There is a stalemate between SDA Trinitarians (modern Adventists) and SDA Non-Trinitarians (which includes the Pioneers such as James White, Joseph Bates, J. N. Andrews and others). Trinitarians say that the one God of scripture is three persons. But the Non-Trinitarians say that there is no place in the Bible that teaches that – and they are correct on that point. On the other hand, many modern SDA Non-Trinitarians are saying that the Holy Spirit is not a person separate from Christ – unlike the Pioneers who saw the Holy Spirit as Christ’s Representative. But SDA Trinitarians object to this and insist that the Holy Spirit who is the Comforter, appeared separate from Jesus at His baptism, and speaks, can be grieved, and persons cannot blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and be forgiven, unlike the case with Jesus – and in this, they are perfectly correct. So, how can the two camps be reconciled? It is by recognizing who the three powers of heaven are.

The Three Powers

The three powers of heaven are God, Christ, and angels (ie. Father, Son and holy spirits). The Bible teaches that God is the Father of Christ, while it describes angels as ministering spirits – “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb.1:14). This is consistent with the Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma that are translated in the Bible as spirit. These words are also translated spirits, thus indicating that the Holy Spirit need not be seen, in every case, as one individual being but as many spirit beings representing God everywhere.

There are many references to the three powers in scripture, without mention of any other; for example: “I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things” (1 Tim. 5:21). Also, “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:26). These are the same ones who were present at the creation – “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? …. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7).  Again, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ” (Rev.1:4, 5). The seven spirits are later described as “seven lamps of fire” (Rev. 4:5) and as “the seven angels which stood before God” (Rev. 8:2). Even in the process by which Revelation was given to John on the Isle of Patmos, the same powers are mentioned with the order of precedence clearly given – God gave to Christ, and Christ gave to His angel to give to John: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John” (Rev. 1:1).

The heavens declare the glory of God – sun, moon and stars are like object lessons that teach us about the three powers of heaven – God, Christ and the angels. The Father dwells in light that no man can approach unto (like the sun), while Jesus is glorious but can be seen, reflecting His Father’s glory (like the moon reflecting the glory of the sun); and of course, the angels (stars) as smaller lights that are glorious but insignificant when compared to the sun and the moon.

Holy Spirit the Comforter

The Bible uses the term “Spirit” in multiple ways. It is used in some cases to refer to a person’s inner being or mind, for example, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11). But it also uses the term “Spirit” to refer to spirit-beings such as angels – “Are they not all ministering spirits”? (Heb. 1:14). Even God the Father, Himself is referred to as a “Spirit” – “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23,24).

Nowhere in scripture is there a notion that the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is someone to be worshipped, as we would worship God and Christ. Neither do the scriptures teach anywhere that God, the Father, is only one-third of a three-part God. He is above all.

From this perspective, there is no denying that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, sent at Pentecost is a person – only not a God-being to be worshipped. Like the Angel of Revelation 18 who comes down from heaven with the latter rain – a similar occurrence as that which took place at Pentecost except more extensive – the Comforter would be seen as a messenger sent by Christ from heaven, as stated repeatedly in John 14-16. Ellen G. White describing the latter rain speaks of a mighty angel from heaven being sent to do this work and further said, “Angels were sent to aid the mighty angel from heaven”(Ellen. G. White, Story of Redemption, p. 399).

Lamb’s Father the Almighty

Nowhere in the Bible is worship given to anyone else except the one seated on the throne who is referred to as “LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come” (Rev.4:8) and to the Christ, the Lamb, as it will be in the new earth – “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” (Rev. 21:22). God is the Father of Christ. Accordingly, Christ, the Lamb is seen with “an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads” (Rev. 14:1). It is the name of the Lamb’s Father that will be written in their foreheads.

Body and Spirit Makes the Person

A part of the confusion that both camps have is their failure to appreciate that body and spirit makes the person; and man was made in the image of God – “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Gen. 2:7).The spirit is like the inner programming – the database of information that is uniquely you, along with the ‘electricity’ or life force to power it. God and Christ likewise have body and spirit, which, together, make them living Beings

The world is moving towards the creation of humanoid robots. It is a similar concept – an appropriately constructed body with inner programming and a source of electicity to power it. When you die, the ‘electricity’ or life force runs out, the spirit or inner programming goes back to God, who preserves it, and the body goes back to the elements – “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Eccl. 12:7). At the resurrection  a new ‘battery’ so to speak (life) is put into a new body with the same original programming that is uniquely you.

The difference between us and Christ is that Christ has a spirit like His Father, while He has a body like us – so, in that sense, He is both God and man. Before the incarnation, Christ had a glorious celestial body, which He laid aside. The Bible is clear, that in becoming human, Christ – the spirit being who pre-existed with the Father, the only other person who has a God-spirit fully, like the Father – took on a human body after putting off His celestial body, which was similar but not identical to the Father’s celestial body (Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Cor. 15:39-49). In putting off His celestial body, Christ effectively died from the foundation of the world – since the body without the spirit is dead (Rev. 13:8; James 2:26). His entire existence was now in the hands of His Father, who gave Him a human body (Heb. 10:5) – making Him alive again, as a human, but still retaining His God-spirit. The reverse took place when He died, as a human, and was made alive again at the resurrection with a glorified human body. On the cross, He committed the keeping of His spirit to His Father (Luke 23:46) and it was His Father who afterward raised Him from the dead (Gal. 1:1).

Summary

In summary, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter is Christ’s representative, sent to us from the Father, aided by other ministering spirits, to comfort and minister to us till Christ returns. Another similar representative, the Angel of Revelation 18 will come to dispense spiritual gifts on a scale far more extensive than was done at Pentecost. These representatives and ministering spirits should not be confused with the spirit that dwells in us, which is the mind of God, through His word and manifested in the exercise of God’s power.

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15).

For further information, please visit Patience of the Saints at http://thecommandmentsofgodandthefaithofjesus.com/

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