6
– The Doctrine of the Trinity (God, the Holy Spirit, is Distinguished from God
(the Father))
Yesterday, we talked about God is Three
Persons. Today, we’ll look at God, the
Holy Spirit, is Distinguished from God (the Father).
God, the Holy Spirit, is Distinguished from
God (the Father)
In Isaiah 63:10, the people rebelled and
grieved the Holy Spirit: “Yet they
rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So
he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.” (This rebellion caused God the Father to
chasten them, thus indicating the Holy Spirit is a distinct person from the
Father.)
Romans 8:27:
“And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because
the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (In this passage the “he who searches our
hearts” is surely the Father. So the
Father, as a separate person, “knows the mind of the Spirit.” This is so because the Holy Spirit intercedes
on our behalf to the Father, indicating that the Holy Spirit is separate from
the Father.)
In Psalm 110:1, (cited by Jesus in Matthew
22:41-46) David demonstrates there is a distinction of Persons between “LORD,”
the one speaking, and the one addressed called by David, “my Lord.” David was indicating the Messiah was no
ordinary king, but his own Lord, Adoni
(my Lord), one who was God Himself. So
God the first Person addresses God the second Person. This is precisely Peter’s point when He
quotes this Psalm to show the resurrection of the Messiah was anticipated in
the Old Testament.
The Lord is distinguished from the Lord in
Hosea 1:6-7. The one speaking here is Yahweh, the Lord, yet, note the
statement in verse 7, “I will have compassion . . . and deliver them by the
Lord their God.”
The Spirit is distinguished from the Lord in
a number of passages (Isaiah 48:16; 59:21; 63:9-10).
In the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, God
made it clear that the One who would be born of the virgin would also be
Immanuel, God with us. “Therefore the
Lord himself will give you a sign: The
virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him
Immanuel.”
Two other passages which imply the Trinity
are Isaiah 48:16 and 61:1. In Isaiah
48:16 all three Persons are mentioned and yet seen as distinct from each
other. See also Genesis 22:15-16.
The Father is not the Holy Spirit and the Son
is not the Holy Spirit. Also Matthew
28:19 and John 16:7.
We’ll
look at “Each Person is Fully God” tomorrow.
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