The Holy Spirit - The Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit

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=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'>1) 3-29-09…PM…SBC     2)The Holy Spirit

Sources:  Walvoord, Enns, Grudem, Systematic Theology notes, Ryrie Systematic,

Why Study this topic?                        (Entertain answers)

1-      Because those that believe that the spirit of God is NOT separate and distinct from God, but is represented by some as just the work of God

Arius (4th c) – denied the personality of the Spirit (condemned at Nicea in 325) – exerted energy of God

Socinius (16th c) – rejected orthodox teaching on the HS – the HS was just the energy of God – Unitarianism

Jehovah’s Witness – impersonal, not God, an invisible active force from God,

Mormons – an influence or electricity-like release from God

Christian Science – impersonal and not real just like God – mainly an impersonal force

Ø      The problem in the minds of many people is that personality can exist only in human beings, as though personality can relate only to finite beings but not to the infinite.[1]

Ø      Since man is made in the image of God it is reasonable to expect similar characteristics between God and man.[2]

1)    The Personality of the Holy Spirit

Ø      there is no one Scripture for the personality of the HS, just like there isn’t one definitive verse for the personality of God the Father, God the Son

Ø      Scripture indirectly has much to say about the personality of the Trinity

A-    The Attributes of the Holy Spirit confirm His personality (not just an impersonal force)

1-      Intellect / Knowledge – 1 Cor 2:10-11, Romans 8:27 (mind), 1 Cor 2:13

2-      Emotion – Ephesians 4:30

·         | Systematic Theology |

to have feelings and an awareness and an ability to respond to something.[3]

·         He is grieved by the sinful actions of believers

·         Just a  mere influence cannot grieve or mourn or sorrow over

3-      Will – 1 Cor 12:11, Acts 16:16 (HS exercising His will in forbidding Paul to go to Asia)

·         The phrase “He wills” (Gk. bouletai) refers to “decisions of the will after previous deliberation.”7[4]

Ø      These Scripture passages clearly teach that the Holy Spirit has intellect, emotion, and will as part of a genuine personality.[5]

Biblical Theology


John 16:7-15

 

1-      pneuma - neuter word that will have neuter pronouns that reflect back to the neuter word

2-      the word pneuma is not used here but the word paraklete is used – v7, John 14:16 (another of same kind)

·         paraklete is a masculine (v7) and attract masculine pronouns throughout the rest of the passage

·         The only explanation for the masculine pronouns is that the pronouns refer to a person

·         Personification occurs frequently in literature – description of the inanimate as being a living person

·         John is emphasizing with the grammar that he is using that the HS is not an impersonal force

·         to explain the use of the personal pronouns in relation to Him on the principle of personification is to do violence to all the rules of interpretation. [6] - Charles Hodge

Ø      this Scriptural evidence leads to the conclusion that the HS, even though a spirit being, is a real Person as the Father and Son

Ø       

2)  The Deity of the HS

A-    The deity of the Holy Spirit is inextricably bound up with the doctrine of the Trinity.[7]

1-      A denial of one is a denial of the other.

2-      Conversely, belief in the Trinity necessitates a belief in the deity of the Holy Spirit.[8]

History:  Deity of HS has been a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith since the very beginning of the church

-          The Arian controversy settled what the orthodox doctrine would be on the Holy Spirit

-          Arius (4th c) believe the HS to be a created being and denied both his personality and deity

-          He was branded a heretic and his contemporaries

-          From that time orthodox Christianity has affirmed both the personality and deity of the HS

-          “since the fourth century his true divinity has never been denied by those who admit his personality.”[9]

1-      HS is implied as being God –

                        Acts 5:1-4 - Paul equates the lying of Ananias and Saphira to the Holy Spirit as lying to God

                        1 Cor 3:16 - Everyone during this time period saved and unsaved knew that God lived in the temple. 

§         so how does God live in the temple of our bodies?  By His Spirit

 

Application:

 

1-      If God dwells in us through His spirit, and God is holy (set apart) from then what is God’s desire for us?

·         consistent self-examination of sinful heart attitudes that lead to sinful actions

2-      John 14:16 – we have the help of God for our fight against ungodliness

3-      John 16:8 – listen to the convicting voice of God’s Spirit and change

·         conviction so sin is evidence of being a believer

Ø      next week more exploring into the Deity of the HS through his attributes, actions and titles


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[1]Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1997, c1989), 245.

[2]Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1997, c1989), 245.

[3]Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1997, c1989), 246.

7 7. Arndt and Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon, p. 146.

[4]Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1997, c1989), 246.

[5]Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1997, c1989), 246.

[6]Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Originally Published 1872. (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 1:524.

[7]Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1997, c1989), 249.

[8]Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1997, c1989), 249.

[9]Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Originally Published 1872. (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 1:527.

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