Is Jesus the son of God? Who is the holy spirit?

We believe that God and his Son Jesus are two separate entities. God’s very first creative act was his Son, the Word, or Logos, by which and through which all things were made (John 1:1-3; Proverbs. 8:22-31; John 1:10; Colossians 1:15-18; Hebrews 1:2). 

In John 1:1 the Greek definite article is used to distinguish the Father as “the God” from the Son, who is called “a god.” Although the Greek language contains no indefinite article corresponding to the English “a,” the indefinite article is implied by the context and, therefore, must be included in the English translation. 

Benjamin Wilson gives the correct rendering in his Emphatic Diaglott: 

“In a beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and a god was the Word.” 

When translated correctly, John 1:1 becomes significant in its contrast between the Father, who is called “the God,” and the Word or Representative of the Most High God, who is himself “a god.” This concept is further clarified in John 1:18, which emphatically states that Jesus was begotten. 

“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”  John 1:18

A son can never be his own father, nor can it be claimed that a son never had a beginning, for the term ‘son’ implies a life existence that had a beginning, and which was derived from a father. 

Colossians 1:15 addresses the separateness of God and his Son. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

•  “Image” in Strong’s Concordance means “a faintness as a copy; to resemble or to be like; representation; resemblance.” 
• “Firstborn” means to be “foremost in place, order or importance; best, first of all.” 

These definitions clarify the meaning of Colossians 1:15. Jesus is a representation of God, a copy in that he resembled God. He was God’s first, foremost and best creation. Furthermore, if we look at what Jesus says about himself, we can determine who he is. 

Jesus says, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.” John 7:16

 This statement verifies the father-son relationship. In the next verse, Jesus says, “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” 

This statement emphatically defines the separateness between him and his Father. God and Jesus have separate wills, and Jesus does the will of God. 

“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” John 6:38 

Jesus says that he and his Father are separate beings and that his Father is greater than he (John 14:28; 1 Corinthians 15:28). 

After establishing that God and his son are separate beings, we need to determine if Jesus was divine at his creation. If you believe that Jesus was divine there is a problem because divinity means immortality, and, therefore, inability to die. Was his death on the cross an act, or pretense? We think not. 

In Revelation 1:18 Jesus says, “I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever!” 

If Jesus was divine, what did Paul mean when he stated the following: 

• “By one [man] shall many be made righteous” Romans 5:19 
• “By man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead” 1 Corinthians 15:21
• “There is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5

If you believe that Jesus was divine, his death is minimized. Since Adam was a perfect man who sinned, only another perfect man who did not sin could redeem not only him, but also his entire race. God knew that Jesus would need to actually die in order to redeem the fallen human race. After Jesus fulfilled his mission, he was resurrected divine and now sits at the right hand of God and is truly like God because he is immortal and cannot die. 

Is Jesus also God? No, he is God’s first and only direct creation. Jesus is God’s Son, who was given the gift of immortality after he died a perfect, sinless, mortal man as a ransom for Adam and the entire human race. 

Is the holy spirit also God? No, we believe that the holy spirit is the power of God. 

It is important to note that the power of the holy spirit is evidenced throughout both the Old and New Testaments. The difference is in how God implements that power. 

For example, the Old Testament prophets would not have been able to work miracles and prophesy without the spirit of God working through them. In Micah 3:8 the prophet declares himself to be “filled with power, with the spirit of the Lord, with justice and with might” so as to declare to the people their sins, while in Nehemiah 9:20-30 the spirit that spoke through the prophets is likened to the spirit that instructed Israel in the wilderness (through Moses and the elders). 

Likewise, in Luke 10:20 Jesus is speaking to the seventy-two disciples who, just as the apostles, were able to perform miracles because of the power of God’s holy spirit. Nonetheless, it would not be until Pentecost, ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, that the apostles and disciples would individually receive a much fuller measure of the holy spirit. 

Since the time of Jesus, all who have desired to follow in the footsteps of Jesus by making a full consecration to do the Father’s will, receive the holy spirit to instruct and comfort them on their Christian walk (John 14:15, 26). 

In Christ’s kingdom, soon to be established on earth, the holy spirit will be poured out on all mankind (Acts 2:17) and everyone will know the LORD “from the least of them to the greatest” (Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 8:11). 

Is the holy spirit a god? No, the holy spirit is the power of God. 

To learn more about the holy spirit listen to, “Does God’s Holy Spirit Speak to Us?” and “Do We Have the Purpose of the Holy Spirit Backwards?” and “Where Do the Human Soul and Spirit Go When We Die? (Part II)”