The Holy Spirit Series 14

We have come to a new topic and this one is not an easy one. Some of the concepts I will be touching on is going to be hard to understand but it must be dealt with since the evil one is using our ignorance to deceive us and divert our faith away.

The Character of the Holy Spirit:

So much can be said about the character of the Holy Spirit but it will never be complete since we do not know everything about Him yet. What we will be dealing with is the personal character of the Holy Spirit as revealed through scripture which distinguishes Him from within the Godhead. We spoke about the Trinitarian doctrine a few months ago. I would like to state once and for all that the Trinity does not mean three different individuals unlike what is found in paganism. YHWH/ Yahweh is the name of the Godhead which consists of three natures not three individuals. Traditional Jews do not use this name rather they call Him ‘HaShem’ or ‘Adonai’. The most opposing doctrine out there; that has been used to malign the Triune Godhead is the threefold gods of paganism, which actually consists of three individual gods, whose nature and character are vastly different and do not work together unlike Yahweh God. In India it is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva being the primary trinity, however the most worshipped is Shiva, Parvathi and Ganesh. In Egypt it is Osiris, Isis and Horus. In Babylon it is Baal, Ashtoreth, and Tammuz and in Greece Zeus, Athena and Apollo and the list goes on. The number of tri-unified gods is unbelievable and if anyone wants to look into this further a must read is The Two Babylons by Rev. Alexander Hyslop, who has revealed the truth regarding this tri-unified pagan godhead that opposes the one true God. Biblical doctrine speaks of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit but the pagan godhead speaks in terms of mother, son and father! And in some cases an all-male trinity.

                            I am aware that the some movements have won a lot of points with people using this pagan godhead example to discredit the triune nature of God. I say this because I was personally canvased using the same ploy.  I was able to stand up to the challenge because of what the Lord had taught me and this is the very same reason I am moved to teach you today.  God says that, “My people are destroyed because of the lack of knowledge...” Hosea 4:6. This is the sad state of general Christendom, where Biblical knowledge is very rarely pursued and those that do are far and few.

                           So, what is the basic character of the Holy Spirit? This is question is also very difficult to answer since no one can really reveal Him except God. However, we do have some of the character attributes and traits mentioned to piece together an outline of the personality of the Holy Spirit. One of the first traits mentioned is in the second verse in the Bible.

“…And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Gen 1:2

The Hebrew word for moved here is rachaph, which means to hover. The root of this word is `to brood. ` This word provides the imagery of a hen brooding over her eggs. This imagery is mentioned by Jesus when talking about how God has always longed to gather Jerusalem to Himself in Mt 23:37. This statement therefore gives credence to the interpretation of Gen 1:2. As mentioned in our study of the 7 offices of the Spirit we came across the Spirit of Wisdom. There is a word play here because the Hebrew word for wisdom in Is 11:2 is `chokmah` and in Greek describing the Spirit of Wisdom is `sophia`, both words are in the feminine gender! Technically I would have just overlooked the feminine tense used to describe this office of the Spirit had it not been for a statement made by Jesus when He said, “…But wisdom is justified by Her children.” In Mt 11:19. Jesus is also referring to wisdom in the feminine tense. Could it be true that the Holy Spirit is feminine? I asked the Lord this question many years ago and this is what He taught me.

Is the Holy Spirit male or female? When we talk about the trinity we always refer to it as God the Father (male), God the Son (male) and God the Spirit (male). But is this interpretation accurate? The fact is it is not. With the rise of feminism many challenges have been put forward including the accusation that the Bible is gender biased because of the importance given to the men throughout scripture. This too God taught me to be wrong. This is where the wisdom of man tries to comprehend the wisdom of God and in doing so falls far too short to actually be of any significance.

We commonly think that when God made man in His image, He made Adam as a male because God is a male and then He made Eve the female out of Adam`s rib. This is a wrong assumption. Was Adam a male in the day he was made? Let`s read Gen 1:27 carefully:

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”

At first God refers to him in a singular form then denotes to him as them (plural). Normally anyone reading it would be reading it keeping the male and female form in mind; without considering for a moment that when Adam was initially made the differentiation of male and female had not yet been recognised or assigned. So, if Adam was not assigned a gender what was he? The answer is he was Adam, in the image of God, without a defined gender. Meaning that there was no gender when Adam was made; why because God does not have a gender either. The very reason gender exists is for the sole purpose of procreation; other than that it truly serves no purpose.

However, where did the male and female definition arise? It arose the day God made Eve. When we talk about God making Eve from Adam`s rib we only consider the physical aspect. But, I tell you the rib was only the physical portion. How about the soul and spirit? Did God breathe into Eve as well? The answer has to be No! If He had, then the two can never become one. The very concept of two become one is because God Himself exists in this multiple singularity. The male and female attributes arose when Eve was taken out of Adam. The personalities were divided up and that is why we have to equal halves, which unite as one. This answers the age old question why men and women are so different. Even the Angels are genderless and thus aren`t given in marriage, since procreation has no place in Heaven, as evidenced by Jesus’ statement in Mt 22:30. Therefore there is no gender in Heaven and so no such differentiation exists within the Godhead either.

So, where did this male female attributes arise from? The answer is God Himself, since He is the One who cleaved Adam and formed Eve and assigned the character traits to distinguish between the two apart from the obvious physical differences. We need to keep in mind that everything we know as feminine has its origin from God, therefore it must exist within Him before it got assigned in creation. When asked why women are not given prominence in the Bible. I always refer to the day Adam was made in God’s Image. Since Adam was one and then cleaved into two, God still looks at it as one. That is why we have the verse “the two shall become one flesh” so if the two is one then there actually is only one to begin with. Thus whenever God counts a man He has already included the woman in that count. Please see the formula below:

Adam ^(1/2) + Eve ^(1/2) = 1

Without his helpmate man is incomplete in a count. Man is only one half while the woman is the other half. So, coming back to whether the Holy Spirit is male or female…if there is no gender in heaven then there is no gender differentiation with the Godhead however, let’s, now consider the male and female as an attribute or character rather than as an individual. We can now say that the Holy Spirit displays these feminine traits due to His function within the Godhead. We need to keep in mind that everything we know as feminine has its origin from God, therefore it must exist within Him before it got assigned in creation and that these traits are differentiated by function and not by gender.

Another point regarding this feminine trait is that everyone who accepts Jesus as their personal Saviour will be Born Again by the Holy Spirit of God into the Kingdom of God, having God as their Father and Jesus as their Husband, since we are part of the Church which is the Bride of Christ. So everyone whether male of female is going to marry Christ!

These topics are indeed really intense and can prove to be very confusing to a lot of people but that is a given since we are studying about the Holy Spirit, who has no limits or boundaries and transcends time and space. I sincerely hope that I have been able to adequately explain this concept as clearly as possible. We will continue to look into His person and see what more we can learn about Him. So stay tuned.