Living in the Presence of God: A Study of the Holy Spirit Week 1 Introduction

I. Introduction

a. When you think about the Holy Spirit, what are your initial impressions?

b. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity (more on that shortly).

i. Almost universally accepted as God, even by the Jewish theologians.

ii. There was a small 4th-century group called the Macedonians who denied the full divinity and personhood of the Holy Spirit.

iii. They were refuted in 381 at the First Council of Constantinople.

iv. More controversy surrounded the divinity of Jesus (Arian heresy) than the Holy Spirit.

c. Why do you think most churches put far less emphasis on the Holy Spirit than they do on the Father or Jesus?

II. Pneumatology

a. What this class is about is the area of theology called pneumatology.

i. Pneuma – Greek for breath, air, expiration, spirit.

ii. Logos – Greek for word, or study

b. Other areas of theology:

i. Christolog

ii. Ecclesiology

iii. Eschatology

iv. Soteriology

c. Dogma, Doctrine, Opinion

i. Dogma is the essential core of the Christian Faith. To disagree places you outside of the Christian faith.

1. Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (more on that shortly)

2. Virgin Birth

3. God Created everything

4. Basically, everything in the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds.

ii. Doctrine is the particulars of Dogma. Christians may disagree on these issues and remain in the Christian faith.

1. Literal 6-day Creation vs. figurative.

2. Free will vs. theistic determinism in salvation.

3. Pre, post, and a-millennialism.

4. And others.

iii. Opinion has less emphasis on biblical revelation and more input from outside sources.

1. Old Earth vs. Young Earth creationism.

2. What kind of music should be played in a church service.

3. How a church should look.

iv. The more one shifts into Doctrine and Dogma, the more fundamental they are. The more they shift into Opinion, the more liberal and progressive they are.

v. This course will be primarily centered on understanding different doctrines of the Holy Spirit, but will touch on Dogma and Opinion.

III. The Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

a. This is a dogmatic belief.

b. Though the word trinity is not used in the Bible, the dogma comes from multiple biblical sources, not the least of which is Matthew 28:18-20

c. It is also used in the Didache, which goes back to the first-century church.

d. Solidified as dogma in 325 and the development of the Nicene Creed.

e. The Apostles Creed also goes back to the first-century church.

f. One being three persons.

i. Being is the essential nature of what one is

1. We are all human beings.

2. There is no ontological difference between us.

ii. Persons are personalities, and who we are as individuals.

1. Persons can outrank one another.

g. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all have the same eternal characteristics of the one being God.

i. Omnipotence

ii. Omniscience

iii. Omnibenevolence

iv. Etc.

h. All three diverse persons exist in community and as one God in unity and in love.

i. God has chosen to reveal Himself to humanity through the Trinity.

j. The Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity that is the Presence of God.

IV. A little Greek and Hebrew

a. Hebrew

i. Ruach – breath, wind, inspiration, expiration, spirit.

1. Ruach Elohim – Spirit of God (most common use- over 400)

2. Ruach YAWEH – Spirit of the Lord

3. Ruach Qodesh – Holy Spirit (only used once)

4. Wa Ruach – My Spirit (when God is talking).

ii. Nismat, Nishmah, Neshmalah – Blowing, life-breath

b. Greek

i. Pneuma – breath, wind, inspiration, expiration, spirit.

ii. Pneumatokis – spiritual, spiritual thing, spiritual people

iii. Hagios Pneuma – Holy Spirit (most common)

iv. Pneuma tou Theo – Spirit of God

v. Pneuma tou Patros – Spirit of the Father

vi. Eplesthe Pneomatos Hagios – Filled with the Holy Spirit (New Testament concept, only one instance in the OT – Exodus 31:3 – OT The Spirit rested (nuach or lebush) on someone – temporary)