The Holy Spirit can speak (Acts 8:29, 11:12, 13:2)—though some people don’t think the Holy Spirit can speak because they think of the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force, or simply a presence. Some teach that the Holy Spirit is not deity, but a thing, a force. The Jehovah of the Watchtower is a remote deity that did not make the world himself and is not immanently involved in its history and redemption. These are all legitimate questions, especially considering that Jehovah’s Witnesses commonly insist that there can be no “mysteries” or theological paradoxes in true doctrine. Thus, Jesus taught that the Spirit would come in his stead and perform personal functions comparable to the things Jesus himself did while he was physically present with his disciples. Support Michael's mission work here - paypal link. He is not impersonal or unthinking. God “gave” his Son (John 3:16) and “will give” the Spirit (14:16). Real Faith—Your Key to a Happy Life (Watchtower, 2010), 24. As Christians, we are often blind and inconsiderate when it comes to the Holy Spirit. 1660). The word spirit (from the Latin spiritus meaning "breath") appears either alone or with other words in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the New Testament.Combinations include expressions such as the "Holy Spirit", "Spirit of God", and in Christianity, "Spirit of Christ".. The Spirit in this passage is not an impersonal force like electricity, but a divine person like Jesus. In the Bible we find nothing that might be termed “Luke Skywalker theology.” “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). Support Michael's mission work here - paypal link. Daniel Henderson: I’m Not Dead and the Holy Spirit is Not a “Force” June 17, 2018 “That’s not what I said!” “I didn’t do that!” “He doesn’t really know me!” “That never happened!” These are common expressions of someone who feels they have been misrepresented. Rather, the issue of what doctrine is correct must be settled by examining what the Bible says. The Holy Spirit came to Jesus’ disciples after Christ left the earth, as recorded in Acts 2. That Ambitious One Who Wanted to Be “God” Number Three. Christian Bible Confessions and Praying the Word. In this verse the Holy Spirit is represented as having a will. Only a being who is equal to God (Matthew 28:19) and possesses the attributes of omniscience, omnipresence, and eternality could be defined as God. In its opening words, the Bible speaks of the holy spirit —also rendered “God’s active force”— as “moving to and fro over the surface of the waters.” ( Genesis 1:2 ) In the account of Jesus’ baptism, while God is described as being in “the heavens,” the holy spirit appears “descending like a dove” upon Jesus. He cannot be slung around, gathered up, or dispensed. The Holy Spirit is a person, a He. This spirit is energy from God projected and exerted on people or things to accomplish his will.4, It is God’s active force, not Jehovah’s power residing within himself, but his energy when projected out from himself for the accomplishing of his purposes.5. “The Holy Spirit: But according to the Book of Mormon, as well as other Scripture, there is also a Holy Spirit, sometimes called the Holy Ghost, which is not a person, but rather a divine essence, a force, or fluid–for want of a better term–which permeates all that exists,” (John A. Widtsoe and Franklin S. Harris, Jr., Seven Claims of the Book of Mormon, pp. Should we describe the Spirit of God as a person, or simply as a force? We would not normally expect visions of heaven to include embodied or visible representations of the Holy Spirit because of the distinctive way he works. Etymology. The Holy Spirit is a Person. Christian Testimonies - True Stories of God at Work, Spirit, Soul and Body - the Tripartite nature of Man, Praying the Word against deception and spiritual blindness. The Holy Spirit is God. This is exactly what we should expect once we understand the role of the Holy Spirit in divine revelation. 32:15; 44:3; Ezek. The Holy Spirit cannot be pumped and scooped. We should not confuse the Holy Spirit with the way He might make us feel sometimes, or with the power that He has. Receive the Holy Spirit. The Son “taught” the disciples (6:59; 7:14, 28); the Spirit “will teach” them (14:26). Personalized Scripture prayers, by theme. On that occasion, the night before his death, Jesus spoke at length to his disciples in a speech found in John 13-17 that scholars describe as his “farewell discourse.”7 In such a discourse, the speaker gathers with those he is about to leave behind, explaining that he is about to leave them, exhorting them to continue following his instructions and example, and offering them assurances about their future after his departure. Chris: It is true that the Holy Spirit is ‘invisible' and is a ‘force', but that does not prevent him from having intelligence, self awareness, will and other personal characteristics; things which no impersonal force such as electricity could possess. 5:18) but also says that they should be filled with God (Eph. Deduce the Holy Spirit is God? In its opening words, the Bible speaks of the holy spirit —also rendered “God’s active force”— as “moving to and fro over the surface of the waters.” ( Genesis 1:2 ) In the account of Jesus’ baptism, while God is described as being in “the heavens,” the holy spirit appears “descending like a dove” upon Jesus. Summary: The Watchtower Society teaches that the Holy Spirit is not a divine person existing eternally with the Father and the Son but is instead an impersonal, active force emanating from Jehovah God when he employs his power or energy toward the world. When this “holy spirit” energy comes from God to people on earth, does it leave his spirit body? Intellect3. 3:19; 4:10). Jehovah’s Witnesses and certain other groups, such the Iglesia ni Cristo, claim that the Holy Spirit is not a Person but merely a force (for example, “the power of God”). The reverse should be true. A Guide to Experiencing More of God. We do not normally speak of being anointed or filled with electricity or to have energy poured out on us. Likewise, he is all-loving, forgiving, merciful and just. The same? But, when we start on page one of the Bible, before creation ever even began, we see a depiction of the spirit of God hovering over the dark, disordered waters of … Just before he ascended, Jesus told his disciples that they would receive power to be his witnesses when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8). Misrepresented Spirit? 5:18), “anointed” (Acts 10:38), and “sealed” (Eph. The Watchtower famously compares holy spirit specifically to electricity: The holy spirit has been likened to wind. Follow. All Rights Reserved. He’s not pixie dust. Famously, God appeared to Moses in a bush that appeared to be on fire (Exod. Especially noteworthy here is that the Spirit speaks in the first person when he says, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (13:2; see also 10:20). In certain respects it can also be likened to electricity. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. First, the Holy Spirit is not a “force” or energy or an “it,” but He’s a person. I noted in a previous post that, according to a recent study by Lifeway Research, 56 percent of evangelical Christians say the Holy Spirit is a force rather than a person. Antony Billington, “The Paraclete and Mission in the Fourth Gospel,” in Mission and Meaning: Essays Presented to Peter Cotterell, ed. … For instance, a Jehovah’s Witness might say something like this: “The holy spirit is not a person and it is not a part of a Trinity. The word spirit is rendered as רוּחַ (ruach) in Hebrew-language parts of the Old Testament. The personhood of the Spirit is also established by the fact that you can treat the Spirit as a person (pray to him, quench the Spirit, bless the Spirit), and the Spirit performs acts proper to personality—He speaks, commands, strives, to name a few examples. Just as there is very little in the Old Testament that refers explicitly to the Son as a divine person distinct from the Father, there is also very little if anything in the Old Testament that reveals the Holy Spirit to be a distinct divine person. Just concentrate on Jesus." Because the Holy Spirit is a Person, we must be willing containers which desire a relationship with Him. Arguments from silence are unreliable foundations for doctrine.13. Such arguments fallaciously reason that if a particular speaker or writer did not mention something it must be because he was ignorant of it (or even that he would have denied it, given the chance). Most of these arguments appeal to the lack of any mention of the Holy Spirit in various places in the Bible as evidence that he is not a divine person. They view the Holy Spirit from a human perspective to determine whether or not He is personal. The JW actively believes that the Holy Spirit is a force, and not a person. Before we compare the Holy Spirit and the Force, we need need address four thing. Misrepresented Spirit? Make you hungry, thirsty or desperate. We should not confuse the Holy Spirit with the way He might make us feel sometimes, or with the power that He has. Rather, pronouns like “he” and “him” are used by New Testament writers and others to indicate only that the Holy Spirit is personal and relational, not a vague force like gravity or karma. The word spirit (from the Latin spiritus meaning "breath") appears either alone or with other words in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the New Testament.Combinations include expressions such as the "Holy Spirit", "Spirit of God", and in Christianity, "Spirit of Christ".. Jesus goes on in the Upper Room Discourse to speak about the Holy Spirit in ways closely paralleling what the Gospel of John says about Jesus. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:16; 1 Cor. The Holy Spirit Is Considered as A “Gift” (Like an object, not a person) …and you shall receive the gift … The Son was “with” his disciples (14:9) and after he left the Spirit would be “with” them (14:16). Such language, which of course is figurative, does not mean that the Holy Spirit is less than personal. Here are the next 6 things the Holy Spirit does not do: 13. 5. Unknown to most, due to the spiritual blindness inflicted upon most of humanity, there is actually a great and ambitious invisible spirit-being who always wanted to be also “god” and to reign as co-equal with God and the Son. Most likely, the Old Testament did not speak clearly about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as distinct persons because its focus was on teaching Israel to believe in and worship the one God who made and rules the world, a notion that cut across the grain of their polytheistic civilization. The Holy Spirit is not a vague, ethereal life force. Do YOU have a testimony to share? the holy spirit is the active force of God. The issue cannot be settled by raising such “how” questions, whether in relation to the Watchtower’s doctrine or in relation to the orthodox view. These arguments are notoriously unreliable because speakers and authors rarely tell us everything they know. This is exactly what Jesus does in John 13-17. There is the gentle breeze, and … To Be or not To Be: Why Existence Is Good. But the cults tend to ignore these verses and tell us that the Spirit is nothing more than some presence or power. There are less than a hundred references to the Spirit in the whole Old Testament, whereas in the much shorter New Testament there are roughly 270 references to the Spirit. Learn More. This role suggests that at least part of the reason why the person of the Holy Spirit may not seem as clearly revealed in the Bible is that he seeks to draw attention to the Son rather than to himself. The Holy Spirit is not a vague, ethereal shadow, nor an impersonal force. But if not learn how to come to Jesus so you can rejoice with us! It is not equal to God but is always at his disposition and subordinate to him. He is a person and if you and I are wise we will treat Him not as POWER but as a PERSON. By God I understand we are talking either about the Father (most often) or Jesus Christ God’s Son. And the personhood of the Holy Spirit is affirmed by His role as the third Person of the Godhead. However, this idea needs to be related in some way to the Watchtower’s doctrine that Jehovah God is not omnipresent being but rather has a spirit body and is located somewhere. The holy spirit is God’s active force that he uses to accomplish his will.... To a certain extent, it can be likened to electricity.” 1 The Jehovah’s Witness sees the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force. ; see also 1 John 2:1 in most English versions) is also translated in other versions as “Comforter” (KJV) or “Helper” (ESV, NASB). God pours out his holy spirit over the earth onto his servants. 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 says, “No one knows the mind of God except the Spirit of God who searches all things.” He has feelings. He is considered to be the third member of the Godhead. Some churches say "Don't worry about the Holy Spirit. He is the very power of God. The Son and the Spirit both came “from the Father” (15:26; 16:28). Consider, for example, the vision that Stephen had just before he was killed, which the Watchtower claims is an example of the missing Holy Spirit: But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. The Holy Spirit is a “person” equal in every way with God, the Father, and God, the Son. Ephesians says that Christians should be “filled with the Spirit” (Eph. When the Jewish authorities challenged Peter for preaching about Jesus, Peter told them, “And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit that God has given to those who obey him” (5:32). A. Allen, What Jesus said would happen with those who believe, Restoration of Blessings through Prayer and Fasting – Video, Be a Disciple of Jesus and Grow in your Spiritual Capacity to Bless, Believers Who Act on the Word of God are not Ordinary, Discernment Ministries Should Not Reject the Holy Spirit’s Gifts, Be Ready, Be Sober, Be Vigilant lest Satan devour you, God visitations – How to respond to God when He draws you, 23hrs dead: She saw Famous People in Hell: Michael Jackson, Pope John Paul II, & others. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55-56 ESV). The Spirit is a person and not merely a force. I noted in a previous post that, according to a recent study by Lifeway Research, 56 percent of evangelical Christians say the Holy Spirit is a force rather than a person.In that same study, a quarter (28 percent) said the Spirit is a divine being but not equal to God the Father and Jesus. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit – teaching by John Iuliano, Keys to Moving in the Supernatural of God, The Price of God’s Miracle-Working Power – A. Throughout the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is presented as an active, personal participant in the ministry of the apostles and their associates, directing the mission, calling people into service, and guiding the apostles’ decision making (see especially 15:28; 16:6-7; 20:28).9, Seemingly Impersonal Descriptions of the Holy Spirit. It is worth noting that when people refer to the Holy Spirit as “he,” the masculine pronoun can be confusing. Who Is the Holy Spirit? Jesus also referred to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter or the Counselor (John 14:16 and 15:26). If I have an important guest in my home and I totally ignore Him, never respond when He speaks and never speak with Him, I am rude and foolish. (John 16:13.) And what is the Holy Spirit’s role in the believer’s life? The Holy Spirit is not a force to wield or a mystery to be dissected, but a person to be received, known, and enjoyed. And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Copyright (C) 2000-2018 Michael Fackerell. So who are you really honestly referring to when you say the Holy Spirit is God, are you saying the Holy Spirit is the same as the Father or Jesus. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit is male (nor is God, even though the metaphor of Father is often used.) Yes, the Spirit has produced beautiful things but all of it because … He is a person equal in every way with God the Father and God the Son. Holy spirit: Active force can also be referred to as the breath, finger, hand or arm of God. 39:29; Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:17-18, 33; 10:45). Does Jehovah have an infinite supply of this energy in his localized spirit body? —Psalm 104:30; 139:7. People “drink” from the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 4. The clear point here is that the Spirit is someone—a divine person other than Jesus who will come in Jesus’ place. The idea that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal active force that emanates from Jehovah God, like an energy source comparable to electricity, may sound simple enough, but it is not. The Holy Spirit's name describes his chief attribute: He is a perfectly holy and spotless God, free of any sin or darkness. The Holy Spirit is God, not a Force. The holy spirit is God’s active force that he uses to accomplish his will. The Holy Spirit is God. “Why Be Guided by God’s Spirit?” Watchtower, Dec. 15, 2011, 13. I noted in a previous post that, according to a recent study by Lifeway Research, 56 percent of evangelical Christians say the Holy Spirit is a force rather than a person.In that same study, a quarter (28 percent) said the Spirit is a divine being but not equal to God the Father and Jesus. Etymology. And that simply is not true. Like most critics of the doctrine of the Trinity, Jehovah’s Witnesses frequently employ arguments from silence against the idea of the Holy Spirit as a divine person. Guidelines for use of articles | Site Map | Contact Us | My Account, Why Christianity Is True but Mormonism Is Not, Gospel Principles Study Guide - Main Page, ©2020 Institute for Religious Research. Some people believe the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force, not a Being with the attributes of personality. Later while looking into this topic online, I discovered this understanding is widespread * in the Christian faith as well: a poll result found that 59% of Christians see the Holy Spirit as a force. Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? The Son came in the Father’s name (5:43); the Spirit would come in the Son’s name (14:26). This is a vitally important concept. You can not know Jesus without Him. Join our Cause. The “Spirit” is the Spirit – God the Holy Spirit. This may help explain why Jesus did not refer to the Holy Spirit in John 17:3. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit is male (nor is God, even though the metaphor of Father is often used.) Pray for those you love. What does the Bible say? For an overview, see our article on what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe. This article is one of a series of articles explaining in detail the doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses and showing why those teachings are not in harmony with the facts and teachings of the Bible. 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