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Is the holy spirit, God, or something else?

truth4u

truth4u

New Member
If the disciples put faith in Jesus, and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God, why had the disciples never even heard of the Holy Spirit; and, why did Paul asked them if the disciples were GIVEN Holy Spirit? What would happen when disciples received the Holy Spirit?

Acts 19:1-2Contemporary English Version (CEV)
Paul in Ephesus
19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled across the hill country to Ephesus, where he met some of the Lord’s followers. 2 He asked them, “When you put your faith in Jesus, were you given the Holy Spirit?”
“No!” they answered. “We have never even heard of the Holy Spirit.”
 
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truth4u said:
If the disciples put faith in Jesus, and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God, why had the disciples never even heard of the Holy Spirit; and, why did Paul asked them if the disciples were GIVEN Holy Spirit? What would happen when disciples received the Holy Spirit?

Acts 19:1-2Contemporary English Version (CEV)
Paul in Ephesus
19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled across the hill country to Ephesus, where he met some of the Lord’s followers. 2 He asked them, “When you put your faith in Jesus, were you given the Holy Spirit?”
“No!” they answered. “We have never even heard of the Holy Spirit.”
Click to expand...

The holy spirit is God's active force.It is not God.
 
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truth4u said:
Do you have any scriptures that support your view?
Click to expand...

The Scriptures make clear that the holy spirit is a force that God uses to accomplish his will. When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would have a son even though she was a virgin, the angel told her: “Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.” (Luke 1:35) According to Gabriel’s words, there is a link between the holy spirit and the “power of the Most High.”

A similar idea appears elsewhere in the Bible. The prophet Micah said: “I myself have become full of power, with the spirit of Jehovah.” (Micah 3:8) Jesus promised his disciples: “You will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you.” (Acts 1:8) And the apostle Paul spoke of “the power of holy spirit.”—Romans 15:13, 19.


So, what may we conclude from the foregoing? There is a close connection between the holy spirit and the power of God. The holy spirit is the means by which Jehovah exerts his power. Put simply, the holy spirit is God’s applied power, or his active force. And what a force that is! We cannot comprehend the power needed to create the entire universe. Through the prophet Isaiah, Jehovah suggested that we reflect on the following: “Raise your eyes high up and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one of them is missing.”—Isaiah 40:26.


What Is the Holy Spirit? — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY
 
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Bible Student said:
The Scriptures make clear that the holy spirit is a force that God uses to accomplish his will. When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would have a son even though she was a virgin, the angel told her: “Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.” (Luke 1:35) According to Gabriel’s words, there is a link between the holy spirit and the “power of the Most High.”

A similar idea appears elsewhere in the Bible. The prophet Micah said: “I myself have become full of power, with the spirit of Jehovah.” (Micah 3:8) Jesus promised his disciples: “You will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you.” (Acts 1:8) And the apostle Paul spoke of “the power of holy spirit.”—Romans 15:13, 19.


So, what may we conclude from the foregoing? There is a close connection between the holy spirit and the power of God. The holy spirit is the means by which Jehovah exerts his power. Put simply, the holy spirit is God’s applied power, or his active force. And what a force that is! We cannot comprehend the power needed to create the entire universe. Through the prophet Isaiah, Jehovah suggested that we reflect on the following: “Raise your eyes high up and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one of them is missing.”—Isaiah 40:26.


What Is the Holy Spirit? — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY
Click to expand...


If you scroll over the scriptures and click them you can see the full passages.
 
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Why the Holy Spirit Is Not a Person

The Bible compares the holy spirit to water. When promising future blessings for his people, God said: “I shall pour out water upon the thirsty one, and trickling streams upon the dry place. I shall pour out my spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your descendants.”—Isaiah 44:3.

When God pours out his spirit upon his servants, they become “full of holy spirit,” or “filled with holy spirit.” Jesus, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and the disciples who were gathered together on the day of Pentecost 33 C.E. are all described as being full of, or filled with, holy spirit.—Luke 1:15; 4:1; Acts 4:8; 9:17; 11:22, 24; 13:9.

Consider this: Could a person be ‘poured out’ on many different individuals? Would you say that one person could ‘fill’ a whole group of people? That defies logic. The Bible does refer to people becoming filled with wisdom, understanding, or even accurate knowledge, but it never describes anyone as being filled with another person.—Exodus 28:3; 1 Kings 7:14; Luke 2:40; Colossians 1:9.

The Greek word translated “spirit” is pneu′ma, which also conveys the idea of an invisible power. According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary ofNew Testament Words, the word pneu′ma “primarily denotes the wind . . . also breath; then, especially the spirit, which, like the wind, is invisible, immaterial and powerful.”

Clearly, then, the holy spirit is not a person.*

What Is the Holy Spirit? — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY
 
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Yes-No-blog.jpg
 
Saint Frankenstein

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
You know I'm not going to agree with you, Bible Student. I don't have the patience to pick apart your Watchtower articles, either.
 
F

Faybull

Well-Known Member
truth4u said:
If the disciples put faith in Jesus, and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God, why had the disciples never even heard of the Holy Spirit; and, why did Paul asked them if the disciples were GIVEN Holy Spirit? What would happen when disciples received the Holy Spirit?

Acts 19:1-2Contemporary English Version (CEV)
Paul in Ephesus
19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled across the hill country to Ephesus, where he met some of the Lord’s followers. 2 He asked them, “When you put your faith in Jesus, were you given the Holy Spirit?”
“No!” they answered. “We have never even heard of the Holy Spirit.”
Click to expand...


My impression is that it is none other than the Son of Man that he prophesied about.
 
U

URAVIP2ME

Veteran Member
truth4u said:
Do you have any scriptures that support your view?
Click to expand...

Try Numbers 11 vs 17 and 25 because there God's spirit is ' neuter ' referred to as ' it '.
God and Jesus are always referred to in the masculine never as ' it '.
Even in English grammar rules it is proper to address a neuter as he or she.
For example: a boat or car is often referred to a ' she ' although they are neuters.
KJV Bibles also at Romans 8 vs 16 and 26 use the neuter ' itself ' in connection to God's spirit.
Please also notice Psalm 104 v 30 because God's spirit does Not sent itself.
 
Pegg

Pegg

Jehovah our God is One
A very compelling argument against the holy spirit being a person is found in the account about Stephen.

Acts 7:54 Well, at hearing these things, they were infuriated* in their hearts and began to grind their teeth at him. 55 But he, being full of holy spirit, gazed into heaven and caught sight of God’s glory and of Jesus standing at God’s right hand,+56 and he said: “Look! I see the heavens opened up and the Son of man+ standing at God’s right hand.”+​

Stephen is given a vision of heaven, and looking in he see's God and Jesus at his right hand... but no holy spirit. If the holy spirit is a person, and if he is really the 3rd person of the trinity, then surely Stephen would have seen 3 individuals in heaven. But no, he sees only Jesus and Jehovah.
 
F

Faybull

Well-Known Member
Faybull said:
My impression is that it is none other than the Son of Man that he prophesied about.
Click to expand...
Or to say it more aptly, Son of Adam.
Pegg said:
A very compelling argument against the holy spirit being a person is found in the account about Stephen.

Acts 7:54 Well, at hearing these things, they were infuriated* in their hearts and began to grind their teeth at him. 55 But he, being full of holy spirit, gazed into heaven and caught sight of God’s glory and of Jesus standing at God’s right hand,+56 and he said: “Look! I see the heavens opened up and the Son of man+ standing at God’s right hand.”+​

Stephen is given a vision of heaven, and looking in he see's God and Jesus at his right hand... but no holy spirit. If the holy spirit is a person, and if he is really the 3rd person of the trinity, then surely Stephen would have seen 3 individuals in heaven. But no, he sees only Jesus and Jehovah.
Click to expand...



Except that in John, it relates that an intercessor will be sent after him, him being Jesus. So saying that Stephen was full of a spirit of holiness, doesn't necessitate that the instance of "holy spirit" in Stephen, and the intercessor in John, are one and the same. Or does it?
 
te_lanus

te_lanus

Alien Hybrid
truth4u said:
If the disciples put faith in Jesus, and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God, why had the disciples never even heard of the Holy Spirit; and, why did Paul asked them if the disciples were GIVEN Holy Spirit? What would happen when disciples received the Holy Spirit?

Acts 19:1-2Contemporary English Version (CEV)
Paul in Ephesus
19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled across the hill country to Ephesus, where he met some of the Lord’s followers. 2 He asked them, “When you put your faith in Jesus, were you given the Holy Spirit?”
“No!” they answered. “We have never even heard of the Holy Spirit.”
Click to expand...
Nope, according to John 14:16 he's just an advocate

NLT said:
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.
Click to expand...
 
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