And they were
all filled
with the
Holy Spirit...
Acts 2:4a
If therefore God
gave them
the same gift
as He gave us
when we believed
on the
Lord Jesus Christ,
who was I that I
could withstand God?
Acts 11:17
In our minds we separate and categorize, make departments, and see things individually. We have a difficult time connecting things together when they are hard to explain. Many people separate the Godhead into three separate individuals and forget that they are all God. It is true that they are Persons of the Godhead and that they have a substance that is theirs, but they are all of the same essence, all have the same purpose, and all operate as One. When the Holy Spirit is said to enter into the life of a person it is God who enters, it is Jesus Christ our Savior who enters, and it is the power of God, God Himself that enters us as the Holy Spirit. Misunderstanding in regards to the Holy Spirit has led to misuse of this Person, and that misuse is the misuse of God, and the Son of God, Jesus Christ. This misuse has led people to accept a pietistic form of worship that became so prominent in the early days of this nation by men such as Charles Finney (1792-1875) among others where the emphasis was on a experiential Christianity. This pietistic movement gave credence to one's feeling as a sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit but did not have the reality of the New Testament, that is there is little or nothing about these movements that needs the death of Jesus Christ. These movements live on the "supernatural" and the "miraculous" and other manifestation that are taught as having the approval of God because these "signs" are due to the filling of the Holy Spirit. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, and prayer and devotion. This frenzied atmosphere causes people to act drunk, bark like dogs, speak in unintelligible sounding languages, shouting and crying out as signs of the presence of the Holy Spirit, but the cost of the cross is absent, the blood of Jesus Christ and is not of the Holy Spirit, in fact this form of worship dishonors our God, the Holy Spirit, and denigrate the passion of Jesus Christ. The Bible is clear, the message plainly stated: true children of God have an experience and that experience is seen by the hallmark of their personal and passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ, and that devotion is extended to the Person of the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Every other experience is detached from the Person of Jesus Christ. The Bible reveals the pattern for our lives. Therefore it is important that we fully understand the Third Person of the Godhead; the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth!
We must never be afraid to use the Scriptures properly translated, both in context and in grammar. It is this design by some to make all words in the Bible reflect what they hold as Doctrine, or the dogma of the Church. Religions such as the Jehovah Witnesses believe only that the Holy Spirit is the power of God but is not a Person. The United Pentecostal Church Universal is Modalist and believe that there is no Trinity and that God operates in certain modes but cannot be the other Person while He is in another mode, or as another Person. This then is the question: Is the Holy Spirit a Person or is He just a force, a force of God? To offer one Scripture as proof, or as a proof text is wrong for we must examine Scripture with Scripture, that is all that the Scripture speaks as to any subject. Billy Graham in his book entitled: The Holy Spirit; (Thomas Nelson Publishers; 1988; p.2) makes this statement: "Whoever speaks of the Holy Spirit is "it" is uninstructed, or perhaps even undiscerning. In Romans 8:16 the King James Version refers to the Holy Spirit as "itself." This is a mistranslations have changed "itself" to "himself." I agree with Mr. Graham that to speak of the Holy Spirit as an "it' is unScriptural, but I disagree with him that Romans 8:16 was mistranslated in the King James Version. The Newer Translations have changed "it" to "himself" and as I will show it is they who have mistranslated that verse. The have "massaged" the verse to reflect what they believe to be true of the Holy Spirit. Allow me to quote from the 1611 edition of the King James Bible and I will use the verse from the exact replica of the Bible presented to the King of England but I will use our letters and not their forms: "The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." (KJV 1611). Here is the same verse as recorded in the New King James Version: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." (NKJV 1882). Two things to notice: 1. "it" "self" was changed to "Himself" 2. The word "spirit" was capitalized to "Spirit" and the word himself was capitalized to "Himself."Here is the Greek verse from the Textus Receptus and is the same in the Critical text: I will inject the meaning and grammar of the words:
We must never be afraid to use the Scriptures properly translated, both in context and in grammar. It is this design by some to make all words in the Bible reflect what they hold as Doctrine, or the dogma of the Church. Religions such as the Jehovah Witnesses believe only that the Holy Spirit is the power of God but is not a Person. The United Pentecostal Church Universal is Modalist and believe that there is no Trinity and that God operates in certain modes but cannot be the other Person while He is in another mode, or as another Person. This then is the question: Is the Holy Spirit a Person or is He just a force, a force of God? To offer one Scripture as proof, or as a proof text is wrong for we must examine Scripture with Scripture, that is all that the Scripture speaks as to any subject. Billy Graham in his book entitled: The Holy Spirit; (Thomas Nelson Publishers; 1988; p.2) makes this statement: "Whoever speaks of the Holy Spirit is "it" is uninstructed, or perhaps even undiscerning. In Romans 8:16 the King James Version refers to the Holy Spirit as "itself." This is a mistranslations have changed "itself" to "himself." I agree with Mr. Graham that to speak of the Holy Spirit as an "it' is unScriptural, but I disagree with him that Romans 8:16 was mistranslated in the King James Version. The Newer Translations have changed "it" to "himself" and as I will show it is they who have mistranslated that verse. The have "massaged" the verse to reflect what they believe to be true of the Holy Spirit. Allow me to quote from the 1611 edition of the King James Bible and I will use the verse from the exact replica of the Bible presented to the King of England but I will use our letters and not their forms: "The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." (KJV 1611). Here is the same verse as recorded in the New King James Version: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." (NKJV 1882). Two things to notice: 1. "it" "self" was changed to "Himself" 2. The word "spirit" was capitalized to "Spirit" and the word himself was capitalized to "Himself."Here is the Greek verse from the Textus Receptus and is the same in the Critical text: I will inject the meaning and grammar of the words:
Romans 8:16: αὐτὸ (This is neuter, either nominative or accusative and should be translated as "it") τὸ (This is neuter as the word it points to for spirit is neuter) πνεῦμα (This word is neuter) συμμαρτυρεῖ τῷ πνεύματι ἡμῶν ὅτι ἐσμὲν τέκνα θεο. (Italics are mine). There is not a masculine noun that would allow for the word "αὐτὸ" to be translated in the masculine, "himself." By forcing this word and this verse to be translated so that it fits with our Doctrine is wrong. Fear is always wrong, and the heretics will use this misuse of the Greek language against us and we who are uninstructed will not be able to answer properly to those heretics. Romans 8:16 is not attempting to teach us that the Holy Spirit is a Person, rather it is teaching us that by the spirit of God this spirit within us, demonstrated by us, reveals that we are the children of God. If we do not have the spirit of Christ is us then the question is: are we a child of God. No! This is not a proof text for the Third Person of the Holy Spirit so it is not to be misused just to prove our Doctrine. There are so many other Scriptures that reveal to us that the Holy Spirit is a Person and it is these Scriptures we must come to know and teach, using them to thwart the Devils darts thrown at the children of God. Truth always trumps a lie. Let us then use Scripture properly and this alone will teach that others hold to an error. Be not afraid of the truth.
The next blog will continue to use the Greek grammar, and the Hebrew grammar to reveal and teach what the Scriptures reveal as to the Holy Spirit. Let it be understood from the beginning, the word "πνεῦμα" is neuter and in the Greek language, unlike our own, the forms, masculine, feminine, or neuter are what the words are and do not necessarily are to be translated as either of those forms unless the context or the noun that they refer to in the text requires a certain translation. Greek is Greek, English is English, and often we mistranslate because we don't know the difference. Allow me to give my personal view on this subject: I believe that the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Godhead and therefore is God. The Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is of the same essence as the Father, The Son, as God and has His own substance and is one of the means God uses towards His creation, especially towards His children.
For there are three
that bear witness
in heaven: the Father,
the Word, and the
Holy Spirit; and these
three are one.
John 5:7
We Love Because We Are A Child Of God
Richard L. Crumb
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