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The Deity of the Holy Spirit

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  • The Deity of the Holy Spirit

    From Post #10 (last sentence):

    siam: I have wondered----on what basis is the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost judged as "God"?

    http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/sh...3593#post53593




    a. For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God (1 Corinthians 2:10, NASB).
    1. Danker: Of the Spirit panta fathoms everything 1 Cor 2:10 (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, eraunaw, page 389).
    2. Danker: panta all things, everything (1 Corinthians 2:10)(A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, pas, page 783).
    3. Robertson: Paul's point is simply that the Holy Spirit fully comprehends the depth of God's nature and his plans of grace and so is fully competent to make the revelation here claimed.
    http://www.godrules.net/library/robert/robert1cor2.htm
    4. Vincent: Not, searcheth in order to discover; but of the ever active, accurate, careful sounding of the depths of God by the Spirit.
    http://www.studylight.org/com/vnt/view.cgi?bk=45&ch=2
    5. TDNT: In the NT it is used of this figurative depth only in relation to God or the world. Thus in R. 11:32 God's depth of riches, wisdom and knowledge is distinguished first by His unsearchability to human judgment and then by His character as the God who meets us in hidden ways and judgments. Similarly in 1 C. 2:10 the depth of the activity of God is concealed from the world in principle; it is accessible only to the Spirit of God (1:517, bathos, Schlier).
    6. TDNT: Two further references occur in Ac. 5:9 and 15:10, both on the lips of Peter. In the former he is speaking to Sapphira, who with her husband has tempted the Spirit of the Lord by reporting falsely on the proceeds of the sale. What is meant is that the couple, by their conduct, have challenged the Spirit of the Lord, who searches all things (1 C. 2:10), whether he would observe the deceptions. (6:32, peira - 2. Man Tempts God, Seesemann).
    7. Keith Krell: Paul informs us that the Holy Spirit searches the very depths of the heart and mind of God. He can do this because He is God—the third member of the Trinity. Paul’s point is that the Holy Spirit functions within the Trinity the way our human spirit functions within us. Our spirit is the innermost part of our being. It’s where our deepest, most private thoughts reside. To put it another way, no one knows you better than you! The reason is that you live with you. I don’t care how well your spouse knows you or how long you have been married, no one knows you like you do. No one knows your private thoughts and those deep internals struggles you keep hidden. Because we have a spirit, we are usually our own best interpreter. That’s why when two people get into an argument, one of them will often say, “Don’t try to tell me what I mean. I know what I am saying!”
    Therefore, if you really want to know someone perfectly you would have to tune into his or her spirit. The Holy Spirit is tuned in to the deepest thoughts of God. He has access to the innermost workings of the Godhead. So just as no one knows the deepest thoughts of a person better than his own spirit, no one knows the deepest thoughts of God better than the Holy Spirit.
    Two of my next door neighbors just finished getting scuba certified. They wanted to be able to go deep under water to see all that was there. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is like a deep-sea diver who can go down into the depths and find out what’s down there. That’s why the Bible says that even when you don’t know what’s going on, the Spirit can help you because He dives down deep. He gets way down there where the action is. He goes “deep-thought” fishing to connect us to the mind of God.15
    15 Tony Evans, The Promise: Experiencing God’s Greatest Gift the Holy Spirit (Chicago: Moody, 1996), 118.
    http://bible.org/seriespage/%E2%80%9...inthians-26-16
    8. Robert L. Thomas: "The one who searches the reigns and hearts," an allusion to Jer. 17:10 (cf. also Ps. 7:9; Prov. 24:12; Jer. 11:20; 20:12) is a designation for one who has an intimate knowledge of man that pierces below superficial surfaces. Just as in the Jeremiah passage, the point of this self-designation is that divine acquaintance with man's real, secret life forms the basis for an unerring and impartial judgment. Christ has demonstrated such omniscience in His appraisal of and strong words against Jezebel and her children. They cannot hide their evil from Him. The exercise of this divine attribute is spoken of in terms of a search (#59) of nephrous kai kardias.
    Footnote#59: in 1 Cor. 2:10, the Holy Spirit searches all things (Revelation 1-7: An Exegetical Commentary, page 224).
    --------------------------------------------
    b. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: 'In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" (Acts 21:11, NASB).
    1. NIDNTT: In Acts 21:11 Agabus (like the prophets of the OT; cf. Isa. 20:2; Jer. 13:1 ff.) carried out a symbolic action with Paul's girdle (a long cloth worn about the waist), to indicate the coming arrest of Paul. "The accompanying word of interpretation 'Thus says the Holy Spirit!' corresponds to the OT 'Thus says Yahweh!'" (E. Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles, 1971, 602) (3:121, Ready, F. Selter).
    2. John Gill: and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost; who was in Agabus, and spoke by him, and foretold some things to come to pass; and which did come to pass, and is a proof of the foreknowledge, and so of the deity of the blessed Spirit:
    http://www.studylight.org/com/geb/vi...=021&verse=011
    ---------------------------------------------
    c. God alone fully knows the hearts of all. This demonstrates His omniscience.
    1. NIDNTT: kardiognwstes is unknown to secular Gk. and to the LXX, and occurs in the NT only in Acts 1:24 and 15:8 and later in patristic writings. It describes God as the knower of hearts. The fact that God sees, tests and searches the hidden depths of the human heart is commonly stated in both the OT and the NT (1 Sam. 16:7; Jer. 11:20; 17:9f.; Lk. 16:15; Rom. 8:27; 1 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 2:23). This belief in the omniscience of God is expressed succinctly by the adj. kardiognwstes (2:183, Heart, T. Sorg).
    2. TDNT: The designation of God as ho kardiognwstes, "the One who knows the heart," expresses in a single term (Ac. 1:24; 15:8) something which is familiar to both the NT and OT piety (Lk. 16:15; R. 8:27; 1 Th. 2:4; Rev. 2:23 of Christ, cf. 1 Bas. 16:7; 3 Bas. 8:39; 1 Par. 28:9; Psalm 7:9; Ier. 11:20; 17:10; Sir. 42:18 ff.), namely that the omniscient God knows the innermost being of every man where the decision is made either for Him or against Him (3:613, kardiognwstes, Behm).
    3. Danker: knower of hearts, one who knows the hearts, of God Ac 1:24; 15:8 (on these pass. s. JBauer, BZ 32, 88, 114-117); Hm 4, 3, 4. - M-M. DELG s.v. gignwskw. TW (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, kardiognwstes, page 509).
    ---> TW stands for the TDNT - Theologisches Worterbuch zum NT
    4. Keil and Delitzsch: The reins are the seat of the emotions, just as the heart is the seat of the thoughts and feelings. Reins and heart lie naked before God - a description of the only kardiognwstes, which is repeated in Jer. 11.20, 20.12, Apoc. 2.23 (Commentary on the Old Testament, Psalms, Volume 5, C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, page 144).

    Because God is omniscient a person is fully assured that He will hear them when they pray to Him and because He is omnipotent He is able to act on their behalf.
    1. NIDNTT: It is significant that, wherever the NT speaks of requests made to God, it emphasizes that such requests are heard (cf. Matt. 6:8; 7:7-11; 18:19; 21:22; Jn. 14:13f.; 15:7, 16; 16:23f., 26; 1 Jn. 3:22; 5:14f.; Jas. 1:5). It is as if the NT witnesses wished particularly to encourage men to pray, by assuring the suppliant that his requests are heard by God. The NT is aware that this certainty keeps all prayer alive; let such certainty become weakened or diminished through doubt, and prayer dies...In prayer we are never to forget whom we are addressing: the living God, the almighty One with whom nothing is impossible, and from whom therefore all things may be expected (2:857, Prayer, H. Schonweiss).
    2. NIDOTTE: Prayer is, indeed a serious matter. It is regarded in the Bible as the most fundamental of all expressions of religion. It concerns the deepest feelings and most central motivation of the persons who are offering their prayer to their God, and it concerns the covenant relationship, with its blessings and sanctions, as the inevitable fabric of the living communion between the people and their God. To pray is an act of faith in the almighty and gracious God, who responds to the prayers of his people (4:1062, Prayer, P.A. Verhoef).

    In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27, NASB).
    The Holy Spirit is God because:
    1. He is capable of enabling every believer in prayer at anytime (omnipotence).
    2. He fully understands all their hearts (omniscience).
    a. Spurgeon:
    Romans 8:26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:
    Oh, how many these are! Want of memory, want of faith, want of earnestness, ignorance, pride, deadness, coldness of heart, — these are some of our infirmities; but, thank God, we have the omnipotent Spirit of God to help us.
    Romans 8:26. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
    These groanings are too deep, too full of meaning to be expressed in words. There are some things the Christian wants for which he cannot ask; perhaps he does not even know what it is that he wants. There is a vacuum in his heart, but he does not know what would fill it. There is a hunger in his spirit, but he knows not what the bread is, nor where the bread is, that can satisfy his wants. But the Holy Ghost can articulate these unuttered groans, and the deepest needs of our soul can thus be brought before God by his own Spirit. You, then, who find it difficult to pray, do not give up praying. The devil tells you that such poor prayers as yours are can never reach the ear of God. Do not believe him. The Spirit helps your infirmities: and when he helps you, you shall, you must prevail.
    http://www.studylight.org/com/spe/view.cgi?bk=44&ch=8
    b. David Guzik: The Holy Spirit’s help in intercession is perfect, because He searches the hearts of those whom He helps, and He is able to guide our prayers according to the will of God.
    http://www.studylight.org/com/guz/view.cgi?bk=44&ch=8
    Last edited by foudroyant; 05-11-2014, 06:29 AM.

  • #2
    Thankyou for the explanation.
    I have read it and will reflect on it some more...but so far it seems to be a similar argument to the previous one---X has a similar attribute to one ascribed to God therefore X is God---would this be correct?

    Comment


    • #3
      The Holy Spirit has the same attribute of what God alone possesses. (1 Corinthians 2:10; Romans 8:26-27).
      He (the Holy Spirit) is referred to as the highest source of authority in Acts 21:11.

      Comment

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