The Bible Provocateur
The Bible Provocateur
The Holy Spirit isn't an "it" - He's the third person of the Godhead
Do you truly know the Holy Spirit? Not as a mystical force or divine energy, but as the third person of the Godhead with intellect, will, and purpose?
This transformative episode delves deep into the biblical evidence for the personhood of the Holy Spirit, challenging common misconceptions and illuminating a truth central to Christian faith. Through careful examination of Scripture, we discover how the Holy Spirit teaches, guides, convicts, and testifies—actions that can only be attributed to a person, not an impersonal force.
The implications are profound. When we grasp that the Holy Spirit is not an "it" but a "He," our entire relationship with God shifts. We learn to recognize the distinct yet harmonious roles within the Trinity: the Father elects, the Son redeems, and the Holy Spirit regenerates and sanctifies. This divine collaboration works seamlessly to bring about our salvation.
Many professing Christians inadvertently diminish the Holy Spirit to a divine energy to be harnessed, rather than a divine person to be known and honored. This misunderstanding doesn't just affect theological abstractions—it fundamentally alters who we worship. As one participant powerfully notes, "If you pull one of the persons out of the Godhead, you don't have God."
Whether you're wrestling with questions about the Trinity or seeking a deeper relationship with all persons of the Godhead, this episode offers clarity, biblical insight, and a renewed appreciation for the magnificent completeness of God's triune nature. The Holy Spirit—teacher, comforter, guide—awaits your recognition not as a power to use, but as a divine person who searches the deep things of God and reveals them to those who seek.
How might your spiritual journey change when you truly understand and relate to the Holy Spirit as Scripture reveals Him?
And, like with Brother Canaan just read you pull one of the persons out of the Godhead, you don't have God. Or if you turn one of the persons into that which is not a person or a persona, or what is referred to theologically as a hypostasis, then you don't have the Godhead. So this is what we're dealing with the personhood of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:Well, the thing that I can say to start out with is Jesus sent him. When he left. He said he would be our comforter. He said, you know, he would be with us always. He's the one who teaches us, he's the one who convicts us. So, yeah, I'm very excited for this series. So that's all I have for the moment.
Speaker 1:We're going to enjoy it. If you love the word of God, you're going to enjoy this, I think oh, I just wait sister angie. Comment your opening remarks hello brother.
Speaker 4:uh, I'm in the middle of cooking dinner, um, but um, I just want to say I agree with what lisa was saying. It's, he's. He's what was sent down to me. I think it's a beautiful gift that we get to have that, because he was sent down by the father, but Jesus asked him to send him down, but it was our teacher, our comforter, our you know, just, it's just so beautiful. I really can't even say it in words because it's so supernatural, but I mean it's just like Lisa said, it's our teacher, our comforter, it's the one that reminds us, you know, of the things that Jesus taught. So I mean, I just, I just love it. It's just so beautiful and I'm really looking forward to this lesson here and to go deeper or learn more about it. If there's something I don't know, but it's just all the fullness of God, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you a question. I want you to give me a brief answer. Okay, okay. So here's the question. You said that he's our teacher, uh-huh. So if the Holy Spirit is our teacher, what does that tell you about who he is? What does that tell you about the nature of the Holy Spirit?
Speaker 4:It's like Jesus was our teacher, you know, when he was here on earth, so he's someone to help us to let us understand.
Speaker 1:What I mean is what does that tell you about the Holy Spirit? Don't mention Jesus, don't mention the Father. What does the Holy Spirit, being your teacher, tell you about him, about his, about who he is? In his nature? He's god, he's god, but it tells you that he's also a person. We're dealing, see, what I want everybody to remember is that we're.
Speaker 1:The argument that I'm making tonight, okay, is about the personhood of the Holy Spirit. The personhood. He is a person, amen, the third person of the Godhead. He is what makes the triunal nature of God triunal. Without him, there is no trinity, there is no triunal nature of God.
Speaker 1:So, for the Holy Spirit to be a teacher, it implies intellect, it implies communication. However that may be, it implies communication, it implies intellect that is being communicated and it implies so many aspects of what can only be associated with the being of a person. And this is what I want to try to to put out there. So, when we go through, when we go through these exercises because I have a lot of passages of scripture that I want to go through, that I want to go through, and so I'm going to ask everybody to that, when I I'm going to call on people to answer the questions about some of these verses, because I want to try to get through all of these in one sitting, if we can do it. So that means I'm going to be really trying to pressure everybody to be succinct in your responses to these verses, because I think it's going to be very helpful and this is one of those particular messages that I don't want to have it broken up into two parts. So Candy, your turn, candy, and then Meg.
Speaker 3:I was just gonna say to, like you just said to her, there's three different things they do. God speaks it, jesus is the word, so he creates it, and the holy spirit activates it.
Speaker 1:He's the one, he's the action okay, yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, and that's what we talked about in the very beginning.
Speaker 1:You have the Father, his role being election, the Son, redemption, and the Holy Spirit regeneration.
Speaker 1:They all have a particular role. And if you look at the history of the Christian church, and I mean from the Old Testament, from the beginning to the end, you have at one stage, in an early stage, in the Old Covenant area, we had God dealing with the nation of Israel, theocratically dealing with them directly, until they asked for king and all that kind of thing. And then you have the coming of the Messiah himself coming and being here, and then, when he leaves, the Holy Spirit comes. So there is not a lot of overlap in terms of which person of the Godhead is dominating the era or the age, but they are all working together to bring about the salvation of God's people that he has elected to be saved, and they all each person of the Godhead, has a role in that, and they will bring us, they will bring us home when Christ returns. It will all make sense to us, but it's important for us to understand these things now, very important to understand these things now. And so, meg, go ahead, sister.
Speaker 5:I just want to light this up real quick with a verse. All right, here it goes. We're going to go to John, chapter 16. We're going to go to verse 8. I want everybody in the chat to count in their heads how many times the word he is spoken. We're going to start at verse eight and when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe in me. Of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me. No more of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
Speaker 5:I still have many things that I want to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, here we go, we're on to. When he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declarative to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore, I said he will take of mine and declare it to you. So let me ask you a question Meg, 12 times, what's your point? He is a person. Glory to God. And who is he that you're talking about?
Speaker 1:the holy spirit, holy spirit, amen. You know, you know in in the past in teaching, you know you, you like to have, you like to hold off on bringing things? Uh, you know, you have an outline, you have a curriculum or you have a uh, what do you call it? The syllabus, and you don't want people to get ahead of it. But I got to tell you, when it comes to biblical matters, when somebody gets ahead of it, ahead of me, I love it. I love it because it is reinforcing, and one of the reasons for the approach I'm taking tonight is because I want to have people come to conclusions that I don't have to say. And already we see this happening People coming, like our sister Meg, with the verses, coming to conclusions that I don't have to say. And you know that you're being effective, I believe, when people, when they hear the truth and they digest it and they have learned it excuse me, when they've learned it, I don't have to say it. And so those verses that she brought up were very profound verses, because they tell you clearly that the Holy Spirit has a personal pronoun, and that personal pronoun is he, he. He, just like Jesus, is referred to as he and just like the father is referred to as he, and like my brother Himalayan mama or sister, himalayan mama or sister Himalayan mom, I can't tell. I'm assuming it's a lady, amen. She says not in it, the Holy Spirit is not in it. And like candy said that the what we know from the scriptures is that the Holy Spirit proceeds forth from the father and the son. I'm going to show that it is the Father and the Son who send the Holy Spirit, and we see that. And so if the Father and the Holy I mean if the Father and the Son are sending the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit cannot be the Son and the Holy Spirit cannot be the Father and Jesus cannot be the Son or the Holy Spirit. They are separate, but they are one. They are one. Now, here's the thing. Doesn't matter if you have a different view or an opinion. It doesn't matter. I'm sorry, himalayan, I'm sorry After I said Himalayan mama, then I realized I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:So, but my point is this when you have this like, for instance, modalism or the oneness movement, saying that Jesus is the son, jesus is the father, jesus is the Holy Spirit, none of this makes sense if the Holy Spirit is sent by the father and the son. Because even if you want to argue that Jesus is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, even if you want to make that argument, we are told that the Father sends the Holy Spirit and the Son sends the Holy Spirit. So how is it that modalism will make the point that Jesus is all three and not the Father? See, so the whole point is, what I want to try to do is equip my brothers and sisters, by way of refresher or by way of introduction into the logic and reasoning that is laid out in the scriptures, to prove that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, and it's not just a divine force or a divine energy, but he is an intellectual, the third intellectual person of the Godhead, who teaches, who guides, who convinces and who sanctifies. So this is the thing that we must conclude, and any deviation from the understanding of what the scripture says means that the God that you worship is not the God of the Bible.
Speaker 1:And so, as I was going to say, when it comes to the Word of God, you may disagree that any of it makes sense. You may believe that what's in the Word of God is ridiculous, like atheists and agnostics and people of other religions, but anybody should be able to read the Bible and understand clearly, through plain language, that it does teach that God is triunal in nature and that the Holy Spirit is also the third person of the Godhead. You may think all of it's crazy, but you can't deny that's what the Bible teaches and this is what I want to help people make the argument for. This is what I want to bring out and make more perspicuous in the minds of God's people. So now his personality. So when we look at the, the personality or the personhood of the Holy Spirit, we need to understand that the fullness of your understanding of the Godhead cannot possibly be completed without understanding the person of the Holy Spirit, and this is something, as I said, I want to continue to make manifest in your hearing, and it being, if you're patient with me, excuse me, and I hopefully I'll make that, make that case to you Because, as I said, there are many professing Christians who deny the personhood of the Holy Spirit, and they do so to their own detriment.
Speaker 1:They do so to their own detriment and it's a shame. He is not an impersonal. It is not an impersonal it. He is not an energy force and he is not some inanimate sort of you know activating force or power or whatever it is that exists without being having an intellectual capacity. And when we're talking about God I almost hate to use the word intellectual because God is so much bigger than that. But I say this to appeal to what we understand as men today, men and women today.
Speaker 1:But you come to a passage in Acts. In Acts, chapter 22, or chapter 2, verse 18, it says that, and on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out, I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy. And they shall prophesy. In Acts 2, verse 33, same chapter, it says therefore, being by the right hand of God, exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed abroad or shed forth, depending on what version you have this which you now see and hear.
Speaker 1:And it's in these verses where some people make the argument that because the Holy Spirit is poured out or shed abroad in our hearts, they somehow take that to mean that the Holy Spirit is not a person. But we need to understand that the expressions to be poured out and to be shed abroad in our hearts are used as figurative language to describe the fact that when it talks about the Holy Spirit being poured out, it talks about him coming from above and being poured out to come below, and then, when he says that he is shed abroad or shed forth is talking about once he gets here then he goes wide and far and reaches all. So this is what is being spoken about when the holy spirit is being poured out like water out of a, out of a, out of a pitcher, being poured out onto the earth, as jesus christ said he would do. He would be poured out and then shed abroad, meaning to go.
Speaker 3:Why, once he gets here, candy, go ahead you know, in romans, chapter 8, verse 9, he says but ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit. If so, be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you go down and read verse 14 and 15 as well well, I started to say you know it all kind of there's more.
Speaker 1:But okay, go ahead and read them, 14 and 15 and 16.
Speaker 3:and four, for as many are led by the spirit of god. They, they are the sons of God, for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, father, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, the children of God, and if the children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.
Speaker 1:So what do these words mean to you, sister?
Speaker 3:Everything in the entire world it could possibly mean. Thank you, thank you God, thank you Jesus, and thank you, holy spirit. So my thing is is, when we pray, we pray to the father through the son, by the holy spirit, oh, amen, amen. And our salvation was planned by the father, accomplished by the son and is applied in our lives and hearts by the holy spirit. So it's, it's the whole makeup of the unity, right? We have unity with. We're all in unity, so you can't have one without the other you hear that, yeah, I tried, I tried to marry.
Speaker 3:what children think? You heard that yeah, I tried to marry with children.
Speaker 1:Meg go ahead.
Speaker 5:You have something you want to say. If we go to I got to turn to it. But if we go to 1 Peter 2, verse 2, it tells us the encompassing of salvation and how and what each part plays. So are you sure you meant first peter too? Yeah, first peter, first peter. Um, chapter one, verse two, oh one, okay, go ahead. It says elect according to the foreknowledge of god, the father, in sanctification of the spirit for obedience. This is the verse that Paul starts in his epistle here. But how I my notes that I wrote says it says Right Father's will and choices, his son's blood and obedience and the spirit sanctification that complete salvation.
Speaker 1:Right, and what you also see here is that is that what we talked about earlier, that that work of that trifold work with what you have here, elect according to God, the father, and then in the sanctification of the spirit, for the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 5:So this is what we talked about at the very opening of this conversation which is God, the father, his role being what, choosing his will and choices. Which is choosing the elect yes, election, election the son, what? The son's blood and obedience. Which is redemption, redemption Right.
Speaker 1:In the Holy Spirit of what.
Speaker 5:His sanctification.
Speaker 1:Amen, and that's what you see right here, in this one verse, in verse two, all in that one verse, was somebody else going to say something?
Speaker 2:No, sorry, sorry, sorry Okay. I'm getting my notes. I'm trying to write.
Speaker 1:Were you going to say something, sister?
Speaker 2:I'm good, I'm good. Thank you Sorry.
Speaker 1:All right, so we know, we understand now. Thanks for that, meg. That was really good, because that's important to see, that, because you see this throughout the New Testament. You see this picture of the totality of our salvation being encompassed within the Father and the Son and the Holy spirit, and they all are involved. Each person of the godhead is involved in bringing us to ultimate salvation and glorification. This is what this is what they do, and so they are co-equal, co-eternal and they are. They are equally interested in the salvation of those whom whom has been elected by the father.
Speaker 1:So the Holy Spirit is a person. This is the thing that I want to point out and make sure that no one misunderstands, and I plan on going through many verses to indicate that the Holy Spirit is a living, living entity endowed with understanding, will, and he's also in that capacity. He is an intelligent being and a agent of will. He exercises his will just like the father does, just like the son does. The Holy Spirit is no different in his operations and in his abilities and his power and his authority and his attributes, equal with the father and the son.
Speaker 3:Candy go ahead but in first corinthians, chapter 12, verse. Where do you want to start? Um, I'll go to three. So wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the spirit of God call Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy spirit. And then, if you jump down to verse five, well, no, we'll just go ahead for now. There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit, and there are differences of administrations but the same spirit. And there are differences of administrations but the same lord, and there are diversities of operations but it is the same god which worketh all in all, and the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal, for one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom and the other by wisdom, and to another the word knowledge, by the same Spirit.
Speaker 1:So what would you say that? What do you glean from any part of those verses that indicate to you the personhood of the Holy Spirit?
Speaker 3:They indicate to you the personhood of the Holy Spirit. Well, he's different. He's totally a different person than the Lord Jesus. I mean, I just literally read it when does that? The Spirit of God calls Jesus a curse. Well, if you got the Holy Spirit, you're not going to call Jesus a curse. And then God Spirit? Well, I said the spirit of God. I mean it's obviously making it a point that that's two different, distinct beings, right?
Speaker 1:Of the same essence. Right, absolutely, and that's what you need to come to. But but see, one of the big things is that we need to understand is the Holy Spirit convinces us and gives us understanding about things. It is impossible for the Holy Spirit to contribute to our intelligence and our understanding if the Holy Spirit himself does not have intelligence and understanding. This is my point.
Speaker 1:When we read what the Holy Spirit does, then it tells us that the Holy Spirit is a he who is. Then it tells us that the Holy Spirit is a he who is. Does that make sense? Yes, so when you look at Christ, how many times did Christ make a reference to? If you want to know who I am, look at what I did. You see what I'm saying. Yes, we can look at the scriptures about the Father and we can know that the Father is the creator because we look at what he did. So when we look at the holy spirit, it's no different. If you want to know that the holy spirit is a person, or if you want evidence that the holy spirit is a person, then look at what he did and look at what he does so verse 12 says but all these worketh that one and the self, same spirit dividing to every man several.
Speaker 3:So, as you feel, whereas the body is one and has many members and all the members of that one body being many, are one body, so also is Christ. So, right there, you're saying one spirit and also Christ. They're separating the two there. To go back to the beginning of what you just read, read the also Christ. They're separating the two there too.
Speaker 1:Go back to the beginning of what you just read. Read the first part again, just the first sentence.
Speaker 3:For as the body is one.
Speaker 1:No, all these worketh. Okay, stop right there. What's the operative word in what you just read Right there that tells you that the Holy Spirit is a person? What's the word that one? No, all these Keep going. What does he say he does Worketh, yes, he worketh. He works. So, and that's not random, it's what he does, he works so. So, in that, that's not random, it's what he does, he works.
Speaker 1:What did Christ say about, about his father? He says my father works, and so do I Remember that. Yes, that's right. So we look at the what the father does, we look at what the son does and we look at what the Holy does. We look at what the Son does and we look at what the Holy Spirit does, and by that we understand who they are. We understand who they are, and all three they work, they do. And when we talk about work, when we talk about work, when we talk about God working and when I say God, I mean the Father, son and the Holy Spirit when we talk about God working, what are we talking about? In biblical terms? What's the word that we understand from the word of God? That indicates the working of God? What do we call that, candy? I'm asking you what do we call that? The working?
Speaker 1:of God, yes what do we call it the Holy?
Speaker 3:Spirit that was given to us through Jesus by the Father.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but when God works, he works different than we work. When he works, what is this called in the Bible? Don't overthink it. What is it called when God works His will? What is the working of God called he's man? He's managing his creation. When he works, what is the management of God's creation called election? Nope, that's not what I'm talking about. Anybody want to help out? He initiates? Nope, he does. But that's not what I'm talking about. The working of god. The working of god is overseeing the government of his creation. What is that called the will?
Speaker 3:he speaks it, he speaks it into existence.
Speaker 1:Let me say it, let me let me just say it, it's called his providence. Oh yeah, I would have never thought of providence, providence. Providence is the working of God in the management of his creation. It is how he governs his creation and it is called providence. Okay, it's called his providence. But, candy, you're right on point. You're right on point, meg go ahead. But Candy, you're right on point, you're right on point, meg go ahead.
Speaker 5:So throughout the Old and the New Testament, I think we see two things that are very important to God One being testimony and one being a witness. Okay, witness and testimonies are throughout Scripture, scripture, and the Lord loves them. God loves testimony. So we see in chapter 15, verse 26,. It says but when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who perceives from the father. Oh, here it goes again. He will testify of me and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. Now the bible says that we need how many witnesses to establish three, two or three. So so we have the Holy Spirit. It says he will testify. There's one. And then it says and you also will bear witness, there's two, because you have been with me from the beginning. The Holy Spirit is the testifier that completes the witness in us.
Speaker 1:What does the Holy Spirit, being a witness in testimony, suggest about him? Truth, no, I'm talking about his nature.
Speaker 5:I'm not trying to trick you that. He is a person testifying.
Speaker 1:Yes, a person can testify. A person witnesses.
Speaker 5:Amen, amen, that's fire, that's good yeah.
Speaker 1:Now go back to the first sentence, the first thing you read, the first sentence that you read.
Speaker 5:read it again and tell me and tell me what else in that passage suggests that he's a person? It says but when the helper comes, a helper can only huh, go ahead, tell me now. It says but when the helper comes, a helper can only be a person, number one, whom I shall send. Okay, if something is being sent, doesn't it have to be a person? Yes, okay, from the father. So the son, it proceed, is from the son, because the son is sending from the father the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father. It says and, and he will testify of me. Now listen to what it says. It says made to stumble, they will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever unalives you will think that he offers God's services.
Speaker 1:Amen, sister, good work, I love it. You know I'm turning these pages. Banana Pancake, you there, all right, so I'm going to ask you a question, so hang there for a second, but I want to tell everybody. So now I'm going to go through some passages of Scripture dealing with the Holy Spirit and I'm going to call on each person to address each verse that I bring out, and I'm going to be asking about a particular property that defines the Holy Spirit, and I want you to point out the aspect of the verse that addresses the property that identifies the personhood of the Holy Spirit. So, banana pancakes, here's your first. You get the first verse and it's in actually going to get two verses. It's in 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 10 and 11. Let me read it. But God has revealed them unto us by his spirit, for the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. So where in that verse do you see the property that indicates the personhood of the Holy Spirit?
Speaker 4:because it's doing some work, it's searching, yes, that's all.
Speaker 1:That's it right there. That's it searching. It says that god, that god has revealed unto us how, by his spirit, for the spirit, searches all things. Now let me ask you a question. When somebody tells you something that they think you should know and they want you to go find evidence of it, in today's time, they send you to the internet and tell you to do what. Search it, google it right. Search it, google it. It requires intellect to search yeah you understand.
Speaker 1:So let me ask you again banana pancakes, stay there. Stay there, sister. For what man knows, for what man knows the things, listen to this. This is, this is to be heavy, hopefully, if you understand it. He says for what man knows, the things of a man, except for this, but the spirit of the man which is in him. You follow me so far.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, stick with me now. Then he says even so, take even so, put it in caps, bold it and underline it.
Speaker 4:It already is.
Speaker 1:He says for what the man knows, for what man knows, the things of a man, save the spirit of the man which is in him. And then he says, even so, the spirit of God knows no man. But who, the spirit of God? So when he says, even so, make the connection, what is he saying?
Speaker 4:Well, you lost me on the question. Could you ask me the question one more time?
Speaker 1:All right, so here's the verse, and anybody else be ready to stand by to help out my little sister. Here Paul says what man knows, the things of a man, save or accept the spirit of the man which is in him. So here's the thing.
Speaker 4:Oh, I get it.
Speaker 1:You understand I get it yeah. So, in other words, I can't tell you about you, only you can tell me about you, because your spirit is within you and I can't see your spirit. You understand all right. So the only one who understands the man is the spirit of the man. So then he says even so, even so, the things of God, no man knows but the spirit of God. So what is the correlation that Paul is making here between man and God?
Speaker 4:Well, ok, so my translation says it. Um. So also, no one comprehends the thoughts of god except the spirit of god. So the spirit of god fully and thoroughly understands the thoughts of God.
Speaker 1:That's because the Holy Spirit, in the comparison, is basically the inner being of God, so to speak. You see what's happening here. He says just as man, just as the spirit of man is that which the man knows. Even so, the things of God knows no man but the Spirit of God.