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Holy Spirit Is God But He Is Not Jesus or The Father CH - Jamkhokai Mate PDF
Holy Spirit Is God But He Is Not Jesus or The Father CH - Jamkhokai Mate PDF
Back ground: The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD had not ended the Arian controversy (that denying the deity of Christ) which it had been called to clarify.
Arius and his sympathizers, e.g. Eusebius of Nicomedia (Arius follower) were admitted back into the church after ostensibly accepting the Nicene Creed.
Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, the most vocal opponent of Arianism, was ultimately exiled through the machinations of Eusebius of Nicomedia after the
death of Constantine-I. After the death of Constantine I in 337 and the accession of his Arian-leaning son Constantius II, open discussion of replacing
Nicene Creed itself began. Up until about 360, theological debates mainly dealt with the divinity of the Son, the second person of the Trinity until it was
finally settled from biblical authority by Theodosius the emperor. However, because the Nicene Creed at the Council of Nicaea had not dealt in detail about
the divinity of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, it became a topic of debate. The Macedonians after their founder Macedonius denied the
divinity of the Holy Spirit. This was also known as Pneumatomachianism. The Pneumatomachi (from Greek for spirit" and "fighters, combining as
"Combators against the Spirit") are also known as the Macedonians. Church sources ascribe Bishop Macedonius I as the founder. The writings of
Macedonius himself, as well as the Pneumatomachi, have all been lost, and what is asserted regarding their doctrine comes from polemic refutations by
church leaders, who regarded them as a heretical sect. Macedonius more fully developed his theological views toward the end of his life including during a
brief retirement before his death, possibly before the sect fully emerged. Pneumatomachian doctrine was embraced by Eleusius and Marathonius, the latter a
major protagonist and it gained traction in area like Constantinople, Thrace, Bithynia, and the Hellespont. Under the Emperor Julian, (before Constantius II)
in 361 AD to 363 A.D., who personally rejected Christianity in favor of Neoplatonic paganism, and who sought to return the Roman Empire to its original
religious eclecticism, the Pneumatomachi had enough power to declare their independence from both Arians and orthodox. Pneumatomachi beliefs were
distinct from, but in some regards reminiscent of, Arianism. Church commentators assert that they denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, and regarded the
substance of Jesus Christ as being of "similar substance" (homoiousios) but not of the "same essence" (homoousios) as that of God the Father. The
Pneumatomachi were denounced in 374 by Pope Damasus I. In 381 A.D., the Pneumatomachian concept that the Holy Spirit was a creation of the Son,
and a servant of the Father and the Son, prompted the First Council of Constantinople (also termed the Second Ecumenical Council) to add, And in the
Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son is equally worshipped and glorified, Who spake
by the Prophets, into the Nicene Creed. The council lasted for three months May-July 381 at the Church of Hagia Irene. As a result of the Second
Ecumenical Council, homoousios (same substance/essence) has become the accepted definition of Christian orthodoxy. Thereafter, the Macedonians were
suppressed by the emperor Theodosius I at the council of Constantinople 381 AD. Two prominent 4th-century saints, Athanasius of Alexandria and Basil of
Caesarea, wrote polemics against Macedonianism (Letters to Serapion and On the Holy Spirit respectively. This council condemned Arianism which began
to die out with further condemnations at a council of Aquileia by Ambrose of Milan in 381. With the discussion of Trinitarian doctrine now developed and
well under agreement to orthodox and biblical understanding, the focus of discussion changed to Christology, which would be the topic of the Council of
Ephesus of 431 and the Council of Chalcedon of 451. Both these councils did not reject the deity of Jesus but reject the human nature and divine nature in
one person of Jesus Christ.
Binitarianism
Armstrongites, such as the Living Church of God, believe that the Logos and God the Father are co-equal and co-eternal, but they do not believe that the
Holy Spirit is an actual person, like the Father and the Son. They believe the Holy Spirit is the Power, Mind, or Character of God, depending on the context.
They teach, "The Holy Spirit is the very essence, the mind, life and power of God. It is not a Being. The Spirit is inherent in the Father and the Son, and
emanates from Them throughout the entire universe". Mainstream Christians characterize this teaching as the heresy of Binitarianism, the teaching that God
is a "Duality", the Father and the Word, or "two-in-one", rather than three.
Modalist groups
Oneness Pentecostalism, as with other modalist groups, teach that the Holy Spirit is a mode of God, rather than a distinct or separate person from the Father.
They instead teach that the Holy Spirit is just another name for the Father. According to Oneness theology, the Holy Spirit essentially is the Father. The
United Pentecostal Church teaches that there is no personal distinction between God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These two titles "Father" and
"Holy Spirit" (as well as others) do not reflect separate "persons" within the Godhead, but rather two different ways in which the one God reveals himself to
his creatures. Thus, the Old Testament speaks of "The Lord God and his Spirit" in Isaiah 48:16, but this does not indicate two "persons" according to
Oneness theology. Rather, "The Lord" indicates God in all of His glory and transcendence, while the words "His Spirit" refer to God's own Spirit that
moved upon and spoke to the prophet. The Oneness view is that this does not imply two "persons" any more than the numerous scriptural references to a
man and his spirit or soul (such as in Luke 12:19) imply two "persons" existing within one body.
Other groups
The Unity Church interprets the religious terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit metaphysically, as three aspects of mind action: mind, idea, and expression.
They believe this is the process through which all manifestation takes place. As a movement that developed out of Christianity, it has its own unique
interpretation of both the Holy Trinity and the Holy Spirit. Although there are several slight variations, they generally state that it is Haile Selassie who
embodies both God the Father and God the Son, while the Holy (or rather, "Hola") Spirit is to be found within Rasta believers and within every human
being. It also say that the true church is the human body, and that it is this church (or "structure") that contains the Holy Spirit.
Introduction: The third person of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is sometimes referred to as "the forgotten" member of the Godhead. He is, no
doubt, the least spoken of among the three persons of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Most students of our Christian theology of the Trinity
agree: Pneumatology, or the study of the Holy Spirit, is probably the least developed, after the study of the Son and the Father. It is, therefore, no surprise to
find many Christian ill-equipped to deal with some of the more notable errors concerning he who is "the Lord and giver of life." Thus, studying the person
and nature of the Holy Spirit, though sometimes neglected, is crucial for us as Christian apologists. The most common attacks on Christian belief
concerning the Holy Spirit generally come from quasi-Christian sects such as the Iglesia Ni Cristo, Jehovahs Witnesses, and others who deny the central
mystery of the Christian faiththe Trinity. Both the personhood as well as the divinity of the Holy Spirit are rejected by these groups. The Holy Spirit is
spoken of as a "force," or as "power" emanating from God, rather than as God himself by many sects. As Christian, then, we must be able to respond to
these two key misunderstandings concerning the Holy Spirit. The truths about the Holy Spirit are that 1. He is a person, and 2. He is God.
More than a Force: Of the 377 instances of the Hebrew word for breath, wind and spirit in the Old Testament, there are approximately 94 that refer to
the Spirit of God. His activity there is associated with God's power in creation or in the lives of individuals. Just because the same term is used does not
mean the Holy Spirit is impersonal force. In Hebrew many words are identical having different meaning based on the sentence and construction. In French
word for "tree" is masculine in gender. Should English people conclude that French trees are "men"; or that Greek neuter nouns, pronouns, & adjectives
make THE Father, THE Son, & THE Spirit (& angels, demons, infants, etc.) into "ITS"? -- Obviously not. One of the first reasons given for denying the
divine nature of the Holy Spirit is often to point out that the Greek word for "spirit" (pneuma) is neuter. John 14:26, for example, refer to the Spirit as to
pneuma to hagion (the Holy Spirit). The claim goes that Father and the Son are clearly personal, masculine terms, and therefore, they are revealed as
persons. "Spirit" being neuter, on the other hand, supposedly indicates we are dealing with an impersonal force rather than a person. Christian agree that
spirit in Greek is a neuter term. But this does not necessarily mean the Holy Spirit is impersonal. Nouns in Greek are assigned gender as they are in many
languages. In Latin and the modern romance languages, this is the case as well. For example, the Latin word for lance is lancea, which is feminine. This
does not mean that lances or daggers are actually female and personal! The same can be said for Greek words such as kardia, heart. The fact that this Greek
word is feminine does not indicate hearts to be female and personal. Nor does the fact that a word like baros, Greek for arrow, which is neuter, indicate
arrows to be impersonal forces. Words are simply assigned gender in these languages. Further, if being referred to as "spirit" indicates the third person of
the Blessed Trinity is impersonal, then both angels and God the Father would have to be "forces" rather than persons as well. In John 4:24, Jesus says "God
is spirit (Greek pneuma) and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." And in Hebrews 1:14, angels are referred to as "ministering spirits
(Greek pneumata) sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation." Is God and angles a force because they are spirit (pneuma)? The
key here is to examine the context and usage of a word in Scripture, rather than just its "gender," in order to determine whether we are dealing with a
person, a force, or perhaps just an arrow. Speaking of the importance of context, the verse of Scripture used to "prove" the Holy Spirit to be an impersonal
force actually demonstrates, when examined more fully, that the Holy Spirit is both personal and masculine. John 14:26 says: "But the Counselor, the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." Three key points are
in evidence here. First, "the Counselor" is ho paracleto in Greek, which is masculine, not neuter. Second, when the text says he will teach you all things the
demonstrative pronoun (Gr. ekeinos) is used in the masculine singular. This is significant because the inspired author could have used the neuter ekeino, but
he did not. If the Holy Spirit were an impersonal force, the inspired author would not refer to it as a He. And third, notice what the Holy Spirit does. Jesus
says he will both teach and remind us "all that [he has] said to [us]." Action follows being. One cannot teach and remind if one does not have the intellectual
powers unique to rational persons that enable one to do so. The Holy Spirit is clearly a person. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is referred to in personal terms by our
Lord throughout the New Testament. If we only consider John chapters 14, 15, and 16, the evidence is overwhelming. This is not to mention the abundance
of examples we could cite throughout Scripture, both Old (in seed form) and New Testaments. Lets take John 14:16-17: Jesus says And I will pray the
Father, and he (Father) will give you another(allos) comforter (parakleton), to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, who the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees him (auton)nor knows him(auton); you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. Here Allos means of the same kind or
nature.
John 14:26: But the Comforter (parakleton), who is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He (Ekeinos) shall teach you all things, and
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 15:26-27, Jesus says, But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the
Father, He(ekneinos) will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning.
John 16:7-15, Jesus makes it very plain,: Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will
not come to you; but if I go, I will send him(auton) to you. And when He (ekeinos) comes, he will convinct the world of sin and of righteousness and of
judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; of judgment, because the
ruler of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He (ekneinos) will guide
you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
He (ekeinos) will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he (ekeinos) will take
what is mine and declare it to you. The word Ekeinos is demonstrative pronoun HE, and auton is HIM accusative singular masculine. Greek is a gender
language; spirit by its standard of language is neuter however Jesus broke the gender rule to show us that the Holy Spirit is not a force or impersonal entity
but really a person as the Father and the Son are person.
HIMSELF" = HEAUTOU
John 5:26: just as the father has life in himself (heauto), so he has granted also to the son to have life in himself (heauto).
John 5:18, 19: not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was also calling god his own father, making himself (heauton) equal to God. Therefore, I
answer,
Jesus went on to say to them: "most truly i say to you, the son cannot do a single thing of my own self (aph heautou)..."
John 16:13: the Spirit of the truth, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on His own (aph heautou)...
EGO:
It is the nominative case of the first personal pronoun I. The pronoun "I," however, generally forms a part of the verb itself in Greek... Where the pronoun
EGO is added to the verb, it is almost invariably, if not entirely, emphatic."
The Spirit said: "look! three men are seeking you. However, rise, go downstairs & be on your way with them, not doubting at all, because I (ego) have
dispatched them." Acts 10:19, 20
Jesus said to him: I ("ego) am the way & the truth & the life. No one comes to the father except through me.." John14:6
I am (ego) the God of Abraham & the God of Isaac & the God of Jacob" Matthew.22:32
The Spirit the holy said: "... set Barnabas & Saul apart for me for the work to which i (ego) have called them." Acts 13:2.
The Spirit the wicked said to them: "i (ego) know Jesus..." Acts 19:15
ME" = MOI
Hebrew 1:5: to which of the angels did he ever say: ... "i shall become his father, & he will become to me (moi) my son
John 8:45, 46. [the son said:] you do not believe me (moi)... why is it you do not believe moi?
Acts 13:2: the Spirit the holy said: "... set Barnabas & Saul apart for me (moi) for the work to which i have called them."
Mark 5:9: "what is your name?" & he said...: 'legion name to me (moi) because there are many of us."
given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1.16: and said, "Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy
Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.
Acts11:12: Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. In
Rev.14:13 we find the Spirit speaks from heaven saying "write". All these characteristics give personal identity to the Holy Spirit which makes him a
person. It is the Spirit that brings one to recognize who Christ is. To fight and refuse this is to ignore the testimony of Jesus. If one thinks it is a force that
that is revealing the Son, than this would automatically change who the Son is as well
The Holy Spirit is masculine third person singular from OT
Isaiah 40:13: Who has understood the Spirit of Yahweh, or instructed Him as His counselor?
Isaiah 32:15: Until the Spirit is poured out
Micah 2:7: Will it be said, House of Jacob, "The Spirit of Yahweh is worn out.
1 Kings 18:12: I don't know where the Spirit of Yahweh will carry
2 Samuel 23:2: The Spirit of Yahweh spoke with me and His word was upon my tongue
Genesis 6:3 My Spirit My Spirit will not plead with mankind forever... Isa 34:16 etc Spirit by gender in Hebrew occurs many time as feminine but it
frequently occurs as masculine to ensure that He is not a force or an abstract quality but a person with wills, emotion and feelings.
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God or the Spirit are used interchangeably
Number 11:20-25: God took some of His Spirit from Moses and put the same upon the seventy elders29 then Moses saidthe LORD would put His
Spirit upon them
Isa. 63:9-14: In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence [lit. the Messenger of His Face] saved themBut they rebelled and
grieved His Holy SpiritWhere is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them, who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of MosesThe
Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So You led Your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name.
Psalm 51:11 Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me12. and uphold me with your generous Spirit . The Holy Spirit is Qad Seka We Rauah in
Hebrew. This Hebrew word is different from the word emotional, energy, force, or any non-living dynamic force.
Exo 31:3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is also mentioned in many places like Num 24:2, Judge 3:10, etc. We can also
see in Hagai 2:4-7 My Spirit testifies you. The Spirit of God here is also Ruah in Hebrew. Nehemiah 9:20 You impart your Holy Spirit.
Luke 3:22 says the Holy Spirit descend like a dove, Matt 3:16 says the Spirit of God descend like a dove,
Matt 22:43 says David spoke by the Spirit yet Mark says David spoke by the Holy Spirit
Luke 4:1 Jesus was filled with the Holy Spiritwas led by the Spirit
1 Corthn 2;10 says the Spirit search all things but vs 11 says the Spirit of God vs 13 says the Holy Spirit
Acts 5:3 says the Holy Spirit and in vs 9 says the Spirit
John 7:39: he spoke concerning the Spirit for the Holy Spirit was not yet given.
John 16:13 used Spirit of truth but vs 26 says the Holy Spirit again.
Acts 2:4: the apostles were filled the Holy Spiritas the Spirit give them utterance
1 Cothn 12;3-13: by the Spirit of God ..except by the Holy Spirit, vs 7 used again the Spirit
2 Corthn 1:22 says we are sealed with the Spirit but Ephe 1:13 says we are sealed by the Holy Spirit
Acts 8:29 says the Spirit said to Philip but vs 39 says the Spirit of the Lord again.
Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ
In NT the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Jesus in Galatian 4:6 (God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son), Philipian 1:19 (suppy of the Spirit of Jesus
Christ); Roman 8:9 (but you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ
he is not His).
Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father: Matt 10:20: it is not you who speak but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you
Heb 10:15-17: And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, says
the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, And upon their mind I will write them," He then says, 17. "And their sins and their lawless deeds I will
remember no more. This quotation was spoken by the LORD in Jer. 31:31-32: declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant it will not be
like the covenant declares the LORD. We have seen that what Jer 31:31-32 records the word spoken by the LORD was the word actually spoken by the
Holy Spirit as Hebrew 10:15-17 verifies.
Isaiah 6:1-9; Isaiah says I saw the LORD of hosts sitting on his thronewhom shall I send who will go for US? vs 9. He said, "Go and tell this people:
Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. So some part of the word spoken by the LORD of hosts was spoken by the
Holy Spirit as we can see in Acts 28:25-26: The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet: Go to this people
and say, You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. The Holy Spirit is also the LORD of hosts of the
OT who ask the question whom shall I send who will go for Us. We can be sure that it was the Holy Spirit as no one can instruct him or counselor Him
from Isaiah 40:13: Who has understood the Spirit of Yahweh, or instructed Him as His counselor?
Acts 7:51: you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! you always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did. Did their fathers really resist the
Holy Spirit and when? We have in Psalm 78:17-18: but they sinned ever more against Him by rebelling against the Most High, in the wilderness. And they
tested God in their heart. We have the Holy Spirit as the Most High and directly addressed as God.
I Cor. 6:19: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? but we have in 2 Corthn 6:16: for
you are the temple of the living God. As God said I will dwells in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my peoplei will be a
Father to you and you shall be My Son and daughters says the LORD Almighty. Here we have Holy Spirit dwelling in us is God himself as he says: I will
dwell in them. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the no other than God himself, the LORD Almighty himself (vs 18)
The Holy Spirit is Lord (Yahweh) in the NT: May the Lord (Holy Spirit) makes you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we
do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His
saints (1 Thess 3:12, 13). Obviously, we have seen that the Lord referred here is the Holy Spirit. Similarly, in 2 Thess 3:5 May the Lord (Holy Spirit)
direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. 2 Cor 3:17:now the Lord is the Spirit. Etc.
can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are
there" (Ps. 139:7-8). God's Spirit, which David uses as a synonym for the presence of God himself, is in heaven and in sheol (v. 8), in the east and in the
west (v. 9).
The Holy Spirit is Omnipotent
Luke 1:35-37: the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will over shadow youfor with God nothing is impossible
Gen 18:10, 14: Then the LORD said, I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." 14. Is anything too hard
for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son. The LORD did not say nothing is hard for me rather gives
us the idea of another person who would actually execute His word. The NT writers inform us that it was he the Holy Spirit who did the work of LORDs
plan testifying that the Holy Spirit is God. Gal 4.29: At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. We
have seen the Holy Spirit was involved in the execution of the promise
The Holy Spirit is Omniscient: 1 Corthn 2:11: For what person knows a mans thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one
comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. The reason no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God is because it
would require infinite power to be able to comprehend the thoughts of God which are infinite. Romans 11:33-34 tells us: O the depth of the riches and
wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has
been his counselor? The fact that the Holy Spirit of God fully comprehends the thoughts of God proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he is, in fact, God.
Isaiah 43:13: Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor?
1 Corthn 2:10: But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God
7
The Holy Spirit appoints: Acts 20:28: Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in
which you tend the church of God that he acquired with his own blood."
Convicts non-believers of the truth of the Gospel: 1 Theso 1:5: for our gospel did not come to you in words only but also in power and in the Holy
Spirit and in much assurance as you know what kind of men..
The Holy Spirit was the agent by which God spoke: Zec 7:12: Yea, they made their hearts as a flint stone, lest they should hear the law, and the
words which the LORD of hosts has sent by his Spirit through the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts In the NT the
same is affirms 2 Peter 1:21: 2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by
the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin John 16:7-15, Jesus makes it very plain,: Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go
away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him(auton) to you. And when He (ekeinos) comes, he will
convinct the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and
you will see me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
The Holy Spirits role in the End Times
In the 7-year Tribulation Period
1. In unbelievers The Holy Spirit will be instrumental in the salvation of Israelites at the close of the tribulation (Zech. 12:10).
2. In believers The Holy Spirit will provide special enablement for spiritual tasks as in Old Testament times (Acts 2:17-21).
In the Millennium
1. In believers The Holy Spirit will enable believing Israelites to live righteously (Ezek. 36:27).
2. In Christ The Holy Spirit will be active in Christs righteous rule (Isa. 11:2).
The Holy Spirit is listed alongside with the Father and the Son
Likewise, when Jesus spoke of deity He employed the same threefold formula found in the Law and the Prophets.
John 14:16:I (Jesus) will ask the (2) Father, and He will give you (3) another Counselor the Spirit of truth. Since the Spirit comes as another
Counselor to replace Jesus the Spirits role is to represent Jesus on earth when Jesus is absent.
John 14:26.But the comforter (parakletos), which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all things that I said to you.
John 15:26 But when the Helper (parakletos) comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will
testify of Me.".
John 16:7: I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
Matt 28:19: baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
1 John 5:7 states For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one Who is the Word
referred here? The Word is Jesus Christ according to Rev 19:13 His name was the Word of God.
2 Corthn 13:14: the grace of our Lord Jesus the love of the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit.
Jude 20-21, But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit; 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting
anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
I Peter 1:2; Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ.
I Corithn 12:4-6 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of
effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.
I Peter 1:1-2 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
Rev 1:4-5; John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him who is, and who was, and who is to come (the Father);
and from the seven Spirits (the Holy Spirit) who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ.
2 Theso 2:13 ...are bound to give thanks to God ...brethren beloved by the Lord because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through
sanctification by the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not a Personification of God's power
The Bible does use personification widely:
1) "Oh earth, earth, earth, write this man down childless."
2) Ps 98:8 "The rivers clap their hands: Let the mountains sing together for Joy.
3) "I tell you if these become silent, the stones would cry out." Lk 19:3740
4) Of wisdom, "She stands and calls on the rooftops" Proverbs 9:16
5) "And I heard the altar say: "Yes, Jehovah God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judicial decisions." Revelation 16:7
6)"At this he said: "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground." Genesis 4:10
7) "Look! The wages due the workers who harvested YOUR fields but which are held up by YOU, keep crying out, and the calls for help on the part of the
reapers have entered into the ears of Jehovah of armies." James 5:4
8) wisdom is said to have "children." Luke 7:35
9) Sin and death are spoken of as kings. Rom 5:14,21
Similarly, false view of the nature of Satan: some sect even view the devil, not as a separate personal evil being, but as the personification of sin and
disease. When it says "the Devil prowls around seeking someone to devour" (Jas 4:8). This is personification they would say. Some say the Holy Spirit the
personification of the Bible. They do this by constructing a chart like below and show that the two have many of the save qualities. They then conclude that
since they have the same qualities, they are the same thing and rest on this chart as proof. Similar qualities does not mean two things are the same. Identical
twins have many similar qualities but are distinct. There are several qualities the Holy Spirit has that the word does not. Although the Bible is ascribed
functionality that might imply person hood, (speak, convicts, leads, justifies, instructs etc) these terms are not exclusive to person hood but are normal
applications of what a book can do. What is never ascribed to the Bible, that is to the Holy Spirit, are emotions, intercedes, searches, the ability to choose,
exercise free will, or be worshipped. The many similarities between what the Bible is said to do and what the Holy Spirit is said to do, is because the Bible
is the instrument the Holy Spirit uses to convict, convert and guide the church. The Holy Spirit revealed the Bible. He is the revealer. The Bible is the
revelation. The Bible is the "sword of the Spirit", not the Spirit Himself, but the instrument he uses to accomplish His will. Eph 6:17.
Notice that we can construct a similar chart to show Characteristics that the Father shares with the Holy Spirit. The difference is that none of these things
can the Bible do!
The Father
The Bible
Personification is "A rhetorical figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities..." (American, p.926).
Personification is found throughout the Bible with endless examples of mountains clapping and stars singing. But in all these things we know by way of
human experience that they are not really persons. Not so with the Holy Spirit. No one can know the Holy Spirit is a thing (and not a person) the way we
can know a mountain is not a person from human experience. We can prove something is personification by finding a Bible verse that outright states it is
not a person but a thing. We can do this with hills, wisdom, stars etc. Anti-Trinitarians are at a loss to find any Bible verse that says the Holy Spirit is a
thing and not a person. When referenced, the Holy Spirit is always the masculine "HE". Not so with mountains and stars. The vast majority of times the
Bible refers to things like stars and mountains, they are not personified. Personification is the EXCEPTION to the usage in scripture. The problem for antiTrinitarians is that the Holy Spirit IS ALWAYS PERSONIFIED. Personification is not the exception to the general use, personification is the rule... every
time, without exception! If anti-Trinitarians are correct, the personification of the Holy Spirit is so complete and extensive in scripture, that we are without a
guideline to determine the difference between persons and things. We would have to call into question, for example, the person hood of Abraham as the
personification of the father of God's people. The personification of the Holy Spirit is as extensive as the personification of Abraham or many other Bible
characters. Take Adam for example. Many modernists already dismiss his personal existence as myth. Could Adam be nothing more than the
personification of all mankind? A simple reading of Romans 5:12-19 and 1 Cor 15:45 will quickly reveal the problem for Arians. Adam is clearly used as a
metaphoric symbol for all of mankind in many places. Could Adam be nothing more than personification? The extent of personification of the Holy Spirit
equals any Bible character. Anti-Trinitarian challenge: what verse shows the Holy Spirit to be a thing or an it? We know of none, therefore we are forced to
the conclusion that the Holy Spirit is a person.
The "Holy Spirit" is in contrast to "unholy Spirit": who are persons: The very term "Holy Spirit" is used in contrast to "unholy spirits" like demons
and the devil: Mark 3:22-23; Mt 12:32; 1 Tim 4:1; 1 Jn 3:24-4:6. If "unholy or evil spirits" are persons, then the Holy Spirit is a person. This point applies
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to Jehovah's Witnesses but not Christadelphians, because the later do not even ascribe personality to the devil or demons, but view them as the
personification of sin and disease respectively. In Acts 13:2, The Spirit, The Holy said: "set Barnabas & Saul apart for ME for the work to which I have
called them. The evil spirit the said to them: "I know Jesus and Paul, but who are you" Acts 19:15. If the evil spirit is not force then the Holy Spirit is not a
force either; one is evil the other is Holy thats all. We can see that the evil spirit speaks which is a personal attributes: Mark 3:11 the evil spirit cried out
you are the Son of God, Mark 1:23: the evil spirit said you are the Holy One of God. The evil spirit speaks because he is a person so is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit evaluates, reasons and chooses with intelligent freewill which energy cannot
1. John 16:13 "He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak"
2. Acts 15:28 "it seemed good to us and the Holy Spirit"
3. Jn 16:13 "He will guide you
4. Acts 16:6: "forbidden by the Holy Spirit to go to Asia"
5. Acts 11:12 "He told Peter to go with Cornelius' men.
6. Acts 8:39 "He "caught Phillip away."
7. Matt 4:1; 1:12; Luke 4:11 He led Jesus into the wilderness.
8. Jn 16:13 "Whatever He hears He will speak" He will disclose to the apostles "things to come
Anti-Trinitarain texts refuted
The Holy Spirit is directly called the power of God in Luke 1:35: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow
you". Only to an anti-Trinitarian does this verse outright call the Holy Spirit God's power. The verse does not say, "The Holy Spirit is the power of God". It
uses a paired statement. Notice Luke 1:35 is the closest verse Arians can come up with that might suggest the Holy Spirit is said to be God's power. Granted
that "Hebrew parallelism" is in fact common in the Bible, there are so many statements like Luke 1:35 that are not "Hebrew parallelisms" that no further
really needs to be said. Even still, there are different kinds of "Hebrew parallelisms". Somewhere two things are intended to be interchangeably synonymous
and others where two different things are working together to have a common effect. Arians view Luke 1:35 as two interchangeably synonymous things:
Holy Spirit and Power. But there are so many examples where different things are linked to have a common effect, that Arians simply have no firm proof of
anything. Here is a verse very close to Luke 1:35. God himself and His power are used in a "Hebrew parallelism". "I will also cut off the inhabitant from
Ashdod ... I will even unleash My power upon Ekron" Amos 1:8. God is no more mere power in Amos 1:8 than the Holy Spirit is mere power in Luke 1:35.
The scriptures are even called the power of God in Rom 1:16, but everyone knows that they are not used interchangeably synonymous in this verse but are
two distinct things: "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures, or the power of God." Mt 22:29. The scriptures were the source of their doctrinal
misunderstandings and God's power would raise all men from the dead at the second coming. To demand that scriptures and God's power are
interchangeably synonymous in Mt 22:29 is just as wrong as demanding the Holy Spirit and power are interchangeably synonymous in Luke 1:35. Here we
have a similar statement where two different things are mentioned. God's power is linked to God's hand. Two different things that are not interchangeably
synonymous: "Thou didst redeem by Thy great power and by Thy strong hand" Nehemiah 1:10. Here the Holy Spirit and power are differentiated: "God
anointed Him [Jesus] with the Holy Spirit and with power" Acts 10:38; "demonstration of the Spirit and of power" 1 Cor 2:4. It makes no sense that Jesus
was "anointed with power and power".
The Holy Spirit is neuter so what? The Holy Spirit is neuter gender throughout the New Testament Greek proving it is an "it" not a person??. No if the
Holy Spirit was in the masculine, you would have a point. But God deliberately chose to use a neuter gender word to show us the Holy Spirit is a thing not a
person??
1. Gender of a word has nothing to do with identity. It has to do with the language. Gender belongs to the language of the word, not to the case of, or the
object of the word.
2. Infants (Lk 1:41,44; 2:16; 18:15) and children (Mk 5:39-41) are also neuter in the Greek in exactly the same way Holy Spirit is neuter gender.
3. Girl is a neuter noun in Mt 9:24, 25; Mk 5:41, 42.
4. Angels are neuter pneuma " IT " spirits in Heb 1:14
5. Demons are neuter pneuma " IT " spirits over 45 times in scripture.
6. The word "Spirit" is feminine in Genesis 1:2: "the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters".
7. A masculine pronoun ("He" Greek: ekeinos, literal "that One") is applied to the Holy Spirit throughout the New Testament despite the fact that "Spirit"
(Greek: pneuma) is neuter. Is God trying to confuse us? Or is God taking special steps to make sure we understand the Holy Spirit is a person?
8. The word spirit is frequently "neuter gender" when it refers to the Father in Jn 4:24, to Jesus in 1Cor 15:45, to baby Jesus, in Mt 2:8, 11, 13, 14, 19-21,
9. Jesus is referred to as "IT" neuter 5 times in: Mt 2:8, 11, 13, 14, 20, 21
10. John the Baptist is referred to as IT neuter 8 times: Lk1:59, 60, 62, 63, 66, 67
11. Another neuter noun is korasion - girl (see Mt.9:24,25; Mk.5:41,42) !
12. Humans are called "it": "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. John
6:39 Nothing more needs to be said, after quoting this one verse, but we must address each verse Arians misuse.
13. Babies are called "it": We often use it to refer to babies in the same kind of way today: "What did you name it?" Here a baby is called literally "the holy
thing begotten": "And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit
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shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of
God." Luke 1:34-35.
14. The men living in the world are called an "its" in John 14:17 " Spirit of the truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or
know Him"
A. The KJV, RSV actually refer to the Holy Spirit as an "it" in these two passages: Romans 8:16,26 "The Spirit ITSELF beareth witness with our spirit ...
The Spirit ITSELF maketh intercession for us with groanings " (KJV, RSV) The fault is not in the original text, even the KJV translator never mean it to
Holy Spirit as impersonal. Vine says, "The rendering "itself" in Rom. 8:16, 26, due to the Greek gender, is corrected to "Himself" in the R.V. (W. E. Vine,
spirit) The word means: "(1) self (emphatic) (2) he, she, it (used for the third pers. pron.) (3) the same" Notice that the word can be translated, he, she or it.
To those familiar with the Greek language, the fact the Holy Spirit is called "itself" does nothing to prove the Holy Spirit is not a person.
B. Another passage Arians try to use to prove the Holy Spirit is not a person is John 1:32 "And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from
heaven like a dove, and IT abode upon him." (KJV) The NKJV and NASB translate it "and He remained upon Him". The NIV simply translates it, "and
remain on him". But even with this using the word it is really not problematic. Since the word IT refers specifically to the "DOVE shape" the Holy Spirit
took as a form. Not that the Holy Spirit was a dove, but that he took the form of a dove, hence, using "it" is quite natural even in English. Example: "My son
dressed up as a gorilla. It was real scary!"
C. A final Arian misused proof text is 1 Peter 1:11 "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when IT
testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." Of course it doesn't say "Spirit of God" but "Spirit of Christ". Now for
Trinitarians, this is no problem, but for Arians, this is a huge problem. The Holy Spirit is the Father's "energy" not the "created Son's". If it is Jesus' own
Spirit, Arians have just proven Jesus is not a person by their own argument of the usage of "it". If it is the Holy Spirit, (God's power) then they have to
explain away the fact God's power is called, "the Spirit of Christ". We send Arians skidding into the ditch with this question: Was the Dove that abode on
Him the father's Power or his own power? In the end, 1 Pet 1:11 is exactly like Romans 8:16,26 and John 1:32. The usage of the word "it", is just business
as usual in the Greek language and those who think it proves the Holy Spirit is not a person are simply misinformed. Also many better translations like
NKJV used Himself not itself.
1. But one final comment on 1 Pet 1:11 and Rom 8:16-26. If is puzzling that if God was trying to show us that the Holy Spirit was not a person in these
verses, why would He attach "personality qualities" to the "it"? In 1 Pet 1:11 the "it" is intelligently revealing prophetic information. Persons do this, not
things
The Holy Spirit can fill us so what?
This argument illustrates the utter desperation Jehovah's Witnesses are in to try to prove the Holy Spirit is not a person. We notice that they are wrong on
every argument because the same kind of language they say cannot be used of persons, IS USED OF PERSONS! Of course beware of the New World
Translation which deliberately translates the exact same words in different ways to deceive Jehovah's Witnesses
Persons
"For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." Deut. 4:24
"our God is a consuming fire." Heb. 12:29
2 Cor 13:5 Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you
one God and Father of all who is in all Eph 4:6
greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world 1 Jn 4:4
do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you 2 Cor 13:5
And if Christ is in you Rom 8:10
2 Cor 6:16 we are the temple of the Father, I will dwell in them
Eph. 4:10: that He [Christ] might fill all things." Eph 3:19: "that you may be filled with all the fullness of God"
Is the Father and Jesus impersonal because they can fill us?
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God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power" Acts 10:38. The Holy Spirit is used to "anoint" people like oil, He therefore
cannot be a Person??Jesus is used as a door through which we enter, and go in and out, and find pasture. He therefore cannot be a Person? Think not! John
10:9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." Unless the person making the argument is
willing to say Jesus is not a Person either because He is a door, this effective nullifies the argument. If Arians understand how a person can be a door that
we go in and out of, then they should understand a person can be used to anoint another person. Obviously there is a type and antitype that is in play here.
Incense in the Old Testament is said to be our prayers in the New Testament. Rev 5:8. It says the incense is the prayers of the saints. The temple of stone is
our bodies in the New Testament. God says "the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple" Rev 21:22. Does this mean God is not a person? Notice
the antitype of the physical temple is God Himself and Christ! Likewise, Holy Spirit is the antitype of the anointing oil of the Old Testament. God is
associated with many impersonal things. In fact God is directly called "fire" in two places: "our God is a consuming fire." Heb. 12:29 and "For the Lord
your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." Deut. 4:24 is God literal fire?
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is a verse very close to Luke 1:35. God himself and His power are used in a Hebrew parallelism. I will also cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod ... I will
even unleash My power upon Ekron (Amos 1:8). God is no more mere power in Amos 1:8 than the Holy Spirit is mere power in Luke 1:35. The scriptures
and gospel are even called the power of God in Rom 1:16, Gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation. But everyone knows that they are not used
interchangeably synonymous in this verse but are two distinct things. Matt 22:29 Jesus said you are mistaken, not knowing the scripture or the power of
God. The word of God is also called sword of the Spirit (Ep 6:17). No one suggest that Holy Spirit has a sword and that is the word of God as JW argue.
Nehemiah 1:10 Thou didst redeem by Thy great power and by Thy strong hand". Here Gods power is linked to Gods hand. Hebrew parallelism are found
everywhere which JW themselves understand the meaning it implies.
The Holy Spirit is the source of power not that he himself is impersonal energy:
Roman 15:19 (by the power of the Spirit of God,
Eph 3:16: we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit empowered Jesus during his earthly ministry: Luke 4:14 Jesus returned in the power of the The Holy Spirit.
Micah 3:8 I am truly full of Power by the Spirit of the LORD. Micah was filled with power from the Holy Spirit. We have the power that originated from
the Spirit.
spirit (substitute with breathe) or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God. Certainly they are speaking about a corporeal entity that
communicates not just breath.
What of Jesus, did he use this definition? Matt. 12:43 When an unclean spirit (substitute with Breathe) goes out of a man, he goes through dry places,
seeking rest, and finds none. Certainly he did not mean bad breath. Just as man can have the Holy Spirit live within him alongside his human Spirit so he
can have a unclean spirit live in him.
Luke 4:36: What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirit (substitute with Breathe) and they come out.
Acts 5:16: Bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirit (substitute with Breathe), and they were all healed. I guess some people
souls need breathe freshener! Jesus cast out spirit entities not peoples breath, and if he did they would certainly die on the spot
Luke 12:19: And I will say to my spirit, spirit (substitute with Breathe), you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be
merry. Can ones breath eat and drink.
James 5:20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save soul (substitute with Breathe) from death and cover a multitude of
sins. Can breathe be saved or a person.
2 Pet. 2:8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous spirit (substitute with breathe, (spirit) from day to day by seeing and
hearing their lawless deeds)-Ezek. 18:4: Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Can breathe die?
Obviously this means something than just air in the lungs.
1 Sam 30:6: because the soul of all the people was grieved. Can breathe or wind grieve? Num. 21:4 and the soul of the people became very discouraged
on the way. Prov. 21:10 The soul of the wicked desires evil Can breathe do any of these things, or does it communicate emotion, intelligence and
personality? Gen. 34:8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. Is
Shechem's breath desiring a wife? If the Hebrew word Rauch is translated as breathe where the context is different, it may sound funny. The fact is this
Hebrew word can be used in two different ways depending on the context. Simply substituting spirit with human breathe will be ridiculous without
understanding the context. It is true Rauch is spirit, but it can also mean breathe but to say that spirit is another word for breath is an indication of poor
Hebrew grammar. Pnuema means wind in Greek it also means breath and spirit. Ruach in Hebrew means wind, it too also can mean breath and spirit.
Since Hebrew and Greek have only one word for wind breath and spirit one needs to discern what is meant by certain passages, the context defines the
meaning. Jesus breathed on his disciples in John 20 saying receive the Spirit, the rushing wind in Acts is certainly to be interpreted as the Spirit. When Jesus
breathed on the apostles the Holy Spirit in John 20:22 he wasn't giving them Breath for life but the Holy Spirit in some capacity.
If Spirit is just a breath as many argue then God is Spirit according (John 4:24), is He breath to? We can see how ludicrous this position of interpretation is.
Certainly when Jesus spoke to the Father into your hands I commend my spirit he was not speaking of his breath.
We have a dual nature, physical (the body) and immaterial (spirit/soul).
except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been
freely given to us by God. Could we substitute breath and have the scripture read No one knows the things of God but the breath of God? Now we have
received, not the breathe of the world, but the breath who is from God! Does God need breath to live? The Bible tells us God is Spirit (breath?) and that he
has all knowledge, perfect knowledge of the past present and future.
James. 2:26: the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Meaning only the body dies, as James uses the example that faith
animates our works so the spirit animates the body. The relationship between the material and immaterial when broken means we die physically. Our spirit
is not dead like the body. The spirit is just as alive outside the body as it is inside the body. The resurrection only applies to the body. When our spirit
returns, our bodies come alive again. The correlation made is that real faith (which is invisible) is displayed to others by having works to show it is alive.
Abraham died and was gathered to his people. Gen.25:8 Jacob said the same thing Gen.49:29 Rachel dying said her soul was departing and she died in
Gen.35:18.
In I Kings 17:20-22: When the widows son died Elijah cried out three times to the LORD and said, O LORD my God, I pray, let this child's soul come
back to him. Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. Notice that it came in him. This is not
just breath as one can make air go back into someone who just died and they would not revive, this says the soul of the child, it is something he possessed
that had left him.
Luke 8:54-55: he, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, 'Child arise!' And her spirit returned, and she rose immediately; and He gave orders
for something to be given her to eat. This shows without the spirit to animate the body we are dead. This does not mean the spirit is dead or sleeping. In all
these instances we find the spirit entering the body again but never reviving or resurrecting because it already is alive. It is the body that is asleep and needs
animation.
down of this passage goes like this: 1) The Spirit of the Lord 2) The Spirit of Wisdom. 3) The Spirit of Understanding. 4) The Spirit of Counsel. 5) The
Spirit of Might. 6) The Spirit of Knowledge. 7) The Spirit of Fear of the Lord. It also represents seven complete work of the Holy Spirit. These are the
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Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal high priest himself, the Son of God Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and truth . .
., and to us with you, and to all those under heaven who will yet believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in his Father who raised him from the dead.
(Polycarp, Philippians, 12:2. Holmes, AF, 295)
Polycarp of Smyrna:I praise you for all things, I bless you, I glorify you, along with the everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, with
whom, to you and the Holy Spirit, be glory both now and to all coming ages. Amen. (Martyrdom of Polycarp 14)
7. Ignatius of Antioch (70 AD): He was the disciple of John the apostle; according to the ancient oral tradition he was the child that Jesus took him in his
own arm when he blessed the children. Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the Church at Ephesus in Asia . . . predestined from eternity
is lasting and unchanging, united and chosen through true suffering by the will of
His Epistle to the Ephesians: For our God, Jesus Christ, was conceived by Mary in accord with God's plan: of the seed of David, it is true, but also of
the Holy Spirit
His Epistle to Romans: To the Church beloved and enlightened after the love of Jesus Christ, our God, by the will of him that has willed everything
which is
His Epistle to Philippians: There are not then either three Fathers, or three Sons, or three Paracletes, but one Father, and one Son, and one Paraclete.
Wherefore also the Lord, when He sent forth the apostles to make disciples of all nations, commanded them to "baptize in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost," not unto one person having three names, nor into three persons who became incarnate, but into three possessed of equal
honour.
His Epistle to Philippians: there is but One that became incarnate, and that neither the Father nor the Paraclete, but the Son only
His Epistle to Magnesians: according to God. Be ye subject to the bishop, and to one another, as Jesus Christ to the Father, according to the flesh, and
the apostles to Christ, and to the Father, and to the Spirit
We have also as a Physician the Lord our God Jesus the Christ the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also
man, of Mary the virgin. For the Word was made flesh. Being incorporeal, He was in the body; being impassible, He was in a passable body; being
immortal, He was in a mortal body; being life, He became subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from death and corruption, and heal them,
and might restore them to health, when they were diseased with ungodliness and wicked lusts (The ante-Nicene Fathers, GrandRapids: Eerdmans, Vol. 1,
p. 52)
there is one physician, who is both flesh and spirit, born and not born, who is God in man, true life in death, both from Mary and from God, first able to
suffer and then unable to suffer, Jesus Christ our Lord."((Vol. 1, p. 52, Ephesians 7)
Ignatius, writing in his various epistles before his martyrdom in AD 107, gives us the phrases:
The blood of God, "The only true God,"
"The only-begotten Son and Word, before time began,"
"Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ,"
"God being manifested as a man, and man displaying power as God,"
"Our God, Jesus Christ (several repetitions and variations),"
"One God," "His eternal Word, "Jesus Christ His Son, who is His Word, not spoken but essential.
For He is not the voice of an articulate utterance, but a substance
begotten by divine power," God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, with the co- operation of the Spirit," "God the Word," and "God
incarnate."
8. Epistle to Diognetus (125 AD): speaking of God the Father, he says: Diognetus 7:2 "he sent the Designer and Maker of the universe himself, by
whom he created the heavens and confined the sea within its own bounds" ( 125 AD). Diognetus is probably John the apostles own writing.
9. Irenaeus of Lyons (120202 AD): He was the disciple of Polycarp who was then the disciple of John the Apostle: For I have shown from the
Scriptures, that no one of the sons of Adam is as to everything, and absolutely, called God, or named Lord. But that He is Himself in His own right, beyond
all men who ever lived, God, and Lord, and King Eternal, and the Incarnate Word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles, and by the Spirit Himself,
may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth. Now, the Scriptures would not have testified these things of Him, if, like others,
He had been a mere man. . . . He is the holy Lord, the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Beautiful in appearance, and the Mighty God, coming on the clouds as
the Judge of all men; all these things did the Scriptures prophesy of Him. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.19.2.ANF, I:449)
Irenaeus (again): He received testimony from all that He was very man, and that He was very God, from the Father, from the Spirit, from angels, from
the creation itself, from men, from apostate spirits and demons. (Ibid., 4.6.7. ANF, I:469)
Irenaeus (again): Christ Jesus [is] our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father. (Ibid., 1.10.1. ANF, I:330)
Irenaeus (again): Christ Himself, therefore, together with the Father, is the God of the living, who spoke to Moses, and who was also manifested to the
fathers. (Ibid., 4.5.2. ANF, I:467)
He also wrote: But the Son, eternally co-existing with the Father, from of old, yea, from the beginning, always reveals the Father to Angels, Archangels,
Powers, Virtues" ("Against Heresies, Book II").
The sacred books acknowledge with regard to Christ, that as He is the Son of man, so is the same Being not a [mere] man; and as He is flesh, so is He
also Spirit, and the Word of God, and God."(In the Fragments of Page 52).
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10. Mathetes (130 AD): [The Father] sent the Word that he might be manifested to the world . . . This is he who was from the beginning, who appeared as
if new, and was found old . . . This is he who, being from everlasting, is today called the Son" (Letter to Diognetus 11). Mathetes is not a proper name it
simply means disciple; many scholars consider this to be John the apostles, His letter was to Diognetus who was the name of a tutor of the emperor Marcus
Aurelius.
11. Aristides (140 AD): [Christians] are they who, above every people of the earth, have found the truth, for they acknowledge God, the Creator and
maker of all things, in the only-begotten Son and in the Holy Spirit Apology 16.
Against Heresies 1:10:1 [AD 189]:For the Church, although dispersed throughout the whole world even to the ends of the earth, has received from the
apostles and from their disciples the faith in one God, Father Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them; and in one Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, who became flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit,. in order that to Jesus Christ our Lord and God and Savior and
King, in accord with the approval of the invisible Father, every knee shall bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth..
12. Justin Martyr (150 AD): the most true God, the Father of righteousness and temperance and the other virtues, who is free from all impurity. But both
Him, and the Son (who came forth from Him and taught us these things .like to Him), and the prophetic Spirit, we worship and adore, knowing them in
reason and truth (First Apology" C 6).
For Christ is King, and Priest, and God and Lord..."(Dialogue With Trypho, 34).
He preexisted as the Son of the Creator of things, being God, and that He was born a man by the Virgin." (Dialogue With Trypho, 48 ).
[In the Old Testament] Christ is King, and Priest, and God, and Lord, and the Angel, and man, and captain, and stone, and a Son born...." (Dialogue
with Trypho, Ch. 34).
[In the Old Testament] Christ is called both God and Lord of hosts." (To Trypho, Ch.36)
Wherever God says, "God went up from Abraham," or, "The Lord spake to Moses," and the Lord came down to behold the tower which the sons of men
had built," or when "God shut Noah into the ark," you must not imagine that the unbegotten God Himself came down or went up from any place. ...For
neither Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, nor any other man, saw the Father and ineffable Lord of all, and also [Father and Lord] of Christ, but [saw] Him
who was according to His will His Son, being God, and the Angel because He ministered to His will; whom it also Pleased Him to be born man by the
Virgin; who also was fire when He conversed with Moses from the bush. (To Trypho, Ch. 127)
13. Athenagoras (160 AD):Who, then, would not be astonished to hear those called atheists who admit God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
and who teach their unity in power and their distinction in rank?"(Intercession on Behalf of the Saints, 10).
For Christ is the God over all".(Refutation of All Heresies 10.34)
God the Word came down from heaven...He came forth into the world and...showed Himself to be God".(Against the Heresy of a Certain Noetus, 17).
Speaking of what the church believes, they hold the Father to be God, and the Son God, and the Holy Spirit, and declare their union and their distinction
in order."(A plea for the Christians.10.3)
14. Melito of Sardis (AD 177): Being God and likewise perfect man, he gave positive indications of his two natures: of his deity, by the miracles during
the three years following after his baptism, of his humanity, in the thirty years which came before his baptism, during which, by reason of his condition
according to the flesh, he concealed the signs of his deity, although he was the true God existing before the ages (Fragment in Anastasius of Sinais The
Guide 13)
He also wrote (Homily on the Passover): He who hung the earth in space, is himself hanged. He who fixed the heavens in place, is himself fixed in place
(impaled). He who firmly fixed all things, is himself firmly fixed to the tree. The Lord is insulted, GOD IS MURDERED. The King of Israel is destroyed by
an Israelite hand.
15. Tatian (170 AD): We are not playing the fool, you Greeks, nor do we talk nonsense, when we report that God was born in the form of a man
(Address to the Greeks 21).
16. Theophilus of Antioch (180 AD):God always abide perfect, being full of all power, and understanding, and wisdom, and immortality, and all good.
But the moon wanes monthly, and in a manner dies, being a type of man; then it is born again, and is crescent, for a pattern of the future resurrection. In
like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom. "And the fourth is the
type of man, who needs light, that so there may be God, the Word, wisdom, man (To Autolycus, Book 2, C 15).
17. Clement of Alexandria (202AD): I understand nothing else than the Holy Trinity to be meant; for the third is the Holy Spirit, and the Son is the
second, by whom all things were made according to the will of the Father (Stromata 5:15). "There was then, a Word importing an unbeginning eternity; as
also the Word itself, that is, the Son of God, who being, by equality of substance, one with the Father, is eternal and uncreated." (Fragments, PartI)."The
Word, then, the Christ, is the cause both of our ancient beginning for he was in God and of our well-being. And now this same Word has appeared as
man. He alone is both God and man, and the source of all our good things (Exhortation to the Greeks 1:7:1)
18. Tertullian (210 AD):And at the same time the mystery of the oikonomia is safe guarded, for the unity is distributed in a Trinity. Placed in order, the
three are the Father, Son, and Spirit. They are three, however, not in condition, but in degree; not in being, but in form; not in power, but in kind; of one
being" (Against Praxeas, C 2)
The origins of both his substances display him as man and as God: from the one, born, and from the other, not born(The Flesh of Christ 5:6-7). He
believed the Divine nature of Christ was unborn, uncreated and eternal yet his human nature was born.
God alone is without sin. The only man who is without sin is Christ; for Christ is also God" (The Soul 41:3)
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All the Scriptures give clear proof of the Trinity, and it is from these that our principle is deduced...the distinction of the Trinity is quite clearly.. (Against
Praxeas,ch 11)
That this one and only God has a Son, his Word, who proceeded from himself, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. Him
we believe to have been sent by the Father into the virgin, and to have been born of her- being both man and God, the Son of man, and the Son of God,
and to have been called the name of Jesus Christ;" (against Praxeas vol.3, p.598). He believed the human nature was born.
Thus the connection of the Father in the Son the Son in the Paraclete, produces three coherent persons, who are yet distinct one from another. These three
are one essence, not one person, as it is said, "I and my Father are one," in respect of unity of substance, not singularity of number."(Ante-Nicene fathers
vol.3,p.621, against Praxeas.)
He also said "Yet we have never given vent to the phrases two Gods, or two Lords: not that it is untrue the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is
God, each is God." (ibid 13)
In his Apology 21, speaking of the Word, he said: He is the Son of God, and is called God from unity of substance with God. . . . Thus Christ is Spirit of
Spirit, and God of God, as light of light is kindled. . . . That which has come forth out of God is at once God and the Son of God, and the two are one. In
this way also, as He is Spirit of Spirit and God of God, He is make a second in manner of existence--in position, not in nature. . . .in His birth God and man
united. God, who made the world out of nothing through his Son, the Word, has corporeity though he is a spirit (De praescriptione, vii.; Adv. Praxeam,
vii.). He means the Word was not a concept or thought but actual person in existence with the Father.
(Adv. Prax. 23; PL 2.156-7): We define that there are two, the Father and the Son, and three with the Holy Spirit, and this number is made by the pattern
of salvation... [which] brings about unity in trinity, interrelating the three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are three, not in dignity, but in
degree, not in substance but in form, not in power but in kind. They are of one substance and power, because there is one God from whom these degrees,
forms and kinds devolve in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
19. Caius (180217 AD) [in response to those who would question the deity of Christ]: Perhaps what they allege might be credible, did not the Holy
Scriptures, in the first place, contradict them. And then, besides, there are writings of certain brethren older than the times of Victor, which they wrote
against the heathen in defense of the truth, and against the heresies of their time: I mean Justin and Miltiades, and Tatian and Clement, and many others, in
all which divinity is ascribed to Christ. For who is ignorant of the books21 of Irenaeus and Melito, and the rest, which declare Christ to be God and man?
All the psalms, too, and hymns of brethren, which have been written from the beginning by the faithful, celebrate Christ the Word of God, ascribing divinity
to Him. (Caius, Fragments, 2.1. ANF, V:601)
20. Hippolytus, Leading Presbyter at the Church in Rome (c. 205AD):Although He endured the cross, yet as God He returned to life, having trampled
upon death.
Hippolytus (220 AD): Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matt 28:19) And by
this he showed that whosoever omitted any one of these, failed in glorifying God perfectly. For it is through the Trinity that the Father is glorified."
(Against Noetus", C 14)
For Christ is the God over all, who has arranged to wash away sin from mankind, rendering the old man new" (Refutation of all Heresies 10)
The Logos alone of this God is from God himself; wherefore also the Logos is God, being the substance of God. (Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies,
10.29.ANF, V:151)
God, subsisting alone, and having nothing contemporaneous with Himself, determined to create the world....Beside Him there was nothing; but He, while
existing alone, yet existed in plurality....And thus there appeared another beside Himself. But when I say another, I do not mean that there are two
Gods....Thus, then, these too, though they wish it not, fall in with the truth, and admit thatone God made all things....For Christ is the God above all.....He
who is over all is God; for thus He speaks boldly, 'All things are delivered unto me of my Father.' He who is over all, God blessed, has been born; and
having been made man, He is (yet) God for ever....And well has he named Christ the Almighty. "(Hippolytus " The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, pp. 227,
153, 225)
21. Origen (225 AD): He who is 'born again through God' to salvation has need of both Father and Son and Holy Spirit and will not obtain salvation
apart from the entire Trinity, and why it is impossible to become partaker of the Father or the Son without the Holy Spirit." (The Principiis", Book 1, C 3).
Although he was God, he took flesh; and having been made man, he remained what he was: God" (The Fundamental Doctrines 1:0:4).
22. Novatian (235 AD): it is so very clear that Christ is declared in the Scriptures to be God, many Heretics moved by the magnitude and truth of this
divinity exaggerate His honors above measure. And they have dared to declare or to think that He is not the Son, but the God the Father Himself"(De
Trinitate" C 31)
"For Scripture as much announces Christ as also God, as it announces God Himself as man. It has as much described Jesus Christ to be man, as
moreover it has also described Christ the Lord to be God." The rule of the truth demands that, first of all, we believe in GOD THE FATHER and
Almighty Lord, that is, the most perfect Maker of all things. . .' The same rule of truth teaches us to believe, after the Father, also in the SON OF GOD,
CHRIST JESUS, our Lord God, but the Son of God.... Moreover, the order of reason and the authority of faith, in due consideration of the words and
Scriptures of the Lord ', admonishes us, after this, to believe also in the HOLY GHOST, promised of old to the Church, but granted in the appointed and
fitting time (Treatise on the Trinity 11)
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For Scripture as much announces Christ as also God, as it announces God Himself as man. It has as much described Jesus Christ to be man, as moreover
it has also described Christ the Lord to be God. Let them, therefore, who read that Jesus Christ the Son of man is man, read also that this same Jesus is
called also God and the Son of God (Treatise on the Trinity 11)
23. Ignatius (250 AD): "To the Church beloved and enlightened after the love of Jesus Christ, Our God" (Letter to the Romans 1)
We have also a Physician the Lord our God, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of
Mary the virgin.(Letter to the Ephesians.)
24. Thammaturgus (250 AD): There is a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty, neither divided nor estranged. Wherefore there is nothing
either created or in servitude in the Trinity; nor anything superinduced, as if at some former period it was non-existent, and at some later period it was
introduced. And thus neither was the Son ever wanting to the Father, nor the Spirit to the Son; but without variation and without change, the same Trinity
abides forever" ("Declaration of Faith)"
25. Cyprian (253 AD): One who denies that Christ is God cannot become his temple [of the Holy Spiriti]" (Letters 73:12)
26. Dionysius (262 AD ): Neither, then, may we divide into three Godheads the wonderful and divine unity . . . Rather, we must believe in God, the Father
almighty; and in Christ Jesus, his Son; and in the Holy Spirit; and that the Word is united to the God of the Universe. `For,' he says, 'The Father and I are
one,' and `I am in the Father, and the Father in me'" (Letter to Dionysius of Alexandria, 3)
Therefore, the divine Trinity must be gathered up and brought together in one, a summit, as it were, I mean the omnipotent God of the universe. . . . It is
blasphemy, then, and not a common one but the worst, to say that the Son is in any way a handiwork [creature]. . . . But if the Son came into being [was
created], there was a time when these attributes did not exist; and, consequently, there was a time when God was without them, which is utterly absurd"
(ibid., 12).
27. Gregory the Wonder worker (AD 265): "There is one God, the Father of the living Word, who is his subsistent wisdom and power and eternal image:
perfect begetter of the perfect begotten, Father of the only-begotten Son. There is one Lord, only of the only, God of God, image and likeness of deity,
efficient Word, wisdom comprehensive of the constitution of all things, and power formative of the whole creation, true Son of true Father, invisible of
invisible, and incorruptible of incorruptible, and immortal of immortal and eternal of eternal. . . . And thus neither was the Son ever wanting to the Father,
nor the Spirit to the Son; but without variation and without change, the same Trinity abides ever" (Declaration of Faith)
28. Athanasius (290 -370 AD) [The Trinity] is a Trinity not merely in name or in a figurative manner of speaking; rather, it is a Trinity in truth and in
actual existence. Just as the Father is he that is, so also his Word is one that is and is God over all. And neither is the Holy Spirit nonexistent but actually
exists and has true being. (Letters to Serapion 1:28).
Athanasius (293-373 AD), the keen defender of New Testament teaching against the early Arian heresy, which taught that Jesus Christ was not God,
declared of Jesus, "He always was and is God and Son" and "He who is eternally God also became man for our sake."(Athanasius, Against the Arians,
III, para. 29, 31)
[The Trinity] is a Trinity not merely in name or in a figurative manner of speaking; rather, it is a Trinity in truth and in actual existence. Just as the
Father is he that is, so also his Word is one that is and is God over all. And neither is the Holy Spirit nonexistent but actually exists and has true being.
Less than these the Catholic Church does not hold, lest she sink to the level of the Jews of the present time, imitators of Caiaphas, or to the level of
Sabellius" (Letters to Serapion 1:28)
They [the Father and the Son] are one, not as one thing now divided into two, but really constituting only one, nor as one thing twice named, so that the
same becomes at one time the Father and at another his own Son. This latter is what Sabellius held, and he was judged a heretic. On the contrary, they are
two, because the Father is Father and is not his own Son, and the Son is Son and not his own Father" (Discourses Against the Arians 3:4).
29. Arnobius (305 AD):Well, then, some raging, angry, and excited man will say, is that Christ your God? God indeed, we shall answer, and God of
the hidden powers" (Against the Pagans 1:42).
30. Methodius (305 AD): For the kingdom of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is one, even as their substance is one and their dominion one.
Whence also, with one and the same adoration, we worship the one Deity in three Persons, subsisting without beginning, uncreated, without end, and to
which there is no successor. For nothing of the Trinity will suffer diminution, either in respect of eternity, or of communion, or of sovereignty" (Oration
on the Psalms 5).
31. Lactantius (AD. 307): "He was made both Son of God in the spirit and Son of man in the flesh, that is, both God and man" (Divine Institutes 4:13:5).
"We, on the other hand, are [truly] religious, who make our supplications to the one true God. Someone may perhaps ask how, when we say that we
worship one God only, we nevertheless assert that there are two, God the Father and God the Sonwhich assertion has driven many into the greatest
error . . . [thinking] that we confess that there is another God, and that he is mortal. . . . [But w]hen we speak of God the Father and God the Son, we do
not speak of them as different, nor do we separate each, because the Father cannot exist without the Son, nor can the Son be separated from the Father"
(ibid., 4:2829).
32. Didymus (313 A.D). I am the Father and the Son and the Paraclete. (Not in one person but in his Divine nature.(De Trinitate 3, 41:4).
33. Augustine (354-430 AD):"believe that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God, maker and ruler of the whole creation: that Father is not Son, nor
Holy Spirit Father or Son; but a Trinity of mutually related Persons, and a unity of equal essence" and that therefore, "the Father is God, the Son is God,
and the Holy Spirit God; and all together are one God." (On the Trinity, IX, para 1; XV, para 28)
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All the Catholic interpreters of the divine books of the Old and New Testaments whom I have been able to read, who wrote before me about the Trinity,
which is God, intended to teach in accord with the Scriptures that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are of one and the same substance
constituting a divine unity with an inseparable equality; and therefore there are not three gods but one God, although the Father begot the Son, and
therefore he who is the Son is not the Father; and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son but only the Spirit of the Fatherand of the Son, himself,
too, coequal to the Father and to the Son and belonging to the unity of the Trinity" (The Trinity1:4:7 [A.D. 408]).
34. The Long Ignatius 350 AD: Jesus Christ . . . being begotten by the Father before the beginning of time, was God the Word, the only-begotten Son,
and remains the same forever; for 'of His kingdom there shall be no end' [Luke 1:32]" (Letter to Magnesians 6)
35. Cyril of Alexandria (350 AD):For He remained what He was; that is, by nature God. ButHe took it on himself to be man as well" and "There is
nothing to prevent us from thinking of Christ as being the one and only Son at once both God and man, perfect in deity and perfect in humanityHe is
conceived of as God and is God,..." (Second Letter to Succensus).
Believe also in the Son of God, the one and only, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God begotten of God, who is life begotten of life, who is light begotten of
light, who is in all things like unto the begetter, and who did not come to exist in time but was before all the ages, eternally and incomprehensibly begotten
of the Father. He is the Wisdom of God" (Catechetical Lectures 4:7) [O]ur God, Jesus the Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word before time began, but
who afterwards became also man, of Mary the Virgin. For 'the Word was made flesh' [John 1:14]" (Letter to the Ephesians 7).
if Christ is God, as indeed He is, but took not human nature upon Him, we are strangers to salvation. Let us then worship Him as God, but believe that He
also was made Man. For neither is there any profit in calling Him man without Godhead, nor any salvation in refusing to confess the Manhood together
with the Godhead(St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures: Lecture 12 no. 1
36. Basil the Great (368 AD): When I speak of one essence, do not think as two separated from one, but of a Son subsisting from the Father from the
beginning, not of Father and Son emerging from one essence. Indeed, do not speak of brothers; we confess Father and Son. There is identity of essence
because the Son is from the Father; not made by his decree, but born of his nature" (Eulogies and Sermons, 24:4).
37. Epiphanius of Salamis (374 AD): We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things, both visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, begotten of God the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father; God of God, light of light, true God of true God;
begotten, not made; consubstantial with the Father; through whom all things were made, both those in heaven and those on earth, both visible and
invisible; who for us men and for our salvation came down and took flesh, that is, was born perfectly of the holy ever-virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, was
made man, that is, he received perfect man, soul and body and mind and all that man is, except sin" (The Man Well-Anchored 120)
38. Chrysostom (375 AD):But wherefore said He not, "Before Abraham was, I was," instead of "I Am"? As the Father useth this expression, "I Am," so
also doth Christ; for it signifieth continuous Being, irrespective of all time. (Chrysostom, The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers; Volume 14: Homilies On
the Gospel of St. John, Homily 55, 375 AD).
When I speak of one essence, do not think as two separated from one, but of a Son subsisting from the Father from the beginning, not of Father and Son
emerging from one essence. Indeed, do not speak of brothers; we confess Father and Son. (Eulogies and Sermons, 24:4)
39. Gregory of Elvira (375 AD): In Genesis 49:9 the Son] is called a [lion's] whelp so as to show that it refers not to the Father, but to the Son of God.
For when both a lion and the whelp of a lion are named, both the Father and the Son are indicated. Their nature is not divided, but distinct Persons are
manifested. For just as a lion is born of a lion, so too it is said that God proceeds from God and light from light. (Homilies on the Books of Sacred
Scripture 6)
40. Ambrose of Milan (379 AD):[The Arians] think that they must posit the objection of his [Christ] having said, 'I live on account of the Father.'
Certainly if they refer the saying to his divinity, the Son lives on account of the Father, because the Son is from the Father; on account of the Father,
because he is of one substance with the Father; on account of the Father, because he is the Word given forth from the heart of the Father; because he
proceeds from the Father" (The Faith 4:10:132). The Son is fully God as well as the Father is, being they are of same substance. Jesus said I live on account
of his Father not because he is inferior but to affirms that he is of the same nature.
41. Council of Constantinople (381 AD):"We believe . . . in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages, light
of light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father" (The Nicene Creed)
42. Sechnall of Ireland (444 AD): Hymns, with Revelation and the Psalms of God [St. Patrick] sings, and does expound the same for the edifying of
God's people. This law he holds in the Trinity of the Sacred Name and teaches one Being in three Persons" (Hymn in Praise of St. Patrick 22).
43. St. Patrick (447 AD): upholding all things, as we say, and his Son Jesus Christ, whom we likewise to confess to have always been with the Father-before the world's beginning . . . Jesus Christ is the Lord and God in whom we believe . . . and who has poured out on us abundantly the Holy Spirit . . .
whom we confess and adore as one God in the Trinity of the Sacred Name" (Confession of St. Patrick 4).
44. Fulgence of Ruspe (AD 523): But in the one true God and Trinity it is naturally true not only that God is one but also that he is a Trinity, for the
reason that the true God himself is a Trinity of Persons and one in nature. Through this natural unity the whole Father is in the Son and in the Holy Spirit,
and the whole Holy Spirit, too, is in the Father and in the Son. None of these is outside any of the others; because no one of them precedes any other of
them in eternity or exceeds any other in greatness, or is superior to any other in power" (The Rule of Faith ). So we have seen that Christian did not make
up the deity of the Holy Spirit, it was God who affirmed it; the early fathers were the witnesses for the Holy Spirits Deity.
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