• Watch
  • Listen
  • Study
  • Articles
  • Links
  • About
Sunny Slope Church of Christ
  • Watch
  • Listen
  • Study
  • Articles
  • Links
  • About

The Holy Spirit

4/23/2017

 
​   Next Sunday evening I plan to begin an in-depth study on what we can learn from the scriptures about the Holy Spirit.  What a great topic, and what a needed study!  There is a great deal of interest in the Holy Spirit today, yet there is much confusion and misunderstanding on the subject.  The only way to eliminate the confusion is to search the scriptures to see what the Bible really says.
​   One basis for such confusion may be a faulty concept of the Holy Spirit.  Many people use the name “Holy Ghost.”  As fine a translation as is the King James Version of the Bible, this unfortunate designation apparently comes from a difficulty in understanding the term “spirit.”  The Old English concept of a spirit was most closely associated with the idea of a ghostly kind of presence.  Hence, the rendering “Holy Ghost.”  Supposedly, a ghost is a mysterious, misty, vaporous presence kind of floating around through the air, just out of sight of the human eye.  Again, it is unfortunate that anything like this concept has been attributed to the Holy Spirit.
   God is Spirit, completely Spirit, invisible to the human eye (Jn. 4:24).  The Holy Spirit is identified as “the Spirit of God” and was there and involved in the creation of the world (Gen. 1:2).  In writing to the Romans Paul spoke of “the Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9).  God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit all identified as Spirit.  Three personalities, one God (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 12:32; Rom. 3:30).
   It is somewhat difficult  for us to fully grasp this reality.  Yet we ourselves are created in the image of God in that we are created with a spirit.  What we see as we look at each other is the physical body.  But we understand that each of us has a soul within that is spiritual and eternal.  While we cannot see the soul of a person, we can see the spiritual nature of a person in the way he lives his life.  There is nothing ghostly about that.
   God does not have a physical body.  He is totally Spirit.  He manifested Himself to us in human form as Jesus Christ, the Son (1 Tim. 3:16).  He manifested His presence to the Israelites in the wilderness in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Ex. 13:21).  The Holy Spirit speaks to us through the word of God whenever we read the Bible (2 Pet. 1:20-21), as He guided to the writers to write God’s very word (2 Tim. 3:16).
   Through our limited human faculties we can thus relate to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  God is not a ghost!  God is Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is God.  God’s word does not reveal all that we would wish on the Holy Spirit, but over the next few months we’ll dig deep into the scriptures and try to come to a reasonably thorough understanding.
   Do your friends, family and other associates a great favor, and invite them to come and study with us on this important and fascinating topic, the Holy Spirit...

Comments are closed.

    Author

    Gary L. Hutchens

    Categories

    All
    Dennis Stackhouse
    Gary Hutchens

    Archive

    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    March 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    January 2007

Member Login
SUBMIT PRAYER REQUEST
© 2019 Sunny Slope Church of Christ | All Rights Reserved
3606 N. 108th St., Omaha, NE 68164 | (402) 498-8397 | Contact Us
  • Watch
  • Listen
  • Study
  • Articles
  • Links
  • About