Isaiah
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Though I believe one way, I will try to write this from a neutral perspective -for the purpose of explaining the fundamental differences between differing beliefs about the "HOLY SPIRIT".
There are probably endless combinations of specific beliefs about the subject of the HOLY SPIRIT, but generally, two are at the root of the matter.
One belief is that the HOLY SPIRIT is a person -like the Father is a person or Christ is a person -a third individual member of the Godhead.
Another belief is that the HOLY SPIRIT is not a person, but the essence, power, and mind of God -by which God and Christ act, love, create, understand, perceive, etc...so that when the spirit does or says, etc.. it is God acting by his spirit, not a separate person acting on behalf of God. For example, when Christ came out of the water after being baptised, the Father caused what was seen in Luke 3:22 -by his spiritual ability causing the form of a dove to descend upon Christ, and the Father, by the same ability, was heard from heaven saying "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased."
If one believes the latter, one believes that God can put his own spirit in a man -that is, God can add to what a man already is, and is capable of, by giving him a spirit -coupled with his own human spirit -making him able to think as God thinks, love as God loves, perceive as God perceives, and even act and create miraculously as God acts and creates (though not all at once).
One who believes the former, generally, as I understand it, believes that a separate being dwells within them and others and is also sent by God and Christ to do various things. For example, also in Luke 3:22, such would believe that the separate being called the Holy Spirit took the bodily shape of a dove and descended upon Christ. I assume they would still believe the voice to be the Father's, as I do not know of any who believe Christ to be son of any being other than the Father.
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Eph 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 3:15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
Eph 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
One might believe this to mean that the Father (and so Christ) by his putting within one his spirit, dwells within one and strengthens one. Another might believe that a separate being performes these actions for the Father and Christ.
1Co 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
1Co 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
1Co 12:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
1Co 12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
1Co 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
Here again -one might believe that the Father directly, by giving one a holy spirit like his own, rather...actually his own power, nature and character, enables one to do such things and by 'it' comminicates such things to one -another might believe that a separate being inhabits all to whom this applies, making them able to do such and that the Father communicates things by 'him'.
One who believes the spirit is not a separate person might see the belief in the spirit as a person to be errantly attributing the Father's and Christ's actions to a nonexistent being, taking due focus off Christ and, more importantly, the Father, and focusing on a nonexistent being -and due to the expectation of a being other than Christ or the Father, actually dwelling in one, making one vulnerable to other-than-Godly spiritual influence.
One who believes the the spirit is a person might see belief in the spirit as other than a person to be blasphemy -denial of God's true nature -something which keeps one from fully understanding this being and so the Father and how he works -a factor which blinds one from spiritual truth due to their denial of the existence and influence of this separate being -making one unable to receive truths the Father would otherwise send by this separate being.
Some do not believe the issue to be important -some believe it to be crucial.
Anyway -just a comparison -as I understand it -to clarify.
Posts: 288 | Registered: Aug 2007
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