Ryrie discussed the role of the Holy Spirit in inspiration, especially as it applied to the Bible. He said, “Spiration (breathing out) rather than inspiration (breathing into) would be a better word to use in that reference. The verse [2 Timothy 3:16] simply says that the Scripture is God-produced without mentioning any of the means God may have used in producing it or the result of its production.”

I have endeavored in my research to identify possible means by which Scripture was produced and how we hear from the Holy Spirit in our time by the process of dualist interaction, the neural synapse being the model for my investigations. Perhaps we are getting a little more understanding of this process thanks to advances being made in the neurosciences. Ryrie continues:

“. . . behind the human was the divine author of revelation, the Holy Spirit. Peter, referring to Old Testament prophecy, declared that ‘men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God; (2 Peter 1:21). The agents were men; the source was God; and the single author moving the human instruments was the Holy Spirit. The word moved indicates that the Spirit bore the human writers along as He directed their writings. . . . man’s will (including his will to make mistakes) did not bring us the Scriptures; rather, the Holy Spirit, who cannot err, did.”

Ryrie relates that the Bible ascribes many attributes to the Holy Spirit. He goes on to say, “If these are the attributes of Deity, then one can only conclude that the Spirit is divine." The following are those attributes:

The Spirit is said to possess omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence and is said to be truth. He is called the Holy Spirit and is said to be a giver of resurrection life. He is said to possess creative wisdom. “Thus the Holy Spirit is said to possess attributes that belong to God, something possible only if He is Deity.”

The prime example of the indwelling by the Holy Spirit is the life of Jesus Christ. I am posting a blog I recently wrote addressing this reality.

INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE INDWELLED, OR ANOINTED, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT? IN THE BOUNDLESS LOVE OF GOD: A HOLY SPIRIT STORY, I ADDRESS THIS ACTION. IN THE NEXT BLOGS I WILL SHARE MY COMMENTS FROM THIS BOOK, BEGINNING WITH THE INDWELLING OF JESUS CHRIST, THE GOD-MAN, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT OF HIS FATHER. RECALL THAT I REFER TO THE SOUL AS CONSISTING OF MIND, WILL, EMOTION AND CONSCIENCE AND HEART AS THE SOUL.

THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE JESUS LIVED AND SPOKE IN COMPLETE OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S COUNSEL THROUGH HIS INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT. IN JOHN 15:9-15 JESUS TEACHES THAT HE HAS OBEYED HIS FATHER’S COMMANDS AND THAT EVERYTHING HE HAS LEARNED FROM HIS FATHER HE HAS MADE KNOWN TO HIS DISCIPLES. IN THE SYNAGOGUE IN NAZARETH JESUS OPENED THE SCROLL OF ISAIAH AND READ, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS ON ME BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOOD NEWS…,” CONFIRMING HIS IDENTITY WITH GOD THE FATHER AND FULFILLING SCRIPTURE THAT IDENTIFIED HIM AS THE PROMISED MESSIAH. TO THOMAS HE SAID, “IF YOU REALLY KNEW ME, YOU WOULD KNOW MY FATHER AS WELL. FROM NOW ON, YOU DO KNOW HIM AND HAVE SEEN HIM.” RESPONDING TO A QUESTION FROM PHILLIP JESUS STATED, “ANYONE WHO HAS SEEN ME HAS SEEN THE FATHER. HOW CAN YOU SAY, ‘SHOW US THE FATHER? DON’T YOU BELIEVE THAT I AM IN THE FATHER, AND THAT THE FATHER IS IN ME? THE WORDS I SAY TO YOU ARE NOT JUST MY OWN. RATHER, IT IS THE FATHER, LIVING IN ME, WHO IS DOING HIS WORK. BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY THAT I AM IN THE FATHER AND THE FATHER IS IN ME.” THESE PASSAGES CONFIRM JESUS’ INDWELLING BY HIS FATHER THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT WHO DESCENDED TO DWELL IN THE HUMAN SPIRIT OF JESUS JUST AFTER HE WAS BAPTIZED BY JOHN THE BAPTIST. HE WILLFULLY LIVED IN COMPLETE OBEDIENCE TO THE FATHER ALL HIS LIFE, EVEN TO HIS DEATH. AS JESUS WAS DYING ON THE CROSS HE CRIED OUT, “FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” THAT JESUS POSSESSED A HUMAN SPIRIT IS INDICATED BY THESE WORDS HE SPOKE ON THE CROSS. HIS VERY LAST WORDS WERE, “‘IT IS FINISHED.’ WITH THAT HE BOWED HIS HEAD AND GAVE UP HIS SPIRIT.” THESE VERSES CONFIRM THAT JESUS THE MAN POSSESSED A SPIRIT AND SUBMITTED IT IN FULL OBEDIENCE TO THE SPIRIT OF THE FATHER.

MARCH 18, 2021

Ryrie posed the question to his readers whether the Holy Spirit is a person or “a mere thing or influence or personification or power or emanation.” Actions of the Holy Spirit are those of a personality, or person, because He has intelligence, emotions and a will. For the apostles John and Paul “the Holy Spirit was more than a mere influence - He was [is] a person. . . . Since He is a person, then my dealings with Him are on a person-to-person basis.”

In my writings I have endeavored to present in compelling fashion that in our time we have a restored, personal, intimate relationship with God by His grace through His Holy Spirit made possible by the atoning death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. It is a two-way communion when we are in repentance and seek to live by His Counsel.

When we manifest in our everyday lives the fruit of the indwelling, or filling, of the Holy Spirit, we become Christlike, a process that takes time and reflects sanctification. What ARE the fruits of the Spirit? They are:

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Spiritual power is the “consistent exhibition of the characteristics of the Lord Jesus in the believer’s life. And this is the activity of the Holy Spirit, of whom the Lord Jesus said, ‘He shall glorify me’. . . . The way to spiritual power is to be filled with the Spirit, which simply means to be controlled by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).” [Ryrie]

In Chapter Four of my second book, The Boundless Love of God: A Holy Spirit Story, pages 31-32, I include discussions of the baptism, filling and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is helpful to understand the distinguishing features of these three terms.

Ryrie addressed spiritual power in the Christian as follows: “A Christian is one who has received Jesus Christ; a spiritual Christian is one who displays Christ living through his life, and this is accomplished by the work of the indwelling [italics added] Holy Spirit. Spirituality, then, is Christlikeness that is produced by the fruit of the Spirit.”

MOST OF MY BLOGS TO DATE HAVE EXPANDED ON WHAT I SHARED IN THE CHAPTERS OF MY BOOKS THAT DEALT WITH NEUROSCIENCE AND INFORMATION THEORY AND THE APPLICATION TO DUALIST INTERACTION. MY RESEARCH GOES ON, THOUGH FINDING APPLICABLE ARTICLES TO MY HYPOTHESIS AND PERSPECTIVES WILL CONTINUE TO BE DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF THE STILL DOMINANT PERSPECTIVE OF REDUCTIVE MATERIALISM IN NEUROSCIENCE.

A HOLY SPIRIT STORY WAS SHARED IN MY SECOND BOOK, THE BOUNDLESS LOVE OF GOD: A HOLY SPIRIT STORY. THERE REMAINS MUCH IGNORANCE IN THE CHURCH ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND SOME DENY THAT WE HEAR FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OUR TIME, THOUGH WE CAN PRAY TO HIM. IN THE NEXT BLOGS I WILL FOCUS ON THE HOLY SPIRIT AND DERIVE MUCH OF WHAT I SHARE FROM TWO BOOKS: GORDON D. FEE, PAUL, THE SPIRIT, AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD, 1996, HENDRICKSON PUBLISHERS, INC, PEABODY, MASS., AND CHARLES C. RYRIE, THE HOLY SPIRIT, REVISED AND EXPANDED, 1997, MOODY PRESS, CHICAGO, ILL.

IT IS MY HOPE THAT I HAVE PRESENTED COMPELLING EVIDENCE IN MY BOOKS AND BLOGS FOR DUALIST INTERACTION BETWEEN THE IMMATERIAL MIND OF GOD AND THE MIND OF MAN VIA THE SYNAPTIC NETWORKS OF THE MATERIAL HUMAN BRAIN. KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS INTERACTION IS A REALITY AS WE CONSIDER THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE DOCTRINE AND THE TRUE PERSONALITY AND PLAN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. MAN’S INDWELLING BY HIM HAS BEEN RESTORED IN OUR REPENTANCE BY THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST WHO SENT THE HOLY SPIRIT AS HE PROMISED WHEN HE AROSE TO SIT AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER. THE INDWELLING AND FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL BE ADDRESSED.

I am posting verses from Romans 11: 33-36 that were included at the end of my book, The Boundless Love of God: A Holy Spirit Story. Yes, we are learning much from advances in the neurosciences, providing confirmation of dualist interaction between the Mind of God and the mind of Man and perhaps how that works with wave forms at the level of pyramidal modules of the cerebral cortex and the consequent transmission of encoded spike trains through neural synaptic networks. But our God is so much more majestic and powerful, and we are humbled as we seek His Truth.

Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

Thank you for your attention to my blogs that expand on the contents of my books. I will continue my research through the available neuroscience literature, though my posts will be less frequent. I pray that I have provided to date and in future posts a means to increase your faith in the fact that our Creator God, by his grace through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, desires to have an intimate, two-way personal communion with us as members of his Kingdom, now and forever more.

Spruston discusses the very complex properties of apical and basal dendrites. Dendritic spikes include both calcium and sodium spikes activated at the ionic channels for these two ions by synaptic input. How the postulated wave forms generated by the cognitive mind may interact with the components of ionic channels, likely involving quantum tunneling, to generate these spikes is an unanswered question. “Once initiated, dendritic spikes propagate towards the soma where, in some cases, they can initiate an action potential. . . . [Spruston points out that] dendritic spikes do not propagate reliably from the apical tuft into the main apical dendrite,” propagation depending upon whether a ‘gate’ is opened or closed that governs the influence of distally generated dendritic spikes on axonal action-potential initiation.”

So we see that the function of apical tufts remains under study and that spike generation in dendrites and axons is most complex. Initiation of spikes in ionic channels and synapses by cognition is not ruled out. Spruston concludes with the statement that the answering of questions about dendritic function “will move [us] closer to a detailed understanding of the complex and dynamic function of pyramidal neurons, a crucial key to unlocking the mysteries of cortical function.”

I conclude my discussion of this aspect of cognition. My intent has been to show how progress in neuroscience is being made to shed light on an understanding of dualist interaction between the immaterial mind and the brain. There is much yet to learn, but I am confident that findings will reveal concordance between Scripture and science, so that our faith that the Holy Spirit communes with us in our time is strengthened.

I now return to the article by Spruston to focus on a possible role for apical pyramidal cell tufts in the cognitive activity of the immaterial mind. I am posting excerpts from his article along with my comments, primarily reflecting posts I have made in previous blogs and in my books.

“Pyramidal neurons are abundant in the cerebral cortex . . . they are found primarily in structures that are associated with advanced cognitive functions. . . . Critical to the function of each pyramidal neuron is how it responds to its synaptic inputs to produce an action potential that excites its postsynaptic targets. . . . All pyramidal neurons have several relatively short basal dendrites. Usually, one large apical dendrite connects the soma (cell body) to a tuft of dendrites. . . . [there is] some evidence [that] supports the division of pyramidal cell dendritic trees into . . . domains, which correspond to regions that receive distinct synaptic inputs and/or have synapses with distinct properties. . . . it is reasonable to postulate that pyramidal neurons with different structural features are also likely to differ functionally. . . . inputs to the main apical dendrite and the oblique apical dendrites might be integrated differently, but it is not known whether synaptic inputs to these domains are identical or different.”

Hence, it is acceptable for me to offer a postulate on how wave forms generated by cognition interact with the pyramidal tufts and their numerous spines to stimulate changes in the microstructures of ionic channels to initiate dendritic spikes. This action could involve quantum tunneling as we have seen with the transmission of wave forms through potential barriers at neural synapses to initiate spike trains of action potentials that transmit specified codes. Just where, I am asking, would wave forms generated by the immaterial mind act? In subsequent blogs I will address the statements of Sir John C. Eccles that are prescient in this regard. Let us read on.

“Pyramidal neurons are covered with thousands of dendritic spines that constitute the postsynaptic site for most excitatory glutamatergic synapses. . . . The function of dendritic spines remains enigmatic. . . . Spines vary considerably in their size and shape and are highly plastic [so that they may be functional in memory and learning].”

I have discussed in my books and several blogs how the immaterial mind “learns” to interpret neural codes over a lifetime as well as generates their formation within spike trains of action potentials. Neural codes are archived in memory and accessed by the mind to effect desired actions with purpose and meaning. An example I have discussed in my books is the supplementary motor area, where neural codes for various motor actions are archived in the so-called liaison brain described by Eccles.

When dendritic spines are stimulated by incoming wave forms they “exert significant influence over action-potential initiation through the activation of dendritic voltage-gated channels, which can enhance charge entry at distal synapses and might even lead to dendritic spike initiation. Several observations suggest that synapses at different dendritic locations are specialized to perform different functions . . . The apical tuft also has a relatively large number of [spine] synapses on the dendritic shaft. These differences suggest that these various dendritic regions receive synaptic inputs that have distinctive properties.” [The author does not address cognitive function and its potential application to this process.]

In my next blog I will continue to draw upon Spruston’s article, focusing on the process of dendritic excitability and coincidence detection, leading to the discussions by Eccles that are prescient in this context.