The Trinity is Not a Bible Teaching

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A DIVINE PERSON ACCORDING TO THE BIBLEPro said: It is true that the Bible personifies God's holy spirit, or active force, as it personifies wisdom, sin, and death. Con's response:In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is not a personification of God's "active force." Rather, it is clear that the New Testament Scriptures as a whole presented the Holy Spirit as a "person."The Holy Spirit loves ( Romans 15:30)The Holy Spirit speaks (Acts 13:2)The Holy Spirit knows God's thoughts (1 Corinthians 2:11).The Holy Spirit teaches (John 14:26)The Holy Spirit decides (1 Corinthians 12:11)The Holy Spirit have these personal qualities because he has his own "mind" (Romans 8:27).An impersonal "active force" is not a person.IT does not have a mind! The Holy Spirit is a person.HE does have a mind as the Scripture plainly shows."And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." ( Romans 8:27 KJV).Jesus himself was aware that the Holy Spirit was equally a person with Him (another Paraclete). ~ John 14:16 (1 John 2:1)This is what the Bible REALLY say about the Holy Spirit.Pro said:The Bible, however, also makes references to the holy spirit which definitely do not fit a person, nor are they applied to the Father or the Son. For example, nowhere in the Bible do you read about people being filled with, baptized with, or anointed with the Father or the Son.Con's response: In the Bible, we read about people being filled with the Son: He (Christ) who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things. Ephesians 4:10On the Blasphemy Against the Holy SpiritIn the entire Scriptures, blasphemy ,in and of itself, is always done to someone and not to something! How could an energy be blasphemed? The burden of proof is on Pro.The Holy Spirit is identified as "God" in the Bible.The Holy Spirit is identified as "God" in the Old Testament:2 Samuel 23:2-3“The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue.The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me:‘When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, The Holy Spirit is identified as "God" in the New Testament: Acts 5:3 is very clear that it is the Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit who is identified in the text as "God." Verse 9 further proves that Ananias and Sapphira lied to the person of the Holy Spirit.More on the Personality of the Holy Spirit 1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,If "unholy or evil spirits" are persons, then the Holy Spirit is a person. Pro said: Hebrews 2:4 does not say that God merely gives holy spirit, but he distributes (mer-is-mos') it according to His will. If the holy spirit is a person, why is "He" distributed? And why isn't it said in the Bible that the Father and the Son are distributed as well according to the will of God? A person can be sent, like Jesus, but a person is not distributed.Con's response: Pro should not take texts that says the holy Spirit is "distributed to people" , " anointed to people" and "baptized with people" in the literal sense. That would be a flawed hermeneutics and hence, an eisegesis.Are we to believe that God is a literal "heat, fuel and oxygen" because the Bible said that " Our God is a consuming fire" (Deu. 4:24, Heb. 12:29)? Is God a flame? Is not fire impersonal? Are we to believe that Jesus is a literal "bright morning star"? Is Jesus a luminous sphere of plasma held together by its own gravity? Is not a star impersonal?Revelation 22:16 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”Does Matthew 28:19 prove the trinity?Yes. Matthew 28:19 proves the Trinity. The biblical text is clear that the three persons mentioned have the same name. They are on an equal level. All of them equally shares in one name.The name of God is the "tetragrammaton" ( Exodus 3:14). The oneness of the Trinity in terms of their singular "name" shows that they are not three gods but one.Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name (not names) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,The name of the Father IS the name of the Son and the Holy Spirit as well. That's what the verse is REALLY saying!First century Judaism spoke Greek and read the Septuagint ( the Greek version of the Tanakh).Deuteronomy 6:4 (literally, as says in Hebrew) = YHWH our Gods is one YHWH. Deuteronomy 6:4 (literally, as says in Greek) = The Master our God is one Master. The Old Testament text does not explicitly mention the number of persons. Rather, it merely and only spoke of the plurality of persons in the Godhead. Deuteronomy 6:4 agrees with Genesis 1:26-27.Such consistency remained even in the New Testament (Matthew 28:19, Acts 5:3,John 1:1, Philippians 2:6 etc.).Interestingly, in 1 Corinthians 8:6, Paul was contrasting the one God and the false gods.The context of the said text identified Jesus, the Messiah, as the "one Master" ( the EIS KURIOS of the Shema).The one-ness of the Father and the Son in John 10:30 is evident in the immediate context. It is the unity of power. The Father and the Son have the same power.The language of "my hand" points to the Hebraic symbolism of YHWH's inherent power ( Deuteronomy 32:39).In Matthew 4:10, Jesus said that "only God is to be worshiped (PROSKUNEO)and served." He did not say to not worship him.His focus is on God. In Hebrews 1:6, all angels should worship (PROSKUNEO) Jesus. In fact, in Revelation 5:13, both Jesus and his Father are receiving the same worship from all creation! JESUS CHRIST IS GOD ACCORDING TO THE BIBLEPro said: Only the Father is said to be eternal in the Bible, not the Son. Con's response: God is "from everlasting" (eternal) based on Psalm 90:2.Jesus Christ is "from everlasting" (eternal) based on Micah 5:2. In both the Hebrew texts and the Septuagint Version, the eternality of the Son of God is meant.Mime owlam – Hebrew [ transliterated] Ex hemeron aionos –Greek [ transliterated] Out from the days of eternity or from everlasting [English] On the First-bornColossians 1:15-16 clearly said that Jesus is the "first-born of all creation because in, by and for him all things were created."Jesus is not part of "every creature" because he is the first begotten in, by and for whom all things came into existence.That's what the text is saying at face value.To elaborate, the text means that means that Jesus is the instrumental cause of all creation and the reason why all creation exists.Clearly, he is not part of what he caused to exists. The Greek word PROTOTOKOS (first born, the eldest) does not always mean "first in birth order" in the Bible. God refers to David (the last-born son of Jesse) as "firstborn" king in Psalm 89:27, "the highest of the kings of the earth", so also is Jesus the "firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15) in that Jesus has preeminence and first place in everything that exists.Colossians 1:15 and Revelation 3:14 do not say that Jesus Christ is the "creation of God." It is merely a wishful thinking of Pro.According to the Bible, the Holy Spirit is functionally subordinate to the Son:John 16:77 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.John 13:16"Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.Pro said: So, God has more authority than the Son and, thus, he is not God.Con's response: The Son himself voluntarily chose to temporarily give up the use of his attributes in order to accomplish his mission as the Messiah ( Philippians 2:6-8).The Father and the Son have the same authority over all creation. They are both worshiped by all creation ( Revelation 5:13, 14:4, 22:3).Pro's argument: Ephesians 1:3 and 1 Peter 1:3 - Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus ChristPro's rebuttal: Ephesians 1:3 and 17 as well as Hebrews 1:9 were all showing that Jesus had a God who was identified as his “Father.” The said biblical texts, when interpreted with the Scripture as a whole, show that Jesus was equal with God his own Father in terms of “ontology” (nature). ~ John 5:18, Philippians 2:6 It should be understood that in the biblical paradigm, “God” and “flesh” are two directly contrasted terms of reality.God is not flesh and vice versa. But John 1:1 and John 1:14 said that “the Word was God” and “the Word became flesh.” This shows that what he was, he did retain and what he was not, he became.The Logos was fully God and at the incarnation, fully human.In him dwells all the fullness (not just some) of the Godhead bodily. ~ Colossians 2:9