“When they pulled in the driveway, who should be patiently waiting for everybody, but my little daughter. After all, she had done what she believed that Jehovah wanted her to do, and then returned home. When I came home, discipline was applied and encouragement was also given lest we dampen her zeal. I reasoned with her and carefully explained that she should never go out alone, as she would be in danger in view of her age. ‘But, Daddy, I wasn’t alone,’ she replied sincerely.

“‘You weren’t?’ I asked.

“‘No, you see Johnnie was with me and I was showing him how to go from house to house too,’ she said happily. This must have been a new experience for Johnnie, as he is from a Catholic home. In spite of her age, our little daughter wanted to serve Jehovah and was even training someone else to do so. Now she appreciates the need for someone to accompany her, because she has just turned five years of age.”

Questions From Readers

● How is it possible for one to “grieve” the holy spirit, since it is not a person?—H. S., U.S.A.

In his inspired letter to the Christians in Ephesus, the apostle Paul provided this counsel as to how Christians should conduct themselves: “Do not be grieving God’s holy spirit, with which you have been sealed for a day of releasing by ransom.”—Eph. 4:30.

Many commentators in Christendom have explained this Eph 4 verse 30 incorrectly because of believing the three-persons-in-one-god, or Trinity, doctrine. Many times in our publications we have presented Scriptural and historical proof that the Trinity is not a Biblical teaching, but, rather, is of pagan origin. (See, for example, chapter 12 of “Things in Which It Is Impossible for God to Lie” and chapter 3 of “Babylon the Great Has Fallen!” God’s Kingdom Rules!) Hence, Ephesians 4:30 is not speaking about the holy spirit as a person, a god, part of a Trinity that can be grieved.

Far from teaching that the holy spirit is a person and a god equal to Jehovah, the Bible shows that it is simply the invisible active force of God. Jesus was to baptize “with holy spirit and fire,” just as John the Baptist was baptizing with water. (Luke 3:16) A person can baptize another with water or fire by submerging or immersing that one in water or flames, but how can an individual baptize someone with another person? Water and fire are not persons, and neither is the holy spirit. On Pentecost 33 C.E. the 120 disciples were “filled with holy spirit.” Obviously, they were not filled with a person. (Acts 1:5, 8; 2:4) In heaven Jesus had received holy spirit from Jehovah and he poured it out on his followers. The holy spirit was not a person being so treated, but was the active force of God.—Acts 2:33.

Those in the first century to whom Paul wrote, “Do not be grieving God’s holy spirit,” were anointed Christians; they had received holy spirit and had been called to heavenly life. To ones of this heavenly class Paul said: “You received a spirit of adoption.” That spirit served as a seal or a “token of what is to come.” (Rom. 8:15; 2 Cor. 1:22) But what did it do for them while yet on earth? It led or directed them in a life of faithfulness, toward their eventual death and resurrection to heaven. (Rom. 8:14, 17) It helped them to avoid the “works of the flesh,” which could lead to God’s disapproval and complete loss of holy spirit. Also, it helped them to manifest the “fruitage of the spirit” so they could go on walking orderly by spirit and have God’s approval.—Gal. 5:19-25.

A Christian who ignored the fine counsel of the Bible, which was inspired or written under the direction of holy spirit, could begin to develop attitudes or traits that could result in willful sin and the loss of divine favor. He might not be sinning at the moment, yet he might be branching off on a side road that could, in time, direct him just contrary to the leading of the spirit. He thus would be “grieving” the holy spirit, to use Paul’s figure of speech. While not being a person, the holy spirit is expressive of God’s personality just as the Bible is. If one were to play a piece of beautiful music badly his actions might be said to be an insult to the music; it would also be an insult to the composer. Similarly, since