Steve Ray has a list of more than 35 loaded Questions for "Bible Christians" (quotation marks his)(link to the whole list). I originally planned to respond to just 35 of them, but the series seems to have been of interest, so in this extension, I'm responding to three more numbered questions in his list, plus fourteen "bonus questions" that take the form "Where does the Bible say ... ." I'm trying to provide the answers in the same common format as the original series, for easy reference. This is number 13/17.
Where does the Bible . . .
. . . tell us the Holy Spirit is one of the three Persons of the Trinity?
Simple Answer(s):
1) As discussed in a previous segment, the Scriptures don't use the word "Trinity."
2) The Scriptures, therefore, also don't use the precise terminology "person of the Trinity."
3) However, the identity of the Holy Spirit as God (i.e. as one of the three persons of the Trinity) is confirmed by a vast number of verses, such as the following:
Psalm 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Notice that the Holy Spirit is equated with God's presence. This shows us, fairly simply, that the Holy Spirit is not merely an angel or the like, since to be with a mere angel would not be to be in God's presence.
Important Qualification(s):
There are many treatises that examine this important Scriptural doctrine in much greater depth. I've tried to give a simple and concise answer, but many writers from ancient times down to modern times, have given much greater and more comprehensive exegeses of Scripture to thoroughly demonstrate this same truth.
- TurretinFan
Thursday, February 25, 2010
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3 comments:
Acts 5:3-4 says,
Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
So Peter says that Ananias has lied to the Holy Spirit, which is not lying to man but to God.
And another place David Fenton, from the records of Luke, that brings out the proximity of the Holy Spirit to Jesus and God in Heaven, is at the beginning of Acts 13 and that great commissioning of Barnabas and Paul. One need only read through to Acts 15 then beyond to see how they carried out James' edict to realize all the leading men of the Church of that day recognized Paul and Barnabas as operating under the guidance of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit being here present with us, all the while Jesus is directing traffic from His glorious Throne in Heaven from whence He came and will come again, as Acts 14:3 reveals.
Good point, Mr. Fenton!
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