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The Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) is not a person, not a being, and not a God of a Trinity. God is biunial, not triune. This article will present 17 reasons why the Holy Spirit is not a person / being and will explain many of the reasons why the belief in a Triune God is a false doctrine.
1. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE SPIRIT ‘OF’ GOD, NOT THE SPIRIT GOD
2. GOD (ELOHIM / YHWH / YESHUA / THE LORD) HAS A SPIRIT
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT A PERSON, THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AN ‘IT’
4. GOD CONSISTS OF FATHER AND SON. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT CALLED GOD AS A PERSON THROUGHOUT SCRIPTURE. GOD IS BIUNIAL, NOT TRIUNE
5. THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS NO THRONE IN HEAVEN
6. OUR BODIES ARE TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
7. THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS NO IMAGE
8. GOD’S SPIRIT IS NOT A PERSON APART FROM GOD
9. ‘TRINITY’ AND THE PHRASES ‘HOLY TRINITY’ AND ‘GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT’ DO NOT APPEAR IN SCRIPTURE
10. THE FAMILY STRUCTURE OF GOD; GOD IS NOT A CO-EQUAL TRINITY
11. BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT IS WORSE THAN BLASPHEMY AGAINST MESSIAH OR THE TEACHINGS OF GOD
12. THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES NOT HAVE ITS OWN AUTHORITY TO SPEAK; IT ONLY SPEAKS WHAT IT HEARS FROM GOD
13. THE HOLY SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS, AS DO OTHER NON-PERSONS
14. THE HOLY SPIRIT GRIEVES, COMFORTS, HELPS, AND TEACHES, AS DO OTHER NON-PERSONS
15. YESHUA (JESUS) IS THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD
16. GOD USES HIS SPIRIT TO BE OMNIPRESENT, TO PROJECT AND SHARE HIS POWER WITH SPIRIT-FILLED BELIEVERS
17. WE ARE COMMANDED TO HAVE NO OTHER GODS
1. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE SPIRIT ‘OF’ GOD, NOT THE SPIRIT GOD
The Holy Spirit is never referred to as the Spirit God or God the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture. In the Hebrew language and texts, the phrase Ruach HaKodesh is properly translated to Holy Spirit and refers to the Spirit of YHWH. The Holy Spirit is referred to throughout Scripture as the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit of YHWH, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, My Spirit, His Spirit, Ruach of ha’Mashiah, Ruach of Elohim, etc., but NEVER referred to as the Spirit God.
The word ‘of’ is a preposition, expressing the relationship between a part and a whole. When we say the Spirit ‘of’ God, this indicates that the Spirit is a part of God that belongs to the whole of God. This would be in the same manner as if we were to say, “the right hand of God.” God’s Spirit and His right hand are ‘of’ God, and are NOT a God. Neither God’s Spirit, nor His right hand, are a person apart from God.
We are commanded by Scripture to not add to it, nor take away from it (Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18-19). The Trinity doctrine takes away ‘of’ in reference to the Spirit ‘of’ God to create the Spirit God, a person.
2. GOD (ELOHIM / YHWH / YESHUA / THE LORD) HAS A SPIRIT
GENESIS 6:3:
And YHWH (the Lord) said, “MY SPIRIT shall not strive with man forever…”
1 JOHN 4:13:
By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of HIS SPIRIT.
Scripture proclaims the Spirit as belonging to God when it declares the Spirit to be “My Spirit,” “His Spirit,” and “the Spirit of His Son” (Genesis 6:3; Numbers 11:29; Job 26:13, 34:14; Psalm 106:33; Isaiah 30:1, 34:16, 42:1, 44:3, 48:16, 59:21; Ezekiel 36:27, 37:14, 39:29; Joel 2:28-29, Haggai 2:5; Zechariah 4:6, 6:8, 7:12; Matthew 12:18; Acts 2:17-18; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 2:10, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 3:16; 1 John 4:13). If the Spirit was an individual, it would not be an attribute part of YHWH (the Lord), and Scripture would not refer to the Spirit as “My Spirit,” “His Spirit,” and “the Spirit of His Son.”
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT A PERSON, THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AN ‘IT’
ROMANS 8:16 (KJV):
The Spirit ITSELF bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
The Spirit itself (NOT Himself) bears witness, declares Scripture. Subsequent revisions of the King James Bible have retranslated Romans 8:16 from “The Spirit itself” to “The Spirit Himself,” based on the doctrinal belief that the Spirit is a person, and not on the truth that the Holy Spirit is an attribute of God that pertains to God.
JOHN 14:26:
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
The Holy Spirit is often referred to as a “He” in Scripture. While it is possible to describe a masculine attribute allegorically as a “He,” it is NOT possible to allegorically describe a person as an “it.” One could say the following: “America celebrated her 200th birthday in 1976,” or “She’s a fine sailing ship.” Describing a country or a ship using the pronouns ‘her’ or ‘she,’ does not mean that a country or a ship are persons. It would NEVER be proper to allegorically use the word ‘it’ to describe a person or God.
EXAMPLE:
DEUTERONOMY 4:39:
Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord HIMSELF is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
DEUTERONOMY 4:39:
Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord ITSELF is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
Inserting ‘itself’ in place of ‘Himself,’ when speaking of a person or God doesn’t work. It is appropriate grammatically to say, “The Spirit itself…”
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit does not have a proper name, making it a thing, and not a person. It is not grammatically correct to preface the name of a person with the word “the.” One does not refer to the Son of God as “the Yeshua (Jesus).” The Holy Spirit is a thing, and we preface things with the word “the,” and that’s why we call God’s Spirit “the” Holy Spirit.
4. GOD CONSISTS OF FATHER AND SON. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT CALLED GOD AS A PERSON THROUGHOUT SCRIPTURE. GOD IS BIUNIAL, NOT TRIUNE
JOHN 1:1-3:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
COLOSSIANS 2:2-3:
To the knowledge of the mystery of God, BOTH of the Father and of Messiah (Christ), in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
God consists of both the Father and Yeshua (Jesus). Anyone who declares that the Holy Spirit is a being, that the Holy Spirit is God and not an attribute of God, adds to Scripture. From a reading of Scripture, we can know with all certainty that there are two individual beings who are referred to as being God – not three. The Father and Son make up God and the Holy Spirit is their Spirit that emanates from them, that makes them omnipresent.
The Word (Yeshua / Jesus) was with God (the Father) and was God also (John 1:1-3). Both (two beings, not three) the Father and the Messiah (Christ) are God (Colossians 2:2-3).
5. THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS NO THRONE IN HEAVEN
MARK 13:32:
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
Matthew 13:32 declares who currently resides in heaven: The Father, the Son, and the angels. There is no mention of a being known as the Holy Spirit residing there. The Holy Spirit does not sit on a throne in heaven, nor is mentioned as dwelling in heaven at all. The Son of God sits at the Father’s right hand, but the Holy Spirit is not mentioned as sitting with God at His left hand or dwelling anywhere at all with God. The Holy Spirit does not exist as a dove hovering above Father and Son in heaven either, as is depicted in some artist renderings. The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit. God’s Spirit is indwelling in God, Father and Son, in heaven, but does not have a throne to sit upon as the Father and Son do. The Holy Spirit is not a person, but is a part of God, the Spirit of God, God’s Spirit.
6. OUR BODIES ARE TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
GENESIS 2:7:
And YHWH (the Lord) God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
JOHN 20:22:
And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit…”
YHWH (the Lord) God Yeshua (Jesus) breathes His Spirit into us to give us life, to indwell in us, and to create (Genesis 2:7; Job 33:4; Psalm 33:6; John 20:22; Acts 2:1-4; Romans 8:11; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 3:16; 1 Peter 1:11; 1 John 4:13). The Holy Spirit is God’s own Spirit, which He literally breathes, gives, and causes to indwell into believers so that they may receive His holiness and power.
1 CORINTHIANS 6:19:
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have FROM GOD, and you are not your own?
Our own bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:17,19).
If the Holy Spirit was a person, He could not dwell simultaneously and separately in believers worldwide. The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit, is from God, and connects us to God.
7. THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS NO IMAGE
GENESIS 1:26-27:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;” … So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
GENESIS 9:6:
For in the image of God He made man.
We are made in God’s image. A Spirit that is shapeless and dwells in believers worldwide simultaneously and separately does not have an image. The Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, can hover above the waters or manifest itself and take on an image, such as a dove, but the Holy Spirit does not have a fixed image of its own (Genesis 1:2, Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22, John 1:32).
8. GOD’S SPIRIT IS NOT A PERSON APART FROM GOD
Man is a living spirit (Genesis 2:7) and God is a Spirit Being (John 4:24). We are made in the image and likeness of God. God’s Spirit is not a person apart from Himself just as our human spirits are not persons apart from us.
9. ‘TRINITY’ AND THE PHRASES ‘HOLY TRINITY’ AND ‘GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT’ DO NOT APPEAR IN SCRIPTURE
The word ‘Trinity’ or phrase ‘Holy Trinity,’ do not appear anywhere in Scriptures from Genesis through Revelation. “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” appears in Scripture (Matthew 28:19), but the phrase, “God the Father, God the Son, and GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT,” does NOT appear in Scripture. We are commanded not to add to Scripture (Proverbs 30:6) and anyone who proclaims or teaches ‘Trinity,’ ‘Holy Trinity,’ or ‘God the Holy Spirit,’ is ADDING to Scripture.
10. THE FAMILY STRUCTURE OF GOD; GOD IS NOT A CO-EQUAL TRINITY
JOHN 14:28:
“My Father IS GREATER than I.”
JOHN 15:26:
“But when the Helper comes, whom I SHALL SEND TO YOU from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”
The Trinity doctrine FALSELY proclaims that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are 3-CO- EQUAL beings who together make up a Triune God. The Godhead is structured like a kingdom, a top-down kingdom. Almighty God the Father is ruler over all. Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) is God and has been granted all authority from God the Father (Matthew 28:18). Only in matters of ultimate authority and in regards to the throne of the kingdom of heaven is God the Father greater than God the Son. Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ), seated on His heavenly throne, is positioned at the Father’s right hand and NOT as an equal at His side. Yeshua (Jesus) acknowledges the Father’s supremacy over Him and declares throughout Scripture that He was sent from the Father in heaven and came to do His Father’s will on Earth. Yeshua (Jesus) has sent us His Spirit from the Father (John 15:26). The Father has sent the Son and the Son has sent the Spirit. He who sends IS GREATER THAN He who is sent (John 13:16). Therefore the Trinity doctrine, the belief that God is a CO-EQUAL threesome, is proven false through Scripture’s declaration of the different positions of authority that the Father, Son, and Spirit have.
According to the belief in the Trinity, the Father does not mean a real Father, the Son does not mean a real Son, and the Spirit does not mean a real Spirit. The relationship of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit according to the Trinity, is not literal, but metaphorical. If the persons of the Godhead are completely the same co-equals, then there cannot literally be a Father, Son, and Spirit existence, negating literal Scripture which says that Yeshua (Jesus) was the only begotten Son of the Father, and the Spirit is the Spirit ‘of’ God [1].
11. BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT IS WORSE THAN BLASPHEMY AGAINST MESSIAH OR THE TEACHINGS OF GOD
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit WILL NOT be forgiven, but blasphemy against Messiah WILL BE forgiven (Matthew 12:31-32). This is a PROBLEM if one maintains that God is a co-equal Trinity. Something is NOT EQUAL when sins against one person of the Trinity (the Messiah) WILL BE forgiven, but sins against another person of the Trinity (the Holy Spirit) WILL NOT be forgiven. The reason blasphemy against the Son of God will be forgiven, but NOT against the Spirit of God, has to do with witnessing a miracle from God using His Spirit. The Pharisees had witnessed such a miracle when they saw Yeshua (Jesus) cast demons out from a blind-mute man and heal him. Yeshua (Jesus) then warned the Pharisees that blaspheming the Holy Spirit POWER, which He used to heal the man, calling this power of Beelzebub (Satan), would not be forgiven (Matthew 12:22-32). Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit not being forgivable illustrates that the Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit and power, not a person.
12. THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES NOT HAVE ITS OWN AUTHORITY TO SPEAK; IT ONLY SPEAKS WHAT IT HEARS FROM GOD
JOHN 16:13:
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; FOR HE WILL NOT SPEAK ON HIS OWN AUTHORITY, BUT WHATEVER HE HEARS HE WILL SPEAK; and He will tell you things to come.”
The Holy Spirit has no authority to speak on its own. Contrast that with Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) who has been given all authority on heaven and on Earth (Matthew 28:18). If the Holy Spirit is a person, is a God of a Trinity, why then does He have no authority to speak, but only speaks what He hears and is told to speak? God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, speaks through God, just as a telephone receiver ‘speaks’ to a person on the other end of a telephone call. The receiver’s speaker only ‘speaks’ what it ‘hears,’ by what it is told to speak by the person talking into the phone. The Holy Spirit, as an extension of God, is far more complex and greater than a telephone receiver; the telephone analogy is merely used to illustrate.
13. THE HOLY SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS, AS DO OTHER NON-PERSONS
ROMANS 8:16:
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…
God’s Spirit, which is of God (not a separate person) bears witness with our spirit, which is of our self (not a separate person). We are made in the image and likeness of God. If our spirit is not a separate person from our self, then neither is God’s Spirit a separate person from Himself.
1 JOHN 5:6:
And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.
How can the Holy Spirit not be a person if it bears witness? As an extension of God, His Spirit is omnipresent, seeing and recording all things.
GENESIS 4:10:
And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.”
God’s Spirit bore witness to YHWH (the Lord) and informed Him that Cain slew Abel.
In a similar manner, a video recording can bear witness to an incident or a crime. The ability to bear witness does not indicate personhood.
14. THE HOLY SPIRIT GRIEVES, COMFORTS, HELPS, AND TEACHES, AS DO OTHER NON-PERSONS
EPHESIANS 4:30:
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
The Holy Spirit, as an extension of God, can grieve. When a Holy Spirit-filled believer does not do the will of God, the Holy Spirit within is ‘grieved.’ We are commanded therefore to do the will of God and to not grieve the Holy Spirit within us.
JOHN 14:26:
“But the Comforter (Helper), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
Something that comforts or helps us is not confirmation of personhood. A pet dog can be a ‘he’ and he can comfort his owner, but is not a person. Modern appliances comfort and help us, yet no one would say that they are persons. A teacher is often a person who teaches us, but again a teacher does not necessarily have to be a person. A book, computer program, or a learning course can teach us and they are not persons. There is, of course, intelligence behind any teaching aide as there is intelligence behind the Holy Spirit, and that intelligence is God. God comforts, helps, and teaches us through His Spirit.
15. YESHUA (JESUS) IS THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD
The Holy Spirit is NOT a begotten Child or Son of God, NOT a distinct person / being, but God’s Spirit. If the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, was a person, then the Holy Spirit would have had to have been begotten of God. If one believes that the Holy Spirit is a person, then he or she cannot believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the ONLY begotten Son of God (John 1:18, 3:16-18; Hebrews 1:5; 1 John 4:9), but MUST believe that the Holy Spirit is ALSO a begotten Son of God. That is unscriptural. If one believes that the Holy Spirit was not a person BEGOTTEN from God, yet still a person, the only other way that this could be is if the Holy Spirit was always in existence apart from God the Father, and united with the Father. That belief would also be unscriptural as Scripture proclaims the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, not apart from or a separate being from God. If one believes that the Holy Spirit is not a begotten Son, but instead a begotten Spirit of God, this is unscriptural. Nowhere does Scripture indicate that the Holy Spirit was begotten of God, but Scripture does say that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, God’s Spirit.
16. GOD USES HIS SPIRIT TO BE OMNIPRESENT, TO PROJECT AND SHARE HIS POWER WITH SPIRIT-FILLED BELIEVERS
GENESIS 1:2:
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
GENESIS 4:9-10:
Then YHWH (the Lord) said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? THE VOICE OF YOUR BROTHER’S BLOOD CRIES OUT TO ME FROM THE GROUND.”
The first mention in Scripture of the Holy Spirit is in Genesis 1:2, when God uses His Spirit to move upon the face of the waters. YHWH (the Lord) was not personally present when Cain slew Abel, but His Spirit is omnipresent. Blood does not speak, but YHWH’s (the Lord’s) Spirit does. The Spirit is an extension of YHWH (the Lord) that spans every particle of His creation and speaks to YHWH (the Lord), allowing Him to know and record all things.
MATTHEW 18:20:
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Yeshua (Jesus) does not make a personal appearance every time two or three believers are gathered together in His name, but He is present through His Spirit when two or three believers are gathered in His name.
LUKE 24:49:
“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued WITH POWER from on high.”
ACTS 1:8:
“But you shall RECEIVE POWER WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS COME UPON YOU; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
ACTS 10:38:
God anointed Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND WITH POWER, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Yeshua (Jesus), upon His resurrection, commanded His disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they were filled with the power from on high, which is the power of the Holy Spirit, His Spirit. God does good works and heals through the power of His Holy Spirit.
17. WE ARE COMMANDED TO HAVE NO OTHER GODS
EXODUS 20:2-3:
I am YHWH (the Lord) your God; You shall have no other gods before Me.
JUDE 1:20:
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying IN the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God…
When a believer elevates God’s Spirit, an attribute of God, to being God, he or she breaks the First Commandment of God. Some might call it a stretch in calling God’s Spirit ‘another God,’ but technically this is true. We are to pray ‘in’ the Holy Spirit, NOT ‘to’ the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit is not an individual, a third part of a Trinity, but is a part of Him that He shares with His Spirit-filled believers. Referring to the Holy Spirit as God might initially seem like a harmless thing, but many believers have been led astray by this teaching. Many have worshiped the Spirit as God, in place of God and His word in the Scriptures.
GALATIANS 5:18:
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Many have embraced Galatians 5:18 and have misunderstood it to mean that since they are led by the Spirit, they do not need to obey the law, instead of properly understanding that if they are led by the Spirit, they are not under the curse for having broken the law.
1 JOHN 4:1:
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
The danger of the Trinity doctrine, of worshiping God’s Spirit as God, is that some believe that they can be led exclusively by the Spirit while disregarding God’s laws as not applying to them, because they are “led by the Spirit and are not under law.” A person can believe that he or she is being led by the Spirit and be deceived by an evil spirit of deception or the desires of the heart. Many modern day believers have been deceived by worshiping the Holy Spirit as God, falsely worshiping ‘a spirit that guides them,’ negating Scripture and God’s laws written in Scripture, which they nullify by claiming that they are led by the Spirit and not by the law. We must test the spirits that guide us, and the only way to test any spirit is through the word of God, in Scripture. God’s Spirit would never lead anyone to break any of His laws, so any spirit that causes a person to act contrary to Scripture or His laws is not of God.
The apostles never taught the Trinity doctrine. It was a concept that was adopted into Christianity through the ‘Universal’ Roman Catholic Church in the fourth century. Babylonian-inspired Roman Catholicism often borrows concepts from pagan religions and mixes them together with true Scripture, resulting in Babylonian confusion.
God’s Spirit is not a God, but is a part of Him that He shares with His believers. The Holy Spirit is the power of God and the Spirit of life eternal (2 Timothy 1:7) [2]. We who believe and are faithful can experience the goodness, the holiness, and the power of the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) indwelling within us.
1. “The False Doctrine of the Trinity,” SureWordProphecy, YouTube, May 2, 2014,
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTB69DY6HAs>.
2. “God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit,” United Church of God, Jan 12, 2011,
<https://www.ucg.org/booklet/fundamental-beliefs/god-father-jesus-christ-and-holy-spirit>.
