What did the early church teach about God’s Holy Spirit?
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Holy spirit is the term used to identify the spirit and power of the only perfect and true God (Mt. 22:29; Lk. 4:14; 24:49; Ac. 1:8; 10:38; Rom.15:1319; 2Tim. 1:7). It is by this power that our Father creates and sustains everything in heaven and earth (Ps. 104:30; Jb. 33:4). If God’s holy spirit were a third entity within a godhead, then this holy spirit would have been the Father of Jesus Christ because he would then have been conceived by it (Lk. 1:35). However, by Christ’s own words we know that he was conceived and brought forth by God through the power of His spirit, for Messiah directed us to worship his Father only (Mt. 6:9-13). If we claim that God’s holy spirit is a third divine being in a trinity, we are breaking the first commandment in the law (Ex. 20:3-6). Therefore, apart from incorrect translations and additions to the NT text on this subject, we can conclude the early church did not teach that the one true God consists of three divine beings. In fact, teaching that God is a trinity shows the absence of God’s spirit. Without His spirit it is impossible to understand who the one true God is (1Cor. 2:11-14; Rom. 8:5-10; Jn.17:3). The Bible states salvation depends upon receipt of God’s spirit (Rom. 8:11), however, as the Bible also teaches that God’s spirit can be quenched (1Thes. 5:19; Ps. 51:11), the teaching of eternal security also known as, “once saved always saved” is not Biblical. It is by God’s spirit that we partake of His divine nature, as did Christ, and become sons of God (Mt. 3:16; Mk. 1:10; Lk. 3:22; Jn. 1:12, 32; 2Pet. 1:3-4).
An example of a known alteration to a NT translation which seeks to alter the truth concerning the godhead, and is not found in the early Greek manuscripts, is the bolded portion below of 1John 5:7 in the King James Version.
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one (KJV; emphasis added).
This passage in the KJV has often been cited as an explicit reference to the doctrine of the trinity. The fact of the matter is it was a late insertion and a known forgery.
There is evidence indicating a medieval Latin writer inserted this portion of the verse, now known as the Comma Johanneum (1 John), while claiming to quote from the first book of John. It appears to have originated as a marginal note quoting a work by Cyprian, which a later copyist decided to place in the main body of the text. This passage appeared in several later copies and was then back-translated into a Greek New Testament copy.
Erasmus, a Greek scholar of the 16th century, was aware of the fact that these words were not found in any of the Greek manuscripts known to him and refused to include it in his compilation of the Bible codex known as the Textus Receptus. The church in Rome, however, began to pressure Erasmus to include the passage; but he said he would not unless it could be shown to exist in a Greek NT manuscript. Soon thereafter, Erasmus was presented an example containing it (codex 61, written in c. 1520), which he rightly suspected was a fabrication, but was now obliged to include it.
This spurious passage thus found its way into the third edition of the Textus Receptus (c. 1522), which formed the basis of the King James Version (1611). It is not found in any translation prior to this time, nor is it included in the first and second editions of the Textus Receptus.
The Moody Bible Institute has this to say concerning the Comma Johanneum,
The text of this verse should read, 'Because there are three that bear record.' The remainder of the verse is spurious. Not a single manuscript contains the Trinitarian addition before the fourteenth century, and the verse is never quoted in the controversies over the Trinity in the first 450 years of the church era. (The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, edited by Charles F. Pfeiffer (OT) and Earett F. Harrison (NT), by Moody Press, Chicago, a division of Moody Bible Institute, ISBN: 0-8024-9695-4, Library of Congress Catalog Card #: 62-20893, page 1477).
Scripture is not vague or ambiguous concerning the nature of the only true and living God (De. 6:5; Jn. 17:3; Rom. 16:26; 1Thes. 1:9).
Another example of an alteration found in the King James Version is Acts 12:4,
And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people (KJV; emphasis added).
The Greek word translated “Easter” in this passage is the word 3957 Gk. páscha. This word appears twenty-nine times in the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. Twenty-eight times the word is rendered “Passover” in reference to the Feast of Passover, a memorial of the night Yahovah passed over Egypt and killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians, both man and beast, and executed judgment upon all their gods (Ex. 12:1-13), thus delivering Israel from four hundred years of slavery. In Acts 12:4 it is falsely translated Easter.
The word “Easter” is a modern derivation of the ancient Babylonian and Assyrian Ishtar, “Queen of the heavens” who presided over love, war and fertility (Jer.7:18; 44:17-19,25). She was called Ashtoreth by the Phoenicians (Sidonians; 1Ki. 11:5, 33; 2Ki. 23:13) and known as the mother-goddess Astarte by the ancient Chaldeans. She was adopted later by the Greeks as the goddesses: Aphrodite, Athena, and Eros; and by the Romans: Venus, Diana, and Minerva. Ishtar is also identified with the Sumerian goddess Inanna. She is a fertility goddess and mother of Baal called “Ashtaroth” in the Old Testament (Jdg. 2:13; 10:6; 1Sam. 12:10). Adherents worshiped hewn trees or upright wooden idols (phallic symbols) called “Ashera” (De. 16:21; Jdg. 6:25-27; 1Ki. 15:13; 18:19; 2Ki. 17:16; 23:4, Jer. 10:1-5).
The false practices associated with Easter originated with the Eastern Sun cult systems and the worship of the stars (fallen ones) of the heavens. Involvement in this system contravenes God’s commands and is considered idolatrous (2Ki. 23:5; Jer. 7:18; Eze. 6:9; 8:15-16; Zep. 1:4).
God calls His servants to worship Him alone. He provides the divinely appointed times in His written word so that we may serve Him in accordance with His will (Lev. 23:1ff; Lk. 20:46; 1Cor. 5:7-8; Col. 2:16; Jd. 12). It is by the power of God’s holy spirit that we are able to understand His truth (Rom. 8:5-9; 1Cor. 2:10-15; Eph.3:1-6; 1Jn. 5:6) and discern error (Isa. 8:20), including mistranslations (Jer. 8:8; 1Jn. 4:6) and come to know who the one true God is (Jn. 17:3).
This document is the collaborative work of individuals who believe God's truth should be given freely (Mt. 10:8; 1Cor. 2:12; 2Cor.11:7; Rom. 10:14-21) and the message of the one true God should be made available to all nations (Mt. 24:14) as a prerequisite to the return of Jesus Christ as King of kings (Mt. 17:10; 19:17; Mk. 9:11; Lk. 1:17; Rev. 19:11-16).
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