.
· The Holy Spirit is
a “Who”; Who has “Personhood”.
· The Holy Spirit is
not the Father and the Father is not the Holy Spirit.
· The Holy Spirit is
“God, the Holy Spirit”.
The
easiest claim to dismiss from a strictly biblical perspective is with respect
to the phrase, “God, the Holy Spirit”. I
heard the late, L. Ray Smith, once offer a reward of $1,000 to anyone who could
show him the phrase “God, the Holy Spirit” in any Bible. For as much as that phrase is used in
churches, you would think someone would have easily claimed their prize…but no
one could because the phrase is not in any translation of the scriptures.
Next,
we look at the co-equality claim. The
Holy Spirit is said to be the “third Person of the Trinity”; while the Son is
the “second Person of the Trinity”. The
Trinity Doctrine states that the second person and third person are
“co-equal”. Did Jesus Christ consider
Himself to be “co-equal” with the Holy Spirit?
Let’s consider the following scripture:
“Wherefore
I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but
the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 32 And
whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but
whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him,
neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” (Matthew 12:31-32)
“Verily I say unto
you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith
soever they shall blaspheme: 29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy
Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” (Mark
3:28-29)
If
you have questions as to what the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit it, I would
encourage you to read my article entitled, “The
Unpardonable Sin: Truth vs. Myth”, which can also be found on my blog page,
thediscernerstavern.com. If Christ Jesus
considered Himself to be the co-equal, third Person of the Triune Godhead, why
would He state that a word spoken against Him would be forgiven, but a word
spoken against the Holy Spirit would not be pardoned in this age/eon or in the
age/eon to come? It would seem that
there is some hierarchy which is not equal; otherwise a word spoken against the
Son would be unpardonable in the same manner as a word spoken against the Holy
Spirit. This fact should be true, if
both “persons” are indeed “co-equal”.
Is
the claim that the Holy Spirit is a “person” scripturally accurate? “Holy” isn’t a name; but is an adjective
modifying the noun, “Spirit”. In fact,
the meaning of the word, “holy” is not very well understood by most
Christians. “Holy”, in its simplest
meaning, denotes something (God, people, animals, spirit beings, and inanimate
objects included) set apart by God. The
English words, “holy” and “sanctified” are the same Hebrew word, God, Himself,
is “set apart” and distinct in many ways from His creation and creatures. The implements of the tabernacle and temple
were called “holy” (Ex. 30:25). The
people of Israel (even in their wickedness) were “holy” (Ex. 19:6) unto God; being
“set apart” and made distinct from the nations.
An Israelite could make his house
“holy” unto God (Lev. 27:14). A field, in a jubilee year was to be “holy”
(Lev. 27:21) unto God. The first born cow,
sheep, and goat were “holy” (Num. 18:17) unto God. Even an enemy army used by God (“set apart”)
was “holy” (Jer. 51:27,28; Isa. 13:3-5).
All of this to say that in the case of Holy Spirit; “holy” is
descriptive of “Spirit”.
All
people have spirit. Some say we have “a”
spirit. Regardless, I don’t know of
anyone who believes that their spirit is a distinct person. As we will soon see, the scriptures state
that people can be given “holy spirit”.
So, are believers given a “person”
or a “thing”? How is “holy Spirit”,
“Holy Ghost”, and “Holy Spirit” used in scripture? Whether we see, “Holy Spirit”, “holy Spirit”,
or “Holy Ghost”, in the scriptures, the underlying Hebrew or Greek is the
same. So, for convenience in this
article, I will use “Holy Spirit” to indicate any of the three occurrences.
Certainly,
if the Holy Spirit is a distinct “person” we should expect to read at least one
account in the scriptures of the Holy Spirit having spoken and/or having used
the personal pronoun, “I”, shouldn’t we?
There is no such account. While
we have many accounts of the Father speaking, or even someone speaking in the
place of the Father, and many instances of the Son speaking, we have not one
instance in all of scripture of a person identified as “Holy Spirit” having
spoken or the singular personal pronoun “I” used of himself.
When
we speak of our spirit; even figuratively, we speak of it as “my” spirit or,
when we are speaking of the spirit of others, we will say, “his” or “her”
spirit. For example, we might say, “The
kicker’s spirit was crushed when he missed the last minute field goal that cost
the team the game.” The kicker isn’t one
person while his spirit is another, distinct person. Similarly, I don’t believe that were we to
read the scriptures without the preconceived notion of reading the Trinity into
the scriptures, we would comprehend “Holy Spirit” to be speaking of a distinct
“person” apart from God, The Father. In
fact, consider the following verses:
“Cast
me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (Psalms
51:11)
“But
they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their
enemy, and he fought against them. 11 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?”(Isaiah 63:10-11)
“And
grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)
We
have the personal, possessive pronouns used to identify Whose Spirit the writer
is speaking of, in context of “Holy Spirit”.
In the previous three examples, the KJV translators used the lower case
“holy Spirit”, indicating (at least in those verses) that it is a “thing” and not a “person” being spoken of in these instances. The following verse is a little different. The KJV translators had a “person” and not a
“thing” in mind in the following verse; hence their usage of the capitalized
“Holy Spirit”. Who sends the “Holy
Spirit”? God, the Father sends Holy
Spirit and of Who did David ask not take from David “His” (possessive personal
pronoun) “holy Spirit”? God, the
Father.
As
with the verses cited above, we see something quite similar in Acts 5.
“But Peter said,
Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to
keep back part of the price of the land? 4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine
own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou
conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto
God.” (Acts 5:3-4)
In
verse 3, Paul asks Ananias why he has lied to the Holy Ghost and then in verse
4 confirms that Ananias has not lied to men, but to God. As I stated earlier in the article, whenever
the apostles use the word, “God” it is almost always understood to be
referencing God, the Father.
(KJV) “If ye then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13)
In
the above verse, Jesus Christ points out that one can ask The Father for Holy
Spirit. If the Holy Spirit, is a
co-equal, third “person” of a
Trinity, why would He not have said to ask the Holy Spirit directly to give himself?
In fact, I can find no scripture where anyone prays to the Holy Spirit
or where anyone is told to pray to the Holy Spirit; yet the Father is asked for
things and Christ Jesus is asked for things; both, directly.
So, should “whom” or “which” be used when
referencing “Holy Spirit”? Below are two
verses in 3 different translations. The
KJV uses “Whom” (indicating a person) while the CLV and Rotherham Literal uses
“which” (indicating a thing).
(KJV) “And we are
his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath
given to them that obey him. (Acts 5:32)
(CLV) “We are witnesses to these declarations, as
well as the holy spirit which God gives to those yielding to Him." (Acts
5:32)
(RTH) “And, we,
are witnesses of these things,—also the Holy Spirit, which God hath given unto
them who are yielding obedience unto him.”(Acts 5:32)
(KJV) “Wherefore,
brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy
Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.” (Acts 6:3)
(CLV) “Now,
brethren, pick out seven attested men from among you, full of the spirit and of
wisdom, whom we will place over this need." (Acts 6:3)
(RTH) “But look
out for yourselves, brethren, seven men from among you, who can be
well-attested, full of Spirit and wisdom,—whom we will appoint over this need;”
(Acts 6:3)
As
with capitalization, the pronouns, “whom” or “which” are in the opinion and
bias of the translator. It isn’t quite as easy as simply determining the
underlying word. When it comes to gender
specific personal pronouns, chosen by the translators of the Bible, it is
fairly simple in that “his” is utilized when modifying a masculine subject,
“her” is used when modifying a feminine subject/noun, and “it” is used when
modifying a neuter (thing) subject/noun.
Interestingly, the Hebrew word translated as “spirit” is grammatically
feminine and “her” Greek equivalent is an “it” (neuter).
An
article on the United Church of God’s website states the following:
“In Greek, both
masculine and neuter words are used to refer to the Holy Spirit. The Greek word
translated “Counselor,” “Helper,” “Comforter” and “Advocate” in John chapters
14 to 16 is parakletos , a masculine word in Greek and thus referred to in
these chapters by Greek pronouns equivalent to the English “he,” “him,” “his,”
“himself,” “who” and “whom.”
Because of the
masculine gender of parakletos, these pronouns are grammatically correct in
Greek. But to translate these into English as “he,” “him,” etc., is
grammatically incorrect.
For example, you
would never translate a particular French sentence into English as “I’m looking
for my book so I can read him.” While this grammatical construction makes sense
in the French language, it is wrong in English. In the same way, to suppose on
this basis that the Holy Spirit is a person to be referred to as “he” or “him”
is incorrect.
Only if the
parakletos or helper were known to be a person could the use of a
gender-inflected pronoun justifiably be used in English. And the term
parakletos certainly can refer to a person—as it refers to Jesus Christ in 1
John 2:1. Yet the Holy Spirit is nowhere designated with personhood. So
personal pronouns should not be substituted for it.”[1]
While
I disagree with the United Church of God on many things, I am in complete
agreement when it comes to this issue of personhood
and “Holy Spirit”. It simply is
unfounded.
Many
Trinitarians object and state that since words like “Comforter” are used of the
Holy Spirit, we must have a “person” in view.
This position, however; entirely ignores the figure of speech,
“Personification”. We personify things
all the time in our everyday speech. The
Bible uses this figure of speech even more so.
Consider the following passage of scripture and decide “who” is speaking
here:
“Receive my
instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. 11 For
wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to
be compared to it. 12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of
witty inventions. 13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and
arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. 14 Counsel is
mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.” (Prv.8:10-14)
In
verse 12, we read that “who” was speaking was God’s Wisdom. In verse 1 (below) we find out that Wisdom is
a “she”.
“Doth not wisdom
cry? and understanding put forth her voice?” (Prv. 8:1)
This
is one of the many examples of a thing being personified. It is no different with God’s Spirit.
If
the “Holy Spirit” is, indeed a “person”
and not only a person but is the third person of the Trinity, you may
find it odd that someone is
conspicuously absent from all of the following salutations:
“To
all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and
peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”(Romans 1:7)
“Grace
be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1
Cor. 1:3)
“Grace
be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
(2
Cor. 1:2)
“Grace
be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,”
(Gal.
1:3)
“Grace
be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”(Eph.
1:2)
“Grace
be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Php.
1:2)
“(To
the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto
you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”(Col. 1:2)
“Paul,
and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in
God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from
God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”(1 Th. 1:1)
“Grace
unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
(2
Th. 1:2)
“Unto
Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father
and Jesus Christ our Lord.”(1 Tim. 1:2)
“To
Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.”(2 Tim. 1:2)
“To
Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God
the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.”(Tit. 1:4)
“Grace
to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”(Phm. 1:3)
“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.”(1 Ptr. 1:2)
“Grace
and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our
Lord,”(2 Ptr 1:2)
“That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have
fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his
Son Jesus Christ.”
(1
Jn 1:3)
“Grace
be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.”(2 Jn. 1:3)
“Jude,
the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified
by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:”(Jud. 1)
Above,
we have the writers of 18 letters to groups or individuals, greeting them from
God, the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ…and not even one of these 18 letters
holds a greeting from the so-called “third Person
of the Trinity”.
Astounding.
Were
Paul, Peter, John, and Jude unaware of the personhood of the Holy Spirit? If the Trinity Doctrine is true, then these
men who were direct apostles of our Lord, Jesus Christ, were completely unaware
of this essential, tenet of the Christian faith. According to the Athanasian Creed, (cited in
full in my third article in this series):
“Whoever desires
to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith.
Anyone who does
not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally.
Now this is the catholic faith:
That we worship one God in trinity and the
trinity in unity,
neither blending their persons
nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
the person of the Son is another,
and that of the Holy Spirit still another.”
neither blending their persons
nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
the person of the Son is another,
and that of the Holy Spirit still another.”
As I also stated in my third article
in this series, it was the conclusion of Sir Isaac Newton, after his
tremendously thorough study of the doctrine of the Trinity, that prior to the 4th
Century, AD; the church “had no
trinitarian doctrine”.
According to the Athanasian Creed on
the Trinity, we have nearly 300 years of early church believers, apparently
including the apostles themselves; not to mention the faithful of Israel, who
“…will doubtless perish eternally”.
The final claim of the Trinity
Doctrine, with respect to the Holy Spirit, is that the Holy Spirit is a person,
distinct from God, the Father. My
earlier scripture references cited have likely sufficiently dealt with these
claims, but one last point really should be made and it is an important one.
Who
is the father of Jesus Christ, according to the scriptures? This seems like a very easy question and it
certainly is; until we drag extra-scriptural doctrines of man into it. Christ Jesus always refers to God, the Father
as His father. No Trinitarian I know of;
would dispute that.
We
all know that whomever conceives a child with a woman is the father of that
child. I don’t think any Trinitarian
would dispute that either. Allow me to
now introduce the problem:
“But while he
thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a
dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy
wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”(Matt. 1:20)
“And the angel
answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”(Luke 1:35)
If, as I contend, the Holy Spirit is God’s
Spirit in action; we have no problem.
God, the Father’s Holy Spirit conceived Jesus Christ in Mary. If, however, as the Doctrine of the Trinity
contends; the Holy Spirit is not the Father and the Father is not the Holy
Spirit; we have a major problem. Did our
Lord, Jesus Christ not know that His father was actually the third “person” of
the Trinity? Of course, I am being
facetious but I want to accentuate the absurdity.
My friend, Aaron Welch, referenced
Matthew 24:36 as being perhaps the strongest argument against the Holy Spirit
being a person that he has ever come across.
This argument is especially strong given the Trinitarian explanation to
one of the biggest questions that this verse of scripture has created for the
Trinity Doctrine.
“But of that day
and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
(Matt. 24:36)
The above verse is the response of
Jesus Christ to His disciples’ questioning of when will the end of the current
age come and what will be the sign of His coming. Christ Jesus stated that He did not know and
and that no man knows, the angels of heaven do not know, and that only the Father
knows. When Trinitarians are asked why
Jesus Christ does not know this, if He is God; the Trinitarian answer is that
Christ, in His humanity did not know.
His human nature veiled this and other things. But, could this answer satisfy if one were to
ask “Why does the person of the Holy Spirit not know the day or the hour? We certainly do not have the human nature
issue in play. And, as the Trinity
Doctrine states, the Holy Spirit is equally God, just as the Father is
God. So, if the Holy Spirit also does
not know the day, nor the hour in this question; we are left with the only
reasonable answer being that the Holy Spirit is not a person and is not
distinct from God, The Father.
In the next article, we will look at
the Athanasian claim concerning the following:
“Similarly,
the Father is almighty,
the Son is almighty,
the Holy Spirit is almighty.
Yet there are not three almighty beings;
there is but one almighty being.
the Son is almighty,
the Holy Spirit is almighty.
Yet there are not three almighty beings;
there is but one almighty being.
Thus the Father is God,
the Son is God,
the Holy Spirit is God.
Yet there are not three gods;
there is but one God.
the Son is God,
the Holy Spirit is God.
Yet there are not three gods;
there is but one God.
Thus the Father is Lord,
the Son is Lord,
the Holy Spirit is Lord.
Yet there are not three lords;
there is but one Lord.”
the Son is Lord,
the Holy Spirit is Lord.
Yet there are not three lords;
there is but one Lord.”
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