Faith Considered--Changing From The Inside--Out: Who Is The Holy Spirit?

But when the Helper comes,

whom I shall send to you

from the Father, the Spirit

of truth who proceeds from the Father,

He will testify of Me.

And you also will bear witness,

because you have been with Me

from the beginning.

These things I have spoken to you,

that you should not be made to stumble.

John 15:26–17; 16:1

The early church believed in the divinity of he Holy Spirit. They believed in the consubstantiality of all three person of the Trinity, and in the order among the members of the Trinity, the hierarchy. For the Modalist and the Sabellians, there is only God, the Son being divine, possibly, and created is not God, and the Holy Spirit is not God, rather a power from God as do the Jehovah Witnesses believe and teach. The Mormons represent God first as: the Godhead means a council of three distinct gods, Elohim, Jehovah who is the Son or Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. The Father and the Son were able to perfect material bodies but not the Holy Spirit. Mormon conception of the Trinity differs from Christian Trinity, although they do believe and teach that all are in harmony and united in purpose. In 1843 Joseph Smith gave a final and public description of the Godhead before his death. He described God the Father as having a physical body, (this can be found in their Doctrines and Covenant book), and this then means that the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s. the Son also has a body, the same as the Father, but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit that is why the Holy Ghost can dwell in man.[1] Lorenzo Snow (April 3, 1814–October 10, 1901), who was the fifth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–day Saints (LDS Church), stated this about God: “As man now is, God once was: As god now is, man may be.[2] From the early Church and into the 21^st century the Holy Spirit and the relationship of the Holy Spirit with the Godhead has been the subject of debate and many forms of theology concerning the Holy Spirit has developed. Let us then look back in time and see for yourself what the early Church taught.

Tertullian wrote: “He has received from the Father the promised gift, and has shed it forth, even the Holy Spirit––the third name in Divinity, and the third degree of the Divine Majesty” (Tertullian, c.213). Origen stated: “In the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit was given by the imposition of the apostles’ hands in baptism. From which we learn that the person of the Holy Sprit was of such authority and dignity that saving baptism was not complete except by the authority of the most excellent Trinity of them all…. who, then, is not amazed a the exceeding majesty of the Holy Spirit when he hears that he who speaks a word against the son of man may hope for forgiveness, but he who is guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Sprit has no forgivenss––either in the present world or in that which is to come” (Origen, c. 225). Further, Origen gives this about the Holy Spirit: “Up to the resent time, we have been able to find no statement in the Holy Scripture in which the Holy Spirit could be said to be made or created––not even in the way in which we have shown above that the Divine Wisdom is spoken of by Solomon” (Origen, c.225). Novation states: “The source of the entire Holy Sprit remains in Christ, so that from Him could be drawn streams of gifts and works, while the Holy Spirit dwelled richly in Christ” (Novation, c.235). It is clear that the early Church regarded the Holy Spirit as divine and one Person of the Trinity; not separate persons, rather of the same essence as the Father and the Son, all three of the same essence and all are God, the Godhead. Men in time chose to remake the Holy Spirit according to their presuppositions. It took many years to give as an article of faith that the Holy Spirit was not some power, not some other thing of God, but that the Holy Spirit is God. This will be the thrust of the next blogs on the Trinity and this one subject, the Holy Spirit and the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Father must be clarified according, not just a council decision, rather according to Scripture. History given first as foundation: and then, Scriptural foundation for a conclusion.

An I will pray the Father,

And He will give you

Another Helper, that He may

Abide with you forever.

John 14:16

Rest in the power of the Holy Spirit

Richard L. Crumb