In the article I hope to bring out several thoughts. Although I will be dealing with the nature of God I am going to focus on the Spirit of God. Is he God or is he an impersonal force?
Can someone reject the nature of God and still be a brother or sister if that doctrine is revealed in the Scripture? In other words can I deny what Scripture teaches about God and still be a believer? At what point is this idolatry?
Am I dealing with a genuine Spirit filled believer or a religious person?
What do I do with the person? How do I approach them and what am I looking for when I try to correct them with the Scriptures?
How many times should I approach them? Where do I draw the line?
Can the Lord save a person who does not understand his triune nature? Yes
Let me ask it a different way. Can the Lord save someone who does not or will not believe in the tri-une nature of God? No.
Do you see the difference?
Let me be even more narrow minded. Can a person be saved if they deny the term “trinity” (the term alone) and yet, at the same time believe and hold onto the nature of God as taught in the Scriptures?” Yes.
If you deny the term trinity are you denying the nature of God? No.
Are these two different questions? As a converted Jew I believe they are.
Understanding or not understanding a doctrine has happened throughout time. In fact, in John 20 it tells us that the disciples did not understand the Scriptures concerning the resurrection.
John 20:1-9 On the first day of the week, early in the morning and while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and noticed that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran off and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus kept loving. She told them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple set out to go to the tomb. The two of them were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. Bending over to look inside, he noticed the linen cloths lying there but didn’t go in.
At this point Simon Peter arrived, following him, and went straight into the tomb. He observed that the linen cloths were lying there, and that the handkerchief that had been on Jesus’ head was not lying with the linen cloths but was rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple, who arrived at the tomb first, went inside, looked, and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture that said that he had to rise from the dead.
One quick note; this passage is not a license to continue on in the same manner. They may not have understood the resurrection but now that it is documented in the Scripture we do not and cannot maintain the same misunderstanding as they did. They needed to see it to understand it. Notice it says they went inside, looked, and believed. We only need read it and believe it because their eye witness was good enough for them and it is good enough for us.
First, let me address the term trinity from a converted Jew’s perspective. Please don’t write me off as legalistic. I will try and give the make an argument for my positions.
When all is said and done are we to hold to doctrine or man-made assigned titles that theologians have attached to doctrines in an attempt to label them?
And, I would ask another question; are we called to believe the doctrine of God or comprehend the doctrine of God? I guess I am asking the question in light of Hebrews 11. Is it by faith or by comprehension that God is pleased?
In light of creation do we have to simply believe with a child like faith that the Lord created the heavens and the earth or must we have all the details and facts in order to convince ourselves and others?
Hebrews 11:6; And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Must we have the mind of a philosopher or a scientist or even a so-called apologist when it comes to faith? Do we really need their worthless input when God has asked us to simply believe that he is and he rewards those who seek him by faith?
Hebrews 11:3; by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
What I am getting at is this; concerning God’s nature, do we have to simply believe the doctrine of God (what makes God, God) as he is revealed in the Scriptures to be saved or must we comprehend and understand to be saved?
My answer is clear. We need only believe what the Scriptures teach concerning the person, work and nature of the Lord.
Let me begin with the relevant starting point; what must we do to believe? We must be born from above. Can you or I be filled with the Holy Spirit and then ignore the words of Scripture? I do not believe so. Let me give a couple of ways of reading 1 Corinthians 2:14.
Now the natural man does not receive the things from the Spirit of God – to him they are nonsense! Moreover, he is unable to grasp them, because they are evaluated through the Spirit.
A person who isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the things of God’s Spirit, for they are nonsense to him. He can’t understand them because they are spiritually evaluated.
The word bolded above is the word ginosko. The person without the Spirit cannot learn, know or come to know, get knowledge, perceive, understand or grasp the things from the Spirit.
The natural man cannot and does not have the ability to act as a judge or an examiner in order to accept or understand the things of God because of his Adamic nature and inability.
Men may pay lip service to the things of God or someone may believe a portion of God’s nature. By that I mean, they may say the Father is God or a number of variances, but in the end they fall short of the whole truth that must be believed. Common heresies for example are modalism and Unitarianism.
Is there a conviction within the believer that the Scriptures contain the revelation of God? If we say “yes” then we must be consistent and accept all doctrine as breathed by God. If you add or subtract to the revealed word of God you have committed what I call doctrinal idolatry and thus, you are a heretic.
When does a person become a heretic?
Kenneth Wuest points out that the word heretic is “to take, to take for one’s self, to choose, prefer… A heretic is one therefore who refuses to accept true doctrine as it is revealed in the Bible, and prefers to choose for himself what he is to believe. (See Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, Vol. 2, pg. 201, Titus 3:10-11.)
A person who will not allow Scripture to have the final word is to be treated in the manner that the Scripture has commanded. Does the person choose what they want to believe and not believe? Does the person sit as judge over the Scriptures when the Scriptures are to sit as Judge over them? The word heretic is used in Titus 3.
Titus 3:10 Warn a divisive (αἱρετικός hairetikos) person once, then a second time; and after that, have nothing more to do with him.
Paul also warned us that when we encounter those with contrary doctrine we are to shun them. Don’t have fellowship with them. Ignore them.
Romans 16:17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.
Now, how do we approach these folks? We must be patient up until the point that we know they will not abandon their unbiblical position. As it says in Titus, there are rules of engagement. These are not “new” rules by any means. Paul applied the command of Moses.
Deuteronomy 19:15 “One witness alone will not be sufficient to convict a person of any offense or sin of any kind; the matter will be established only if there are two or three witnesses testifying against him.
We follow in the pattern of Deuteronomy. We bring a witness with us the second time and point out the truth from the Scriptures. If they again refuse to turn away from their false teachings we are to have nothing to do with them. The reason for the abandonment is to cause them to know they are in error and they will not receive fellowship from us. It mimics 1 Corinthians 5. We hand them over to Satan until they repent. If they do not repent it is because they were never one of us to begin with. If they are one of the Lord’s then he will discipline the individual.
Dr. Morey in his book “The Trinity” pgs 51-52 quotes from B.B. Warfield. Warfield warned in his own day that the root of all heresy is the acceptance of man-made opinions in opposition to the clear teachings of Scripture;
“It is plain that he who modifies the teachings of the word of God in the smallest particular at the dictation of any “man-made opinion” has already deserted the Christian ground and is already, in principle, a “heretic.” The essence of “heresy” is that the modes of thought and tenets originating elsewhere than in the Scriptures of God are given decisive weight when they clash with the teachings of God’s word, and those are followed to the neglect or modification or rejection of these. In a time deeply marked by “concession,” at all events, it is worth our while to remember on the one hand that “concession” is the high road to “heresy” and that “heresy” is “willfulness in doctrine”; and on the other, that God has revealed his truth to us to be held, confessed, and defended and give due force to the whole circle of revealed truth. We are “orthodox” when we account God’s declaration in his Word superior in point of authority to them their interpreter, and their corrector. We are “heretical” when we make them superior in point of authority to God’s word, its interpreter and corrector. By this test we may each of us try our inmost though and see where we stand-on God’s side or on the world’s.”
Remember, Acts 17 tells us that believers are to receive the word of God with all readiness of mind. We are to be willing to receive the message and then search the Scriptures to see if what another Christian says is true. If the person(s) approached is proud or arrogant, too good to dialog about the matter then they are probably just religious and not born from above. Usually, a genuine believer will be open to dialog because they do not want to maintain false doctrine.
Personally when I deal with unconverted Jews I always mention Genesis 1:26-27 when approaching the nature of God. Of course, they will refuse to believe God is multi-personal and I can understand this because they do not have the Spirit of God guiding them. If they later convert and they continue to disagree with Scripture and maintain the same position they did as a religious Jew, I do not believe they have converted.
However, we can be forgiving and allow for time if we hear a “let me sit down with you and look at the passages.” If you offer them a book by Dr. Morey called “The Trinity, Evidence and Issues” (Which I use all the time) and they take it and are eager to read it, then I know I am dealing with a possible believer.
What are we looking for? Where is their heart concerning the things of God? Are they refusing to “test all things” or are they refusing to be discipled by an older/mature believer? Are they carrying heresy baggage from another church or organization into our congregation?
I deal with Arminians all the time and I am quite vocal about the doctrine of election because God our God is glorified in his personal choice in salvation. When I mention biblical words like predestination or election what kind of reaction am I getting? I see who is hungry for God or I see those who put up their spiritual fists and they want to fight over the sovereignty of God in light of their freewill. Am I dealing with a believer? Are they examining the Scriptures to see if what I say is true or are they maintaining the attitude “don’t confuse me with the facts; I’ve already made up my mind!”
I am not ashamed to say there are some things I believed twenty years ago that I do not believe today. I was a product of the church I attended. I fell in with the natural theology crowd and I was, in the words of Johnny Cash; “fell in to the burning ring of fire.” Now that I am more mature in the faith I do not want to go back and have to apologize for telling people things I was taught that were clearly wrong. I want sound theology. And others should ask the Lord for the same desire.
Scripture is not just a bunch of rules and regulations. The Scriptures are filled with propositions that must be believed. Understood is a different matter, but belief is critical. Any other view of God that is an addition or a subtraction is idolatry. If the Father is called God and the Son is called God and the Holy Spirit is called God and there is only One God, then I must believe this. I do not have to understand it.
When I converted I said “WOW I never saw this as a religious Jew!” I saw the nature of God jump out at me. Who can understand when they read Genesis 19 how YHWH rained down fire upon Sodom from YHWH out of heaven? That blows my mind! Two persons, one in heaven and one on earth and both involved in the destruction of Sodom. In the words of Jed Clampett “Whoooooo dogeeeee.”
As I said earlier what is their attitude when approached? Their attitude can determine their altitude. (Don’t you just love spiffy sayings!! I rip them off from Dr. Morey. ) If people who have left an organization and continue to maintain some of their previous false beliefs have they really converted?
As I will touch on in a moment, the Spirit of God is not schizophrenic. He does not live in us and tell us to believe contrary doctrines. We are to find, follow and finish the will of God and not our own wills. The Spirit of God leads us into all truth and that truth leads us to God’s doctrine and direction in our lives.
When we do approach a person who holds to heresy we must also take into consideration 2 Timothy 3.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for (1) reproof, for (2) correction, for (3) training in righteousness;
See how beautiful this passage is when we exegete it. Paul says we do three things with those who have heresy.
The first is elegchos; reproof or rebuke
The second is epanorthosis; restoration to an upright or right state, correction, improvement of life or character.
The third is paideia; the whole training and education of children which relates to the cultivation of mind and morals, and employs for this purpose now commands and admonitions, now reproof and punishment. instruction which aims at increasing virtue.
So I come to you and I see that you have planted a tree upside down with the roots in the air. I say to you (in love of course) “you big numbskull, what in the world are you doing there?” There is the rebuke.
I then tell you to pull the tree out of the ground and ask you to put the roots into the ground leaving the leaves exposed on top. There is the correction. I then train you in the proper manner of how to plant trees in the future. There is the training. This would, of course, apply to our doctrine and morals.
With that said, what about the term “trinity?”
A bit about me and my convictions as a Jew who believes Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. I am prone to remaining distant from the names and titles “theologians” have given to God and His doctrines.
Don’t be afraid at that statement! Allow me to explain by using one particular example. The pre-trib, mid trib and post trib. There is only one trib and men cannot be happy with the unknown so they have to set up systems and they insist we take what they have to offer. In other words when we become believers we are given a menu that says “end times: pick one.”
I don’t want to pick one because I am not given enough information about any of them. They involve apocalyptic literature. And besides that, history shows a little girl started the “pre-trib rapture” theory. I should put my stock into the prophecy of a Pentecostal personality little girl? I will err on the side of caution and remain with what is taught in the Scriptures. I am happy with the 1 and 2 Thessalonians. This so-called prophecy has led to numerous problems within the Arminian camp. As if they needed more heresies.
But, this is what happens when someone comes to faith. They are given a bag filled with particular doctrines identifying them to a particular system. I know that it seems to the reader I have hit the bunny trail, but I’ll be back in a moment.
They begin their journey, let’s say, at a Calvary Chapel like I did. I was taught that I could escape the great tribulation. I didn’t want to be left behind so I believed in the pre-trib rapture. When we went to the piers to evangelize we put out what I refer to now as the “rapture gospel.” This became a routine diet and exercise for me. No questions asked.
“Hey brother, you need Jesus because you don’t want to be left behind.” Ask someone in the pew, “what made you come to the service?” “Man, I don’t want to be in an airplane when the pilot is raptured!” If you ask them to define the doctrine of justification they look at you with a blank stare and ramble off some weird definition. My favorite corny answer has been “it means just as if I had never sinned.” I just nod my head in shame and want to say it’s off to the funny farm with you pal.
This happens with multiple issues that we encounter in our pilgrimage. We don’t know any better because this is what the previous theologians have taught and we continue to carry on their tradition. These theologians have to have all their little theological duckies in a row and then write a book that will help the masses of people enter into a divisive system. God did not command men to place labels on His teachings. We are all priests unto God and we are all to seek unity in the faith.
Biblical Judaism does not use terms to describe the Lord or his attributes. They use simple language. For some reason Christians think it is cool to ramble off fifty cent words.
Christian: “God is omnipotent.”
Me: “Where is that term in the Scriptures?” Why not just say God is El Shaddai or God Almighty? If El Shaddai is good enough for God it is good enough for me!
Christian: “but the church fathers and theologians have given us these terms and we should use them.”
Me: “what’s wrong with using biblical language?”
Next we will be hearing “if the term omnipotent was good enough for Paul the apostle it is good enough for me.” LoL
The Lord has names that designate his attributes and they are provided in the Scriptures. Since men cannot be happy with saying “where can I go from your Spirit” they have to assign a title and say the Spirit of God is “omnipresent.”
What is my point? Returning back to the beginning, believing verse understanding are two different positions. We must be more concerned about definitions then we should terms. Because the term trinity was attached to the Lord, all sorts of whackos can say they believe in the trinity. Anyone who does Mormon evangelism knows that when you deal with a numbskull Mormon you cannot use the “term” trinity because they believe in the term. It is only when you get into the definition that you find out that they are polytheists and anti-messiahs.
While I maintain God is multi personal, he is adonai echad, I do not personally refer to him as “a trinity.” I have difficulty saying God is a trinity. I have difficulty calling the Lord anything not found in the Scriptures. Before I was converted I never saw the compound unity of God and when I was converted “shazzam,” they screamed from the pages of Scripture.
I do not like to associate “he is” to the Lord unless I have a Scripture to prove it. If you would like to say that his “nature” is tri-une, maybe I can understand that better and I am tolerant of this position. Even the term “nature” is a difficult term for me to use because it means so many things. I can perhaps get away with his “being.” He is called by many names and I have yet to find “trinity” as one of them. In light of the Jewish Scrolls, what justification did Gentiles have in calling the Lord a “trinity?
By faith David could say;
“Psalm 110:1; a psalm of David: ADONAI says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
Or;
Psalm 45:6-7 Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy in preference to your companions.
What did David do when he wrote “therefore elohiym, your elohiym has anointed you with oil..” David did not have a need to title this profound incomprehensible insight of the Living God. He spoke it and he believed it and he left it alone. He did not have to understand how the Lord said to his Lord.
The Scriptures teach that everything that was written was written for our instruction. If we do not believe and defend all things taught from the Scriptures then we are no better than the people who show up at our doors. If we do not follow in the manner of the prophets and the apostles when they described the incomprehensible God then we are in error for assigning terms to the Lord.
It is the false religions who pick and choose what they will or will not believe according to their presuppositions and the organizations they represent.
With that said, let me be very clear here so there is no mistake or confusion with a person reading or reading into my position. Many, many, Messianics have gone off the deep end and they deny the nature of God. I am very outspoken against them because they are heretics. To deny the nature of God is to be an anti-messiah. But, as I said earlier, understanding the incomprehensible God is one thing and nowhere are we told that we had better understand the makeup of God.
On the other hand believing he is what he has communicated about himself through the Scriptures is another thing all together. Believing is non-negotiable.
What do we need to believe; the whole counsel of God. When Paul spoke in Acts Chapter 20 he said;
Acts 20:26 Therefore, I testify on this day that I am innocent of the blood of all. For I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the whole plan of God.
Another way of saying this is to say Paul did not hold back any relevant plan (and even what many would classify as irrelevant plan) purpose or counsel of God. He was not timid and he did not shrink back when it came to declaring doctrine and morals that we must believe. He did not leave it up to us to treat the Scriptures as a salad bar and pick and choose what we liked or disliked.
Having said all that let me say it again. There is always some nimnu or ninny who will attempt to say; “Moshe denies the nature of God because he refuses to call God a trinity.” I DO NOT deny the nature of God. The Bible teaches that the Father is called God, the Son is called God and the Holy Spirit is called God and yet, there is only One God. Three separate persons all equal and all eternal and all three make up the One God. I cannot explain or understand the being of God, but I know I am to faithfully believe, maintain, defend and teach what I can read about the Lord from the 66 scrolls.
I had to lay a little groundwork so there was no question as to my position. If someone asks me what do I believe about God I will tell them he is adonai echad. One God.
Let’s look at simple passages that speak of the nature of God.
My usual example to defend the Scripture is to use the resurrection. I ask the question who raised Jesus from the dead?
Answer? All three persons were said to raise the messiah from the dead.
In Galatians 1 we are told the Father raised the Messiah from the dead.
Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle–not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead–
In John 2 the Scriptures teach the Messiah raised himself from the dead.
John 2:19 Yeshua answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.” The Judeans said, “It took 46 years to build this Temple, and you’re going to raise it in three days?” But the “temple” he had spoken of was his body
In Romans 8 we read that the Holy Spirit raised the Messiah from the dead.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.
So, who raised the Messiah from the dead?
Romans 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
In fact, just cruise through the book of Acts and see that when all is said and done it is God who raised the Messiah from the dead. Acts 2:24, Acts 2:32, Acts 3:15, Acts 3:26, Acts 4:10, acts 10:40, Acts 13:30 and Acts 13:37.
Let’s talk about the confirmation of the Spirit with our spirit.
As I said earlier; the Holy Spirit confirms with us that the teachings of the Scripture are true. This can only happen if we are born from above. “Born of the Spirit” as it says in John 3.
Let’s cover a few passages on the Spirit because without the Holy Spirit indwelling a person he or she only has religious zeal. A person is only religious if the person does not have the Spirit to guide them doctrinally and morally.
If you have read my posts you have read the same drum beat. The Bible teaches us what to believe and how to live. But, this cannot be done apart from God’s help because we are His workmanship once we are born from above. Without the Spirit of God we become like all other religions. We become our own workmanship cleaning only the outside of the cup, resulting in doom.
We must be filled with the Spirit in order to be led by the Spirit. When we are led by the Spirit we will be taught by the Spirit through the Scriptures.
Romans 8:9 But you, you do not identify with your old nature but with the Spirit – provided the Spirit of God is living inside you, for anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of the Messiah doesn’t belong to him.
Romans 8:14-17; All who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to bring you back again into fear; on the contrary, you received the Spirit, who makes us sons and by whose power we cry out, “Abba!” (that is, “Dear Father!”). The Spirit himself bears witness with our own spirits that we are children of God; and if we are children, then we are also heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with the Messiah – provided we are suffering with him in order also to be glorified with him.
An impersonal force cannot and does not bear witness that we are the children of God. When I ask a person if they are saved unto eternal life and they say they are not sure, they are either in need of discipleship or they do not have the Spirit within them. We cannot overlook one of the most clear and plain passages from 1 Corinthians 2.
1 Corinthians 2:8-16 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”– these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.
“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
This is what we can call a passage of full mention. It is not vague in communicating that we can only know the things of God by the Spirit of God. The nature of God and his gospel are spiritual truths unavailable to the person who is not filled with the Holy Spirit. This next passage tells us that we are taught by the Holy Spirit. Impersonal forces cannot teach.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The nature or being of God is communicated only via revealed revelation. The Scriptures do not tell us (if I may use human terms) how God is put together and to assume more or less then what we can read from the Scriptures is idolatry. If I may, I want to use the CJB to read again verse 13.
1 Corinthians 2:13 These are the things we are talking about when we avoid the manner of speaking that human wisdom would dictate and instead use a manner of speaking taught by the Spirit, by which we explain things of the Spirit to people who have the Spirit.
Explaining the nature of God and giving biblical understanding to a person is done by the Spirit to those who have the Spirit.
That includes man-made terms. You can talk about the term trinity or the omnis all day long and it is nowhere in the vocabulary of the Spirit. It is human wisdom that engineers and assigns terms in an attempt to make doctrine understandable, but it creates problems. Oh I agree there was a time when it was used to weed out pagans, but the Scriptures are perfectly capable of defending themselves without unique terms. We are not united by a trinity. We are united by the Scriptures. This unity can be done only by the Spirit of God.
Why is Rome so accepted by the masses of evangelicals? (If you have not read my article on the essentials please do) Because the evangelicals have bought into this idea that some things are more important than others, they have overlooked Rome’s deadly false gospel. “But, they believe in the trinity” says the naïve evangelical. The trinity does NOT unite right from wrong within or between false religions or organizations. The trinity is not a ruler to use to measure who is in and who is out. To be redundant, it is defining God from the Scriptures that unite or divide us.
Now let me put on a Scriptural show of why I believe the Spirit of God is God. If we are to speak to people who may not know who the Spirit of God is, then we must labor to get them doctrinally correct. Some people who have come out of false religions continue to hold onto baggage they picked up from the organization. I have already spoken on the fleas that jump onto people when they are involved in heretical organizations. We need to pull out the Scriptural “raid” and give those fleas a spray.
First the spirit was active in creation. Genesis must always be a cornerstone book because it lays foundations for Creation, the fall and redemption.
We know from Genesis 1 that the Spirit was hovering over the waters.
Genesis 1:2 The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water.
What I want to point out is that the Spirit of God was active and is active in the creation of mankind.
Job 33:4 It is the Spirit of God that made me, the breath of Shaddai (the Almighty) that gives me life
Psalm 104:30 When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.
Unitarians love to attack the nature of God because hey, pagans do what pagans do best! Religions have determined that the Spirit of God is nothing more than a power or impersonal force, but as we shall see, you cannot lie to impersonal forces. You cannot grieve impersonal forces any more than you can grieve electricity.
But, you can grieve the Holy Spirit and you can lie to the Holy Spirit.
And as we shall see, the Holy Spirit is also said to have spoken to people.
Is the spirit of God grieved? Let’s peek in on just the Old Testament for now to have a looksy at what the believing Jews knew and believed.
Isaiah 63:10 However, they rebelled, they grieved his Holy Spirit; so he became their enemy and himself fought against them. Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them..?
Two points here to mention. The word for grieve is עָצַב `atsab. It means to hurt, pain, grieve, displease. It is the same word used in 2 Samuel where we are told King David grieved.
2 Samuel 19:3 Thus the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people, for the people heard it said that day that the king was grieving for his son;
It is also used of the Lord when we are told that he was grieved in his heart.
Genesis 6:6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
So, the question is, why is it the Lord and David can be grieved, but the enemies of Scripture maintain that the Spirit of God cannot be grieved even though it is the same word?
Does the Spirit have patience? Can he be annoyed with the sin of man?
Micah 2:7 “Is it being said, O house of Jacob: ‘Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient? Are these His doings?’ Do not My words do good To the one walking uprightly?
This is the same Hebrew word used in Numbers. It is the word qatsar.
Numbers 21:4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey.
Does the Spirit speak to people?
2 Samuel 23:1-2 Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, And the man who was raised on high declares, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel, The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; his word is on my tongue.
The same Hebrew word “dabar” is used in 1 Kings.
1 Kings 22:24 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “How did the Spirit of the LORD pass from me to speak to you?”
The point of using the above passages is to show that the Holy Spirit cannot be an impersonal force. He is a person. The Holy Spirit shares the same characteristics that the Father and the Son share. As I mentioned early on, the Spirit of God is everywhere. Notice the parallel between the Spirit and the Lord in Psalm 139.
Psalm 139:7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
The Spirit guides judges in making plans;
Judges 3:10 The spirit of ADONAI came upon him, and he judged Isra’el. Then he went out to war, and ADONAI gave Kushan-Rish’atayim king of Aram into his hands; his power prevailed against Kushan-Rish’atayim
Impersonal forces do not provide wisdom, understanding and knowledge for workmanship, craftsmanship, occupations (political or religious)
Exodus 31:3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God – with wisdom, understanding and knowledge concerning every kind of artisanr
I want to now put a few passages from the New Testament to continue to show the Holy Spirit is God. Acts 5 is another passage where there is a parallel between God and the Spirit. Peter asks the question to Ananias, why did you lie to the Holy Spirit? Peter says in verse 4, you lied to God.
Acts 5:1-4 But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold some property.
With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back some of the money for himself and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Peter asked, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the money you got for the land? As long as it remained unsold, wasn’t it your own? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? So how could you have conceived such a thing in your heart? You did not lie to men but to God!”
Very simple; Ananias, why did you lie to the Holy Spirit? You did not lie to men but to God!
Impersonal forces do not speak nor do they give instructions. But, the Spirit of God is not silent as we shall see him speaking several times and to several people. Remember, he was the one who would remind the Apostles what to say in John’s gospel.
In the next passages see how he speaks and also instructs. Notice the pattern of how he speaks to men and does not say the Father sent them or the Son sent them, but he sends them.
Acts 8:29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.”
Acts 10:19 And while Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. “But arise, go downstairs, and accompany them without misgivings; for I have sent them Myself.“
“I have sent them myself.”
Acts 13:1-4 Now Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul were prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
“Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me to do the work for which I called them.” Then they fasted and prayed, laid their hands on them, and let them go. Being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus.
“To do the work for which I called them.”
Acts 21:11 And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”
Next question is rather basic for us. By whose authority can we say Jesus is Lord in the biblical sense?
1 Corinthians 12:1-3 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were gentiles, you were enticed and led away to idols that couldn’t even speak.
Therefore, I want you to know that no one who is speaking by God’s Spirit can say, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
How stupid would that sound if I were to say “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by God’s impersonal force? Secondly, who determines who gets what gifts? Does it not say that the gifts are given according to the will of the Spirit as he sees fit?
1 Corinthians 12:8-11 To one has been given a message of wisdom by the Spirit; to another the ability to speak with knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit; to another miraculous results; to another prophecy; to another the ability to distinguish between spirits; to another various kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit produces all these results and gives what he wants to each person.
How about this next passage?
John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me,
Again, the Law demands a witness for the purposes of truth.
Deuteronomy 19:15 “One witness alone will not be sufficient to convict a person of any offense or sin of any kind; the matter will be established only if there are two or three witnesses testifying against him.
The passage in John 15 states that the Spirit will proceed from the Father and bear witness of the Messiah. An impersonal force cannot bear witness for another. Only a person can do this.
The Spirit is also a witness of the New Covenant in Hebrews 10.
Hebrews 10:15-17 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
At the risk of overkill I wanted to make my point and I hope it gives ammunition to anyone who has to deal with someone who does not believe the Spirit of God is God. What should we do with those who deviate from the Scriptures? We know that those who have the Spirit of God will obey God.
We follow the passages I gave in the beginning of this article. Go to the person and show them their error and if they will not listen take a witness. If they refuse to listen then tell the church and have nothing to do with them.
The issue is does the Bible teach the Spirit is a person. Yes.
Does the Bible teach the Holy Spirit is God? Yes.
I want to use creation as an example as I did with the resurrection to show the involvement of all three persons.
Does the Bible teach that the Holy Spirit was involved in creation? Yes. In fact, to point out Job’s words, (Job 33) he said the Spirit made him and gave him life.
Speaking of the Son we read in Colossians;
Colossians 1:15 He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is supreme over all creation, For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created by Him and for Him.
The Father and God are in the same passage as the Creator.
Malachi 2:10; “Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?
But, the Lord says he alone did the creating and he did it by himself.
Isaiah 44:24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
Who was involved in the creation of all things? God: the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The adonai echad. The One God.
If the person will not sit down and test what you have to say then do not waste your time. Doctrine is either believed or it is not believed. If the Scriptures teach it then that settles it. The nature of God is non-negotiable.
The evangelicals have gone too far in their attempts to “win” people over. They act as if 2 John has no relevance for today. They bring them into their house and offer them cookies and milk, but John says they are deceivers and they do not abide in the teaching of the Messiah. They bring doctrines of demons and therefore, if we receive them into our homes or greet them as a friend we have participated in their evil deeds.
2 John 1:7-11; For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.
Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
Why does this seem so harsh? For one, it is a safeguard and protects those who are new or weak in the faith and also because they must know that we DO NOT believe they are sent from God. We must tell them that they bring an anti-messiah message and they are not accepted by the Lord and therefore neither are we to accept them.
I had two JW’s show up at my house a week ago. I stood in the cold and I told them they were lied to by the Watchtower and had they lived under the Law of Moses they would be under a pile of rocks. No, I am not insinuating that we stone them. This is why we have nothing to do with them. No acceptance and no greeting is a spiritual stoning under the New Covenant. I also told them that because they deny the nature of God they are called antichrist by the Apostle John. They didn’t even flinch.
Remember, we do not know who the elect are so we give the gospel to all men and women. But, these who come to your door are telling YOU that YOU have a false gospel. They already have a seed within them and we often forget that many are being held captive to the will of the Devil. Religious people who attack the nature of God are often times given over to the lies they believe and there is no turning them around. Romans 1 tells us that because men did not see fit to acknowledge God HE GIVES THEM OVER TO A DEPRAVED MIND.
Romans 1:28; And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
Sorry for yelling, but the same thing will happen with antichrist according to 2 Thessalonians and I see it happening now..
This is why the TV bozo’s are so popular. I was at the Doctors office today and I could not stop laughing and I was making a scene. I saw a woman who brought in her Joyce Meyer book and she had her yellow highlighter out highlighting away. I can see us highlighting the Scripture or even a good theological book, but the Joycester woman? What on earth could she be telling people after her 90th book? Ok, maybe it isn’t 90, but I am so tired of seeing a new book every month telling people how to have a good and prosperous life. And, she never ages! A perfect picture on every book cover. Does she love herself or what?
God will give Joyce over to her evil humanistic theology and there will be no turning back! She and the others refused to love the truth that would save them so the Lord sends them a powerful delusion. Powerful delusion? Hey, what about freewill? Lol. Interesting word is the word delusion. It means a mental straying. It is the Greek word plane and it means to wander or stray or be led astray from the right way. So we can say the Lord sends them a plane to follow the lie.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-11; The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the power of Satan. He will use every kind of power, including miraculous signs, lying wonders, and every type of evil to deceive those who are dying, those who refused to love the truth that would save them. For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.
Why do I mention all this? Because they would rather believe the lies the Lord will give them over to the lies so they may die with their ears tickled. It is almost like the Lord says “so you like lies, let me help you out permanently so you can have all the lies you want.” When you deal with a person who will not turn from their heresy keep in the back of your mind the reason may be that the Lord has given them over to their desires.
I have already spoken out about James White debating the same Mormon dude that Dr. Walter Martin debated years and years ago. Evangelicals go too far in their attempts to reach the lost. Many of these people are not lost. They are given over to their lies. They may have crossed the point of no return and we must use wisdom and prayer and discernment to see what the state of a person’s soul is. Get them to talk and out of the mouth speaks the heart.
This is why we must remain true to the instructions of the Scripture. Warn a heretic once, then twice and then have nothing to do with them unless of course they repent. Then we welcome them and praise God that they were not given over to their lies.
Let me end with this final point about the Hebrew word echad that I used earlier. We are not saved in order to convince another that the Lord is echad. The Hebrew word echad is not a solitary one as many think. We have multiple examples where the many are said to be one or echad. In fact, someone picked up on this when they created the bumper sticker for the military that read “An Army Of One.”
Echad is used in Genesis 1:5; the first day is a combination of two things-the evening and the morning.
Genesis 2; Adam and Eve became echad flesh. One flesh
Genesis 11; the people were echad people, they were One people.
Without beating a dead horse I will give one more that we should be familiar with.
Jeremiah 32:38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.
Thus, we see the many people will have echad heart. One heart and one way. This is the same word used in the Sh’ma by every Jew.
Deuteronomy 6:4 “Sh’ma, Yisra’el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad
Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
If you read from the examples I gave above how the many people can be “one” then cannot the Lord also be three persons and one God? It cannot be any clearer. The Lord is echad. He is one Lord and so we have the incomprehensible God.
Is it important to believe the Holy Spirit is God? Yes! To remove the Holy Spirit from God’s nature is to have another God. Again, we may not understand how the Holy Spirit is God, but it doesn’t matter what we can or cannot understand. What matters is what we believe because idolatry is the sin of sins. To alter the nature of God to conform to our belief system or presuppositions is idolatry.
O how deep are God’s riches, wisdom, and knowledge! How impossible to explain his judgments or to understand his ways! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become his adviser? Who has given him something only to have him pay it back?” For all things are from him, by him, and for him. Glory belongs to him forever! Amen.