Is the Spirit of God equal to the Father and the Son?
Called “the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18, JND), lying to Him and to God are equivalent (Acts 5:3, 4). He is equated with God in the creation (Genesis 1:2; 2:2), incarnation (Luke 1:35; Galatians 4:4), anointing (Acts 10:38), miracles (Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20), crucifixion (Hebrews 9:14), resurrection (Acts 3:15; 1 Peter 3:18), saints’ resurrection (Romans 8:11;1 Corinthians 15:38, and operation of gifts (1 Corinthians 12:6, 11).
The Lord equates the Spirit’s deity with His own by saying, “another (of the same kind) Comforter” (John 14:16). In 1 Corinthians 12-4-6 the Spirit, the Lord and God are parallel (see also Matthew 28:29; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2; Jude 21). hi the same chapter, He “wills” (verse 11), as does God Games 1:18). His omnipresence and God’s are equivalent (Psalm 139:7). He is omniscient (1 Corinthians 2:11) and omnipotent (Romans 8:11; Matthew 22:29).
He wills (John 3:8), knows (1 Corinthians 2:11), acts (Acts 16:7), speaks (1 Timothy 4:1), and feels (Ephesians 4:30). He is a distinct person, though equal with the Father and Son. When the Son stood at Jordan, the Spirit descended, and the Father spoke from heaven, this distinction was visible (Matthew 3:16, 17, paralleling the Old Testament revelation in Isaiah 42:1).
D. Oliver
Do we pray to the Spirit or ask for the Spirit of God?
The Lord Jesus taught the disciples to pray to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus (John 16:23). In the epistles we learn that we should pray in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18), who helps us to pray intelligently and makes intercession for us (Romans 8:26, 27). Before Pentecost, the Spirit came upon people temporarily to empower them for some special service. From the day of Pentecost onward, the Spirit came to indwell and seal each believer at the moment of conversion (Ephesians 1:13, “upon believing”). We are never told in the epistles to pray for the Spirit, be cause He already indwells, us. We are told to be filled with the Spirit in order to serve God, and to walk in the Spirit in order to please God and not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
A. Joyce
What does the Bible teach about being “led by the Spirit” in an assembly gathering?
Spirit’s guiding the disciples into all truth (i.e. The Word of God). In Romans 8:14, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God,” relates to what is characteristic of all true believers. Being led by the Spirit instead of the flesh relates to the character of our lives, not a specific activity.
In Galatians 5:18, “If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law” corresponds to the earlier statement “walk in the Spirit.” it involves dependence on the Spirit, rather than the law, for fruitfulness in a believer’s life.
Thus the three occasions relate to the believer’s entire life and not to a specific gathering of the saints. To the degree to which these are predominant in a believer’s life, he will be intelligent as to the Spirit’s purpose when the saints are gathered together and will be able to contribute to the glory of God.
A Higgins
Why do the Scriptures refer to the Spirit of God as “itself” occasionally?
The Spirit is twice referred to as “itself” in Romans 8, verses 16 and 26. Greek students tell us that the pronoun in the original is neuter in strict grammatical agreement with the word “Pneuma” (Spirit), a neuter word. Since the Spirit is a person in the Godhead, other translations read, “Himself.”
Our Lord Jesus used the masculine pronoun “He” with the neuter “Spirit” in John 14:16, 17; 15:26; 16:7,8,13. Using this “phenomenon of grammar,” as another has called this exceptional use of the masculine pronoun, He shows that the Spirit is a person.
W. Gustafson
What is the difference in the Spirit’s relationship to believers today as compared with Old Testament believers?
There is a distinction between relations of the Spirit to men before and after Pentecost. This is evident from the Lord’s teaching in John 14:16, 17, “He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever… He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” So in the old dispensation the Spirit was with believers, in the present dispensation He is in them.
Before Pentecost the Spirit was at work fitting men for special service or testimony to accomplish the purpose of God. The Spirit came only on certain individuals (Numbers 11:29). Bezaleel was filled with the Spirit of God for the work of the Tabernacle (Exodus 35:30,31). “The Spirit of the Lord came upon David” (1 Samuel 16:13). Verse 14 of that passage states, “But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.” David prayed that the Holy Spirit would not be taken from him (Psalm 51:11). This indicates the transient nature of His presence prior to Pentecost. In this age, He dwells permanently in all believers (John 14:17).
J. Abernathy
