Topic: Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son.
While reading the book of Acts, it is noticeable that there is a focus on the role of the Holy Spirit. Studying the Holy Spirit is important to every believer. The difficulty is in the varying ideas about the Holy Spirit.
- The first century church viewed the Holy Spirit as the moving force to produce the Bible.
- The second century church placed divinity on the Holy Spirit.
- In 380 A.D. there was a move away from the deity of the Holy Spirit to a created being like the angels.
- The medieval time period placed no emphasis on the Holy Spirit.
- Martin Luther explained the Holy Spirit as the “Infusion of Love.”
- John Calvin taught a more first century belief in the Holy Spirit as the authority of the scripture.
- John Wesley placed an emphasis on sanctification as the role of the Holy Spirit.
- The early nineteenth century marked the birth of the modern Pentecostal movement that placed an emphasis on the evidence that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues.
(historical review from Millard Erickson, “Christian Theology,” one volume, 845-857)
Most Baptists today teach that the role of the Holy Spirit is to point the lost to Jesus and for believers to give guidance in living as a Christian.
The most common mistake in understanding the Holy Spirit is to lower the status of the Holy Spirit to less than the Father and The Son. Incorrect teaching begins with a lack of scriptural foundation. Scripture teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal.
- Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
- First Corinthians 12:4-6, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.”
- Second Corinthians 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”
- I Peter 1:12, “According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”
In addition to the equal deity of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, it is also important to know that the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force but is relational. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira conceive a lie to receive recognition from the Apostles.
- Acts 5:3, “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?”
The Holy Spirit is not a mystery force but rather the third person of the Triune God comprised of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The role of the Holy Spirit reveals to man that God is near and desires a personal relationship with man through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
See you Sunday,
Dr. Scott Kallem