Hi Axehead,
I'm fascinated at how differently different people 'read' the same post - like kepha's, here - to which I'm going to give an entirely different response!
1 Corinthians 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed: and [that] no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which works all in all. ... 11 But all these work that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also [is] Christ. Amen.
Hi kepha,
I appreciate the tone of your post, and I hope to build from it a better understanding in your interpretation of mine.
My 'God-concept' is not from my imagination, as you might imagine; nor is it based solely on the accounts in scripture which communicate His power and authority as Creator and holy God. Rather, I know Him personally, now, and the claims I make for His love and truth and faithfulness are based on my experience of the accuracy of His word.
It is
necessary to apply oneself to understanding what
He means by His word, because this is the structure into which our existence fits, and against that same structure will our compliance with it, be judged.
One possible reason you are all "Holy Spirit" at the expense of the Father and the Son in your God-concept could be that you reject a perfect, human model of faith that gives balance and clarity to each of the Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity in our understanding of God.
As Axehead said, there is no 'expense of the Father and the Son'.
I had thought you'd have picked that up from verses I've posted previously, (and from your own Bible readings), that Jesus taught that the reception of the Holy Spirit
by individuals is what enables the Father and the Son to make their home in a person. John 14:23, John 17:17 - 23, Luke 24:49, Malachi 4:6, Luke 1:13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
Next, the discussion about 'flesh' or 'Spirit', is because the
Holy Spirit cannot dwell within an uncircumcised heart, out of which proceeds all sorts of sin: For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: Matthew 15:19, Deuteronomy 10:16, Colossians 2:9, 10, 11, 12, 13.
John 12:24 is important because Jesus sets His teaching apart with that word 'Except', again. It cannot be ignored.
If "Holy Spirit" filled Pentecostals were infallible in their teachings, there would not be 700 Pentecostal denominations that formed in a mere 1 century. I am not questioning their sincerity, I am trying to tell you that the Holy Spirit alone is not the be-all and end-all of being a Christian.
There is no such thing as a live Christian without the Holy Spirit's indwelling, but there are many who think it's optional or impossible. As a result of carnal reasoning by those who don't have the Holy Spirit, a ministry of death arises, and this is, frequently, accompanied by other spirits and occult practices going alongside nominal Christian claims.
On a theological level, if you have Jesus in your heart, you have God the Father and the Holy Spirit in your heart.
Yes, if you like that kind of langage. Just rememeber that the Holy Spirit will only appear to testify of truth, and if a person did not receive Jesus, the Spirit will not be able to testify to His presence in the person's heart.
If the Holy Spirit tells you something in prayer, you are hearing the voice of the Father and Jesus too.... All three of the Divine Personalities cannot be separated because they share the same divine substance.
John 4:24 God [is] a Spirit. ...'. Ephesians 2:18, Romans 5:2.
The Holy Spirit is the Love between the Father and the Son.
It would be more scriptural to say 'the Holy Spirit is truth'. 1 John 5:6,
John 14:17 [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but ye know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me:
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
1 John 4:6 We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
But if over-emphasizing the Holy Spirit is easier for you to express your faith, then I have no business standing in your way.
God bless you.
I've spoken about the Holy Spirit, much, is because He's
essential. Every believer
must have a personal pentecost, to receive the Spirit of adoption which cries, 'Father' - Romans 8:15, Romans 9:4, Ephesians 1:5.
I don't think you've stood in my way. The promptings of the Holy Spirit
enable a Christian to
function.