By Means Of His Personhood The Holy Spirit Is a Person

Likewise the Spirit

also helps in our

weaknesses. For we 

do not know what we ought, 

but the Spirit Himself

makes intercession for us

with groanings which

cannot be uttered.

Romans 8:26

     It of necessity that I remind all that the word for spirit in the Greek language is neuter and all pronouns associated with that word must also be neuter for the pronoun must be the same as the object in gender. Therefore, we must not confound what is true for English to be true for Greek. The genders in Greek are not to be confused with English as in English the genders refer to a gender; i.e., the word for Church is neuter in English and is feminine in Greek. It is the context that determines how the words are to be understood. Not just the local context, above and below a verse, but also the whole book and the complete Bible as it may give understanding as to the use of a word. It is what is attributed to a word that aids us in our understanding. What then in attributed to the word spirit? I spoke of and gave definition to the word, "personhood" and it is how we shall examine what is attributed to the word spirit. Remember, Greek is Greek, and English is English; remember the rules of Greek and the pronouns. 

      As a person, one who has personhood, that personhood is established by the fact that I can think (although there may be some who would question that fact! Ha!). I can cause things to happen, i.e., drive a car, pound a nail, cook a dinner, there is action given to other things because I can think and do towards other things. I can give orders, i.e., to my children (although they don't always do what I command! Ha!). I can testify in court and my testimony is attended to as a person who is sentient and my testimony is valid, not indirectly but direct because it come by way of a person. I can talk (some would say too much! Ha, Ha!). Is any of these attributes assigned and to be found in the spirit giving credence to the Doctrine that the Holy Spirit is a Person? Yet, I must address those who hold to a doctrine that the Holy Spirit is nothing more than the power of God and not a person. An example would be electricity. Those who hold to  such a heretical view will point out that all electricity is is power. Yes, they will admit that the power come from a source but that does not mean that the power of electricity is not separate from the source, only is derived by means of that source. The power of electricity cannot be separate from its source because it not only is derived from that source but is also the very essence of electricity. Without power there is no electricity and without source there is no power of electricity. They are both one and the same exercised in different manners and with a different substance. As the Apostle Creed so aptly states: that the Holy  Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, so it is true of the Sun and its rays, and as the power of electricity. To separate them and remove their essence from one another is to destroy both the source and all that is connected to them.

      The personhood denoting a person in regards to the Holy Spirit. 

1. He speaks: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). First thing that is noticed in those verses is that the Spirit "speaks." Only living things speak, all other sounds are noises produced outside of themselves and have no true meaning. Secondly, other Scriptures in those above verses, that is the context examined, will note that there is a conjoining of the Spirit with another Person. In fact that are so conjoined as to make them one and the same. Those verses are not noting a responsive speaking, first one then the other, rather that each are doing the same thing, speaking to the Churches. John records the words of Jesus Christ and we cannot but that it is Jesus Christ speaking: "...Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last." (Revelation 1:17b). "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the Keys of Hades and of Death" (Revelation 1:18). It is Jesus that is speaking to the Churches and it is the Holy Spirit that we are to listen to for it is He that is speaking, it is the Son of God who is speaking (Revelation (2:18) , it is the one who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, that is the Church of God represented by the seven Churches that He is addressing in this vision to John. It is the Faithful  and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God that is speaking (Revelation 3:14), and it is this same One sits on the throne of God (Revelation 3:21). As to the Scripture above that states that Jesus Christ is "the Beginning of the Creation of God" (Rev. 3:14), many especially the Jehovah Witnesses will point to that Scripture and say, aha! see, Jesus is only a creation therefore this is a proof Scripture for their theology, or Christology. But is that true? In the economy of God, within the council of the Godhead, in all of God's omniscience His Wisdom was determined to be the Savior and to be clothe with humanity and this determination called upon the Wisdom of God, the second Person of the Godhead to be the very Son of God. It is this decision of the Godhead, not in sequential time, rather from all eternity that the Son of God would be the Wisdom of God and that by means of these Persons, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit God would administer all His creation. The Father directs, the Son becomes the Son of Man, and is the Savior and by that means God's children would have their sins propitiated and His justices satisfied, and that by means of the third Person of the Godhead He would empower all that is created. Therefore from the the Father and the Son the Holy Spirit proceeds and does the will of the Father all three in harmony with each other and each being of a separate substance are all of the same essence. Therefore the Holy Spirit as a Person speaks and it can be said that the Son of God speaks and the Father speaks for it is on and from His throne that they speak, all as one. 

    In upcoming blogs I will address the Doctrine of the Trinity but for now it is most important that there is understanding in regards to the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I will give in the next blog more personhood attributes assigned to the Holy Spirit. 

Holy, holy, holy,

     Lord God Almight,

Who was as is and is 

     to come.

                  Revelation 4:8b

Blessing upon your Christian walk

Richard L. Crumb

The Holy Spirit Is A Person--Personhood Defined

"As for Me," says the LORD,

"This is My covenant with them: 

My Spirit who is upon you,

and My words which I have

put in your mouth,

shall not depart from 

your mouth nor 

from the mouth of your

descendants....

Isaiah 59:21a

     Translating of foreign words into English is a very difficult endeavor. Often there are no English words matching the foreign words. Often there are several possibilities of words to choose from and it is the translator work to choose the proper and right words in their translating. The above Scripture is one of those times where translating of the Hebrew into English is difficult and can be confusing for those uninitiated in languages. For Instance the word "who" where it is stated; "My Spirit who is upon you," is translated "that" in the King James Version. Also, the Jehovah witnesses use the word "that" instead of "who." Which is right? Jehovah Witnesses will use the word "that" because that pronoun does not indicate personhood, and this fits their belief in regard to the Holy Spirit. The Hebrew word used in this verse that is translated "who" in the New King James Version, and is found to be translated "who" in the NIV; is "asher" (Strong's Concordance #834) and can be translated as: who, which, what, that; when, where, how, because, when, soon, whilst.... Therefore, any of those words could be used in translating the Hebrew in this verse. More so, the word "who" indicates a person, and "that" does not carry that same weight and moreover indicates only that it is a "that" but it does not necessarily mean a "thing." The verb "is" is a transitive verb and requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The subject in Isaiah 59:21 is the LORD and the object is the covenant, that which by means of His Spirit is placed upon those to whom He places His Spirit. Also contrasted to the animation of placing Himself, that is His Spirit upon them He places His words that are not animated and do not carry the transitive verb but is intransitively given and contrasted with His Spirit that is animate. But, we do not use one verse to single out a Doctrine, it is the whole context of the written word and of the whole Scripture. The Scriptures denote that the Spirit of God has all the qualifications of a Person. Webster's Dictionary gives this definition of personhood: per·son·hood  (pûrsn-hd)n. The state or condition of being a person, especially having those qualities that confer distinct individuality. So what qualities are shown by Scripture that give us the Doctrine of the Trinity which includes the Person of the Holy Spirit to be just that: a Person? 
     I will not force an interpretation of the Scriptures to meet any presupposition I may have, rather I will allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves; then you make up your own mind to the truth or falseness of the Doctrine of the Trinity. If we cannot find the truth in Scripture that the Holy Spirit is a Person then all we have done is to destroy the Doctrine of the Trinity. Furthermore, the question as to Jesus being our Savior is clouded with doubt as to whether or not we have translated, interpreted, Scripture properly.  We must remember that God reveals Himself to us in Scripture. The natural world of material things can reveal that there is a God, but the Scriptures reveal about Him in ways that the natural world cannot. In Scripture God is revealed as to His Holiness, His justice, and His end desire for creating. In His revelation He reveals Himself to be God, one of three persons of the Godhead, that being, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Heretics will divide the truth of the Scripture in such a way as to make Scripture prove their theology. We will not! Scripture gives to us our theology, our understanding of God. Churches speak much about God, about the Son of God, but do very little teaching on the Holy Spirit. It is not that the Holy Spirit is not mentioned, only that He is mentioned very little and less is taught about Him. Christians are quick to say; "The Holy Spirit lives within me" but have only given lip service to a fact that they have come to believe without having any basis for that fact. But, is it a Person, or an active force that is living within a person's heart? Who or what is the Holy Spirit? This will be our subject and I will begin to outline what the Scriptures state by giving for review the Scriptures that speak of the Holy Spirit. This will require some work, some personal study, a study that all Christians should be doing anyway. Take notes; if you do not have a Strong's Concordance you can bookmark it on your computer for free and access it anytime you wish. You have the tools, all you need is direction and provocative insights empowering you with a desire to know God, the Trinity, the Doctrine of the Christian faith. 


Be exalted, O LORD,
     in Your own strength!
We will sing and praise
     Your power.
                   Psalm 21:13


May God Lead You Today!


Richard L. Crumb

The Holy Spirit Revealed In Scripture

The earth was without form,

and void; and darkness

was on the face

of the deep.

And the Spirit of God

was hovering over 

the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:2

     The Holy Spirit was mentioned in the Scriptures from the very beginning of the word and was in the beginning of all things created. Genesis 1:2 makes a startling admission in regards to the Spirit of God: it was hovering and the Hebrew word for hovering has the meaning of brooding, to be relaxed, a soft hovering, to shake or flutter. This raises a question: how can a power, that which is a force without be a being, a substance separate from its source, that source being God, hover? If we take the word for the Spirit of God metaphorically or use it as an allegory for a power then all we have done is give a time sequence to the creation and for some reason God was waiting and hovering by means of His power. God who can create from nothing has a need to wait as though the Laws of the Universe were not subject to Him? Not so! Also, how is it that the Spirit of God was hovering and not just empowering the waters? Verse three of Genesis One makes it clear that: "God said, "Let there be...." This statement conjoined with the statement in verse one as to the Spirit "hovering" makes the two One. The Spirit and God are One. Yet, the Spirit was mentioned separately from God as if He were a second person of God. Separate as a Person, yet was God. Therefore from the very beginning the Spirit has the claim of being a Person doing what the will of the Father, God, desires. The Holy Spirit is the Power of God but this power is not a non-living element or source only, a power without its being a being, separate in action and only a force. It can hover over things. But, is the Holy Spirit a Person? Can we derive that fact from those first verses? We have work to do when we study the word of God for it is the total word of God that teaches us and not a single verse. This mistake of shortsightness by those who so desire that the Scriptures fit their theology is that they fail to examine the Word of God properly. 
     Before we do the grammatical examination we must clear up any misgivings about the fact that the Holy Spirit can be a separate Person and yet not be separate from its source and be of the same essence as the source from which it is derived. Do you think? Can you think one thing while the body is doing another? Are your thoughts you? Are your thoughts separate from other exercises or actions by you? Are your thoughts able to act as a separate part of you yet be of your same substance, to be you? Take the sun and its rays, just because we call the emanations from the sun rays, and the rays affect all that they either illuminate or activate, they are still the sun and are a part of the sun although separate in its substance while being the very essence of the sun. Therefore it is not impossible that the Spirit of God, the very power of God, to be a separate Person and yet not be divorced from God as a separate being; the Holy Spirit is God as much as the Wisdom of God is a Person, the Second Person of the triad God. 
     We must go further in our examination. Does the Bible reveal to us that the Holy Spirit is a Person? Does the Bible speak of the Holy Spirit as a Person? Finally, why is it important to know and believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person and not just the power of God? What makes a person to be a person? These questions will be answered in the upcoming blogs. You will, if you take the time to mediated and think upon what is said and examine the Scriptures, you will deepen your faith in the God who has never left His creation and controls what He has created so that the end desired by Him will be accomplished. This accomplishment is sure and affects His children one way, and those who are not His children in another way. If we do not come to know for a fact that the Holy Spirit is a Person then all that has been done is to destroy the Doctrine of the Trinity. This then removes our Savior from being God. I will show that the heretics have done just that and that they hold to a theology that is not supported by Scripture. Fasten your seat belts, this is going to be a deep but profound study and you will be blessed, and your shield of faith will become a protector against those who would attempt to draw away God's elect.


God is not a man,
     that He should lie,
nor a son of man,
     that He shour repent,
Has He said, and will He 
     not do? or has He 
spoken, and will He
    not make it good?
                     Numbers 23:19


Enjoy the Day that God has made


Richard L. Crumb