Skip to main content

The Holy Spirit - His Deity & His Representations

The deity of the Holy Spirit and the doctrine of the Trinity are clearly bound together. It is obviously impossible to believe in the triunity of God if one denies the deity of the Spirit. To deny His deity is to deny the Trinity, and the denial of these will also inadvertently lead to the denial of other fundamentals such as the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture.

So what evidence does the Bible present for the deity of the Holy Spirit?
(1) His attributes – Omniscience (1 Cor. 2:10-12), Omnipresence (Ps. 139:7-10; John 14:17), Omnipotence (Job 33:4), Eternity (Heb. 9:14), truth (John 14:17).
(2) His works – regeneration (John 3:5-6), creation (Ps. 104:30), intercession (Rom. 8:26), generating Christ (Matt. 1:20).
(3) His titles/names – Paul referred to the Spirit as being “God” (Acts 5:3-4), “Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11), “Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11), “Lord” (1 Cor. 12:4-6).
(4) His association with the Father and the Son – (2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Pet. 1:2; Matt. 28:19).

Clearly the Scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit is as divine as the Father and the Son. As the third Person in the Godhead, He is worthy of our praise and worship and of the glory that is the Father’s and the Son’s. His deity is relevant to our spiritual life and to His ability to carry out His ministry in our lives.

I will briefly mention the various representations of the Holy Spirit. These representations help portray His Person and work. They are categorized as representations even though they are identified as types, illustrations, emblems, or symbols.

Clothing (Luke 24:49), dove (Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32), pledge ((2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:14), fire (Acts 2:3), oil (Zech. 4:1-14), seal (2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; 4:30), water (John 7:37-39), wind (John 3:8).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Living Sacrifice

  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (Rom.12:1 NKJV).   In the last four chapters of Romans Paul takes up the matter of our duty as children of God. He kicks this chapter off by dealing with the believer’s consecration. We learn here that consecration is not only the will of God, but also the reasonable service of every believer.      Paul first makes an appeal to a consecrated life. Therefore refers to the believer reckoning himself dead to sin and alive unto God as established in the previous chapters. Beseech means “to entreat; to supplicate; to implore; to ask or pray with urgency.” In the context here it is better to consider the word not as a command. Paul is urging believers to respond willingly from within themselves rather than be influenced or even forced by apostolic au...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Inspired, Infallible, and Inerrant Word

  All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16).   Our primary and final safeguard against false teaching is the Word of God. Verses 16 and 17 of 2 Timothy 3 are among the most important and significant in all the New Testament. They clearly declare the Source of Scripture and thus the Scripture’s authority. Second Timothy 3:16-17 and 2 Peter 1:21 for the basis for our conviction that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God. Paul points out three important truths here: First, all Scripture is God-breathed. When Paul writes in that all Scripture is inspired , he is saying that the entire Bible and every word in it originates with God. Tom Constable correctly states that the Bible “does not merely contain the Word of God or become the Word of God under certain conditions. I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Loving Christ

  The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him (John 14:21).     But believing is not simply a matter of mental assent. Being related to Jesus Christ implies obedience, If you love me, you will keep my commands (John 14:15). The two articular participles here, has and keeps , imply far more than having a list of Jesus’ commandments so that one can recite them. They mean that the believer fully grasps His commands with the mind. I fully agree with Gerard Borchet when he says, “I would suggest that the two verbs taken together mean that the commands or the expectations of Jesus for his disciples are fully integrated into the way those disciples live. It is not a matter of following a few rules. It is a way of life. That is the reason the reference to “commands” here is tied so closely to loving Jesus.” 1 The p...
Post a Comment
Read more