“I believe in the Holy Ghost.” This simple affirmation in the Apostles’ Creed commends itself to us because it is not cumbered with abstruse definitions and dubious arguments such as mar the later and much less generally accepted Nicene and Athanasian Creeds.
No one who believes the Bible to be the Word of God can refuse to believe in the Holy Ghost, because Scripture contains very many references to the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, as the Revised Version has it, a rendering which we ourselves prefer. But what do we believe about the Holy Spirit? It was once thought by loyal members of the Churches who deduced their doctrinal beliefs from the ancient Apostles’ Creed that the words “I believe in the Holy Ghost” carried with them the idea that the Holy Ghost is a Divine Person, but the late Bishop Pearson, in his well-known Exposition of the Creed, exposed the worthlessness of such a view, and pointed out that the phrase “I believe in the Holy Ghost” is only the expression devised by the compilers of the Creed, and “is not language expressly read in the Scriptures.” Our doctrinal beliefs ought to be founded on the plain teaching of the Word of God, not on the supposed implications of a Church’s creed.
Our first question must therefore be: Does the Bible teach that the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, is a Person? Bishop Pearson wrote: “It is, indeed, to be observed that in the Scriptures there are some things spoken of the Holy Ghost which are proper and peculiar to a person; others, which are not properly and primarily to be attributed to a person; and it might seem to be equally doubtful, in relation to the Scripture expressions, whether the Holy Ghost were a person or or no.” We would here point out to our readers that there is no such doubt about the personality of the Father or of Jesus Christ, and the admitted existence of many Scripture references to the Holy Ghost which seem to refute the idea that the Holy Ghost is a Person should serve to make us examine the evidence with particular care, so that we might arrive at a conclusion which is in harmony with the whole of Scripture teaching.
To continue reading this Bible article, click here.
Author: P. H. Adams
Keywords: Christian creeds, Creeds, Apostles Creed, Nicean Creed, Nicene, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Trinity, Triune, Triune god, one god, one god in three persons, second person of the trinity, Jesus is God, God the Son, Arius, Arian controversy, Arian, 325 AD, Council of Nicaea, Council of Nicea, First Council of Nicaea, First council of Nicea, Deity of Jesus, Divinity of Jesus, Homoousios, homoiousios, Homoiousian, three persons of the Trinity, Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, Personality of the Holy Spirit, parakletos, paraclete, comforter, helper
Bible reference(s): Genesis 1:2, Genesis 41:38, Exodus 31:3, Exodus 35:31, Numbers 24:2, 1 Samuel 10:10, 1 Samuel 11:6, 1 Samuel 19:20, 1 Samuel 19:23, 2 Chronicles 15:1, 2 Chronicles 24:20, Job 27:3, Job 33:4, Job 37:10, Psalms 51:11, Isaiah 30:33, Isaiah 63:10, Isaiah 63:11, Ezekiel 11:24, Matthew 1:18, Matthew 1:20, Matthew 3:11, Matthew 3:16, Matthew 12:28, Matthew 12:31, Matthew 12:32, Matthew 28:19, Mark 1:8, Mark 3:29, Mark 12:36, Mark 13:11, Luke 1:15, Luke 1:35, Luke 1:41, Luke 1:67, Luke 2:25, Luke 2:26, Luke 3:16, Luke 3:22, Luke 4:1, Luke 11:13, Luke 12:10, Luke 12:12, John 1:33, John 7:39, John 14:26, John 20:22, Acts 1:2, Acts 1:5, Acts 1:8, Acts 1:16, Acts 2:4, Acts 2:33, Acts 2:38, Acts 4:8, Acts 4:31, Acts 5:3, Acts 5:32, Acts 6:3, Acts 6:5, Acts 7:51, Acts 7:55, Acts 8:15, Acts 8:17, Acts 8:18, Acts 8:19, Acts 9:17, Acts 9:31, Acts 10:38, Acts 10:44, Acts 10:45, Acts 10:47, Acts 11:15, Acts 11:16, Acts 11:24, Acts 13:2, Acts 13:4, Acts 13:9, Acts 13:52, Acts 15:8, Acts 15:28, Acts 16:6, Acts 19:2, Acts 19:6, Acts 20:23, Acts 20:28, Acts 21:11, Acts 28:25, Romans 5:5, Romans 8:9, Romans 8:14, Romans 9:1, Romans 14:17, Romans 15:13, Romans 15:16, Romans 15:19, 1 Corinthians 2:11, 1 Corinthians 2:13, 1 Corinthians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 7:40, 1 Corinthians 12:3, 2 Corinthians 6:6, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 4:30, 1 Thessalonians 1:5, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 1 Thessalonians 4:8, 2 Timothy 1:14, Titus 3:5, Hebrews 2:4, Hebrews 3:7, Hebrews 6:4, Hebrews 9:8, Hebrews 10:15, 1 Peter 1:12, 2 Peter 1:21, 1 John 4:2, 1 John 5:7, Jude 1:20, Wisdom of Solomon 1:5, Wisdom of Solomon 9:17, Susanna 1:45, 2 Esdras 14:22
Source: “The Holy Ghost,” The Testimony, Vol. 11, No. 128, August 1941, pp. 239-43.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.