If the Spirit of God is another God, then the spirit of man is another man. In First Corinthians 6:20 Paul refers to “THE SPIRIT THAT IS IN MAN.” Job 32:8 and Proverbs 20:27 also refer to man’s spirit. First Corinthians 2:11: “For what man knoweth the things of a man SAVE THE SPIRIT THAT IS IN HIM? Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but (he can know the things of God) by THE SPIRIT OF GOD.” Notice that the Spirit is OF God, not God the Spirit or the Spirit God, just as man’s spirit is OF man, not man the spirit or the spirit man.

Our human spirit is not another person, but rather the power within us to know what we know and to commune with God. Of all the earthly creatures God created, only man has this capacity. God commun-icates His “things” to man through His Holy Spirit. Man receives them by way of his spirit. Death–the point at which man’s spirit returns to God (Ecc. 12:7)–ends the communication. Sin separates man from God (Isa. 59:2). One must be “set free from sin” and “not serve sin” any longer in order to establish the communication link. As David said in Psalms 51:10,11: “O God … renew a right spirit in me … and take not Thy Spirit from me.” He knew that sin causes God to withdraw His Spirit from the church sinner. When churchman continues to sin, God removes His Spirit from him, his conscience having been “seared with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:1,2). Notice that these are those church people who have departed from THE FAITH (singular) and have begun to follow DOCTRINES OF DEVILS, some of which are listed in the introduction to this website. These people are also written about in first Corinthians 2:14: “But the natural (carnal) man receiveth not the things of (brought to him by) the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them because they are SPIRITUALLY DISCERNED.” His conscience seared by repeated sin, churchman has deafened himself to the voice of God. Having a carnal mind, he has become ENMITY (echthra–hostile) AGAINST GOD (Rom. 8:7). Sin creates enmity against God, making one His enemy.

That Paul did not recognize the Holy Spirit as a God is noted in First Timothy 2:5: “For there is ONE (not two) God (not Gods), and ONE Mediator between God (not Gods) and man, the man, Jesus Christ.” No mention of the Holy Spirit in this explicit listing of the Godhead shows that there are TWO AND ONLY TWO MEMBERS OF THE GODHEAD. They do what they do through their singular Holy Spirit. It is through the Spirit that God convicts man of sin. It is through the Spirit that man receives forgive- ness. It is through the Spirit that God awards eternal life (1 Jn. 2:6). All this is done “Not by (man’s) might, not by (man’s) power, but by MY SPIRIT SAYS THE LORD” (Zech. 4:6). Just as Jesus admitted that He could do nothing on His own man’s power and might, we must admit our total powerlessness without God’s Spirit/power.

Another passage that declares the two personage Godhead is First Corinthians 11:3: “But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” Where does the Holy Spirit fit into this hierarchy? It doesn’t. If inserted it would be either below woman or above God.

Not one of the apostles recognized the Holy Spirit as a member of the Godhead. Some people use Sec- ond Corinthians 13:14 to make the case for the Spirit’s Godship. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of (by) the Holy Spirit be with you …..” In this closing sentence Paul stresses grace and love, mentioning the Holy Spirit only in the context of the saints’ communion (com- munication) with God and Jesus which can take place only through God’s interaction with man through His Spirit–the instrument by which God communicates with man. The “you” Paul referred to are all saints in every place on earth at all times. As he said in Second Corinthians 1:21,22: the Holy Spirit is “in our hearts” while God and Jesus are in heaven.

In Acts the fifth chapter Peter accuses Ananias and Sapphira of lying to “… the Holy Ghost (vs 3) and to God (vs 4), “leading some to believe that Peter was calling the Holy Spirit “God.” The apostle clarifies the situation in verse 9 where he explains that Ananias had lied to “the SPIRIT OF THE LORD,” which was the same as lying to the Lord Himself. The house Jones owns is the house OF Jones, not another Jones.

In Matthew 3:16 the writer states that the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove. On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came on the people in the form of fire. In Luke 8:18 Jesus said: “… the Spirit OF the Lord is upon me.” As a man, the Holy Spirit did not belong to Him, but only to God Who placed it upon Him to empower Him to complete His mission. God has sent His Spirit on many individuals throughout history. The Spirit came upon Sampson, the 120 in the upper room, the family of Cornelius, the people to whom Philip preached in Samaria, as well as God’s prophets, apostles and disciples down through history. Nowhere are we told that either God the Father or His Son Jesus ever came on anyone in any form. To be continued.