The Father and the Holy Spirit are One
The
Lord Jesus Christ stated very clearly about the essence of the Deity, "God is Spirit."
(Jn 4:24) Bearing this in mind and at
the same time remembering that there is only "One Spirit" (Eph 4:4),
we shall come to the important truth that the Father and the Holy Spirit are
one and the same Divine Person.
A. 1) The one and only Spirit is
called "the
Spirit of God" in the Old Testament (Gen. 1:1; Ex. 31:3, 35:31;
Num. 24:2; 1 Sam. 11:6; Job 27:3, 33:4; Ezk. 11:4), and also in the New
Testament (Mt. 3:16,12:28; Rom. 8:9,14, 15:19; 1 Cor. 2:41-,14, 3:16, 6:11,
7:40, 12:3; 2 Cor. 3:3).
2) The one Spirit is called
the "Holy Spirit" in the Old Testament (Psm. 51:11; Isa. 63:10-11);
and of course He is known as the "Holy Spirit" ("Holy Ghost"
in the King James Version) in the New Testament. (Mt. 1:18,19; Lk. 1:1 5; Jn.
14:26; 20:22; Acts 1:8; Rom. 5:5; 1 Cor. 2:16; Heb. 2:4; 1 Pet. 1:12)
3) The Spirit is
called "the
Holy Spirit of God" (Eph.
Since
there is only one Holy Spirit of God, who is the Father of us all; there can be
no question about the Father and the Holy Spirit being the one and the same
Divine Person. (Eph. 4:4-6; Jn 4:23-24)
B. During the birth of
our Lord Jesus Christ, this one and only Holy Spirit of God entered the womb of
the virgin Mary to conceive the Child Jesus (Mt. 1:20-25; Lk. 1:30-35). The Lord Jesus has no human father. His only Father is God who is the Holy
Spirit. If the Father and the Holy
Spirit were two separate and distinct Persons as taught by some theologians,
then Jesus would have two Fathers, which cannot be true (Eph. 4:6). The truth is, the Father and the Holy Spirit
are one and the same Divine Person who is in the Lord Jesus Christ. This would harmonize with His statement: "Believe Me that
I am in the Father and the Father in Me." (Jn. 14:10-11)
C. The Lord Jesus
Christ taught very clearly that the Holy Spirit is given by the Father. (Lk.
11:13; Jn 14:16,26) He had asked His
disciples to wait for the "Promise of My Father" which is the
gift of the Holy Spirit. (Lk. 24:49; Acts 1:4-8) During the Old Testament time God had
promised to pour out His Spirit on His people. (Prov. 1:23; Isa. 44:3; Ezk.
36:26; Joel 2:28-29) After the Lord
Jesus Christ's death, resurrection, ascension and glorification, the Holy Spirit
was indeed poured out on the Disciples who had waited on Him (Jn 7:38-39,
14:28, 16:7; Acts 2:33). Surely those Disciples
had received only one Spirit from the Father, who is also the Holy Spirit
Himself. (Acts 2:4,16-18,33,38; Eph. 4:30)
The
Lord Jesus Christ explained, "At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and
you in Me, and I in you." (Jn 14:20) This statement also harmonizes with the
prayer of our Lord's, "That they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me,
and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, . . . that they may be one, just
as We are one; . . . I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in
one." (Jn. 17:21-23) The
only way in which this Oneness can be understood is to accept the truth that
there is one Holy Spirit of God who is the same Divine Person as the Father as
well as the Lord Jesus Christ. It does
not take a theologian to understand that no Spirit-filled Christian can have more
than one indwelling Spirit, for there is only one Spirit. If the Lord Jesus prayed that the Father, the
Holy Spirit and Himself can dwell in the believers, Surely He meant the one and
only Spirit of God. This truth
definitely proves that the Father and the Holy Spirit are one and the same Divine
Person who will indwell every true believer.
Why
then does the Bible make a distinction between the Father and the Holy Spirit
when both are one and the same Divine Person?
The answer is actually very simple.
When the Bible mentions the Father, it is in reference to the fatherhood
of God (Eph. 4:6) who is the Creator (Isa. 64:8) and the Christians'
relationship with Him as His children (Rom. 8:15; Mt. 7:11). The Holy Spirit, who comes from the Father
and is called "the
Comforter" or "Counsellor",
indwells the believer (Jn
