Earnest (Encillium18) said...
This Holy Spirit speaks to him and describes himself in unmistakable terms as being Jesus.(chapter 1:17-18).
Yet Jesus clearly distinguished himself from the Holy Spirit in Scripture.
John 14:16-17 "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."
John 14:26 " But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. "
John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me."
John 16:13-15 " When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he [the Holy Spirit] will take what is mine and declare it to you."
So the Holy Spirit is not himself Jesus. He is the Spirit OF Christ, but he is not Christ himself. He is the Spirit OF the Father, but he is not the Father himself.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each distinct Persons who share the one Divine Essence and Being of the Father.
The Holy Spirit Proceeds from the Father. So he is not the Father. But he is one in Essence and Being with the Father.
Jesus prayed to the Father to ask him to send "Another ,Helper", who is the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit is not Jesus.
Jesus said the Holy Spirit Will testify of him. He said that the Holy Spirit would take what the Father had given the Son and make it known to us.
When Jesus was baptized, the Father spoke his blessing over him, and the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove.
So the Holy Spirit is not Jesus in another form. He is a distinct Person from the Father and the Son, yet he is one in Essence and Being with the Father and the Son.
The Trinity is eternal and real, not temporal and only apparent. From all eternity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have coexisted as the one God. God is eternally and simultaneously within himself Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
To claim that the Holy Spirit is just Jesus in another form destroys the Trinity and makes it really only two, Father and Son. Or, if you claim also that Jesus is himself only the Father in another form, it is called Modalism, an ancient heresy from the late 2nd and 3rd Century that was rejected as false early on in our history.
I think you have a sincere and loving heart. That is clear to all. But I'm this case, my friend, you are simply wrong.
Jesus IS NOT the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is NOT Jesus in another form.
For 2,000 yrs, from the very beginning of our faith, the Trinity has been proclaimed and believed. The Scriptures, and Jesus Christ himself clearly distinguish between the Persons of the Holy Spirit and of Jesus himself.
I would encourage you to study these Scriptures more fully and amend your ideas on this matter.
Your Brother in Christ,
Secundus