|
The
Doctrine of Christ
Chapter 3.
The Holy Spirit
Misunderstood
"When he [the truth-giving Spirit] comes, he will
guide you into all truth. For he will not speak his own message—on
his own authority—but he will tell whatever he hears [from the
Father] . . . He will honor and glorify me, because he will draw
upon what is mine and will reveal it to you." (John 16:13, 14,
KJV and Amp.)
Of the three components of the Trinity doctrine, the so-called
holy Ghost (or Spirit) is certainly the least understood. The holy
Spirit is assigned equality in relationship with the Father and the
Son and is spoken of as "God the Holy Spirit." As such, it
is necessary to conceive of this entity as a distinct person—the
Third Person in the Trinity equation—with attendant powers and
capabilities to distinguish it from the others. Yet such a concept
is impossible to prove from the Scriptures and certainly was not
held by early Christian believers for three hundred years after the
death of Christ.
Jeremy Taylor has written: "That the Holy Ghost (Spirit) is
God is nowhere said in Scripture; that Holy Ghost (Spirit) is to be
invocated is nowhere commanded, nor any example of its being done
recorded."(1) Well spoken. Who has a right to say what is not
stated in Scripture? One clearly stated Scripture verse would have
more weight than a mountain of theology. Until such a verse can be
produced, Trinitarians have an impossible burden. An incantation of
words and never-ending theology is no substitute for a weighty Bible
text or a "thus saith the Lord."
Biblical Designations of the
Spirit
In the Bible, there are various titles and definitions that are
applied to the holy Spirit. As these are carefully studied, it
becomes evident that all of them describe characteristics that stem
from God and Christ and do not necessitate an additional
personality. Many are also reflected in the life of the Church. Note
these examples.
"The Spirit of God" (Matt. 3:16)
"The Spirit of Christ" (1 Pet. 1:11)
"The Spirit of Holiness" (Rom. 1:4)
"The Spirit of Truth" (John 14:17)
"The Spirit of a Sound Mind" (2 Tim. 1:7)
"The Holy Spirit of Promise" (Eph. 1:13)
"The Spirit of Meekness" (Gal. 6:1)
"The Spirit of Understanding" (Isa. 11:2)
"The Spirit of Wisdom" (Eph. 1:17)
"The Spirit of Glory" (1 Pet. 4:14)
"The Spirit of Counsel" (Isa. 11:2)
"The Spirit of Grace" (Heb. 10:29)
"The Spirit of Adoption" (Rom. 8:15)
"The Spirit of Prophecy" (Rev. 19:10)
Even the most avid Trinitarian would find it necessary to define
"Spirit" in most usages as an influence or power.
Personhood of the Trinity just does not fit into these descriptions.
So the Trinitarian must use two definitions when referring to
"Spirit" in the Bible: one meaning the Third Person of the
Trinity and the other as an influence or power. Unless the meaning
is continually defined in each verse, the reader is left uncertain
as to what is meant.
There is another side to this matter which is very revealing.
There is also an "unholy spirit" that is referred to
frequently in the Scriptures. This spirit is described in opposite
terms to that of the holy Spirit. Note the following:
"The Spirit of Fear" (2 Tim. 1:7)
"The Spirit of Divination" (Acts 16:16)
"The Spirit of Bondage" (Rom. 8:15)
"The Spirit of Antichrist" (1 John 4:3)
"The Spirit of the World" (1 Cor. 2:12)
"The Spirit of Slumber" (Rom. 11:8)
"The Spirit of Error" (1 John 4:6)
Would anyone propose to add personhood to these spirits or to
suppose that these various designations, unitedly considered, prove
there is another evil being apart from Satan, the adversary of God?
Not very likely, because it is commonly recognized that these terms,
which generally signify the wrong spirit, all have their chief
exemplification in Satan. A separate personality is not required,
nor are a host of personal spirits needed to justify the listings.
We submit that for consistency a similar conclusion should be drawn
in regard to the various references to the holy Spirit as well.
A Variety of Operations
In Scriptural usage, various actions and operations of the holy
Spirit are illustrated. Some were manifested from earliest times,
such as in creation; others became evident in succeeding ages as God’s
plan of salvation unfolded. Yet all of them can be shown to emanate
from God Himself or from His Son Christ Jesus and do not require an
additional personality.
Early in Genesis, this Spirit was evidenced in God’s creative
power, as He brought into existence the earth, the oceans teeming
with life (Gen. 1:2), plants and animals, and finally man himself.
In later times, the operation of God’s Spirit expanded in various
ways, especially as it was directed toward the Church. Believers in
Christ were begotten of the Spirit as they entered their new
consecrated life and were privileged to become the sons of God (John
3:3, 7; 1 John 5:4, 18). Other manifestations of the Spirit are seen
in its thought-creating power (2 Pet. 1:21), its life-giving or
quickening power (Rom. 8:11) and its transforming influence (1 Cor.
6:11). In none of these instances is a separate personality required
to carry out these functions.
Other usages of the Spirit in Scripture are equally revealing.
Joel 2:28 reads, "I will pour out my spirit upon all
flesh." This is a wonderful reference to that future day when
God’s Kingdom is fully established on earth and all mankind will
have the opportunity of growing in the knowledge of God and His ways
of righteousness. Does this mean that a person is to be poured out?
If the Trinity is inseparable as an entity, does this mean that God
and Christ and the holy Spirit are to be poured out on all flesh?
Surely not! Such a usage helps us to grasp the correct meaning of
the holy Spirit as the power or influence of God.
The believer is also admonished to be "filled with the
Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). This is certainly commendable, and all of
us should desire to have more and more of the Spirit that we may be
drawn into a closer relationship with our Lord. But how could we be
filled with another person? One might be filled with such qualities
as wisdom and faith, but hardly with the Spirit if it were an actual
person. Note how the Scriptures treat all of these as qualities (not
persons) and relate them to each other: "Look ye out among you
seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost [Spirit] and
wisdom. . . . and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the
Holy Ghost [Spirit]" (Acts 6:3, 5). Joy is another quality with
which the believer is to be filled, and it likewise is linked with
the filling of the Spirit (Acts 13:52). To insist on the personality
of the holy Spirit in these examples merely produces one paradox
after another, all of which are wholly unreasonable and unnecessary
in the light of Biblical truth.
We could also say that it is entirely proper to pray for the holy
Spirit to operate in our lives (Luke 11:13), but not to pray to it!
Never once in Scripture is an example given of someone praying to
the holy Spirit, and never once is anyone urged to do so. Jesus
taught clearly that prayer was to be directed to the Father in
heaven, and he provided a model of such prayer for his disciples to
follow. (See Luke 11:1-4.)
A Missing Factor in the Equation
The efforts of Trinitarians to give personality to the holy
Spirit has proved to be an extravagant and futile exercise. Most of
their writings expend nearly all their energy in trying to prove
that certain Bible texts equate God and Jesus. Very little can be
found to defend the holy Spirit directly in their Trinity concept
because it is nearly impossible to do.
By far, the one text most alluded to and thought to be a
"Trinity fortress" was 1 John 5:7. However, even the most
ardent Trinitarians must concede that the words "The Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" are not
truly the Word of God but are spurious—merely an interpolation.
The Revised Version and all modern translations omit the verse,
since it is not contained in any Greek manuscript prior to the fifth
century and is not quoted by any of the early Church fathers.
Evidently it was added by an over-zealous scribe who thought the
Trinity concept needed a substantial boost in the Scriptural record;
but surely this attempt merely betrays the weakness of the argument.
Unless Trinity can be Scripturally established with all three
persons in one entity—including the holy Spirit—the case simply
sinks beneath the waves.
Use of the Personal Pronoun
It is noted by some that there are abundant references in
Scripture where the holy Spirit is referred to using the personal
pronoun "he." Even our Lord Jesus, in alluding to the work
of the holy Spirit, according to the King James Version, used these
words: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. . . . But the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost [Spirit], whom the Father will
send in my name, he shall teach you all things" (John 14:16,
26, italics supplied by us). Does this not prove that the holy
Spirit is a person? A study of the Greek text in this and other
instances shows this not to be the case. Here the word for Comforter
is parakletos, which in the Greek language is masculine in
gender and, therefore, needs to be placed with a masculine pronoun
for grammatical purposes only.
John 16:13 is another text which properly engages masculine
pronouns to describe the holy Spirit. It reads: "Howbeit when
he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:
for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come"
(italics supplied). Again, this gives the impression that the Spirit
is a person, designated with "he" and "himself."
But this is not the correct thought, for it is simply a follow-up of
good Greek grammar matching a masculine subject with equivalent
pronouns. In again referring to the "comforter" or
"helper" aspect of the Spirit, there was a consistency in
using the masculine pronoun "he" rather than the neuter
"it." This usage shows adherence to the rules of Greek
grammar and provides no proof that the holy Spirit is a person.
On the other hand, when the word "spirit" is from the
Greek pneuma, the grammatical application changes, and the
neuter pronoun "it" is appropriately used. Whereas this
rule is generally hidden by the translators, the Catholic New
American Bible says, regarding John 14:17: "The Greek word for
‘Spirit’ is neuter, and while we use personal pronouns in
English (‘he,’ ‘his,’ ‘him’), most Greek MSS employ ‘it’"
(bold supplied). Note the following Scriptural examples where the
Greek pneuma is used and is referred to by the neuter pronoun
"it": John 1:32—"John bare record, saying, I saw
the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon
him." In Rom. 8:26 (if this passage is applied to the holy
Spirit)—"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us."
Thus seen, the attempt to prove the "Spirit" is a
person because masculine pronouns sometimes are used in referring to
it is neither scholarly, consistent, nor honest.
Possible Personality Traits
Finally, due to the wide-ranging applications of God’s Spirit,
there are some Bible texts that at first might be construed as
endowing it with personality. The Spirit, for example, is portrayed
as "speaking" in Heb. 3:7, and "bearing witness"
in Heb. 10:15. Nonetheless, other Scriptures clarify the matter for
us. Whereas the Spirit may be described in a loose sense as
speaking, in reality it does this through actual persons, such as
God or the believer. The warning against provoking God through
unbelief, which is ascribed to the holy Spirit in Heb. 3:7, is
clearly shown in Ps. 95:6-11 to have been the voice of God
originally raised as an expression of God’s anger against the
Israelites in their wilderness journey. Likewise, the lovely picture
of the establishment of the New Covenant with the house of Israel,
which is attributed to the witnessing of the holy Spirit in Heb.
10:15, is really shown to be a consequence of a direct "thus
saith the Lord" in Jer. 31:31-33. Hence the holy Spirit has no
personal voice of its own and must operate through other
personalities, such as God, Christ and the believer.
An approach similar to this can be used in properly harmonizing
other texts that in varying degree may appear to endow personhood to
the Spirit. For example, compare "tempt the Spirit of the
Lord" (Acts 5:9) with the clearer "tempt the Lord thy
God" (Matt. 4:7); and again, "filled with the Spirit"
(Eph. 5:18) with the more understandable "the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you" (1 Cor. 3:16). It is only reasonable to expect
that on a matter of such weighty consequence, bearing on the true
nature and identity of the holy Spirit, the Scriptures themselves
can be relied upon to furnish satisfying truth. And thus we actually
perceive examples of God’s Spirit at work, in so arranging the
holy Scriptures and granting the needed guidance and help in
properly understanding them, for which we are grateful.
Some Notable Admissions
In summing up our case for the holy Spirit as the power or
influence of God, we would like to quote from some Catholic
authorities:
A Catholic Dictionary:
"On the whole, the New Testament, like the Old, speaks of the
spirit as a divine energy or power particularly in the heart of
man."(2)
The New Catholic Encyclopedia:
"The OT clearly does not envisage God’s spirit as a person
. . . God’s spirit is simply God’s power. If it is sometimes
represented as being distinct from God, it is because the breath
of Yahweh acts exteriorly. . . . The majority of NT texts reveal
God’s spirit as something, not someone; this is especially seen
in the parallelism between the spirit and the power of God."(3)
The Catholic Encyclopedia:
"Nowhere in the Old Testament do we find any clear indication
of a Third Person."(4)
Catholic theologian Fortman:
"The Jews never regarded the spirit as a person; nor is there
any solid evidence that any Old Testament writer held this view. .
. . The Holy Spirit is usually presented in the Synoptics
[Gospels] and in Acts as a divine force or power."(5)
Placing these comments into the overall context of Catholic
belief, we appreciate the sincerity of these admissions, while at
the same time recognizing their acceptance of the Trinity doctrine,
as based upon church authority and tradition. We quite agree that
God’s Spirit is "something, not someone." Our purpose in
excerpting these quotations is to point out the candid admissions
that are made in respect to the lack of Biblical evidence to support
the personhood of the holy Spirit.
Chapter III
1. Beach vs. Hickey on the Trinity,
[authors are already listed above], quoting Jeremy Taylor, p. 70.
2.
A Catholic Dictionary, p. 810.
3. New Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 13, pp. 574, 575.
4.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XV, p. 49.
5. The Triune God, Edward J. Fortman, pp. 6, 15.
|
