Pastor Priebe recently said the following in a camp meeting sermon this year:
[6:02] The contemporary anti Trinity movement teaches that there is no third person of the Godhead
[6:11] The Holy Spirit is a force or an energy or a holy influence from the Father and the son.
Dennis Priebe, New Light for Adventists Sermon – July 21, 2016 at the Hartland Summer Campmeeting in Rapidan, Virginia, USA.
Question: Do non-trinitarians teach that there is no third person of the Godhead?
Answer: No. Non-trinitarians believe in the third person of the Godhead.
Many Seventh-day Adventist trinitarian pastors use this straw man argument.
The “straw man” fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person’s actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position.
Please note: Seventh-day Adventists non-trinitarians do not reject the third person of the Godhead. In fact, they believe wholeheartedly in the third person of the Godhead.
Both groups (trinitarians/non-trinitarians) believe the Holy Spirit is a person. The division is in regards to the identity of this person.
Trinitarians believe the Holy Spirit is a person that is a separate coeternal being apart from the Father and the Son.
Non-Trinitarians believe the Holy Spirit is a person that is not a separate coeternal being apart from the Father and the Son.
Question: What does the Bible say in regards to the identity of the Holy Spirit?
Answer: The Bible clearly reveals the identity of the Holy Spirit as Jesus Christ in the following two scriptures.
The first Scripture that clearly reveals the identity of the Holy Spirit is found in John 14:
And I (Jesus) will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 14:16-18
Jesus will come to us as the Comforter. Jesus is not going to leave us comfortless. The words “I will come to you” do not mean “someone else different from Christ will come to you“. An article at the TrinityTruth.org website helps explains it this way:
The reason most conclude it is the Holy Spirit as a literal being rather than the Spirit of Christ is because Jesus says that He will send“another Comforter.” From that point on, most miss the fact that Christ says that He will be their Comforter five times in the verses that follow. Note that Christ and Ellen White refer to the Comforter as “another Comforter” because Christ’s Spirit can function independently of Himself.
There are several quotes from Ellen White that say the Holy Spirit is the Comforter which could easily be misinterpreted, but thankfully, there is no shortage of quotes from her that clearly reveal that the Comforter is Christ through His Spirit. http://www.trinitytruth.org/whoisthethirdpersonellenwhite.html
The second Scripture that clearly reveals the identity of the Holy Spirit is found in 2 Corinthians:
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Corinthians 3:1
The Bible say the Lord Jesus Christ is that Spirit.
Ellen White uplifts the Bible teaching regarding the identity of the Holy Spirit being Jesus Christ in the following quotes:
“The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ; it is His representative.” — (Ellen White, 13MR 313.3, 1895)
“Christ has left His Holy Spirit to be His representative in the world,” — (Ellen White, Lt84, October 22, 1895)
“The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, which is sent to all men to give them sufficiency,” — (Ellen White, 14MR 84.3)
Question: Would the Person of Jesus Christ be accessible to everyone by the Holy Spirit?
Answer: Yes. Desire of Ages page 669 says: The Holy Spirit is Christ’s representative, but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof. Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally. Therefore it was for their interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit to be His successor on earth. No one could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ. By the Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all. In this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high. {Ellen White, The Desire of Ages, p.669}
Jesus is accessible to you and millions of other believers around the world personally by His Spirit.
Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them, go to His father, and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent. {Ellen White, 14MR 24}
Jesus would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit. Do you see what is being communicated? Jesus Christ is going to be his own representative. The third person of the Godhead is Jesus Christ stripped of the personality of humanity.
The phrase “Third person of the Godhead” is not found in the Bible but Ellen White does use the phrase. Please remember that Ellen White always points us to the Bible. If the Bible clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit is Jesus Christ in John 14 and 2 Corinthians chapter 3 then you can rest assured that Ellen White’s writings will harmonize with the Word of God. The quote below uplifts the Word of God.
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. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world’s Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. 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. {Ellen White, Desire of Ages p.671.2}
The third person of the Godhead is clearly the Spirit of Christ and not a spirit different from Christ. I have personally never seen Ellen White disagree with Scripture.
That Christ should manifest Himself to them, and yet be invisible to the world, was a mystery to the disciples. They could not understand the words of Christ in their spiritual sense. They were thinking of the outward, visible manifestation. They could not take in the fact that they could have the presence of Christ with them, and yet He be unseen by the world. They did not understand the meaning of a spiritual manifestation. {Ellen White, SW, September 13, 1898 par. 2}
Beautiful. We can have Christ Himself with us yet He is unseen. We have the spiritual manifestation of Christ. This is the third person of the Godhead. This third person is the person of Christ. Are you understanding the simplicity of this truth? If you invest some time through prayer and fasting you will fall in love with your Saviour again. Scriptures you once glossed over will now shine with clarity.
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 1:27
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
Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is not a separate being apart from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is Christ in you. This harmonizes beautifully with Ephesians 4:4 where the Bible reveals there is one Spirit.
For more information and quotations about the identity of the Holy Spirit visit:
JetsOfLight.org – The Holy Spirit, Ellen White, Evangelism, and 25 Answered Questions
TrinityTruth.org – Ellen White and the identity of the Holy Spirit