Other Articles on the Trinity Controversy

Beware of Polytheism

The Doctrine of Christ

The Lord Our God Is One

Trinity Doctrinal Chart

The Lord Our God
Is One

The Holy Spirit

CHAPTER 4

We turn next in our consideration to the Holy Spirit of God—a subject which, despite its great prominence in Scripture and the emphasis placed upon it by Christian groups, has seldom been correctly understood. The cause of this misunderstanding is not the abstruseness of the subject itself, nor the difficulty of Bible language respecting it; but, rather, it results from the continual failure of Bible students to consider the Scripture testimony as a whole. In this subject, as in all others, we must be willing to harmonize apparent contradictions, allowing one passage to shed light upon another and avoiding hasty conclusions. Only thus will we be "rightly dividing the word of truth."—2 Tim. 2:15

The word "spirit" in the Old Testament is a translation of the Hebrew word ruach, the root-meaning of which is "wind." In the New Testament, also, the word "spirit" comes from a root meaning "wind," the Greek pneuma. Because wind is an invisible and powerful force, both ruach and pneuma came to have a much broader significance, as the following examples indicate:

- And with the blast (ruach) of your nostrils the waters were gathered together.—Ex. 15:8

- You did blow with your wind (ruach) Ex. 15:10

- all flesh, wherein is the breath (ruach) of life. —Gen. 7:15 .

- which were a grief of mind (ruach) to Isaac and to Rebekah.—Gen. 26:35

- The wind (pneuma) blows where it pleases.—John 3:8 .

- Foreasmuch as you are zealous of spiritual (pneuma) gifts.—1 Cor. 14:12

And he had power to give life (pneuma) to the image of the beast.—Rev. 13:15

We call attention to the foregoing verses to show that ruach and pneuma do not signify personality (necessarily) but invisible power or influence. These words were incorrectly translated "Ghost" ninety-two times in our King James Bible, the translators seeking to give the words a coloring of personality which they do not really possess. The translators of the English Revised Version changed the word "Ghost" to "Spirit" in twenty-one occurrences; and the American Revision Committee protested their use of the word "Ghost" the remaining seventy-one times. Thus in the American Standard Revised, as in most modern translations, the term "Holy Ghost" does not appear. It should be noted also that whether or not the word "spirit" ought to be capitalized is not indicated by the original text. It is a matter of personal judgment and preference.

The Holy Spirit is variously described in the Bible as "The Spirit of God," "The Spirit of Truth," "The Spirit of Love," "The Spirit of a Sound Mind," "The Spirit of Power," "The Spirit of Grace," "The Spirit of Prophecy," "The Spirit of Wisdom," "The Spirit of Glory," "The Spirit of Meekness," "The Spirit of Christ," "The Spirit of Holiness," etc. These titles all refer to one aspect or another of the mind of God and of his Son, Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit. therefore. is a term which designates the mind of God, or any operation thereof, whether in miracle-working power or in sanctifying, enlightening influence. The following scriptures depict the Holy Spirit as—

THE MIND OF GOD:

— And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man.—Gen. 6:3

— But they rebelled, and vexed his [Jehovah’s] holy Spirit: Therefore he was turned to be their enemy.—Isa. 63:10

— Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain to it. Whither shall I go from your spirit?—Ps. 139:6,7

THE POWER OF GOD:

— But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.—Rom. 8:11

— For I will not dare to speak of any of those thin which Christ has not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God.—Rom. 15:18,19

— Then Samson went down and, behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid.—Jud. 14:5,6

THE SANCTIFYING, ENLIGHTENING
INFLUENCE OF GOD:

— Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.—Rom. 5:5

— For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.—Rom. 8:14

— That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.—Eph. 3:16

— For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.—2 Tim. 1:7

— Our Lord Jesus received wisdom and power by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at his baptism (Isa. 61:1; 11:2,3; Mt 3:16).

— Having received the Spirit without measure and conformed his life thereto, he is now able to send it forth to believers. We, receiving his Spirit, are said to have the Mind or Spirit of Christ: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.—Phil. 2:5

— For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. —1 Cor. 2:16

— Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.—Rom. 8:9

The Holy Spirit Not a Person

Nothing in any of the various titles and descriptions of the Holy Spirit substantiates the popular conception of the Holy Spirit as a third God. The various designations, "Spirit of Truth," "Spirit of Love," etc., are plainly used in contrast with the opposite spirit, "The Spirit of Fear," "The Spirit of Bondage," "The Spirit of the World," "The Spirit of Divination," "The Spirit of Error," "The Spirit of Slumber," "The Spirit of Antichrist." There is no more justification for saying that the Holy Spirit is a divine person than for saying that these descriptions of the wrong spirit or disposition represent one or more additional devils.

It is at least highly conspicuous that Paul omits to mention the Holy Spirit in his summary of divinity in 1 Cor. 8:6; and in John 17:3, Jesus asserts that one must know only two persons to gain eternal life: "And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Paul opens all of his epistles (except Hebrews) with greetings from the Father and the Son only. The Holy Spirit does not send greetings because it is not a person. Nowhere in the Bible, furthermore, is the Holy Spirit called God.

We cannot overemphasize how clearly the Scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit is not a person, but the Spirit of a person, whether of the Father of Glory or of his beloved Son. 2 Cor. 11:4 contrasts the Spirit of Truth with "another spirit" —the Spirit of Error. In 2 Tim. 1:7, the "Spirit of Power" is shown to be the opposite of the "Spirit of Fear." Paul in Rom. 8:15,16, contrasts the "Spirit of Bondage" with the "Spirit of Adoption," saying, "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."

In 1 Cor. 2:11, the Holy Spirit is explained by a comparison of the Spirit of God to the "spirit of a man." The Holy Spirit is to God as the spirit or mind of a man is to man. Verse 12 of the same chapter proceeds to contrast God’s Spirit (mind or disposition) with the mentality of the world, the "spirit of the world." The Apostle John in I John 4:2,3, shows the distinction between the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Antichrist, between the Spirit of Truth and the antichristian Spirit of Error. In these verses the Holy Spirit is contrasted with influences, not with persons. These contrasts would be meaningless if the Holy Spirit were a person.

Personal Pronouns Wrongly Applied

John 14:26 is often cited to prove that the Holy Spirit is a person, because this verse has been wrongly translated as follows: 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 to you.

The use of the personal pronoun "whom" in the above text is unwarranted, reflecting simply the translators’ prejudice. The word translated "whom" is in the neuter form and should have been translated "which"; and the pronoun translated "he" (ekeinos) in the passage is masculine to agree with the word rendered "comforter," which is masculine even if the comforter is inanimate.

(For example, in French, a knife would be spoken of as "he," a fork as "she." It would be just as logical to insist that a fork is a person because the word fork is feminine in French, as to claim that the comforter is a person because the word is masculine in Greek.) The Emphatic Diaglott gives a better rendering: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in my name, shall teach you all things, and remind you of all things which I said to you.

A similarly incorrect use of personal pronouns occurs in John 14:17. The Diaglott, however, renders it thus:

— the Spirit of Truth, which the world cannot receive, because it beholds it not, nor knows it; but you know it; because it abides with you, and will be in you.

The use of the personal pronoun heautou, translated "himself" in John 16:13, does not at all prove the personality of the Holy Spirit; for in this case the Greek pronoun simply follows its noun, Comforter, which is masculine. In Greek, as in many other languages, the pronoun agrees with the gender of its noun, regardless of sex or personality. One might just as well cite 1 Cor. 13:4,5, "Charity seeks not her (heautes) own," to prove that charity is a person, as to claim that the use of heautou proves the personality of the Holy Spirit.

As illustrations of the translation of the word heautou in the neuter form, in our Common Version, note the following:

— As the branch cannot bear fruit itself—John 15:4

— The whole body makes increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love.—Eph. 4:16

The same principle is true of the personal pronoun which is translated "he" in John 16:13.

Sanctification by the Holy Spirit

All true Christians are sanctified by God through his Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:11; Rom. 8:11). The principal means by which we obtain this sanctifying influence is the study of his Word (John 17:17). By meditating upon the thoughts of God as revealed in his Word, and by applying his counsels diligently in our lives, we acquire by degrees the mind (spirit or disposition) of God himself and of his Son (1 Cor. 2:16). Thus we are exhorted by God to "be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18)—not filled with a person, but with the will, mind, or disposition of a person: that is, God.

Likewise, the Prophet Joel, foreseeing the day when God would bless mankind, wrote: And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.—Joel 2:28,29

Compare the above passage with Zech. 12:10. It is impossible to imagine a person being poured out. Rather, God’s holy influence and loving power are now being shed forth upon the church, and during Christ’s Kingdom on earth, shall be sent forth upon the world at large.

The Holy Spirit of God is vastly powerful, but its work in our hearts is a delicate operation, subject to our willingness to be led by it. Therefore, we are exhorted by Paul that we "quench not the Spirit" (1 Thes. 5:19), the influence of God, in our hearts. Again, we are told that we must "grieve not the holy Spirit of God," whereby we are sealed (Eph. 4:30).

It is not a God in heaven that we are not to grieve nor quench: it is the influence of the one true God in our hearts that must not be quenched. It is the new mind within us, the Holy Spirit in our hearts, that must not be grieved by the pangs of guilt, doubt, and unrighteous passion. The new life that we live in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), the new will, mind, or disposition begotten within us by God’s Holy Spirit (1 John 5:18), is a treasure carried in an earthen vessel (2 Cor. 4:7), subject to continual assault by the world, the flesh, and the devil. The working of God’s Holy Spirit in our hearts must be guarded with great care, "for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would."—Gal. 5:17

Apparent Difficulties Considered

Rom. 15:30 is sometimes cited to prove the personality of the Holy Spirit, for there the Apostle Paul beseeches his fellow Christians, "for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit," to pray for him. Paul is not, however, as the Trinitarians claim, commending the love of the third person of the Trinity to the church. He is rather appealing to their own love for fellow Christians, which was "shed abroad" in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. That would not make the Holy Spirit a person; for in 2 Thes. 2:10 Paul speaks of the "love of the truth," and the truth is not a person either.

The intercessory function of the Holy Spirit is said to be another proof of its personality, for Rom. 8:26 reads: Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

This verse refers exclusively, however, to the operation of the Spirit in our hearts. Our new minds, our righteous dispositions, begotten by God’s Spirit, cry out in anguish against the sin in our bodies and hearts; but our poor brains, alas, are unable to express this grief in appropriate words. Therefore, we are assured by God’s Word that this inward groaning of our new minds against sin, though not fully expressed in words, is considered by the Father as an acceptable prayer for the forgiveness of our sins. It would be a strange thing, indeed, to interpret this verse as signifying that a divine being had to address the other two Gods with unutterable groans. Yet that is precisely what Trinitarians do!

1 Cor. 2:10-13, similarly, refers to the work of the Holy Spirit within us, for God’s Spirit in our hearts leads us to search the Scriptures, that we might receive the hidden wisdom of God.

The line of argument which says that, since the Holy Spirit leads us into truth, it is a teacher, and if a teacher, then a person, ignores the plain Scripture doctrine that the Holy Spirit of itself teaches nothing (John 16:13).

Rather, God and Christ teach by means of the Holy Spirit, which is their agency and medium of communication. Any enlightenment which we receive from the Scriptures is by the power or influence of God, not from a third person In the Book of Acts there are a few expressions which, at first glance, seem to give credibility to the idea of a personal Holy Spirit. For example, "the Holy Ghost said," "the Spirit said to Philip," "they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost," "the Holy Ghost witnessed," "the Holy Ghost has made you overseers," (Acts 8:29; 13:2; 16:6; 20:23,28).

When we examine these passages closely, however, in the light of their contexts, all difficulty disappears. Nothing in them necessitates the idea of the Holy Spirit as a third God. The Holy Spirit, rather, is first of all, the mind of God, and second, any power or influence emanating from God. In these verses the Holy Spirit is the agency or power of God by which he communicated to the apostles. An example of the manner in which the Holy Spirit guided the apostles is furnished in Acts 16:9, where in Paul’s vision a man of Macedonia prayed to him, saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." The expression found in Acts 15:28, "it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us," merely indicates that the apostles’ own judgments were in accord with the leading which they received from God, through his Holy Spirit (power or influence).

When Ananias withheld a part of his gift, Peter rebuked him, saying, "why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? You have not lied to men, but to God" (Acts 5:3,4). In lying to Peter, Ananias was lying to the Holy Spirit, which Peter possessed. He, evidently, did not realize that in attempting to deceive Peter, who had the "gift of discerning spirits," he was trying to put something over on God. The reader should note, however, that nowhere in this text is the Holy Spirit itself called God, as some have misconstrued.

John 16:13, a text which is heavily relied upon by Trinitarians as one of their strongest proofs, will be seen upon close inspection to forcefully contradict their claim. The verse reads: How can it be 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.

Jesus refers not to the visit of another person from heaven, but the working of God’s power in the minds of his disciples. For the Spirit of God was to be in them, bringing to their remembrance and understanding the many dark sayings which he had committed to them (John 14:26).

The Holy Spirit was not to be a teacher itself, but a means of communication between Jesus and his disciples. The Holy Spirit does not teach us anything directly: it enables us to appreciate and comprehend the truths already contained in the Word of God. It was the agency by which Jesus and the Father spoke, but it did not speak of itself Thus the apostles were to understand the leadings of the Holy Spirit to be communications from God and from Christ.

To use a simple illustration, one may with propriety say, "The radio said thus and so," and yet the radio does not speak of itself, but simply conveys messages from the producers of its programs.

Likewise, a vision instructed Peter to accept Gentiles into the church. Yet the vision did not speak of itself: it was wrought by the Holy Spirit (power) of God to communicate a message from God to Peter.

The fact that Jesus uses personification as a mode of speaking in the above text does not give any real support to the Trinitarian position, unless one ignores the united testimony of the Scriptures on this subject. We know that Jesus is merely using personification because many other scriptures plainly teach that the Holy Spirit is not a person. Jesus spoke in this manner for the purpose of introducing a new and then difficult subject in the simplest possible way. And the apostles to whom he spoke, with their strong Jewish zeal for the one God Jehovah, were in no danger of taking the figure literally.

A similar case of personification occurs in John 3:8, where Jesus said, "The wind blows where it pleases." Thus he figuratively attributes the power of choice to the wind, treating it as if it had personality, though. of course, it does not.

Notice also that the veracity of the Holy Spirit is commended in John 16:13 by virtue of the fact that it does not speak of itself, but only what it hears. If the Holy Spirit were a God, he would be a teacher in his own right and would not be limited to merely explaining the teachings of God and of Christ for his testimony to be reliable. Thus the traditional dogma of the Holy Spirit as a third God co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son is plainly contradicted.

The Simplicity of Bible Truth

The Trinity is said to be a doctrine of "great richness," but we are forced to regard it as the cause of much confusion. The real teachings of the Holy Scriptures appear resplendent in contrast with the error of human creeds. The Father is really a Father; the Son is truly a Son. "The man Christ Jesus" was really a man, and when he died for our sins, he actually died. The one God of the Bible is really one God, and the Spirit of  "the only true God" is really God’s Spirit, and not another God. The teachings of the Bible are at once harmonious, rational, and comprehensible.

They contain no absurdities which must be rationalized under the slogan of "mystery." When the basic outline of Bible truth is understood, all the details and ramifications of doctrine—of God’s plan of atonement, of the life and sacrifice of Christ, of the resurrection of the just and the unjust, and of the coming blessing of "all the families of the earth" through Christ—are seen to be one consistent whole, a sublime superstructure which elicits our praise, thanksgiving, and rational assent.

The publishers realize that this little booklet could not begin to cover every aspect of the subjects that have been discussed, nor attempt to answer every objection that might possibly be raised. In the 490-page book, The Atonement Between God and Man, the nature of God, of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit are examined in depth, with reverence for the Bible’s authority. Such topics as the ransom sacrifice of Christ, the hope of immortality, the curse of death, and the work of the Holy Spirit are explained in beautiful, yet simple, language—and with thorough scriptural documentation. Since its original publication in 1899, this work has had a vast circulation, proving a great blessing to thousands of readers. It has had a widespread effect in forcing many Trinitarians to rethink their position. Many, after reading this book, have dropped the dogma of the Trinity altogether and returned to the pure truth of God’s Word. We enthusiastically and prayerfully recommend it.