1 Corinthians 6: 19 - 20 NKJV
I heard a radio pastor the other morning discussing the positives and negatives of knowing the Holy Spirit within us. As for myself, I have never seen Jesus in a negative way. See, Christian teaching tells us that the Holy Spirit is three separate entities. The doctrine of the Trinity tells us that the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Father, the Son AND of the Holy Spirit. That is traditional Christian doctrine. So, who is the Holy Spirit really? Did Jesus promise to send us three unique Helpers {John 14:16}? Was Paul filled with three Spirits {Acts 19:6}? I am going to suggest something so off the rails that even I might consider myself a heretic. This Holy Spirit, as I have learned from searching through scriptures, is none other than the Spirit of Christ Jesus Himself. Well, you can stop reading now, or you can follow my lead which I will lay out. For the longest time, it was my expectation that having the Holy Spirit within me was the quickest way to becoming more like Jesus. Again, that was Christian teaching as I had come to know it. The mistake which I found in this line of thinking is that it ignored the words of the apostle Paul we find in Galatians. Paul discovered that it was no longer his life at all. Paul had come to the realization that it was Jesus who now lived inside of him. The man Paul was dead, what lived on was Jesus {Galatians 2:20}. Paul does not mention anything about three separate Spirits in his own revelation of coming to know Christ Jesus in him. No, Paul tells us that God revealed "His Son in me" {Galatians 1:16}. Would Paul have known about the Trinity? Perhaps, he was, after all, a student of Judaism in his younger days. As such, he advanced in the teachings and training of the religion {Galatians 1:14}. We also know that, as a student of such zealous teachings, that Saul persecuted the early church of the followers of Jesus and tried to destroy it {Galatians 1:13}. So, was Saul filled with that Holy Spirit? Well, if he was, it was replaced that day along the road to Damascus. We know that it was not Jesus Himself who dwelled in Saul, because it was Jesus who brought him to his knees on that dusty road {Acts 9:5}. What was Saul's response to the voice he suddenly heard? "Who are you, Lord" {Acts 9:5}? I'm guessing that Saul knew enough from his own teachings in religion that he was dealing with someone important here. This encounter changed Saul, and us, forever.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galatians 2: 20 NKJV
As I've said, I have not found any mention in either Saul's Damascus road experience nor of his revelation of Christ Jesus in him of anything resembling a Trinity. So, is this idea of a Holy Trinity simply something put forth as part of a religion? I believe it is. I believe in one Father and in the presence of His one and only Son, Jesus. Of course, it was Jesus Himself who told His followers that He and the Father were one in the same {John 10:30, John 14:7, John 14:9}. Now, I'm not simply cherry picking scriptures here, this was Jesus saying that when we see Him, we see the Father as well. That sounds acceptable, after all, Jesus is the Son, so He carries the bloodline. This is the same heredity that we share in Him as well. For if Paul indeed had Christ Jesus in him, then Jesus lives in us as well. How can that be if we have never realized it? Well, my own path to the realization of Christ in me followed a similar path as Paul. That is, when it pleased God, He revealed His Son in me. It's nothing like the flipping of a switch, yet everything like coming to the realization that it is Christ Jesus who we now live as. The prayer of Christ Jesus in the garden has been answered...we are one with the Father {John 17:21}.
"That they may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one is Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me."
John 17: 21 NKJV
~Scott~
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