An open letter to Simeon James

Fri, Mar 30. 2012

Dear Simeon James,

I read your article in the newspaper and it is sad that you believe what other people tell you. Instead of people telling you what the Bible says, read it for yourself. You say the Holy Spirit is not a person. How can you grieve a force or influence?{{more}} Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God….” A person grieves, not a force or an influence. How can you lie to a force or an influence? Acts 5:3 “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, …?” You cannot lie to force or an influence, you lie to a person. A force or an influence cannot grieve. A person grieves, and scripture is very direct – the Holy Spirit does these things.

Please notice, as to translations, the worst English Translation I know of (having spent over 6 years on a Bible translation project, I think I would know something about Bible Translations) is The New World Translation. For instance in John 1:23 the word Jehovah is found – but it is NOT found in any Greek manuscript of the New Testament, not one. In fact, it is found over 237 times in the NWT without a single manuscript that would back up that “translation”. That is just for starters. So let’s stick with the King James Version, which after 400 plus years, has proven itself trustworthy.

Jesus’ own words it says : John 16:13 “Howbeit when HE, the Spirit of truth, is come, HE will guide you into all truth: for HE shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever HE shall hear, that shall HE speak: and HE will shew you things to come. (14) HE shall glorify me: for HE shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” So Jesus used the masculine pronoun MANY times to denote the Holy Spirit. Is this a personification of an influence or power? I think not. I believe Christ was talking about a person, and I will tell you why.

In Jesus’ own words he said he would send ANOTHER (John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you ANOTHER Comforter”). ANOTHER, now that is an interesting word. Here it means, “OF THE SAME KIND.” That is the Greek definition of that word. Jesus was saying I am going to send you another person just like myself. That is not an influence or power. Jesus was a person, and He was going to send a person just like Himself.

Notice what the Holy Spirit is going to do “…HE will guide you into all truth…” (John 16:13). Jesus in John 14:6 (same long discussion with his disciples) “Jesus saith unto him, …‘I am the way, THE TRUTH and …” He claimed to be the very embodiment of truth. Without Jesus, there would be no truth.

The truth is Jesus is God. He said so in John 10:30 – In Greek he used the sentence structure that says He and the Father are the same nature.(person) Even if you don’t know Greek, the audience understood him. Look at verse 31, they took up stones to stone him. He asks why, and they answer in verse 33 “The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” (KJV please) They clearly understood his claim to be God. That isn’t just Jesus was making Himself like any god, but the idea of “The Father” was to make Himself equal to Jehovah.

You mention “…Were God’s servants filled with a person? Of course not.” That is a lie that is only true in your own mind. Remember the Holy Spirit is just that; a spirit, and as a person he does not have a physical body. He can inhabit time, eternity, space and a person.

One more thing, who was going to send the Holy Spirit? In John 16:7 “…I will send Him unto you….” And in John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter,” Who was doing the sending? The Father or the Son? They are the same. Again in the same passage you quoted from.

Alan Berry