Holy Spirit His own Person or an emination from Jesus?

[Anonymous]

I have a cousin that insist that the Holy Spirit is some sort of emanation from Jesus because of the Biblical phrase and EGW’s usage of the phrase of “The Spirit of Christ.”  I believe in three individuals in the Godhead and I think that the book of John alone bears out His individuality.  I don’t know what to say to her.  She has been brought up SDA and with the SoP.  Any ideas?

[Tammy Roesch]

Hi Sandra, I’m glad you have joined us here!

It is so sad to me, to see so many people accepting this false teaching.  The Spirit of Prophecy is so clear that the Holy Spirit is the THIRD PERSON of the Godhead.

 

The prince of the power of evil can only be held in check by the power of God in the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.—Special Testimonies, Series A, No. 10, p. 37. (1897). { Ev 617.2}

Evil had been accumulating for centuries and could only be restrained and resisted by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. Another spirit must be met; for the essence of evil was working in all ways, and the submission of man to this satanic captivity was amazing. { TM 392.2}

Christ determined that when He ascended from this earth He would bestow a gift on those who had believed on Him and those who should believe on Him. What gift could He bestow rich enough to signalize and grace His ascension to the mediatorial throne? It must be worthy of His greatness and His royalty. He determined to give His representative, the third person of the Godhead. This gift could not be excelled. He would give all gifts in one, and therefore the divine Spirit, converting, enlightening, sanctifying, would be His donation. { ST December 1, 1898, par. 2 }

The prince of the power of evil can only be held in check by the power of God in the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. { SpTA10 37.1 }

Over and over again, she makes it clear that there are THREE PERSONS, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

The sad thing is Sandra, not once have we ever been successful in changing someones mind, once they have accepted this false teaching.  They cling to it tenaciously. And for the majority who accept it, it CONSUMES them…they think it the #1 subject that EVERYONE MUST understand as they do.  And it is for that reason that we made it a rule here, that we won’t discuss the Holy Spirit from the standpoint of the Anti-Trinitarian viewpoint, as it never goes anywheres but DOWN.  Yet, at the same time, I don’t want to allow that false teaching to stop us from discussing the WONDERFUL and so IMPORTANT doctrine of the Holy Spirit being the Third Person of the Godhead.

I am glad you brought this subject up.  I wish I could give you some hope for reaching your cousin….but…..I’ve never seen it happen where once they accept it, that they are ever able to untangle themselves from the error.

 

[Anonymous]

D. M. Canright, wrote an article entitled “The Holy Spirit”, printed in The Signs of the Times (July 25, 1878), and expressed the view:

“All Trinitarian creeds make the Holy Ghost a PERSON, equal in substance, power, eternity, and glory with the Father and Son. . . . But this we cannot believe. The Holy Spirit is NOT a person. In all our prayers we naturally conceive of God as a person, and of the Son as a person, but whoever conceived of the Holy Ghost as being a person, standing there beside the Father and equal with Him?”

(Dudley Canright is a very unfortunate character in Adventist history. He was once a prominent SDA minister, but fell away and actively opposed Ellen White and many of the Adventist beliefs. His anti-Trinitarian position has been the one taken up by quite a number of our people today.)

However, Mrs. White spoke to the students at Avondale College in 1899, saying,

“we have been brought together as a school, and we need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a PERSON as God is a PERSON, is walking through these grounds, that the Lord God is our keeper, and helper. He hears every word we utter and knows every thought of the mind.” (7Manuscript Release p.299, Evangelism 616)

Today a number of SDA’s hold the view that, while referring to the Holy Spirit in the piece just quoted, Mrs. White actually means Jesus. But this, in my view, is quite a desperate measure… Some also deny that the Holy Spirit is “a distinct personality”. But

“the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, in Christ’s name. He personifies Christ, yet is a distinct personality. We may have the Holy Spirit if we ask for it and make it [a] habit to turn to and trust in God rather than in any finite human agent who may make mistakes.” (1893)  (20Manuscript Release p.324)

[Tammy Roesch]

Thank you for more history background, Stewart. 🙂  I knew Canright lost his way but I didn’t know it was over this.    Al and I are reading through The Desire of the Ages on Sabbaths, together….and we just happened to be in the Chapter ~ Let Not  Your Heart Be Troubled today and read this statement:

Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world’s Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church. { DA 671.2}

It seems as people who do not believe that the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Godhead, will not be overcomes….it truly is a DEADLY FALSE DOCTRINE.

[Anonymous]

I would just mention, Tammy, that Canright lost his way in many things… which included his misconceptions about the Holy Spirit. And I believe that it was around the time of that Signs of the Times article (in 1878) that his downward spiral (his so-called “disillusionment”) began…. culminating in the release of his 1914 book, “Seventh day Adventism Renounced”.

[Tammy Roesch]

Yes, Al and I were talking about that at lunch time today, and he said the same thing, that the stand he took on the Holy Spirit was just one place where he went into apostasy.  I can hardly imagine the depression he must have felt as he got older….as I think I remember hearing somewhere that he came to Ellen White’s funeral and wept, and confessed that she was a godly woman….he must have known down deep that he was lost…

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