THE HOLY SPIRIT - “THE POWER OF GOD” pg 118-20
- Parallelism
Parallelism is a literary device, used frequently in the Bible, in which an idea is presented in two or more different ways in order to emphasize its meaning.
The verse cited above is an example of parallelism. It parallels the phrases “the Holy Spirit” and “the power of the Highest”, showing them to be one and the same thing.
Regarding the Bible’s use of parallelism in talking about the Holy Spirit, the trinitarian New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967, Vol.13, P.575) tells us:
---- “The majority of New Testament texts reveal God's spirit as SOMETHING, not SOMEONE . . . this is especially seen in the PARALLELISM between the Spirit and the power of God.”
- “The Spirit Of God” Means “The Power Of God”
In Mt 12:28, Jesus speaks of casting out devils by the Spirit of God. Many commentaries agree that he is speaking of the power of God:
---- “The Spirit of God here, means the ‘POWER’ of God” - Barne’s Notes on the NT
---- “A figurative way of representing the POWER of God” - J.F.&B. Comm.
---- “Casting out devils by a divine POWER” - Poole’s Comm.
- Throughout The Bible
Among theologians and commentators (as opposed to Trinity apologists) it is widely recognized that nowhere in the Bible is the Holy Spirit presented as a person - but always as the power of God manifested in the material universe.
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- OLD TESTAMENT
- “In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit means a divine POWER” - The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1976, p.269
- “In the Old Testament… the Spirit of Yahweh… is NOT conceived of as A PERSON, but as a substantial source of force and activity… a divine dynamic entity by which Yahweh accomplishes His ends” - The Dictionary Of The Bible, John L.McKenzie
- “The Old Testament clearly does not envisage God’s spirit as a person… God’s spirit is simply God’s POWER… [and] the majority of New Testament texts reveal God’s spirit as SOMETHING, NOT SOMEONE… [as]seen in the parallelism between the spirit and the power of God.” - The New Catholic Encyclopedia - 1965, Vol.13, P.574-576
- “At its heart… a mysterious, awesome POWER… divine energy” - The New Bible Dictionary, Tyndale Hs. Pubs., 1984, p1136,7
- “The writers of The Old Testament NEVER conceived or presented God’s Spirit as A DISTINCT PERSON” - The Triune God, Trinitarian Catholic Edmund Fortman
- “The Spirit of Jehovah is the active divine principle” - The Encyclopedia Americana, 1957 ed., Vol.14, P326
- “There was NO explicit belief in a SEPARATE divine PERSON in Judaism” - The Encyclopedia Britannica Micropaedia, 1985, V.6, p.22
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- NEW TESTAMENT
- “Conceived as AN IMPERSONAL POWER by which God effects His will” - An Encyclopedia Of Religion, Virgilius Ferm, 1944, p.344
- ”The NT… speaks of the spirit as a divine energy or POWER” - A Catholic Dictionary, W. Addis & T.Arnold, p822-30
- “The Holy Spirit was viewed NOT as A PERSON-al figure BUT rather as A POWER” - The New Encyclopedia Britannica
- “The Spirit is NOT explicitly conceived as A distinct divine PERSON-al being in Paul’s writings [in the New Testament]“ - Dictionary Of The Bible - Jesuit J.L.McKenzie
- “(In the New Testament) The Holy Spirit is a POWER” - Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, P 522
- “For the first Christians, the Spirit was thought of in terms of divine POWER” - The New Bible Dictionary, 1984, Tyndale Hs. Pubs, P1139
- “The Holy Spirit is usually presented in (the first five books of The New Testament) as a divine force or POWER” - The Triune God, Trinitarian Scholar Justin Fortman
- “For Paul, the Spirit is a divine POWER… discernible by its effects” - The Spirit In The Pauline Letters, Vol.3, p.700
- “For the first Christians, the Spirit was most characteristically a divine POWER.. for Paul too the Spirit is a divine power” - The Dictionary Of NT Theology, Vol 3, pp. 689-701
- “The same POWER that had inspired David and the Prophets” - The Christ & The Spirit, Vol.2, J.Dunn, Lightfoot Professor of Divinity, University of Durham, Eerdmans Pubs., Grand Rapids, Mich / Cambridge U.K., P11
- “A divine POWER… a force” - New International Dictionary Of N.T. Theology, Vol.3, P 701,2
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- REASONS THE H.S. IS NOT A PERSON
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- - - The Holy Spirit Does Not Have A Name
Persons have names.
God is a person; His name in Scripture is “Jehovah” (Ps 83:18 KJV). The Son of God is a person; his name in Scripture is “Jesus”. The Devil is a person; his name in Scripture is “Lucifer” (Isa 14:12).
The Holy Spirit has no name in Scripture. Why? Because, unlike the others mentioned, the Holy Spirit is not a person.
Again, other than in the widely questioned Baptismal Formula at Mt.28:19, neither the idea of the Spirit of God having a name, nor the phrase “the name of the Holy Spirit” is to be found anywhere in the Bible.
God’s spirit has no name because it is not a person, but the power of God.
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- - - We Cannot Be “Sealed” With A Person
Eph 1:13,14 says that we are "sealed with" the holy spirit. While we can be sealed by a person, we cannot be sealed with one - nor is such an idea found in any of the 59 occurrences of the word “sealed” in the Bible.
The seal of God’s spirit upon us is not a person but His holy disposition within us, which establishes that we are His and that we have communion with Him.
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- - - The Holy Spirit Is Not Prayed To
“Speak the speech, I pray thee… trippingly on the tongue” - Hamlet, Shakespeare
The word “pray”, from the Latin “precare” - meaning: “to ask earnestly, beg or entreat” - simply means “to beseech, to make an earnest entreaty” (Harper’s Online Etymology Dictionary, 2010), as, for example, with Shakespeare’s words above.
There is nothing inherent in the definition of the word “prayer” which limits it to a supplication made to God.
In most English translations of the Bible, the word “pray” is used to describe entreaties made both to God and to men.
Often the same original-language word is used for both kinds of communication. For example:
- In Mt 9:38, Jesus uses the Greek word “deomai” (Strong’s Gk. Dict. #1189) - translated “pray” - about supplication made by his followers to God.
- In 2Co 8:4, Paul uses the same Greek word (deomai) about supplication made by the members of the Churches of Macedonia to the apostles.
- In Lu 14:19, Jesus tells a parable of a man invited to a wedding who seeks to avoid attending it. In describing the man’s entreaty to his host, Jesus tells us that he said: “I pray (Gk.’erato’- Strong’s Gk. Dict. #2065) thee have me excused”.
- In Joh 14:16, Jesus promises his followers that he will “pray (erato) the Father” to send them a comforter.
- Ac 10:48 describes people beseeching the Apostle Paul to stay with them, saying they “prayed (erato) him to tarry certain days”.
- In Mt 26:53, Jesus says “I can… now pray (Gk.‘parakaleo’- Strong’s Gk. Dict. #3870) to my father”.
- In Ac 24:4, a devout Jewish man seeking an audience with the Roman governor says to him: “I pray (parakaleo) thee that thou wouldst hear”.
Throughout the Bible, prayer is addressed to the persons of both God and men, and yet Vine's Dictionary Of New Testament Words, p.882, tells us that:
“In no instance is prayer in the N T addressed to the Holy Spirit”.
Prayer is not addressed to the Holy Spirit in the Bible because the Holy Spirit is not a person, but a manifestation of the power of God.
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- - - The Holy Spirit Is Not Worshipped
“Bowed down their heads, and worshipped the LORD, and the King”. - 1Ch 29:20
- “They are bowing head and prostrating selves to Yahweh and to king” - Scripture 4 All Online Greek Interlinear Bible
- “The Lord, and also the king” - Good News Translation
In this verse, the Jewish congregation offers worship to God and to David - to Jehovah as God, and to David as God’s anointed King.
This is a single act of worship rendered to both God and man simultaneously.
Just as Trinitarianism incorrectly teaches that the word “prayer” applies only to supplication made of God, so it incorrectly teaches that the word “worship” applies only to reverence made to God. But the truth is that interaction between man and God is only one application of the meaning of these words, as used in the Bible.
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- - - The Holy Spirit Does Not Have A Throne
“He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on His throne." - Jesus, Re 3:21
In the Bible, persons have thrones:
- The Father has a throne. (Re 3:21)
- The Son has a throne. (Lu 1:32)
- Kings have thrones. (1Ki 1:46)
- The disciples have thrones. (Lu 22:29, 30; Re 20:4).
The Holy Spirit does not have a throne. Why? Because persons have thrones, but powers do not.
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- - - We Do Not Have “Fellowship With” The Holy Spirit
“Our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son” - 1Joh 1:3.
If the Holy Spirit were one of three co-equal persons of a Triune God, why wouldn’t we be said to have fellowship with him as well as the Father and Son?
Trinitarianism will counter that the verse: “The fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2Co 13:14 - RSV, NIV, AMP, etc) means that we do have such fellowship.
Are you able to spot which shell the pea got slipped under this time?
The verse doesn’t speak of our fellowship as being “with” the holy Spirit, but as being “of” the holy Spirit.
Let me explain the difference.
In the classic movie series “Lord of the Rings”, one of the episodes is titled “The Fellowship of the Ring” (circa 2001). The title is a reference to a company whose fellowship is based on shared interest in a ring.
The word “of” in the title does not indicate fellowship with the ring, but fellowship founded upon it.
This is also the significance of the word “of” in 2Co 13:14. It does not speak of fellowship with the Holy Spirit, but fellowship founded upon it. Such fellowship is facilitated by God’s Spirit as it manifests in the lives of believers. Other translations clarify this. For example:
- “The fellowship that is ours in the Holy Spirit” - Phllip’s Translation,
- “The sharing of life brought about by the Holy Spirit” - NIRV,
- “May you be joined together by the Holy Spirit” - NLV,
- “Communion that we share in the Holy Spirit” - TPT etc.
While 1Joh 1:3 speaks of our fellowship with the Father and the Son, no such fellowship with the holy Spirit is articulated in the Bible. 2Co 13:14 does not speak of fellowship “with” the holy Spirit, but of fellowship “in” the holy Spirit.
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- - - A Person Cannot Be Quenched
1Th 5:19 warns us of the danger of "quenching" the spirit of God.
- To quench a fire is to extinguish its power.
- To quench our thirst is to extinguish its power.
- To quench God’s spirit is to extinguish its power in our lives.
It would be meaningless to speak of quenching God. Persons are not quenched, powers are.
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- - - A Person Cannot Be Poured Out
- “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh” - Joe 2:28.
- “Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high” - Isa 32:15.
- “On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost” - Ac 10:45.
In both the Old and New Testaments, we are told that God pours out His spirit, and thereby man prophesies and acts in other ways as empowered by Him.
For those taught to believe that the Holy Spirit is a member of a Trinity, it is difficult not to view this as speaking about one of three persons of God. But think. Does it make any sense to say that a person can be poured out?
The Greek word is “ekxeo”. Some other uses of ekxeo in the New Testament are:
- Wine being poured out - Mt 9:17
- Coins being poured out - Joh 2:15
- The contents of a bowl being poured out - Re 16:1-4 etc.
None of these are persons. Powers can be poured out, not persons.
- “The Spirit Of Deep Sleep”
The Old Testament offers another example of spirit being poured out: “For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep” - Isa 29:10. The spirit of deep sleep is not a person, but rather a force from God causing sleep.
In the same way, God imparts His spirit to Israel: “I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel” - Eze 39:29 (also Pr 1:23).
It is not a person who is said to be poured out here, but God’s disposition and energy.
- A Portion Or Share Of A Person ?
“I will pour out a portion of my spirit upon all flesh” - Ac 2:17, NAB.(Revised), REV, NEB, etc.
- “A share of my spirit” - William Barclay’s New Testament Translation, 1969
- “A share… of POWER” - New Testament in Modern Speech, Weymouth, Ac 2:17 Ftnt.
- “Some of my Spirit” - The Anchor Bible, J. A. Fitzmyer
It is ludicrous to speak of pouring out a share or portion of God. You can pour out a portion of a power, but not a portion of a person.
A different Old Testament verse gives us a sense of what is really being said here:
“The LORD… took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and placed the Spirit on the 70 elders” - Nu 11:25 (as rendered in over 20 translations, incl AMP, HCSB, RSV, NIV, WYC, etc).
This speaks of the Spirit of God not as a person, but as God’s animating and empowering force - given by measure to the elders.
In his comment on Joh 3:31-36, renowned Trinitarian scholar William Barclay states: “The prophets received from God a certain measure of the Spirit” - The Gospel Of John, Wm. Barclay, Vol 1, p144.
The pouring out of God’s Spirit does not refer to a person - it refers to God’s power, given by measure unto those who are consecrated to His service.
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- False Trinitarian Arguments For The Spirit Of God Being A Person
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1 - Only A Person Can Be Quoted
“The Spirit of the LORD… said… ‘thus saith the LORD’ ” - Eze 11:5
The idea here is that God’s spirit must be a person, otherwise it would make no sense to quote it. But Scripture often quotes non-personal entities. For example:
- “My bones shall say ‘LORD, who is like unto thee?’ ”. - Ps 35:10
- “Lightnings… say… ‘here we are’ “. - Job 38:35
- “(The city of) Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem: ‘Aha’ “. - Eze 26:2
- “Doth not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her voice?”. - Pr 8:1
Here, the Bible quotes bones, lightnings, a city, and wisdom - and none of them are persons.
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2 - Only A Person Can Have Feelings
“Don’t make God’s spirit sad” - Eph 4:30, CEV, ERV, EXB, GNT, WE,. etc.
The idea here is that God’s spirit must be a person, otherwise it would make no sense to say that it has feelings. But Scripture often speaks of impersonal entities as having feelings. For example:
- “My tongue was glad”. - Ac 2:26
- “The waters… were afraid”. - Ps 77:16
- “The mountains saw thee, and they trembled”. - Hab 3:10
- “The land mourns”. - Joe 1:10
Here, the Bible attributes feelings to tongues, waters, mountains and lands - and none of them are persons.
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3 - Only A Person Can Dwell
“The Spirit of God dwelleth in you” - 1Co 3:16
The idea here is that God’s spirit must be a person, otherwise it would make no sense to say that it dwells in us. But Scripture often speaks of impersonal entities as dwelling. For example:
- “God hath caused His name to dwell there”. - Ez 6:12
- “Let a cloud dwell upon it”. - Job 3:5
- “Neither shall evil dwell with thee”. - Ps 5:4
- “Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness”. - Isa 32:16
Here, the Bible tells us that a name, a cloud, evil, and judgement all dwell - and none of them are persons.
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4 - Only A Person Can Witness
“The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city,” - Ac 20:23
The idea here is that God’s spirit must be a person, otherwise it would make no sense to say that it witnesses. But Scripture often speaks of impersonal entities as witnesses. For example:
- “A covenant… let it be for a witness”. - Ge 31:44
- “The alter… shall be a witness between us”. - Jo 22:34
- “The works that I do… they bear witness of me”. - Joh 10:25
- “Three that bear witness… the Spirit, the water, and the blood”. - 1Joh 5:8
Here, the Bible tells us that a covenant, an altar, works, and water etc all bear witness - and none of them are persons.
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5 - Scripture Calls The Holy Spirit “He” And “Him”
“The Spirit of truth… the world seeth him not,“ - Joh 14:17
In Scripture, God’s spirit is often characterized as a person, and referred to with the personal pronouns like “He” and “Him”, such as in Jn.14:17. And yet, as was noted earlier in this chapter, some English translations use non-personal pronouns like “it” and “itself” about the Spirit - as in the case of Joh14:17; for example:
- “The world neither sees nor knows IT ”. - New American Bible
- “Beholdeth IT not”. - Rotherham Bible
- “That not it is beholding IT, neither is knowing IT“. - Greek Interlinear Bible
- Which Is Correct?
About Joh 14:17, the Trinitarian Catholic New American Bible admits: “The Greek word for 'Spirit' is neuter, and while we use personal pronouns in English ( 'he', 'his', 'him’), most Greek Manuscripts use ‘IT’.”
It is noteworthy that the KJV translates a different verse (Ro 8:16) as: “The Spirit IT-self beareth witness”, and the United Bible Societies Interlinear (word-for-word) translation renders the verse: “IT-self the spirit witnesses”.
- What’s going on here?
In light of the fact that English Bible translations never refer to the Father and Son with non-personal pronouns (such as “it” or “which” ), why do some of these same translations use the impersonal pronoun “it” when referring to the Holy Spirit?
- “Anthropomorphism” - The Personification Of The Holy Spirit
Sometimes, to help us perceive God’s spirit in a more vivid way, the Bible will speak of it as though it were a person. This is a literary technique called “anthropomorphism” - also known as “personification”. It is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as: “The attribution of human motivation, characteristics, behavior or feelings to inanimate objects”.
A good example of anthropomorphism is the practice of referring to a ship with personal pronouns. Even though a ship is not a person, we often characterize it as a woman - calling it “she” and “her”.
- “Personification Doth Not A Person Make”
Trinitarianism holds that the Spirit of God is personified in the Bible because it actually is a person. Non-Trinitarianism holds that the personification of God’s spirit in the Bible is metaphoric - and that it is for this reason that the reference works cited below are comfortable in telling us that the New Testament does not portray God's spirit as a person, despite occasional occurrences therein of its personification.
- “Most of these places [in Scripture which personify God’s Spirit] furnish no cogent proof of personality. We must not forget that the New Testament personifies mere attributes such as love (1Co 13:4), and sin (Ro 7:11), even abstract and lifeless things, such as the law (Ro 3:19), the water and the blood (1Jo 5:8)” - A Catholic Dictionary
- “The Spirit is not explicitly conceived as a distinct divine personal being in Paul’s writings… he employs occasional metaphoric personifications” - The Dictionary Of The Bible - John L. McKenzie
- “In some passages, the Holy Spirit is RHETOTICALLY represented as a Person” - Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, p.522
- “Abstract and inanimate things are frequently personified” - Young’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
- Some Examples Of Personification In Scripture
- Abel’s blood is said to have a voice and to cry from the ground - Ge 4:10
- The waters of the Red Sea saw and were afraid - Ps 77:16
- The Moon shall be confounded and the Sun ashamed - Isa 24:23
- Hills and mountains hear - Mic 6:1,2
- The mountains sing and the trees clap their hands- Isa 55:12
- Wisdom is said to have children - Lu 7:35
- Jerusalem is to put on garments and wash her heart - Isa 32:1, Jer 4:14
- Sin is said to be able, as a king, to reign - Ro 6:12
- Sin revives, slays and works death - Ro 7:9, 11, 13
- Feet and ears speak - 1Cor 12:15,16
- Love suffers and is kind 1 Cor 13:4 - (ASV, AMP, CEB, CEV, ESV, & etc.)
- The Law is said to speak - Ro 3:19
- The wind blows where it chooses - Joh 3:8 (Mounce, TPT etc.)
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- The Use Of “Comparisons” In Defining The Holy Spirit
Just as with parallelism, comparisons are designed to help us to understand God’s spirit. Scripture presents many such comparisons.
- - - The Spirit Of God And The Spirit Of Man
“Who… knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man? Even so, the things of God none [or ‘no one’] knoweth, save the spirit of God” - 1Co 2:11 (ASV, CSB, CEB, CJB, CEV, ERV, EHV, ESV, ICB, ISV, JUB, LEB, TLB etc.)
This idea is even clearer in other translations:
- “No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” - RSV, HCSB, NIV, etc.
- “No one knows everything about God except God’s Spirit” - GW, GNT, NOG, etc.
Man’s spirit is not a separate person, but his power, disposition, and mentality. Paul’s use of comparison here illustrates that God’s spirit is also not a separate person, but rather His power, disposition, and mentality.
Several Trinity-biased translations, (KJV, BRG, GNV etc) attempt to becloud the meaning of the verse by rendering it: “knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God”.
The Greek word here is “oudeis” (Strong’s Grk. Dict. # 3762). The definition of oudeis is “no other one”. The accurate translation is not “no man”, but “no one”.
For the purpose of dispelling the myth of the Christian-Trinity, this verse has value beyond its comparison of the spirits of man and God. It is this:
If the Spirit of God were a member of the Trinity, and knew something no one else knew, that would mean that the other two members would not know it. But how could one of the three persons who are God know something that the other two did not know? No. Paul’s words only makes sense when understood to be speaking of the Spirit not as a member of a Trinity, but as God’s mind itself.
- - - The Spirit Of God And The Spirit Of Satan
Various synonyms for the spirit of Satan are presented in the Bible, such as:
- “The spirit of fear" - 2Ti 1:7,
- “The spirit of bondage” - Ro 8:15,
- “The spirit of the world” - 1Co 2:12,
- “The spirit of divination” - Ac 16:16,
- “The spirit of antichrist" - 1Jo 4:3
We do not conclude, simply because the word "spirit" refers to these manifestations of Satan's influence, that there is a separate spirit-person subsisting within his being.
Similarly, various manifestations of the Holy Spirit are referred to as:
- “The spirit of holiness" - Ro 1:4,
- “The spirit of truth" - 1Joh 4:6
- “The spirit of meekness" - 1Co 4:21,
- “The spirit of grace" -Heb 10:29
- “The spirit of prophecy” - Re 19:10
The comparison of these phrases helps us recognize that neither the terms used about God's spirit, nor the term "God's spirit" itself, mean to suggest a separate person, but rather refer to God’s disposition.
- - - The Spirit Of God And The Spirit Of The World
“We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God” - 1Co 2:12
Here the spirit of God is compared with the spirit of the world.
In Scripture, the title "God" refers to the supreme being in His entirety. “The spirit which is of God” is presented here not as one of three persons who are God, but as coming from, and belonging to, the one person who is God.
In vs 10 it is referred to as "His spirit”, showing that it belongs to Him - that it is an element of His being, not one of three persons subsisting within it.
The mechanism of comparison helps us to see that just as the spirit of the world is not a person, but rather the disposition of worldliness as it resides in man, so too the spirit which is of God is not a person, but rather the disposition of Godliness as it resides in man.
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- Summary And Conclusion
According to a broad consensus of theologians and commentators, nowhere in the Bible is the spirit of God presented as a person, but rather as the active force or power of God as manifested in - and through which He interacts with - the material universe.
Furthermore:
- The Spirit of God Does Not Have A Name
- We Cannot Be “Sealed” With the Spirit of God
- The Spirit of God Is Not Prayed To
- The Spirit of God Is Not Worshipped
- The Spirit of God Does Not Have A Throne
- We Do Not Have Fellowship “With” The Spirit of God
- - - A Person Cannot Be Quenched
- - - A Person Is Not Poured Out
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- Trinitarian arguments For The Spirit Of God Being A Person include:
- Only A Person Can Be Quoted
- Only A Person Can Have Feelings
- Only A person Can Dwell
- Only A Person Can Witness
- Scripture Calls The Holy Spirit “He” And “Him”
As we have seen, these arguments have no basis in either reason or biblical fact.
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The evidence presented above establishes that the Spirit of God is NOT a person, but rather God’s power as manifested in the universe.
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You may own this book on Amazon: ""Sleight Of Mind" - Volume One - The Myth Of The Christian Trinity" by Steven Blake