The Spirit in Biblical Trinitarian Formulas

How are the Trinitarian formulas in the New Testament helpful to our understanding of pneumatology?

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Answer

In several places in the New Testament, the Scripture talks about the Trinity in one phrase. For example, in the last commission of Jesus Christ, which he gave to his disciples, which we call the Great Commission in Matthew 28, he says:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."

"Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The mention of the Holy Spirit in here assures us that he is equal to the Father and equal to the Son, or otherwise our glorious Lord would not have told us to baptize people in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It's not possible that we are going to baptize people in the name of an angel or in the name of a creature. So this verse mentions the Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — and that each one of them is God; he is one God. The same fact, we find it, in the apostolic benediction, which is written at the end of 2 Corinthians chapter 13, which says:

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

Again we see the Scripture puts the Holy Spirit on the same level with the Father and on the same level with the Son. And when he wanted to bless his people, he blessed them in the name of the three of them: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All this assures to us the Person of the Holy Spirit, and also assures to us the divinity of the Holy Spirit. And he is completely equal to God the Father and to God the Son.

Answer by Rev. Dr. Emad A. Mikhail

Rev. Dr. Emad A. Mikhail is President of Great Commission College in Egypt.