The Holy Spirit "speaks" at Acts 13:2 and says "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
So is the Holy Spirit a person who calls himself "me"?
Well, since holy spirit is an active force which is used by God (and the resurrected Jesus) to create, destroy, communicate, etc., it seems obvious that it is God or Jesus using this force to communicate.
Furthermore, at Acts 9:15-17 it is Jesus who has set apart Saul/Paul for the work to which he has called him.
Therefore, it would seem clear that the holy spirit is merely communicatingJesus' words at Acts 13:2.
Perhaps we can compare another method of communication with that of the spirit:
(NKJV) Romans 9:17 - For the Scripturesays to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth."
Since Jehovah’s (the Father’s) holy spirit is actually his active force, it can do anything God wants done. It was the force used during creation. It is the force God uses to motivate. It is the force God uses to be all-seeing and all-knowing. God in heaven knows what everyone and everything in his creation are doing through his holy spirit. What we say is relayed to him through this creative/motivating/communicating force. In turn, if God wishes to communicate with us, he may âspeakâ to us through this invisible force.
An imperfect example might be a person listening to a two-way radio. He can only see the radio and hear the message from the radio, but there really is a person somewhere far away whose thoughts are conveyed to him through invisible electrical energy and through the radio. That person is not the electrical energy and not the radio which is actually 'speaking.'
Yes, God speaks to us through holy spirit. That spirit may motivate (or âtellâ) an inspired Bible prophet to write or speak a message originating from God. So God speaks that message to us, and the holy spirit speaks that message to us, and the inspired prophet speaks that message to us, but they are certainly not all the same person, nor are they all the same God! - Prov. 1:23; 2 Pet. 1:21; 2 Tim. 3:16.
Notice what the trinitarian Bible study aid The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 3, pp. 698, 699, tells us:
“5. The Spirit in the earliest Christian Communities and in Acts. âHoly Spiritâ denotes supernatural power, altering, working through, directing the believer (there is no significant difference between the phrase [âHoly Spiritâ] with the definite article and without). This is nowhere more clearly evident than in Acts where the Spirit is presented as an almost tangible force, visible if not in itself, certainly in its effects. This power of the Spirit manifests itself in three main areas in Luke’s account of the early church.
â(a.) The Spirit as a transforming power in conversion....
â(b.) The Spirit of prophecy. For the first Christians, the Spirit was most characteristically a divine power manifesting itself in inspired utterance. The same power that had inspired David and the prophets in the old age (Acts 1:16; 3:18; 4:25; 28:25) was now poured out....” - (Emphasis added.) - Zondervan Publ., 1986.
Yes, God speaks to us through his active force, the holy spirit, which actually motivates his prophets to speak and write: Acts 4:24-26 (referred to in the quote above) tells us that God spoke Psalm 2:1, 2 through [dia - Greek] holyspiritby the mouth of David. - The Amplified Bible (cf. The Jerusalem Bible and TEV). This clearly shows that God (who initiated the word to be spoken) is different from the spirit which also âspeaksâ that same word of God to the prophet.
hmm yes the scripture says , although the scriptures or anything else is never persfonfied the way the spirit is , the spirit is said to have all the emotions said to be greaved , sad , ect, and not only that the spirit is even indentiofied with Jehovah hismelf in Ezekiel 11:5 , and its said to speak by people with his words in his mouth 1 sam 23:2. for the spiritd words to be in ones mouth there needs to be intellgence on behalf of the spirit , a electrical force does not have this
I have to disagree with he previous posts. It does always seem that people who are trying to support the teaching of the Trinity from the scriptures don't actually quote the scriptures that they cite to prove their point. The reason why is obvious. For instance Ezekiel 11:5 in no way identifies the Holy Spirit as being a person, or the same person as Jehovah. This scripture says "the Spirit of Yahweh" or "the LORD'S Spirit". It doesn't say "Yahweh the Spirit" or "LORD the Spirit". Yes, this scripture does in fact portray the Spirit as a force used by God to put his thoughts into the mind of his prophets:
(Rotherham) Ezekiel 11:5 Then fell upon me the Spirit of Yahweh, and he said unto me Say--Thus, saith Yahweh, Thus have ye said O house of Israel, Yea the things that come up on your spirit, know every one.
(BBE) Ezekiel 11:5 And the spirit of the Lord came on me, and he said to me, Say, These are the words of the Lord: This is what you have said, O children of Israel; what comes into your mind is clear to me.
(GodsWord) Ezekiel 11:5 "The LORD'S Spirit came to me and told me to say, "This is what the LORD says: You are saying these things, nation of Israel. But I know what's going through your mind."
The same thing with 1 Samuel 23:2. It identifies "the spirit of Jehovah" as the force he uses to put his thoughts into the mind of his prophets. The intelligence here is the one which guides and directs the Holy Spirit; rather than the spirit itself:
(Ezekiel 11:5) 5 Then the spirit of Jehovah fell upon me, and he went on to say to me: "Say, âThis is what Jehovah has said: "YOU people said the right thing, O house of Israel; and as regards the things that come up in YOUR spirit, I myself have known it.
