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Answers by Daniel Mesa below in blue.

If the Godhead is composed only by the Father and the Son (only two persons), why the Lord Jesus commanded to baptize in the name of three persons?

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”—Matthew 28:19.

  • The Godhead doesn’t equal a composition of “Father and the Son,” but rather, the Father IS all the fullness of the Godhead. The Son IS all the fullness of the Godhead, and the spirit is IN all the fullness of the Godhead. Consider Colossians 1:19, “It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” (More in a later answer.)
  • The word is “name” not names. Name most everywhere else represents character, right? Why not here? Also, what are the ‘names’? Father, Son, Holy Ghost? NO! =)
    1. The Father’s name is not “Father”. It’s the title for His position in the family of God.
    2. The Son’s name is not “Son”. It’s the title for His position in the family of God.
    3. The “Holy Ghost” doesn’t have a name called “Holy Ghost.” That’s what it is, holy and a spirit. =)
  • Your conclusion would have to be that we should use titles or names for the three when only one name is required.
  • Also, please show me a single time when someone is baptized in that way in all the Bible. The New Testament (NT) gives only examples of being baptized in the name of Jesus.

If the Holy Spirit isn’t a divine person, why Jesus and the apostles placed Him on the same level of the Father and the Son?

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”—Matthew 28:19.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen”—2Corinthians 13:14.

  • This is not on the same level. That is a human construct. Even Jesus said, “My Father is greater than I.”—John 14:28. This is being baptized into the family of God: the Father, Son, and Their Spirit.
    1. Notice John 14:23, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
  • Do you know what grace is? “They must have His grace, the Spirit of Christ, to help their infirmities, or they cannot resist evil.”—Steps to Christ, 52.2.
    • Grace IS the communion of the Holy Spirit. Who’s Spirit? The same one that was in the prophets! The prophets were “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify…”—1 Peter 1:11.

If the Holy Spirit is only the spirit of God and/or of Christ, how could He be the “another Comforter” promised by our Savior?

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever”—John 14:16.

  • Jesus just afterward says, “Even the Spirit of truth…” in verse 17. 
    1. Who is the Truth according to 14:6? Jesus, right? So, who’s Spirit is the Spirit of Truth?
    2. The Spirit of Truth was dwelling WITH them, and would be (future tense) IN them.
    3. THEN, Christ says, “I will come to you” in verse 18.
    4. Also, did you know that Jesus called His message here a “parable”? “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs…”—John 16:25. (This word is only 5 times in the NT.)
      1. What things? About the Comforter? The Vine? The laboring woman? Yes!
  • Have you looked at the 5 times the NT uses this specific word for “Comforter”? What about the last time when John, the same author, gives it a name? “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”—1 John 2:1. The word advocate is the same exact word for “Comforter.”
  • While Jesus ministers in the sanctuary above, He is still by His Spirit the minister of the church on earth. He is withdrawn from the eye of sense, but His parting promise is fulfilled, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Matthew 28:20. While He delegates His power to inferior ministers, His energizing presence is still with His church.” DA 166.2

If the Holy Spirit is not a person how could He be blasphemed?

“And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come”—Matthew 12:32.

“But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—Mark 3:29, NKJV.

  • The holy spirit IS a Person! It’s the grammatical THIRD person of either the Father or the Son, but the Spirit comes to us from the Son, as there is only one Mediator between God and men, the MAN Christ Jesus! (1 Timothy 2:5)
    1. There’s never a mention of “the first person of the Godhead.”
    2. There’s never a mention of “the second person of the Godhead.”
  • The prophets used “son of man” 88 times in the NT. 84 of those times are in the gospels. Nearly EVERY of those times it is Jesus speaking of Himself (speaking in the third person), and He called Himself “He” and “Him.”
  • Also, in John 10:1-4, Jesus speaks of HIMSELF in the third person as the Shepherd. He calls Himself “He,” “His,” “Him.”  Why, in another section that Christ calls a parable or proverb, is it such a big deal if He calls Himself “He,” “His,” and “Him” when calling Himself the Comforter?
  • The entire Jewish nation blasphemed the Holy Spirit when they rejected the “Spirit of truth [Jesus],  which proceedeth from the Father.”—John 15:26.
    • “What constitutes the sin against the Holy Ghost? It is willfully attributing to Satan the work of the Holy Spirit.” 5T 634.1

If the Holy Spirit is only a divine influence from God the Father and Jesus Christ, how can He make intercession for the saints, helping them how to pray?

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 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 8:26, 27.

  • Did you notice the wording, “the Spirit itself…?”
  • Have you considered verse 34? “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”
  • Just as the DA says in 166.2 as quoted at the end of #3 above, the Spirit of Christ helps us to pray, interceding for us! You know, there’s only ONE Intercessor / Mediator?
    1. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”—1 Timothy 2:5.

If the Holy Spirit is not a person, how could He testify?

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this”—Hebrews 10:15, NIV.

  • The Holy Spirit IS a person, therefore, it can testify! It’s the third person of Jesus Christ. Notice this text:
    1. “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified…”—1 Peter 1:11.
    2. Question, Who, or what, testified?
    3. And was the spirit just called “it?”

If the Holy Spirit exists only from Pentecost of AD 31, what “Holy Spirit” David asked to take not from him?

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me”—Psalm 51:11, NKJV.

  • Notice Ellen White:
    1. “Christ determined to bestow a gift on those who had been with Him and on those who should believe on Him, because this was the occasion of His ascension and inauguration, a jubilee in heaven. What gift could Christ bestow rich enough to signalize and grace His ascension to the mediatorial throne? It must be worthy of His greatness and His royalty. Christ gave His representative, the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. This gift could not be excelled. The divine Spirit, converting, enlightening, sanctifying, would be His donation, because He would give all gifts in one. Ms44-1898.11
      On the Day of Pentecost Christ gave His disciples the Holy Spirit as their Comforter…. Ms44-1898.12
  • God the Father is Spirit (John 4:23-24). The Son was begotten in the express image of His Father (John 3:16, Hebrews 1:3). The Son, therefore, would be Spirit as well as the Father! =) So… Christ came to this earth personally in the OT, just as He does in the NT—through His Spirit! Though Christ came to this earth with the body His Father had prepared for Him (See Hebrews 10:5).
    • David received the victorious Spirit of Christ just as Adam did—by faith! This is how they both received the promise of forgiveness as well. (Christ hadn’t died yet, so how could they be forgiven… by lambs? NO! Christ hadn’t been a victorious human yet, so how could they be victorious… by trying? NO! But by faith in the coming Christ!

If the Holy Spirit exists only from Pentecost of AD 31, what “Holy Ghost” caused Mary to be pregnant?

“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee”—Luke 1:35.

  • It’s the part that you didn’t notice and highlight in bold, “the power of the Highest.
  • Jesus said He didn’t know certain things (His coming, for example, in Matthew 24:36). Also, only the Father has foreknowledge—which only occurs only four times in the Bible (Acts 2:23, Romans 8:29, 11:2, 1 Peter 1:2). So, Christ said, “The Father is greater than I.”—John 14:28.
  • Why would the “counsel of peace” be “between them BOTH” if they both knew everything?—Zechariah 6:12-13.  (How many are in “both?” The enemy wanted to be in there to make it three…)

If the Holy Spirit exists only from Pentecost, what “Holy Spirit” anointed our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at His baptism and drove Him out into the wilderness?

“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. […] The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness”—Mark 1:9, 10, 12, ESV.

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power”—Acts 10:38.

  • You asked…
    1. “Never had angels listened to such a prayer. They were solicitous to bear to the praying Redeemer messages of assurance and love. But no; the Father himself will minister to his Son. Direct from the throne proceeded the light of the glory of God. The heavens were opened, and beams of light and glory proceeded therefrom and assumed the form of a dove, in appearance like burnished gold. The dove-like form was emblematical of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. YI March 1, 1874, par. 4
    2. It’s the Spirit of the Father. It proceeds from the Father in John 15:26. Light and glory…

If the Lord Jesus isn’t God as the Father, why the Bible calls Him “God”?

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”—Isaiah 9:6.

“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us”—Matthew 1:23.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”—John 1:1.

“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known”—John 1:18, ESV.

  • I don’t read this in the Strong’s Concordance when looking… This is a bit of a stretch to me to use another version to state what you wish to convey.
  • “And Thomas answered and said unto [Jesus], My Lord and my God”—John 20:28.
  • “Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen”—Romans 9:5.
  • For in [Jesus] dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily”—Colossians 2:9.
  • “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh”—1Timothy 3:16.
  • Jesus IS GOD! Somehow, people keep saying we don’t believe the Spirit is a person and that Jesus isn’t God… but this is not at all what the Bible is saying! =)
    1. Jesus was called God by the Father, and rightly so, but the Father never has called the Son, “My God.” Jesus, on the other hand, said that seven times regarding His Father. Notice:
    2. Matthew 27:46 “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
    3. John 20:17 “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
    4. Revelation 3:12 “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.”
  • Ask me some time about Adam and Eve…

How can Jesus be fully God if He’s not co-eternal with the Father?

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God”—Psalm 90:3.

  • That is a verse EGW applies to the Father. This, if applied to the Son, would be contradictory to the plain meaning of Scripture. Jesus was begotten. The Father is the “only true God.”—John 17:3
  • We have a problem if they both claim to be “the most high.” There are 48 times the Bible uses the phrase “most high,” all of which can be applied to the Father. Notice, the demoniac “cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?”—Mark 5:7 (See James 2:19)

If Jesus is not God as the Father is, why He claimed the divine name as His own?

“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you”—Exodus 3:14.

“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am”—John 8:58.

It was Christ who from the bush on Mount Horeb spoke to Moses saying, ‘I AM THAT I AM…. Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.’ Exodus 3:14. This was the pledge of Israel’s deliverance. So when He came ‘in the likeness of men,’ He declared Himself the I AM”—The Desire of Ages, p. 24.

“With solemn dignity Jesus answered, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.’ Silence fell upon the vast assembly. The name of God, given to Moses to express the idea of the eternal presence, had been claimed as His own by this Galilean Rabbi. He had announced Himself to be the self-existent One, He who had been promised to Israel, ‘whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.’ Micah 5:2, margin”—The Desire of Ages, p. 469.

  • “I AM THAT I AM” in Hebrew is ‘eyeh asher ‘eyeh. The form ‘eyeh, “I am”, is the first person of the present tense of the verb hayah, “to be”. God’s covenant name, Yahweh or Jehovah, is the third person of the present tense of the verb hayah. In other words, the Lord Jesus saying “I am” in Jhn 8:58 claimed to be the Old Testament’s Jehovah, the God of Israel.
  • Jesus Christ IS God. So, the point is not strong. But, He is not God the Father, the Almighty, the Father of Himself (though in our sense, as creatures, He is the everlasting Father), and nor is He the One “which is, and which was, and which is to come.”—Revelation 1:8
  • Goings forth” as mentioned in Micah 5:2 in the DA from the quote above is proof against your point. EGW uses that verse many times in conjunction with Proverbs 8:22-30. Please consider the only other time this word is used in the Bible, “They brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.”—2 Kings 10:27
    1. The draught house would be a house which is smaller and set apart from the larger house, just like the stone cut out of the mountain without hands. Which is bigger, the stone or the mountain? This is why Jesus was able to say, “My Father is greater than I.”—John 14:28

If Jesus isn’t co-eternal with the Father, why He said to John the revelator to be the One “who is and who was and who is to come”?

“ ‘I [Jesus] am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’ ”—Revelation 1:8, NKJV.

What a Saviour we have! It was he that revealed himself to John on the Isle of Patmos, and proclaimed, ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.’ None but just such an ever-living, mighty God, could pay the ransom to save sinners from going down into the pit of death”—Review & Herald, February 18, 1896.

  • Did you notice how she quoted the Bible and called Christ the “mighty God” in the RH quote above? He is not the “Almighty,” and it is the case in Revelation 1:8 that Christ is speaking of His Father that said His Son is the “Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.” Again, that was said by His Father, the One “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”—Revelation 1:8. To apply this to the Son in going beyond what even EGW did in the quote from whence you take this! =)

If Jesus is not almighty (or omnipotent, or all-powerful) why the Holy Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy say that He’s almighty?

“ ‘I [Jesus] am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’ ”—Revelation 1:8, NKJV.

  • Again, this which is bolded in verse eight, is referring to the Father speaking of His Son. Jesus, in Isaiah 9:6 is called “the mighty God” not the Almighty.
  • What a Saviour we have! It was he that revealed himself to John on the Isle of Patmos, and proclaimed, ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.’ None but just such an ever-living, mighty God, could pay the ransom to save sinners from going down into the pit of death”—Review & Herald, February 18, 1896.
  • EGW clarifies what she means here by calling Christ the “mighty God,” when you are saying she has written that He is the “Almighty God.”
  • [Jesus] was equal with God, infinite and omnipotent. He was above all finite requirements. He was Himself the law in character”—Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, p. 395.
  • Why is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, equal? “God is the Father of Christ; Christ is the Son of God. To Christ has been given an exalted position. He has been made equal with the Father…” —8T 268.3.
    1. These concepts can be brought out in Proverbs 8:22-30 and Hebrews 1.

If Jesus isn’t equal with God the Father, why the Spirit of Prophecy says instead that He’s equal with God?

[Jesus] was equal with God, infinite and omnipotent. He was above all finite requirements. He was Himself the law in character”—Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, p. 395.

  • Jesus Christ is equal because that equality was given Him. Notice 8T 268.3. (See #14, 8T 268.3)

If the Son of God is not co-eternal with the Father, why the messenger of the Lord said that He always was with God?

From all eternity Christ was united with the Father, and when He took upon Himself human nature, He was still one with God. He is the link that unites God with humanity”—Selected Messages, book 1, p. 228.

  • Jesus Christ, since being begotten (which is from eternity) has been in unity, or united with the Father. The Son was brought forth from the very substance of the Father. Notice, “It seemed that divinity flashed through humanity as Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.” The words of Christ were full of deep meaning as he put forth the claim that he and the Father were of one substance, possessing the same attributes.” ST November 27, 1893, par. 5
    1. Question, were all of the Father’s attributes of omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence in the possession of Christ at that time? Or was EGW speaking of something else? (It couldn’t have been omniscience, as Christ said nobody but the Father knows the day or hour of His coming (Matthew 24:36). It couldn’t been omnipotence, as that was something we know He did have that until after the resurrection (Matthew 28:18), and it couldn’t have been omnipresence else He wouldn’t have had to speak as He did in John 14-17 about the coming Comforter!)

“Christ was God essentially, and in the highest sense. He was with God from all eternity, God over all, blessed forevermore”—The Truth About Angels, p. 23.

  • “From” does not mean through or throughout. If there were a statement that said something like, ‘Christ was God throughout eternity, and there never was a time when He was not,’ there would be something to talk about. But we don’t have those statements.

“In speaking of His pre-existence, Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God. He to whose voice the Jews were then listening had been with God as one brought up with Him”—The Signs of the Times, August 29, 1900 (see 7ABC 440.4).

  • I used to use the same quote—taken out of the compilation “Evangelism.” BUT, this is not saying what many are hoping it is saying. It does not say, ‘there never was a time when He was not…’ This is speaking of fellowship, not existence. Therefore, after He was begotten, there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God. (Notice the differentiation in the quote iteself.) You CAN say that about the Son, but you CANNOT say that about the Father. There WAS a time when the Father was without close fellowship with His Son—just as it is true that there was a time when Adam was without close fellowship with Eve.

If Christ was born from the Father, why the Spirit of Prophecy says that He is “self-existent” and that His life is “original, unborrowed, underived”?

“With solemn dignity Jesus answered, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.’ Silence fell upon the vast assembly. The name of God, given to Moses to express the idea of the eternal presence, had been claimed as His own by this Galilean Rabbi. He had announced Himself to be the self-existent One, He who had been promised to Israel, ‘whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.’ Micah 5:2, margin”—The Desire of Ages, p. 469.

  • Interestingly, this quote is ended by Micah 5:2 which is one of EGW’s proof texts for His being begotten. =) (See question 12 above.)

“ ‘Before Abraham was, I am.’ Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God. The message He gave to Moses to give to the children of Israel was, ‘Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.’ The prophet Micah writes of Him, ‘But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, tho thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of Thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.’ ”—The Signs of the Times, August 29, 1900.

  • Again, this is in line with, and used in concert with, Micah 5:2. Please don’t misunderstand that very important text. Also, He is the “Son of God” in this quote. He was given life by His Father, which was original—right from the Father, it was unborrowed—so nobody could take it from Him, and it was underived because He didn’t have to rely on His Father after the gift of life was given Him! =)

“Still seeking to give a true direction to her faith, Jesus declared, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life.’ In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. ‘He that hath the Son hath life.’ 1 John 5:12”—The Desire of Ages, p. 530.

  • Don’t forget the “in Christ” motif. It doesn’t say “Christ WAS life…” So, what, according to Christ’s own words was in Him? John 14:10 says it was the Father that was in Him!

But the life of Christ was unborrowed. No one can take this life from Him. ‘I lay it down of myself’ (John 10:18), He said. In Him was life, original, unborrowed, underived”—Selected Messages, book 1, p. 296.

  • In Him was life…
    1. ““In him was life; and the life was the light of men”. It is not physical life that is here specified, but immortality, the life which is exclusively the property of God. The Word, who was with God, and who was God, had this life. Physical life is something which each individual receives. It is not eternal or immortal; for God, the lifegiver, takes it again. Man has no control over his life. But the life of Christ was unborrowed. No one can take this life from him. “I lay it down of myself”, he said. In him was life, original, unborrowed, underived. This life is not inherent in man. He can possess it only through Christ. He cannot earn it; it is given him as a free gift if he will believe in Christ as His personal Saviour. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”. This is the open fountain of life for the world.”—ST April 8, 1897, par. 2
  • In US can be that SAME life! =) Notice, “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”—1 John 5:11

If the Godhead is composed only by God the Father and His Son, why the Spirit of Prophecy calls it “the heavenly trio”?

“There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ”—Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, pp. 62, 63 (see Ev 615.1; 7ABC 441.9).

  • Please notice the precursor to that quote: “The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and is invisible to mortal sight. The Son is all the fullness of the Godhead manifested. The word of God declares Him to be “the express image of His person.” “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Here is shown the personality of the Father. BTS March 1, 1906, par. 1
    “The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit
    in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour.” BTS March 1, 1906, par. 2

    1. It’s important to understand that the Father and the Son both have the fullness of the Godhead, but that the Spirit is IN all the fullness—meaning, the Father and the Son have the Spirit IN them. The Spirit is the third person of the Son, which is in concert with the 84 times the phrase “son of man” is used in the gospels. Christ spoke of Himself in the third person, and THAT is the living, great power of God which helps those who are baptized. Notice this quote:
    2. While Jesus ministers in the sanctuary above, He is still by His Spirit the minister of the church on earth. He is withdrawn from the eye of sense, but His parting promise is fulfilled, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Matthew 28:20. While He delegates His power to inferior ministers, His energizing presence is still with His church.”—DA 166.2
      1. Christ’s Spirit IS the third person of the Godhead. It’s the third person grammatically, not actually. The Spirit is not a being, and if it were, the spirit would have a spirit, which would constitute confusion.
      2. If someone could show that a spirit is something owned by other than the being who possesses it, then I will have to rethink this, but as far as I can tell, a spirit belongs to the being who’s spirit it is.

If the Holy Spirit is not a divine person, but only the spirit of Christ and of God, why the messenger of the Lord declared Him to be “the third person of the Godhead”?

“The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power”—The Desire of Ages, p. 671.

  • We should consider the entire paragraph, but please notice the last sentence, “Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church.”—DA 671.2
  • Also, the quote has been changed. I own an original 1898 print of The Desire of Ages. Page 671.2 shows the words “third person” in lower case, not title case as it reads in the quote above. The phrase “third person” is not meant to be a title, but rather a grammatical expression of Christ’s Spirit. Embedded below is a picture of said book and page.
  • “Christ determined that when He ascended from this earth, He would bestow a gift on those who had believed on Him, and those who should believe on Him. What gift could He bestow rich enough to signalize and grace His ascension to the mediatorial throne? It must be worthy of His greatness and His royalty. He determined to give His representative, the third person of the Godhead. This gift could not be excelled. He would give all gifts in one, and therefore the divine Spirit, that converting, enlightening, and sanctifying power, would be His donation”—S.D.A. Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 1052.
  • This quote is only part of what was intended. Please consider again the original manuscript in answer to question number 7 above. And, this bolded section is saying exactly what I am saying—Christ gave His “representative, the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit,” which was at Pentecost, according to the original quote. (Ms44-1898.11-12)

If the Holy Spirit isn’t a person, why Sister White said that “we need to realize that the Holy Spirit” is a person?

“The Lord instructed us that this was the place in which we should locate, and we have had every reason to think that we are in the right place. We have been brought together as a school, and we need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds, that the Lord God is our keeper, and helper. He hears every word we utter and knows every thought of the mind”—Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, p. 299.

  • This was written by a stenographer after a speech given to students by Ellen White at Avondale College in Australia. These were not words written by her. But, this is what she did say:
    1. “How few realize that Jesus, unseen, is walking by their side!”—PH154 32.1, 14MR 125.3
    2. “Walking with Christ means to believe that, though unseen, Christ is walking with you.”—21MR 136.5
  • This is what the Bible is referring to when it speaks of Christ:
    • “The mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”—Colossians 1:26-2
    • I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”— Galatians 2:20