Jesus and the Holy Spirit

Click on this link https://answeringislam.net/authors/shamoun/father_not_god.html to read pt. 1.

There are some unitarian heretics who appeal to passages such as the following,

“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Matthew 12:28

“Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And His fame went throughout the surrounding region” Luke 4:14

“how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” Acts 10:38

To argue that Jesus cannot be God since, if he were, then he wouldn’t need to have the Holy Spirit helping him to perform his mighty deeds.

Suffice it to say there is a serious problem with this unitarian “logic”. If Jesus doing miracles by the Spirit of God proves he isn’t God then this would mean that Jehovah can’t be God either since he too employs the Spirit to carry out his works. Note what the following texts say:

“And he said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel, saying: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts.’” Zechariah 4:6

“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.” Job 33:4

“When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the surface of the ground.” Psalm 104:30

“I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of craftsmanship,” Exodus 31:3

“And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of craftsmanship,” Exodus 35:31

Now someone may interject and argue that this is a false comparison since Jehovah carried out his works by his own eternal Spirit, unlike Jesus who did so by Jehovah’s Spirit. In other words, Jesus didn’t do his deeds by the power of his own Spirit, since the Holy Spirit that came to rest upon him at his baptism (cf. Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32-33) didn’t belong to him but to Jehovah God.

The problem with this objection is that it is simply not true that the Holy Spirit doesn’t also belong to Jesus since the NT clearly identifies God’s Holy Spirit as the very Spirit of the Son/Christ:

“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives IN YOU. Now if any man does not have the Spirit OF CHRIST, he does not belong to Him. And if CHRIST is IN YOU, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that lives IN YOU. Therefore, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if through the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of slavery again to fear. But you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him.” Romans 8:9-17

“But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born from a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of His Son, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Galatians 4:4-7

“For I know that through your prayer and the support of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will result in my deliverance.” Philippians 1:19

In fact, the God-breathed revelation claims that it was the very Spirit of Christ who spoke in and through the OT prophets:

“Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that should come to you have inquired and searched diligently, seeking the events and time THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, WHO WAS WITHIN THEM, signified when He foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.  It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, concerning the things which are now reported to you by those who have preached the gospel to you through the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven—things into which the angels desire to look.” 1 Peter 1:10-12

What makes this so remarkable is that the Hebrew Scriptures testify that the Spirit who prophesied through the prophets was actually the Spirit of Jehovah himself!

“For many years You endured them and warned them by Your Spirit in Your prophets, yet they would not listen. Therefore, You gave them into the hand of the people of the lands.” Nehemiah 9:30

“They made their hearts hard like a diamond so as not to hear the instruction and words that the LORD of Hosts sent by His Spirit through the former prophets, and there was great anger from the LORD of Hosts.” Zechariah 7:12 – cf.  2 Samuel 23:2; Isaiah 48:16; 61:1; Ezekiel 3:24, 11:5; Joel 2:28-29

The foregoing clearly shows that Jesus Christ must be Jehovah God Incarnate; otherwise we would have to assume that there were two different S/spirits operating through the prophets, namely, Jehovah’s eternal Spirit and the spirit of a mere human creature who did not even exist at the time when these prophets were alive!

Since this is utter nonsense, this means that there is simply no logical way of getting around the fact that Jesus is indeed Jehovah God in the flesh seeing that it was his Holy Spirit who indwelt and inspired the OT prophets:

A. The Spirit of Jehovah prophesied in and through the prophets of the OT.

B. The Spirit of Christ prophesied in and through the OT prophets.

C. Jesus is therefore Jehovah God Almighty (even though he is not the Father).

This is further confirmed by the NT teaching that Jesus personally poured out the Holy Spirit upon his followers after his physical ascension into heaven:

“Brothers, I may speak confidently to you concerning the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. But being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of his seed according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foresaw this and spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. God raised up this Jesus, of which we all are witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, HE HAS POURED OUT this which you now see and hear.” Acts 2:29-33

According to the Apostle Peter, this miracle fulfilled the following OT prophesy where Jehovah God promises to someday pour out his Spirit upon his servants:

“‘In the last days it shall be,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out MY Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on My menservants and maidservants I will pour out MY Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on the earth below: blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and glorious day of the Lord comes. And whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” Acts 2:17-21 – cf. Joel 2:28-32

Once again, for Jesus to do what the OT says only God does, namely, pour out the Holy Spirit upon all believers, Christ must be God Almighty in the flesh. Again, note the logic behind this argument:

A. Jehovah God pours out his Spirit upon his servants.

B. Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit upon his servants.

C. Therefore, Jesus is Jehovah God (even though he is not the Father).

So much for the unitarian objection against Christ being Jehovah God in the flesh.

 

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