John 3:8: "The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born [begotten, brought forth] of the Spirit."
This scripture is often listed by trinitarians to show that God's spirit has the attribute of self-existence, and thus it is offered as proof of the trinity, and that the holy spirit is a person of the trinity.
Of course, the trinitarian has to read the thought of trinity into the verse, since there is nothing at all about the holy spirit as a person of the alleged trinity.
The thought of our trinitarian neighbors in referencing this scripture appears to be that if the holy spirit can give one life, then the holy spirit must be self-existent. While there is nothing in the scriptures that would lead one to believe that giving birth means that the one who give birth is self-existent, the holy spirit, being an extension of God -- his figurative finger of power (Luke 11:20; Matthew 12:28), has its existence in God himself who is Himself self-existent.
Some see in this scripture that the holy spirit has volition, the power of choosing or determining, and thus claim that this means that the holy spirit is a person. This idea depends on a surface reading the subject of the phrase "blows where it wants to" as the holy spirit, but this is not actually what Jesus said. The subject of the phrase is "the wind", not the holy spirit. If such would be taken as a proof of its having volition and thus being a person, it would in effect be proving that the wind is a person, not the holy spirit.
Some argue that the word that is rendered "wind" is the Greek word for "spirit" [pneuma], and that Jesus was indeed speaking of the holy spirit as coming and going. However, the context does not bear this out. Do we think of God's holy spirit as blowing? Do we hear the sound of God's holy spirit when it blows? No, it is the wind the blows, and we hear the sound of the wind when it blows. Jesus is indeed referring to the wind, not God's holy spirit.
Christian love,
Ronald
Related BooksPlease note that I do not necessarily agree with all that is stated in these books. -- Ronald
The Doctrine of the Trinity: Christianity's Self-Inflicted Wound -- Presents unitarian viewpoint; denies the prehuman existence of Jesus, but otherwise, the book contains a lot of good information.
When Jesus Became God -- Gives a lot of historical background.
The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture - The Effect of Early Christological Controversies
on the Text of the New Testament
Concepts of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - A Classification and Description of the Trinitarian and Non-Trinitarian Theologies Existent Within Christendom
One God & One Lord : Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the Christian Faith
Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament
The Father and the Son: Is Jesus God?
Divine Truth or Human Tradition A Reconsideration of the Roman Catholic-Protestant Doctrine of the Trinity in Light of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
Jesus Was Not a Trinitarian
The Trinity's Weak Links Revealed A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
