...Second, the Holy Spirit is indeed eternal, but is not a third person of a fictitious trinity.
You say that the Holy Spirit is eternal, but not a person/being, and only something of the Father.
Please quote anywhere, where I advocated for the word "trinity".
You will find that you are attacking a doctrine I do not adhere to, in regards a specific definition, as defined by Catholicism. They are in error, and actually teach what you are teaching, 'singularity', but their theiology just comes at it from the other side of the coin.
Some stumble over the Holy Spirit being called “it”, and by this claim that He is only a force, a power, a non-intelligence. Yet, they should also recognize that Jesus was called “it” [Rev. 12:4], “child” [Rev. 12:2,4,5], “holy thing” [Luk. 1:35] and “holy child” [Act. 4:27,30], all of which are also neuter gender. Jesus is still a person and masculine. The wicked angels are also called “it” [Luk. 8:29, 9:39, 11:14, etc.], but they too are intelligent [though created] beings and cited in the masculine. Neuter terms do not automatically mean inanimate, for instance, the terms “child”, “babe”, “person”, “mail-carrier”, “flight attendant”, etc. Even the Father is designated in neuter terms, "one", "Ancient of days" and so on.
The Father, Son and Holy Ghost, always are working together:
Gen. 19:24 Then
the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah
brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
(Jesus, the LORD [JEHOVAH Immanuel] who came down with the two covering cherubs, the two angels that are beside the LORD, is standing upon the earth (Genesis 18-19, especially 18:25 “Judge of all the Earth) and calling down fire from His Father above, the Holy Spirit being included by the Fire also)
In Gen. 1:1 it reads plainly enough:
Gen 1:1 HOT בראשׁית ברא
אלהים את השׁמים
ואת הארץ׃
Gen 1:1 HOT Translit. B'rëshiyt Bärä
élohiym ët haSHämayim
w'ët hääretz
Elohiym is a true plural, meaning 3 or greater, not 1, not 2. It does not include the angels, and does not mean 'pluralis majesticus' (a late construct, that cannot apply to Gen. 1, even the Queen of England used it, but she believed in the eternal persons of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.)
The "
את", "
ët" is again the Alpha and Omega, the Aleph Tau, the "Word" that John refers to in Jhn. 1:1-3, 1 Jhn. 1:1-3, that was with the Father in creating this world and all things therein. It is also seen suspended between heavens and earth, with a spike, the Vau Aleph Tau.
Vs. 2, then includes the Holy Ghost, 'the Spirit of God', but do not be misled by the word 'spirit'. Angels are also spirits, but they are individual persons. They are also spirits of God, and some kabbalists go in the same error and make them elemental forces of JEHOVAH, rather than sentient beings/persons. The devil would love for this doctrine to continue, for it effectively erases himself from the minds of men as being a real being/person to contend with, and instead is a mere aetheral evil pervadence (even going so far as to give him the attributes of God, omnipresence, etc).
The Holy Ghost is involved in Creation as much as the Father and the Son.
Job 33:4
The Spirit of God
hath made me, and
the breath of the Almighty hath
given me life.
There are numerous such texts on the person/being of the Holy Ghost, designated as a distinct being/person from the Father and the Son. For instance, notice who the Bible said is speaking:
Act. 28:25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word,
Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
Act. 28:26
Saying,
Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:
Act. 28:27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with
their eyes, and hear with
their ears, and understand with
their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Compare:
Isa. 6:8 Also I heard
the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here
am I; send me.
Isa. 6:9 And he said,
Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Isa. 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.