(The argument behind this post can be found in my mini-book on the Fourth Gospel.)
The Holy Ghost is essentially Jesus - as is made clear from the fact that the Holy Ghost could not be present on earth and operate until after Jesus had first resurrected, then completed his divinisation by ascending to Heaven.
The resurrected Jesus has an indestructible and eternal body; that is to say he is solid and located. Therefore to operate across the whole world, in all people's hearts, to lead as all to life eternal after our deaths; then Jesus must 'project' an immaterial and universal spirit. That is the Holy Ghost.
Jesus is 'in a place' - because he is resurrected; but the Holy Ghost is everywhere.
So, the Holy Ghost is Jesus, as he is directly accessible to us, knowable by us, in this mortal life. Meanwhile the body of Jesus is elsewhere, in Heaven (which is A Place).
I put 'project' into scare quotes, because the real process is the opposite. We all began as immaterial spirits; and to become incarnated (embodied) is a kind of condensation of spirit - in a two stage process: first the current mortal incarnation, then via death to a potentially eternal incarnation: i.e. resurrection. So the ability of Jesus to exist as spirit is original to himself and to all of us; and it is incarnation that is a progression. The fact that Jesus is (now) both embodied locally and also is a universal spirit should not be surprising - in a sense we all are this already, but without only mortal and partial stature and power.
2 comments:
“The fact that Jesus is (now) both embodied locally and also is a universal spirit should not be surprising - in a sense we all are this already, but without only mortal and partial stature and power.”
This is a good point, but it raises the question of why the Holy Ghost was not there (perhaps in a less powerful form) during Jesus’ mortal life.
My answer would be that because there is no omnipotence, this (like Jesus's biography in general) presumably reflects a constraint of reality. That ascension must precede the HG.
Such constraints are also to do with causality being something that is In Time... Things must happen in certain sequences, and in a certain order.
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