What in my posts causes you to arrive at such conclusion?
Do you actually believe that or are you just putting it out then as a hypothetical? "I believe the Holy Spirit is God, but I can see why it is ambiguous"? Can you be more clear then?
Show me in scripture where the apostles had a clear understanding of the Holy Spirit and it's relationship to Christ and God. There are none. Had it been important to God that we clearly understand his precise nature, the New Testament writers would have been crystal clear. Therefore, I conclude that whether a person believes in the Trinity, or not is not important to God so long as what a person believes concerning God, Christ and the Holy Spirit does not contradict other scripture.
As for what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit, very little is recorded about his teachings concerning the Holy Spirit. From the few verses generally regarded as genuine, Jesus describes the Spirit more as a distinct being than impersonal force. The question then becomes is the Holy Spirit a class of spirit beings like angels and cerubim, or is it divine? Scripture is not clear. The strongest indications of divinity are: 2 Cor 3:17-18, Phil 3:3 and John 16:8-11, 1 Cor 12:4-6, 2 Cor 13:14.
The triune formula used in Matt 28:19 may not have been spoken by Jesus but it's insertion by the writer shows that it was in use in the 1st century. Of the apostles, Paul and the author of Hebrews appear to have some concept of the three-fold Trinity but Paul only writes of it in two-fold terms. John seems to have the clearest grasp of the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit; John 1:33-34, John 14:16, John 14:26, John 20:21-22, John 16:15, 1 John 4:2 and 1 John 4:13-14.
Are you referring to the verses I quoted? What verses have been provided which you claim are not regarded as genuine?
The question then becomes is the Holy Spirit a class of spirit beings like angels and cerubim, or is it divine?
It appears you are indeed an anti-Trinitarian, but a weird one. I am not sure which cult this "angel" language belongs to. I will have to think on it. In the meantime, is there a problem with the verse that identifies the Holy Spirit as God?
Show me in scripture where the apostles had a clear understanding of the Holy Spirit and it's relationship to Christ and God.
Is there a reason why you ignored my first response to you and are now asking me to start a post from scratch? Why not respond to my original post and then go from there?
Please don't waste my time. You went from defending Mormonism to the Trinity, and now you are even ignoring what I write on that. I will not repeat myself over and over again.
Your conclusion is that believing in the Trinity is not important to God so long as what a person believes concerning God, Christ and the Holy Spirit does not contradict other scripture, and thus you agree that doctrinal conformity is important to God, which is why their is theology, and is why there is a doctrine of the Trinity.
And "increasing in the knowledge of God," (Col. 1:10) is important to Him, and
"That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; (Colossians 2:2)
And as the devil attacks the nature of God, it is also important to theologically develop what is in essence understood.
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (2 Corinthians 10:5)
How much did Cornelius and company understand about how the atonement works ("satisfaction," "penal substitution," "governmental," "limited" vs. "universal") in conversion? He only needed to know that "To him [the Lord of all] give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." (Acts 10:43)
But certainly understanding more about how this works is important, not simply because as the devil can get into the details, but the holiness, justice and mercy of God is better appreciated in understanding the atonement.
You affirm the deity of the Son and the Spirit, but do not see denial of the personhood of the Spirit and thus the Trinity as contradicting scriptures, but which we do. Expanding upon Matthew 28:19, denial of the Trinity has one being baptized in the name of two persons and a thing , which is inconsistent with the other two entities being persons.
And since the Son is also called a thing, such as the "word of God," yet the Son is identified as a person as one who gives grace, and and God as one who gives love, and tyhe Spirit as one who gives the communion, in "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." " (2 Corinthians 13:14)
Moreover, as shown, the Spirit gives "gifts to every man severally as he will [ boulomai]" , (1Cor. 12:11) the same word that is used of the Son as in Mt. 11:37, "to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."
And rather than simply being an instrumental part of God, like the mind, the Spirit "searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God," (1 Corinthians 2:10) and "he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." (Romans 8:27)
Thus like as the Son is instrumentally used of God, and is referred to as such yet is also manifest as a person with a will, so is the Spirit.
I do think you are trying to be reason-able, but i see your argument as partly being what is intellectually essential for salvation, versus what may be implicitly understood in essence, and which is then developed and expanded upon as important for the worship of God.
Often the head needs to catch up with, and make sense of the heart. A person who falls in love need not intellectually understand a lot about the differences btwn man and women (no there's a mystery!) in order to be married and raise kids, but both must be free to marry and committed to basics (part of "cleave), and a good marriage requires being teachable and dwelling with her "according to knowledge." (1Pt. 3:7)
Also, a wise mother may not be able to articulate much of what she knows by intuition and experience, but she knows it nonetheless.
And here I would posit that like as a Gentile can essentially do "by nature the things contained in the law," (Rm. 2:14) even though unable to articulate much, so in conversion the soul is implicitly assenting to things in heart that at that time he/she usually would not be able to much understand or articulate.
But as in essence he/she is concurring with these realities, once more light is given then they assent to it. I remember hearing the conversion testimony of Jack Wyrtzen , found of Word of Life camps, and how after becoming born again he was shown that the Lord Jesus was God. He had never "known" this and it blew him away, but he quickly assent to it. For indeed, to believe on the risen Lord Jesus to given them eternal life is to believe in His deity, as only God can be that Savior. Thus the Jews went about to destroy Him. (Jn. 10)
Likewise, in conversion one need only placing faith in the risen Lord Jesus to save the contrite damned+destitute sinner by His sinless shed blood, but in seeing the Son one is seeing the Father, and the Spirit manifesting Him. And thus one is implicitly trusting God as the Father, Son and Spirit, and upon being given more light they will concur with what is shown.