Spirit and Ghost

     People are dynamic; their nature changes with time. In my own life I went from wall-flower to snapdragon, once being timid, I am now forceful. That was a change in attitude as my "faculty" changed. My superiors told me to just pass out job assignments and my skilled employees would do their jobs. There was a great quality problem in the manufacturing area, and I soon found out that those highly trained and skilled employees were in the dark; they were learned, but somehow had blind spots to causes, only seeing effects.
     Soon, I decided I should become the engineer that I was, and joined them inside 5000-tons presses to analyze the problems. Soon, I found out that I had a knack to see what others could not see. Throughout my entire career, higher management usually called on me after everyone else had given up, and most often I saw what they could not see, I was transformed from mental weakling, not using my God-given powers, to empowered. My attitude thereafter became one of confidence.
     With my change in attitude, my purpose in life changed. I went from follower to leader. When others shunned opportunities, I relished them. I went from a weak blind person to a super-problem solver. Because I changed my mental stature, it created change in my spiritual drive. I wanted to see what the prophets saw, and know the mysteries of God that the apostles John and Paul knew so well.
     Matthew and Mark knew the Son of Man quite well. John and Paul knew the Son of God more so! The former two saw the obvious, and the latter what others could not see. The Book of John is a revelation of the mystery of God; it identifies God's transition from Jahu (Yahu) to Yeshua - from "God" to "God Saves" or more plainly, from Jehovah God to Jesus.
     God is immutable (Mal 3:6; Heb 3:9). The first passage is the unchangeable Lord God, and the latter about the unchangeable Lord Jesus. The Lord of Judaism is the Lord of Christianity. What is the difference in beliefs between Jews and Christians? Christians see God, and most Jews do not. We look at the same Lord and see Him differently. The main difference between Judaism and Christianity is in Jesus's Name - "God saves." They look forward to God saving them, and Christians look backward at Jesus dying to save us all.
     There are "Thirteen Articles of the Jewish Faith," and Christians and Jews differ on only two of thirteen points. One is principle 7 - the primacy of the prophecy of Moses as teacher. Christians must look to Jesus for the primacy: "...if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he (Abraham) said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Abraham in Paradise disputed the efficacy of Moses the prophet. Abraham, the father of the Jews, disputed Principle 17 of Judaism. Thus, the Word of Jesus is superior to the words of Moses, and Judaism fails on that point.
     The second point of contention between Judaism and Christianity is principle 12: "The belief in the arrival of the Messiah and the messianic era." Judaism still believes in the appearance of God on earth, and Christians believe that He has already appeared; that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Jews have a blind spot to the appearance of God, just as my employees had scatomas to things hard to understand. Jesus identified their spiritual blindness quite well when he said, "Forgive them Father, they know not what they do," as they condemned the Messiah on whom they had long awaited (Luke 23:34). They didn't understand the mystery of God.
      The leap from Judaism to Christianity was a transformation in God's appearance and men's insights. God's purpose remained unchanged, but was transformed from and Existing God to a Living God. God changed from the invisible God without a face, to a visible God with a face, and a name to match. God is called "Jesus," and also "the Messiah," and "God With Us." He is still the immutable God, but how he appears to mankind changed. Part of the mystery of God is that he Is One Person who is called Jesus, but has three substances. For our understanding (or maybe confusion) theologians call those substances "persons" and "personalities."
     Jesus's birth changed only how God appeared to mankind. He had appeared before to the Hebrews as a Voice walking in the Garden, the Word speaking, a man wrestling with Jacob, the angel of God, a cloud by day and a fire by night, a man in the fiery furnace, a burning bush, and as a Priest Melchizedek. Throughout "his story", however God appeared to mankind, He was still God! Nothing changed with Jesus. He was the "face" of God appearing to mankind. Because He changed in appearance did not Change His Existence. Jesus was still Jehovah, but finally even Moses saw God's face and lived, ironically at the transfiguration of Jesus.
     Transfiguration means that God transformed Himself again. When the Holy Spirit came down on Mary, God put on His face as He became human flesh, and was the Son of Man. His appearance changed but He was still God. His state changed from only spiritual Existence to spiritual and physical Existence. At the transfiguration, Jesus's state changed again, from corruptible or perishable flesh, to imperishable to enable resurrection. His state changed from human flesh to the very flesh of God. He became the Son of God.
     The next change in state was from flesh and spirit to flesh and Ghost. John, with his special divine insight, understood that change in states, and it seems, only the King James Version translators did as well. Examine the following passages from that version:

(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:39).

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. (Luke 23:46)

    In John 7:39 "spirit" and "ghost" are both from the Greek "pneuma" but the translators there were putting it in context.  Jesus's hidden "substance" would be transformed from "Spirit" to "Ghost" when he was glorified. The question, is, When? Luke 23:46 answered that; when he died. Apparently, God's "Spirit" was transformed into Jesus's "Ghost" when Jesus died. The Holy Spirit did not change in state, but status - from the Spirit of the Son of God to the Ghost of the Son of Man.
    Let me be clear: there is not a Holy Spirit and a Holy Ghost. The difference in terminology is not one of substance but experience. Just as the immutable God changed from Father to Son by experiencing birth, the Holy Spirit was transformed to Holy Ghost by experiencing death. The translators of the King James Version (KJV), I believe, got it right!
     We do notice that Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit are used interchangeably in the KJV, but at crucial times there is a difference. "Saved" and "hope of salvation" are used interchangeably, because when speaking of "saved," the "hope of salvation" is so assured that it seems the prize is in hand. Likewise, it makes sense  that inspired apostles knew beforehand that pneuma worked quite well for experiencing death. John the Beloved was beloved for a reason; he fully understand the nature and supra-nature of Jesus. He knew the substance of Jesus before God was incarnated, and he knew his substance after God experienced death.
     In the KJV, David had God's Holy Spirit upon him (1 Sam 16:13). Elsewhere, such as Abraham's death, people gave up the Ghost (Gen 25:8). God's "Spirit," even then, became "Ghost" when the patriarchs, having the Spirit, gave up the Ghost. "Spirit" is a supernatural essence whereas "ghost" is a "disembodied soul" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). 
     Living people have the "Spirit" residing in them, but dead Christians have given up the "ghost." Death transforms the spirit. The soul relinquishes the spirit, and it is freed from the body. Thus, the person's "cup" is emptied and the contents - the ghost - is able to join God. You see, "ghost" and "spirit" are the same essence but while the former is external to the body, the latter resides within. Jesus had the Holy Spirit (God) imbued within his human soul (man), but after his crucifixion death freed his soul to descend on others as his Ghost.
     The Old Testament often uses "Holy Spirit" because God had yet to have His Person die. In the KJV, "Holy Ghost" is most often used in context, because the writers already knew that God's Spirit had already experienced death.
     The last transformation of God's Existence was the "glorification" of His Person. That occurred at his death. Between the time Jesus died and he ascended no one could touch him because he had not yet been in the presence of his Father. (No, Thomas did not touch Jesus; he was only challenged to do so.)
     After Jesus ascended, his Person conjoined the Father, and it is assumed, God's Holy Spirit who is omnipresent. Because the Holy Spirit had experienced death on the cross as the Spirit of God's Person, then right after Jesus ascended into Paradise, the Holy Ghost descended. Because Jesus's Spirit experienced the cross, He is the Spirit or "Ghost of Jesus" within the temple (souls) of true Christians.
    When the Ghost of Jesus descended, there was another change in God. Rather than living in temples, God finally found a home again in lively stones. Just as he was mobile long ago in tabernacles, God's Spirit is mobilized in the temples of Christians! He never wanted stagnation because he didn't want stationary temples. "Church" is wherever Christians gather in God's Name - Jesus. To build a complete Church, there must be many temples!