I realize that the English language has changed, but Holy “Ghost”??? Are you kidding me? Were we trying to scare people away from God? It seems like there should have been way better options than that. I don’t think that keeping this name waaaaaay too long was smart either. I know that no one wanted to reprint all those church creeds, hymnals, and daily prayer guides, but at some point the pews with the built in holders for communion cups have to go.
Back to the main point, the New Testament is where the true distinction of the Holy Spirit in the Godhead becomes clear. John 13 – 16 contains what appears to be the main teaching Jesus gave His disciples shortly before the crucifixion. It contains foundational concepts that they will need as they build the church after the ascension. He wants them to know that even though He will be gone (in bodily form) from them, they will not be alone. God is going to still help them accomplish the expansion of His kingdom. John 14:16-17 says, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth”, who is further named in verse 26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name…” Not only is this name used in the New Testament without the possessives we saw in the Old Testament, but the distinction is clear in defined roles.
There has been discussion in church history about the “Father will give/send” part, just like all the debate over describing Jesus as the “firstborn” or “only begotten Son”. Whole church creeds have risen and fallen based on how to define these terms. With the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ teaching in John can give you the impression that God is “ordering” the Spirit around like an angel. This has led some to view the Holy Spirit as not equal in the Trinity, or not part of the Godhead at all. However, based on this reasoning, we would lose Jesus as well. In the last post, we discussed the issue of subordination and can find many passages which show Jesus following “God’s will” in His actions. Eventually, when we bring all the Trinity stuff together, we will discuss roles vs. authority vs. value. For now, my view is that roles and authority in the Trinity have nothing to do with value or equality.
Even though we don’t have the incarnation with the Holy Spirit, there is still ample evidence for the “personhood” of the Holy Spirit. This can be attested with passages showing will, decision making, specialization of role and actual outworking of this, and emotion. For will and decisions, 1 Corinthians 12:11 speaking of spiritual gifts says, “All these are empowered by the one and same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” The Holy Spirit decides and chooses when and who to give spiritual gifts to in the church. There are many passages which show the role of the Spirit, and Acts lets us witness those roles in action. Acts 16:6, “having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.” The Holy Spirit empowers and guides the apostles in Acts. Finally to see emotion, Ephesians 4:30, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit…”. We can’t grieve the Spirit unless He is capable of emotion.
There goes my millions of dollars for my new, best selling book titled, “The Two-ity Driven Life”. (actually, there is a long, complicated name for those who only believe in two persons of the Trinity- binitarianism…not nearly as cool as mine) While I totally understand how people struggle, and have questioned it myself, the Bible does teach the Holy Spirit as the third “person” of the Trinity. Stay tuned for the next post where we try to pull all of this together…somehow.
The Bible Nerd 