The Trinity Section 9 by Terry Hill

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Dear Friends,

This is the ninth section of Terry Hill's presentation of the errors of the Trinity doctrine. Needless to say, I completely agree with and endorse Terry's study:

The Introduction of the Trinity Doctrine into the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Section Nine

The Spirit of God, Christ and man

In section eight, we noted that during the time of the pioneers, the belief as to whether the Holy Spirit is ‘a person’ or not, was to some a matter of concern.

In this section, we shall take a look to see what the Bible has to say on this much debated topic. This will necessitate a temporary digression from our usual study as to how the trinity teaching was introduced into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Nevertheless, by reason of this study, we should better understand why the pioneers were so reluctant to draw the conclusion that the Holy Spirit is a person in the sense that we describe the Father and Son as persons. It will also show just one reason (although maybe not the most important) as to why the pioneers would not accept the trinity teaching.

Our study will also lead us into our next section in which we shall see that after the death of the last of the pioneers (John Loughborough 1924), a most important step was taken in respect to the introduction of the trinity doctrine. We shall also see that in the main, this came about because of the efforts of just a few people.

The introduction of the trinity teaching did necessitate certain major changes in the beliefs and teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. One of these changes concerned the nature and the personality of the Holy Spirit.

To be able to say that we believed in a ‘trinity’ (of sorts), it was necessary to establish the Holy Spirit to be an individual person as is the Father and Son. If established, this would be of course, a very different view than was held by the pioneers. It would also be a different view from that which was held by Ellen White.

In the main, the pioneers regarded the Holy Spirit as a ‘person’ but not a ‘person’ in the same sense that they regarded the Father and Son.

As far as the pioneers were concerned, although the Holy Spirit was a ‘person’, His nature and personality was still surrounded with mystery. They realised from scripture (and the Spirit of Prophecy), that there were no grounds on which they could present the Holy Spirit as being like the Father and Son.

The deaths of the pioneers brought the perfect opportunity for changes to take place in the beliefs and teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

At the same time as the ‘older members’ were dying off, ‘newer members’ were joining the church. This in itself was the opportunity needed. Less and less emphasis was placed on the anti-trinitarian aspect of our teachings and more emphasis was placed on one which was trinitarian.

This did not happen overnight but like all successful changes, it was gradual. As we shall see in our next section, even though there were those who did speak out against these changes, our beliefs in this respect were gradually changed and accepted. Perhaps we can liken this change as being similar to how Sabbath observance was gradually changed from Saturday to Sunday.

We shall now take the time to review what the Bible has to say about the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ and the spirit of man.

The Spirit of God

The reason why most people believe that the Holy Spirit is a person is that He appears to possess all the usual characteristics and attributes of a person. Let’s take a look at the scriptures which reveal those characteristics. The first is in Ephesians where it says that the Holy Spirit can be grieved.

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

It is concluded that you cannot grieve (upset or make unhappy etc), something which is just a power, therefore the Holy Spirit must have a personality to upset and cannot just be the power of God. This reasoning is logical. The Bible also says that the Holy Spirit helps, communicates and makes intercession for us

Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Once again these are the attributes of a person and not just a power. The scriptures also say that the Holy Spirit bears witness and so communicates

Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Notice here that the Holy Spirit communicates with our spirit but we shall come back to this later. Suffice to say at the moment that the Holy Spirit communicates.

As well as having all these other attributes, the following scriptures show that the Holy Spirit, guides, hears, speaks, teaches and shows. These are all tantamount to communicating.

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Acts 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

Acts 16:6-7 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy ghost to preach the word in Asia, After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.

1 Corinthians 2:12-13 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Just to finish, the scriptures also say that we can lie to the Holy Spirit

Acts 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

If we should continue in this vein of study we could find many more instances in the scriptures where the Holy Spirit is spoken of as doing the same things as a person, thus it is quite understandable that the Spirit of God is believed to be a person.

The strange thing is that when the human spirit is spoken of, an entirely different conclusion is drawn. Unlike the Holy Spirit, the human spirit is never taken to be a separate person other than ourselves and yet its attributes are much the same.

The Human Spirit

The Bible is clear that every person has a spirit. The apostle Paul said to the believers in Thessalonica

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

There are also many other texts that tell us that each person has a spirit. Take these for example

Mark 14:38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

Luke 1:47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Luke 1:80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.

Luke 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

Luke 8:55 And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.

Romans 1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 7:34 There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

1 Corinthians 16:18 For they have refreshed my spirit and your's: therefore acknowledge ye them that are such.

2 Corinthians 2:13 I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

1 Peter 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

As you can see, there are many texts that speak of the human spirit and we could find more.

You can also see that in the same manner in which the scriptures speak of the Holy Spirit, so too they speak of the human spirit. They refer to the Holy Spirit as something which is tangible and has all the attributes of a person. So too the Bible writers regarded man’s spirit as something tangible with all the attributes of a person. Yet our spirits are never regarded as a separate persons from ourselves.

At this point there may be those who may be saying that the spirit of man is nothing else but the human life force, but that would not be consistent.

We concluded that the Holy Spirit, because of His (or its) attributes, could not just be a force or power, so why change positions when it comes to the human spirit?

How can just a life force or power, communicate, serve, and experience as we have seen in the way that both the Holy and human spirits function?

We need to take a closer look at what the scriptures say about the human spirit. Look at the way Paul ended some of his letters.

Galatians 6:18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

2 Timothy 4:22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.

Philemon 1:25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

We would not think of bidding farewell to a friend in this manner today but the apostle Paul in his time, along with the other Bible writers, specifically spoke of the human spirit in this manner. The scriptures also say that the human spirit is an integral part of the person. This is how the scriptures describe a whole human person.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you are still not convinced that the spirit is described as a separate, yet integral part of a person, take a look at 1 Corinthians 5:4-5.

As we do so, we need to remember that there were many problems of a moral nature in the church at Corinth. That is why Paul wrote to them such a strong letter (1 Corinthians). In the following passage, he addresses the problem of a man who had committed fornication with his father’s wife. This is what he said

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

What was it that Paul says that will be saved in the end? It is very clear that Paul is saying that it is the human spirit that is saved and not the body but we shall say more about that later.

Jesus also spoke of the human spirit as being separate, yet an integral part of the body. In the Garden of Gethsemane when the disciple fell asleep He said

Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Jesus spoke of the human spirit as being much more than just a power or feeling. He said that the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. A power or life force cannot be willing. Willingness involves freedom of choice.

In the sermon on mount Jesus said:

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Being ‘poor in spirit’ is the first requirement of those who are to enter into God’s kingdom. This word ‘poor’ means abject poverty. It is portrayed as someone who is begging. This gives the idea that it is only those who feel their own dire need of the righteousness of Christ in place of their own sin filled life that are fit for God’s kingdom. This ‘spirit’ is not referring to a power, it is referring to a person. It is the person who feels abject poverty.

One of the main reasons why the Holy Spirit is regarded by many people as a person is that He communicates with us. In Romans 8:16 Paul says

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”

Here we clearly see the Holy Spirit communicates. From this we assume the Holy Spirit to be a person in His own right, separate from the Father and Son. Yet with whom is the Holy Spirit communicating? It is with the human spirit. Do we now conclude that the spirit of a person is another person other than to whom the spirit belongs? Of course not. We would never draw that conclusion. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that both spirits (Holy and human) must be capable of communicating with each other. It cannot be said that it is only the Holy Spirit that is communicating.

Ellen White says:

“ The Holy Spirit always leads to the written word. The Holy Spirit is a person; for He beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. … The Holy Spirit has a personality, else He could not bear witness to our spirits and with our spirits that we are the children of God. He must also be a divine person, else He could not search out the secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God. "For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man, which is in him; even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." (Ms 20, 1906.Manuscript releases Volume 20 No. 1437).

Now note the following found in 1 Corinthians 2:10-14:

“But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God”.

Paul is saying here is that it is only the Spirit of God that knows the things of God. Likewise he says, it is only the spirit of man that knows the things of man. Here we see that the spirit is the ‘knowing part’ of the person whether it be of God or the human.

Now note these texts that speak of the human spirit. Notice that they all speak of the spirit experiencing emotions. It is recorded in Luke 1:46-47 that Mary, when pregnant with the child Jesus, met Elizabeth and said this

“…My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour”.

Paul said this concerning Titus:

2 Corinthians 7:13 Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.

The spirit of Jesus also experienced emotions when it is said in Luke 10:21:

“In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight”.

In the Gospel of John it says

John 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.

John 13:21 When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.

The human spirit is also capable of development. Look at these next two passages of scripture which speak of John the Baptist and Jesus respectively.

Luke 1:80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.

Luke 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

This study of the human spirit as portrayed in the scriptures is enough to show us that the human spirit, communicates, knows and experiences. Now these are all exactly the same attributes that lead us to conclude that the Holy Spirit is a person. Yet do we draw the conclusion that the human spirit is a person separate like ourselves. Of course not.

So what do we conclude about the human spirit? The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the human spirit is ‘a person’ but it is not a person as we normally perceive the word ‘person’ to convey. It is part of our being.

When we look at each other, what we see with our eyes we normally describe as ‘a person’, whilst the Bible defines a ‘person’ as being made up of body soul and spirit. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 it says

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

We can see here that what we normally say is a person is in fact described in the Bible as ‘spirit and soul and body’.

So what is the soul, what is the spirit and what is the body?

In the account of creation in Genesis chapter two, it says that in creating Adam, God first formed him out of the dust of the ground. It says

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

We have here two separate actions from God and one result.

The first action of God was to form Adam from the dust of the ground. Adam was not just ‘spoken into being’ but was made up of the elements of earth. When God first ‘formed’ Adam, he comprised only the inanimate shape of humanity. This ‘form’ of Adam was ‘lifeless’.

It was the second action of God that brought life to the inanimate form of Adam. God breathed into Adams lifeless form the breath of life. According to scripture, this action resulted in the inanimate form of Adam becoming a ‘a living soul’.

In the act of creation, we have a lifeless bodily form becoming a living soul.

In Luke chapter eight we find the story of Jesus bringing back to life the 12 year old daughter of Jairus. This young girl was truly dead. In fact when Jesus said that she was sleeping (meaning dead), He was laughed at because the people knew that she was dead. The people thought, as they did the disciples in the account of Lazarus, that when Jesus said that she was sleeping that He meant as we normally sleep every day. The scriptures say

“While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. Luke 8:49-53

The account continues:

“And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat” (Luke 8:54-55)

It says clearly that “her spirit came again”. So where had this girl’s spirit been in her death?

As concerning that question, note what Solomon says in the book of Ecclesiastes. He was directly referring to a person growing old and eventually dying. This is what he says happens to the spirit at death

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

Here is a direct answer to our question as to what happens to the human spirit at death. The scriptures reveal that at death, the body returns to being dust but the spirit returns to God. There is a parting of the ways. As we shall see later, this separation is only a temporary separation but nevertheless, it is a separation.

Many people have tried to explain this passage of scripture as meaning that at death, the ‘life force’ or the ‘prerogative to give life’ is returned to God, but as we have just seen, this would do great violence to the scriptural view of the human spirit.

What then is the answer?

As we have just said, Solomon spoke of death as the separation of the body and spirit. Let’s just look at that in reality and experience.

When Jesus was about to die on the cross, He said in a loud voice so that everyone could hear

“… Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit … “

At that point He died. The scriptures say

“ … and having said thus, he gave up the ghost” (Luke 23;46).

This text of scripture is specific but what was it that Jesus was putting into God’s care and keeping? It was His spirit, but it was definitely not a separate person other than Himself.

The Greek word here used that is translated ‘commend’ means ‘to place alongside’ or to ‘place near’. It has the implication of putting something into ‘care and safekeeping’ as to deposit as a trust for protection. It also gives the idea of ‘resting’

Now look at the experience of Stephen as he was about to be stoned to death

Acts 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

As did Jesus, Stephen was calling on God to receive his spirit. He was placing it into God’s care and safe keeping.

What was it that both Jesus and Stephen were giving to God to keep safe? What is that returns to God in death when the body returns to dust? It was the human spirit.

Ellen White says of the spirit that returns to God

“Our personal identity is preserved in the resurrection, though not the same particles of matter or material substance as went into the grave. The wondrous works of God are a mystery to man. The spirit, the character of man, is returned to God, there to be preserved. In the resurrection every man will have his own character. God in His own time will call forth the dead, giving again the breath of life, and bidding the dry bones live. The same form will come forth, but it will be free from disease and every defect. It lives again bearing the same individuality of features, so that friend will recognise friend. There is no law of God in nature which shows that God gives back the same identical particles of matter which composed the body before death. God shall give the righteous dead a body that will please Him.” (6BC - 1093)

That is a very clear statement. Ellen White clearly says that the spirit of a human being is the character of a person. What is my character? It is who I really am. It is my person … the real me.

Yes my spirit is a person. It is me. It cannot be said not to be a person, yet it is not a separate person from myself that is like me. My spirit is who I am. It is my life, my character. It is me personally.

Now we can see more clearly what the apostle Paul meant when he said

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Compare these following texts and see how the apostle Paul associates the human spirit with the mind

Romans 1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

Romans 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Romans 7:22-25 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

We can see here how Paul interrelates, the spirit, the mind and the inward man.

At conversion, what happens to a person? Jesus said

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

When writing to the Corinthians, Paul had this to say about the same experience

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

He also said to the Galatians

Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

At conversion, I did not become a new person in the sense that we normally use the word person. I was still Terry Hill. Yet something had changed. My character (spirit) had changed. Where does this change take place? The scriptures say

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Ephesians 4:21-24 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

At conversion, a persons thinking is changed. The thinking takes place in the mind, therefore the character (spirit) of the person changes. It is the wise man Solomon said

Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: …

In the finality, it is the character (spirit, person) that is saved and not the body. In the resurrection we shall not have our old bodies. Our new bodies will not even comprise of any of the particles of which the first body was made. Our spirits, held in God’s safe keeping, will be placed inside new bodies.

The resurrection is not a literal resurrection of our old bodies from the grave. It is God making new bodies fit for the eternal dwelling place of our spirits (our persons).

If you are still not sure, then look at what James had to say about the spirit and the body

James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

The fact is that the human spirit cannot function without a body in which to reside. At death, when the spirit and the body are separated they both become inanimate. They both become non-functioning.

The body is only the medium through which the human spirit functions. The spirit is also that which animates the body. Without the two together, neither function. Both are inanimate.

As we have discovered from the scriptures, the human spirit is the ‘knowing’ part of the person. It is also the ‘communicating’ and ‘experiencing’ part. That is why when the body and the spirit are separated as in death, they both cease to function as they did when they were together.

The scriptures say about death.

Psalms 6:4-5 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake. For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

Ecclesiastes 9:4-6 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

So we can see that in death, a ‘person’ cannot communicate with the living neither do they know or experience anything for themselves. They cannot even communicate with God. This is because that part of a person (i.e. the spirit) which when functioning within a body knows, communicates and experiences, is now inanimate (sleeping) in God’s safe keeping. It is awaiting the time when God will create a new body when he will put our spirits in those new bodies so that we can live eternally with Him and with each other. This is the resurrection. When this happens, the spirit will now function as it did before death, working in and through the human body. Thus the whole person (body, soul and spirit) is brought back to life.

The human spirit is the life of the person. It is the person themselves. It is that which is life to the body. Without the spirit, the body is dead and without the body, the spirit cannot function.

So, would I describe the human spirit as a person? The answer to that question is yes and no, depending on what you mean by the word ‘person’. It is the ‘person’ within the body, but it is not a person in the sense that it is a person as we normally describe and see each other.

Just as the human spirit is a ‘person’ but not a person in the normal sense of the word, so too is the Holy Spirit.

This is very evident from scriptures. As we have seen in previous sections, Ellen White says that God is a person and Christ is a person and that they are separate persons. We also know that as separate persons they are now both in Heaven.

We can see that the Holy Spirit is different from the Father and Son inasmuch as He (or it) functions differently than what we normally describe as a person. Note in these scriptures how the Holy Spirit functions

Luke 1:41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy ghost:

Luke 1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy ghost, even from his mother's womb.

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

We cannot understand the Holy Spirit to be a person in the physical sense as we refer to the Father and Son. People are filled with the Holy Spirit. This is why the pioneers were so reticent to be definite His nature and personality. It is also why Ellen White said in acts of the Apostles (1911)

“It is not essential for us to be able to define just what the Holy Spirit is. … The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them. … Regarding such mysteries, which are too deep for human understanding, silence is golden”.

As we have studied the scriptures, we can see why, through Ellen White, God has told us that with our finite minds we could not understand the nature of the Holy Spirit. We even find it difficult to describe the human spirit, never mind the Spirit of God.

Notice here how the Holy Spirit is spoke of by Jesus.

John 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

John 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

People receive the Holy Spirit because it is given by God. Jesus said

John 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

Notice also that God’s Spirit is poured out. We would not usually use this expression in the sense of speaking of a person in the normal sense of the word.

Acts 2:17-18 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

The Holy Spirit actually dwells within people. The scriptures say

Romans 8:9-11 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

We could say much more about how the Holy Spirit is used and how differently He functions from a person in the normal sense of the word but let us just consider one more aspect.

Whom did Jesus say was coming as the comforter? He said

John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Jesus said that He Himself was coming back as the Comforter But how could that be? Look at what Ellen White says here:

“Cumbered with humanity Christ could not be in every place personally, therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them to go to His Father and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself, divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit.” (Manuscript Releases Volume 14 (No’s 1081-1135) MR No.1084

Who is the Holy Spirit? It is Christ Himself without humanity and yet independent of the human Jesus.

Notice also that which Jesus says a few sentences after He said that He was coming back as the comforter

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

What Jesus is saying here is that through the indwelling Holy Spirit, both He and His Father would come back to dwell within the believer.

How can all these things be? After all, the scriptures are clear that the Father and Son are real beings and at the moment they are in Heaven doing a work on the behalf of mankind.

Look at what the apostle Paul says in Romans 8:9

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his”.

This text speaks of the Spirit, the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. Now remembering that the scriptures say (as does Ellen White), that the Father and Son are two separate persons, ask yourself how many different spirits are there in this text of scripture? One, two or three? I am going to put it to you that there is only one Spirit and that one Spirit actually belongs to both God and Christ, the Father and Son.

Now we begin to understand just why the pioneers are said to have believed that the Holy Spirit is the inner nature shared by the Father and Son.

If we put all this together, there is one thing of which we can be sure and that is what Ellen White says in acts of the Apostles (1911) pages 51-52

“It is not essential for us to be able to define just what the Holy Spirit is. Christ tells us that the Spirit is the Comforter, "the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father." It is plainly declared regarding the Holy Spirit that, in His work of guiding men into all truth, "He shall not speak of Himself." John 15:26; 16:13. 52

The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them. Men having fanciful views may bring together passages of Scripture and put a human construction on them, but the acceptance of these views will not strengthen the church. Regarding such mysteries, which are too deep for human understanding, silence is golden”.

What we should do is to leave it at that but no! As humans we must, (it seems), go beyond the sacred page and delve into mysteries that God has not given us to understand. We like to make definitive statements. We like to say that we do understand and that we have it ‘sorted’. So we come up with a formula to perfectly describe God called the ‘trinity’.

Lets just remind ourselves one more time what Ellen White said about the personality and presence of God in the wake of the teachings of Kellogg’s book. Remember, what Kellogg was trying to do was to define God. Ellen White said

“The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and is invisible to mortal sight.

The Son is all the fullness of the Godhead manifested.

… The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour. There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit …”

That is as definite as God gets in regards to revealing Himself, His Son and the Holy Spirit.

To define God as a trinity of beings is to go beyond scripture. It is a teaching that is powerful to deceive for it distorts the very truth about God. The trinity doctrine certainly stops us from regarding the Holy Spirit in the sense that God has revealed through the scriptures as well as through His servant Ellen White.

If we believe the Holy Spirit to be what the scriptures reveal Him to be, we can never believe in the trinity whichever of its concepts is presented.

The Holy Spirit belongs to God, it also belongs to Christ. That is why the pioneers believed that the Holy Spirit is the inner nature that is shared by them both. This is the same as the human spirit. It is the inner nature of a person.

Yet there is a difference. The Holy Spirit functions independently. Ellen White said in the Review and Herald of 5th May 1896:

“The Holy Spirit is a free, working, independent agency. The God of heaven uses his Spirit as it pleases him, and human minds and human judgment and human methods can no more set boundaries to its working, or prescribe as to the channel through which it shall operate, than they can say to the wind, "I bid you to blow in a certain direction, and to conduct yourself in such and such a manner."

What can we say in conclusion?

If we are honest, then I believe that we would say with Ellen White that we cannot understand the nature and personality of the Holy Spirit. What we can say is this, that the scriptures describe the Holy Spirit as being the same spirit that belongs to the Father and Son. There is only one Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (Romans 8:9)

The Holy Spirit is spoken of as belonging to the Father and Son. Let us not take the things that God has revealed and put a human construction on them nether let us go beyond what He has revealed.

The trinity doctrine is deceptive in many different ways. Certainly it gives us a wrong view of the Holy Spirit. It also gives us a wrong view of Christ and the atonement that He made at Calvary but we shall look at that later.

For now we shall conclude with the thought that the nature and personality of the Holy Spirit is beyond our understanding except in what God has chosen to reveal.

In the next section we shall see that there has been attempts to disguise the fact that we were once anti-trintarian in our beliefs about God.

If you would like to comment on what you have just read, then here are a number of email addresses to which you can reply.

First preference terry_sda@blueyonder.co.uk

Second preference terry_sda@bristol000.freeserve.co.uk

Third preference terry_sda@hotmail.com

SECTION TEN FOLLOWING

See Addendum to Section 9 below.

Terry Hill

Bristol England

What Follows is an addendum to Section 9, later added by Terry Hill:

The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 3 page 203 has this to say about Jesus resting in the tomb

"Jesus said to Mary, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father." When he closed his eyes in death upon the cross, the soul of Christ did not go at once to Heaven, as many believe, or how could his words be true--"I am not yet ascended to my Father"? The spirit of Jesus slept in the tomb with his body, and did not wing its way to Heaven, there to maintain a separate existence, and to look down upon the mourning disciples embalming the body from which it had taken flight. All that comprised the life and intelligence of Jesus remained with his body in the sepulcher; and when he came forth it was as a whole being; he did not have to summon his spirit from Heaven. He had power to lay down his life and to take it up again".

Unlike sinful human beings, the body of Jesus did not begin to corrupt at death. In the Jewish synagogue at Antioch, the apostle Paul had this to say about Christ

"And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption" But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.

The comparison is clear. Whilst he was in the tomb, the body of Jesus did not see corruption.

When Jesus came from the grave, he came forth with a glorified body, but still bearing the marks of the crucifixion. It was these marks that Jesus told Thomas to handle when Thomas refused to believe. The scriptures say

"But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God" (John 20:24-27).

In His death, Jesus was as unconscious as is everyone that dies. For this reason, He could not raise Himself from the dead. He had left everything that comprised of His life into the hands of His Father. This was shown in His dying words

"… Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit …"

Jesus left Himself in the care and keeping of His Father. It was the Father that raised Jesus from the grave. The scriptures say

"Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;" (Galatians 1:1)

"And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead:" (Acts 13:29-30) (see also Acts 2:24, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, Acts 13:30-37 etc).

End of Addendum.