Subject: Holy Spirit, holy spirit, or both? |
Bible Note: Hi Pastor Paul, Welcome to the forum. I have tried to get people to look at the 14 "bread" words of John 6. Through the years I have found them good to meditate on in considering how we should regard this "son or Son of Joseph". John 6:42. The Jehovahs Witnessses deny the Deity of Christ and do not believe in the Trinity. Yet, I do not think that they are entirely wrong, just as we are not entirely correct, in everything. In their seeing God the Holy Spirit as just a power or force, we correctly try to educate them. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person and not an it. However, when we deny that there is no holy spirit I feel that we can be just as off base. Jesus was the Son of God, not a god, nor the son of God. That is my personal statement of capitalization as regards the Witnesses and their translation. But for the "bread" words of John that I want to look at with you, we can know that He was not the son of Joseph either but rather the Son of Joseph. You mention 14 "I am" verses. There are 14 verses containing the word "bread" also. The first seven are found in John 6:31-42. John 6:42, "And they were saying, 'Is this not Jesus, the son [sic] of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, 'I have come down from heaven?'" Jesus came in the flesh and was in the likeness of men but when we have communion it is not His flesh that we eat. He is manna that came down from heaven. Maybe I can search more and find where I asked my question about the breads and you could talk there, but please comment on how you might see the possibility of the "holy spirit" for us. I ask this since I asked the question on this part of the thread. When I first studied the bread words of John 6, I made the breads lower case and thought of Him as the son of Joseph, and the last seven Breads upper case to show that he was completely, perfectly God. Right now I have them all capitalized in my personal copy and think of Him as the Son of Joseph. What are your thoughts? From the heart, Ray |