This makes no sense at all. Where does Mrs. White say this?

Mrs. White says His humanity prevented Him from being omnipresent. Does He or does He not still have His humanity?

The language is plain enough for a child to understand here. It is impossible for Jesus to be "omnipresent" in Heaven and not "omnipresent" on earth. That would be like saying He was "all-knowing" in Heaven but not on earth. You can't have it both ways. Either He is or He isn't--for BOTH places. "Omni" means ALL. Not "some."

As for His appearance and disappearance, I recall the angels having something to do with His disappearance once or twice, is that not so? We simply do not know all of what happens behind the scenes, and it is prudent to stay on terra firma rather than enter the shifting sands of speculation.

Going back to the primary topic of this thread, there are numerous passages in the Bible which elucidate the Godhead. Here are but a few.


The last one (in red) is in dispute, largely wishing to be rejected by those who would claim that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit was thus inserted into the Bible. However, the evidence does not bear that out. Many times, in other places, the several members of the Godhead are spoken of--to the extent that this "Comma" is vestigial to the doctrine.

Consider the following verse:

Notice the phrases "Spirit of God" and "gospel of Christ?" What might these have in common?

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

"Notice, too, what Jesus does NOT say here: "that _I_ may abide with you for ever." Your comment.

No, but you only have to go to verse 18, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."

The Bible and S of P never call Christ "a" Comforter.

"Good point. He was already a "promised Son." When He came to earth, His Sonship materialized into actual fact. The promise of His coming pre-existed Adam and Eve." Your comment.

If He was only a promised Son, then the fulfillment of the promise would not make him a Son in a new sense.

You are, of course, just going into semantics now...because the phrase "a Comforter" does not appear next to "Christ" you are technically correct. But that Christ IS a comforter to us is rather clear.


And here is "another Comforter" (as Jesus put it). The word "another" is never used to mean "the same one."


Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

"But that Christ IS a comforter to us is rather clear."

"With the consecrated worker for God, in whatever place he may be, the Holy Spirit abides. The words spoken to the disciples are spoken also to us. The Comforter is ours as well as theirs. {AG 195.3}
There is no comforter like Christ, so tender and so true. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. His Spirit speaks to the heart...Wherever we are, wherever we may go, He is always there, one given in Christ's place, to act in His stead. He is always at our right hand, to speak soothing, gentle words; to support, sustain, uphold, and cheer. The influence of the Holy Spirit is the life of Christ in the soul."

"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." {RC 129.2} Perhaps from that we can better understand the following;
" But Jesus had assured them that he would send the Comforter, as an equivalent for his visible presence." {3SP 256.1}

"Henceforth through the Spirit, Christ was to abide continually in the hearts of His children. Their union with Him was closer than when He was personally with them. The light, and love, and power of the indwelling Christ shone out through them, so that men, beholding, "marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13. {SC 74.1}

"I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you" (John 14:18). The divine Spirit that the world's Redeemer promised to send is the presence and power of God. He will not leave His people in the world destitute of His grace, to be buffeted by the enemy of God, and harassed by the oppression of the world; but He will come to them." {YRP 39.5}

"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." {14MR 23.3}

To summarize, The Holy Spirit is Christ Himself, in another invisible form. That is why He said He would send another Comforter. This is re-inforced by; 2 Cor. 3:17 "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty."

That's not what the Bible teaches.

How is it that if Christ is "cumbered by humanity" so that He cannot be but in one place at a time, the Holy Spirit descended from the sky upon Him at His baptism?

Why is it that we are told there are THREE powers, and THREE persons?

Can two persons = one person? Hardly. Two never does equal one, at least, that's not how I learned math in school.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

"That's not what the Bible teaches."

I am really puzzled Green Cochoa, I just quoted,
2 Cor. 3:17 "Now the Lord is that Spirit:" and you say that is not what the Bible teaches.

"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." {RC 129.2}

I did not write the words you dispute about the Spirit being Christ Himself, divested of the personality of humanity.
But there is no need to manufacture difficulties where they don't exist. The Holy Spirit is also how the Father is invisibly present with us. There is only one Holy Spirit by which the Father and Son are everywhere present.
"...to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.." Eph.3:16
"In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."
The Holy Spirit could descend on Him because it is also the manifestation of the Father's presence.

We have to have three great powers, because we do not just have a Father and a Son in heaven, but we have this other power whose nature is a mystery into which we are not to delve, by which they are present with us.
"It is not essential for us to be able to define just what the Holy Spirit is. Christ tells us that the Spirit is the Comforter, "the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father... The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them."
AA 51.
"And the Saviour promised that His presence would be always with them. Through the Holy Spirit He would be even nearer to them than when He walked visibly among men." {MH 104.1}

"and the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, as the personal presence of Christ to the soul." CTr 365. Not the presence of someone else.

"Henceforth through the Spirit, Christ was to abide continually in the hearts of the children. Their union with Him was closer than when He was personally with them." FLB 62.

Oops! I thought the first posting didn't go through.

No problem.

As the 2nd one contained additional information, I deleted the 1st one.

Geoff,

The Spirit is a separate Person from that of Christ. Mrs. White makes clear that the Godhead includes three persons. That being the case, it sounds almost as if you are arguing for a Christ which is two persons.

How does that work for you? It makes me think of many, not-so-positive cliches, like "dual-personality" and "two-faced." Even twins are still two separate persons who can each relate with others in his/her own way and personality.

So, we have a logical conundrum. My explanation for it is simple: the Holy Spirit is God's agent to represent Christ to us while Christ Himself is absent.

As Jesus said, "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). Did Jesus lie? Of course not. But the Bible also says "no man hath seen God at any time" (John 1:18). How can this be?

I explain that one by saying that Jesus is a representation of the Father to us, and while no one has actually seen the Father, Jesus' character was just like that of the Father.

Jesus was not saying that He was the Father. He was saying that He was like the Father, and that we should not feel so estranged from the Father, for the Father loved us just like Jesus did.

Likewise, Mrs. White is not here saying that the Holy Spirit is Jesus, but that He represents Jesus in the identical character and fashion as Jesus represented to us the Father. In having the Holy Spirit we have Jesus, just as in seeing Jesus we see the Father.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Yes, but you are comparing apples with oranges.
She does not say when we see Christ we see the Spirit or vice versa.
She says the Spirit is Himself, divested of the personality of humanity, and like wise the Scripture, "Now the Lord is that Spirit." These quotes have already been referenced.