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The Personhood of the Triune God Really Matters

This episode spells out the superior age of the Spirit inaugurated by Christ, and it is all predicated on the personality of the Holy Spirit which Jews deny. Christ contrasted the best of the prior age in the person of John the Baptist with "the least in the kingdom of God." The least among partakers of the New Covenant in Christ are greater than the best of the Old covenant. (Matthew 11:11) Christ inaugurated the New Covenant in His blood, and the Holy Spirit applies the Covenant to the world, convicting people of sin, righteousness and judgment leading to repentance and faith in Christ. (John 16:8-11)(1 Corinthians 12:3) When one is subsequently born again, he partakes of the divine nature, becoming a temple of the very personal Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:4) Conviction, repentance, faith and regeneration all involve the PERSONAL role of the Holy Spirit. It naturally follows that rejection of the PERSON and role of the Holy Spirit, who applies the New Covenant of Christ to the unregenerate, results in condemnation. No one comes to the Father except through Christ (John 14:6), and no one calls Jesus Lord except through the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3 Salvation then presumes the personal involvement of each member of the Trinity aimed at reconciling the world back to that Triune God. Isaiah 48:16 says "the Lord God has sent Me [the Messiah}, and His Spirit." The singular essence and salvific purpose of the godhead consequently requires that rejection of either the Son or the Spirit MEANS rejection of the Father who sent them. For this reason, Christians and Jews (who reject Christ and the Holy Spirit) do not believe in the same God.

When the Son Becomes Judge

This episode unpacks John 5:22-24, in which all judgment has been given to the Son by God the Father. And verse 23 specifically says that God sent the Son. Jews who reject Christ as God's Son and Messiah therefore reject the Father's sending of the Son. The consequences couldn't be more dire, since God the Father has given all judgment to the Son. According to John 3:36, "whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them." This rejecting of the Father's sending of the Son invalidates any Jew's claim that he has the Father as his God: "No one who denies the Son, has the Father.." (1 John 5:23) Moreover, the wrath and judgment of the Son remain on all who reject the Son: "Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled.." (Psalm 2:12) Jews and Christians therefore do not believe in the same God.