What is the Jehovah Witness doctrine in regards to the Holy Spirit?

Question

1. Does the Holy Spirit exist according to Jehovah Witness doctrine?
2. If JW doctrine says the Holy Spirit exists, what is His purpose?
3. In JW doctrine, is there just one Holy Spirit?

Answer 1

God’s Active Force; Holy Spirit. By far the majority of occurrences of ru′ach and pneu′ma relate to God’s spirit, his active force, his holy spirit.

Not a person. Not until the fourth century C.E. did the teaching that the holy spirit was a person and part of the “Godhead” become official church dogma. Early church “fathers” did not so teach; Justin Martyr of the second century C.E. taught that the holy spirit was an ‘influence or mode of operation of the Deity’; Hippolytus likewise ascribed no personality to the holy spirit. The Scriptures themselves unite to show that God’s holy spirit is not a person but is God’s active force by which he accomplishes his purpose and executes his will.

It may first be noted that the words “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (KJ) found in older translations at 1 John 5:7 are actually spurious additions to the original text. A footnote in The Jerusalem Bible, a Catholic translation, says that these words are “not in any of the early Greek MSS [manuscripts], or any of the early translations, or in the best MSS of the Vulg[ate] itself.” A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, by Bruce Metzger (1975, pp. 716-718), traces in detail the history of the spurious passage. It states that the passage is first found in a treatise entitled Liber Apologeticus, of the fourth century, and that it appears in Old Latin and Vulgate manuscripts of the Scriptures, beginning in the sixth century. Modern translations as a whole, both Catholic and Protestant, do not include them in the main body of the text, because of recognizing their spurious nature.—RS, NE, NAB.

Personification does not prove personality. It is true that Jesus spoke of the holy spirit as a “helper” and spoke of such helper as ‘teaching,’ ‘bearing witness,’ ‘giving evidence,’ ‘guiding,’ ‘speaking,’ ‘hearing,’ and ‘receiving.’ In so doing, the original Greek shows Jesus at times applying the personal pronoun “he” to that “helper” (paraclete). (Compare Joh 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15.) However, it is not unusual in the Scriptures for something that is not actually a person to be personalized or personified. Wisdom is personified in the book of Proverbs (1:20-33; 8:1-36); and feminine pronominal forms are used of it in the original Hebrew, as also in many English translations. (KJ, RS, JP, AT) Wisdom is also personified at Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:35, where it is depicted as having both “works” and “children.” The apostle Paul personalized sin and death and also undeserved kindness as “kings.” (Ro 5:14, 17, 21; 6:12) He speaks of sin as “receiving an inducement,” ‘working out covetousness,’ ‘seducing,’ and ‘killing.’ (Ro 7:8-11) Yet it is obvious that Paul did not mean that sin was actually a person.

So, likewise with John’s account of Jesus’ words regarding the holy spirit, his remarks must be taken in context. Jesus personalized the holy spirit when speaking of that spirit as a “helper” (which in Greek is the masculine substantive pa·ra′kle·tos). Properly, therefore, John presents Jesus’ words as referring to that “helper” aspect of the spirit with masculine personal pronouns. On the other hand, in the same context, when the Greek pneu′ma is used, John employs a neuter pronoun to refer to the holy spirit, pneu′ma itself being neuter. Hence, we have in John’s use of the masculine personal pronoun in association with pa·ra′kle·tos an example of conformity to grammatical rules, not an expression of doctrine.—Joh 14:16, 17; 16:7, 8.

Lacks personal identification. Since God himself is a Spirit and is holy and since all his faithful angelic sons are spirits and are holy, it is evident that if the “holy spirit” were a person, there should reasonably be given some means in the Scriptures to distinguish and identify such spirit person from all these other ‘holy spirits.’ It would be expected that, at the very least, the definite article would be used with it in all cases where it is not called “God’s holy spirit” or is not modified by some similar expression. This would at least distinguish it as THE Holy Spirit. But, on the contrary, in a large number of cases the expression “holy spirit” appears in the original Greek without the article, thus indicating its lack of personality.—Compare Ac 6:3, 5; 7:55; 8:15, 17, 19; 9:17; 11:24; 13:9, 52; 19:2; Ro 9:1; 14:17; 15:13, 16, 19; 1Co 12:3; Heb 2:4; 6:4; 2Pe 1:21; Jude 20, Int and other interlinear translations.

Answer 2

Let’s start at the beginning, the word we translate as spirit, It literally means breath or wind.

At Gen 1:2 which most bibles say “ the (S)spirit* of God” was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters. The NRSV says in the footnote “the wind of God” * “And . . . active force (spirit).” Heb., weru´ach. Besides being translated “spirit,” ru´ach is also translated “wind” and by other words that denote an invisible active force.”

This agrees with Psalm 33:6 that says: “By the word of Jehovah the heavens themselves were made, and by the spirit (breath, KJV) of his mouth all their army.”

So the first reference of “Holy Spirit” in the bible denotes wind and breath. So when we say the spirit of God, we are literally saying the breath of God, or the wind of God. Neither of these expressions means a person of God or a personage of God. Both expressions do denote ownership.

Ex. 15:8 “And by a breath* from your nostrils waters were heaped up; They stood still like a dam of floods; The surging waters were congealed in the heart of the sea.” *“And by a breath.” Heb., u•veru´ach; Gr., pneu´ma•tos.

Again we see that God’s spirit is ‘a breath’ that accomplishes not it’s own will, but God’s will.

We know that God created the heaven and earth, by means of His spirit. We don’t read in the bible that “The Holy Spirit created the earth”, we read God created the heavens and earth by means of his spirit.

Also please note these comparisons:

Matt12:28 “But if it is by means of God’s spirit that I expel the demons, the kingdom of God has really overtaken YOU.”

Luke 11:20 “But if it is by means of God’s finger I expel the demons, the kingdom of God has really overtaken YOU.”

Here God’s spirit is described as God’s finger. Again ownership of the spirit, it belongs to God, it’s part of God, but definitely not part of a Godhead.

Let’s jump forward to Jesus’ baptism. Here we have the voice of God, the holy spirit, in the form of a dove and Jesus.

Matt 3:16 “and he saw descending like a dove God’s spirit coming upon him.”

Here we learn two things about God’s spirit, besides ownership, 1st the form chosen is that a dove, not a human. Angels as spirit persons, Jehovah as a Spirit, and the resurrected Jesus who was raised as a spirit, are always depicted as a humans. (1 Cor 15:45 It is even so written: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit) 2nd it is upon this occasion that Jesus becomes baptized with spirit. This is where Jesus becomes ‘The Christ’, the ‘Messiah’.

Just as Jesus was baptized with water, Jesus is baptized not with a person, but with an object, a breath, a wind, a force from God.

Let’s now briefly discuss some of the texts used to “prove” that the holy spirit is a person.

Jesus also referred to the holy spirit as a “helper” (Greek, pa•ra´kle•tos), and he said that this helper would “teach,” “bear witness,” “speak,” and ‘hear.’ (John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:13) It is not unusual in the Scriptures for something to be personified. For example, wisdom is said to have “children.” (Luke 7:35) Sin and death are spoken of as being kings. (Rom. 5:14, 21) While some texts say that the spirit “spoke,” other passages make clear that this was done through angels or humans. (Acts 4:24, 25; 28:25; Matt. 10:19, 20; compare Acts 20:23 with 21:10, 11.) At 1 John 5:6-8, not only the spirit but also “the water and the blood” are said to ‘bear witness.’ So, none of the expressions found in these texts in themselves prove that the holy spirit is a person.

The Bible is said to bring comfort, said to be alive and exerts power (Rom 15:4; Heb 4:12) But we would never say the Bible is a person.

These are just a few scriptures that show that God’ holy spirit is not part of a Godhead, but it’s Jehovah’s active force.

Answer 3

47 minutes and no answers. I think you must have hit a nerve with this question.