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Q&A on the Godhead: Difference between revisions
→Three Persons
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These questions may seem silly, but it bothers me sometimes. | These questions may seem silly, but it bothers me sometimes. | ||
'''Answer''': | '''Answer''': The Holy Spirit is a "he" not an "it". | ||
The Holy Spirit is a " | :''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. <ref>The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Jn 16:13 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009).</ref> | ||
The Spirit is a he. "He" has to refer to a person. The Spirit is not an it, and the Spirit is not, therefore, a liquid, so you cannot say in a sense, “I want more of the Spirit,” and think in terms of gallons. You can’t say, “I have a gallon of the Spirit, and I need 10,” because if the Spirit is a person, then when we talk about being filled with the Spirit or having less or more of the Spirit, we have to think, what does it mean to have less or more of a person? You see, when a person comes into the house or out of the house, he’s either all the way in or he’s all the way out. I mean, he’s in or he’s out.<ref>Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).</ref> | |||
Modalism (which is primarily what William Branham taught) basically says that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are just phases of the same God. But that ignores John 1:1-2: | |||
:''In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was '''with''' God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning '''with''' God. | |||
:''No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.''<ref>The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Jn 1:1–2,18 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009).</ref> | |||
The Father was with the Son. The Son was with the Father. The word "with" is very important. | |||
Later on in the chapter, down in verse 18 John brings it out a little further. He says the Son was in the bosom of the Father. Now let’s think about that. What is John saying? How many people are there in your life who have a right to your bosom. Put it this way. If you were lying on the rug, if you were lying on a couch, or lying in your bed, how many people are there, without asking permission, who could just walk up, stretch out next to you and lie up against your breast? How many people are there in life like that? For some of you there is no one. For some of us it’s just a very, very small number. | |||
So don’t you see, the posture of being in someone’s bosom means a personal relationship of incredible intimacy and centrality and primacy in somebody’s life. Then, keep this in mind. The Father and the Son had no bodies. They had no real breasts. So what does it mean when John says they were in one another’s bosom? The answer has to mean they were wrapped up in one another. Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” | |||
We’re talking about spiritual unity, spiritual oneness. | |||
This is amazing. Many biblical scholars are sure that when John was writing that, he was thinking about … In the book of Proverbs, there is this very artistic and poetic place where it talks about God creating the world, and by his side was the divine wisdom. In Proverbs 8, wisdom speaks like this. It’s almost for sure that John was thinking about this when he penned these words. | |||
Wisdom says... ''“when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always...<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Pr 8:29–30 (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001)<ref> | |||
See? “… the Word was with God …” And. “Through him all things were made.” | |||
Augustine says if you’re a non-Trinitarian… Many people believe in God, but they’re non-Trinitarians. They say, “Well, there’s only one God, one Person. Jesus was a nice man, or Jesus was a kind of created being, but there’s only one Person, one God.” Augustine says if you are non-Trinitarian in your view of God, you have a defective God. You have a God who never loved anybody until he created the world. God existed from all eternity, but until he created at least angels, or until he created other human beings, other persons, he had never had a relationship. | |||
Augustine says not only do you have an imperfect God, but you have a God who created to meet a love need. He created in order to have love. Augustine says that’s not true of the God of the Bible. Love and relationship are eternally inherent in him. He has always had love and relationship beginninglessly. Therefore, when he created the world and he created other persons and angels and human beings, he created not to get love, he created to give love. He created not to use us to meet his needs, he created just to let us take in the richness and the spillover of the love he had within himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. <ref>Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).</ref> | |||
=References= | =References= | ||