Research Paper on the Holy Spirit

I realized that I haven't posted in a while so I decided to post my research paper that I turned in today. It's not a masterpiece but you can read it. Maybe you can also give me more info for my oral exam coming up. Here it is:

The Holy Spirit is one of the most argued figures in the entire Bible. Most “Christian” religions claim him but most of them contradict each other. Jehovah’s Witnesses belief that He is nothing more than a force, Charismatic’s teach that His main ministry is gift’s giving, etc. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity, with a distinct personality and many duties. The Bible has a whole lot of stuff to say about the Holy Spirit but the big problem is that you cannot simply go to one passage to learn about who the Holy Spirit is. Teachings of the Holy Spirit are mentioned a verse here and a chapter there throughout the Old and New Testament that it actually requires us to study deeply and compare Scripture with Scripture; this is why there are so many false teachings about the Holy Spirit, people aren’t willing to study deeply. It is important that one draws his conclusions of the Holy Spirit from Biblical teachings. In this paper, I will strive to show that the Holy Spirit is God from Scriptures.

One way that we can see that the Holy Spirit is God is that there are places in the Bible that say that he is God. Acts 5:3-4 says, “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” In this passage we see that Peter interchangeably uses the Holy Spirit and God, as if they are the same. The reason is, is that they are the same. Another passage where we see that God and the Holy Spirit are interchangeable is in 1^st Corinthians. Chapter 3:16 says that we are the temple of God but 6:19 says that we are the temple of the Holy Ghost. This argument, that the Bible equates God and the Holy Spirit, is probably the strongest that there is on the Holy Spirit’s deity.

Another great argument for the deity of the Holy Spirit is that the Bible associates the Holy Spirit with the other members of the Trinity. Of course, we know that the Holy Spirit is a member of the Trinity but for those who don’t know, the Bible makes it very clear. Some would argue that there are times that the Bible puts God the Father and the Son together and exclude the Holy Spirit and this is true; but when the Trinity is mentioned, it never says, the Father, the Son, and Gabriel” or any other name. The third member of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit, there is no one else who fills in that spot. One passage in particular where this occurs is in Matt 28:19 which says, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” Another passage that one should note is 1^st John 5:7, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” Of course, there are other times where the Holy Spirit is said to be part of the Trinity but will not be discussed for sake of paper space.

Another way that we can see that the Holy Spirit is God is by His attributes and actions. This argument takes up a lot of Scripture and a whole lot is to be said about the Holy Spirit’s attributes and actions. There are several attributes given to the Holy Spirit that are divine. For instance, Hebrews 9:14 calls the Holy Spirit eternal, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Eternality is an attribute that is only given to God because although us human beings will live forever either in Heaven or Hell that is not what eternality is. Eternality is eternally past and eternally future. So we see from this passage that the Holy Spirit had no beginning; the Holy Spirit was present during creation, he existed before creation, he always has been and he always will be. Another attribute that ascribes deity to the Holy Spirit is His holiness. The attribute of the Holy Spirit being holy is his greatest attribute. He is not called the Love Spirit or the Joy Spirit, he is called the Holy Spirit. In fact, the term “Holy Spirit” or “Holy Ghost” is used in the Bible 90 times. To be holy means to be set apart from sin and iniquity. The word “holy” literally means to be physically pure and morally blameless. Sinlessness is an attribute that only God can have. Another attribute that is given to the Holy Spirit is omnipresence. Psalm 139:7 says, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” So we see that the psalmist asks where he can be where the Holy Spirit is not at but then answers his own question and says that the Holy Spirit is everywhere. Another passage that should comfort every Christians heart concerning the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit is John 14:17 which says that the Holy Spirit will dwell in us. If the Holy Spirit can dwell in me, here in the United States and in a missionary in China all at the same time, it is not a great stretch to say that he is everywhere. After all, one cannot be in two places at the same time unless he were everywhere at the same time. The omniscience of the Holy Spirit is another great attribute that he possesses. First Corinthians 2:10-11 says, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 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.” For the Holy Spirit to know the “deep things of God” he would have to be God. God’s ways are not understood by anyone less than God (Isaiah 55:8) So we see, if God knows all things, and the Holy Spirit knows all things of God, then the Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is also omnipotent, which means that he has the power to do anything that his will and nature allows Him to do. Zechariah 4:6 shows the contrast between the limitation of man and the limitlessness of the Holy Spirit. It says, “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” So we see that if the Holy Spirit is making up for our lack of capability with his unlimited amount of power than he must be God.[1] Another interesting attribute that the Holy Spirit claims is being truth. First John 5:6 says that the Spirit is truth. This is important because not only does the Spirit claim to be truth but so does Christ. We see in John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” This paper is not to prove the deity of Christ, which we easily could but we know that Jesus is God and that he is a member of the Trinity. If Jesus is truth and the Holy Spirit is truth then they are one and the same which shows that the Holy Spirit is God. So we see through a handful of the Holy Spirit’s attributes that he is God.

      Next let’s look at the actions of the Holy Spirit. Of course, there are times when the Holy Spirit’s attributes go hand in hand with his actions but his actions have a great significance in showing that he is God. First we see that the Holy Spirit created all things. The second verse in the entire Bible attests to the fact that the Holy Spirit created all things. Gen 1:2 says, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” So we become aware that not only was the Holy Spirit present for creation but that he was involved. Psalm 104:30 also says, “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.” Another great act we see, which we hold in our hands today is the inspiration of the Word of God. 2^nd Peter 1:21 says, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” So we see that the Holy Spirit gave the prophets of old to say. If you compare that to 2^nd Timothy 3:16 you see that God inspired the Scriptures. So since they are used interchangeably we know that the Holy Spirit is God. 2^nd Samuel 23:2 also says, “The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.” So we see the work of inspiration was an act of the Holy Spirit.[2] Another action of the Holy Spirit which proves his deity is that he is the giver of life. John 6:63 says, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” The word quickeneth means “to make alive”. Life giving is an action of God. So we see that if the Holy Spirit gives life then he is God. Along those lines we see that Christ was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:20 says, “But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” I can’t begin to explain how this happened or how it worked but it is an act of God nonetheless. It is good for us to remember that God did say that his ways are not our ways. We cannot understand everything that God does but we can see that it was a divine work and miracle anyway. Another work that the Holy Spirit does is the act of regeneration. John 3 talks about Jesus and Nicodemus sitting and talking about being “born again” and then in verse eight he mentions being born of the Spirit. It does not need to be argued that our salvation has nothing to do with us but it has everything to do with God. The Holy Spirit does the action of regeneration when we get saved.[3] So we can see through these actions and others that are not in this paper that the Holy Spirit is God.

      In conclusion, I believe that to argue that the Holy Spirit is not God is a very uneducated belief. One cannot objectively search the Scriptures without seeing the deity of the Holy Spirit throughout. Let’s never forget that the very Bible that we hold in our hand and the simple fact that we are saved is a proof that the Holy Spirit is God. What an amazing truth!

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[1] The Holy Spirit, Charles Caldwell Ryrie. Moody Publishers, New York, New York. Pg. 22

[2] The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, R.A. Torrey. CreateSpace, New York, New York. Pg. 26

[3] The Holy Spirit, Arthur Pink. Bottom of the Hill Publishing, New York, New York. Pg. 49

100 Days!

100 Days til I get married to the most amazing girl in the world! Any words of wisdom you would like to give me?

Who Are You?

I asked this question to my roommates the other day. Each of them gave me a good answer. I expected them to talk about their families, calling in life, passion, walk with God, etc. When they were done I turned them to Isaiah chapter 6. I have been reading Isaiah in my devotions and this thought came to my mind. I have noticed it before, I've heard it preached on before, but on this day it particularly touched me and I'd like to share it with you. I was reading verses one through four of the passage. Wow! What an incredible passage. What a privilege Isaiah had to get to stand in the throneroom of God! The verses explain the majesty of God: God's train filling the temple, the angels having six wings: two to cover their face in respect, two to cover their feet in worship, and two to fly in service, and the many other things that I believe Isaiah saw that he was certainly to overwhelmed to write about. In verse 5 Isaiah then says, "is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." Here is my thought. Isaiah did not see his flaws until he saw God. We cannot see ourselves for who we are until we see God for who he is. You may be reading this right now and saying to yourself, "I'm good! I've got no problems." But maybe you think this because you haven't been near the searching light of the character of God lately. Let's try to keep in mind who we are serving.
Woe
The story is told of two families in the hills of West Virgina. The first family (We will call them the Hattfields for sake of story) were discussing with the second family (the McCoys) how they were making the decision to install electric lights into their house. The McCoys didn't like that idea and decided to be content with the natural light from the sun during the day. The day came and the Hattfields installed their electric lights. They flipped the switch and were amazed by the clear and beautiful light that these bulbs up in the ceiling could give out. When the Oohing and Ahhing was over they began to look around. They realized that their home was a mess! With the new light source in their house they could now see into places that had never been cleaned. The Hattfields went on a cleaning spree to get their house into top shape. Meanwhile the McCoys enjoyed their lives with no electricity. They never worried about a messy house. The McCoys lived forever content with their condition in a filthy house because they never knew how messy it truly was. I hope that we will not be like the McCoys. Turn the lights on! Let God near so that he can expose the dirty grime of sin. Most people don't because they are too scared to see where they are wrong. Are you to scared? I hope not. Who are you today? I bet that your answer would be different if you dwelt on the holiness of God.

Revival in Our Time

Revival has been a buzz word in our circles these days. Everybody talks about how they want revival. My roommates and I were talking last night about revival and wandering why God doesn't pour out His Spirit like he did in the days of Jonathon Edwards, D.L. Moody, and Billy Sunday. We didn't figure out anything incredibly groundbreaking (we are only college students after all), but we were reminded of a simple fact, "If my people, which are called by my name will humble themselves..." In these modern times, we are far too self-reliant. We will pray and ask God for help when someone has cancer or we are going through financial struggles but when was the last time we asked God to provide for our simple needs such as allowing us to live another day or providing us with food. One of my roommates said last night, "I am convinced that we will not see revival until we are willing to humble ourselves enough to believe that we can't get out of bed in the morning without God's help." I do not think this is far from the truth. Again, nothing profound, but something that challenged my heart last night. Let's pray for revival, but let's not rely on our technology, or music, or even fiery preaching, let's pray for the pouring down of God's Spirit on our land.

Giving Glory to God

This is my first semester at West Coast Baptist College as a room leader. Despite the fact that I am anxiously awaiting my wedding in 118 days, I am sincerely excited about leading these guys in the time I have. I gave a devotion this Tuesday with a challenge for the semester from 1st Cor. 10:31, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." This is my life verse and it has challenged me in many ways in my life. Me and the guys talked about room cleanliness and how it either glorifies God or disglorifies (unglorifies, whatever the word is, I have no clue) God. The question I am challenging my room and myself to ask is this, "Is what I am doing right now glorifying God?" It doesn't have to be a spiritual thing like reading your Bible or going soulwinning. It can be something as simple as how clean your room is or how well you listen in class or even the way in which we eat and drink. Let me ask you: Are you glorifying God with your actions?
The times of Christians blending in with the world must end. Glorifying God in every aspect of our lives will require us to be a little (more like a whole lot!) different from the world. Let us strive to be Distinct Christians by glorifying our Saviour. Because if we don't decide to be distinct we will soon be extinct.

God bless and help America!

We need to pray for our country. I know that as a 22 year old, I do not have the life experience of many people around me, but I find myself saying more often nowadays that I just want Jesus to come back today. As Christians, let us be reminded to hold the banner high. Let us not wait until things get beyond repair. There are not many people who agree with me on this but I believe that America's best days are not gone. God can still bring revival to our nation. I pray He does, I'm not sure how we can handle things getting much worse. God bless and help America!

30 Day Challenge

Here is a challenge for you to take. For the next 30 days I challenge you to read the crucifixion account. You can read it as an augment to your daily devotions or you can make it your daily devotions. I have been doing this for about a week now and I have made it my daily devotions. While you are doing this I want you to make it a point everyday to tell yourself, "He did that for me." I know this, I have only been doing this for a week and it has changed my behaviors. I started to find that as I would go through my day and I would be tempted to sin that the Holy Spirit would remind me about the cross. It is so humbling to be reminded about the cross whenever I sin! The thought has crossed my mind so many times since I've started this that the one little sin that I commit, whether it be a little white lie or a covetous thought, was all it took to hang Jesus onto that cross. So I challenge you, read the crucifixion account for the next thirty days, but don't just read it, let it bathe you so that as you go about your day it will drip off every word you say, thought you think, and thing you do. And comment to me and tell me how it affects your walk. Christ's death is such a deep story full of love, mercy, and holiness. It should never be forgotten, even by those who claim it belongs to them.

The Shadow of the Cross

Something has been burdening me for a few weeks now and with the Easter season rolling around it is good for us to remember this thing: The Cross. Many times we equate the cross with salvation and we are correct in doing so. If it had not been for what was done on the cross we would have no hope for salvation. But I fear that many of us live our lives as if the cross were merely a means to an end. The cross is not just about our salvation but also about our sanctification. Many of us, I am including myself here, wake up in the morning and go about our day and do our own thing but do not care about what God thinks about our lives. We tell our bad jokes, we think our evil thoughts, we neglect to study God's Word and pray all without realizing that Jesus died for the very sins that we are committing. The cross is not an excuse to sin more since the punishment for sin is taken away, but it is a motivation to sin less. I strongly believe that if we took the time every day to consider the pain and agony that Jesus endured on the cross and that he did it all for your sins and mine we would be a different people. The cross should mean so much to us. The one thought that has been racing through my mind is this: Jesus died for me, the least I could do is live for him. Let's determine today that we will live under the shadow of the cross.

Buckle Your Seatbelt! This Sermon is Red Hot!

I have recently heard a sermon preached by Pastor Bob Kelly. He was a great man of God and this message is powerful. It was preached in 1995 and is called The Danger of Allowing a Lukewarm Heart. You can find it on this website! Grace Baptist Church. Hope you enjoy listening! Buckle your seatbelt!

Crucifixion: Pilates Travel Path

My first group of posts are going to be about the crucifixion story. I will be preaching to Granite Baptist School in chapel in May about the importance and seriousness of the crucifixion, so I want to immerse myself in the whole story. I am starting with a focus on a character that I simply find fascinating: Pilate. I'll make a few observations on this post and maybe elaberate more on my next:
So Jesus is brought before Pilate. As we put our focus on Luke 23, the chief scribes bring 3 accusations before Pilate: 1. He perverts the nation, 2. He forbad giving tribute to Ceaser, and 3. He claims to be Christ a King. Each of these accusations was meant to condemn him and many before Jesus likely had been condemned in some way for at least one of these three. The thing I notice is that Pilate disregards the first two accusations and simply focuses on the third (the biggest). We see that a common element is that in all four Gospels Pilate asks Jesus, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" (Matt 27:11, Mark 15:2, Luke 23:3, and John 18:33) To which Jesus replies "Thou sayest" except in John where he elaberates on that phrase. Here is the strange part, after Jesus answers Pilates question with a simple "Thou sayest" as if to say,"you said it!" Pilate turns back to the people in Luke 23:4 and says, "I find no fault in this man." Here is what I think, Pilate may have believed in Jesus, maybe not completely but at least a little. Pilate gets hung up about this whole King thing! In John 19:14 we see that he is trying to convince the Jews to not crucify Jesus by saying, "Behold, your King!"
What finally gets me is what Pilate writes on the inscription above the cross, "Jesus of Nazareth The King of the Jews," to which the chief priests protest and say that he should write that Jesus claimed to be the King of the Jews, not that he was. Here is how this is significant: The inscription above the cross was meant to notify the people why the person on the cross was being crucified, therefore, to the chief priests it would only make logical sense for Pilate to write that Jesus claimed it, not that he actually was. But Pilate's response is great, you can just feel the snubbiness that he gives to the chief priests as he says, "What I have written, I have written."
Based on these facts and others that I will mention later, I believe that Pilate was awfully close to being a believer. Was he a believer, I doubt it, although some do think that he was. I see Pilate as a seeker of truth (As I will talk about next post) and one who greatly respected Jesus Christ. but as one who was unsaved.
What are your thoughts? Where is Pilate today? And what is the general feeling you get when you read about Pilate in the Scriptures?

Welcome to My Blog

Hi! My name is Curtis King. I just wanted to say hi right off the get go and then explain why I am blogging. I realize that I don't have much worth saying, I am not a well known preacher, or a deep theologian, or anyone of real consequence. I just wanted to write down what I have been learning in the Bible. Those who know me know that I am a goofy, silly guy (ask my fiancee! she will tell you stories!) But on this I just wanted to put down what God has been laying on my heart. I can't promise I will write with great eliquence or enrich you with my great wealth of knowledge, but I do help these thoughts will help you even a little! Talk at yall soon!