Given the biblical truth that when all is said and done in the restoration of Paradise by the Last Adam, there are only two seats on the final throne of God — one for Him and one for Jesus Christ (Rev. 22:1,3), Trinitarian theology begs an answer to the question: “What on earth happened to the Holy Spirit?”
And the answer is: “Nothing. He is sitting on one of the two seats.” This answer is more thoroughly set forth in our book “The Gift of Holy Spirit: The Power to be Like Christ” and is also discussed in the book, “One God & One Lord” and the booklet, 34 Reasons Why the Holy Spirit is Not a Separate “Person” from the Only True God, The Father.
This brief blurb is designed to lay out the basic biblical thesis of “the Giver and the gift,” and our goal is to whet your appetite to look more closely at this vital truth, the understanding of which will clear up much confusion in the lives of dear Christians who have been taught a very nebulous doctrine about the mysterious “Third Person of the Trinity.”
In English, we capitalize proper nouns. Some words do not change in meaning when they are capitalized, e.g., “dog” and “Dog” are the same critter. But what about the word “mark”? If we capitalize that, it goes from a spot on the wall to one of the authors of One God & One Lord. The same kind of change rather ignominiously holds true for the other two authors, both named “John.”
In the Greek texts of the New Testament, there is no differentiation of proper nouns via the capitalizing of words. Therefore, every capital letter you see in any English (etc.) version was added by the translators according to their theology and understanding of the text. Of course, the vast majority of Bible translators through the years have been Trinitarians, and thus the words “holy spirit” are almost always capitalized as a proper noun referring, they believe, to the Third Person of the Trinity.
The good news is that there is a far more biblically satisfying alternative. God’s chief characteristic is that of being holy, and God is spirit (John 4:24). Thus, one of the many titles by which He is referred to in Scripture is “the Holy Spirit,” with the “H” and “S” rightly capitalized. As such, He is the Giver of all good things. As the Giver, His most precious gift is what Scripture calls “the gift of holy spirit,” as per Acts 2:38: “…and you will receive the gift of [modern versions then read “the Holy Spirit,” but the text has no article and reads “holy spirit.”].” A study of the approximately 50 uses of pneuma hagion without the article “the” will show that nearly every one is referring to the gift, not the Giver, so there should be no capital letters.
Understanding these truths will help you focus more specifically on your wonderful Heavenly Father and your Lord Jesus, who want to walk beside you in this dark world. Now that’s convenient — you have two hands, one to hold each of the two of them. In fact, with regard to the relationship between God and His Son, the number “two” is stamped all over the New Testament in such key verses as John 17:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 1 Timothy 2:5; 2 John 9, and the opening of each Church Epistle (Romans through Thessalonians). “One God plus one Lord” equals two distinct beings totally committed to your welfare. In contrast to the pre-eminence of references to “the dynamic duo,” the number “three” is virtually absent.