In this lesson, Pastor Dave Capoccia begins overviewing the Bible’s fundamental teaching on the Holy Spirit. In part 1, Pastor Dave explains the personhood and deity of the Holy Spirit and, relatedly, the nature of God as Trinity.
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all right well good morning good morning welcome to Sunday school please find your seats if you haven’t already now that summer vacation is over we jump back into Sunday school we jump back into our fundamentals of the faith or fof series what is uh fundamentals of the faith this is our Sunday school class in which we lay a critical Foundation of biblical Theology and practice and this is to reinforce our convictions it is to fill gaps in our understanding and it is to bring our church to Greater Unity so I’m glad you’re here today we are on lesson 14.
which is the for us the seventh chapter of our fundamentals of the faith book if you’re just joining us don’t worry if you haven’t been with us before you can still follow you should still be able to follow what we’re talking about today but you do want to get yourself a workbook we do still have more workbooks our greeters in the back Dwayne in the back has workbooks for you we just asked for five dollar donation if you’re able but get the workbook because and if you need a workbook you can just go back up there right now or you can raise your hand and maybe Dwayne can bring it over to you workbook has homework that will help you prepare for each lesson and the question and answers in the workbook are also featured in each lesson we go over many of those so if you don’t have a workbook if you don’t bring it with you you’re going to be like uh what’s Pastor Dave talking about what the other teacher’s talking about I can’t really follow along get the workbook bring the workbook do the workbook you’ll benefit a lot more from this class also if you’ve missed the previous lessons remember they are recorded they are on they are online at our website calvaryem.org you can go back and watch or listen to the lessons that you’ve missed and you’ll definitely want to do that because these are all fundamental so far in our fof class we have done 13 lessons on the first six chapters in our book I’ve looked at an introduction to the Bible how to know the Bible God is character and attributes the person of Jesus Christ the work of Christ and salvation now over the next few months we’re going to go through the rest of the fof chapters which are what’s on the right of the slide person in Ministry of the Holy Spirit prayer and the believer the Church Fellowship and worship spiritual gifts evangelism and the believer obedience and God’s Will and guidance now perhaps you’ve had questions about some of these topics but even if you haven’t these are the biblical fundamentals that you want to make sure that you have right and that you Excel still more in why well it’s for your good it’s for the good of our body the church and it’s for the glory of God so many reasons why you should benefit from this course well today we are in part one of the very next lesson in our series and that is the person and Ministry of the Holy Spirit let’s pray before we get into the real meat of our lesson God in heaven we love to learn about you and to talk about you but you are a holy God you are mysterious there are things that we could never know unless you showed us in your Bible but even that Lord if we’re not careful we can misunderstand so help us to know what your Bible says in particular about the Holy Spirit Lord cause these things that we learn to not only have us to have proper belief but a are filled in worshipful belief help me to be able to explain this today in Jesus name amen now one way that we often get ourselves into trouble in life is by overreacting by overreaction something happens let’s say something sorrowful something painful something evil or maybe just something that’s simply inconvenient and we don’t just react we overreact we suddenly take an action or position that is extreme and unjustified based on whatever it was that occurred for example let’s say that someone of a certain group mistreats you or Advance is a cause that you don’t like and so you suddenly become prejudiced against that person’s whole group you say see this is why you can’t trust women or this is why you can’t trust men or this is why you can’t trust black people or white people or immigrants or cops but that such thinking is an overreaction in itself is a form of mistreating others rather than treating a whole group as all bad or all good a wise and biblical approach is to acknowledge that they are good and bad in every group there’s no need for that prejudice or another example you try out a new skill maybe cooking or drawing or teaching but your first attempt at using the skill doesn’t go well and so you decide you’re totally going to abandon the pursuit never try it again obviously I’m no good at this I’ll never learn how to do it why keep going that’s an overreaction one that’s ultimately unhelpful to you and probably to others too you may not be particularly talented at a certain task and yes maybe you’ll find that your efforts are better focused elsewhere but you won’t know that for certain without a certain sustained attempt at that skill at using and developing that skill you might be surprised that if you just persevere a little you might actually have a talent for it or at least you can improve greatly now this we recognize overreaction is generally a bad thing what’s true about life in general though is also true about religion true about spiritual life and true about Christian theology sometimes a certain experience in the church either the local church or just the church at large it can tempt us to overreact in a way that is unhelpful and even in a way that is unbiblical or sinful this is certainly a case certainly the case when it comes to the topic of the person in Ministry of the Holy Spirit today unfortunately the holy spirit is often treated or spoken of in a way that is terribly erroneous and even downright blasphemous and let me invite your participation here can anyone provide any examples of how the spirit is spoken of erroneously or treated wrongly today yeah mark says the Lord led me to do something that the Bible says is sinful yeah that’s right the spirit is cited to justify teaching or actions that contradict the Bible the spirit led me to do this I feel led by the spirit to do this wait that goes against the Bible yep that’s one example what else yeah Tony someone may say that they’ve been slain in the spirit that’s right there’s certainly in the last few decades the holy spirit is relied upon for various showy fake and disorderly miraculous works being explained in the spirit people speaking in chaotic gibberish that they call tongues healings which are very carefully orchestrated and cannot be replicated and don’t last those types of things are all attributed to the spirit what else yeah Mike there’s a thought out there that the Holy Spirit exists only to for our benefit from our power yeah I think that’s definitely true as well Mike noting that there’s this thought there’s this belief there’s this teaching that the holy spirit is really for all your benefit even to fulfill your desires the spirit is the way to bring Prosperity into your life he will make you healthy and Rich and popular these are some things that are being attributed to the spirit today but there are others the holy spirit is used as a cover for emotional manipulation even via music the holy spirit is used as an excuse to avoid Bible study or critical thinking I’m just going to rely on the spirit why are you relying on yourself you need to rely on the spirit why are you even worried about studying the Bible and I’m sure there are others and these are serious these are great errors hurting the true church and they wrong and dishonor the Holy Spirit many of these of course have been promoted by Prosperity oh yes Pastor Bobby oh okay yeah Pastor Bobby pointing out that another thing that we see is that there’s so much emphasis on the spirit that Christ has hardly talked about at all no emphasis on Christ anymore right so this over emphasis on the spirit or this attributing things to the spirit which are actually anti-biblical many of these are promoted by Prosperity preachers and the charismatic and Pentecostal movement however as conservative evangelicals our efforts to protect ourselves and others from errors having to do with the Holy Spirit can become an overreaction we can become so so zealous for protecting people from the errors that we see or even protecting ourselves from it that we overreact and rather than bringing the spirit back into its proper place we downplay the spirit we seldom talk about the Holy Spirit we avoid any of the phrases that are being abused by other people we don’t talk about Spirit feeling we don’t talk about Spirit anointing we’re afraid to do so we are suspicious of emotion in the church especially in the context of Music we prefer just very rational nothing that’s going to be emotional we may even get to the point where we speak as if or maybe we actually expect in our hearts that there’s nothing Supernatural about the Christian Life it’s all about Bible study and careful thinking but as are the other examples I gave of overreaction we don’t want to be caught in either extreme in avoiding one era we don’t want to go to another rather we want to know what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit and hold fast to that don’t just simply react we want to ask what’s biblical and so that’s why we’re going through this what does the bible tell us about the Holy Spirit this person and his work well today we’re going to investigate part one of that question we’re going to focus on the person of the Holy Spirit next week we’ll focus on part two which is the ministry of the Holy Spirit what does he do what can we expect from him now if you have your workbooks please open to chapter 7 lesson seven we’re going to go through that or at least the first portion of that who exactly is the Holy Spirit allow me to provide you a basic answer that will expand upon in today’s lesson who is the Holy Spirit the holy spirit is the third person of the trinity he is a separate person from God the father and God the son yet fully God the holy spirit is God now do you hear or do you read in that definition the terms person and God those are the two terms that we’re going to explore further along with the fundamental fundamental understanding of God as Trinity today let’s first see how the holy spirit is a person if you look at Roman numeral one in your workbooks I’m going to go through some of these things whenever you’re reading through the Bible and you see the spirit being referred to with a pronoun which pronoun is used for the spirit he or it he in our translations we see he What’s significant about that translation Choice does it matter yeah he is used for persons it is used for non-persons in our translation say he and that is proper he is a proper translation of the holy spirit because he is a person he is not an impersonal emanation he is not like the force from Star Wars the holy spirit is a person and he’s an independent person that is he is a person different from either the father or the son turn to your bibles if you would to John 14 26.
I’m just going to look at a verse that helps illustrate this John 14 26 I’ll read that John 14 26.
but the helper 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 said to you now look at this verse how many different persons do you see mentioned in this one verse four who are they we have the father we have what are the specific terms used there sorry I can’t really hear can you speak up we got the helper also the also identified as the Holy Spirit and then we have my I and then you your who’s the I this is Jesus the son speaking and who’s the you this is Christ’s disciples this is his speaking to them before his crucifixion so we see four different persons mentioned here and according to this verse of course one of them is not not God according to this verse is it possible that Father Son and Holy Spirit could just be different masks or modes for the same God no that’s not possible why not that’s right because they’re interacting with one another he says the father will send the helper the holy spirit in my name and he would teach you these things so indeed we see that the Bible just even from this one verse of course there are many others we see that the spirit is identified as a person and as an independent person furthermore the Bible describes the Holy Spirit as having the fundamental attributes of personality this you see under letter B in your workbooks the attributes of personality we’ll go through the three of those go into the Bible the Holy Spirit clearly has intellect he possesses the ability to know and understand reality Romans 8 27 says I’ll just read this just listen Romans 8 27 says and he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because he intercedes for the Saints according to the will of God so b1a in your workbook the Holy Spirit has a what a mind the Holy Spirit has a mind looking at the next verse First Corinthians 2 actually verses 10 and 11 are right next to each other so I’ll just read those both to you first Corinthians 2 10 and 11 says for to us God revealed them through the spirit for the spirit searches all things even the depths of God for who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the spirit of God so B1 B the Holy Spirit searches what all things even the depths of God and b1c the Holy Spirit knows what knows the depths of God knows the thoughts of God yeah yeah only the spirit knows but to know and to be able to search out these thoughts the Holy Spirit must have intellect but it’s not just intellect look at number two the Holy Spirit also has emotion he possesses the ability to experience different emotions and Ephesians 4 30 is the one verse provided here Ephesians 4 30 says do not grieve the holy spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption so what emotion can the Holy Spirit feel according to Ephesians grief sorrow by the way in that context what Grieves the Holy Spirit what Grieves the Holy Spirit sin does uh you know Ephesians 429 comes right before it when you have unwholesome words that come out of your mouth that Grieves the Holy Spirit when you don’t have wholesome words come out of your mouth which should come that greed of the Holy Spirit or the verse right afterwards talks about having anger rather than kindness and forgiveness that Grieves the Holy Spirit the holy spirit’s experience this griefs because the holy spirit is a person has personal emotion finally the Bible shows this number three that the Holy Spirit has volition what is volition yeah it’s the ability to choose the ability to use your will of the faculty your power of using one’s will to say that the Holy Spirit has volition means that the Holy Spirit has a will that he uses possesses the ability to determine or act decisively and B3 asks us to list the decision or judgment in a few verses that demonstrate the holy spirit’s volition so first we have second Corinthians 12 verses 7 and 11 actually I think it’d be helpful if we read verses four to seven and then 11. so listen as I read that to you second Corinthians 12 4 to 7 and then 11.
now there are a variety of gifts but the same spirit and there are a variety of Ministries in the same Lord there are a varieties of effects but the same God who works all things in all persons but to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good verse 11 but one in the same Spirit works all these things Distributing to each one individually just as he Wills so how does the spirit exercise religion in these verses that’s right he is providing he is Distributing gifts as he Wills spiritual gifts as he Wills and then another verse Acts 13 2 acts 13 2 listen it says while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting the holy spirit said set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them so in Acts 13 2 how do we see the spirit’s volition what does the spirit choose say that again Eric that’s right he says I’ve set apart Barnabas and Saul I’ve chosen them for a certain ministry that’s the Holy Spirit exercising his will exercising his volition so intellect emotion volition these are the things that a person has and if the Holy Spirit has all these the Holy Spirit must be a person he has attributes of personality but there’s more and this will go beyond the workbook now how else do we know that the holy spirit is a person the Holy Spirit can receive personal responses from people let me read some verses to you and you tell me how people can personally respond to the spirit the first one is acts 10 19-21 acts 10 19-21 while Peter was reflecting on the vision the spirit said to him behold three men are looking for you but get up go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings for I have sent them myself Peter went down to the men and said behold I am the one you’re looking for what is the reason for which you have come so what does Peter do to the spirit there did you say something Eric he obeyed the spirit the spirit said do this and Peter did it the Holy Spirit can be obeyed but there’s a flip side to that isn’t there acts 7 51 acts 7 51 is part of Steven’s speech you men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit you’re doing just as your fathers did what’s the personal response to the spirit there resisting you can resist the Holy Spirit worse acts 5 3 acts 5 3 but Peter said ananias why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land so what else can you do you can lie to the Holy Spirit and there’s Hebrews 10 29 Hebrews 10 29.
how much severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and as regarded as unclee the blood of the Covenant by which he was Sanctified and has insulted the spirit of Grace so what else can you do as a personal response to the Holy Spirit you can insult him we’ve already read in Ephesians 4 30 how you can grieve the spirit there’s also Mark 3 28-29 Mark 3 28-29 which says truly I say to you all sin shall be forgiven the sons of men but and whatever blasphemies they utter but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin so one other way you can respond personally to the Holy Spirit as noted in the scriptures that you can blaspheme him why does the Bible mention these various types of personal responses to the spirit because the spirit is a person he’s not a force he’s not an energy he’s a person and then we could add one more category this is pretty abundant evidence right the Holy Spirit must also be a person because he demonstrates the actions of a person he does the types of things that only a person could do and I’ll give you some more verses and you tell me what is the personal action that the spirit does acts 8 29 acts 8 29 then the spirit said to Philip go go up and join this chariot what’s the personal action he speaks he communicates he talks we actually saw that in other verses too John 14 26 John 14 26 we read this already but the helper 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 said to you what’s the personal action he teaches Holy Spirit teaches First Corinthians 12 11 we saw that one the spirit distributes gifts as he Wills First Corinthians 2 10 which we also read for to us God revealed them through the spirit for the spirit searches all things even the depths of God as a person the spirit searches John 15 26 John 15 26 when the helper comes whom I will send to you from the father that is the spirit of Truth who proceeds from the father he will testify about me so what’s the personal action he testifies and then acts 16 verses 6 to 7 acts 16 6-7 they pass through the phrygian and galatian region having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia and after they came to misia they were trying to go in bithynia and the spirit of Jesus did not permit them what’s the personal action in these two verses okay the spirit is restraining certain actions he’s forbidding or he’s not permitting though if you know the context so I was just reading that there at the end of the beginning of Acts 16. where do Paul and Company end up they can’t go to Asia they can’t go to bithynia where do they end up going they see a vision a certain man from a certain place saying come over and help us Macedonia they end up in Macedonia so the spirit was preventing them from going to other regions in order so that they would go to the place that God wanted them to go which is Macedonia so what was the spirit ultimately doing was guiding I was directing even by preventing them from going certain places and these are the actions of a person these are types of things that only a person could do so from the many verses we’ve sampled we can’t conclude with confidence that the holy spirit is a person an independent person separate from the father separate from the son but is the holy spirit God that’s the second part that we want to investigate let’s see what the Bible shows us regarding the second part of the holy spirit’s identity this is Roman numeral 2 in your books next page the holy spirit is God how do we know that well in assessing whether the holy spirit is God one angle would simply be to compare the attributes that are ascribes of the Holy Spirit and the attributes that are ascribed to God they’re the same well the Holy Spirit must be God you have a table at the top of your workbooks on the top of that page on the workbook under a attributes and we do see here that the same attributes ascribed to God are ascribed to the Holy Spirit and we’ll look at the supporting verses for each one of those actually can I get some volunteers to read these verses I’m going to get somebody to read Isaiah 40 verses 13 to 14.
Mark could you read that uh Mike could you get ready Psalm 139 7 can I get somebody for Hebrews 9 14.
Eric and then kind of get somebody for uh first John 5 6 I think there’s a typo here first John 5 6.
Danny and then Tony could you do John 16 13.
all right let’s hear from Isaiah 40 verses 13 and 14. Mark I think that’s you yeah give him understanding and who taught him in the path of justice and taught him knowledge and made him know the way of understanding thanks so that’s a bunch of questions of course those are rhetorical questions with an expectant answer what’s the expected answer no one no one was the person the spirit consulted or gave him understanding or taught him he didn’t need that now what does that mean what’s the implication say that again he must be gone because what attribute is he showing he knows all things the omniscience he has consummate wisdom consummate knowledge he must already know everything because the spirit of God is omniscient and that is an attribute of God now Psalm 139 7. Mike sorry KJV wither shall I go from thy spirit the Wither shall I flee from my presence or we could simply say where where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence another set of rhetorical questions what’s the expected answer nowhere you can’t get away from the spirit why because he’s everywhere or to say that in terms of an attribute of God he is Omni presence but how can the spirit be Omni present like God because the spirit is God Hebrews 9 14. Eric how much more will the blood of Christ be through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God purify our conscience from dead Works to serve the Living God very good so of course all these verses have wonderful truths that we can mind but we’re just focusing on little bits of it notice the description given of the spirit there he is the eternal spirit without beginning or end now no being is eternal aside from God for God created all other beings so the Bible says that the spirit is eternal and the spirit must be God Spirit must be God and then finally two other or yeah we have two other verses for one attribute first John 5 6 says Danny this is the one who came by water blood water only it is the spirit of bears witness because the spirit is the truth amen and then Tony why don’t you give yours too yes but when Queen the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth but he will not speak on his own for whatever he hears he will speak and he will disclose to you so notice from those two verses certain phrases with the spirit and spirit doesn’t simply speak the truth according to First John 5 6 the spirit is the truth he is the spirit of Truth as the other verse says truth is his Essence truth is what he is how could such an absolute statement describe a being other than God well it doesn’t because the spirit the spirit is God that’s why he can be called the truth and the spirit of Truth so simply on the basis of attributes we must acknowledge that the holy spirit is God but there are also certain statements in the Bible that explicitly or more explicitly identify the spirit as God look under B so Roman numeral two B statements of deity we have two verses to look at there for number one we’re going to look at Second Corinthians 3 17.
and notice key statements that shows that the holy spirit is God actually we’ll look at two verses together yeah you can turn over there second Corinthians 7 or second Corinthians 3 17 and 18.
second Corinthians 3 17 18.
that’s Colossians all right let’s see if there’s something here that identifies the spirit as God now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord the spirit ah this is interesting what phrases here identify the spirit as God say that again Eric that’s right he says the Lord is the spirit and then in verse 18 of the lord of the spirit now that second phrase grammatically is called opposition it’s where you restate the identity of something using another word he’s not talking about two different people there at the end of verse 18.
he’s just calling the same person by two different names the Lord the spirit now the Lord is often a title used to denote Jesus in the Bible in the New Testament though we should note that the phrase is also a customary way that the special Covenant name of Yahweh is translated in the New Testament if you ever compare Old Testament passage and then a new testament passage that quotes it in the Old Testament passage you might see the term the Lord in all caps which is really the name Yahweh but in the New Testament quoting of that verse it’s just Lord or the Lord not even on all caps why is that well that’s the way that when the Old Testament was translated into Greek into the Septuagint that’s the way they translated the name Yahweh as the Lord curios in the New Testament Greek language so talking about Yahweh in the New Testament they call him the Lord and there is a certain tradition that comes from that even in our English Bible translations why does it say the Lord in all caps in our Old Testaments well we’ve inherited that same kind of tradition what is Yahweh bringing into Greek eventually bring it into English we still call them the Lord but really in the original Hebrew would have been Yahweh Legacy Standard Bible translates this as Yahweh to reflect that but the Lord is fine too because that’s what we see happen in the New Testament all that to say the Lord in the New Testament often is just another way of saying Yahweh from the Old Testament and if Jesus is the Lord even the same one that’s quoted from the Old Testament as being Yahweh then Jesus is Yahweh but notice especially from these two verses the same is true of the Holy Spirit if the holy spirit is the Lord then the holy spirit is Yahweh Yahweh is the spirit and Yahweh is God so if you call the spirit of the Lord if you call the spirit Yahweh then the spirit is God this is explicitly identified for us just in these two verses there’s another passage that does something similar acts 5 verses 3 and 4.
why don’t you turn over there too acts five three and four so this is the episode with ananias and Sapphira we read one of these verses already but acts 5 3 and 4.
we read but Peter said ananias why is Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land while it remained unsold did it not remain your own and after it was sold was it not under your control why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart you’ve not lied to men but to God interesting notice in verse 3 to whom did ananias lie the Holy Spirit but in verse 4 to whom did ananias lie God why this sudden strange switch from the Holy Spirit to God a sudden or strange switch at all if we recognize that the holy spirit is God thus B2 uh yeah uh blank for B2 to lie to the holy spirit is the same thing as lying to God so then both by identification of divine attributes and by explicit identification of the holy spirit’s Divinity we see that the holy spirit is God holy spirit is God but just to add a little icing on the cake here’s one more angle not mentioned in your book the holy spirit is also given Divine titles names that are very similar to or that are the same as the father and the son we kind of saw this with the Lord already but I’ll go through some of these other ones quickly first John 5 6 calls the spirit the spirit of Truth Romans 8 2 calls the spirit the spirit of life compare Jesus being called the truth and the life in John 14 6.
the spirit is called living water in John 7 38-39 compare Jesus being called The Living bread in John 6 51 and the father being called The Living father in John 6 57.
the spirit is called the spirit of Glory in First Peter 4 14.
compare Jesus being called The Lord Of Glory in First Corinthians 2 8 and the father being called the father of Glory in Ephesians 1 17.
and of course the main title for the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible is the Holy Spirit and Holiness is the most repeated attribute of God in the Bible just one example Leviticus 11 45 God speaking for I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God thus you shall be holy for I am Holy he is the Holy Spirit now this is not even an exhaustive presentation of the spirit Divinity we could add more angles to show that the spirit is God but I think this is already enough we already have seen from many verses that not only is the spirit an independent person but the holy spirit is God he is the one true God but this all might raise a certain question especially for anyone who’s coming out of Judaism if there’s only one God as the Bible especially the Old Testament clearly teaches then how can the father be God Jesus the son be God and the Holy Spirit be God yet distinct from each other isn’t this three Gods then and the contradiction of verses like Isaiah 45 22 Isaiah 45 22 turn to me and be saved all the ends of the Earth for I am God and there is no other are we contradicting monotheism with this no the Bible does not contradict itself and does not teach chai theism but instead it teaches God as Trinity in other word Trinity is not found in the Bible an honest assessment of the teaching of the Bible yields the doctrine of the trinity based on what the Bible says God must be Triune there is one living and true God eternally existing in three persons the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit they are co-equal completely equal they are co-eternal they are just as Eternal as each other are and consubstantial that is they are of the same essence therefore each deserves the same worship and obedience and this is just like we were learning last week from John 5 right when we’re talking about the father and the son and we read that the fathers determined that the son should get the same honor as the father that’s why he gave all judgment to the son that’s the trinity they are co-equal co-eternal consubstantial therefore they are worthy of the same worship and obedience it is required Father Son and Holy Spirit all deserve it to rehearse a very brief argument for the Trinity from the Bible there is only one God the Bible was very obvious about this Deuteronomy 6 4 Isaiah 45 22 yet there is a clear plurality to God even in the Old Testament don’t get the idea that okay you know this is just some concept that Christians just attached just put right on top of whatever was given in the Old Testament no this was in the Old Testament too in part we see a reference to God as plural right in the first book of the Bible Genesis Genesis 1 26 A let us make man in our image and concept is repeated Genesis 3 22 the man has become like us knowing Good and Evil but that’s not even it how many times in the Old Testament do we see the angel of Yahweh the angel of the Lord who based on certain contexts we know is Yahweh is the Lord but also acts on behalf of Yahweh on behalf of the Lord he’s sent by Yahweh and the Lord how can that be I’m sure that definitely caused the ancient Jews to scratch their heads but there was this notion of plurality in God which could not be fully understood even in the Old Testament but the New Testament clarifies this the New Testament clearly teaches that the father is God the son Jesus Christ is God and the Holy Spirit is God there’s only one God and yet these three persons are God and yet they are distinct from each other it’s not like as some have erroneously taught throughout the centuries this is just God changing outfits he was the father and then he became the son and then he became the spirit no as we saw in John 14 26 the persons of the Trinity interact with each other it’s even more obvious that the baptism of Jesus one instance of that Mark 1 10-11 do you remember what happens there that shows that all three persons are not this is not God it’s a quick change artist what happens it shows that each person is separate from one another what does the father do in that instance of Jesus baptism he speaks this is my beloved Son what does the spirit do Spirit descends as a dove or like a dove descends it could be translated either way but the spirit is descending the father is speaking and then what’s the son doing he’s being baptized he’s coming out of the water so no there’s no way that this is just God in different modes these are three separate persons they are independent of one another of course the threeness even the separateness of the three persons is backed up in the various trinitarian formula used throughout the New Testament such as in the Great Commission baptizing the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit so there is no other explanation for these facts these these bits of data in the Bible than to say well the one God exists in three persons three separate persons the father is God the son is God the spirit is God and yet the father is not the Son and the son is not the spirit and the spirit is not the father sometimes this is depicted as a trinity Shield I didn’t put it on there but that’s the only other way to to really keep it straight this is who God is and each one of them is fully God they’re not part of God the spirit’s not one-third of God Father’s not one-third the sun’s not one-third no each of them is 100 all of God the fullness of deity dwells in the Sun the New Testament says that’s true this Spirit as well and the father how can that be well there’s definitely a mystery there but each one of them is fully God they are in one another and yet they are not the same and I’ll say one other thing though fundamentally one and equal the three persons of the Trinity have different functions fundamentally one and equal to three persons of the Trinity have different functions and this is actually a concept we again saw from John 5 last week in our sermon Jesus testifies that the father and son do every work together and this is true of the spirit as well whatever God does because he is one because he is United within himself the whole Trinity does together it’s not like oh I’m going to do this thing over here I’ll catch up with you guys later no whatever the TR whatever the Trinity does the whole Trinity participates however in the actions that God does in the actions that the Trinity does there are specific roles there are different roles in each Divine work and roles that cannot be duplicated by other members of the trinity or that are not duplicated for example and the way the Bible describes the work of God in Salvation we hear descriptions such as these the father decrees salvation he places his elect ones in the sun before the world begins and he lovingly sends his son as a saving gift to the world these are unique things that the father does the sun meanwhile is the one who is incarnated the one who is sent he gives himself as a sacrifice for sin and completing his work rising from the dead ascending to Heaven he now intercedes and mediates between the father and save believers meanwhile the spirit regenerates elect Believers and dwells them and works to sanctify them through the illumination of the word of God these are things that are ascribed to different persons within the trinity and this is just one example when we think about broadly of salvation as I said in each of these Divine works the members of the Trinity are in one another this is something that’s very explicit from Jesus in The Gospel of John he says the father is in me and I am in the father and as a result of Salvation we are put in Jesus that has an interesting effect when we consider the different functions within the Trinity even though it is the spirit who indwells us the Bible can also say that the Father and Son also come to make their dwelling in us how do they do that through the spirit so it’s the spirit who does it and yet it’s connected to the father and the son yet there is a distinctive there is such a distinctiveness in rules that we can justly say that it was the son who came and was incarnated it was the son who died upon the cross and it was not the father who came it was not this Spirit who came and died upon the cross neither of those is true it was just the Sun yes the sun could never lose his connection to the father and the spirit and yet it was the son who did that specifically now we can only go so far according to what the Bible tells us you say okay I kind of get it but I don’t fully get it I understand that’s the that’s the mystery of the Trinity we’re not going to get an exhaustive understanding of this because there is nothing like the trinity in our world yet the Bible does give us sufficient understanding adequate understanding so we can say all right I get the basics of how this works I don’t fully get it but I can affirm this and I can worship God for this because truly this is part of what makes God holy I don’t just mean holy in the terms of pure this is what make God’s makes God special holy in that sense totally different totally set apart he is Triune one God and three persons absolutely equal and yet different in function different in the roles as they carry out their works a great mystery a wonderful mystery we can only begin to understand it but we can’t affirm it because that’s what the Bible teaches the Bible is clear about the Divine personhood of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit thus the Trinity is a fundamental doctrine that Christians must adequately understand and believe all right questions about what you’ve heard so go ahead Judy existence like why was he originally [Applause] okay why was the spirit called the Holy Ghost before and now we call them the holy spirit so I think the King James version calls him the Holy Ghost and that is because the word for Spirit the word commonly used to this beer in the New Testament Numa could be translated as ghost or spirit could also be translated as breath but you’re trying to use the context to give the best translation of it and so in early translations they felt ghost was an appropriate way to describe it but in more modern translations we’ve moved away from that word but it’s not like ghost is an evil wrong translation no it’s it’s a it’s a fine it’s an adequate translation it’s just that these days we feel like Spirit better communicates the idea of that Greek word it’s not like he evolved from Ghost to Spirit nothing like that are you gonna say mark um so I was thinking about just the the unity of purpose but the distinction and function I was thinking of I’d love to hear you explain a little bit more about how what that implies for our relationships so for example I’m looking at Philippians 2 1.
where it says if there is any encouragement in Christ if there is any compassion consolation of love if there is any Fellowship of the spirit if any affectionate compassion fulfill my joy that you think the same way by maintaining the same love being united in spirit thinking on one purpose so what I’m getting at is what what do you think is transferable to our relationships as opposed to what’s not yeah so that’s a good question mark as with any other attribute any other Perfection of God even the ones that we call incommunicable there is a certain way in which we imitate we seek to emulate that quality of God obviously we are never going to be Triune like God is we are never going to be three in one because there’s just certain things that are unique to God in that however even in the verse that you pointed out and other verses in the New Testament especially the high Priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17 one of the most common desires slash commands that God gives towards his people is that they be United they be United in the way that they think they be United in purpose not in a sameness a complete duplication of what people are but in the unity of diversity that should characterize marriage I should characterize the church and that ultimately reflects God in that sense yes we definitely reflect the Trinity or we are to reflect the trinity Jesus says explicitly in John 17 God make them speak to the father make them one as We Are One how can you get more one than the Trinity and he says that’s what I want them to be with one another and with me so it doesn’t mean that we are then to be absolutely the same erase all the distinctions that exist in our persons rather it’s to have that overarching Unity within the diversity that says we are all oriented towards the same goal we have the same attitude towards one another that humble attitude of Jesus we are all using our gifts in different ways but it is all part of fulfilling the commands and purposes of God so yes in that way we are to apply we are to reflect the trinity other questions are created right for sure part of it the unique essence of God that we are not is one of the reasons that we cannot be exactly like the Trinity and yet we can reflect the unity and diversity and not just the functional unity in diversity but the love that characterizes the Trinity for itself the unity that we have is ultimately built upon love we are to love one another I mean that’s the other thing that John is emphasizing again and again reflecting Jesus’s own teaching how are people going to know that you’re Jesus disciples it’s by your love for one another that’s a reflection of God’s love for himself the members of the Trinity that’s why they’re so United but that’s partly why they’re so United it’s because they love one another that too we can reflect I had another thought um I forget what it is but any other questions uh Sage okay interesting question so Sage is mentioning that the Bible New Testament specifically says repeatedly that we are in Christ God is places in Christ we’re in Christ now that we’re savior in Christ how does that fit with the roles of the Holy Spirit and father as well well I think if we’re talking about functional distinctions within the Trinity it is something unique about the Sun that we are placed in him primarily now he’s not going to be disconnected from the father or the spirit so it is also proper for us to say that we are in God but how are we in God it’s specifically through the son to use the marriage analogy that the Bible uses he is the bridegroom we are the bride in our marriage to him our spiritual marriage to him we are one with him we become one flesh or you could to make the analogy more proper We Are One spirit with him first Corinthians 6 actually says that about us and the Lord so yes the Oneness even the the Spirit dwelling in US is connected to that but in terms of our I don’t even sure if I can fully describe it but we are united to God by Jesus Christ a application of that is the indwelling spirit of Christ in US but it’s interesting that the Bible doesn’t say that we are specifically in the spirit or in the father not that we are not United to the father there isn’t any sort of he and us and us and him but it is primarily the son that is emphasized so there is it does seem to be that that is a unique aspect of the son’s work of redemption connected to us yeah certainly when we try and work out different things that the Bible says about the Trinity uh we quickly run into things that are kind of hard to figure out so some of that we’re just gonna have to lead to I don’t know fully how this works but I believe what the Bible says part of how we are to repeat something I said part of how we abide in Christ is by walking in the spirit it is utilizing the spirit that now indwells in US to uh walk in the way that Christ has called us to so there’s going to be this overlap which I don’t know if I can fully describe I can just say that you know this is the different things that the Bible says Jody right so Jody’s pointing out a good point that we can maybe tie ourselves in a knots trying to figure out the metaphysics when the practical application is pretty clear to abide in Christ to walk in Christ means to be obedient to him and to believe in him and believe in his promises and yet that practical application is based on a metaphysical reality which has come to pass through the gospel why is it that we can abide in Christ practically by obedience to him that’s because spiritually speaking in a way we cannot fully understand we are in him he’s in US right right one minute left Paul yeah the Bible does seem to speak specifically of our possession or our being given specifically to Christ specifically to the son that was part of the love of the father being expressed to the Son and the son and love back to the father receives that gift saves that gift and is going to present us to God um at the end all right I’m sure there are more questions I don’t know if I can answer them but we want to talk more we can talk afterwards but that’s it for today next time we will look at the ministry of the Holy Spirit we’ll even address questions as what does it mean to be baptized by the Holy Spirit and what does it mean to be filled up by the holy spirit so be back next time for that let’s pray Lord thank you for this time you are an amazing God you are mysterious and yet it all is also wonderful thank you for showing us your Trinity I thank you for the holy spirit that you have caused to dwell in US This Magnificent spirit who is also God who is also a person I pray God that we would not grieve the spirit but we would please the spirit and walk in the spirit and help us to do that more as part of our ministering to one another today through teaching through fellowship and all those things in Jesus name amen all right thank you