When God (who is spirit) says "my spirit" do Binitarians think He is just referring to Himself?
Upvote:-1
For trinitarians, references to "Holy Spirit", "The Spirit", "My Spirit", etc. all refer to a single entity, so when scripture mentions "spirit" it is easy to think of it as talking specifically about the person known as the Holy Spirit.
This can create confusion in some cases where that isn't the intended meaning.
For those that don't believe in a trinity, scripture is much easier to understand.
Everything exists in one of two forms: as physical matter or as supernatural spirit.
This difference is contrasted in Matthew 16:17, when Jesus says "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven".
And in 1 Corinthians 15:50,52–53, when Paul says "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; …
in the twinkling of an eye … the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.".
At baptism, it is not something physical, but spiritual, that is specially given by God to unite with human spirit to form the embryo of a new spirit being that can eventually be born as an immortal and immaterial child of God.
(John 3,7–8 "… Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.")
Angels, and God himself, are normally composed of pure spirit.
The force that animates physical life is composed of spirit.
The force that gives humans their self-awareness and free choice is composed of spirit.
(Job 32:8 "… there is a spirit in man …")
All these, and others, are examples of things that exist in spirit form.
The word "spirit" simply indicates that it is an immaterial supernatural substance, with no implication that everything that is composed of spirit is the same thing, no more than everything that is made of wood or steel is part of some greater whole.
So when we look at Luke 1:35's "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee", translated without the trinitarian bias, it says:
Holy spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee …
whose meaning is much clearer and simpler. God will, using the medium of holy spirit (supernatural immaterial substance), effect a change within you.
More profanely, compare with having a shower, where the water will appear and the power of the spray will clean you.
In fact this analogy might help in understanding other uses of "spirit", which, like water, is simply a medium through which things can be done.
There is no need to think of a greater whole "Water", of which this instance is a part.
Similarly, in Zechariah 4:6's "… Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit …",
the word translated as "might" can mean "army", "strength", "substance", etc.,
and the word translates as "power" can mean "animal strength", "human strength", "substance", etc.
These are all references to acting through physical force.
as opposed to through an immaterial supernatural spirit.
Again, this is all so much easier to understand when one doesn't have the baggage of thinking that the word "spirit" refers to a specific supernatural being.
Catholics, for instance, know that the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity (as revealed through the traditions of the Church), and this belief hinders their ability to understand things from a non-trinitarian point of view.
More post
- 📝 What is the ordering of events in Nahum and Jonah?
- 📝 How does a person become a godparent in the Roman Catholic Church?
- 📝 Are there verifiable written reports of Christians praying to God about recent events and receiving supernatural knowledge?
- 📝 What are examples of Latter-day Saint doctrines that are NOT completely based on the Bible?
- 📝 Did St. Augustine warn us about interpreting the Bible in a way which harms science?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for requiring that a pastor/preacher/teacher/etc be paid for their ministry?
- 📝 Why are the Psalms numbered this way in some Catholic Bibles?
- 📝 Do any conservative Baptist churches recognize infant baptisms despite not performing them?
- 📝 What does it mean to "be saved"
- 📝 How does current Church of England polity compare with Richard Hooker's teaching?
- 📝 How do Full Preterists interpret 2 Peter 3:9-13?
- 📝 How do protestants understand Jesus' statement that unless we eat the flesh of the Son of Man we will have no life?
- 📝 How do Continuationists respond to the "go empty hospitals" objection against the gift of healing?
- 📝 Why is the Nation of Israel called Israel and not Abraham?
- 📝 When did the teaching that salvation can still be obtained by people after their physical death first appear in Christianity?
- 📝 Help me locate a passage regarding driving out the Canaanites before Israel
- 📝 How was sin not counted before the law?
- 📝 Controversy regarding the birth of man
- 📝 What is the earliest recorded instance where Mary is called "Blessed Virgin?"
- 📝 Why did G.K. Chesterton convert to Catholicism?
- 📝 Are Naaman's actions considered an exception to God's laws?
- 📝 What is Baptism of the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 Christian origins reference request
- 📝 Is SIN a sin just because God says it is sin?
- 📝 How are emendations to the Masoretic Text viewed within the doctrine of inerrancy?
- 📝 What are the attributes of the `life' Jesus is referring to in Jn 5: 26 where he speaks of `life in himself' granted by the Father?
- 📝 What is the difference between classical and revised dispensationalism?
- 📝 How is the ‘Resurrection of the Holy Ones’ in Mt.27:51-53 understood by those who consider it a literal, historical event?
- 📝 When were the Hades and the lake of fire created?
- 📝 Were the councils of the 4th and 5th centuries primarily to deal with Apocryphal writings?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 When God (who is spirit) says "my spirit" do Binitarians think He is just referring to Himself?
- 📝 Jesus says, that God the Father is a Spirit AND Paul says there is one (1) Spirit. How do trinitarians understand who or what the Holy Spirit is?
- 📝 The Mormon Church teaches that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son. How do you reconcile this when the Bible says the Father cannot be seen?
- 📝 If according to the Jehovah Witnesses that "there was a time when God was alone," who was with God at John 1:1?
- 📝 Why do Christians call the Sabbath Jewish when God was the one who started it?
- 📝 Should Christians call to God asking him to receive their spirit when dying?
- 📝 What is an overview of Protestants' answers to why I still sin when I have the Spirit of God in me?
- 📝 When omniscient God had a plan for Jesus, why did God think of killing everyone?
- 📝 Why do Christians missionary think that quran 5:17 "Surely those have disbelieved who said God is the Christ" is a distortion of their belief!
- 📝 Who was Pharaoh when Moses lived in Egypt?
- 📝 Why do most Christians eat pork when Deuteronomy says not to?
- 📝 How can things considered bad when done by humans become good when God does them?
- 📝 According to LDS (Mormon) teaching, who was the first God who began the eternal progression?
- 📝 If the Holy Spirit is God, and God can not be in the presence of sin, then how can the Holy Spirit dwell in me a sinner?
- 📝 Why did God make garments of skin for Adam and Eve when they had already made clothing for themselves?
- 📝 God created male and female.... What about those who do not fit in the box?
- 📝 Why did Adam claim he was "naked" before God when he and Eve had clothed themselves with fig leaves?
- 📝 When the Bible says "forever," how can we tell it really means forever?
- 📝 When was the word "trinity" first applied to God in Christianity?
- 📝 Why was Jesus afraid/agonizing in the Garden of Gethsemane if the Spirit of God isn't one of fear but of power?
- 📝 What did God mean when He said 'lest they live forever'?
- 📝 Who were the Sons of God who seem to have begat the Nephilim?
- 📝 Was the Holy Spirit or God (the Godhead), the father of Jesus?
- 📝 Does James contradict Jesus when he says some foods should not be eaten?
- 📝 Why did God relent on killing Moses when Zipporah circumcised their son?
- 📝 Why does Justin Martyr say that those who are unworthy of seeing God will become imprisoned in animal bodies?
- 📝 Where does God draw the line when it comes to Sin?
- 📝 What do protestants who believe our old bodies will be resurrected think that will look like?
- 📝 Why did the disciples cast lots when the Holy Spirit was promised
- 📝 How does our work on this earth transfer into the new earth when God returns?