It is argued that the personality of the Holy Spirit is not a separate person but it is the life and soul of Christ, and that Jesus shed His Holy Spirit FOREVER, to become invested with humanity at his incarnation. In other words, our critics say the Holy Spirit has not been the Third person of the Godhead since eternity past?
Here are two EGW quotes that our critics put forward to show that Holy Spirit is the life and soul of Christ which has a separate existence:
This Comforter is the Holy Spirit,--the soul of [Christ] his life, the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the world. With his Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin. In the gift of the Spirit, Jesus gave to man the highest good that heaven could bestow. ... The Spirit was given as a regenerating agency, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. ... 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 the church." (E.G. White, Review and Herald , May 19, 1904 par. 1, 2, 3).
"Christ gives them the breath of his own spirit, the life of his own life. The Holy Spirit puts forth its highest energies to work in the heart and mind." (E.G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 827).
Our critics claim that we have to look into ALL her writings so that nothing contradicts, but are they really doing that? Notice this telling EGW statement:
Here are two EGW quotes that our critics put forward to show that Holy Spirit is the life and soul of Christ which has a separate existence:
This Comforter is the Holy Spirit,--the soul of [Christ] his life, the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the world. With his Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin. In the gift of the Spirit, Jesus gave to man the highest good that heaven could bestow. ... The Spirit was given as a regenerating agency, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. ... 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 the church." (E.G. White, Review and Herald , May 19, 1904 par. 1, 2, 3).
"Christ gives them the breath of his own spirit, the life of his own life. The Holy Spirit puts forth its highest energies to work in the heart and mind." (E.G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 827).
Our critics claim that we have to look into ALL her writings so that nothing contradicts, but are they really doing that? Notice this telling EGW statement:
“Jesus said to Mary, ‘Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father.’ When He closed His eyes in death upon the cross, the soul of Christ did not go at once to heaven, as many believe, or how could His words be true—‘I am not yet ascended to My Father’? The spirit of Jesus slept in the tomb with His body, and did not wing its way to heaven, there to maintain a separate existence, and to look down upon the mourning disciples embalming the body from which it had taken flight. All that comprised the life and intelligence of Jesus remained with His body in the sepulcher; and when He came forth it was as a whole being; He did not have to summon His spirit from heaven. He had power to lay down His life and to take it up again.”—5 Bible Commentary, 1150-1151.
Let’s summaries what she says:
- The soul of [his life] Christ did not go to heaven at his death as many believe
- The spirit of Jesus slept in the tomb with His body
- Spirit of Jesus did not wing away there as to maintain a separate existence
- The life and intelligence of Jesus remained with His body
- When He came forth it was as a whole being
- He did not have to summon His spirit from heaven.
If the Soul of his life did not wing away even at his death and it was part of him, then it was also part of him at his incarnation. The critics teaching effectively makes Jesus divided into two; body and spirit. The bible and EGW denies this teaching and we are clearly told that we are not divided into two or three conscience parts, body, soul and spirit and neither is Christ.
Why is Christ called the comforter and why is the Holy Spirit linked so closely with Christ? That is because, the Father, the Son and the Spirit are so closely united in their plan of redemption so much so that both the bible and the Spirit of Prophesy expresses in no uncertain terms that they are ONE in nature and yet clearly distinct. For instance, we are told that Christ is the everlasting Father, but not the Father in person because the Father and the Son each have a personality. The same way, we have seen that Christ is also the comforter or the counselor. But the Holy Spirit is another comforter who has been part of the eternal Godhead and who is distinct from Christ. True, the Holy Spirit is the soul of [Christ], his life and His Spirit. In the same way, Christ is the express image of the Father (Hebrews 1:3) and His Son (Hebrews 1:2). And yet all Three are distinct persons from eternity!
The idea that the Holy Spirit did not exist from eternity is faulty. Notice the following statements:
We are told plainly that the ETERNAL Godhead (including the Holy Spirit) gave themselves over to the plan of redemption in the heavenly courts:
This work began in the heavenly courts . .The Godhead was stirred with pity for the race, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit gave Themselves to the working out of the plan of redemption. In order fully to carry out this plan, it was decided that Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, should give Himself an offering for sin.”—Counsels on Health, 222.
“The eternal Godhead—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost—is involved in the action required to make assurance to the human agent.”— Upward Look, 148.
“Before this the Spirit had been in the world; from the very beginning of the work of redemption He had been moving upon men’s hearts. But while Christ was on earth, the disciples had desired no other helper. Not until they were deprived of His presence would they feel their need of the Spirit, and then He would come. —Desire of Ages, 669.
Next: How come Lucifer is next in honor to Christ and not the Holy Spirit?