The Holy-spirit Godhead

The Holy Spirit is the most misunderstood member of the Godhead. It is easy enough, I suppose, to understand the work of God the Father. He is the Architect behind everything. The role of God the Son is at the heart of much of our worship. But what about the Holy Spirit? There is a lot of misunderstanding about the work of the Holy Spirit and He has been said and claimed to say and do things that I really doubt He said and did. If I get upset when people falsely say I do things, then I’m sure the Holy Spirit gets angry when people claim He said or did things that He, in fact, did not say or do.

A Japanese convert was struggling to grasp Christian theology. “Honorable Father, very good,” he told the missionary. “Honorable Son, very good. Honorable Bird, I do not understand at all.”

Positions on the Holy Spirit have been at two extremes. Far too many people claim the Holy Spirit did this or said that and they have the Holy Spirit practically telling them everything to do during their entire day. Well, the Holy Spirit never acted that way and there is no New Testament verse that tells us that the Holy Spirit will act that way until Jesus comes again. So, if there is any subject where we need to limit our understanding to just what the Bible teaches, it is on the theme of the Holy Spirit.

The other extreme which we do not see very much any more is the position that the Holy Spirit is not a member of the Godhead. There were some who claimed to be Christians in the early centuries of the church, primarily in the 4th century, who denied that the Spirit was a member of the Godhead. They were called “pneumatomachi.” They were not a very long-lived sect but there are still some people who even now do not accept the deity of the Holy Spirit. They believe the references to the “Spirit” were simply references to the personality of God, like you might talk about Paul’s (my) spirit.

Let’s begin by examining His nature; that is: Is the Holy Spirit a member of the “Godhead?”

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS DIVINE:

The deity of the Holy Spirit is revealed to us in the Word of God through several different ways:

#1 – He is given the same names / designations as Deity. Let’s read together Acts 5:3-4 and observe that the Holy Spirit is used here in synonymous terms as “God.”

In a similar way, the “Spirit” is used parallel with “Lord” in 1 Cor. 12:4-6. In the Old Testament, the word “Lord” was used to refer to Jehovah God. It is very often used to refer to Jesus in the New Testament. Here in this text, it is used with both “God” and “Spirit” as parallels.

#2 – The Holy Spirit is said to possess the same characteristics of Deity. For example, in Romans 8 (the longest discussion of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament), Paul says it is the Spirit who gives life: 8:2. The Holy Spirit gives holiness, Ephesians 4:30. He is described as the “eternal” Spirit in Hebrews 9:14.

#3 – Finally, the Holy Spirit is said to perform actions that only a Divine Person could do. I’m going to come back to His work in creation (tomorrow) and His work in recreation (Wednesday). Here, I point out that it was the Holy Spirit who was working through Jesus and through the apostles to perform miracles.

Relative to the work of Jesus and the work of the apostle Paul:

1.   No one can do miracles unless God is with him (through the Holy Spirit).

2.   Jesus & Paul both did miracles.

3.   Therefore, Jesus and Paul both had the approval of God.

 4. The corollary to #3 is that the teaching of both Jesus and Paul had the approval