Third Person of the Godhead

Today's Devotion Thursday, February 28, 2019

Third Person of the Godhead

Today's Text The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14

We need to realize that the Holy Spirit ... is as much a person as God is a person.... 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.” [1 Corinthians 2:11.] The Holy Spirit is a free, working, independent agency. The God of heaven uses His Spirit as it pleases Him; and human minds, human judgment, and human methods can no more set boundaries to its working, or prescribe 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.” From the beginning God has been working by His Holy Spirit through human instrumentalities for the accomplishment of His purpose in behalf of the fallen race. This was manifest in the lives of the patriarchs. To the church in the wilderness also, in the time of Moses, God gave His “good Spirit to instruct them.” Nehemiah 9:20. And in the days of the apostles He wrought mightily for His church through the agency of the Holy Spirit.The same power that sustained the patriarchs, that gave Caleb and Joshua faith and courage, and that made the work of the apostolic church effective, has upheld God's faithful children in every succeeding age. The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He [Jesus] could solicit from His Father for the exaltation of His people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the third person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world's Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given his Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress his own character upon the church. The Holy Spirit is an effective helper in restoring the image of God in the human soul. Note: In some areas phrases have been omitted by the compilers for whatever reason. I have restored them as underlined text, that the full intent of the author may be given.

My Thoughts: My friend, one of the most misunderstood aspects of God is the Holy Spirit. Since the adoption of the trinity by the church in 1980, the church has taught that the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Godhead. An individual being separate from the Father and the Son. While there is apparent support by Ellen White on this matter, it is not so in reality. The term "Third Person of the Godhead" comes from a sermon talk that she gave at Avondale College in Australia on March 25, 1899. She did not pen the term, but it came from the transcription of a stenographer. The original thought was that the Holy Spirit was the third personality of the Godhead. Mrs. White had crossed out the word person and put in personality. It was never changed when it was published. In the Review and Harold, May 19, 1904 she used the phrase "third person of the Godhead" to refer to the Holy Spirit. It was not capitalized and a further reading of the passage shows that she believed that the third person of the Godhead was the Spirit of Christ. Notice the underlined portion of the devotional above with the bold text highlighting this fact. The compilers of the White estate often take her words out of context in various publications to promote their belief in the trinity, but when her writings are read in their entirety it shows that Mrs. White never believed in the trinity. It is very clear from Scripture that there is only One true God, and that is the Father. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3). The Holy Spirit is not an separate being from the Father and the Son. When God said "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:" in Genesis 1:26, the reading of the next verse shows that there is only two divine beings and not three. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." (Genesis 1:27). Over the course of the next several devotions, the compilers focus on different aspects of the Holy Spirit in light of their belief in the trinity. I will show from Scripture how the Holy Spirit is simply the Spirit of the Father and the Son, and not a separate being unto itself. God bless,

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It's Not Complicated Brother David Clayton talks about the nature of God, and the simplicity of our salvation. RESOURCES: Archive of Daily Devotions Melodies of Prayer Free Bible & Commentary Bible Study Resources The Truth About God The Final Protest Revelation1412.org

Friday: The Gift of God to You