Part-1

                         GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT

Genesis 1:2   I Samuel 16:13   Isaiah 63:7-10

Ezekiel  16:23-27    John 14:15-18  &  23-26

There is one Bible doctrine which in the latter Christian age, has been either mis-understood, maligned or totally ignored and that is the doctrine of God the Holy Spirit.   Today, by the Grace of Yahweh the one true and ever-living God of Israel, we will enter into a study of that third person of the Triune God-head who is and has been from all eternity God the Holy Spirit! As we begin this study we will pray that all which comes forth will be the result of scripture revealed or scripture interpreting scripture. We dare not insert any scientific probabilities or human reasoning lest we stray from the realm of reality and truth.

The first thing that we will attempt to clear up is a major fault which has surfaced in many quarters as a result of mans preaching concerning God the Holy Spirit from a position of being unprepared.  It is the tendency of many church pastors in their expositories on the Holy Spirit to place limits on His ability and capability to perform as God in His many works, and to restrict His works in the execution of  God's (His) eternal decree.  It would be just fine with most pastor/teachers if we would start by agreeing with them that God the Holy Spirit made His first appearance on the scene among the disciples in the upper room. Well maybe not all, but the Charismatics/Pentecostals sure would appreciate it. If you stood against this belief and took the position that God the Holy Spirit did works in eternity before creation and was active in the work of creation you would get a strong rebuttal from most. Not only does the church limit the starting time for the work done by the Holy Spirit, they restrict His work to but two phases in the life of the believer.  Those two being regeneration and sanctification...and I almost forgot the most important work credited by them, the gift of the "Evidence of Speaking in Tongues" or Glossallalia.

We must however not tend to be judgemental, for part of the blame actually lies at the feet of the early church fathers.  For example, when we read the Apostles Creed we will find six articles devoted to God the Father and God the Son and one pertaining to God the holy Spirit. This in no way says that the works of the Father and the Son should be down-played, rather it says that the church fathers displayed either a lack of knowledge of God the Holy Spirit or a lack of interest in Him. With limited teaching coming down to us over the centuries it is fore-seeable that movements such as Pentecostalism and others are able to make what they wish of this doctrine and have little to fear from accusations of  heresy, blasphemy or just plain ignorance.  How could too many disagree with their idea of speaking in unknown languages when most of them are guilty of referring to the Holy Spirit as "it" rather than Him, or treat Him as if He were an "Unknown God".

As we move forward in our study we want to make it clear that we have gleaned some facts from the works of John Calvins Institutes of the Christian Religion, Charles Hodges' Systematic Theology and books on God the Holy Spirit by John Knox, A.W. Pink and E.A. Palmer.  We use them and quote from them as long as they bear up under the weight of scripture and scriptural truth as is evidenced by scripture interpreting scripture.  We also want to say and bear in mind the fact that no one man has all of the truth, no matter how many great writers and teachers he studies from. What we do have is what is expressed in Deut 29:29 "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God; but those things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law".  The bottom line here is "...to us and to OUR CHILDREN forever".  It is the children who are most important to us now and forever. We are urged by the word of God to search for truth, Isaiah 8:20, John 5:39, Romans 15:4 and Romans 10:14-15 .....how are we to call on Him or believe on Him if we have not been taught of Him?

The next step we will take in this study will be to touch on that other much maligned doctrine of the Holy Trinity. We will do this in order to establish and recognize the relationship of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.  As we have stated, many are prone to say it rather than Him when making reference to the Holy Spirit. If it were not right and correct to address the Holy Spirit as Him and view Him as God in His own right can you imagine the catastrophe that it would cause to the truth of Christianity?  It would most certainly rob us of that "So great Salvation" that is promised in Galatians 4:6-7, Romans 8:9-16, I John 2:27 & John 6:63. God the Holy Spirit truly does perform a wonderful work in our Salvation and that work is real and sure. If He were an impersonable"it", He could not fill our hearts with love of Yahweh God or move us toward the Christ whom He raised from the dead..Romans 8:11 & I Peter 3:18.  If He were an "it" our own spirirts would remain in bondage to sin always and we could never be placed in the position of son-ship.  There would be no quickening of our mortal bodies and we would remain a people in debt to the ways of the flesh for there would be no great Spiritual presence in us.  But Praise God, He is the Holy Spirit and He is God within His own right thus, the constants of sin are as nothing to God's Elect.

I Corinthians 2:9-11 Revealed here in the Word of God, for all the world to see and understand is this, "The Holy Spirit has a mind and a will, Knowledge and expresses emotions. In order for Him to know the things of God as it says in vs-11, He Must be God!"  Ephesians 4:30 relates to us that God the Holy Spirit experiences feelings  "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption".  Surely if He can experience grief then He must also experience Joy, sadness, love, hate and all of the Attributes that both Father and Son share. In reading this vs-11 we are made aware that an "impersonal influence/it" could not possess any of these qualities. An "it" would only know  that which is within its own self  while He, God the Holy Spirit knows the things of man and the things of God...and He teaches those things to those whom He quickens and makes alive in Christ Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who teaches us those things which Yahweh God said belong to us and to our children forever...Deut 29:29. Why does God reveal certain things to us? So that we may "do all the words of the law". For those who are antinomian in belief, these words mean the "Un-Repealed Law Word of God".  Colossians 1:26 & Eph 1:9-10...God the Holy Spirit lays open for us the revealed Word of God which previously had been that "mystery hidden from ages and generations past". The Things that Our heavenly Father had prepared for us in eternity are ours for the knowing...God has revealed these things to us by His Spirit. Read closely vs-10 again  "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him".  God is not going to garher all things, He is going to gather all that has been reconciled in Christ Jesus, nothing less and nothing more.

We have no problem accepting Yahweh as the first person of the Triune Godhead/Trinity, as He is the Father...Psalm 68:4-5, Matt 6:8-9 & 28:19, John 14:26.  We have no trouble recognizing Jesus Christ as the second person of the Trinity as He is the Son who is begotten of the Father...Matt 3:16-17 & John 3:16-18. Now, as we consider the right of the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity we read Matt 28:19 in conjunction with Matt 3:16, Luke 3:22 & John 1:32, John14:26 & 15:26-27, II Cor 13:14, I Peter 1:2 & I John 5:6-8!  Would Jesus Christ have spoken of Him as His equal if it had not been so?..."the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things", John 14:26. Would the revealed Word speak so of Him if He were not the third subsistance of the Triune Godhead?  It is Bible fact then that He is co-equal with the Father and the Son...God forbid that anyone read a different meaning into His Word!

We must be ever thankful to the holy spirit for as the third subsistance of the one substance which is the Triune Godhead, He convicts us of sin, leads us to God the Father thru Christ Jesus the Son and He gives us life, yea life eternal through His teachings...John 16:7-16 & Romans 8:11-17. That word quicken in vs-11 is so very powerful, so much so that it can stsnd alone.  It is a revealing of strength to and for the elect of God in Christ. When it says "quicken" here it is saying "the Spirit which raised Christ from the dead will *make alive* your mortal self or your spirit..John 5:21  6:63 and Rom 4:17. God the Holy Spirit makes alive those of the Elect as and when He will. As a person, each subsistance of the Trinity performs the works that they would in the Elect from before the foundation of the world. As the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit is able to indwell the hearts of the believerand give to him the power over sin and death. By Him and through His teachings of our spirit we become aware of God's plan for our lives. He guides us in Prayer, He teaches and He calls Pastors and teachers, He regenerates us and sanctifies us.  If you are of the Elect of God you know that God alone can perform all of these things, and it is God the Holy Spirit who does these things.

There are those who believe all that we have said about God the Holy Spirit except for one thing, they believe that He is a created SPIRIT ESSENCE or Being1  In doing this they have assigned Him a status of being inferior to the Father and the Son. They do this and never stop to realize that if this were true it would eliminate Him from the Godhead.  You would have to remove Him from His activity in creation..Gen 1:2 and 1:26.  and from His work in Rev 22:17.  If you remove God the Holy Spirit from Genesis and revelation then by your standards you must eliminate Him from all in between. If the Holy Spirit cannot move across the face of the waters or call the Bride of Christ forth, He could not have worked in Gideon..Judges 6:33-36, He would not have been with David in I Samuel 16:13.  Were He a created being it would make a shambles of the Incarnation and Virgin Birth of Christ...Luke 1:35. 

Praise God, the Holy Spirit is a person and is the person that scripture bears Him out to be.  He is God within His own right and is co-equal with both Father and Son.  Isaiah 40:12-17...He is all knowing as are both Father and Son.  Psalm 139:1-10...the Psalmist says "whither will I go from thy Spirit" and the answer is there for all to read, No Where, for God is everywhere. And in Zechariah 4:6 we are shown that the Holy spirit is All powerful.  The presence and the power of God the holy Spirit fills the earth so it is an easy thing that He be in the hearts of the believers at all times.  Were He a created being He would have to run from one to the other and in so doing He would leave all but the one at the moment with no protection for He could not indwell all at once.  He would have no authority as one created to quicken mortal man and cause him to move to God...There would be no flesh saved. 

It is time now to address those who say that God is One and One alone, that He is one subsistance of one substance of one essence and outside of Himself is nothing nor anyone else. They will proclaim from the Synagog, to the Mosque to the great Cathedrals in Rome that at one stage of scripture He is called the Father, In New Testament scripture He is called the Son and after the Crucifixion He is called the Holy Spirit. For those who profess this we offer the Word of God;  Matt 3:13-17,  John 14:15-21,  Acts 2:29-33,  I John 5:6-7,

I Peter 1:2,  II Cor 13:14...these are but a few good and faithful witnesses to your un-truth.  Even to the most doubting of scientific and religious minds these scripture references make it impossible to interpret the Godhead as a unity consisting of but a single subsistance. As we read these references we have to note a definite relationship of three Beings and a perfect order of the same. Though the three subsistances of the one essence/substance are equally God it can never be said that they are the same single Being. Each has His own distinct properties and His own relationship with the other two.

Between the first and second persons of the Trinity there is a relationship of Father and Son, from eternity the Father begat the Son, and only the Father.  ** (The Catholic church tends to call Mary the mother of God and most Protestant churches in our day have learned to follow suit).**   The Son is not created but is eternally begotten of the Father. He came into the earth to "save His people from their sins"...Matt 1:21. Even though He were sent by the Father He came voluntarily.  The Holy Spirit was not begotten of the Father nor was He created.  He proceeded forth into the earth from the Father and the Son  yet this made Him no less their equal nor does it deny Him eternal existance. Genesis 1:1 places the father as active in creation and Genesis 1:2 places the Holy Spirit as active in creation; And John 1:1-4 places The Son as active in creation. Genesis 1:26 places Father, Son and Holy Spirit in counsel in creation as does Acts 2:32-33. You are probably asking by now, "How was the Holy Spirit eternally sent?"  Genesis 2:7 tells us that He was "spirated" or breathed..."The LORD God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul".  The word Spirit comes from the Hebrew  ruwach (#7307 Strongs), it means just what we read in Gen 2:7,  blow or breathe...by resemblance spirit..mind, spirit, wind.  In John 15:26 He is the breath/Spirit of the Father and in Galatians 4:6 He is the Spirit/breath of the Son,  yet in both cases He is the same Holy Spirit. In Romans 8:9 He is said to be the Spirit of Yahweh God and His Christ.  The Triune Godhead always was and always will be and the order of the Trinity is eternally constant...Malachi 3:6.  **END NOTE

From Creation to Incarnation the Father is the prominent figure of the Holy Trinity revealed; From Incarnation to Ascension into glory the Son takes that position from the Father; And from the Ascension until the second coming of Christ Jesus the Holy Spirit is the prominent figure revealed. This all serves to show that there is a definite and constant order in the Triune Godhead,  IT WOULD DO WELL FOR US TO REALIZE AT THIS POINT THAT IT WAS THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO WAS BREATHED INTO THE NOSTRILS OF ADAM  AND IT WAS THAT SAME HOLY SPIRIT WHO WAS BREATHED INTO THE APOSTLES AT PENTECOST.

In closing our study  we need to clarify some points not covered. There is no way that the work of the Holy Spirit can be isolated in our lives and seperated from the saving work of Jesus Cheist. We dare not attempt to place the electing work of Yahweh God and the redeeming work of Christ in the background. We can not allow sanctification to loom larger than justification, promise or grace. The word enlightened can become no greater than the word delivered and neither can become greater than the source from whence they came. All phases of theology must be kept in perspective by elaborate study of scripture, II Tim 3:16-17, The believer is not to be satisfied with mere intellectual knowledge. Our study of God the Holy Spirit must be based with fact and knowledge that are constant with scripture. This is the only to eliminate the probability of confusion in the heart and mind of the believer. False doctrine, science and Theosophical philosophy are the greatest enemies of the Christian in any age.  They will do nothing but place truth in jeopardy.  As we go deeper into this study we must remember to be in fear and trembling concerning its truth as is revealed by scripture. We must remain in the bosom of truth in Yahweh Elohim and treat this subject with the reverance that it deserves for it is concerned with the Spirit of the infinite and Sovereign Yahweh God.

"Father  God we thank you for your Grace and for Your Son Jesus Christ Our blessed Saviour.  We pray upon the authority of thy Holy Spirit for eyes to see, tongue to speak and ears to hear the truth of that which has been missing from so many of your people for such a great period of time. We pray for a heart of flesh to receive that which these stony hearts have rejected for so long. By your Spirit we pray, Teach us those things which you would have us to both know and do so that we may know thee more each day as "Yahweh, the One true and Ever-Living God of Israel"......amen

Pastor Rick Giesenschlag

Christ's  Church  Militant

Copyright @ 1990 a.d.

END NOTE

**The references in scripture to the virgin Mary are few, but to call her the mother of God is erroneous to say the least. We are told this about Mary ..."that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost"...Matt 1:20;  and in Luke 1:30-31 we read that the angel Gabriel said to her that "thou shalt conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shalt call him Jesus".  We need to understand that not only did not Joseph have any part in this conception, neither did Mary,  No male sperm was used and neither was an egg from the woman Mary. So rather than fall into the fault of the Roman church and refer to Mary as " Mater Dei" or mother of God,  she is or was, "Theotokas" which quite literally is or means God bearer.**