The Bible Provocateur
The Bible Provocateur
The Temple Within: Understanding the Holy Spirit
The deity of the Holy Spirit stands as one of Christianity's most profound yet often misunderstood doctrines. This deep dive explores how Scripture definitively establishes the Holy Spirit as fully God—equal with the Father and Son in every divine attribute.
Scripture presents compelling evidence for the Holy Spirit's deity, particularly in Acts 5 where Peter equates lying to the Holy Spirit with lying directly to God. The narrative of Ananias and Sapphira provides a sobering illustration that the Spirit is not merely a force or energy but a divine person who can be lied to and grieved.
The biblical concept of believers as God's temple revolutionizes our understanding of divine presence. Paul repeatedly emphasizes that Christians are collectively and individually temples where God's Spirit dwells. This powerful metaphor not only confirms the Spirit's deity but challenges popular expectations about a future rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. The true temple of God isn't built with hands but exists in the community of believers where the living God makes His home.
Each person of the Trinity plays a distinct yet unified role in our salvation: the Father elects, the Son redeems, and the Holy Spirit regenerates. Without the Spirit's work of regeneration, neither the Father's election nor the Son's redemption would be effective in our lives. This highlights how essential the Holy Spirit's divine nature is to our spiritual journey.
Recognizing the Holy Spirit as fully God transforms how we relate to Him. Rather than treating Him as a secondary force or merely the distributor of spiritual gifts, we can embrace the remarkable reality that God Himself—through His Spirit—has taken up residence in our hearts. Let this understanding deepen your worship and strengthen your daily walk with the triune God who saves.
Good morning. It's kind of unusual for me to be saying good morning because most of my lives take place in the evening and it has been a long time since I've done one earlier, in the morning or in the afternoon. But I'm experimenting and I want to add more. I want to add more studies to the lineup, so I'm trying out some different times to add to my evening one. My last message, which was in the evening, as I have spoken already, my last one was about the Holy Spirit and I'm in a series, in the middle of a series, dealing with all the aspects of the Holy Spirit. So I did my first one that I call the personhood of the Holy Spirit, the personhood or the personality of the Holy Spirit, demonstrating and proving in the scriptures which I have done, and adequately so that demonstrating that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, rounding out the triune nature of God. The triune nature of God.
Speaker 1:Now, when it comes to God, most of us refer to God, the Father, as being God. But God is not just the Father. God is what we call the combination, the unified combination of Father, son and Holy Spirit. That is who God is Father, son and Holy Spirit. That's what God is, that's who God is. So God is not just the Father, god is not just the Son, and God is not just the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit, the Son and the Father, they are God. They are triunal in nature. What do I mean by triunal Meaning? They are in complete unity in everything that God is and that he does, but not only that. They share God, the Father, son and the Holy Spirit. They share in every attribute that which God is. If the Father is omniscient, so is the Son, and so is the Holy Spirit. God is omnipotent. That means so is the Father, so is the Son, and so is the Holy Spirit, so is the Holy Spirit. So when we look at all the attributes of God, his omnipresence, the Father is omnipresent, the Son omnipresent, the Holy Spirit omnipresent. If God does not change and God does not change, then that means that the Holy Spirit not only does not change but can't change. The Son can't change and the Father can't change.
Speaker 1:So when you establish the personhood of each of the persons of the Godhead that comprise the Godhead, then whatever you say about one is true of the other. When you pray to one person of the Godhead excuse me, you pray to all. When the Father hears your prayer, so does the Son and so does the Holy Spirit. The point is that there is no aspect of differentiation amongst the persons. They are all the same, all equal in power, in attribute, in communion. What one does, the other does, and one does not do more than the other, one does not do less than the other, although each have a say or have a role in the administration of the governance of the world, the providence, and they are all involved in our salvation.
Speaker 1:Father, son and Holy Spirit. The Father's role in our salvation, as I've said many times over God the Father, his role in the administration of our salvation, is election. That is his office in our salvation, our election and our being given over to the son in order to be redeemed, which leads us to what the son does. What does the son do for our salvation? He brings redemption. He brings redemption and, as I said, one person of the Godhead does not do more or less than the other, and what they're interested in is the same interest in all of the persons of the Godhead. So God the Father has elected those to salvation who are to become believers. His role is election. And so what the tri-unal nature of God means is that the persons of the Godhead are all involved with the same objective. And primarily for our discussion, the primary goal and objective of the Godhead is the salvation of God's people, his sheep, his elect, his foreordained servants, his predestined servants. God the Father election God the Son. Redemption meaning that Christ only seeks to bring redemption to those whom Jesus makes clear in John 6 that the father gave him To redeem. There is no way that Jesus Christ is ever going to try to save any more, any more souls than those whom the father gave him, because that, if that were the case, then that would mean that there is discord amongst the triunal godhead, meaning that if god, the father, gave jesus christ a finite number of souls to save, which he did, then that also means that Christ came to earth to bring redemption to those for whom the Father gave him to redeem.
Speaker 1:And lastly, let's deal with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is probably the most removed, in terms of being established in the Christian mindset, from being able to lay out his divinity and his personhood. He is often left out in terms of being understood to the way that he does. Now there are many people who call themselves christians whose sole understanding about this, about the holy spirit, is that he gives gifts and they and they go around exercising these gifts that the holy spirit gave. And that's about the sum total in the minds of many christians about the work and operations of the holy Spirit in our lives.
Speaker 1:But the Holy Spirit, like the Father and Son, has one objective in mind and that is the salvation of the elect of God, the salvation of God's people. So that leads me to the next point. The Holy Spirit's role in our salvation is regeneration, regeneration, and think about this for a second Regeneration, regeneration. If that doesn't happen to you, then nothing that the Father can do or nothing that the Son can do will save you if the Holy Spirit brings no regeneration. But as I established early on, they all are interested in one objective the salvation of our souls. So the Holy Spirit's role is that final stage in our salvation, which is regeneration, which is what applies the redemption of Christ to those who were elected by the Father. So in total, the summary is this the Father's role in our salvation is election, the Son's role in our salvation is election. The Son's role in our salvation is redemption, and the Holy Spirit's role in our salvation is regeneration. So now that takes me to the main topic that I intend to address today, which is what is and how do we prove the deity of the Holy Spirit? What is and how do we prove the deity of the Holy Spirit? This is all that matters in our salvation that we understand who our God is.
Speaker 1:And when we talk about God, you very often find people in disagreement on so many levels for so many different things. And then there's so much disagreement amongst Christians as to what is true. And yet every Christian who claims to be telling the truth will tell you that, well, I just read the Bible. I just tell you what the Bible says. And these people that say this are masters at passivity, meaning. They make these kinds of comments to insult you. To insult you, they want to tell you, they want to tell you that they read the scriptures. And there are many of you who say, hey, I just read the scriptures. I don't know what you're saying, but I just read the Bible. I just read the Bible and I take it for what it says. Well, doesn't every Christian do that? Well, I would hope that most do, but the issue is not whether or not you read the Bible or not. You reading the Bible only proves one thing that you know how to read. But understanding, comprehension and the ability to apply these things in your life are totally different things. Reading the Bible doesn't mean you understand it, and so what we need to try to do is make it understood Now. So the issue here is today, for me, is the deity of the Holy Spirit, and so, that being said, I'm going to start with Acts, chapter five.
Speaker 1:Acts chapter five, dealing with Ananias and Sapphira. In Acts 5, verse 3, peter says this Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? So what was happening here is that all the saints were putting together a collection and they were selling property, and they were bringing money and setting it at the apostles feet to be distributed amongst the people, the poor, the poor. And so Ananias and Sapphira, they held back that which they had to offer. So Peter says to Ananias why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?
Speaker 1:Now, in the last message that I did, we spoke about the personhood of the Holy Spirit and established that in order to lie to the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost must be a person. You cannot lie to anything but a cognizant, conscious, intellectual entity. If the Holy Spirit were just an impersonal, it a power or an energy, as so many people like to say, and they lie in doing so, how do you lie to power, how do you lie to energy? How do you lie to a force, how do you lie to that which is inanimate? The Holy Spirit is a person and so, therefore, to lie to him implies something that he must know about the truth. Now he says why has satan filled your heart? To lie to the holy ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? Now, remember he lied. Ananias lied to the holy ghost.
Speaker 1:Now, in verse four of the same chapter, the very next verse, peter says whilst, whilst it remains. While it remained, was it not your own? And after that it was sold, was it not in your own power? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? And then he says you have not lied unto men, but you have lied unto God. Now remember what we said in verse three, just one verse back.
Speaker 1:Peter told and accused Ananias, correctly so, that he had lied and he said that he lied to the Holy Ghost. And as Peter continued, his accusation being leveled against Ananias on righteous grounds, peter says while it was yours, was it not in your own power? This was all yours, so why lie about it? And he says why have you conceived this thing in your heart? And then he says you have not lied unto men, but you have lied unto God. He just told you who he lied to in the previous verse. He lied to the Holy Ghost. And then he says in the very next verse you didn't just lie unto men, you lied unto God. Lying to the Holy Ghost is lying to God. So we see here in this first section that I've called the Holy Spirit being called God. The first one here is that Peter is telling Ananias that you didn't lie unto men, but that you lied to the Holy Spirit. You lied to God. That's what we see in Acts, chapter 5, verses 3 and 4.
Speaker 1:Now we turn over to 1 Corinthians, chapter three, again to prove that the Holy Spirit is called God In first Corinthians, chapter three, verse 16, and it's needful that I go through these verses and I plan on going through a lot lest I be accused of not supplying scripture. But no doubt there will be others who will say, oh, you're just throwing a whole bunch of verses out. It's like you get accused of cherry picking if you use one verse and you get accused of using too many verses if you use too many verses. But I feel that I'm on safe ground using as much biblical context and as much biblical support as possible to prove the point, which is what we should do in every point that we want to prove from the scriptures.
Speaker 1:In 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 16, paul says do you not know that you are the temple of God? Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you? Paul says don't you know this? He says two things. He says two things you are the temple of God. And he asked the question don't you know this? Don't you know that you are the temple of God? And then he says. Then he says again do you not know that the spirit of God dwells in you? What Paul is taking for granted that these people should know is that if you are the temple of God, then you is where the spirit of God dwells. So God only has ever existed in his temple. God only has ever existed in his temple and this is strange and this should be surprising. This should be delightful to many Christians to understand this, because there are so many Christians, so many Christians who are expecting and waiting for a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:In national modern day Israel, you have Christians waiting with great expectation, with great hope and great joy, and these people go around preaching the joys of this belief that there's going to be a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. And I'm going to tell you right now, on the surface, that is not going to happen. It's not going to happen. And even if it did, even if a physical temple was built where they say it needs to be built, where now exists a Muslim mosque, but even if it were going to be a new temple built in the future in national Israel, it would be a place of idolatry. It will be a place of false worship. It will be a place where a false god is honored. It will be the sole foundation of a development which results in another temple of false worship.
Speaker 1:Any temple that is to ever be rebuilt in Jerusalem, if it is claiming to be a temple dedicated to the God Jehovah of the Bible, it will not be a temple that was established by God, because the temple that everyone knows was prophesied about in the Bible was a temple of a different nature, not one made with hands. Nature, not one made with hands, not made one with hands. But it is the temple that we are. When Jesus says in John, chapter 2, verse 19, he says that on that, if you destroy this temple, he tells the Pharisees, destroy this temple and and on the third day I shall raise it up. And he made it clear in his word right after that that he was speaking about the temple of his body, not a physical temple in national Israel.
Speaker 1:Jesus was born, was born in Palestine, he was born in Israel. Jesus was born in Palestine, he was born in Israel, that's where he was born and he, when he was crucified, he was resurrected, and his resurrection was the rebuilding of the actual temple, the only temple, by the way, that matters. So the temple that was to be rebuilt in Israel was rebuilt the day that the Lord Jesus Christ resurrected from the grave and we who are in him make up his body, which is the temple, make up his body, which is the temple. So the reality is is that the temple in which we worship. The temple that we worship is within our own hearts. We are the temple, being the body of Christ. This temple was built upon the foundation of the prophets and the apostles. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of that very said temple and we, as his body, are the lively stones, the individual bricks, the stones that continue to build this temple.
Speaker 1:So if all you people, christians, who call yourself Christians, who want to go and promote this idea of this great expectancy for a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, how is that going to be better than a temple that has been built since Christ came, that has been being established since Christ came, that has been formed only after Christ came and would be greater than the temple that Christ is building? There is no other temple. I don't care what Charlie Kirk tells you or any other dispensational teacher or any other Zionist tells you. Christian Zionism, christian nationalism, charlie Kirk-ism, all these other people that are talking about a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. They don't know what they're talking about. There is no temple that is built that is greater than the body of Christ.
Speaker 1:We are his temple and Paul says it clearly in John 3, 16 that we I mean in first Corinthians 3, 16, that we are that temple and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Shekinah glory, as it were, dwells within us. The temple that is expected has been built and we are in it. And it says and Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3.16, do you not know that you are the temple? He expects us to know that we are the temple, we are the temple, the Christian church is the temple and Jesus is the head of it and we are his body. And we know that the Holy Spirit dwells within us. And he says we should know not that not only that we are the temple of God, but that the Spirit of God dwells in this temple. The Holy Spirit here is referred to as God. God, we are the temple.
Speaker 1:First Corinthians, chapter six, a few chapters over, paul says what Don't you know? Don't you know? Don't you know? Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Don't you know this? Paul's going this is something you should know, don't you know this? Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Once again, paul is beating this theme to death to get people to understand and he's saying that this is something you should understand. The Jewish mind should have understood what Paul was saying, because they knew what the significance of the temple is, because it is where God himself dwells, god himself in the Old Covenant, he dwelt in the temple. The Shekinah glory was in the temple, that's where his house was.
Speaker 1:However, paul tells us that things have changed in the administration of the way the Godhead is relating to men, and he says that don't you know that your body is the temple? Not the synagogue, not the church, not all these other places that people go and have their religious experience. He says that you, believers, you are God's temple. Every one of you who is a Christian is part of the temple where the Holy Spirit dwells. And here, when it says that you are, your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, he says which is in you. Don't you know that you, your body, is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Notice what he says next which is in you? Next, which is in you? The Holy Ghost, that is, which you have of God and not of your own. Your body is the temple of God. Notice, in verse 13 or verse 16 of chapter 3, as we read, he said you are the temple of God and that the spirit of god dwells in you. But here, in verse 19, paul says your body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you, which you have of god, and you are not your own. Don't you not know that you are not your own?
Speaker 1:Notice what verse 20 says 1 Corinthians 6 20, for you are bought with a price. Watch this, christians. Listen to this next verse, listen to this next part of this verse. You are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Now, remember, in verse 19, he says don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy ghost which is in you, which you have of God? So your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. In the very next verse, he says so you are bought with a price. So, therefore, glorify God in your body, glorify God in your body. What is he saying? He is saying that your body is the temple. The Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit lives in his temple. Which temple you are? Therefore, since you were bought with a price, glorify God in your body. How do you glorify God in your body? Because the Holy Spirit is living in you. Because the Holy Spirit is living in you, he says therefore, glorify God in your body, glorify God in your body. Not glorify God by your body, glorify God in your body.
Speaker 1:Paul goes on continuing this theme of the Holy Spirit being God In 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 4, it says this now, there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. Verse five there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord, and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God, which Notice what is being said here. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, 12, verse 4, there are diversities of gifts, same spirit. There are diversities of administrations, same Lord, there are diversities of operations, same God which works in all, clearly establishing that the Holy Spirit is God. He says that difference in gifts given by the same spirit, difference of administrations, same Lord, difference of operations, same God which works in all the spirit is God, the Spirit is God. This is what Paul is clearly, clearly establishing.
Speaker 1:And now we come to the last verse in this section, 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 16, where Paul says this what agreement, what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? What agreement does the temple of God have with idols? You are the temple of the living God. You are the temple of the living God. This is rich. Listen, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
Speaker 1:Now, first off, I want to make it clear In the first part of 2 Corinthians 6, verse 16, it says this Paul says what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? Let me start from that. Let me start with this for a second what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? Agreement does the temple of God have with idols? The answer is nothing, which goes back to my earlier point about a so-called rebuilt temple being built in Israel.
Speaker 1:As I told you, if there's a rebuilt temple that's coming in Jerusalem, it will be a place of idolatry. It will not be a place that is honored by God. God chose to glorify himself in the hearts of his people. The Holy Spirit of God now dwells not in temples made with hands, but in the temple that was made without hands, and that person is Christ, the temple that was made without hands. And that person is Christ, the temple that was made without hands, and we, as believers, are his body, making us part of that same temple, a temple which he established with his resurrection. So if there is any temple that is built in Jerusalem ever again which I don't believe it ever will happen, but if it did, it would be a place of idolatry, a place of pagan worship. It would not be the worship of God, because God is not going back to what he's already torn down. He has established a kingdom and he has established a temple that will never perish, that will never die and that will never be destroyed, not by God and not by the hands of man. The temple that is being built right now is a temple that will go into eternity and that temple will be Christ's body, which are his people, who currently are inhabited by God internally. He, god, lives in his people.
Speaker 1:So in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 16, he says for you, you Christians, you are the temple of the living God.
Speaker 1:How can we be the temple of the living God? First of all, unless we are the only temple that there is where God is worshiped, adored and admired and glorified. He says that we are the temple of the living God, not a dead God, not an inanimate God, not just God's power source or a power force or energy. The Holy Spirit is not just energy. The Holy Spirit is the living God. There is no other way that he cannot be the living God, because he lives within us. He therefore must be living.
Speaker 1:But it says it here. You, the believing people, you are the temple of the living God. Why are so many of you expecting some other temple, lesser than this one, to be rebuilt in Jerusalem, let alone believing that it's going to be a place where God is actually worshiped? We are the temple of the living God. And it says we are the temple of the living God, again, not inanimate, not a divine force, not a power, but the living God lives in God's people, and God's people are the temple where he lives. And then he goes on to say, as God said, I will dwell.