The Person
Holy Spirit • Sermon • Submitted
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· 17 viewsHow to Understand the 3rd Person of the Godhead
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The Series
The Person
3rd person of the Godhead
The Promise
Promise Jesus gave as he left
Pentecost
What happened at Pentecost
The Past
SDA history and the Holy Spirit
The Punchline
The experience of the Latter Rain
Prayer Time
extra books
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Today:
The Person
The Holy Spirit
is the most
confused topic
aspect of the Godhead.
Trinity
not in Bible
definition
Tri
Unity
There are many things
we cannot understand
about God.
For example
His pre-existance
His omnipotence
The incarnation
Even simply - His Love
These are questions
we will have
for eternity.
There are things
you cannot fully answer.
So lets focus
on what we do know
about the Holy Spirit.
Third Person of the Godhead.
Let’s go back
to the beginning:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
I want to focus
on the first 5 words.
“The God said, “Let Us...”
The word us
is a plural personal pronoun
Accordingly,
first thing we know
about God:
God is plural
Actually,
lets God back earlier
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Again,
looking at frist few words.
“In the beginning, God”
The OT was written in Hebrew.
This is the hebrew Word
אֱלֹהִים
אֱלֹהִים
What is so interestting
about this word:
It is a plural noun.
In english
how do you know
when a noun is plural?
We put an “s” on the end.
Hebrew is similar.
they have a plural ending.
ים
All words
that end with
plural!
The very first verse
says God is plural.
You may ask.
Well,
why does our bible
translate it as
“God”
singular?
Good question,
and now I think
we are beginning
to reach a point
that is a bit
mysterious.
The Bible teaches that God
is both One
and Three.
Let me show you:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Famous verse.
All young Jews
required to memorize.
Seems to say,
God is one.
Let’s look at a different verse.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Here,
Bible seems to make clear
three persons of God.
Do these verses contadict?
Christians have been
confused on this for
millenea.
Modalism
explainations
Let me share one verse
that will clarify
this apparent
misconception.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
One of the gifts
Adam and Eve
before the fall
Oneness.
Explain this to me:
Literally one?
Were they 2 people
or one person?
So you are saying
it is like a metaphor.
What does the metaphor mean?
In the same way
God is one?
Clearly,
that is what Jesus means
in this passage:
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Let’s look at another verse:
Before Jesus left
this earth
He wanted to give
his disciples
greatest gift:
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Pay attention
to this verse.
Who is speaking?
Jesus.
Okay,
Jesus - son of God
says:
“I will ask the Father...”
Ponder this with me...
If they are
literally
physically
ONE
why would He
need to ask himself
for something?
But it gets better...
What does Jesus
ask the Father for?
He asks to give them
a speacial outpouring
of the person
of the Holy Spirit!
Clearly 3 persons.
The Son
Asking the Father
To send the gifto
of the Holy Spirit!
Adam and Eve’s relationship
in the Garden
before sin
are an apt example
of the Trinity.
They were one.
God is one
Also,
they were equal.
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
What does that
phrase mean
“fit for him?”
This verse implies
comparable,
like a mate
or partner.
Notice also:
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
What part
did God take?
Rib
Why?
Not head
Not foot
To stand side by side.
Notice when
male headship began:
After fall
God speak to Eve:
To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
One consequecne of sin,
is that Eve was subjected
to her husband.
This was done
as a means of protection
for the family
but has been abused.
Adam and Eve
before the fall
were similar to God.
They were
one
equal
But
Not the same
Had different roles
Men are stronger
Women are more nurturing
Physiologically
Only women can breastfeed
etc.
We were created
to compliment each other
to be equal
Not to be the same...
Traditionallly
Men and Women
fulfilled different roles
And it seems to be
that was God’s
intended will.
Same is true
with the Godhead.
They fulfill
different roles.
Different Roles
Different Roles
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
They all fulfill
different roles
in the plan of Salvation.
Jesus - he sacrifice
Holy Spirit - work of Sanctification
Father - ???
Some say Father
overseer...
Jesus and Spirit
below Father on
Hierachy.
I believe this is wrong
But I see some verses
that seem to suggest this
at first glance.
One person subservient to the other?
You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
Jesus often says
stuff like this
when on earth
as a human.
He must ask the Father
to do things for Him.
That is because
while on earth
he was human.
God in human flesh.
To Boys Go to Fair
Jesus was equal with Father
in heaven
but when He became
human things changed.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
It says,
Jesus was equal with Father
But,
when He became human,
He became a servant...
Some have taught
Son and Spirit
below Father.
This is not a matter
of hierarchy but
rather roles.
If a woman
stays at home
cooks
cleans
cares for kids
is she below
her husband?
No,
actually,
just doing what god said,
would happen.
Eve bear children
Adam would work.
Their roles don’t
make them
above or
below.
What does,
God said,
woman would be
subject to man.
In Godhead
they have roles
some seem more humble.
But none
are below.
They are
equal.
One last verse,
as Jesus was teaching
His equality with Father,
Jews understood
tried to kill him
accusing him of
blasphemy.
I and the Father are one.”
The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
Jesus does not recant
of His equality with Father
rather, stands in the face
of those ready to kill Him
to teach this truth.
While here,
lets address
one last heresy.
Many believe Jesus
did not exist
as such
before the incarnation
or came into being
at sometime in
anciet past
But has not always
been with the Father.
To suppor this
they quote verses like:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
First born…?
hapax legomenon
It could mean
first in pre-emmanence!
Clearly Jesus existed before incarnation:
Look at next verse:
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
He was an active
participant in
the creation
as we already discussed.
But let us addess
the confussion
about Jesus being
brought into
existance by the Father.
Jesus Plainly Said:
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
I AM means:
I was,
I am,
I will be.
It means
He was not
dependant on
anything or anyone
else to come into exitance.
Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God.... In speaking of his pre-existence, Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God. He to whose voice the Jews were then listening had been with God as one brought up with Him. - Evangelism p. 615
All 3 persons
have always been
and are equal.
And yet,
we reach again
a mystery.
We cannot fully grasp
pre-existance
because we know nothing
of the sorty.
So,
we simply,
accept it by faith.
Summary
Summary
There are 3 Persons in the Godhead.
They are perfectly united as one.
They have different Roles.
But they are equal as such.
