The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Ministry of the Spirit, by A. J. Gordon
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Title: The Ministry of the Spirit
Author: A. J. Gordon
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THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT
by
A. J. GORDON, D.D.
With an Introduction by Rev. F. B. Meyer
Minister at Christ Church, London
Philadelphia
American Baptist Publication Society
1420 Chestnut Street
1894
Copyright 1894 by the
American Baptist Publication Society
To the
INHERITORS OF THE SPIRIT
{vii}
PREFACE
It is not claimed that in this little volume all has been said that
might be said upon the subject treated. On the contrary, the writer
has proceeded upon the belief that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit can
be better understood by limiting the sphere of discussion, rather than
by extending it to the largest bounds. For finite beings, at least,
presence is more intelligible than omnipresence. So, though the
subject of this book is in itself profoundly mysterious, we have sought
to simplify it by dwelling upon the time-ministry of the Holy Ghost
without entering upon the consideration of his eternal ministry. What
the Spirit did before the incarnation of Christ, and what he may do
hereafter beyond the second advent of Christ, is a question hardly
touched upon in this volume. We have sought rather to emphasize and to
magnify the great truth that the Paraclete is now present in the
church: that we are living in the dispensation of the Spirit, with all
the unspeakable blessing for the church and for the world which this
economy provides. Hence, as we speak of the ministry of Christ {viii}
meaning a service embraced within defined limits, so we name this
volume the "Ministry of the Spirit," as referring to the work of the
Comforter extending from Pentecost to the end of this dispensation.
How deep a subject for a study! What prayer more becoming for those
entering upon it than the humble petition that the Spirit himself will
teach us concerning the Spirit! Deeply sensible of the imperfection of
this work, it is now committed to the use and blessing of that Divine
Person of the Godhead of whom it so unworthily speaks.
A. J. G.
BOSTON, Dec., 1894.
{ix}
INTRODUCTION
It is remarkable how many in these last days have been led to deal with
the sublime subject to which this treatise is devoted. Without doubt
the mind of the church is being instructed, and her heart prepared for
a recognition of the indwelling, administration, and co-operation of
the blessed Paraclete, which has never been excelled in her history,
and is fraught with the greatest promise both to her and to the world.
Each of these treatises has brought out some new phase in respect to
the person or mission of the Holy Spirit, but I cannot recall one that
is so lucid, so suggestive, so scriptural, so deeply spiritual as this,
by my beloved friend, Dr. Gordon. The chapters on the Embodying, the
Enduement, and the Administration of the Spirit seem specially fresh
and helpful. But all is good, and deserving of prayerful perusal. Let
only such truths be well wrought into the mental and spiritual
constitution {x} of God's servants, and there would be such a revival
of pure and undefiled religion in the churches, and such marvelous
results through them on the world that the age would close with a
world-wide Pentecost. And there are many symptoms abroad that this
also is in the purpose of God. Nothing else can meet the deepest needs
and yearnings of our time.
Christianity is beset with three powerful currents, which insidiously
operate to deflect her from her course. Materialism, which denies or
ignores the supernatural, and concentrates its heed on ameliorating the
outward conditions of human life; criticism, which is clever at
analysis and dissection, but cannot construct a foundation on which the
religious faculty may build and rest; and a fine literary taste, which
has greatly developed of late, and is disposed to judge of power by
force of words or by delicacy of expression.
To all of these we have but one reply. And that is, not a system, a
creed, a church, but the living Christ, who was dead, but is alive
forevermore, and has the keys to unlock all perplexities, problems, and
failures. Though society could be {xi} reconstituted, and material
necessities be more evenly supplied, discontent would break out again
in some other form, unless the heart were satisfied with his love. The
truth which he reveals to the soul, and which is ensphered in him, is
alone able to appease the consuming hunger of the mind for data on
which to construct its answer to the questions of life and destiny and
God, which are ever knocking at its door for solution. And men have
yet to learn that the highest power is not in words or metaphors or
bursts of eloquence, but in the indwelling and out-working of the Word,
who is the wisdom and the power of God, and who deals with regions
below those where the mind vainly labors.
Jesus Christ, the ever-living Son of God, is the one supreme answer to
the restlessness and travail of our day. But he cannot, he will not
reveal himself. Each person in the Holy Trinity reveals another. The
Son reveals the Father, but his own revelation awaits the testimony of
the Holy Ghost, which, though often given directly, is largely through
the church. What we need then, and what the world is waiting for, is
the Son of God, borne witness to and revealed in all his radiant {xii}
beauty of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, as he energizes with and
through the saints that make up the holy and mystical body, the church.
It is needful to emphasize this distinction. In some quarters it seems
to be supposed that the Holy Spirit himself is the solution of the
perplexities of our time. Now what we may witness in some coming age
we know not, but in this it is clear that God in the person of Christ
is the one only and divine answer. Here is God's yea and amen, the
Alpha and Omega, sight for the blind, healing for the paralyzed,
cleansing for the polluted, life for the dead, the gospel for the poor
and sad and comfortless. Now we covet the gracious bestowal of the
Spirit, that he may take more deeply of the things of Christ, and
reveal them unto us. When the disciples sought to know the Father, the
Lord said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. It is his glory
that shines on my face, his will that molds my life, his purpose that
is fulfilled in my ministry. So the blessed Paraclete would turn our
thought and attention from himself to him, with whom he is One in the
Holy Trinity, and whom he has come to reveal.
{xiii}
Throughout the so-called Christian centuries the voice of the Holy
Spirit has borne witness to the Lord, directly and mediately.
Directly, in each widespread quickening of the human conscience, in
each revival of religion, in each era of advance in the knowledge of
divine truth, in each soul that has been regenerated, comforted, or
taught. Mediately his work has been carried on through the church, the
body of those that believe. But, alas! how sadly his witness has been
weakened and hindered by the medium through which it has come. He has
not been able to do many mighty works because of the unbelief which has
kept closed and barred those avenues through which he would have poured
his glad testimony to the unseen and glorified Lord.
The divisions of the church, her strife about matters of comparative
unimportance, her magnification of points of difference, her
materialism, her love of pelf and place and power, her accounting
herself rich and increased in goods and needing nothing, when she was
poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked--these things have not only
robbed her of her testimony, but have grieved and {xiv} quenched the
Holy Spirit, and nullified his testimony.
We gladly hail the signs that this period of apathy and resistance is
coming to a close. The Church which is in the churches is making
herself felt, is arising from the dust and arraying herself in her
beautiful garments. There is a widespread recognition of the unity of
all who believe, together with an increasing desire to magnify the
points of agreement and minimize those of divergence. The great
conventions for the quickening of spiritual life on both sides of the
Atlantic in which believers meet, irrespective of name or sect, are
doing an incalculable amount of good in breaking down the old lines of
demarcation, and making real our spiritual oneness. The teaching of
consecration and cleanliness of heart and life is removing those
obstacles that have restrained and drowned the Spirit's still small
voice. The fuller's soap and the refiner's fire have been largely
resorted to, with the best results. And as believers have become more
consistent and devoted, they have grown increasingly sensitive to the
indwelling, energy, and co-witness of the Holy Spirit.
{xv}
If only this glorious movement is permitted to achieve its full
purpose, the effect will be transcendently glorious. The church will
become as pliant to the Divine Tenant as the resurrection body of our
Lord to the impulse of his divine nature. And so the Lord Jesus will
increasingly become the object of human hope, the center around which
the concentric circles of human life shall circle.
That the Lord Jesus should be thus magnified and glorified through the
ministry of the Holy Spirit, and with this end in view, that the hearts
and lives of believers should be made more sensitive to and receptive
of his blessed energy, this treatise has been prepared; and I add my
testimony to the beloved author's, that in the mouth of two witnesses,
every word may be established; and my prayer to his that the yea of the
Spirit to the great voice of the gospel may be heard more mightily and
persistently amongst us.
{xvii}
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
THE AGE-MISSION OF THE SPIRIT. INTRODUCTORY, . . . . . . . . . 11
CHAPTER II.
THE ADVENT OF THE SPIRIT, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
CHAPTER III.
THE NAMING OF THE SPIRIT, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
CHAPTER IV.
THE EMBODYING OF THE SPIRIT, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
CHAPTER V.
THE ENDUEMENT OF THE SPIRIT, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
1. Sealing; 2. Filling; 3. Anointing.
CHAPTER VI.
THE COMMUNION OF THE SPIRIT, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
1. The Spirit of Life: Our Regeneration.
2. The Spirit of Holiness: Our Sanctification.
3. The Spirit of Glory: Our Transfiguration.
CHAPTER VII.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
1. In the Ministry and Government of the Church.
2. In the Worship and Service of the Church.
3. In the Missionary Enterprise of the Church.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE INSPIRATION OF THE SPIRIT, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
CHAPTER IX.
THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
1. Of Sin; 2. Of Righteousness; 3. Of Judgment.
CHAPTER X.
THE ASCENT OF THE SPIRIT, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
{11}
I
THE AGE-MISSION OF THE SPIRIT
{12}
"It is evident that the present dispensation under which we are is the
dispensation of the Spirit, or of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.
To him in the Divine economy, has been committed the office of applying
the redemption of the Son to the souls of men by the vocation,
justification, and salvation of the elect. We are therefore under the
personal guidance of the Third Person, as truly as the apostles were
under the guidance of the Second."--_Henry Edward Manning_.
{13}
THE AGE-MISSION OF THE SPIRIT--INTRODUCTORY
In some observations on the doctrine of the Spirit, which lie before us
as we write, an eminent professor of theology remarks on the
disproportionate attention which has been given to the person and work
of the Holy Spirit, as compared with that bestowed on the life and
ministry of Jesus Christ. It is affirmed, moreover, that in many of
the works upon the subject now extant there is a lack of definiteness
of impression which leaves much still to be desired in the treatment of
this subject. These observations lead us to ask: Why not employ the
same method in writing about the Third Person of the Trinity as we use
in considering the Second Person? Scores of excellent lives of Christ
have been written; and we find that in these, almost without exception,
the divine story begins with Bethlehem and ends with Olivet. Though
the Saviour lived before his incarnation, and continues to live after
his ascension, yet it gives a certain definiteness of impression to
limit one's view to his historic career, distinguishing his visible
life lived in time from his invisible life lived in eternity.
{14}
So in considering the Holy Spirit, we believe there is an advantage in
separating his ministry in time from his ministry before and after,
bounding it by Pentecost on the one side, and by Christ's second coming
on the other. We have to confess that in many respects one of the best
treatises on the Spirit which we have found is by a Roman
Catholic--Cardinal Manning. Notwithstanding the papistical errors
which abound in the volume, his general conception of the subject is in
some particulars admirable. His treatise is called "The Temporal
Mission of the Holy Ghost." How much is suggested by this title! Just
as Jesus Christ had a time-ministry which he came into the world to
fulfill, and having accomplished it returned to the Father, so the Holy
Spirit, for the fulfillment of a definite mission, came into the world
at an appointed time; he is now carrying on his ministry on earth, and
in due time he will complete it and ascend to heaven again--this is
what these words suggest, and what, as we believe, the Scriptures
teach. If we thus form a right conception of this present age-ministry
of the Spirit, we have a definite view-point from which to study his
operations in the ages past, and his greater mission, if there be such,
in the ages to come.
Now we conceive that the vagueness and mystery attaching in many minds
to the doctrine of the Spirit, are due largely to a failure to
recognize his {15} time-ministry, distinct from all that went before
and introductory to all that is to come after--a ministry with a
definite beginning and a definite termination. Certainly no one can
read the farewell discourse of our Lord, as recorded by John, without
being impressed with the fact that just as distinctly as his own advent
was foretold by prophets and angels, he now announces the advent into
the world of another, co-equal with himself, his Divine successor, his
other self in the mysterious unity of the Godhead. And moreover, it
seems clear to us that he implied that this coming One was to appear
not only for an appointed work, but for an appointed period: "He shall
give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever"--_eis
ton aiõna_. If we translate literally and say "_for the age_," it
harmonizes with a parallel passage. In giving the great commission,
Jesus says: "And lo, I am with you alway, even _unto the end of the
age_." Here his presence by the Holy Ghost is evidently meant. The
perpetuity of that presence is guaranteed, "with you all the days"; and
its bound determined, "_unto the end of the age_." Not that it need be
argued that he shall not be here after this dispensation is finished;
but that there is such a thing as a temporal mission of the Holy Spirit
does seem to be implied. And a full study confirms the view. The
present is the dispensation of {16} the Holy Ghost; the age-work which
he inaugurated on the day of Pentecost is now going on, and it will
continue until the Lord Jesus returns from heaven, when another order
will be ushered in and another dispensational ministry succeed.
In the well-known work of Moberly, on "The Administration of the Holy
Spirit in the Body of Christ," the author divides the course of
redemption thus far accomplished into these three stages: The first
age, God the Father; the second age, God the Son; and the third age,
God the Holy Ghost. This distribution seems to be correct, and so does
his remark upon the inauguration of the last of these periods on the
day of Pentecost. "At that moment," he says, "the third stage of the
development [manifestation] of God for the restoration of the world
finally began, never to come to an end or to be superseded on earth
till the restitution of all things, when the Son of Man shall come
again in the clouds of heaven, in like manner as his disciples saw him
go into heaven." And what shall be the next period, "the age to come,"
whose powers they have already tasted who have been "made partakers of
the Holy Ghost"? This question need not be answered, as we have done
all that is required, defined the age of the Spirit which constitutes
the field in which our entire discussion lies.
{17}
II
THE ADVENT OF THE SPIRIT
{18}
"Therefore the Holy Ghost on this day--Pentecost--descended into the
temple of his apostles, which he had prepared for himself, as a shower of
sanctification, appearing no more as a transient visitor, but as a
perpetual Comforter and as an eternal inhabitant. He came therefore on
this day to his disciples, no longer by the grace of visitation and
operation, but by the very presence of his majesty."--_Augustine_.
{19}
II
THE ADVENT OF THE SPIRIT
"For _the Holy Ghost was not yet_," is the more than surprising saying of
Jesus when speaking of "the Spirit which they that believe on him should
receive." Had not the Spirit been seen descending upon Jesus like a dove
at his baptism, and remaining on him? Had he not been the divine agent
in creation, and in the illumination and inspiration of the patriarchs
and prophets and seers of the old dispensation? How then could Jesus say
that he "was not yet given," as the words read in our Common version?
The answer to this question furnishes our best point of departure for an
intelligent study of the doctrine of the Spirit. Augustine calls the day
of Pentecost the "_dies natalis_" of the Holy Ghost; and for the same
reason that the day when Mary "brought forth her first-born son" we name
"the birthday of Jesus Christ." Yet Jesus had existed before he lay in
the cradle at Bethlehem; he was "in the beginning with God"; he was the
agent in creation. By him all things were. But on the day of his birth
he became incarnate, that in the flesh he might fulfill his great {20}
ministry as the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, manifesting
God to men, and making himself an offering for the sins of the world.
Not until after his birth in Bethlehem was Jesus in the world in his
official capacity, in his divine ministry as mediator between man and
God; and so not till after the day of Pentecost was the Holy Spirit in
the world in his official sphere, as mediator between men and Christ. In
the following senses then is Augustine's saying true, which calls
Pentecost "the birthday of the Spirit":
1. The Holy Spirit, from that time on, took up his residence on earth.
The Christian church throughout all this dispensation is the home of the
Spirit as truly as heaven, during this same period, is the home of Jesus
Christ. This is according to that sublime word of Jesus, called by one
"the highest promise which can be made to man": "If a man love me he will
keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him,
_and make our abode with him_" (John 14: 23). This promise was fulfilled
at Pentecost, and the first two Persons of the Godhead now hold residence
in the church through the Third. The Holy Spirit during the present time
is in office on earth; and all spiritual presence and divine communion of
the Trinity with men are through him. In other words, while the Father
and the Son are visibly and personally in heaven, they are invisibly here
in the {21} body of the faithful by the indwelling of the Comforter. So
that though we affirm that on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came
to dwell upon earth for this entire dispensation, we do not imply that he
thereby ceased to be in heaven. Not with God, as with finite man, does
arrival in one place necessitate withdrawal from another. Jesus uttered
a saying concerning himself so mysterious and seemingly contradictory
that many attempts have been made to explain away its literal and obvious
meaning: "And no man hath ascended up to heaven but _he that came down
from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven_"--Christ on earth, and
yet in glory; here and there, at the same time, just as a thought which
we embody in speech and send forth from the mind, yet remains in the mind
as really and distinctly as before it was expressed. Why should this
saying concerning our divine Lord seem incredible? And as with the Son,
so with the Spirit. The Holy Ghost is here, abiding perpetually in the
church; and he is likewise there, in communion with the Father and the
Son from whom he proceeds, and from whom, as co-equal partner in the
Godhead, he can never be separated any more than the sunbeam can be
dissociated from the sun in which it has its source.
2. Again: The Holy Spirit, in a mystical but very real sense, became
embodied in the church on the day of Pentecost. Not that we would by any
{22} means put this embodiment on the same plane with the incarnation of
the Second Person of the Trinity. When "the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us," it was God entering into union with sinless humanity;
here it is the Holy Spirit uniting himself with the church in its
imperfect and militant condition. Nevertheless, it is according to
literal Scripture that the body of the faithful is indwelt by the divine
Spirit. In this fact we have the distinguishing peculiarity of the
present dispensation. "For he dwelleth with you and _shall be in you_!"
said Jesus, speaking anticipatively of the coming of the Comforter; and
so truly was this prediction fulfilled that ever after the day of
Pentecost the Holy Spirit is spoken of as being in the church. "_If so
be that the Spirit of God dwell in you_" is the inspired assumption on
which the deep teaching in Romans eighth proceeds. All the recognition
and deference which the disciples paid to their Lord they now pay to the
Holy Spirit, his true vicar, his invisible self, present in the body of
believers. How artlessly and naturally this comes out in the findings of
the first council at Jerusalem: "It seemed good _to the Holy Ghost and to
us_" runs the record; as though it had been said: "Peter and James and
Barnabas and Saul and the rest were present, and also just as truly was
the Holy Ghost."
And when the first capital sin was committed in the church, in the
conspiracy and falsehood {23} of Ananias and Sapphira, Peter's question
is: "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?" "How
is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Holy Ghost?" Not only is
the personal presence of the Spirit in the body of believers thus
distinctly recognized, but he is there in authority and supremacy, as the
center of the assembly. "Incarnated in the church!" do we say? We get
this conception by comparing together the inspired characterizations of
Christ and of the church. "This temple" was the name which he gave to
his own divine person, greatly to the scandal and indignation of the
Jews; and the evangelist explains to us that "he spoke of the temple of
his body." A metaphor, a type! do we say? No! He said so because it
was so. "The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld
his glory" (John 1: 14). This is temple imagery. "Tabernacled"
(_eschênôsen_) is the word used in Scripture for the dwelling of God with
men; and the temple is God's dwelling-place. The "glory" harmonizes with
the same idea. As the Shechinah cloud rested above the mercy-seat, the
symbol and sign of God's presence, so from the Holy of Holies of our
blessed Lord's heart did the glory of God shine forth, "the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth," certifying him
to be the veritable temple of the Most High.
After his ascension and the sending down of the {24} Spirit, the church
takes the name her Lord had borne before; she is the temple of God, and
the only temple which he has on earth during the present dispensation.
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you?" asks the apostle. This he speaks to the church in its
corporate capacity. "A holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are
_builded together_ for a habitation of God through the Spirit," is the
sublime description in the Epistle to the Ephesians. It is enough that
we now emphasize the fact that the same language is here applied to the
church which Christ applies to himself. As with the Head, so with the
mystical body; each is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and thus is God in
some sense incarnated in both; and for the same reason. Christ was "the
Image of the Invisible God"; and when he stood before men in the flesh he
could say to them, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Not
otherwise than through the incarnation, so far as we know, could the
unknown God become known, and the unseen God become seen. So, after
Christ had returned to the Father, and the world saw him no more, he sent
the Paraclete to be incarnated in his mystical body, the church. As the
Father revealed himself through the Son, so the Son by the Holy Spirit
now reveals himself through the church; as Christ was the image of the
invisible God, so the church is appointed to be {25} the image of the
invisible Christ; and his members, when they are glorified with him,
shall be the express image of his person.
This then is the mystery and the glory of this dispensation; not less
true because mysterious; not less practical because glorious. In an
admirable work on the Spirit, the distinction between the former and the
present relation of the Spirit is thus stated: "In the old dispensation
the Holy Spirit wrought _upon_ believers, but did not in his person dwell
in believers and abide permanently in them. He appeared unto men; he did
not incarnate himself in man. His action was intermittent; he went and
came like the dove which Noah sent forth from the ark, and which went to
and fro, finding no rest; while in the new dispensation he dwells, he
abides in the heart as the dove, his emblem, which John saw descending
and alighting on the head of Jesus. Affianced of the soul, the Spirit
went oft to see his betrothed, but was not yet one with her; the marriage
was not consummated until the Pentecost, after the glorification of Jesus
Christ."[1]
3. A still more obvious reason why before the day of Pentecost it could
be said that "the Holy Ghost was not yet," is contained in the words,
"_Because that Jesus was not yet glorified_." In the order of the
unfolding ages we see each of the persons of the Godhead in turn
exercising an earthly {26} ministry and dealing with man in the work of
redemption. Under the law, God the Father comes down to earth and speaks
to men from the cloud of Sinai and from the glory above the mercy-seat;
under grace, God the Son is in the world, teaching, suffering, dying, and
rising again; under the dispensation of election and out-gathering now
going on, the Holy Spirit is here carrying on the work of renewing and
sanctifying the church, which is the body of Christ. There is a
necessary succession in these Divine ministries, both in time and in
character. In the days of Moses it might have been said: "Christ is not
yet," because the economy of God-Jehovah was not completed. The law must
first be given, with its sacrifices and types and ceremonies and shadows;
man must be put on trial under the law, till the appointed time of his
schooling should be completed. _Then_ must Christ come to fulfill all
types and terminate all sacrifices in himself; to do for us "what the law
could not do in that it was weak through the flesh," and to become "the
end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." When in
turn Christ had completed his redemption-work by dying on the cross for
our sins, and rising again from the dead for our justification, and had
taken his place at God's right hand for perpetual intercession, _then_
the Holy Ghost came down to communicate and realize to the church the
finished work of Christ. {27} In a word, as God the Son fulfills to men
the work of God the Father, so God the Holy Ghost realizes to human
hearts the work of God the Son.
There is a holy deference, if we may so say, between the Persons of the
Trinity in regard to their respective ministries. When Christ was in
office on earth, the Father commends us to him, speaking from heaven and
saying: "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him"; when the Holy Ghost had
entered upon his earthly office, Christ commends us to him, speaking
again from heaven with sevenfold reiteration, saying: "He that hath an
ear, let him hear what _the Spirit_ saith unto the churches."[2] As each
Person refers us to the teaching of the other, so in like manner does
each in turn consummate the ministry of the other. Christ's words and
works were not his own, but his Father's: "The words which I speak unto
you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me he doeth
the works."[3] The Spirit's teaching and communications are not his own,
but Christ's: "Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide
you into all truth; _for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he
shall hear that shall he speak_; and he will show you things to come."
"_He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine and show it unto
you._"
This order in the ministries of the Persons of {28} the Godhead is so
fixed and eternal that we find it distinctly foreshadowed even in the
typical teaching of the Old Testament. Many speak slightingly of the
types, but they are as accurate as mathematics; they fix the sequence of
events in redemption as rigidly as the order of sunrise and noontide is
fixed in the heavens. Nowhere in tabernacle or in temple, shall we ever
find the laver placed before the altar. The altar is Calvary and the
laver is Pentecost; one stands for the sacrificial blood, the other for
the sanctifying Spirit. If any high priest were ignorantly to approach
the brazen laver without first having come to the brazen altar, we might
expect a rebuking voice to be heard from heaven: "Not yet the washing of
water"; and such a saying would signify exactly the same as: "Not yet the
Holy Ghost."
Again, when the leper was to be cleansed, observe that the blood was to
be put upon the tip of his right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and
the great toe of his right foot; and then the oil was to be put upon the
right ear, the right thumb, and the right foot--_the oil upon the blood
of the trespass-offering_ (Lev. 14). Never, we venture to say, in all
the manifold repetitions of this divine ceremony, was this order once
inverted, so that the oil was first applied, and then the blood; which
means, interpreting type into antitype, that it was impossible that
Pentecost could have preceded Calvary, or {29} that the outpouring of the
Spirit should have anticipated the shedding of the blood.
Then let us reflect, that not only the order of these two great events of
redemption was fixed from the beginning, but their dates were marked in
the calendar of typical time. The slaying of the paschal lamb told to
generation after generation, though they knew it not, the day of the year
and week on which Christ our Passover should be sacrificed for us. The
presentation of the wave sheaf before the Lord, "_on the morrow after the
Sabbath_"[1] had for long centuries fixed the time of our Lord's
resurrection on the first day of the week. And the command to "count
from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf
of the wave offering, _seven Sabbaths_,"[4] determined the day of
Pentecost as the time of the descent of the Spirit. We sometimes think
of the disciples waiting for an indefinite period in that upper room for
the fulfillment of the promise of the Father; but the time had been fixed
not only with God in eternity, but in the calendar of the Hebrew ritual
upon earth. They tarried in prayer for ten days, simply because after
the forty days of the Lord's sojourn on earth subsequent to his
resurrection, ten days remained of the "seven Sabbaths" period.
To sum up what we are saying: The Spirit of God is the successor of the
Son of God in his {30} official ministry on earth. Until Christ's
earthly work for his church had been finished, the Spirit's work in this
world could not properly begin. The office of the Holy Ghost is to
communicate Christ to us--Christ in his entireness. However perfectly
the photographer's plate has been prepared, there can be no picture until
his subject steps into his place and stands before him. Our Saviour's
redemptive work was not completed when he died on the cross, or when he
rose from the dead, or even when he ascended from the brow of Olivet.
Not until he sat down in his Father's throne, summing up all his ministry
in himself,--"I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive
forevermore,"--did the full Christ stand ready to be communicated to his
church.[5] By the first Adam's sin, God's communion with man through the
Holy Ghost was broken, and their union ruptured. When the second Adam
came up from his cross and resurrection, and took his place at God's
right hand, there was a restoration of this broken fellowship. Very
beautiful are {31} the words of our risen Lord as bearing on this point:
"I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."[6] The
place which the divine Son had won for himself in the Father's heart, he
had won for us also. All of acceptance and standing and privilege which
was now his, was ours too, by redemptive right; and the Holy Ghost is
sent down to confirm and realize to us what he had won for us. Without
the expiatory work of Christ for us, the sanctifying work of the Spirit
in us were impossible; and on the other hand, without the work of the
Spirit within us, the work of Christ for us were without avail.
"_And when the day of Pentecost was fully come._" What these words mean
historically, typically, and doctrinally, we are now prepared to see.
The true wave sheaf had been presented in the temple on high. Christ the
first-fruits, brought from the grave on "the morrow after the Sabbath,"
or the first day of the week, now stands before God accepted on our
behalf; the seven Sabbaths from the resurrection day have been counted,
and Pentecost has come. Then suddenly, to those who were "all of one
accord in one place," "there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing
mighty wind, and it filled all {32} the house where they were sitting,
and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and sat
upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." As the
manger of Bethlehem was the cradle of the Son of God, so was the upper
room the cradle of the Spirit of God; as the advent of "the Holy Child"
was a testimony that God had "visited and redeemed his people," so was
the coming of the Holy Ghost. The fact that the Comforter is here, is
proof that the Advocate is there in the presence of the Father. Boldly
Peter and the other apostles now confront the rulers with their
testimony, "Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree . . . Him hath God exalted
with his right hand to be a prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to
Israel and forgiveness of sins; and we are his witnesses of these things;
_and so also is the Holy Ghost, whom God, hath given to them that obey
him_." As the sound of the golden bells upon the high priest's garments
within the Holiest gave evidence that he was alive, so the sound of the
Holy Ghost, proceeding from heaven and heard in that upper chamber, was
an incontestable witness that the great High Priest whom they had just
seen passing through the cloud-curtain, entering within the veil, was
still living for them in the presence of the Father. Thus has the "_dies
natalis_," the birthday of the Holy Spirit, come; and the events of his
earthly mission will now be considered in their order.
[1] "The Work of the Holy Spirit in Man," by Pastor Tophel, p. 32.
[2] See epistles to the seven churches: Rev 2: 11.
[3] John 14: 10.
[4] Lev. 23: 11-16.
[5] "Christ having reached his goal, and not till then, bequeathes to his
followers the graces that invested his earthly course; the ascending
Elijah leaves his mantle behind him. It is only an extension of the same
principle, that the declared office of the Holy Spirit being to complete
the image of Christ in every faithful follower by effecting in this world
a spiritual death and resurrection,--a point attested in every
epistle,--_the image could not be stamped until the reality had been
wholly accomplished; the Divine Artist could not fitly descend to make
the copy before the entire original had been provided_."--_Archer Butler_.
[6] John 20: 17. "Because though he and the Father are one, and the
Father his Father by the propriety of nature, to us God became a Father
through the Son, not by right of nature, but by grace."--_Ambrose_.
{33}
III
THE NAMING OF THE SPIRIT
{34}
"The name Paraclete is applied to Christ as well as to the Spirit; and
properly: For it is the common office of each to console and encourage
us and to preserve us by their defense. Christ was their [the
disciples'] patron so long as he lived in the world; he then committed
them to the guidance and protection of the Spirit. If any one asks us
whether we are not under the guidance of Christ, the answer is easy:
Christ is a perpetual guardian, but not visibly. As long as he walked
on the earth he appeared openly as their guardian: now he preserves us
by his Spirit. He calls the Spirit 'another Comforter,' in view of the
distinction which we observe in the blessings proceeding from
each."--_John Calvin_.
{35}
III
THE NAMING OF THE SPIRIT
The Son of God was named by the angel before he was conceived in the
womb: "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins." Thus he came, not to receive a name, but to fulfill
a name already predetermined for him. In like manner was the Holy
Ghost named by our Lord before his advent into the world: "But when the
Paraclete is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father" (John 15:
26). This designation of the Holy Spirit here occurs for the first
time--a new name for the new ministry upon which he is now about to
enter. The reader will find in almost any critical commentary
discussions of the meaning of the word, and of the question of its
right translation, whether by "Comforter," or "Advocate," or "Teacher,"
or "Helper." But the question cannot be fully settled by an appeal to
classical or patristic Greek, for the reason, we believe, that it is a
divinely given name whose real significance must be made manifest in
the actual life and history of the Spirit. The name is the person
himself, and only as we know the person can we interpret his name. Why
{36} attempt then to translate this word any more than we do the name
of Jesus? We might well transfer it into our English version, leaving
the history of the church from the Acts of the Apostles to the
experience of the latest saint to fill into it the great significance
which it was intended to contain. Certain it is that the language of
the Holy Ghost can never be fully understood by an appeal to the
lexicon. The heart of the church is the best dictionary of the Spirit.
While all the before-mentioned synonyms are correct, neither one is
adequate, nor are all together sufficient to bring out the full
significance of this great name, "The Paraclete."
Let us consider, however, how much is suggested by the literal meaning
of this word, "the _Paracletos_" and by all that our Lord says
concerning him in his last discourse. "To call to one's aid," is the
meaning of the verb, _parachaleô_, from which the name is derived.
Very beautiful therefore is the word in its application to the
disciples of Christ at the time when the Spirit was given. They had
lost the visible presence of their Lord. The sorrow of his removal
from them through the cross and the sepulchre had after three days been
turned into joy by his resurrection. But now another separation had
come, in his departure to the Father after the cloud had received him
out of sight. In this last and longer bereavement, what should they
do? Their beloved Master had told them beforehand {37} what to do.
They were to call upon the Father to send them One to fill the vacant
place, and he who should be sent would be the "Paraclete," the "one
called to their help."[1]
But what deep questionings must have arisen in their hearts as they
heard the Saviour's promise: "If I go not away the Paraclete will not
come unto you; but if I depart I will send him unto you." Did they
begin to ask whether the mysterious comer would be a "person"?
Impossible to imagine. For he was to take the place of that greatest
of persons; to do for them even greater things than he had done; and to
lead them into even larger knowledge than he had imparted. The
discussion of the personality of the Holy Ghost is so unnatural in the
light of Christ's last discourse that we studiously avoid it. Let us
treat the question, therefore, from the point of view of Christ's own
words, and try to put ourselves under the impression which they make
upon us. To state the matter as simply and familiarly as possible:
Jesus is about to vacate his office on earth as teacher and prophet;
but before doing so he would introduce us to his successor. As in a
complex problem we seek to determine an unknown quantity by the known,
so in this paschal discourse Jesus {38} aims to make us acquainted with
the mysterious, invisible coming personage whom he names the
"Paraclete" by comparing him with himself, the known and the visible
one. Collating his comparisons we may find in them several groups of
seeming contradictions, and just such contradictions as we should
expect if this comer is indeed a person of the Godhead. Of the coming
Paraclete then we find these intimations.[2]
1. He is another, yet the same: "And I will pray the Father and he
shall give you another Comforter" (John 14: 16). By the use of this
expression "another" our Lord distinguishes the Paraclete from himself,
but he also puts him on the same plane with himself. For there is no
parity or even comparison between a person and an influence. If the
promised visitor were to be only an impersonal emanation from God, it
would seem impossible that our Lord should have so co-ordinated him
with himself as to say: "I go to be an Advocate for you in heaven (1
John 2: 1), and I send another to be an Advocate for you on earth."
{39}
But if Christ thus distinguishes the Comforter from himself, he also
identifies him with himself: "I will not leave you orphans: _I will
come to you_" (John 14: 18). By common consent this promise refers to
the advent of the Spirit, for so the connection plainly indicates. And
yet almost in the same breath he says: "The Comforter whom I will send
unto you" (John 14: 26). Thus our Lord makes the same event to be at
once his coming and his sending; and he speaks of the Spirit now as his
own presence, and now as his substitute during his absence. So what
must we conclude but that the Paraclete is Christ's other self, a third
Person in that blessed Trinity of which he is the second.
2. The Paraclete is subordinate yet superior in his ministry to the
church. "For he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall
hear that shall he speak. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of
mine and show it unto you" (John 16: 13).
Well may we mark the holy deference between the persons of the Trinity
which is here pointed out. Each receives from another what he
communicates, and each magnifies another in his praises. As Bengel
concisely states it: "The Son glorifies the Father; the Spirit
glorifies the Son." What then is the office of the Holy Ghost, so far
as we can interpret it, but that of communicating and applying the work
of Christ to human hearts? If he convinces of sin it is by exhibiting
the {40} gracious redemptive work of the Saviour and showing men their
guilt in not believing on him. If he witnesses to the penitent of his
acceptance it is by testifying of the atoning blood of Jesus in which
that acceptance is grounded; if he regenerates and sanctifies the heart
it is by communicating to it the life of the risen Lord. Christ is
"all" in himself, and through the Spirit "in all" those whom the Spirit
renews. This reverent subjection of the earthly Comforter to the
heavenly Christ contains a deep lesson for those who are indwelt by the
Spirit[3] and makes them rejoice evermore to be witnesses rather than
originators.
With this subordination of the Holy Spirit to Christ, how is it yet
true that such a great advantage was to accrue to the church by the
departure of the Saviour and the consequent advent of the Spirit to
take his place? That it would be so is what is plainly affirmed in the
following text: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is expedient
for you that I go away: for if I go not away the Comforter will not
come unto you; but if I depart I will send him unto you" (John 16: 7).
If the Spirit is simply the measure of the Son, his sole work being to
communicate the work of the Son, what gain could there be in the
departure of the one in order to {41} the coming of the other? Would
it not be simply the exchange of Christ for Christ?--his visible
presence for his invisible?
To us the answer of this question is most obvious. It was not the
earthly Christ whom the Holy Ghost was to communicate to the church,
but the heavenly Christ,--the Christ re-invested with his eternal
power, re-clothed with the glory which he had with the Father before
the world was, and re-endowed with the infinite treasures of grace
which he had purchased by his death on the cross. It is as though--to
use a very inadequate illustration--a beloved father were to say to his
family: "My children, I have provided well for your needs; but your
condition is one of poverty compared with what it may become. By the
death of a kinsman in my native country I have become heir to an
immense estate. If you will only submit cheerfully to my leaving you
and crossing the sea, and entering into my inheritance, I will send you
back a thousand times more than you could have by my remaining with
you." Only in the instance we are considering, Christ is the
"testator" as well as the heir. By his death the inheritance becomes
available, and when he had ascended into heaven he sent down the Holy
Spirit to distribute the estate among those who were joint heirs with
him. What this estate is, may be best summarized in two beautiful
expressions of frequent recurrence in the {42} epistles of Paul, "The
riches of his grace" (Eph. 1: 7), and "The riches of his glory" (Eph.
3: 16). On the cross "the riches of his grace" was secured to us in
the forgiveness of sins; on the throne "the riches of his glory" was
secured to us in our being strengthened with all might by his Spirit in
the inner man; in the indwelling of Christ in our hearts by faith, and
in our infilling with all the fullness of God. The divine wealth only
becomes completely available on the death, resurrection, and ascension
of our Lord; so that the Holy Spirit, the divine Conveyancer, had not
the full inheritance to convey till Jesus was glorified.
Observe therefore, in the valedictory discourse of our Lord, the
frequent recurrence of the words: "_Because I go to the Father_," one
of the sayings which greatly perplexed his disciples. In the light of
all which Jesus says in this connection, let us see if its meaning may
not be clear to us. "If ye loved me ye would rejoice because I go unto
the Father; for the Father is greater than I" (John 14: 28), he says in
the same connection. We cannot here enter into the deep question of
the _kenosis_, or self-emptying of the Son of God in his incarnation.
It is enough that we follow the plain teaching of the Scripture, that
though "being in the form of God, he counted it not a thing to be
grasped to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking the
form of a servant" (Phil. 2: {43} 6, 7, R. V.). What now does his
going to the Father signify but a refilling with that of which he had
been emptied, or a resumption of his co-equality with God? The greater
blessing which he could confer upon his church by his departure seems
to lie in the fact of the greater power and glory into which he would
enter by his enthronement at God's right hand. As Luther pointedly
puts it: "Therefore do I go, he saith, where I shall be greater than I
now am, that is, to the Father, and it is better that I shall pass out
of this obscurity and weakness into the power and glory in which the
Father is." In the light of this interpretation the meaning of our
Lord's words above quoted does not seem difficult. The Paraclete was
to communicate Christ to his church,--his life, his power, his riches,
his glory. In his exaltation all these were to be very greatly
increased. "All things that the Father hath are mine" (John 16: 15),
he says. And though he had for a time voluntarily disinherited himself
of his heavenly possessions, he is now to be repossessed of them.
"Therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto
you" (16: 15). Christ at God's right hand will have more to give than
while on earth; therefore the church will have more to receive through
the Paraclete than through the visible Christ. What obvious
significance then do the following sayings from this farewell sermon of
Jesus have: "Verily {44} verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on
me the works that I do shall he do also; greater works than these shall
he do; _because I go unto the Father_" (John 14: 12). The earthly
Christ is equal only to himself thus conditioned; and if the Holy
Spirit shall communicate his power to his disciples, they will do the
same works that he does. But the heavenly Christ is co-equal with the
Father, therefore when he shall ascend to the Father, and the Spirit
shall take of his and communicate to his church, it will do greater
works than these. The stream of life, in other words, will have
greater power because of the higher source from which it proceeds.
Very deep are the mysteries here considered, and we can only speak of
them in the light which we get by comparing Scripture with Scripture.
Did the risen Christ breathe on his disciples and say to them: "Receive
ye the Holy Ghost"?[4] "It is enough, Lord, that we have received the
Spirit from thee," they might well have said. Yet it was not enough
for him to give; for looking on to the day of his enthronement, he
says: "But when the Paraclete is come, whom I will send unto you from
the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father,
he shall testify of me" (John 15: 26). When Jesus hath ascended "on
high," then can the {45} Holy Ghost communicate "the power from on
high." Therefore it is expedient that he go away.
As with the power which Christ was to impart to his church through the
Paraclete, so with the righteousness which he was both to impute and to
impart; its highest source must be found in heaven: "And when he, the
Comforter, is come, he will convince the world of righteousness; . . .
of righteousness _because I go to my father_, and ye see me no more"
(John 16: 8-10). We may say truly that the righteousness of Christ was
not completely finished and authenticated till he sat down at the right
hand of the majesty on high. By his death he perfectly satisfied the
claims of a violated law, but this fact was not attested until the
grave gave back the certificate of discharge in his released and risen
body. By his resurrection he was "declared to be the Son of God in
power, according to the Spirit of holiness" (Rom. 1: 4). But the fact
was not fully verified till God had "set him at his own right hand in
the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might,
and dominion, and every name that is named" (Eph. 1: 20, 2l). Now in
his consummated glory he is prepared to be "made wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" to his people. He
who had been "manifest in the flesh" that he might be made sin for us,
was now "justified in the Spirit" and "received up into glory," that he
might be made {46} righteousness to us, and that "we might be made the
righteousness of God in him." Christ's coronation, in a word, is the
indispensable condition to our justification. Till he who was made a
curse for us is crowned with glory and honor we cannot be assured of
our acceptance with the Father.[5] How deep the current of thought
which flows through this narrow channel--"Because I go to the Father."
3. The Paraclete teaches only the things of Christ; yet teaches more
than Christ taught: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come, he
will guide you into all the truth" (John 16: 12, 13). It is as though
he had said: "I have brought you a little way in the knowledge of my
doctrine; he shall bring you all the way." One reason for this saying
seems plain: The teaching of Jesus during his earthly ministry waited
to be illumined by a light not risen--the light of the cross, the light
of the sepulchre, the light of the ascension. Therefore until these
events had come to pass, Christian doctrine was undeveloped, and could
not be fully communicated to the disciples of Christ. But this is not
all. The "because I go to the Father" still gives the key to our
Lord's meaning. "But what things {47} soever he shall hear, these
shall he speak, and he shall declare unto you things to come" (John 16:
13, R. V.). Very wonderful is this hint of the mutual converse of the
Godhead, so that the Paraclete is described as listening while he
leads, as having an ear in heaven attentive to the converse of the
Father and the glorified Son, while he extends an unseen guidance to
the flock on earth, communicating to them what he has heard from the
Father and the Son. And we may reverently ask, Has not the glorified
Christ more of knowledge and revelation to communicate than he had in
the days of his humiliation? Of "the things to come" has he not
secrets to impart which hitherto may have been hidden in the counsels
of the Father? To take a single illustration from the words of Christ.
Speaking of his second advent, he says: "But of that day or that hour
knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the
Father" (Mark 13: 32[6]). It is best that we should interpret these
words frankly, and instead of saying, with some, that he did not know
in the sense that he was not permitted to disclose, admit it possible
that while in his humiliation and under the veil of his incarnation,
this secret was hidden from his eyes.
But is it not presumptuous for us to reason, that {48} therefore he
does not now know the day of his coming? How constantly is that text
quoted as a decisive and final prohibition of all inquiry into the
proximate time of our Lord's return in glory. But they who so use this
saying simply remand us to the childhood of the church, to the
spiritual nonage of the ante-Pentecostal days. Have we forgotten that
since our Lord ascended to the Father he has given us a further
revelation, that wondrous book of the Apocalypse, which opens and
closes with a beatitude upon those who read and faithfully keep the
words of this prophecy? And one characteristic feature of this book is
its chronological predictions concerning the time of the end, its
mystical dates, which have led many sober searchers of the word of God
to inquire diligently "what and what manner of time" the Spirit did
signify in giving us these way-marks in the wilderness. This being so,
we may ask: If we are not irreverent in concluding with many devout
expositors that our Saviour meant what he said in declaring that he did
"not yet" know the time of his advent, are we presumptuous in taking
literally the opening words of the Apocalypse?: "The Revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants the
things which must shortly come to pass." It was because of his going
unto the Father that greater works and greater riches were to attend
the church after Pentecost. Why may we not assign to the same {49}
cause also the fuller revelation of the future and the leading into
completer truth concerning the blessed hope of the church? In other
words, if we may think of Christ as entering into larger revelation as
he returns to the glory which he had with the Father must we not think
of larger communications of truth by the blessed Paraclete?
Have we not learned something of the nature and offices of the Spirit
by this study of his new name, and of all that the departing Lord says
in the wondrous discourse wherein he introduces him to his disciples?
At least the study should enable us to distinguish two inspired terms
which have been needlessly confounded by not a few writers, viz.: the
words "_Paraclete_," and "_Parousia_." The latter word, which
constantly occurs in Scripture as describing our Lord's second coming,
has been applied in several learned works to the advent of the Holy
Spirit; and since Christ came in the person of the Spirit, it has been
argued that the Redeemer's promised advent in glory has already taken
place. But this is to confuse terms whose use in Scripture marks them
as clearly distinct. Observe their difference: In the Paraclete,
Christ comes spiritually and invisibly; in the Parousia, he comes
bodily and gloriously. The advent of the Paraclete is really
conditioned on the Saviour's personal departure from his people: "If I
go not away the Paraclete will not come to you" (John 16: 7). {50} The
Parousia, on the other hand, is only realized in his personal return to
his people: "For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are
not even ye in the _presence_ of our Lord Jesus Christ _at his
coming_?" (1 Thess. 2: 19.) The Paraclete attends the church in the
days of her humiliation; the Parousia introduces the church into the
day of her glory. In the Paraclete, Christ came to dwell with the
church on earth: "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you"
(John 14: 18). In the Parousia, Christ comes to take the church to
dwell with himself in glory: "I will come again and receive you unto
myself; that where I am there ye may be also" (John 14: 3). Christ
prayed on behalf of his bereaved church for the coming of this
Paraclete: "And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another
Paraclete." The Holy Spirit now prays with the pilgrim-church for the
hastening of the Parousia. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come"
(Rev. 22: 17). These two can only be understood in their mutual
relations. Christ, who gave the new name to the Holy Spirit, can best
interpret that name to us by making us acquainted with himself. May
that name be for us so real a symbol of personal presence that while
strangers and pilgrims in the earth we may walk evermore "in the
_paraclesis_ of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 9:31).
[1] The word _paraklêtôr_ is used in the Septuagint (Job 16:2) with the
meaning of "_Comforter_," and the term _paraklêtos_ occurs in the
Talmud, signifying "_Interpreter_."
[2] The most obvious reason for concluding that the Holy Spirit is a
person is that he performs actions and stands in relations which belong
only to a person, e. g.: _He speaks_ (Acts 1: 16); _he works miracles_
(Acts 2: 4; 8: 39); _he sets ministers over churches_ (Acts 20: 28);
_he commands and forbids_ (Acts 8: 29; 11: 12; 13: 2; 16: 6, 7); _he
prays for us_ (Rom. 8: 26); _he witnesses_ (Rom. 8: 16); _he can be
grieved_ (Eph. 4: 30); _he can be blasphemed_ (Mark 3: 29); _he can be
resisted_ (Acts 7: 51, etc).
[3] If the Holy Spirit may not speak of himself as preacher, how canst
thou draw thy preaching out of thyself--out of thine head or even out
of thine heart.--_Pastor Gossner_.
[4] Let it be observed that in this communication of the risen Christ
it is not said, "Receive ye _the_ Holy Ghost"--the article being
significantly omitted--_Labete Pneuma agion_ (John 20: 22).
[5] How righteous must he be, who will go to the Father from the cross
and the grave! Thus will the Holy Spirit convince the world that he is
a righteous man, and truly righteous for man.--_Roos_.
[6] "Neither the Son": "It is more than _neither_; it is _not yet the
Son_," says Morrison the commentator.
{51}
IV
THE EMBODYING OF THE SPIRIT
{52}
"But now the Holy Ghost is given more perfectly, for he is no longer
present by his operation as of old, but is present with us so to speak,
and converses with us in a substantial manner. For it was fitting
that, as the Son had conversed with us in the body, the spirit should
also come among us in a bodily manner."--_Gregory Nazianzen_.
{53}
IV
THE EMBODYING OF THE SPIRIT
"The church, which is his body," began its history and development at
Pentecost. Believers had been saved, and the influences of the Spirit
had been manifested to men in all previous dispensations from Adam to
Christ. But now an _ecclesia_, an outgathering, was to be made to
constitute the mystical body of Christ, incorporated into him the Head
and indwelt by him through the Holy Ghost. The definition which we
sometimes hear, that a church is "a voluntary association of believers,
united together for the purposes of worship and edification" is most
inadequate, not to say incorrect. It is no more true than that hands
and feet and eyes and ears are voluntarily united in the human body for
the purposes of locomotion and work. The church is formed from within;
Christ present by the Holy Ghost, regenerating men by the sovereign
action of the Spirit, and organizing them into himself as the living
center. The Head and the body are therefore one, and predestined to
the same history of humiliation and glory. And as they are one in
fact, so are they one in name. He whom God anointed and filled with
the Holy Ghost {54} is called "the Christ," and the church, which is
his body and fullness, is also called "the Christ." "For as the body
is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body,
being many, are one body, _so also is the Christ_" (1 Cor. 12: 12).
Here plainly and with wondrous honor the church is named _o Christos_,
commenting upon which fact Bishop Andrews beautifully says: "Christ is
both in heaven and on earth; as he is called the Head of his church, he
is in heaven; but in respect of his body which is called Christ, he is
on earth."
So soon as the Holy Ghost was sent down from heaven this great work of
his embodying began, and it is to continue until the number of the
elect shall be accomplished, or unto the end of the present
dispensation. Christ, if we may say it reverently, became mystically a
babe again on the day of Pentecost, and the hundred and twenty were his
infantile body, as once more through the Holy Ghost he incarnated
himself in his flesh. Now he is growing and increasing in his members,
and so will he continue to do "till we all come in the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto
the measure of the stature of fullness of Christ." Then the Christ on
earth will be taken up into visible union with the Christ in heaven,
and the Head and the body be glorified together. Observe how the
history of the church's formation, as recorded in the Acts, harmonizes
with {55} the conception given above. The story of Pentecost
culminates in the words, "and the same day there were added about three
thousand souls" (Acts 2: 41). Added to whom? we naturally ask. And
the King James translators have answered our question by inserting in
italics "to them." But not so speaks the Holy Ghost. And when, a few
verses further on in the same chapter, we read: "And the Lord added to
the church daily such as should be saved," we need to be reminded that
the words "to the church" are spurious. All such glosses and
interpolations have only tended to mar the sublime teaching of this
first chapter of the Holy Spirit's history. "And believers were the
more added _to the Lord_" (Acts 5: 14.) "And much people were added
_unto the Lord_" (Acts 11: 24.) This is the language of
inspiration--Not the mutual union of believers, but their divine
co-uniting with Christ; not voluntary association of Christians, but
their sovereign incorporation into the Head and this incorporation
effected by the Head through the Holy Ghost.
If we ask concerning the way of admission into this divine _ecclesia_,
the teaching of Scripture is explicit: "For in one Spirit were we all
baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12: 13). The baptism in water marks
the formal introduction of the believer into the church; but this is
the symbol, not the substance. For observe the identity of form
between the ritual {56} and the spiritual. "I indeed baptize you in
water," . . . said John, "but he that cometh after me . . . shall
baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire" (Matt. 3: 11). As in the
one instance the disciple was submerged in the element of water, so in
the other he was to be submerged in the element of the Spirit. And
thus it was in actual historic fact. The upper room became the
Spirit's baptistery, if we may use the figure. His presence "filled
all the house where they were sitting," and "they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost." The baptistery would never need to be re-filled, for
Pentecost was once and for all, and the Spirit then came to abide in
the church perpetually. But each believer throughout the age would
need to be infilled with that Spirit which dwells in the body of
Christ. In other words, it seems clear that the baptism of the Spirit
was given once for the whole church, extending from Pentecost to
Parousia. "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph. 4: 5). As
there is one body reaching through the entire dispensation, so there is
"one baptism" for that body given on the day of Pentecost. Thus if we
rightly understand the meaning of Scripture it is true, both as to time
and as to fact, that "in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free."
The typical foreshadowing, as seen in the church in the wilderness, is
very suggestive at this point: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye
should be {57} ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud
and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the
cloud and in the sea" (1 Cor. 10: 1). Baptized _into_ Moses by their
passage through the sea, identified with him as their leader, and
committed to him in corporate fellowship; even so were they also
baptized into Jehovah, who in the cloud of glory now took his place in
the midst of the camp and tabernacled henceforth with them. The type
is perfect as all inspired types are. The antitype first appears in
Christ our Lord, baptized in water at the Jordan, and then baptized in
the Holy Ghost which "descended from heaven like a dove and abode upon
him." Then it recurred again in the waiting disciples, who besides the
baptism of water, which had doubtless already been received, now were
baptized "in the Holy Ghost and in fire." Henceforth they were in the
divine element, as their fathers had been in the wilderness, "not in
the flesh but _in the Spirit_" (Rom. 8: 9); called "to live according
to God _in the Spirit_" (1 Peter 4: 6); to "walk _in the Spirit_" (Gal.
5: 25); "praying always with all prayer and supplication _in the
Spirit_" (Eph. 6: 18). In a word, on the day of Pentecost the entire
body of Christ was baptized into the element and presence of the Holy
Ghost as a permanent condition. And though one might object that the
body as a whole was not yet in existence, we reply that neither was the
complete church in {58} existence when Christ died on Calvary, yet all
believers are repeatedly said to have died with him.
To change the figure of baptism for a moment to another which is used
synonymously, that of the anointing of the Spirit, we have in Exodus a
beautiful typical illustration of our thought. At Aaron's consecration
the precious ointment was not only poured upon his head, but ran down
in rich profusion upon his body and upon his priestly garments. This
fact is taken up by the psalmist when he sings: "Behold how good and
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the
precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even
Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments" (Ps. 133:
1, 2). Of our great High Priest we read: "How God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power" (Acts 10: 38). But it was
not for himself alone but also for his brethren that he obtained this
holy unction. He received that he might communicate. "Upon whom thou
shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he
that baptizeth in the Holy Ghost" (John 1: 33). And now we behold our
Aaron, our great High Priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, standing in the holiest in heaven. "Thou didst love
righteousness and didst hate iniquity," is the divine encomium now
passed upon him, "therefore God, thy God, anointed thee with the oil of
gladness {59} above thy fellows" (Heb. 1: 9). He, the _Christos_, the
Anointed, stands above and for the _Christoi_, his anointed brethren,
and from him the Head, the unction of the Holy Ghost descended on the
day of Pentecost. It was poured in rich profusion upon his mystical
body. It has been flowing down ever since, and will continue to do so
till the last member shall have been incorporated with himself, and so
anointed by the one Spirit into the one body, which is the church.
It is true that in one instance subsequent to Pentecost the baptism in
the Holy Ghost is spoken of. When the Spirit fell on the house of
Cornelius, Peter is reminded of the word of the Lord, how that he said:
"John indeed baptized in water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy
Ghost" (Acts 11: 16). This was a great crisis in the history of the
church, the opening of the door of faith to the Gentiles, and it would
seem that these new subjects of grace now came into participation of an
already present Spirit. Yet Pentecost still appears to have been the
age-baptism of the church. As Calvary was once for all, so was the
visitation of the upper room.
Consider now that, as through the Holy Ghost we become incorporated
into the body of Christ, we are in the same way assimilated to the Head
of that body, which is Christ. An unsanctified church dishonors the
Lord, especially by its incongruity. A noble head, lofty-browed and
intellectual, upon a {60} deformed and stunted body, is a pitiable
sight. What, to the angels and principalities who gaze evermore upon
the face of Jesus, must be the sight of an unholy and misshapen church
on earth, standing in that place of honor called "his body."
Photographing in a sentence the _ecclesia_ of the earliest centuries,
Professor Harnack says: "_Originally the church was the heavenly bride
of Christ, and the abiding place of the Holy Spirit_." Let the reader
consider how much is involved in this definition. The first and most
sacred relation of the body is to the head. Watching for the return of
the Bridegroom induces holiness of life and conduct in the bride; and
the supreme work of the Spirit is directed to this end, that "He may
establish our hearts unblamable in holiness before God our Father, at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints" (1 Thess. 3:
13). In accomplishing this end he effects all other and subordinate
ends. The glorified Christ manifests himself to man through his body.
If there is a perfect correspondence between himself and his members,
then there will be a true manifestation of himself to the world.[1]
Therefore does the Spirit abide in the body, that the body may be
"inChristed," to {61} use an old phrase of the mystics; that is,
indwelt by Christ and transfigured into the likeness of Christ. Only
thus, as "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people," can it "shew forth the virtues of him who has called
us out of darkness into his marvelous light." And who is the Christ
that is thus to be manifested? From the throne he gives us his name:
"I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore"
(Rev. 1: 18). Christ in glory is not simply what he is, but what he
was and what he is to be. As a tree gathers up into itself all the
growths of former years, and contains them in its trunk, so Jesus on
the throne is all that he was and is and is to be. In other words, his
death is a perpetual fact as well as his life.
And his church is predestined to be like him in this respect, since it
not only heads up in him, as saith the apostle, that ye "may grow up
into him in all things which is the Head, even Christ," but also bodies
itself forth from him, "from whom the whole body, fitly joined together
and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, . . . maketh
increase of the body" . . . (Eph. 4: 16). If the church will literally
manifest Christ, then she must be both a living and a dying church. To
this she is committed in the divinely given form of her baptism. "Know
ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into his {62} death; therefore we were buried with him by
baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life" (Rom. 6: 3, 4). And the baptism of the Holy Ghost into which we
have been brought is designed to accomplish inwardly and spiritually
what the baptism of water foreshadows outwardly and typically, viz., to
reproduce in us the living and the dying of our Lord.
First, the living. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8: 2). That is,
that which has been hitherto the actuating principle within us, viz.,
sin and death, is now to be met and mastered by another principle, the
law of life, of which the Holy Spirit of God is the author and
sustainer. As by our natural spirit we are connected with the first
Adam, and made partakers of his fallen nature, so by the Holy Spirit we
are now united with the second Adam, and made partakers of his
glorified nature. To vivify the body of Christ by maintaining its
identity with the risen Head is, in a word, the unceasing work of the
Holy Ghost.
Secondly, the dying of our Lord in his members is to be constantly
effected by the indwelling Spirit. The church, which is the fullness
of him that "filleth all in all," completes in the world his {63}
crucifixion as well as his resurrection. This is certainly Paul's
profound thought, when he speaks of filling up "that which is behind of
the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is
the church" (Col. 1: 24). In other words, the church, as the
complement of her Lord, must have a life experience and a death
experience running parallel.
It is remarkable how exact is this figure of the body, which is
employed to symbolize the church. In the human system life and death
are constantly working together. A certain amount of tissue must die
every day and be cast out and buried, and a certain amount of new
tissue must also be created and nourished daily in the same body.
Arrest the death-process, and it is just as certain to produce disorder
as though you were to arrest the life-process. Literally is this true
of the corporate body also. The church must die daily in fulfillment
of the crucified life of her Head, as well as live daily in the
manifestation of his glorified life. This italicised sentence, which
we take from a recent book, is worthy to be made a golden text for
Christians: "_The Church is Christian no more than as it is the organ
of the continuous passion of Christ_." To sympathize, in the literal
sense of suffering with our sinning and lost humanity, is not only the
duty of the church, but the absolutely essential condition to her true
manifestation of her Lord. A {64} self-indulgent church disfigures
Christ; an avaricious church bears false witness against Christ; a
worldly church betrays Christ, and gives him over once more to be
mocked and reviled by his enemies.
The resurrection of our Lord is prolonged in his body, as we all see
plainly. Every regeneration is a pulse-beat of his throne-life. But
too little do we recognize the fact that his crucifixion must be
prolonged side by side with his resurrection. "If any man will come
after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow
me." The church is called to live a glorified life in communion with
her Head, and a crucified life in her contact with the world. And the
Holy Spirit dwells evermore in the church to effect this twofold
manifestation of Christ. "But God be thanked, that ye have obeyed from
the heart that pattern of doctrine to which ye were delivered," writes
the apostle (Rom. 6: 17). The pattern, as the context shows, is Christ
dead and risen. If the church truly lives in the Spirit, he will keep
her so plastic that she will obey this divine mold as the metal
conforms to the die in which it is struck. If she yields to the sway
of "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience," she
will be stereotyped according to the fashion of the world, and they
that look upon her will fail to see Christ in her.
[1] "The Holy Spirit not only dwells in the church as his habitation,
but also uses her as the living organism whereby he moves and walks
forth in the world, and speaks to the world and acts upon the world.
He is the soul of the church which is Christ's body."--_Bishop Webb,
The Presence and Office of the Spirit_, p. 47.
{65}
V
THE ENDUEMENT OF THE SPIRIT
{66}
"To the disciples, the baptism of the Spirit was very distinctly not
his first bestowal for regeneration, but the definite communication of
his presence in power of their glorified Lord. Just as there was a
two-fold operation of the one Spirit in the Old and New Testaments, of
which the state of the disciples before and after Pentecost was the
striking illustration, so there may be, and in the great majority of
Christians is, a corresponding difference of experience. . . When once
the distinct recognition of what the indwelling of the Spirit was meant
to bring is brought home to the soul, and it is ready to give up all to
be made partaker of it, the believer may ask and expect what may be
termed a baptism of the Spirit. Praying to the Father in accordance to
the two prayers in Ephesians, and coming to Jesus in the renewed
surrender of faith and obedience, he may receive such an inflow of the
Holy Spirit as shall consciously lift him to a different level from the
one on which he has hitherto lived."--_Rev. Andrew Murray_.
{67}
V
THE ENDUEMENT OF THE SPIRIT
We have maintained in the previous chapter that the baptism in the Holy
Ghost was given once for all on the day of Pentecost, when the
Paraclete came in person to make his abode in the church. It does not
follow therefore that every believer has received this baptism. God's
gift is one thing; our appropriation of that gift is quite another
thing. Our relation to the second and to the third persons of the
Godhead is exactly parallel in this respect. "God so loved the world
that he _gave_ his only begotten Son" (John 3: 16). "But as many as
_received him_ to them gave he the right to become the children of God,
even to them that believe on his name" (John 1: 12). Here are the two
sides of salvation, the divine and the human, which are absolutely
co-essential.
There is a doctrine somewhat in vogue, not inappropriately denominated
redemption by incarnation, which maintains that since God gave his Son
to the world, all the world has the Son, consciously or unconsciously,
and that therefore all the world will be saved. It need not be said
that a true evangelical teaching must reject this theory as utterly
{68} untenable, since it ignores the necessity of individual faith in
Christ. But some orthodox writers have urged an almost identical view
with respect to the Holy Ghost. They have contended that the enduement
of the Spirit is "not any special or more advanced experience, but
simply the condition of every one who is a child of God"; that
"believers converted after Pentecost, and living in other localities,
are just as really endowed with the indwelling Spirit as those who
actually partook of the Pentecostal blessing at Jerusalem."[1]
On the contrary, it seems clear from the Scriptures that it is still
the duty and privilege of believers to receive the Holy Spirit by a
conscious, definite act of appropriating faith, just as they received
Jesus Christ. We base this conclusion on several grounds. Presumably
if the Paraclete is a person, coming down at a certain definite time to
make his abode in the church, for guiding, teaching, and sanctifying
the body of Christ, there is the same reason for our accepting him for
his special ministry as for accepting the Lord Jesus for his special
ministry. To say that in receiving Christ we necessarily received in
the same act the gift of the Spirit, seems to confound what the
Scriptures make distinct.[2] For it is as sinners that we accept {69}
Christ for our justification, but it is as sons that we accept the
Spirit for our sanctification: "And because ye are sons, God hath sent
forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father"
(Gal. 4: 6). Thus, when Peter preached his first sermon to the
multitude after the Spirit had been given, he said: "Repent and be
baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
(Acts 2: 38).
This passage shows that logically and chronologically the gift of the
Spirit is subsequent to repentance. Whether it follows as a necessary
and inseparable consequence, as might seem, we shall consider later.
Suffice that this point is clear, so clear that one of the most
conservative as well as ablest writers on this subject, in commenting
on this text in Acts, says: "Therefore it is evident that the reception
of the Holy Ghost, as here spoken of, has nothing whatever to do with
bringing men to believe and repent. It is a subsequent operation; it
is an additional and {70} separate blessing; it is a privilege founded
on faith already actively working in the heart. . . I do not mean to
deny that the gift of the Holy Ghost may be practically on the same
occasion, but never in the same moment. The reason is quite simple
too. The gift of the Holy Ghost _is grounded on the fact that we are
sons by faith in Christ, believers resting on redemption in him_.
Plainly, therefore, it appears that the Spirit of God has already
regenerated us."[3]
Now, as we examine the Scriptures on this point, we shall see that we
are required to appropriate the Spirit as sons, in the same way that we
appropriated Christ as sinners. "As many as received him, even to them
that believe on his name," is the condition of becoming sons, as we
have already seen, receiving and believing being used as equivalent
terms. In a kind of foretaste of Pentecost, the risen Christ, standing
in the midst of his disciples, "breathed on them and said, Receive ye
the Holy Ghost." The verb is not passive, as our English version might
lead us to suppose, but has here as generally an active signification,
just as in the familiar passage in Revelation: "Whosoever will, let him
_take_ the water of life freely." Twice in the Epistle to the
Galatians the possession of the Holy Ghost is put on the same grounds
of active {71} appropriation through faith: "Received ye the Spirit by
the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?" (3: 2). "That ye
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (3: 14). These
texts seem to imply that just as there is a "faith toward our Lord
Jesus Christ" for salvation, there is a faith toward the Holy Ghost for
power and consecration.
If we turn from New Testament teaching to New Testament example we are
strongly confirmed in this impression. We begin with that striking
incident in the nineteenth chapter of Acts. Paul, having found certain
disciples at Ephesus, said unto them: "Did ye receive the Holy Ghost
when ye believed? And they said unto him, Nay; we did not so much as
hear whether there is a Holy Ghost." This passage seems decisive as
showing that one may be a disciple without having entered into
possession of the Spirit as God's gift to believers. Some admit this,
who yet deny any possible application of the incident to our own times,
alleging that it is the miraculous gifts of the Spirit which are here
under consideration, since, after recording that when Paul had laid his
hands upon them and "the Holy Ghost came upon them," it is added that
"they spake with tongues and prophesied." All that need be said upon
this point is simply that these Ephesian disciples, by the reception of
the Spirit, came into the same condition with the upper-room disciples
who {72} received him some twenty years before, and of whom it is
written that "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to
speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." In other
words, these Ephesian disciples on receiving the Holy Ghost exhibited
the traits of the Spirit common to the other disciples of the apostolic
age.
Whether those traits--the speaking of tongues and the working of
miracles--were intended to be perpetual or not we do not here discuss.
But that the presence of the personal Holy Spirit in the church was
intended to be perpetual there can be no question. And whatsoever
relations believers held to that Spirit in the beginning they have a
right to claim to-day. We must withhold our consent from the
inconsistent exegesis which would make the water baptism of the
apostolic times still rigidly binding, but would relegate the baptism
in the Spirit to a bygone dispensation. We hold indeed, that Pentecost
was once for all, but equally that the appropriation of the Spirit by
believers is always for all, and that the shutting up of certain great
blessings of the Holy Ghost within that ideal realm called "the
apostolic age," however convenient it may be as an escape from fancied
difficulties, may be the means of robbing believers of some of their
most precious covenant rights.[4] Let us {73} transfer this incident
of the Ephesian Christians to our own times. We need not bring forward
an imaginary case, for by the testimony of many experienced witnesses
the same condition is constantly encountered. Not only individual
Christians, but whole communities of disciples are found who have been
so imperfectly instructed that they have never known that there is a
Holy Spirit, except as an influence, an impersonal something to be
vaguely recognized. Of the Holy Ghost as a Divine Person, dwelling in
the church, to be honored and invoked and obeyed and implicitly
trusted, they know nothing. Is it conceivable that there could be any
deep spiritual life or any real sanctified energy for service in a
community like this? And what should a well-instructed teacher or
evangelist do, on discovering a church or an individual Christian in
such a condition? Let us turn to another passage of the Acts for an
answer: "Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that
Samaria had received the word of God they sent unto them Peter and
John, who when they were come down prayed for them that they might
receive the Holy Ghost; for as yet he had fallen upon none of them;
only they were baptized in the name {74} of the Lord Jesus. Then laid
they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost" (Acts 8:
14-17).
Here were believers who had been baptized in water. But this was not
enough. The baptism in the Spirit, already bestowed at Pentecost, must
be appropriated. Hear the prayer of the apostles "that they might
receive the Holy Ghost." Such prayer we deem eminently proper for
those who today may be ignorant of the Comforter. And yet such prayer
should be followed by an act of believing acceptance on the part of the
willing disciple: "O Holy Spirit, I yield to thee now in humble
surrender. I receive thee as my Teacher, my Comforter, my Sanctifier,
and my Guide." Do not testimonies abound on every hand of new lives
resulting from such an act of consecration as this, lives full of peace
and power and victory among those who before had received the
forgiveness of sins but not the enduement of power?
We conceive that the great end for which the enduement of the Spirit is
bestowed is our qualification for the highest and most effective
service in the church of Christ. Other effects will certainly attend
the blessing, a fixed assurance of our acceptance in Christ, and a holy
separateness from the world; but these results will be conducive to the
greatest and supreme end, our consecrated usefulness.
{75}
Let us observe that Christ, who is our example in this as in all
things, did not enter upon his ministry till he had received the Holy
Ghost. Not only so, but we see that all his service from his baptism
to his ascension was wrought in the Spirit. Ask concerning his
miracles, and we hear him saying: "I by the Spirit of God cast out
devils" (Matt. 12: 28). Ask concerning that decease which he
accomplished at Jerusalem, and we read "that he through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot unto God" (Heb. 9: 14). Ask
concerning the giving of the great commission, and we read that he was
received up "after that he through the Holy Ghost had given
commandments unto the apostles" (Acts 1: 2). Thus, though he was the
Son of God, he acted ever in supreme reliance upon him who has been
called the "Executive of the Godhead."
Plainly we see how Christ was our pattern and exemplar in his relation
to the Holy Spirit. He had been begotten of the Holy Ghost in the womb
of the virgin, and had lived that holy and obedient life which this
divine nativity would imply. But when he would enter upon his public
ministry, he waited for the Spirit to come upon him, as he had hitherto
been in him. For this anointing we find him praying: "Jesus also being
baptized and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost
descended in a bodily shape like a {76} dove upon him" (Luke 3: 22).
Had he any "promise of the Father" to plead, as he now asked the
anointing of the Spirit, if as we may believe this was the subject of
his prayer? Yes; it had been written in the prophets concerning the
rod out of the stem of Jesse: "And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest
upon him; the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel
and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord" (Isa.
11: 2). "The promise of the seven-fold Spirit," the Jewish
commentators call it. Certainly it was literally fulfilled upon the
Son of God at the Jordan, when God gave him the Spirit without measure.
For he who was now baptized was in turn to be baptizer. "Upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is
he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost" (John 1: 33). "I indeed
baptize you in water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I . . . he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in
fire" (Matt. 3: 11, R. V.). And now being at the right hand exalted,
and having "the seven spirits of God" (Rev. 3: 3), the fullness of the
Holy Ghost, he will shed forth his power upon those who pray for it,
even as the Father shed it forth upon himself.
Let us observe now the symbols and descriptions of the enduement of the
Spirit which are applied equally to Christ and to the disciples of
Christ.
{77}
1. _The Sealing of the Spirit_. We hear Jesus saying to the multitude
that sought him for the loaves and fishes, "Labor not for the meat
which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto eternal life,
which the Son of man shall give unto you, _for him hath God the Father
sealed_" (John 6: 27). This sealing must evidently refer back to his
reception of the Spirit at the Jordan. One of the most instructive
writers on the Hebrew worship and ritual tells us that it was the
custom for the priest to whom the service pertained, having selected a
lamb from the flock, to inspect it with the most minute scrutiny, in
order to discover if it was without physical defect, and then to seal
it with the temple seal, thus certifying that it was fit for sacrifice
and for food. Behold the Lamb of God presenting himself for inspection
at the Jordan! Under the Father's omniscient scrutiny he is found to
be "a lamb without blemish and without spot." From the opening heaven
God gives witness to the fact in the words: "This is my beloved Son in
whom I am well pleased," and then he puts the Holy Ghost upon him, the
testimony to his sonship, the seal of his separation unto sacrifice and
service.
The disciple is as his Lord in this experience. "In whom having also
believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1: 13).
As always in the statements of Scripture, this {78} transaction is
represented as subsequent to faith. It is not conversion, but
something done upon a converted soul, a kind of crown of consecration
put upon his faith. Indeed the two events stand in marked contrast.
In conversion the believer receives the testimony of God and "sets his
seal to that God is true" (John 3: 33). In consecration God sets his
seal upon the believer that he is true. The last is God's "Amen" to
the Christian, verifying the Christian's "Amen" to God. "Now he, which
establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God; _who also
sealed us_ and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (2 Cor.
1: 21, 22).
If we ask to what we are committed and separated by this divine
transaction, we may learn by studying the church's monograph, if such
we may name what is brought out in a mysterious passage in one of the
pastoral epistles. In spite of the defection and unbelief of some, the
apostle says: "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having
this seal." Then he gives us the two inscriptions on the seal: "The
Lord knoweth them that are his"; and, "Let every one that nameth the
name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness" (2 Tim. 2: 19)--Ownership
and holiness. When we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit it is that
we may count ourselves henceforth and altogether Christ's. If any
shrink from this devotement, how can he {79} have the fullness of the
Spirit? God cannot put his signature upon what is not his. Hence, if
under the sway of a worldly spirit we withhold ourselves from God and
insist on self-ownership, we need not count it strange if God withholds
himself from us and denies us the seal of divine ownership. God is
very jealous of his divine signet. He graciously bestows it upon those
who are ready to devote themselves utterly and irrevocably to his
service, but he strenuously withholds it from those who, while
professing his name, are yet "serving divers lusts and pleasures."
There is a suggestive passage in the Gospel of John which, translated
so as to bring out the antitheses which it contains, reads thus: "Many
trusted in his name, beholding the signs which he did; but Jesus did
not trust himself to them" (John 2: 23, 24). Here is the great
essential to our having the seal of the Spirit. Can the Lord trust us?
Nay; the question is more serious. Can he trust himself to us? The
Holy Spirit, which is his signet ring, can he commit it to our use for
signing our prayers and for certifying ourselves, and his honor not be
compromised?
The other inscription on the seal is: "Let every one that nameth the
name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness."[5] The possession of
the Spirit {80} commits us irrevocably to separation from sin. For
what is holiness but an emanation of the Spirit of holiness who dwells
within us? A sanctified life is therefore the print or impression of
his seal: "He can never own us without his mark, the stamp of holiness.
The devil's stamp is none of God's badge. Our spiritual extraction
from him is but pretended unless we do things worthy of so illustrious
birth and becoming the honor of so great a Father." The great office
of the Spirit in the present economy is to communicate Christ to his
church which is his body. And what is so truly essential of Christ as
holiness? "In him is no sin; whosoever abideth in him sinneth not."
The body can only be sinless by uninterrupted communion with the Head;
the Head will not maintain communion with the body except it be holy.
The idea of ownership, just considered, comes out still further in the
words of the apostle: "And grieve not the Spirit of God in whom ye were
sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4: 30). The day of redemption
is at the advent of our Lord in glory, when he shall raise the dead and
translate the living. Now his own are in the world, but the world
knows them not. But he has put his mark and secret sign upon them, by
which he shall recognize them at his coming. In that great quickening,
at the Redeemer's advent, the Holy Spirit will be the seal by which the
saints will be recognized, {81} and the power through which they will
be drawn up to God. "If the Spirit that raised up Jesus dwell in you"
(Rom. 11: 9), is the great condition of final quickening. As the
magnet attracts the particles of iron and attaches them to itself by
first imparting its own magnetism to them, so Christ, having given his
Spirit to his own, will draw them to himself through the Spirit. We
are not questioning now that all who have eternal life dwelling in them
will share in the redemption of the body; we are simply entering into
the apostle's exhortation against grieving the Spirit. We must fear
lest we mar the seal by which we were stamped, lest we deface or
obscure the signature by which we are to be recognized in the day of
redemption.[6]
In a word the sealing is the Spirit himself, now received by faith and
resting upon the believer, with all the results in assurance, in joy,
and in {82} empowering for service, which must follow his unhindered
sway in the soul. Dr. John Owen, who has written more intelligently
and more exhaustively on this subject than any with whom we are
acquainted, thus sums up the subject: "If we can learn aright how
Christ was sealed, we shall learn how we are sealed. The sealing of
Christ by the Father is the communication of the Holy Spirit in
fullness to him, authorizing him unto and acting his divine power in
all the acts and duties of his office, so as to evidence the presence
of God with him and approbation of him. God's sealing of believers
then is his gracious communication of the Holy Spirit unto them so to
act his divine power in them as to enable them unto all the duties of
their holy calling, evidencing them to be accepted with him both for
themselves and others, and asserting their preservation unto eternal
life."[7]
2. _The Fullness of the Spirit_. Immediately upon his baptism we
read: "And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and
was led by the Spirit into the wilderness" (Luke 4: 1). The same
record is made concerning the upper-room, disciples, immediately after
the descent of the Spirit: "And they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit" (Acts 2: 4). What is here spoken of seems nothing different
from what in other Scriptures is {83} called the reception of the
Spirit. It is a transaction that may be repeated, and will be if we
are living in the Spirit. But it is clearly an experience belonging to
one who has already been converged. This comes out very plainly in the
life of Paul. If according to the opinion quoted in the early part of
this chapter, the reception of the Spirit is associated always and
inseparably with conversion, one will reasonably ask, why a conversion
so marked and so radical as that of the apostle to the Gentiles need be
followed by such an experience as that named in Acts 9: 17: "And
Ananias departed and entered into the house, and laying his hands on
him, said Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus who appeared unto thee in
the way which thou earnest, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy
sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost." We seem to have a clear
allusion here to that which so constantly appears in Scripture, both in
doctrine and in life, a divine something distinct from conversion and
subsequent to it, which we have called the reception of the Spirit.
"The enduement of power" we may well name it; for observe how
constantly throughout the book of Acts mighty works and mighty
utterances are connected with this qualification. "Then Peter, _filled
with the Holy Ghost_, said unto them" (Acts 4: 8), is the preface to
one of the apostle's most powerful sermons. "And they were _all filled
with the Holy Ghost_, and they spake the {84} word with boldness" (Acts
4: 31), is a similar record. And they chose Stephen, a man _full_ of
faith and _of the Holy Ghost_, the narrative runs, regarding the choice
of deacons in Acts 6: 5. "And he, being _full of the Holy Ghost_," is
the keynote to his great martyr-sermon. This infilling of the Spirit
marks a decisive and most important crisis in the Christian life,
judging from the story of the apostle's conversion, to which we have
just referred.
But, as we have intimated, we are far from maintaining that this is an
experience once for all, as the sealing seems to be. As the words
"regeneration" and "renewal" used in Scripture mark respectively the
impartation of the divine life as a perpetual possession and its
increase by repeated communications, so in our sealing there is a
reception of the Spirit once for all, which reception may be followed
by repeated fillings. It is reasonable to conclude this since our
capacity is ever increasing and our need constantly recurring,
according to the beautiful saying of Godet: "Man is a vessel destined
to receive God, a vessel which must be enlarged in proportion as it is
filled and filled in proportion as it is enlarged."
And yet we confess here to a degree of uncertainty as to the use of
terms, and as to whether the two now under consideration are identical.
We may well pause therefore and lift a prayer, that since "we have
received not the spirit of {85} the world but the Spirit which is of
God, that we might know the things which are freely given to us of
God," this blessed Revelator and Interpreter may not only reveal to us
our privilege and inheritance in the Holy Ghost, but teach us to name
and distinguish the terms by which it is conveyed.
While the fact of which we are speaking seems undoubted, the exposition
of it is far from being easy. Therefore we should attach no little
value to a consensus of opinion on this subject from those who have
thought most carefully and searched most prayerfully concerning it
This is our apology for the multiplied quotations which we are
introducing into this chapter, believing that the Holy Spirit is most
likely to interpret himself through those who most honor him in seeking
his guidance and illumination.
In a recent work upon this subject, in which careful scholarship and
spiritual insight seem to be well united, the author thus states his
conclusions: "It seems to me beyond question, as a matter of experience
both of Christians in the present day and of the early church, as
recorded by inspiration, that in addition to the gift of the Spirit
received at conversion, there is another blessing corresponding in its
signs and effects to the blessing received by the apostles at
Pentecost--a blessing to be asked for and expected by Christians still,
and to be described in language similar to that employed {86} in the
book of the Acts. Whatever that blessing may be, it is in immediate
connection with the Holy Ghost; and one of the terms by which we may
designate it is 'to be filled with the Spirit.' As with the early
Christians so with us now, the filling comes when there is special need
for it. . . And there is an occasion when that blessing comes to a man
for the first time. That first time is a spiritual crisis from which
his future spiritual life must be dated. There may be a question as to
what it is to be called, or at least by what name in Scripture we are
authorized to call it. . . Whether consciously or not, it is to the
fact of the Holy Spirit's coming in new power to the soul that all new
life is due; and the more that this is consciously understood the more
is the Holy Ghost in his due place in our hearts. It is only when he
is consciously accepted in all his power that we can be said to be
either 'baptized' or 'filled' with the Holy Ghost. I should like to
add that it is possible to maintain that God from the first offered to
his own people a higher position in this matter than they have
generally been able to occupy, in that the fullness of the Spirit was
and is offered to each soul at conversion; and that it is only from
want of faith that subsequent outpourings of the Holy Ghost become
needful."[8]
{87}
That the filling of the Spirit belongs to us as a covenant privilege
seems to be clear from the exhortation in the Epistle to the Ephesians,
which is confessedly of universal application: "Be not drunken with
wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5: 18).
The passive verb employed here is suggestive. The surrendered will,
the yielded body, the emptied heart, are the great requisites to his
incoming. And when he has come and filled the believer, the result is
a kind of passive activity, as of one wrought upon and controlled
rather than of one directing his own efforts. Under the influence of
strong drink there is an outpouring of all that the evil spirit
inspires--frivolity, profanity, and riotous conduct. "Be
God-intoxicated men," the apostle would seem to say; "let the Spirit of
God so control you that you shall pour yourself out in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs." If such divine enthusiasm has its perils, we
believe that they are less to be dreaded than that "moderatism" which
makes the servants of God satisfied with the letter of Scripture if
only that letter be skillfully and scientifically handled, rather than
giving the supreme place to the Spirit as the inspirer and motor of all
Christian service.
3. _The Anointing of the Spirit_. After the baptism and temptation we
find our Lord appropriating to himself the words of the prophet, as he
read them in the synagogue of Nazareth: {88} "The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the
poor" (Luke 4: 18). Twice in the Acts there is a reference to this
important event in similar terms: "Thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou
didst anoint" (Acts 4: 27, R. V.). "Jesus of Nazareth, how that God
anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power" (Acts 10: 38). And as
with the Lord so with his disciples: "Now he that establisheth us with
you in Christ, and anointed us, is God" (2 Cor. 1: 21, R. V.).
A student of the Scriptures need not be told how closely the ceremony
of anointing was related to all important offices and ministries of the
servants of Jehovah under the old covenant. The priest was anointed
that he might be holy unto the Lord (Lev. 8: 12). The king was
anointed that the Spirit of the Lord might rest upon him in power (1
Sam. 16: 15). The prophet was anointed that he might be the oracle of
God to the people (1 Kings 19: 16). No servant of Jehovah was deemed
qualified for his ministry without this holy sanctifying touch laid
upon him. Even in the cleansing of the leper this ceremony was not
wanting. The priest was required to dip his right finger in the oil
that was in his left hand and to put it upon the tip of the right ear,
upon the thumb of the right hand, and upon the great toe of the right
foot of him that was to be cleansed, the oil "_upon {89} the blood of
the trespass-offering_" (Lev. 14: 17). Thus with divine accuracy did
even the types foretell the two-fold provision for the Christian life,
cleansing by the blood and hallowing by the oil--justification in
Christ, sanctification in the Spirit.
If we ask now what this anointing is, the reply is obviously the Holy
Spirit himself. As before he was the seal attesting us, so now he is
the oil sanctifying us--the same gift described by different symbols.
And as it was the Aaron who had been the first anointed who was
qualified to anoint others, so with our great High Priest. It is he
within the veil who gives the Spirit unto his own, that he may qualify
them to be "an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
for God's own possession" (1 Peter 2: 9, R. V.). "But ye have an
anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things" (1 John 2: 20).
Christ in the New Testament is constantly called "the Holy One." And
because the Spirit was sent to communicate him to the people, they are
made partakers of his knowledge as well as of his holiness. If it
should be said that this unction of which John speaks is miraculous,
the divine illumination of evangelists and prophets who were
commissioned to be the vehicles of inspired Scripture, we must call
attention to other passages which connect the knowledge of God with the
Holy Ghost. "For who among men knoweth the things of a man save the
spirit of a man which {90} is in him; even so the things of God none
knoweth save the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2: 11, R. V.). The horse and
his rider may see the same magnificent piece of statuary in the park;
the one may be delighted with it as a work of human genius, but upon
the dull eye of the other it makes no impression, and for the reason
that it takes a human mind to appreciate the work of the human mind.
Likewise only the Spirit of God can know and make known the thoughts
and teachings and revelations of God. This seems to be the meaning of
John in his discourse concerning the divine unction: "But the anointing
which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any
man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things" (1
John 2: 27).
In nothing does the enduement of the Spirit more distinctly manifest
itself than in the fine discernment of revealed truth which it imparts.
As in service, the contrast between working in the power of the Spirit
and in the energy of the flesh is easily discernible, even more clearly
in knowledge and teaching is the contrast between the tuition of
learning and the intuition of the Spirit. While we should not
undervalue the former, it is striking to note how the Bible puts the
weightier emphasis on the latter; so that really the unspiritual hearer
is to be accounted less blameworthy for not discerning the truth than
the intellectual preacher is for {91} expecting him to do so. When,
for example, one attempts with the utmost learning to convince an
unbeliever of the deity of Christ and fails, the word of Scripture to
him is: "No man is able to say 'Lord Jesus' save in the Holy Ghost" (1
Cor. 12: 3).
The Spirit of Jesus can alone reveal to men the lordship of Jesus, and
this key of knowledge the Holy Ghost will never put into the hand of
any man however learned. As it is written that Christ is the "raying
forth" of the Father's glory, and "the express image of his person"
(Heb. 1: 3), thus by a beautiful figure reminding us that as we can
only see the sun in the rays of the sun, so we can only know God in
Jesus Christ, who is the manifestation of God. It is so likewise
between the second and third Persons of the Trinity. Christ is the
image of the invisible God; the Holy Ghost is the invisible image of
Christ. As Jesus manifested the Father outwardly, the Spirit manifests
Jesus inwardly, forming him within us as the hidden man of the heart,
imaging him to the spirit by an interior impression which no
intellectual instruction, however diligent, can effect.
In his profound discourse concerning the "unction" and accompanying
illumination, John was only expounding by the Spirit what Jesus had
said before his departure: "Howbeit, when he the Spirit of truth is
come, he will guide you into all {92} truth; he shall glorify me; for
he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you" (John 16: 13).
"The Spirit of truth"--How much instruction and suggestion is conveyed
by this term! As he is called "the Spirit of Christ," as revealing
Christ in his suffering and glory, so he is called "the Spirit of
truth," as manifesting the truth in all its depths and heights. As
impossible as it is that we should know the person of Christ without
the Spirit of Christ who reveals him, so impossible it is that we
should know the truth as it is in Jesus without the Spirit of truth who
is appointed to convey it. "The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot
receive" (John 14: 17)--We must come to Christ before the Spirit can
come to us. "The Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father"
(John 15: 26)--He can only teach us in intelligent sonship to cry
"Abba, Father." "The Spirit of truth . . . shall guide you into all
truth" (John 16: 13). Divine knowledge is all and altogether in his
power to communicate, and without his illumination it must be hidden
from our understanding.
Thus we have had the enduement of the Spirit presented to us under
three aspects--sealing, filling, and anointing--all of which terms, so
far as we can understand, signify the same thing--the gift of the Holy
Ghost appropriated through faith. Each of these terms is connected
with some special {93} Divine endowment--the seal with assurance and
consecration; the filling with power; and the anointing with knowledge.
All these gifts are wrapt up in the one gift in which they are
included, and without whom we are excluded from their possession.
While thus we conclude that it is a Christian's privilege and duty to
claim a distinct anointing of the Spirit to qualify him for his work,
we would be careful not to prescribe any stereotyped exercises through
which one must necessarily pass in order to possess it. It is easy to
cite cases of decisive, vivid, and clearly marked experience of the
Spirit's enduement, as in the lives of Dr. Finney, James Brainard
Taylor, and many others. And instead of discrediting these
experiences--so definite as to time and so distinct as to accompanying
credentials--we would ask the reader to study them, and observe the
remarkable effects which followed in the ministry of those who enjoyed
them. The lives of many of the co-laborers with Wesley and Whitefield
give a striking confirmation of the doctrine which we are defending.
Years of barren ministry, in which the gospel was preached with
orthodox correctness and literary finish, followed, after the Holy
Spirit had been recognized and appropriated, by evangelistic pastorates
of the most fervent type, such is the history of not a few of these
mighty men of God.
{94}
Let not this great subject be embarrassed by too minute theological
definitions on the one hand, nor by the too exacting demand for
striking spiritual exercises on the other, lest we put upon simple
souls a burden greater than they can bear. Nevertheless we cannot
emphasize too strongly the divine crisis in the soul which a full
reception of the Holy Ghost may bring. "My little children, of whom I
travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Gal. 4: 19),
writes the apostle to those who had already believed on the Son of God.
Whatever he may have meant in this fervent saying, we doubt not that
the deepest yearning of the Spirit is for the informing of Christ in
the heart, in order to that outward conformity to Christ which is the
supreme end of Christian nurture. If we conceive of the Christian life
as only a gradual growth in grace, is there not danger that we come to
regard this growth as both invisible and inevitable, and so take little
responsibility for its accomplishment? Let the believer receive the
Holy Ghost by a definite act of faith for his consecration, as he
received Christ by faith for his justification, and may he not be sure
that he is in a safe and scriptural way of acting? We know of no
plainer form of stating the matter than to speak of it as a simple
acceptance by faith, the faith which is
An affirmation and an act,
Which bids eternal truth be present fact.
{95}
It is a fact that Christ has made atonement for sin; in conversion
faith appropriates this fact in order to our justification. It is a
fact that the Holy Ghost has been given; in consecration faith
appropriates this fact for our sanctification. One who writes upon
this subject with a scholarship evidently illuminated by a deep
spiritual tuition, says: "If a reference to personal experience may be
permitted, I may indeed here 'set my seal.' Never shall I forget the
gain to conscious faith and peace which came to my own soul, not long
after a first decisive and appropriating view of the crucified Lord as
the sinner's sacrifice of peace, from a more intelligent and conscious
hold upon the living and most gracious personality of the Spirit
through whose mercy the soul had got that blessed view. It was a new
development of insight into the love of God. _It was a new contact as
it were with the inner and eternal movements of redeeming goodness and
power, a new discovery in divine resources._"[9]
Well is our doctrine described in these italicised words: "_A contact
with the inner movements of Divine power_." The energy of the Spirit
appropriated, even as with uplifted finger the electric car touches the
current which is moving just above it in the wire and is borne
irresistibly on by it.--Thus does the power which is eternally for us
become a power within us; the law of Sinai, with {96} its tables of
stone, is replaced by "the law of the Spirit of life" in the fleshly
tables of the heart; the outward commandment is exchanged for an inward
decalogue; hard duty by holy delight, that henceforth the Christian
life may be "all in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God."
[1] Rev. E. Boys, "Filled with the Spirit," p. 87.
[2] It is assumed by some that because those that walked with Christ of
old received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire at Pentecost, more
than eighteen hundred years ago, therefore all believers now have
received the same. As well might the apostles, when first called, have
concluded that because at his baptism the Spirit like a dove rested
upon Christ, therefore they had equally received the same blessing.
Surely the Spirit has been given and the work in Christ wrought for
all; but to enter into possession, to be enlightened and made partakers
of the Holy Ghost, there must be a personal application to the Lord,
etc.--_Andrew Jukes_, "_The New Man_."
[3] William Kelly, "Lectures on the New Testament Doctrine of the Holy
Spirit," p. 161.
[4] It is a great mistake into which some have fallen, to suppose that
the results of Pentecost were chiefly miraculous and temporary. The
effect of such a view is to keep spiritual influences out of sight; and
it will be well ever to hold fast the assurance that a wide, deep, and
perpetual spiritual blessing in the church is that which above all
things else was secured by the descent of the Spirit after Christ was
glorified.--_Dr. J. Elder Cumming_, "_Through the Eternal Spirit_."
[5] It will be observed that the inscription on the seal is
substantially the same as that upon the forehead of the High Priest,
[Hebrew characters]--HOLINESS TO THE LORD (Exod. 39: 30).
[Transcriber's note: I have not attempted to insert the transliterated
Hebrew characters in the above footnote. As best my research can tell
me, they are, from left to right, H (het, hei), V/O/U (vav), H (het,
hei), Y (yod, yud), L (lamed), a blank space, S/Sh (shin), D (dalet) or
R (resh, reish), and Q (qof/kuf).]
[6] The allusion to the seal as a pledge of purchase would be
peculiarly intelligible to the Ephesians, for Ephesus was a maritime
city, and an extensive trade in timber was carried on there by the
shipmasters of the neighboring ports. The method of purchase was this:
The merchant, after selecting his timber, stamped it with his own
signet, which was an acknowledged sign of ownership. He often did not
carry off his possession at the time; it was left in the harbor with
other floats of timber; but it was chosen, bought, and stamped; and in
due time the merchant sent a trusty agent with the signet, who finding
that timber which bore a corresponding impress, claimed and brought it
away for the master's use. Thus the Holy Spirit impresses on the soul
now the image of Jesus Christ; and this is the sure pledge of the
everlasting inheritance.--_E. H. Bickersteth, "The Spirit of Life," p.
176_.
[7] John Owen, D. D., "Discourse Concerning the Spirit," pp. 406, 407.
[8] "Through the Eternal Spirit," by James Elder Cumming, D.D., pp.
146, 147.
[9] "_Veni Creator Spiritus_," by Principal H. C. G. Moule, p. 13.
{97}
VI
THE COMMUNION OF THE SPIRIT
{98}
"In his intimate union with his Son, the Holy Spirit is the unique
organ by which God wills to communicate to man his own life, the
supernatural life, the divine life--that is to say, his holiness, his
power, his love, his felicity. To this end the Son works outwardly,
the Holy Spirit inwardly."--_Pastor G. F. Tophel_.
{99}
VI
THE COMMUNION OF THE SPIRIT
The familiar benediction which invokes upon us the "communion of the
Holy Ghost" has probably a deeper meaning in it than has generally been
recognized. The word "communion"--_choinônia_--signifies the having in
common. It is used of the fellowship of believers one with another,
and also of their mutual fellowship with God. The Holy Spirit dwelling
in us is the agent through whom this community of life and love is
effected and maintained. "And truly our fellowship," says John, "is
with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1: 3). But this
having in common with the first two persons of the Godhead were only
possible through the communion of the Holy Ghost, the third person. In
his promise of the Comforter, Jesus said: "He shall take of mine and
show it unto you." As the Son while on earth communicated to men the
spiritual riches of the invisible Father, so the Spirit now
communicates to us the hidden things of the invisible Son; and if we
were required to describe in a word the present office-work of the Holy
Ghost, we should say that it is to make true _in_ us that which is
already true _for_ us in {100} our glorified Lord. All light and life
and warmth are stored up for us in the sun; but these can only reach us
through the atmosphere which stands between us and that sun as the
medium of communication; even so in Christ are "hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge," and by the Holy Spirit these are
made over to us. It will be our endeavor in this chapter to count up
our hid treasures in Christ, and to consider the Spirit in his various
offices of communication.
1. _The Spirit of Life: Our Regeneration_. Not until our Lord took
his place at God's right hand did he assume his full prerogative as
life-giver to us. He was here in the flesh for our death; he took on
him our nature that he might in himself crucify our Adam-life and put
it away. But when he rose from the dead and sat down on his Father's
throne, he became the life-giver to all his mystical body, which is the
church. To talk of being saved by the earthly life of Jesus is to know
Christ only "after the flesh." True, the apostle says that "being
reconciled" by Christ's death, "much more being reconciled we shall be
saved by his life." But he here refers plainly to his glorified life.
And Jesus, looking forward to the time when he should have risen from
the dead, says: "Because I live, ye shall live also." Christ on the
throne is really the heart of the church, and every regeneration is a
pulse-beat of that heart in souls begotten from above {101} through the
Holy Spirit. The new birth therefore is not a change of nature as it
is sometimes defined; it is rather the communication of the Divine
nature, and the Holy Spirit is now the Mediator through whom this life
is transmitted. If we take our Lord's words to Nicodemus: "Except a
man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God," and press the
"again" _anôthen_ back to its deepest significance, it becomes very
instructive. "Born _from above_," say some. And very true to fact is
this saying. Regeneration is not our natural life carried up to its
highest point of attainment, but the Divine life brought down to its
lowest point of condescension, even to the heart of fallen man. John,
in speaking of Jesus as the life-giver, calls him "_he that cometh from
above_" (3: 31); and Jesus, in speaking to the degenerate sons of
Abraham, says: "Ye are _from beneath_, I am _from above_" (John 8: 23).
It has been the constant dream and delusion of men that they could rise
to heaven by the development and improvement of their natural life.
Jesus by one stroke of revelation destroys this hope, telling his
hearer that unless he has been begotten of God who is above as truly as
he has been begotten of his father on earth, he cannot see the kingdom
of God.
Others make these words of our Lord signify "born _from the
beginning_." There must be a resumption of life _de novo_, a return to
the original {102} source and fountain of being. To find this it is
not enough that we go back to the creation-beginning revealed in
Genesis; we must return to the precreation-beginning revealed in John,
the book of re-genesis. In the opening of Genesis we find Adam,
created holy, now fallen through temptation, his face averted from God
and leading the whole human race after him into sin and death. In the
opening of the Gospel of John we find the Son of God in holy fellowship
with the Father. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
toward God", _pros ton theon_--not merely proceeding from God, but
tending toward God by eternal communion. Conversion restores man to
this lost attitude: "Ye turned to God, _pros ton theon_, from idols to
serve the living and true God" (1 Thess. 1: 9). Regeneration restores
man to his forfeited life, the unfallen life of the Son of God, the
life which has never wavered from steadfast fellowship with the Father.
"I give unto them eternal life," says Jesus. Is eternal life without
end? Yes; and just as truly without beginning. It is uncreated being
in distinction from all-created being; it is the I-am life of God in
contrast to the I-become life of all human souls. By spiritual birth
we acquire a divine heredity as truly as by natural birth we acquire a
human heredity.
In the condensed antithesis with which our Lord concludes his demand
for the new birth, we have both the philosophy and the justification of
his {103} doctrine: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you,
Ye must be born anew" (John 3: 7, R. V.). By no process of evolution,
however prolonged, can the natural man be developed into the spiritual
man; by no process of degeneration can the spiritual man deteriorate
into the natural man. These two are from a totally different stock and
origin; the one is from beneath, the other is from above. There is but
one way through which the relation of sonship can be established, and
that is by begetting. That God has created all men does not constitute
them his sons in the evangelical sense of that word. The sonship on
which the New Testament dwells so constantly is based absolutely and
solely on the experience of the new birth, while the doctrine of
universal sonship rests either upon a daring denial or a daring
assumption--the denial of the universal fall of man through sin, or the
assumption of the universal regeneration of man through the Spirit. In
either case the teaching belongs to "another gospel," the recompense of
whose preaching is not a beatitude but an anathema.[1]
The contrast between the two lives and the way {104} in which the
partnership--the _choinônia_--with the new is effected, is told in that
deep saying of Peter: "Whereby he hath granted us his precious and
exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become
partakers--_choinônia_--of the divine nature, having escaped from the
corruption which is in the world by lust" (2 Pet. 1: 4, R. V.). Here
are the two streams of life contrasted:
1. The corruption in the world through lust.
2. The Divine nature which is in the world through the incarnation.
Here is the Adam-life into which we are brought by natural birth; and
over against it the Christ-life into which we are brought by spiritual
birth. From the one we escape, of the other we partake. The source
and issue of the one are briefly summarized: "Lust when it hath
conceived bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth
forth death." The Jordan is a fitting symbol of our natural life,
rising in a lofty elevation and from pure springs, but plunging
steadily down till it pours itself into that Dead Sea from which there
is no outlet: To be taken out of this stream and to be brought into the
life which flows from the heart of God is man's only hope of salvation.
And the method of effecting this transition is plainly stated, "through
these," or by means of the precious and exceeding great promises. As
in grafting, the old and degenerate stock must first be cut off and
then the new inserted, so {105} in regeneration we are separated from
the flesh and incorporated by the Spirit. And what the scion is in
grafting, the word or promise of God is in regeneration. It is the
medium through which the Holy Spirit is conveyed, the germ cell in
which the Divine life is enfolded. Hence the emphasis which is put in
Scripture upon the appropriation of divine truth. We are told that "of
his own will begat he us _with the word of truth_" (James 1: 18).
"Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed but of
incorruptible, _through the word of God_, which liveth and abideth" (1
Peter 1: 23, R. V.).
Very deep and significant, therefore, is the saying of Jesus in respect
to the regenerating power of his words, in the sixth chapter of the
Gospel of John; He emphasizes the contrariety between the two natures,
the human and the divine, saying: "It is the Spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing." And then he adds: "The words which I
have spoken unto you are spirit and life." As God in creation breathed
into man the breath of life and he became a living soul, so the Lord
Jesus by the word of his mouth, which is the breath of life, recreates
man and makes him alive unto God. And not life only, but likeness as
well, is thus imparted. "So God created man in his own image; in the
image of God created he him," is the simple story of the origin of an
innocent race. Then follows the temptation and the fall, and then the
story of the {106} descent of a ruined humanity: "And Adam begot a son
in his own likeness, after his image."
And yet how wide the gulf between these two origins. The notion is
persistent and incurable in the human heart, that whatever variation
there may have been from the original type, education and training can
reshape the likeness of Adam to the likeness of God. "As the twig is
bent the tree is inclined," says the popular proverb. True; but though
a crooked sapling may be developed into the upright oak, no bending or
manipulation can ever so change the species of the tree as to enable
men to gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles. Here again the
dualism of Jesus Christ's teaching is distinctly recognized. "A good
tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring
forth good fruit." And what is the remedy for a corrupt tree? The
cutting off of the old and the bringing in of a new scion and stock.
The life of God can alone beget the likeness of God; the divine type is
wrapped up in the same germ which holds the Divine nature. Therefore
in regeneration we are said to have "put on the new man who is renewed
in knowledge _after the image of him that created him_" (Col. 3: 10),
and "which _after God_ hath been created in . . . true holiness" (Eph.
4: 24).
In a word, the lost image of God is not restamped upon us, but renewed
within us. Christ our life was "begotten of the Holy Ghost," and he
became {107} the fount and origin of life henceforth for all his
church. This communication of the divine life from Christ to the soul
through the Holy Spirit is a hidden transaction, but so great in its
significance and issues that one has well called it "the greatest of
all miracles." As in the origin of our natural life we are made in
secret and curiously wrought, much more in our spiritual. But the
issue has to do with the farthest eternity. "As when the Lord was born
the world still went on its old way, little conscious that one had come
who should one day change and rule all things, so when the new man is
framed within, the old life for a while goes on much as before; the
daily calling, and the earthly cares, and too often old lusts and
habits also, still engross us; a worldly eye sees little new, while yet
the life which shall live forever has been quickened within and a new
man been formed who shall inherit all."[2]
2. _The Spirit of Holiness: Our Sanctification_. "According to the
Spirit of holiness" Christ "was declared to be the Son of God in power
by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1: 4). How striking the
antithesis between our Lord's two natures, as revealed in this passage,
Son of David as to the flesh, Son of God as to the Spirit. And "as he
is so are we in this world." We who are regenerate have two natures,
the one derived from Adam, the other {108} derived from Christ, and our
sanctification consists in the double process of mortification and
vivification, the deadening and subduing of the old and the quickening
and developing of the new. In other words, what was wrought in Christ
who was "put to death in the flesh but quickened in the spirit" is
rewrought in us through the constant operation of the Holy Ghost, and
thus the cross and the resurrection extend their sway over the entire
life of the Christian. Consider these two experiences.
Mortification is not asceticism. It is not a self-inflicted
compunction, but a Christ-inflicted crucifixion. Our Lord was done
with the cross when on Calvary he cried: "It is finished." But where
he ended each disciple must begin: "If any man will come after me let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever
will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for
my sake shall find it" (Matt. 16: 24, 25). These words, so constantly
repeated in one form or another by our Lord, make it clear that the
death-principle must be realized within us in order that the
life-principle may have final and triumphant sway. It is to this truth
which every disciple is solemnly committed in his baptism: "Know ye not
that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his
death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by {109} the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6: 3, 4).
Baptism is the monogram of the Christian; by it every believer is
sealed and certified as a participant in the death and life of Christ;
and the Holy Spirit has been given to be the Executor of the contract
thus made at the symbolic grave of Christ.
In considering the great fact of the believer's death in Christ to sin
and the law, we must not confound what the Scriptures clearly
distinguish. There are three deaths in which we have part:
1. _Death in sin, our natural condition_.
2. _Death for sin, our judicial condition_.
3. _Death to sin, our sanctified condition_.
1. _Death in sin_. "And you . . . who were dead in trespasses and
sins," "And you being dead in your sins" (Eph. 2: 1; Col. 2: 13). This
is the condition in which we are by nature, as participants in the fall
and ruin into which the transgression of our first parents has plunged
the race. It is a condition in which we are under moral insensibility
to the claims of God's holiness and love; and under the sentence of
eternal punishment from the law which we have broken. In this state of
death in sin Christ found the whole world when he came to be our
Saviour.
2. _Death for sin_. "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead
to the law by the body of Christ" (Rom. 7: 4). This is the condition
into {110} which Christ brought us by his sacrifice upon the cross. He
endured the sentence of a violated law on our behalf, and therefore we
are counted as having endured it in him. What he did for us is
reckoned as having been done by us: "Because we thus judge, that one
died for all, therefore all died" (2 Cor. 5: 14, R. V.). Being one
with Christ through faith, we are identified with him on the cross: "I
have been crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2: 20, R. V.). This condition
of death for sin having been effected for us by our Saviour, we are
held legally or judicially free from the penalty of a violated law, if
by our personal faith we will consent to the transaction.
3. _Death to sin_. "Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto
sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6: 11, R. V.). This is
the condition of making true in ourselves what is already true for us
in Christ, of rendering practical what is now judicial; in other words,
of being dead to the power of sin in ourselves, as we are already dead
to the penalty of sin through Jesus Christ. As it is written in the
Epistle to the Colossians: "For ye died," judicially in Christ,
"mortify"--make dead practically--"therefore your members which are
upon the earth" (Col. 3: 2, 5, R. V.). It is this condition which the
Holy Spirit is constantly effecting in us if we will have it so. "If
ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body {111} ye shall
live" (Rom. 8: 13). This is not self-deadening, as the Revised Version
seems to suggest by its decapitalizing of the word "Spirit." Self is
not powerful enough to conquer self, the human spirit to get the
victory over the human flesh. That were like a drowning man with his
right hand laying hold on his left hand, only that both may sink
beneath the waves. "Old Adam is too strong for young Melancthon," said
the Reformer. It is the Spirit of God overcoming our fleshly nature by
his indwelling life, on whom is our sole dependence. Our principal
care therefore must be to "walk in the Spirit" and "be filled with the
Spirit," and all the rest will come spontaneously and inevitably. As
the ascending sap in the tree crowds off the dead leaves which in spite
of storm and frost cling to the branches all winter long, so does the
Holy Ghost within us, when allowed full sway, subdue and expel the
remnants of our sinful nature.
One cannot fail to see that asceticism is an absolute inversion of the
Divine order, since it seeks life through death instead of finding
death through life. No degree of mortification can ever bring us to
sanctification. We are to "put off the old man with his deeds." But
how? By "putting on the new man who is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him." "For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:
2), {112} writes Paul. It is a pointed statement of the case which one
makes in describing the transition from the old to the new in his own
experience, from the former life of perpetual defeat to the present
life of victory through Christ. "Once it was a constant breaking off,
now it is a daily bringing in," he says. That is, the former striving
was directed to being rid of the inveterate habits and evil tendencies
of the old nature--its selfishness, its pride, its lust, and its
vanity. Now the effort is to bring in the Spirit, to drink in his
divine presence, to breathe, as a holy atmosphere, his supernatural
life. The indwelling of the Spirit can alone effect the exclusion of
sin. This will appear if we consider what has been called "the
expulsive power of a new affection." "Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world," says the Scripture. But all experience
proves that loving not is only possible through loving, the worldly
affection being overcome by the heavenly.
And we find this method clearly exhibited in the word. "The love of
the Spirit" (Rom. 15: 30) is given us for overcoming the world. The
divine life is the source of the divine love. Therefore "the love of
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto
us." Because we are by nature so wholly without heavenly affection,
God, through the indwelling Spirit, gives us his own love with which to
love himself. Herein {113} is the highest credential of discipleship:
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
one to another" (John 13: 35). As Christ manifested to the world the
love of the Father, so are we to manifest the love of Christ--a
manifestation, however, which is only possible because of our
possessorship of a common life. As one has truly said concerning our
Saviour's command to his disciples to love one another: "It is a
command which would be utterly idle and futile were it not that he, the
ever-loving One, is willing to put his own love within me. The command
is really no more than to be a branch of the true vine. I am to cease
from my own living and loving, and yield myself to the expression of
Christ's love."
And what is true of the love of Christ is true of the likeness of
Christ. How is the likeness acquired? Through contemplation and
imitation? So some have taught. And it is true, if only the
indwelling Spirit is behind all, beneath all, and effectually operative
in all. As it is written: "But we all with unveiled face, reflecting
as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image
from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3: 18,
R. V.). It is only the Spirit of the Lord dwelling within us that can
fashion us to the image of the Lord set before us. Who is sufficient
by external imitation of Christ to become {114} conformed to the
likeness of Christ? Imagine one without genius and devoid of the
artist's training sitting down before Raphael's famous picture of the
Transfiguration and attempting to reproduce it. How crude and
mechanical and lifeless his work would be! But if such a thing were
possible that the spirit of Raphael should enter into the man and
obtain the mastery of his mind and eye and hand, it would be entirely
possible that he should paint this masterpiece; for it would simply be
Raphael reproducing Raphael. And this in a mystery is what is true of
the disciple filled with the Holy Ghost. Christ, who is "the image of
the invisible God," is set before him as his divine pattern, and Christ
by the Spirit dwells within him as a divine life, and Christ is able to
image forth Christ from the interior life to the outward example.
Of course likeness to Christ is but another name for holiness, and
when, at the resurrection, we awake satisfied with his likeness (Ps.
17: 15), we shall be perfected in holiness. This is simply saying that
sanctification is progressive and not, like conversion, instantaneous.
And yet we must admit the force of what a devout and thoughtful writer
says as to the danger of regarding it as _only_ a gradual growth. If a
Christian looks upon himself as "a tree planted by the rivers of water
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season," he judges rightly. But
to conclude therefore that his growth will be as {115} irresistible as
that of the tree, coming as a matter of course simply because he has by
regeneration been planted in Christ, is a grave mistake. The disciple
is required to be consciously and intelligently active in his own
growth, as a tree is not, "to give all diligence to make his calling
and election sure." And when we say "active" we do not mean
self-active merely, for "which of you by being anxious can add one
cubit unto his stature?" asks Jesus (Matt. 6: 27, R. V.). But we must
surrender ourselves to the divine action by living in the Spirit and
praying in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit, all of which
conditions are as essential to our development in holiness, as the rain
and the sunshine are to the growth of the oak. It is possible that
through a neglect and grieving of the Spirit a Christian may be of
smaller stature in his age than he was in his spiritual infancy, his
progress being a retrogression rather than an advance. Therefore in
saying that sanctification is progressive let us beware of concluding
that it is inevitable.
Moreover, as candid inquirers, we must ask what of truth and of error
there may be in the doctrine of "instantaneous sanctification," which
many devout persons teach and profess to have proved. If the
conception is that of a state of sinless perfection into which the
believer has been suddenly lifted and of deliverance from a sinful
nature which has been suddenly eradicated, we must {116} consider this
doctrine as dangerously untrue. But we do consider it possible that
one may experience a great crisis in his spiritual life, in which there
is such a total self-surrender to God and such an infilling of the Holy
Spirit, that he is freed from the bondage of sinful appetites and
habits, and enabled to have constant victory over self, instead of
suffering constant defeat. In saying this, what more do we affirm than
is taught in that scripture: "Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not
fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5: 16).
Divine truth as revealed in Scripture seems often to lie between two
extremes. It is emphatically so in regard to this question. What a
paradox it is that side by side in the Epistle of John we should have
the strongest affirmation of the Christian's sinfulness: "If we say
that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us";
and the strongest affirmation of his sinlessness: "Whosoever is born of
God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin because he is born of God" (1 John 1: 8; 3: 9). Now heresy means a
dividing or choosing, and almost all of the gravest errors have arisen
from adopting some extreme statement of Scripture to the rejection of
the other extreme. If we regard the doctrine of sinless perfection as
a heresy, we regard contentment with sinful imperfection as a greater
heresy. And we gravely fear that many Christians make the {117}
apostle's words, "If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves," the
unconscious justification for a low standard of Christian living. It
were almost better for one to overstate the possibilities of
sanctification in his eager grasp after holiness, than to understate
them in his complacent satisfaction with a traditional unholiness.
Certainly it is not an edifying spectacle to see a Christian worldling
throwing stones at a Christian perfectionist.
What then would be a true statement of the doctrine which we are
considering, one which would embrace both extremes of statement as they
appear in the Epistle of John? _Sinful in self, sinless in Christ_--is
our answer: "In him is no sin; whosoever abideth in him sinneth not" (1
John 3: 5, 6). If through the communication of the Holy Spirit the
life of Christ is constantly imparted to us, that life will prevail
within us. That life is absolutely sinless, as incapable of defilement
as the sunbeam which has its fount and origin in the sun. In
proportion to the closeness of our abiding in him will be the
completeness of our deliverance from sinning. And we doubt not that
there are Christians who have yielded themselves to God in such
absolute surrender, and who through the upholding power of the Spirit
have been so kept in that condition of surrender, that sin has not had
dominion over them. If in them the war between the flesh and the
spirit has not been forever ended, there has {118} been present victory
in which troublesome sins have ceased from their assaults, and "the
peace of God" has ruled in the heart.
But sinning is one thing and a sinful nature is another; and we see no
evidence in Scripture that the latter is ever eradicated completely
while we are in the body. If we could see ourselves with God's eye, we
should doubtless discover sinfulness lying beneath our most joyful
moments of unsinning conduct, and the stain of our old and fallen
nature so discoloring our whitest actions as to convince us that we are
not yet faultless in his presence. Only let us gladly emphasize this
fact, that as we inherit from Adam a nature incapable of sinlessness,
we inherit from Christ a nature incapable of sinfulness. Therefore, it
is written: "Whosoever is born of God cannot sin, for his seed
remaineth in him." It is not the nature of the new nature to sin; it
is not the law of "the law of the Spirit of life" to transgress. For
the new-born man to do evil is to transgress the law of his nature as
before it was to obey it. In a word, before our regeneration we lived
in sin and loved it; since our regeneration we may lapse into sin but
we loathe it.
3. _The Spirit of Glory: Our Transfiguration_. "The Spirit of glory
and of God resteth upon you," writes Peter (1 Peter 4: 14). Let us
recall this apostle's habit of dividing the stages of redemption into
these two, "the sufferings of Christ and the {119} glory that should
follow," in which he seems to conceive of our Lord's mystical body, the
church, as passing through and reproducing the twofold experience of
its Head, in humiliation and in subsequent exaltation. Even in the
time of her humiliation she has the Spirit of glory abiding on her, as
the cloud of glory rested down upon the tabernacle in the wilderness
during all the pilgrimage of the children of Israel. And is not
Peter's saying the same as Paul's, in his picture of the suffering
creation: "But ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8: 23). Not yet
have we reached the consummation of our hope, at the "appearing of the
glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2: 13, R. V.);
but the Spirit, through whose inworking power this great change is to
be wrought, already dwells in us, giving us by his present quickening
the pledge and earnest of our final glory. And so we read in another
Scripture: "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8: 11).
It is not our dead bodies which are here spoken of as the objects of
the Spirit's quickening, but our mortal bodies--bodies liable to death
and doomed to death if the Lord {120} tarry, but not yet having
experienced death. Hence the quickening referred to has to do rather
with the vivifying of the living saints than the resurrection of the
dead saints.
Of course the consummation of this vivifying is at the Lord's coming,
when those who have died shall be raised, and those who are alive shall
be transfigured; but because of the Spirit of life dwelling in us, who
shall say that the process has not even now begun? To explain: "Behold
I shew you a mystery," says Paul; "we shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump" (1 Cor. 15: 51, 52). That is, as at Christ's coming the dead
saints will be raised, so the living saints will be translated without
seeing death. A change will come to them, so far as we can understand,
like that which came to Jesus at his resurrection--the body glorified,
all of mortal and earthly belonging to it by nature eliminated in an
instant, and the Holy Ghost so completely transforming and
immortalizing it that it shall become perfectly fashioned to the
likeness of Christ's glorified body. But having the Spirit dwelling in
us we have, even now, the first-fruits of this transformation in the
daily renewing of our inward man, in the helping and healing and
strengthening which sometimes comes to our bodies through the hidden
life of the Holy Ghost. Sanctification is progressive, waiting to be
{121} consummated in the future; so is glorification in some sense
progressive, since by the presence of the Spirit we already have the
earnest of the glory that is to be. As Edward Irving beautifully
states it, condensing his language: "As sickness is sin apparent in the
body, the presentiment of death, the forerunner of corruption, and as
disease of every kind is mortality begun, so the quickening of our
mortal bodies by the inward inspiration of the Spirit is the
resurrection forestalled, redemption anticipated, glory begun in our
humiliation."
When is sanctification completed? At death, is the answer which we
find given in some creeds and manuals of theology. This may be true;
but we say it not, because the Scripture saith it not. So far as we
can infer from the word of God the date of our sanctification or
perfection in holiness is definitely fixed at the appearing of the Lord
"a second time without sin unto salvation." Our sanctification, now
going on, is glory begun in us; our glorification then ushered in will
be glory completed in us. The Spirit of glory now working in us brings
forward and already works within us the beginning of the perfect life.
Because we have been made "partakers of the Holy Ghost" we have thereby
"tasted the powers of the age to come" (Heb. 6: 4, 5, R. V.), that age
of complete deliverance from sin and sickness and death. But at most
we have only tasted as yet; we have not {122} drunk fully into the
fountain of immortal life. It is at Christ's advent that this blessed
consummation is fixed: "To the end he may establish your hearts
unblamable in holiness before our God and Father _at the coming of our
Lord Jesus with all his saints_" (1 Thess. 3: 13, R. V.). Not simply
blameless but faultless, seems to be the condition here foretold, since
it is unblamable in the sphere and element of holiness.
And with this agrees another text in the same epistle: "And the God of
peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and
body be preserved entire without blame _at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ_" (1 Thess. 5: 23, R. V.). The time appointed for the
consummation of this blameless wholeness is at the Saviour's advent in
glory. And how suggestive the order maintained in naming the threefold
man: "Your spirit, soul, and body." Our sanctification moves from
within outward. It begins with the spirit, which is the holy of
holies; the Spirit of God acting first on the spirit of man in renewing
grace, then upon the soul, till at last it reaches the outer court of
the body, at the resurrection and translation. When the body is
glorified, then only will sanctification be consummated, for then only
will the whole man, spirit, soul, and body, have come under the
Spirit's perfecting power.
We may see the difference between progressive {123} sanctification and
perfected sanctification, or glorification, by comparing familiar
texts. One already has been quoted in this chapter: "We all, beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3: 18).
Here are degrees of progress "from glory to glory," and it is a
progress in the glorified life--gradual conformity to the Lord of
glory, through successive stages of glory, effected by the Spirit of
glory. The word-painting of the passage inevitably associates it in
our thought with the great transfiguration experience of our Lord, when
by a kind of rapture he was for a little while taken out of "this
present evil age" (Gal. 1: 4), and translated into "the age to come,"
and made to taste of its powers as "he appeared in glory" (Heb. 6: 5,
R. V.). So says the apostle: "Be not fashioned _according to this
age_, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds" (Rom. 12: 2,
R. V.). That is, by his inward transformation the Holy Spirit is to be
daily repeating in us the Lord's glorification, separating us from the
present age of sin and death and assimilating us to the age to come,
with its resurrection triumph and its perfected restoration to God,
when we shall be presented "faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy" (Jude 24). This is our step-by-step advancement
into a predestined inheritance; and it must for the present be {124}
step by step. "Of his fullness have all we received," but we can
appropriate that fullness only "grace by grace" (John 1: 16). Of his
righteousness we have all been made partakers, but we only advance in
its possession "from faith to faith" (Rom. 1: 17). Even in passing
through the valley of Baca we can make it a place of springs, going
"from strength to strength" as we appear "before God in Zion" (Ps. 84:
6). Thus our growth in grace is our glory begun; but the progress is
like the artist's slow and patient perfecting of his picture. Turn now
to another statement: "We know that if he shall be manifested we shall
be like him, for we shall see him even as he is" (1 John 3: 2, R. V.).
Whatever difficulty may arise from another translation of this passage,
one thought seems to be taught in the entire connection, viz., that the
unveiled manifestation of God will bring the full perfection of his
saints. Thus Alford sums up the meaning of the passage. As the
believer, having by a knowledge of God been regenerated, "becomes more
and more like God, having his seed in him, so the full and perfect
accomplishment of this knowledge in the actual fruition of God himself
must of necessity bring with it entire likeness to God." In a word, it
seems to us that the sanctification taking place at the manifestation
of our incarnate Lord will be as the instantaneous photograph compared
with the Spirit's slow and patient limning of the {125} image of Christ
in our present state. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," "we
shall be changed" (1 Cor. 15: 52). Then the glorified body and the
glorified spirit, long divorced by sin, will be remarried. So long as
this twain are separated by death, or are at war in our present earthy
life, our perfection in holiness were impossible.
It is because the resurrection and translation of the saints are
instantaneous that we affirm sanctification to be instantaneous at the
coming of the Lord. The Scripture is always harmonious with itself,
however widely separated the writers of its books by time or distance.
David struck the same joyful note with John, though the learned may
insist that he did not know of the resurrection. "As for me, I shall
behold thy face in righteousness"--the seeing him as he is and being
made fit to see him. "I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy
likeness"--the conformity to the Divine image at the instant sound of
the resurrection trump. (Ps. 17: 15.) Perhaps we may conjecture
wherein will consist the perfection of the resurrection state. We may
find it in that one saying: "It is raised a spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:
44). _Now_, how often the body dominates the spirit, making it do what
it would not; but _then_, the spirit will dominate the body, making it
do as it will. In a house divided against itself there can be neither
perfection nor peace. Such is the condition in our present state {126}
of humiliation. And not the body alone, but the immaterial within us
may be at war with the divine. What does the Apostle Jude mean in his
description of certain who separated themselves, saying that they are
"sensual, having not the Spirit" (Jude 19). The soul, the middle
factor in the man, if we may say so, instead of being in alliance with
our higher nature, the spirit, takes sides with the lower, the flesh,
so that instead of being spiritual we become "earthly, sensual,
devilish" (James 3: 15). The whole man must be presented blameless at
the coming of the Lord before we can enter upon a state of blessed
perfection. Our spirit must not only rule our soul and our body, but
both these must be subject to the Holy Spirit of God. Dimly and
imperfectly do we thus image to ourselves the perfection of our
"spiritual body." Now the body bears the spirit, a slow chariot, whose
wheels are often disabled, and whose swiftest motion is but labored and
tardy. Then the spirit will bear the body, carrying it as on wings of
thought whithersoever it will. The Holy Ghost, by his divine inworking
will, has completed in us the Divine likeness, and perfected over us
the Divine dominion. The human body will now be in sovereign
subjection to the human spirit, and the human spirit to the divine
Spirit, and God will be all and in all.
[1] Milton probably gives the true genesis of this doctrine in these
words, which he puts into the mouth of Satan:
"The son of God I also am or was;
And if I was, I am; relation stands;
All men are sons of God."
[2] Andrew Jukes, "The New Man," p. 53.
{127}
VII
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT
{128}
"The Holy Ghost from the day of Pentecost has occupied an entirely new
position. The whole administration of the affairs of the Church of
Christ has since that day devolved upon him. . . That day was the
installation of the Holy Spirit as the Administrator of the Church in
all things, which office he is to exercise according to circumstances
at his discretion. It is as vested with such authority that he gives
his name to this dispensation. . . There is but one other great event
to which the Scripture directs us to look, and that is the second
coming of the Lord. Till then we live in the Pentecostal age and under
the rule of the Holy Ghost."--_James Elder Cumming, D. D._
{129}
VII
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit, as coming down to fill the place of the ascended
Redeemer, has rightly been called "The Vicar of Jesus Christ." To him
the entire administration of the church has been committed until the
Lord shall return in glory. His oversight extends to the slightest
detail in the ordering of God's house, holding all in subjection to the
will of the Head, and directing all in harmony with the divine plan.
How clearly this comes out in that passage in the twelfth chapter of
First Corinthians. As in striking a series of concentric circles there
is always one fixed center holding each circumference in defined
relation to itself, so here we see all the "diversities of
administrations" determined by the one Administrator, the Holy Ghost.
"Varieties of gifts, but _the same Spirit_"; "diversities of working,
but _the same God_"; different words "according to _the same Spirit_";
"gifts of faith _in the same Spirit_"; "gifts of healing _in the one
Spirit_"; miracles, prophecies, tongues, interpretations, "but all
these worketh the _one and the same Spirit_, dividing to each one
severally as he will." Whether the authority of this one ruling {130}
sovereign Holy Ghost be recognized or ignored determines whether the
church shall be an anarchy or a unity, a synagogue of lawless ones or
the temple of the living God.
Would one desire to find the clue to the great apostasy whose dark
eclipse now covers two-thirds of nominal Christendom, here it is--the
rule and authority of the Holy Spirit ignored in the church; the
servants of the house assuming mastery and encroaching more and more on
the prerogatives of the Head, till at last one man sets himself up as
the administrator of the church, and daringly usurps the name of "The
Vicar of Christ." When the Spirit of the Lord, speaking by Paul, would
picture the mystery of lawlessness and the culmination of apostasy, he
gives us a description which none should misunderstand: "So that he, as
God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2
Thess. 2: 4). What is the temple of God? The church without a
question: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Cor. 3: 16). Whose prerogative is
it to sit there? The Holy Ghost's, its ruler and administrator, and
his alone.
When Christ, our Paraclete with the Father, entered upon his ministry
on high, we are told more than a score of times that he "sat down at
the right hand of God." Henceforth heaven is his official seat, until
he returns in power and great glory. {131} When he sent down another
Paraclete to abide with us for the age, he took his seat in the church,
the temple of God, there to rule and to administer till the Lord
returns. There is but one "Holy See" upon earth: that is, the seat of
the Holy One in the church, which only the Spirit of God can occupy
without the most daring blasphemy. It becomes all true believers to
look well to that picture of one "sitting in the temple of God," and to
read the lesson which it teaches. We may have no temptation toward the
papacy, which thrusts a man into the seat of the Holy Ghost,[1] or
toward clerisy which obtrudes an order of ecclesiastics--archbishops,
cardinals, and archdeacons into that sacred place; but let us remember
that a democracy may be guilty of the same sin as a hierarchy, in
settling solemn issues by a "show of hands," instead of prayerfully
waiting for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in substituting the voice
of a {132} majority for the voice of the Spirit. Of course, in
speaking thus we concede that the Holy Spirit makes known his will in
the voice of believers, as also in the voice of Scripture. Only there
must be such prayerful sanctifying of the one and such prayerful search
of the other, that in reaching decisions in the church there may be the
same declaration as in the first Christian council: "It seemed good to
the Holy Ghost and to us" (Acts 15: 28).
In some very profound teaching in 2 Cor. 3 we seem to have a hint as to
how we hear the voice of the Lord in guiding the affairs of the church.
There, the administration (_diachonia_) of the Spirit is distinctly
spoken of in contrast with the administration of the law. Its
deliverances are written "not with ink, not in tables of stone, but in
the tables that are the hearts of flesh, with the Spirit of the living
God" (R. V.). There must be a sensitive heart wherein this handwriting
may be inscribed; an unhindering will through which he may act. "Where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," it is written in the same
passage; liberty for God to speak and act as he will through us, which
begets loyalty; not liberty for us to act as we will, which begets
lawlessness.
To us there is something exceedingly suggestive in the teaching of the
Lord's post-ascension gospel, the Revelation, on this point. The
epistles to the {133} seven churches we hold, with many of the best
commentators, to be a prophetic setting forth of the successive stages
of the church's history--its declines and its recoveries, its failures
and its repentances, from ascension to advent. And because the bride
of Christ is perpetually betrayed into listening to false teachers and
surrendering to the guidance of evil counsellors, the Lord is
constantly admonishing her to heed the voice of her true Teacher and
Guide, the Holy Ghost. How forcibly this admonition is introduced into
the great Apocalyptic drama! As in the opening of the successive
seals, representing the judgments of God upon apostate Christendom, the
cry is repeated, "Come"! "Come"! "Come"! "Come"! (Rev. 6)--as
though the church under chastisement would repeatedly relearn the
advent prayer which her Lord put into her mouth in the beginning: "Even
so, come, Lord Jesus," so at each stage of the church's backsliding a
voice is heard from heaven saying: "He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches." It is the admonition "of him
that hath the seven spirits of God," seven times addressed to his
church throughout her earthly history, calling her to return from her
false guides and misleading teachers, and to listen to the voice of her
true Counsellor.
From this general statement of the administration of the Holy Spirit
let us now descend to the {134} particular acts and offices in which
this authority is exercised.
1. _The Holy Spirit in the ministry and government of the church_. In
speaking to the elders of Ephesus Paul says: "Take heed unto
yourselves, and to all the flock in the which the Holy Ghost hath made
you bishops, to feed the church of God" (Acts 20: 28, R. V.). Clearly
in the beginning bishops or pastors were given by the Spirit of God,
not by the suffrages of the people. The office and its incumbent were
alike by direct divine appointment. We find this distinctly set forth
in the Epistle to the Ephesians: "When he ascended on high, he led
captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. . . And he gave some to be
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors
and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of
ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4: 8-12,
R. V.). The ascent of the Lord and the descent of the Spirit are here
exhibited in their necessary relation. In the one event Christ took
his seat in heaven as "Head over all things to his church"; in the
other the Holy Ghost came down to begin the work of "building up the
body of Christ." Of course it is the Head who directs the construction
of the body, as being "fitly framed together it groweth into a holy
temple in the Lord"; and it is the Holy Ghost who superintends this
construction since "we are {135} builded together for an habitation of
God in the Spirit." Therefore all the offices through which this work
is to be carried on were appointed by Christ and instituted through the
Spirit whom he sent down. Suppose now that men invent offices which
are not named in the inspired list, and set up in the church an order
of popes and cardinals, archbishops and archdeacons? Is it not a
presumption, the worst fruit of which is not alone that it introduces
confusion into the body of Christ, but that it begets insubordination
to the rule of the Holy Ghost? But suppose, on the other hand, that we
sacredly maintain those offices of the ministry which have been
established for permanent continuance in the church, and yet take it
upon us to fill these according to our own preference and will; is this
any less an affront to the Spirit?
Doubtless the mistakes of God's servants, as given in Scripture are as
truly designed for our instruction and admonition as their obedient
examples. We think we do not err in finding such a recorded warning in
the opening chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. A vacancy had
occurred in the apostolate. Standing up in the upper room, amidst the
hundred and twenty, Peter boldly affirmed that this vacancy must be
filled, and of the men who had companied with them during the Lord's
earthly ministry, "one must be ordained to be a witness with us of his
resurrection." But the {136} disciples had hitherto had no voice in
choosing apostles. The Lord had done this of his own sovereign will:
"Have I not chosen you twelve?" Now he had gone away into heaven, and
his Administrator had not yet arrived to enter upon his office-work.
Surely if the divine order was to be, that having "ascended on high" he
was "to give some apostles," it were better to await the coming of the
Paraclete with his gifts. Not only so, but we are persuaded that, with
Christ departed and the Holy Spirit not yet come, a valid election of
an apostle were impossible. But in spite of this, a nomination was
made; prayer was offered in which the Lord was asked to indicate which
of the candidates he had chosen; and then a vote having been taken,
Matthias was declared elected. Is there any indication that this
choice was ever ratified by the Lord? On the contrary, Matthias passes
into obscurity from this time, his name never again being mentioned.
Some two years subsequent, the Lord calls Saul of Tarsus; he is sealed
with his Spirit, and certified by such evident credentials of the
Divine appointment that he boldly signs himself "Paul, an apostle, _not
of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father_" (Gal.
1: 1).
We believe that the apostolic office has passed away, the qualification
therefor, that of having been a witness of the Lord's resurrection,
being now impossible. But the office of pastor, elder, bishop, or
{137} teacher of the flock still remains. And the divine plan is that
this office should be filled, just as in the beginning, by the
appointment of the Holy Ghost. Nor can we doubt that if there is a
prayerful waiting upon him for guidance, and a sanctified submission to
his will when it is made known, he will now choose pastors and set them
over their appointed flocks just as manifestly as he did in the
beginning. Very beautiful is the picture in Revelation of the
glorified Lord, moving among the candlesticks. There are "seven golden
candlesticks" now, not one only as in the Jewish temple. The Church of
God is manifold, not a unit.[2] He who "walketh in the midst of the
seven golden candlesticks" "holdeth the seven stars in his right hand."
These stars are "the angels of the seven churches"--their ministers or
bishops as generally understood. The Lord holds them in his right
hand. Does he not require us to ask of him alone for their bestowal?
Yes. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send
forth laborers into his harvest" (Luke 10: 2). There is no intimation
in Scripture that we are to apply anywhere but to him for the ministry
of his church. Does he not give {138} such ministry, and he alone?
Yes. "When he ascended on high . . . he gave some . . . pastors and
teachers." And now, speaking to the church in Ephesus, the elders of
which, chosen by the Holy Ghost, Paul had so affectionately exhorted,
he is seen in the attitude of Chief-shepherd and Bishop--giving pastors
with his own hand; placing them with his own right hand, and warning
the church that though they have tried and rejected false apostles,
they have nevertheless left their "first love." Significant word! On
this love our Lord conditioned the indwelling of the Father and of the
Son through the Holy Spirit (John 14: 23). Losing this the peril
becomes imminent that the candlestick may be removed out of its place;
and so the warning is solemnly announced: "He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Without the Spirit the
candlestick can shed forth no light, and loses its place of testimony.
Dead churches, whose witness has been silenced, whose place has been
vacated, even though the lifeless form remains, have we not seen such?
And what is the safeguard against them, if not that found in the
apostle's warning: "Quench not the Spirit?" The voice of the Lord must
be heard in his church, and to the Holy Ghost alone has been committed
the prerogative of communicating that voice. Is there any likelihood
that that voice will be heard when the king or prime minister of a
civil {139} government holds the sole function of appointing the
bishops, as in the case of State churches? Is there any certainty of
it when an archbishop or bishop puts pastors over flocks by the action
of his single will? We may congratulate ourselves that we are neither
in a State church nor under an episcopal bishop; but there are methods
of ignoring or repressing the voice of the Holy Ghost, which though
simpler and far less apparent than those just indicated, are no less
violent. The humble and godly membership of the little church may turn
to some pastor, after much prayer and waiting on God for the Spirit's
guidance, and the signs of the divine choice may be clearly manifest;
when some pulpit committee, or some conclave of "leading brethren,"
vetoes their action on the ground, perchance, that the candidate is not
popular and will not draw. Alas! for the little flock so lorded over
that the voice of the Holy Ghost cannot be heard.
And majorities are no more to be depended upon than minorities, if
there is in both cases a neglect of patient and prolonged waiting upon
the Lord to know his will. Of what value is a "show of hands" unless
his are stretched out "who holdeth the seven stars in his right hand?"
Of what use is a _viva voce_ choice, except the living voice of Christ
be heard speaking by his Spirit? One may object that we are holding up
an ideal which is impossible to be realized. It is a difficult ideal
we admit, as {140} the highest attainments are always difficult; but it
is not an impossible one. It is easier to recite our prayers from a
book than to read them from the tables of a prepared heart, where the
finger of the Spirit has silently written them; but the more difficult
way is the more acceptable way to him who seeks for worshipers who
"worship in Spirit and in truth." It is easier to get "the sense of
the meeting" in choosing a pastor than to learn "the mind of the
Spirit" by patient tarrying and humble surrender to God; but the more
laborious way will certainly prove the more profitable way. The
failure to take this way is, we are persuaded, the cause of more decay
and spiritual death in the churches than we have yet imagined. From
the watch-tower where we write we can look out on half a score of
churches on which "Ichabod" has been evidently written, and the glory
of which has long since departed. They were founded in prayer and
consecration, "to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his
Son from heaven." Why has their light been extinguished, though the
lampstand which once bore it still remains, adorned and beautified with
all that the highest art and architecture can suggest? Their history
is known to him who walks among the golden candlesticks. What violence
may have been done, by headstrong self-will, to him who is called "the
Spirit of counsel and might"? What rejection of the truth which he,
"the Spirit {141} of truth," has appointed for the faith of God's
church till at last the word has been spoken: "Ye do always resist the
Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye." Is it only Jewish
worshipers to whom these words apply? Is it only a Jewish temple of
which this sentence is true: "Behold your house is left unto you
desolate"? The Spirit will not be entirely withdrawn from the body of
Christ indeed, but there is the Church, and there are churches. A man
may yet live and breathe when cell after cell has been closed by
congestion till at last he only inhales and exhales with a little
portion of one lung. Let him that readeth understand.
The Spirit is the breath of God in the body of his church. While that
divine body survives and must, multitudes of churches have so shut out
the Spirit from rule and authority and supremacy in the midst of them
that the ascended Lord can only say to them: "Thou hast a name to live
and art dead." In a word, so vital and indispensable is the ministry
of the Spirit, that without it nothing else will avail. Some trust in
creeds, and some in ordinances; some suppose that the church's security
lies in a sound theology, and others locate it in a primitive
simplicity of government and worship; but it lies in none of these,
desirable as they are. The body may be as to its organs perfect and
entire, wanting nothing; but simply because the Spirit has been {142}
withdrawn from it, it has passed from a church into a corpse. As one
has powerfully stated it: "When the Holy Spirit withdraws, . . . he
sometimes allows the forms which he has created to remain. The oil is
exhausted, but the lamp is still there; prayer is offered and the Bible
read; church-going is not given up, and to a certain degree the service
is enjoyed; in a word religious habits are preserved, and like the
corpses found at Pompeii, which were in a perfect state of preservation
and in the very position in which death had surprised them, but which
were reduced to ashes by contact with the air, so the blast of trial,
of temptation, or of final judgment will destroy these spiritual
corpses."[3]
2. _The Holy Spirit in the Worship and Service of the Church_. Is
there anything, from highest to lowest, which we are called to do in
connection with the worship of God's house, of which the Holy Spirit is
not the appointed agent? Believers are the instruments indeed through
which he acts; but they have no function apart from his inspiration and
guidance, any more than the organ-pipe has without the wind, which
breathing through it causes it to resound. To make this clear, we may
consider the several parts of the service of the church as we are
accustomed to participate in it, and observe their relation to the
divine Administrator.
{143}
(1) Preaching is by general consent an important factor of the work of
the ministry, both for the pastor and for the evangelist. In what
consists its inspiration and authority? We "have preached the gospel
unto you _with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven_" (1 Peter 1: 12),
is Peter's simple story of the apostolic method. And the words direct
our thought to the Spirit not as instrumental but as inspiring. "_In
the Holy Ghost_," the words mean literally. The true preacher does not
simply use the Spirit; he is used by the Spirit. He speaks as one
moving in the element and atmosphere of the Holy Ghost, and mastered by
his divine power.
In this fact the sermon differs immeasurably from the speech, and the
preacher from the orator. How distinctly Paul emphasizes this contrast
in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 2: 4). The sole substance of
his preaching he declares to be "Jesus Christ and him crucified," and
the sole inspiration of his preaching, the Holy Ghost: "And my speech
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of
the Spirit and power." What did good Philip Henry mean by his resolve
"to preach Christ crucified in a crucified style"? More perhaps than
he thought or knew. "He shall testify of me," is Jesus' saying
concerning the promised Paraclete. The Comforter bears witness to the
Crucified. No other theme in the pulpit can be sure of commanding his
co-operation. {144} Philosophy, poetry, art, literature, sociology,
ethics, and history are attractive subjects to many minds, and they who
handle such themes in the pulpit may set them forth with alluring words
of human genius; but there is no certainty that the Holy Ghost will
accompany their presentation with his divine attestation. The
preaching of the Cross, in chastened simplicity of speech, has the
demonstration of the Spirit pledged to it, as no secular, or moral, or
even formal religious discourse has. And when Paul writes to the
Thessalonians: "Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also _in
power and in the Holy Ghost_, and in much assurance" (1 Thess. 1: 5),
we need only to be reminded that "our gospel" meant but one thing to
Paul, the setting forth of Jesus Christ crucified in the midst of the
people, and we have found the secret of evangelical power. Ought it
not therefore to be the supreme question with the preacher, what themes
can assuredly command the witness of the Holy Spirit, rather than what
topics will enlist the attention of the people? Let us set the popular
preacher and the apostolic preacher side by side, and consider whose
reward we would choose, universal admiration or "God also bearing
witness, both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles, and
_gifts of the Holy Ghost_, according to his will" (Heb. 2: 4)--the
sermon greeted with applause and the clapping of hands, or "_the word
received with joy of {145} the Holy Ghost_" (1 Thess. 1:
6)?--admiration of the preacher possessing all who listen to the
discourse, or "_the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word_"
(Acts 10: 44)? Language cannot express the vital moment of the
question which we are here discussing. Our generation is rapidly
losing its grip upon the supernatural; and as a consequence the pulpit
is rapidly dropping to the level of the platform. And this decline is
due, we believe, more than anything else, to an ignoring of the Holy
Spirit as the supreme inspirer of preaching. We wish to see a great
orator in the pulpit, forgetting that the least expounder of the word,
when filled with the Holy Ghost, is greater than he. We want the
gospel, forsooth; but in the strenuous demand that it be set forth
according to the "spirit of the age" we ignore the supremacy of the
"Spirit of God." And the method of discourse soon tells upon the
matter. We cannot very long have the truth in the pulpit after we have
lost "the Spirit of truth" therefrom. "When one possesses not the
whole of life," says Vinet, "he possesses not the whole of truth."
In all that we have said we do not ignore the human element in
preaching, nor undervalue good learning and sanctified mental training,
as a furnishing for this high office. We only emphasize the extreme
peril of making that supreme which God has made subordinate. As it is
genius which raises the great {146} painter or poet far above the
common man, so it is the Holy Spirit which lifts the preacher far above
the man of genius. A gifted artist spoke wisely when one, thinking
only of the implements of his profession, asked, "With what do you mix
your paints?" "With brains, sir," he replied. The preacher who
brought three thousand to believe on a crucified Christ, under a single
sermon, anticipated the question of those who, with an eye upon the
mere human accessories of his sermon, might ask after the secret of his
power; and he unfolds that secret in a single terse sentence: "With the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven."
(2) Prayer is a most vital element in the worship of God's church.
"Lord, teach us how to pray, as John also taught his disciples." Jesus
complied literally with this request of his followers. As John, under
the law, could only give rules and rudiments, not yet having come to
the dispensation of grace and of the Spirit, so did Jesus give a form
of prayer, a lesson in the "technique of worship." But only when he
reaches the eve of his passion, when he announces the coming of the
Comforter, does he lead his disciples into the heart and mystery of the
great theme, teaching them to pray as John _could not_ have taught his
disciples. "Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name," said Jesus, in
his paschal discourse. But now that he was about to enter into his
mediatorial office at God's right {147} hand, and to send forth the
Comforter into the midst of his disciples, this joyful privilege was to
be accorded to him: "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father _in my name_ he
will give it you"[4] (1 John 16: 23). The words are equivalent to "_in
me_." The thought is not surely that of using the name of Jesus as a
password or as a talisman, but of entering into his person and
appropriating his will; so that when we pray, it shall be as though
Jesus himself stood in God's presence and made intercession. Nor is it
"as though"--it is the literal fact. We become identified with Christ
through the Spirit, now sent down, and his will is wrought within us by
the Holy Ghost, so that to ask what we desire of him is to ask what he
desires for us. We are inwilled by his will, because inspired by his
Spirit, who lives and breathes within us. Therefore we may know that
we are always heard, since we are in him who can boldly say to the
Father: "I know that thou always hearest me." It is Christ's
mediatorship with the Father, and the Holy Ghost's mediatorship with
us, that gives us this high privilege of praying in the name of Jesus,
as it is written: "For through him we both have access _in one Spirit_
unto the Father."
When therefore, under the fuller development of {148} doctrine as found
in the epistles, we read of "praying always with all prayer and
supplication _in the Spirit_" (Eph. 6: 18), and of "praying in the Holy
Ghost" (Jude 20), it is simply an admonition to use our privilege of
asking in the name of Jesus. For to be in the Spirit is to be in
Christ, united to his person, identified with his will, invested with
his righteousness, so that we are as he is before the Father.
In that fullest exposition of the doctrine of the Spirit, given in the
eighth of Romans, we see clearly that the ministry of the Comforter
consists in his effectuating in us that which Christ is accomplishing
for us on the throne. Especially is this true of prayer. In the
Epistle to the Hebrews we read: "Wherefore also he is able to save to
the uttermost them that draw near to God through him, _seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them_" (Heb. 7: 25, R. V.). In the
Epistle to the Romans we read: "And in like manner the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmity; for we know not how to pray as we ought, but
_the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us_ with groanings which
cannot be uttered; 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" (Rom. 8: 26, 27, R. V.). These passages,
read together, clearly show the Spirit doing the same thing _in_ us
which Christ in heaven {149} is doing _for_ us. And, moreover, they
reveal to us the method of the glorified Christ in helping those who
know not what to pray for as they ought, teaching them, not by an
outward form, but by an inward guidance. Indeed, the prayer inspired
by the Holy Spirit is often so deep that it cannot be expressed in
formal words, but reaches the ear of the Father only in unspeakable
yearnings, in unuttered groanings. The keynote of all true
intercession is the will of God. In the disciples' prayer, as taught
them by the Master, this note is distinctly sounded: "Thy will be done
on earth as in heaven." In the Saviour's garden-prayer it is heard
again, as with strong crying and tears the Son of God exclaims: "Not my
will but thine be done"; and in the revelation of the doctrine of
prayer through an inspired apostle we read: "If we ask anything
according to his will he heareth us." It is the Spirit's deepest work
in the believer to attune his mind to this exalted key, as he "maketh
intercession for the saints _according to the will of God_." There is
a promise which all disciples love to quote for their assurance in
prayer: "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that
they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in
heaven" (Matt. 18: 19). The word translated "agree" is a very
suggestive one. It is, _sympsônêsôsin_, from which our word "symphony"
comes. If two shall _accord_ {150} or _symphonize_ in what they ask,
they have the promise of being heard. But, as in tuning an organ all
the notes must be keyed to the standard pitch, else harmony were
impossible, so in prayer. It is not enough that two disciples agree
with each other; they must both accord with a Third--the righteous and
holy Lord--before in the scriptural sense they can agree in
intercession. There may be agreement which is in most sinful conflict
with the divine will: "How is it that ye have agreed together
[_synepsônêthê_, the same word] to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?" asks
Peter (Acts 5: 9). Here is mutual accord, but guilty discord with the
Holy Ghost. On the contrary it is the Spirit's ministry to attune our
wills to the Divine; thus only can there be praying in the Holy Ghost.
We cannot therefore emphasize too strongly the administration of the
Spirit in directing the worship of God's house. The use of liturgical
forms is a relapse into legalism, a consent to be taught to pray as
"John taught his disciples." True, there may be extemporaneous forms
as well as written forms, praying by rote as well as praying by the
book. Against both habits we simply interpose the higher teaching of
the Spirit, as belonging especially to this dispensation, in which the
Father seeketh worshipers who "worship in Spirit and in truth." To
pray rightly is the highest of all attainments. And it is so because
the secret lies {151} between these two opposites; a spirit supremely
active while supremely passive, a heart prevailing with God because
prevailed over by God. "O Lord," says a high saint, "my spirit was
like a harp this morning, making melody before thee, since thou didst
first tune the instrument by the Holy Spirit, and then didst choose the
psalm of praise to be played thereon." Most solemn and suggestive
words these have always seemed: "The Father seeketh such to worship
him." Amid all the repetition of forms and the chanting of liturgies,
how earnestly the Most High searches after the spiritual worshiper,
with a heart inwardly retired before God, with a spirit so sensitive to
the hidden motions of the Holy Ghost that when the lips speak they
shall utter the effectual inwrought prayer that availeth much!
If any shall interpose the objection that what we are saying is too
high to be practical, it may be well to confirm our position by the
witness of experience. We are not speaking of pulpit prayers
especially, in what we have said. The universal priesthood of
believers, which the Scriptures so plainly teach, constitutes the
ground for common intercession, for "the praying one for another" which
is the distinctive feature of the Spirit's dispensation The prayer
meeting, therefore, in which the whole body of believers participate,
probably comes nearer the pattern of primitive Christian {152} worship
than any other service which we hold. To apply our principle here,
then, what method is found most satisfactory? Shall the service be
arranged beforehand, this one selected to pray, and that one to exhort;
and during the progress of the worship, shall such a one be called up
to lead the devotions, and such a one to follow? In a word, shall the
service be mapped out in advance and manipulated according to the
dictates of propriety and fitness as it goes on? One, after many years
of experience, can bear emphatic testimony to the value of another
way--that of magnifying the office of the Holy Spirit as the conductor
of the service, and of so withholding the pressure of human hands in
the assembly that the Spirit shall have the utmost freedom to move this
one to pray and that one to witness, this one to sing and that one "to
say amen at our giving of thanks," according to his own sovereign will.
Here we speak not theoretically but experimentally. The fervor and
spirituality and sweet naturalness of the latter method has been
demonstrated beyond a peradventure, and that too, after an extended
trial of both ways, the first in ignorance of a better way, with
constant labor and worry and fret, and the last with inexpressible ease
and comfort and spiritual refreshment. Honor the Holy Ghost as Master
of assemblies; study much the secret of surrender to him; cultivate a
quick ear for hearing his inward voice and a ready tongue {153} for
speaking his audible witness; be submissive to keep silence when he
forbids as well as to speak when he commands, and we shall learn how
much better is God's way of conducting the worship of his house than
man's way.[5]
(3) The service of song in the house of the Lord is another element of
worship whose relation to the Spirit needs to be strongly emphasized.
Spiritual singing has a divinely appointed place in the church of
Christ. Church music, in the ordinary sense of that phrase, has no
such place, but is a human invention which custom has, with many,
unhappily elevated into an ordinance. We often quote the exhortation
of the apostle: "Be filled with the Spirit," without marking the
practical service with which this fullness stands immediately
connected: "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Eph. 5:
19). As immediately as prayer is connected with the Holy Ghost in this
same epistle: "Praying at all seasons _in the Spirit_"; and our
edification in the church: "Builded {154} together _in the Spirit_"
(Eph. 2: 22, R. V.); and our spiritual energizing: "Strengthened with
power _through his Spirit_" (Eph. 3: 16, R. V.); and our approach to
God, "Access _in one Spirit_ unto the Father" (2: 18, R. V.), so
intimately is the worship of praise here connected with the Holy Ghost
and made dependent on his power. Therefore it would seem too obvious
to need arguing, that an unregenerate person is disqualified from
ministering in the service of song in God's house. Scripturally this
seems incontestable; and as to the teaching of experience, we should
hardly know how to name any custom which has brought a sorer blight
upon the life of the church, or a heavier repression upon its spiritual
energy, than the habit, now so general, of introducing unsanctified,
unconverted, and even notoriously worldly persons into the choirs of
the churches.
Now the teaching of the text just cited is decisive, not only against
such performers in choirs, but against the choirs themselves, if by the
latter term is meant certain ones employed to dispense music for the
delectation of the congregation. For observe how distinctly the mutual
and inter-congregational character of Christian singing is here pointed
out: "Speaking _to one another_ in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs." The one feature of the worship of the church, which
distinguishes it radically and totally from that of the {155} temple,
is that it is mutual. Under the law there were priests and Levites to
minister and people to be ministered to; under the gospel there is a
universal spiritual priesthood, in which all minister and all are
ministered to. Every act of service belonging to the Christian church
is so described. There must be prayer, and the exhortation is, "Pray
_one for another_" (James 5: 16). There must be confession, and the
injunction is: "Confess your sins _one to another_" (James 5: 16, R.
V.). There must be exhortation, and the command is: "Exhort one
another" (Heb. 3: 13). There must be love, and we are enjoined to
"love _one another_" (1 Peter 1: 22). There must be burden-bearing,
and the exhortation is: "Bear ye _one another's_ burdens" (Gal. 6: 2).
There must be comforting, and the command is: "Wherefore comfort _one
another_" (1 Thess. 4: 18). So with the worship of song. Its
reciprocal character is emphasized, not only in the passage just
quoted, but also in the Epistle to the Colossians: "Teaching and
admonishing _one another_ in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs"
(Col. 3: 16). This is according to the clearly defined method of the
Spirit in this dispensation. He establishes our fellowship with the
Head of the church, and through him with one another. All blessing in
the body is mutual, and the worship which is ordained to maintain and
increase that blessing is likewise mutual.
{156}
As now the Spirit is the inspirer and director of the worship of God's
church, he must have those who have been renewed and are indwelt by
himself as the instruments through whom he acts; and by a teaching of
Scripture too clear to be misunderstood all others are disqualified.
How distinctly is this shown even in the types and symbols of the old
dispensation. The holy anointing enjoined in Exodus for Aaron and his
sons, is confessedly a type of the unction of the Holy Ghost. And mark
the rigid and sacred limitations in its use: "And thou shalt anoint
Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them that they may minister unto me
in the priest's office. And thou shalt speak unto the children of
Israel, saying: This shall be a holy anointing oil unto me throughout
your generation. Upon man's flesh it shall not be poured; neither
shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it; it is
holy, and shall be holy unto you; whosoever compoundeth any like it, or
whoso putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his
people" (Exod. 30: 30-33).
Now, of these minute directions and prescribed transactions we may say
confidently that "they happened unto them for ensamples and they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [ages] are
come" (1 Cor. 10: 11). The three rigid prohibitions here named touch
just the errors which are most characteristic of the present {157}
generation. "_Upon man's flesh it shall not be poured_"; honoring the
natural man, and exalting human nature into that place which belongs
only to the regenerate. This is the error of those who believe in the
universal sonship of the race, and call the carnal man divine.
"_Whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger._" This is the sin of
those who thrust into the ministry and service of the church persons
who have never by the new birth through the Spirit been brought into
the family of God, into the household of faith. "_Whosoever
compoundeth any like it._" This is the artificial imitation of the
Spirit's offices and ministration. Let the Christian reader pause and
ponder well this last prohibition. In the story of the primitive
church sample sins are given for our warning, as well as specimen
graces for our emulation. One such sin, so subtle, so dangerous, and
so constantly recurring in Christian history, having taken the name of
its first author and being called "simony," has been handed down from
generation to generation. "Because thou hast thought that the gift of
God can be purchased with money" is the solemn indictment against one
who had purposed to buy the power of the Holy Ghost. Many desire the
gifts of the Spirit who little care for the Spirit himself. Divine
music is greatly coveted. Why not, with our thousands of gold, buy
this spiritual luxury? Bring the singing men and singing women from
the {158} opera and from the concert hall; bid them compound a potion
of sanctuary music, which shall entrance all ears and draw to the
church those who could not be drawn thither by the plain attractions of
the Cross. But what is the exhortation of Scripture? "By him
therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that
is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name" (Heb. 13: 15).
This kind of sacrifice costs--earnest prayer, deep communion, and the
fullness of the Spirit; but no sum of gold, however large, is adequate
for its purchase, nor can any musician's art, however ingenious,
imitate it. Is there no approach to the sin of simony in those
churches which spend thousands yearly in artistic music? And is not
this attempted purchase of the Holy Ghost closely linked with the other
sin of robbing God, considering how this lavish expenditure on
artificial worship is almost always accompanied with meagre giving for
the carrying out of the Great Commission? Our conclusion is, that the
service of song has been committed to the church, and to the church
alone, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Some of her number may
be appointed to lead this service, if they themselves are under the
leadership of the Spirit. But the church cannot commit this divine
ministry to unsanctified hireling minstrels, without affront to the
Spirit of God and serious peril to her own communion with God.
{159}
If again any object that we are setting up an exaggerated and
impossible ideal, let the voice of experience be heard in evidence.
Let pastors be called to testify of the added blessing and fervor which
have come to their sanctuaries when this ideal has been approximately
realized. Let history repeat its story of song driven in times of
apostasy into some narrow stall of the church, and into the hands of a
few trained monopolists of worship; and then, in eras of revival, of
the bursting of the barriers and the people of God seizing once more
their defrauded heritage and breaking forth, a great multitude, into
"hallelujahs of the heart." The annals of the Lollards, and of the
Lutherans, and of the Wesleyans, and of the Salvationists bear
harmonious witness on this point, and are deeply instructive.
3. _The Holy Spirit in the Missions of the Church_. In the Gospels
which contain the story of Christ's earthly life we have the record of
the giving of the Great Commission: "Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature." In the Acts, which contains the
story of the life of the Spirit, we have the promise of the coming of
the Executor of that Commission: "But ye shall receive power when the
Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be my witnesses, both in
Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth" (Acts 1: 8, R. V.). Nowhere is the hand {160} of the Spirit
more distinctly seen than in the origination and superintendence of
missions. The field is the world, the sower is the disciple, and the
seed is the word. The world can only be made accessible through the
Spirit--"When he is come he will convict the world of sin"; the sower
is energized only through the Spirit--"Ye shall receive the power of
the Holy Ghost coming upon you"; and the seed is only made productive
through the quickening of the Spirit--"He that soweth unto the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap eternal life" (Gal. 6: 8, R. V.). In the
simple story of the primitive mission, as recorded in the thirteenth of
Acts, we see how every step in the enterprise was originated and
directed by the presiding Spirit. We observe this:
(1) In the selection of missionaries: "_The Holy Ghost_ said, Separate
me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" (13: 2).
(2) In their thrusting forth into the field: "So they, being sent forth
by the _Holy Ghost_, departed unto Seleucia" (13: 4).
(3) In empowering them to speak: "Then Saul, who also is called Paul,
filled with the _Holy Ghost_, said" (13: 9).
(4) In sustaining them in persecution: "And the disciples were filled
with joy and with the _Holy Ghost_" (13: 52).
(5) In setting the Divine seal upon their {161} ministry among the
Gentiles: "And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving
_them the Holy Ghost_, even as he did unto us" (15: 8).
(6) In counseling in difficult questions of missionary policy: "It
seemed good _to the Holy Ghost_ and to us" (15: 28).
(7) In restraining the missionaries from entering into fields not yet
appointed by the Lord: They "were forbidden of the _Holy Ghost_ to
preach the gospel in Asia. . . They assayed to go into Bithynia but
_the Spirit suffered them not_" (16: 6, 7).
Very striking is this record of the ever-present, unfailing, and minute
direction of the Holy Ghost in all the steps of this divine enterprise.
"But this was in apostolic days," it will be said. Yes; but the
promise of the Spirit is that "He shall abide with you for the age."
Unless the age has ended he is still here, and still in office, and
still entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out that work which
is dearest to the heart of our glorified Lord. Who can say that there
is not need in these days of a return to primitive methods and of a
resumption of the Church's primitive endowments? The Holy Spirit is
not straitened in himself, but only in us. If the Church had faith to
lean less on human wisdom, to trust less in prudential methods, to
administer less by mechanical {162} rules, and to recognize once more
the great fact that, having committed to her a supernatural work, she
has appointed for her a supernatural power, who can doubt that the
grinding and groaning of our cumbrous missionary machinery would be
vastly lessened, and the demonstration of the Spirit be far more
apparent?
[1] Of course Catholic writers claim that the pope is the "Vicar of
Christ" only as being the mouth-piece of the Holy Ghost. But the
Spirit has been given to the church as a whole, that is to the body of
regenerated believers, and to every member of that body according to
his measure. The sin of sacerdotalism is, that it arrogates for a
usurping few that which belongs to every member of Christ's mystical
body. It is a suggestive fact that the name _klêros_, which Peter
gives to the church as the "flock of God," when warning the elders
against being _lords over God's heritage_, now appears in
ecclesiastical usage as the _clergy_, with its orders of pontiff and
prelates and lord bishops, whose appointed function it is to exercise
lordship over Christ's flock.
[2] By the candlesticks being seven instead of one, as in the
tabernacle, we are taught that whereas in the Jewish dispensation,
God's visible church was one, in the Gentile dispensation there are
many visible churches; and that Christ himself recognizes them
alike.--_Canon Garratt, "Commentary on the Revelation," p. 32._
[3] "The Work of the Holy Spirit in Man," by Pastor G. F. Tophel, p. 66.
[4] It was impossible up to the time of the glorification of Jesus to
pray to the Father in his name. It is a fullness of joy peculiar to
the dispensation of the Spirit to be able to do so.--_Alford_.
[5] It were well for us to give more heed to the voice of Christian
history as related to such questions as these. The rise of "sporadic
sects" like the "Quietists," the "Mystics," the "Friends," and the
"Brethren," with their emphasis on "the still voice" and "the inward
leading," is very suggestive. If we may not go so far as some of these
go in the insistence on speaking only as sensibly moved by the Spirit
we may be admonished of the hard, artificial man-made worship which
made their protest necessary.
{163}
VIII
THE INSPIRATION OF THE SPIRIT
{164}
"Have you visited the Cathedral of Freyburg, and listened to that
wonderful organist, who with such enchantment draws the tears from the
traveler's eyes while he touches, one after another, his wonderful
keys, and makes you hear by turns the march of armies upon the beach,
or the chanted prayer upon the lake during the tempest, or the voices
of praise after it is calm? Well, thus the Eternal God, embracing at a
glance the key-board of sixty centuries, touches by turns, with the
fingers of his Spirit, the keys which he had chosen for the unity of
his celestial hymn. He lays his left hand upon Enoch, the seventh from
Adam, and his right hand on John, the humble and sublime prisoner of
Patmos. From the one the strain is heard: 'Behold the Lord cometh with
ten thousand of his saints'; from the other: 'Behold he cometh with
clouds.' And between the notes of this hymn of three thousand years
there is eternal harmony, and the angels stoop to listen, the elect of
God are moved, and eternal life descends into men's souls."--_Gaussen's
Theopneustia_.
{165}
VIII
THE INSPIRATION OP THE SPIRIT
Inspiration signifies inbreathing. Both the scribe and the Scripture,
both the man of God and the word of God were divinely inbreathed. In
that memorable meeting of the risen Lord and his disciples within the
closed doors, we read that "_He breathed on them_ and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are
forgiven unto them; whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained"
(John 20: 22, R. V.). Well may the question of the scribes concerning
Jesus now arise in our hearts concerning his disciples: "Who can
forgive sins but God only?" And the answer should be: "True; God alone
can forgive sins. And it is only because the Spirit of God, who is
God, is in the apostles, endowing them with his divine prerogatives,
that they are able to exercise this high authority."
We are persuaded, however, that this commission was not given to all
Christians, though all have the Spirit. In a note in Olshausen's
Commentary the matter seems to be correctly stated: "To the apostles
was granted the power, absolute and unconditioned, of binding and
loosing, just as to them was {166} given the power of publishing truth
unmixed with error. For _both_ they possessed miraculous spiritual
endowments." Only we should say "sovereign" rather than "miraculous"
endowments. "_The Spirit breatheth where he wills_, and thou hearest
his voice," said Jesus.[1] While miraculous gifts were not confined to
the apostles, Christ may have committed to these, and to these alone,
the sovereign prerogative of forgiving sins; gifts of healing, on the
other hand, the working of miracles, prophecy, the discerning of
spirits, and tongues, being distributed throughout the church; "but all
these worketh one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally
even _as he will_" (1 Cor. 12: 11, R. V.). In a word, the action of
the Holy Ghost was supremely sovereign in the assignment of spiritual
offices, and when Jesus breathed on his apostles the Holy Ghost, and
gave them authority {167} to remit sins, he separated them unto a
prerogative of which others, indwelt by the same Spirit, might have
known nothing. It is very generally held that the order of apostles
ceased with the death of those who had seen the Lord and companied with
him until the day that he was received up. But the reason for this
cessation has been too little considered. May we not believe that the
apostles and their companions were commissioned to speak for the Lord
until the New Testament Scriptures, his authoritative voice, should be
completed? If so, in the apostolate we have a provisional inspiration;
in the gospel a stereotyped inspiration; the first being endowed with
authority _ad interim_ to remit sins, and the second having this
authority _in perpetuam_. The New Testament, as the very mouthpiece of
the Lord, pronounces forgiveness upon all in every generation who truly
repent and believe on the Son of God; and preachers in every age, with
the Bible in their hand, are authorized to do the same declaratively.
But when it is urged, as by Catholic writers, that this infallibility
for teaching and absolution, which was committed to the apostles, has
descended through a succession of ministers called the clergy, the
answer seems to be, that this authority has not been perpetuated in any
body of men apart from the Scriptures, but was transferred to the New
Testament and lodged there for all time. Historically, at least, it
seems to have been {168} the fact, that as the apostles and prophets of
the new dispensation disappeared, the Gospels and Epistles took their
place, and that henceforth the divine authoritative voice of the Spirit
could be distinctly recognized only in the written word. As coal has
been called "fossil sunlight," so the New Testament may be called
fossil inspiration, the supernatural illumination which fell upon the
apostles being herein stored up for the use of the church throughout
the ages.[2]
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God
[_theopneustos_--God-breathed], and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (3 Tim. 3:
16). As the Lord breathed the Spirit into certain men, and thereby
committed to them his own prerogative of forgiving sin, so he breathed
his Spirit into certain books and endowed them with his infallibility
in teaching truth. God did not choose to inspire all good books,
though he has chosen to
{169} inbreathe one book, thereby separating it and setting it apart
from all other books.[3] The phrase, "the Bible is simply literature,"
which some are using to-day, as a suggestion against bibliolatry, is
not true. Literature is the letter; Scripture is the letter inspired
by the Spirit. What Jesus said in justification of his doctrine of the
new birth is equally applicable to the doctrine of inspiration: "That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit." Educate, develop, and refine the natural man to the
highest possible point, and yet he is not a spiritual man till, through
the new birth, the Holy Ghost renews and indwells him. So of
literature; however elevated its tone, however lofty its thought, it is
not Scripture. Scripture is literature indwelt by the Spirit of God.
The absence of the Holy Ghost from any writing constitutes the
impassable gulf between it and Scripture. Our Lord, in speaking of his
own doctrine, uses the same language, to show its separateness from
common teaching which he employs above to mark the distinction of the
new man. He says: "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh
profiteth nothing; _the words that I have spoken unto {170} you are
spirit and are life_" (John 6: 63, R. V.). Words they were, and in
that respect, literature; but words divinely inbreathed and therefore
Scripture. In fine, the one fact which makes the word of God a unique
book, standing apart in solitary separateness from all other writings,
is that which also parts off the man of God from common men--the
indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Therefore we may say truly of the Bible,
not merely that it _was_ inspired, but it _is_ inspired; that the Holy
Ghost breathes within it, making it not only authoritative in its
doctrine but life-giving in its substance, so that they who receive its
promises by faith "have been begotten again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible, through the word of God which liveth and abideth"
(1 Peter 1: 23, R. V.).
Thus far in this volume we have been dwelling upon the various works
and offices of the Paraclete. Now we come to consider that the Holy
Spirit not only acts but speaks. Let us listen to the repeated
affirmations of this fact. Seven times our glorified Lord says,
speaking in the Apocalypse: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what
_the Spirit saith unto_ the churches" (Rev. 2: 7). The Paraclete on
earth answers to the Paraclete above, so that to the voice from Heaven
saying: "Write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from
henceforth," the response is heard: "_Yea, saith the Spirit_, that they
may rest from their labors," etc. (Rev. 14: 13). {171} This accords
with the general tenor of Scripture as to its own Author. In referring
to the Old Testament, Peter says: "This Scripture must needs have been
fulfilled, _which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before_
concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus" (Acts 1:
16). And again: "David himself _said by the Holy Ghost_" (Mark 12:
36), our Lord thus plainly recognizing the voice of the Spirit in the
voice of the psalmist. So again: "_The Spirit of the Lord spake by
me_, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock
of Israel spake to me" (2 Sam. 23: 2, 3), and "Wherefore as _the Holy
Ghost saith_, To-day if ye will hear his voice" (Heb. 3: 7).
And what is it to speak? Is it not to express thought in language?
The difference between thinking and saying is simply the difference of
words. Therefore, if the Holy Ghost "_saith_," we are to find in the
_words_ of Scripture the exact substance of what he saith. Hence
verbal inspiration seems absolutely essential for conveying to us the
exact thought of God. And while many affect to ridicule the idea as
mechanical and paltry, the conduct and method of scholars of every
shade of belief show how generally it is accepted. For, why the minute
study of the _words_ of Scripture carried on by all expositors, their
search after the precise shade of verbal significance, their attention
to the {172} minutest details of language, and to all the delicate
coloring of mood and tense and accent? The high scholars who speak
lightly of the theory of literal inspiration of the Scriptures by their
method of study and exegesis are they who put the strongest affirmation
on the doctrine which they deny. Then we cannot forget what we imply
when we say that language is the expression of thought. Words
determine the size and shape of ideas. As exactly as the coin answers
to the die in which it is struck, does the thought answer to the word
by which it is uttered. Vary the language by the slightest
modification, and you by so much vary the thought.
As ultra spiritualism interprets Paul's words "_a spiritual body_," to
mean a ghost, when the accent is as strongly on the _sõma_ as on the
_pneumatichon_, his real thought evidently being that of a _body
spiritualized_; so some, remembering that "the letter killeth," would
etherealize Scripture by telling us that the divine idea is the chief
thing, and the language quite secondary. But wisely and well has
Martin Luther reminded us that "Christ did not say of his Spirit, but
of his _words_, they are spirit and life."
To deny that it is the Holy Ghost who speaks in Scripture, is an
intelligible position; but admitting that _he speaks_, we can only
understand his thoughts by listening to his words. True, he may beget
within us emotions too deep for expression, as when {173} "The Spirit
himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered" (Rom. 8: 26). But the idea which is really intelligible is
the idea that is embodied in speech. For finite minds, at least, words
are the measure of comprehensible thoughts. Evidently Jesus claims for
his teaching not only inspiration, but verbal inspiration, when he says
that his _words_ are "spirit and life." And to this agrees the saying
of Paul, in speaking of the inspiration of the Holy Ghost: "But God
hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of
God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not
the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things which are freely given to us of God, which things also
we speak, _not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth_, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1
Cor. 2: 10-13).
And what if one objects that this theory makes inspiration purely
mechanical, and turns the writers of Scripture into stenographers,
whose office is simply to transcribe the words of the Spirit as they
are dictated? It must be confessed that there is much in Scripture to
support this view of the case. Should we see a student who, having
taken down {174} the lecture of a profound philosopher, was now
studying diligently to comprehend the sense of the discourse which he
had written, we should understand simply that he was a pupil and not a
master; that he had nothing to do with originating either the thoughts
or the words of the lecture, but was rather a disciple whose province
it was to understand what he had transcribed, and so be able to
communicate it to others. And who can deny that this is the exact
picture of what we have in the following passage from Scripture: "Of
which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, _searching what, or
what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify,
when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory
that should follow_; unto whom it was revealed," etc. (1 Peter 1: 10,
11). Here were inspired writers, studying the meaning of what they
themselves had written. If they were prophets on the manward side,
they were evidently pupils on the Godward side. With all possible
allowance for the human peculiarities of the writers, they must have
been reporters of what they heard, rather than the formulators of that
which they had been made to understand. How nearly this also describes
the attitude of Christ,--a hearer that he might be a teacher: "All
things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you" (John
15: 15); {175} a reporter that he might be a revealer: "I have given
unto them _the words_ which thou gavest me" (John 17: 8).
In these days scholars are very jealous for the human element in
inspiration; but the sovereign element is what most impresses the
diligent student of this subject. "The Spirit breatheth where he
wills." Concerning regeneration by the Holy Ghost, we are carefully
told that it is "not of the will of the flesh, nor _of the will of
man_, but of God"; and concerning inspiration by the Spirit, the
teaching is equally explicit: "For no prophecy ever came _by the will
of man_, but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost" (2
Peter 1: 21, R. V.).
The style of Scripture is, no doubt, according to the traits and
idiosyncracies of the several writers, as the light within the
cathedral takes on its various hues from passing through the stained
windows; but to say that the thoughts of the Bible are from the Spirit,
and the language from men, creates a dualism in revelation not easy to
justify; so that we must quote with entire approval the words of an
eminent writer upon this subject: "The opinion that the subject-matter
alone of the Bible proceeded from the Holy Spirit, while its language
was left to the unaided choice of the various writers, amounts to that
fantastic notion which is the grand fallacy of many theories of
inspiration; namely, that two spiritual agencies were in operation, one
of which {176} produced the phraseology in the outward form, while the
other created within the soul the conceptions and thoughts of which
such phraseology was the expression. The Holy Spirit, on the contrary,
as the productive _principle_, embraces the entire activity of those
whom he inspires, rendering their language the _word of God_."[4]
If it be urged that the quotations which the New Testament makes from
the Old are rarely _ipsissima verba_, the language being in many
instances greatly changed, it should be noted in reply how significant
even these changes often are. If the Holy Spirit directed in the
writing of both books, he would have a sovereign right to alter the
phraseology, if need be, from the one to the other. In the opinion of
many scholars the change of "the Redeemer shall come _to_ Zion, and
unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob," in Isa. 59: 20, to
"There shall come _out_ of Zion the Deliverer," in Rom. 11: 26, is an
inspired and intentional change.[5] So of the citation from Amos 9:
11, "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle that is fallen," as
given in Acts 15:16, "After these things I will return, and I will
build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen"; the modification
of the language seems designed, in order to make clear its significance
in its present setting. Many other examples might be given of {177} a
reshaping of his own words by the divine Author of Scripture. On the
other hand, the constant recurrence of the same words and phrases in
books of the Bible most widely separated in the time and circumstances
of their composition, strongly suggests identity of authorship amid the
variety of penmanship. The individuality of the writers was no doubt
preserved, only that their individuality was subordinated to the
sovereign individuality of the Holy Spirit. It is with the written
word as with the incarnate Word. Because Christ is divine, he is more
truly human than any whom the world has ever seen; and because the
Bible is supernatural, it is natural as no other book which was ever
written; its divinity lifts it above those faults of style which are
the fruits of self-consciousness and ambition. Whether we read the Old
Testament story of Abraham's servant seeking a bride for Isaac, or the
New Testament narrative of the walk of the risen Christ with his
disciples to Emmaus, the inimitable simplicity of the diction would
make us think that we were listening to the dialect of the angels who
never sinned in thought, and therefore cannot sin in style, did we not
know rather that it is the phraseology of the Holy Spirit.[6]
{178}
An eminent German theologian has written a sentence so profoundly
significant that we here reproduce it in Italics: "_We can in fact
speak with good reason of a language of the Holy Ghost. For it lies in
the Bible plainly before our eyes, how the Divine Spirit, who is the
agent of revelation, has fashioned for himself a quite peculiar
religious dialect out of the speech of that people which forms its
theatre._"[7] So true do we hold this saying to be, that it seems to
us quite impossible that the exact meaning of many of the terms of the
New Testament Greek should be found in a Lexicon of classic Greek.
Though the verbal form is the same in both, the inbreathed spirit may
have imparted such new significance to old words, that to employ a
secular dictionary for translating the sacred oracles, were almost like
calling an unregenerate man to interpret the mysteries of the
regenerate life. Do we not know how modern progress and discovery have
even put new meanings into many English words, so that one must be in
"the spirit of the age" in order to comprehend them?[8] Thus {179}
likewise, even in the work of verbal criticism, it is essential that
one possess the spirit of Christ in order to translate the words of
Christ.
As to the question of the "inerrancy of Scripture," as the modern
phrase is, we may well pass by many minor arguments, and emphasize the
one great reason for holding this view, viz.: If it is God the Holy
Ghost who speaks in Scripture, then the Bible is the word of God, and
like God, infallible. A recent brilliant writer has challenged us to
show where the Bible anywhere calls itself "The word of God."[9] The
most elementary student of the subject can, with the aid of a
concordance, easily point out the passages which so describe it. But
we dwell on the fact that is not only called _o logos tou theon_, "_the
Word of God_," but _ta logia tou theou_, "_the oracles of God_." This
collective name of the Scriptures is most significant. We need not
inquire of the heathen as to the meaning which they put upon the words
as the authoritative utterances of their gods; let the usage of
Scripture make its own impression: "What advantage then hath the Jew?
or what is the profit of circumcision? Much every way; first of all,
that they were intrusted with _the oracles of God_" (Rom. 3: 2, R.
V.).[10]
This comprehensive expression is very helpful {180} to our faith. When
critics are assailing the books of the Old Testament in detail, the
Holy Spirit authenticates them for us in their entirety. As Abigail
prayed for a soul "bound in the bundle of life" with the Lord, so here
an apostle gives us the books of the Law and the Prophets and the
Psalms bound together in one bundle of inspired authority. Stephen, in
like manner, speaks of his nation as "those who received the _lively
oracles_ (of God) to give unto us" (Acts 7: 38); and Peter says, "If
any man speak let him speak as _the oracles of God_" (1 Peter 4: 11).
And not only this; the same apostles who submitted to the authority of
the Old Testament as the oracles of God, themselves claimed to write as
the oracles of God in the New Testament. "If any man," says Paul,
"think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that
the things that I write unto you are the _commandments of the Lord_" (1
Cor. 14: 37). "We are of God," writes John. "He that knoweth God
heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us" (1 John 4: 16).
These claims are too great to be put forth concerning fallible
writings. Admitting their premises, the Jews were right in charging
Jesus with blasphemy, in that being a man {181} he made himself God.
If Christ is not God, he is not even a good man. And if the Scriptures
are not inerrant, they are worse than errant; since, being literature,
they make themselves the word of God.
And what if it be said that there are irreconcilable contradictions in
this book which calls itself the oracles of God? Two things may be
said: First, it should be expected that under "the scientific method"
such contradictions should appear and constantly multiply. The Bible
is a sensitive plant, which shuts itself up at the touch of mere
critical investigation. In the same paragraph in which it claims that
its very words are the words of the Holy Spirit, it repudiates the
scientific method as futile for the understanding of those words: "Eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard,"--and insists on the spiritual method as
alone adequate,--"but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit" (1
Cor. 2: 9, 10). Not only does the Bible not yield roses to the critic,
it yields the thorns and briars of hopeless contradiction. "_Intellige
ut credos verbum meum_," said Augustine to the rationalists of his day,
"_sed crede ut intelligas verbum Dei_." "Understand my word, that you
may believe it; believe God's word, that you may understand it." Faith
holds not only the keys of all the creeds, but of all the
contradictions. He who starts out and proceeds under the conviction
that the Bible is the {182} infallible word of God, will find
discrepancies constantly turning into unisons under his study. And
this remark leads to the second observation: that the contradictions of
man may really be the harmonies of God. An uncultivated listener,
hearing an oratorio of one of the great masters, would detect discords
again and again in the strains; and as a matter of fact, what are
called "accidentals" in music are discords, but discords inserted to
heighten the harmony. Thus, as one after another of the alleged
discrepancies of Scripture having been noted and made to jar upon the
ear have then been reconciled, with what an emphatic and heightened
harmony have the words of the psalmist, speaking by the Holy Ghost,
fallen on our ear: "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the
soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple"!
There seems to the critic to be historic error in the statement of
Stephen that Jacob was buried at Sychem (Acts 7: 16) instead of in the
field of Machpelah before Mamre, as recorded in Gen. 50: 13, just as it
was once thought that Luke had made a mistake, not to be explained
away, in his reference to Cyrenius in chapter 2: 1, 2. But as the
latter contradiction has disappeared, only confirming the veracity of
Scripture by the investigation which it has called forth, so may the
former. And so also with such alleged discrepancies as that between
the record in {183} one place that King Solomon had four thousand
stalls for horses, and in another forty thousand; or that of the
statement in one passage that King Josias began to reign at eight years
of age, and in another, at eighteen. What if we freely admit that we
cannot reconcile these statements? That does not prove that they are
not reconcilable. The history of solved contradictions has certainly
shown this, that as "the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God stronger than men," so the discords of God are more
harmonious than men.
We may say, in closing this chapter, that almost the highest proof of
the infallibility of Scripture is the practical one, that we have
proved it so; that as the coin of the State has always been found able
to buy the amount represented on its face, so the prophecies and the
promises of Holy Scripture have yielded their face value to those who
have taken pains to prove them. If they have not always done so, it is
probable that they have not yet matured. Certainly there are
multitudes of Christians who have so far proved the veracity of
Scripture that they are ready to trust it without reserve in all that
it pledges for the world yet unseen and the life yet unrealized.
"Believe that thou mayest know," then, is the admonition which
Scripture and history combine to enforce. In the farewell of that rare
saint, Adolph Monod, these golden words occur: {184} "When I shall
enter the invisible world, I do not expect to find things different
from what the word of God represented them to me here. The voice I
shall then hear will be the same I now hear upon the earth, and I shall
say, 'This is indeed what God said to me; _and how thankful I am that I
did not wait till I had seen in order to believe_.'"
[1] John 3: 8. "The wind bloweth where it listeth." Without
pronouncing dogmatically, it must be said that the translation of
Bengel and some others--"_The Spirit breatheth where he wills, and thou
hearest his voice_"--has reasons in its favor which are well-nigh
irresistible; _e.g._, If _to pneuma_ here is the _wind_, it has one
meaning in the first part of the sentence and another meaning in the
second; and that meaning too, one which it bears in no other instance
of the more than two hundred and seventy uses of the word in the New
Testament. It is not the word used in Acts 2: 2, as might be expected
if it signified wind. Then it seems unnatural to ascribe volition to
the wind, _thelei_. On the contrary, if the words apply to the Spirit,
the saying is in entire harmony with other Scriptures, which affirm the
sovereignty of the Holy Ghost in regeneration (John 1: 13) and in the
control and direction of those who are the subjects of the new birth (2
Cor. 12: 4-11).
[2] The proof that the inspiration of the apostles and scribes of the
New Testament was not transmitted to successors is thus stated by
Neander: "A phenomenon singular in its kind is the striking difference
between the writings of the apostles and those of the apostolic
fathers, so nearly their contemporaries. In other instances
transitions are wont to be gradual, but in this instance we observe a
sudden change. There is no gentle gradation here, but all at once an
abrupt transition from one style of language to another--a phenomenon
which should lead us to acknowledge the fact of a special agency of the
Divine Spirit in the souls of the apostles and of a new creative
element in the first period."--_Church History_, II., 405.
[3] There are the strongest reasons for rejecting the rendering of this
passage as given in the Revised Version: "_Every Scripture inspired of
God is also profitable_", etc. The reader will find the objections to
this rendering powerfully and conclusively set forth in Tregelles on
Daniel. Note, p. 267.
[4] Lee on the "Inspiration of the Holy Scripture," pp. 32, 33.
[5] See Lange's "Commentary" _in loco_.
[6] I am satisfied only with the style of Scripture. My own style and
the style of all other men cannot satisfy me. If I read only three or
four verses I am sure of their divinity on account of their
inimitableness. _It is the style of the heavenly court.--Oetinger_.
[7] Rothe, "Dogmatics," p. 238.
[8] For example, Shakespeare, and Milton, and Dryden, employ the words
"car" and "engine" and "train" in their writings; but living before the
age of steam and railways they knew nothing of the meaning which these
terms convey to us. And it is possible that Homer and Plato knew as
little of the meaning of such words as _aiôn_ and _paraklêtos_, as
found in the revelation of Jesus Christ, by whom "the ages were framed"
and the Comforter sent down.
[9] Dr. R. F. Horton, in "_Verbum Dei_."
[10] The apostle in calling the Old Testament Scriptures the "oracles
of God," clearly recognizes them as divinely inspired books. The
Jewish church was the trustee and guardian of these oracles till the
coming of Christ. Now the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are
committed to the guardianship of the Christian Church.--_Dr. Philip
Schaff_.
{185}
IX
THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT
{186}
"The Comforter in every part of his threefold work glorifies Christ. In
convincing of sin he convinces us of the sin of not believing on Christ.
In convincing us of righteousness, he convinces us of the righteousness
of Christ, of that righteousness which was made manifest in Christ going
to the Father, and which he received to bestow on all such as should
believe in him. And lastly, in convincing of judgment, he convinces us
that the prince of the World was judged in the life and by the death of
Christ. Thus throughout, Christ is glorified; and that which the
Comforter shows to us relates in all its parts to the life and work of
the incarnate Son of God."--_Julius Charles Hare_.
{187}
IX
THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT
"And when he is come _he will convict the world in respect of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment_" (John 16: 8, R. V.). It is too large a
conclusion which many seem to draw from these words, that since the day
of Pentecost the Spirit has been universally diffused in the world,
touching hearts everywhere, among Christians and heathen, among the
evangelized and the unevangelized alike, and awakening in them a sense of
sin. Does not our Lord say in this same discourse concerning the
Comforter: "_Whom the world cannot receive_, because it seeth him not
neither knoweth him"? (John 14: 17) With these words should be
associated the limitation which Jesus makes in the gift of the Paraclete:
"If I depart I will send him _unto you_." Christ's disciples were to be
the recipients and distributors of the Holy Ghost, and his church the
mediator between the Spirit and the world. "And when he is come (to you)
he will reprove the world." And to complete the exposition, we may
connect this promise with the Great Commission, "Go ye into _all the
world_ and preach the gospel to every creature," and conclude that when
the {188} Lord sends his messengers into the world, the Spirit of truth
goes with them, witnessing to the message which they bear, convincing of
the sin which they reprove, and revealing the righteousness which they
proclaim. We are not clear to affirm that the conviction of the Spirit
here promised goes beyond the church's evangelizing, though there is
every reason to believe that it invariably accompanies the faithful
preaching of the word.
It will help us then to a clear conception of the subject, if we consider
the Spirit of truth as sent _unto the Church_, testifying _of Christ_,
and bringing conviction _to the world_.
As there is a threefold work of Christ, as prophet, priest, and king, so
there is a threefold conviction of the Spirit answering thereto: "And he,
when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin and of
righteousness and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on me; of
righteousness, because I go to the Father and ye behold me no more; of
judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged" (John 16:
8-12, R. V.). It is concerning the testimony of Christ as he spake to
men in the days of his flesh; and concerning the work of Christ now
carried on in his intercession at God's right hand; and concerning the
sentence of Christ when he shall come again to be our judge, that this
witness of the Spirit has to do.
"_He shall convince the world of sin._" Why is he {189} needed for this
conviction since conscience is present in every human breast, and is
doing his work so faithfully? We reply: Conscience is the witness to the
law; the Spirit is the witness to grace. Conscience brings legal
conviction; the Spirit brings evangelical conviction; the one begets a
conviction unto despair, the other a conviction unto hope.
"_Of sin, because they believe not on me,_" describes the ground of the
Holy Spirit's conviction. The entrance of Christ into the world rendered
possible a sin hitherto unknown: "If I had not come and spoken unto them,
they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin" (John 15:
22). Evil seems to have required the presence of incarnate goodness, in
order to its fullest manifestation. Hence the deep significance of the
prophecy spoken over the cradle of Jesus: "Behold this child is set for
the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall
be spoken against, _that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed_"
(Luke 2: 34, 35). All the most hideous sins of human nature came out
during the betrayal and trial and passion of our Lord. In that "hour and
power of darkness" these sins seem indeed to have been but imperfectly
recognized. But when the day of Pentecost had come, with its awful
revealing light of the Spirit of truth, then there was great contrition
in Jerusalem--a contrition the sting of {190} which we find in the charge
of Peter: "Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain." Was not that deep conviction, following the gift
of the Spirit, in which three thousand were brought to repentance in a
single day, a conviction of sin because they had not believed on Christ?
For our reproof the Holy Ghost presents another side of the same fact,
calling us to repentance, not for having taken part in crucifying Christ,
but for having refused to take part in Christ crucified; not for having
been guilty of delivering him up to death, but for having refused to
believe in him who was "delivered for our offenses and raised again for
our justification." Wherever, by the preaching of the gospel, the fact
of Christ having died for the sins of the world is made known, this guilt
becomes possible. The sin of disbelieving on Christ is, therefore, the
great sin now, because it summarizes all other sins. He bore for us the
penalties of the law; and thus our obligation, which was originally to
the law, is transferred to him. To refuse faith in him, therefore, is to
repudiate the claims of the law which he fulfilled and to repudiate the
debt of infinite love which, by his sacrifice, we have incurred.
Nevertheless, the Spirit of truth brings home this sin against the Lord,
not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
In a word, as has been well said, "it is not {191} the sin-question but
the Son-question" which we really raise now in preaching the gospel.
"Christ having perfectly satisfied God about sin, the question now
between God and your heart is: Are you perfectly satisfied with Christ as
the alone portion of your soul? Christ has settled every other to the
glory of God." In dealing with the guilty Jews, it was the historical
fact which the Holy Ghost urged for their conviction: "Ye denied the Holy
One and the Just, and killed the Prince of Life" (Acts 3: 14, 15). In
dealing with us Gentiles, it is rather the theological or evangelical
fact: "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3: 18), and you are condemned
that you have not believed on him and confessed him as Saviour and Lord.
It is the same sin in the last instance, but viewed upon its reverse
side, if we may say it. In the one case it is the guilt of despising and
rejecting the Son of God; in the other, it is the guilt of not believing
in him who was despised and rejected of men. Yet if submissively yielded
to, the Spirit will lead us from this first stage of revelation to the
second, since what Andrew Fuller said of the doctrines of theology is
equally true of the convictions of the Spirit, that "they are united
together like chain-shot, so that whichever one enters the heart the
other must certainly follow."
"_Of righteousness, because I go to the Father and {192} ye see me no
more._" Not until he had been seated in the heavenly places had Christ
perfected righteousness for us. As he was "delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification," so must he be enthroned for our
assurance. It is necessary to see Jesus standing at the right hand of
God, in order to know ourselves "accepted in the Beloved." How beautiful
the culmination of Isaiah's passion-prophecy wherein, accompanying the
promise that "he shall bear the sin of many," is the prediction that "by
his knowledge _shall my righteous servant justify many_"! But he must be
shown to be righteous, in order that he may justify; and this is what his
exaltation does. "It was the proof that him whom the world condemned,
God justified--that the stone which the builders rejected, God made the
Headstone of the corner--that him whom the world denied and lifted up on
a cross of shame in the midst of two thieves, God accepted and lifted up
in the midst of the throne."[1]
The words "and because ye see me no more," which have perplexed the
commentators, seem to us {193} to give the real clue to the meaning of
the whole passage. So long as the High Priest was within the veil, and
unseen, the congregation of Israel could not be sure of their acceptance.
Hence the eager anxiety with which they waited his coming out, with the
assurance that God had received the propitiation offered on their behalf.
Christ, our great High Priest, has entered into the Holy of Holies by his
own blood. Until he comes forth again at his second advent, how can we
be assured that his sacrifice for us is accepted? We could not be,
unless he had sent out one from his presence to make known this fact to
us. And this is precisely what he has done in the gift of the Holy
Ghost. "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of
his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he
had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high" (Heb. 1: 3). There he will remain throughout the whole
duration of the great day of atonement, which extends from ascension to
advent. But in order that his church may have immediate assurance of
acceptance with the Father, through his righteous servant, he sends forth
the Paraclete to certify the fact; and the presence of the Spirit in the
midst of the church is proof positive of the presence of Jesus in the
midst of the throne; as is said by Peter on the day of {194} Pentecost;
"Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of
the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which
ye now see and hear" (Acts 2: 33).
Now the Lord's words seem plain to us. Because he ascends to the Father,
to be seen no more until his second coming, the Spirit meantime comes
down to attest his presence and approval with the Father as the perfectly
righteous One. How clearly this comes out in Peter's defense before the
Council: "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged
on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a
Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins; and we
are witnesses of these things, _and so also is the Holy Ghost_, whom God
hath given to them that obey him" (Acts 5: 30-32). Why this two-fold
witness? The reason is obvious. The disciples could bear testimony to
the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, but not to his enthronement;
that event was beyond the ken of human vision; and so the Holy Ghost, who
had been cognizant of that fact in heaven, must be sent down as a
joint-witness with the apostles, that thus the whole circle of
redemption-truth might be attested. Therein was the promise of Jesus in
his last discourse literally fulfilled: "But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which
{195} proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me; and ye also
shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning"
(John 15: 26, 27).
As we have said, it is not only the enthronement of Christ in righteous
approval with the Father that must be certified, but the acceptance of
his sacrificial work as a full and satisfying ground of our
reconciliation with the Father. And the Spirit proceeding from God is
alone competent to bear to us this assurance. Therefore in the Epistle
to the Hebrews, after the reiterated statement of our Lord's exaltation
at the right hand of God, it is added: "For by one offering he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified, _whereof the Holy Ghost is
also a witness to us_" (Heb. 10: 14, 15). In a word, he whom we have
known on the cross as "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the
world," must now be known to us on the throne as "_the Lord our
righteousness_." But though the angels and the glorified in heaven see
Jesus, once crucified, now "made both Lord and Christ," we see him not.
Therefore it is written that "no man can say Jesus is Lord, _but in the
Holy Spirit_" (1 Cor. 12: 3, R. V.). So also we are told that "if any
man sin we have a _Paraclete_ with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous" (1 John 2: 1); but we can only know Christ as such through
that "other Paraclete" sent forth from the Father. It was promised that
"when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall {196} not speak from
himself; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak"
(John 16: 13, R. V.). Hearing the ascriptions of worthiness lifted up to
Christ in heaven, and beholding him who was made a little lower than the
angels for the suffering of death, now "crowned with glory and honor," he
communicates what he sees and hears to the church on earth. Thus, as he
in his earthly life, through his own outshining and self-evidencing
perfection, "was justified in the spirit"; so we, recognizing him
standing for us in glory, and now "of God made unto us righteousness,"
are also "justified in the name of the Lord Jesus _and by the Spirit of
our God_" (1 Cor. 6: 11).
Thus, though unseen by the church during all the time of his
high-priestly ministry, our Lord has sent to his church one whose office
it is to bear witness to all he is and all he is doing while in heaven,
that so we may have "boldness and access with confidence by the faith of
him," and that so we may come boldly to the throne of grace, "the Holy
Ghost this signifying"--what he could not under the old covenant--"that
the way into the holiest of all" (Heb. 9: 8) has been made manifest.
And yet--strange paradox--in this identical discourse in which Jesus
speaks to his disciples of seeing him no more, he says: "Yet a little
while and the world seeth me no more, _but ye see me_; because I live ye
shall live also" (John 14: 19); words {197} which by common consent refer
to the same time of Christ's continuance within the veil. But it is now
by the inward vision, which the world has not, that they are to behold
him. And they are to behold him _for the world_, since Christ said of
him: "Whom the _world cannot receive, because_ it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him." And yet it is "to _convince the world_" "of sin and of
righteousness and of judgment" that the Spirit was to be sent. How shall
we make it plain? When the sun retires beyond the horizon at night, the
world, our hemisphere, sees him no more; yet the moon sees him, and all
night long catches his light and throws it down upon us. So the world
sees not Christ in the gracious provisions of redemption which he holds
for us in heaven, but through the illumination of the Comforter the
church sees him; as it is written: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him; _but God hath revealed them unto us by
his Spirit_" (1 Cor. 2: 9, 10). And the Church seeing these things,
communicates what she sees to the world. Christ is all and in all; and
the Spirit receives and reflects him to the world through his people.
The moon above, the church below,
A wondrous race they run;
But all their radiance, all their glow,
Each borrows of its sun.
{198}
"_Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged._" Here, we
believe, is a still farther advance in the revelation of the gospel, and
not a retreat to the doctrine of a future judgment, as some would teach.
For we repeat our conviction, that in this entire discourse the Holy
Spirit is revealed to us as an evangel of Grace, and not as a sheriff of
the Law. Hear the Apostle Peter once more, as, pointing to him who had
been raised from the dead and seated in the heavenlies, he says: "By him
every one that believeth is justified from all things from which ye could
not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13: 39, R. V.).
Justification, in the evangelical sense, is but another name for judgment
prejudged and condemnation ended. In the enthroned Christ every question
about sin is answered, and every claim of a violated law is absolutely
met; and though there is no abatement in the demands of the decalogue,
yet because "Christ has become the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth," now "_grace reigns through righteousness_ unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Strange paradox set forth in
Isaiah's passion psalm: "_By his stripes we are healed,_" as though it
were told us that sin's smiting had procured sin's remission. And so it
is. If the Holy Spirit shows us the wounds of the dying Christ for
condemning us, he immediately shows us the wounds of the exalted Christ
for comforting us. {199} His glorified body is death's certificate of
discharge, the law's receipt in full, assuring us that all the penalties
of transgression have been endured, and the Sin-bearer acquitted.
The meaning of this last conviction seems plain therefore: "_Of judgment,
because the prince of this world is judged._" Recall the words of Jesus
as he stood face to face with the cross: "Now is the judgment of this
world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (John 12: 31).
"The accuser of the brethren" is at last non-suited and ejected from
court. The death of Christ is the death of death, and of the author of
death also. "That through death he might destroy him that hath the power
of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who, through fear of
death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2: 14, 15). If
the relation of Satan to our judgment and condemnation is mysterious,
this much is clear, from this and several passages, that Christ by his
cross has delivered us from his dominion. We must believe that Jesus
spoke the literal truth when he said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he
that heareth my word and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life,
_and cometh not into judgment_, but hath passed out of death into life"
(John 5: 24, R. V.). On the cross Christ judged sin and acquitted those
who believe on him; and in heaven he defends them against every re-arrest
by a violated law. {200} "There is therefore now no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8: 1). Thus the threefold conviction
brings the sinner the three stages of Christ's redemptive work, past
judgment and past condemnation into eternal acceptance with the Father.
In striking antithesis with all this, we have an instance in the Acts of
the threefold conviction of conscience, when Paul before Felix "reasoned
of _righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment to come_" (Acts 24:
25). Here the sin of a profligate life was laid bare as the apostle
discoursed of chastity; the claims of righteousness were vindicated, and
the certainty of coming judgment exhibited; and with the only effect that
"Felix trembled." So it must ever be under the convictions of
conscience,--compunction but not peace. We have also an instructive
contrast exhibited in Scripture, between the co-witness of the Spirit and
the co-witness of conscience. "_The Spirit himself beareth witness_
(_summarturei_) that we are the children of God" (Rom. 8: 16). Here is
the assurance of sonship, with all the divine inward persuasion of
freedom from condemnation which it carries. On the other hand is the
conviction of the heathen, who have only the law written in their hearts:
"_Their conscience bearing witness_ (_summarturousês_), their thoughts
one with another accusing, or else excusing them, in the day when God
shall judge the secrets of men" {201} (Rom. 2: 15, 16). Conscience can
"accuse," and how universally it does so, abundant testimony of Christian
missionaries shows; and conscience can "excuse," which is the method that
guilty thoughts invariably suggest; but _conscience cannot justify_.
Only the Spirit of truth, whom the Father hath sent forth into the world,
can do this. The work of the two witnesses may be thus set in contrast:
_Conscience Convinces_-- _The Comforter Convinces_--
Of sin committed; Of sin committed;
Of righteousness impossible; Of righteousness imputed;
Of judgment accomplished. Of judgment impending.
Happily these two witnesses may be harmonized, as they are by that
atonement which reconciles man to himself, as well as reconciles man to
God. Very significantly does the Epistle to the Hebrews, in inviting our
approach to God make, as the condition of that approach, the "having our
hearts _sprinkled from an evil conscience_." As the High Priest carried
the blood into the Holy of Holies in connection with the old
dispensation, so does the Spirit take the blood of Christ into the inner
sanctuary of our spirit in the more wondrous economy of the new
dispensation, in order that he may "cleanse your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God" (Heb. 9: 14). Blessed is the man who is
thus made at one with himself while made at one with God, so that he can
say: "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, _my conscience also {202}
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost_" (Rom. 9: 11). The believer's
conscience dwelling in the Spirit, even as his life is "hid with Christ
in God," both having the same mind and bearing the same testimony--this
is the end of redemption and this is the victory of the atoning blood.
[1] For as the ministry of Enoch was sealed by his reception into heaven,
and as the ministry of Elijah was also abundantly proved by his
translation, so also the righteousness and innocence of Christ. But it
was necessary that the ascension of Christ should be more fully attested,
because upon his righteousness, so fully proved by his ascension, we must
depend for all our righteousness. For if God had not approved him after
his resurrection, and he had not taken his seat at his right hand, we
could by no means be accepted of God.--_Cartwright_.
{203}
X
THE ASCENT OF THE SPIRIT
{204}
"The Apostle Paul evidently saw the redemption of the bodies of the
saints and their manifestation as the sons of God and with them the
redemption of the whole creation from its present bondage to be the
complete harvest of the Spirit, whereof the church doth now possess
only the first-fruits, that is, the first ripe grains which could be
formed into a sheaf and presented in the temple as a wave-offering unto
the Lord. 'That Holy Spirit of Promise which is the earnest of our
inheritance,' saith the same apostle--the earnest, like the
first-fruit, being only a part of that which is to be earned . . . yet
a sufficient surety that the whole shall in the fullness of the times,
be likewise ours."--_Edward Irving_.
{205}
X
THE ASCENT OF THE SPIRIT
"He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all
heavens." So writes the apostle concerning the Paraclete who is now
with the Father, "Jesus Christ the righteous" (Eph. 4: 9). And what is
true of the one is true of that "other Paraclete," the Holy Ghost, who
was sent down to abide with us during this age. When he has
accomplished his temporal mission in the world he will return to heaven
in the body which he has fashioned for himself--that "one new man," the
regenerate church, gathered out from both Jews and Gentiles during this
dispensation. For what is the rapture of the saints predicted by the
apostle when, at the sound of the trumpet and the resurrection of the
righteous dead, "we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air?" (1
Thess. 4: 17). It is the earthly Christ rising to meet the heavenly
Christ; the elect church, gathered in the Spirit and named _o
christos_, (1 Cor. 12: 12,) taken up to be united in glory with
"Christ, the Head of the church, himself the Saviour of the body" {206}
(Eph. 5: 23, R. V.). In the council at Jerusalem this is announced as
the distinctive work of the Spirit in this dispensation "to gather out
_a people for his name_." It was not by accident and as a term of
derision that the first believers received their name; but "the
disciples were divinely called _Christians_ first in Antioch" (Acts 11:
26). This was the name pre-ordained for them, that "honorable name" by
which they are called (James 2: 7). When, therefore, this
out-gathering shall have been accomplished, and _the people for his
name_ shall be completed, they will be translated to be one with him in
glory, as they were one with him in name, the Head taking the body to
himself, "as Christ also, the church" (Eph. 5: 29). And this
translation of the church is to be effected by the Holy Spirit who
dwells in her. "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also
quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:
11). It is not by acting upon the body of Christ from without, but by
energizing it from within, that the Holy Ghost will effect its
glorification. In a word, the Comforter, who on the day of Pentecost,
came down to form a body out of flesh, will at the _Parousia_ return to
heaven in that body, having fashioned it like unto the body of Christ,
that it may be presented to him "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing, . . . holy {207} and without blemish" (Eph. 5: 27). Is it
meant to be implied in what is here said that the Comforter is to leave
the world at the time of the advent, to return no more? By no means.
And yet what is meant needs to be very explicitly set forth.
A very able writer on the doctrine of the Spirit makes this remark, so
striking and yet so true that we have put it in italics: "_As Christ
shall ultimately give up his kingdom to the Father_ (1 Cor. 15: 24-28),
_so the Holy Ghost shall give up his administration to the Son, when he
comes in glory and all his holy angels with him_."[1] The church and
the kingdom are not identical terms, if we mean by the kingdom the
visible reign and government of Jesus Christ on earth. In another
sense they are identical. As the King, so the kingdom. The King is
present now in the world, only invisibly and by the Holy Spirit; so the
kingdom is now present invisibly and spiritually in the hearts of
believers. The King is to come again visibly and gloriously; so shall
the kingdom appear visibly and gloriously. In other words, the kingdom
is already here in mystery; it is to be here in manifestation. Now the
spiritual kingdom is administered by the Holy Ghost, and it extends
from Pentecost to _Parousia_. At the _Parousia_--the appearing of the
Son of Man in glory--when he shall take unto himself his great power
and reign (Rev. 11: 17), when he who has {208} now gone into a far
country, to be invested with a kingdom, shall return and enter upon his
government (Luke 19: 15), then the invisible shall give way to the
visible; the kingdom in mystery shall emerge into the kingdom in
manifestation, and the Holy Spirit's administration shall yield to that
of Christ.
Here our discussion properly ends, since the age-ministry of the Holy
Spirit terminates with the return of Jesus Christ in glory. But there
is an "age to come" (Heb. 6: 5), succeeding "the present evil age"
(Gal. 1: 4), and we may, in closing, take a glimpse at that for the
light which it may throw upon the present dispensation.
What significance has the phrase, "_the first-fruits of the Spirit_,"
which several times occurs in the New Testament? The first-fruits is
but a handful compared with the whole harvest; and this is what we have
in the gift of "the Holy Spirit of promise, _which is the earnest of
our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession_"
(Eph. 1: 13, 14). The harvest, to which all the first-fruits look
forward, is at the appearing of the Lord. Christ, by his rising from
the dead, became "_the first-fruits of them that slept_" (1 Cor. 15:
20). The full harvest, of course, is at the advent, when "they that
are Christ's at his coming" shall be raised up (1 Cor. 15: 23). So of
the Holy Ghost. We have all the Spirit, but _not all of the Spirit_.
As a person of {209} the God-head, he is here in his entirety; but as
to his ministry, we have as yet but a part or earnest of his full
blessing. To make this statement plain, let us observe that the work
of the Holy Spirit, during this entire dispensation, is elective. He
gathers from Jew and Gentile the body of Christ, the _ecclesia_, the
called-out. This is his peculiar work in this gospel age. In a word,
the present is the age of election, and not of universal ingathering.
But is this all we have to hope for? Let the word of God answer.
Paul, in considering the hope of Israel, says that there is at this
present time "_a remnant according to the election of grace_"; and a
little farther on he declares that in connection with the coming of the
Deliverer "_all Israel shall be saved_" (Rom. 11: 5, 26). Here is an
elective out-gathering, and then a universal in-gathering; or, as the
apostle sums it up in this same chapter: "_If the first-fruits be holy,
so also the lump_." On the other hand, James, speaking by the Holy
Ghost concerning the Gentiles, says first that "God did visit the
Gentiles _to take out of them a people for his name_," and "after this
will I return," etc., "that the residue of men might seek after the
Lord, and _all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the
Lord_" (Acts 15: 14, 17). Here, again, is first an elective
out-gathering and then a total in-gathering.
{210}
Now, by looking at other scriptures, it seems clear that the Holy
Spirit is the divine agent in both these redemptions, the partial and
the total. If we refer to Joel's great prophecy: "_I will pour out my
Spirit upon all flesh_," and then to Peter's reference to the same, as
recorded in the Acts, we are led to ask, Was this prediction completely
fulfilled on the day of Pentecost? Clearly not. Peter, with inspired
accuracy, says: "_This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel_,"
without affirming that herein the prophecy of Joel was entirely
fulfilled. Turning back to the prediction itself, we find that it
includes within its sweep "the great and the terrible day of the Lord,"
and the "bringing again of the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem" (Joel
2: 31; 3: 1), events which are clearly yet future. If again we examine
the vivid prophecy of Israel's conversion, we observe that their
looking upon him whom they pierced, and mourning for him, follows the
prediction: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication" (Zech.
12: 10). So in the picture of the desolations of Jerusalem, as they
have actually existed during the present age, the prophet represents
this judgment of thorns and briars and forsaken palaces and desertion
of population, as continuing "_until the Spirit be poured upon us from
on high_" (Isaiah 32: 15).
Indeed the Scriptures seem to be harmonious in {211} their teaching
that, after the present elective work of the Spirit has been completed,
there will come a time of universal blessing, when the Spirit shall
literally be "poured out upon all flesh"; when "that which is perfect
shall come" and "that which is in part shall be done away."
Thus in the doctrine of the Spirit there is a constant reference to the
final consummation. "The Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed
_unto the day of redemption_," says Paul (Eph. 4: 30). Again:
"Ourselves also which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we
ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit,
_the redemption of our body_" (Rom. 8: 23).
All which the Comforter has yet brought us, or can now bring us, is
only the first sheaf of the great harvest of redemption which awaits us
on our Lord's return. "Ye have received _the Spirit of adoption_,
whereby we cry Abba, Father" (Rom. 8: 15); but for the adoption itself
we wait; sons of God already by birth from above, we with the whole
creation yet wait for "_the manifestation of the sons of God_" (Rom. 8:
19).
To his tender exhortation to be patient until the coming of the Lord,
which James writes in the first chapter of his epistle, there is added
the suggestive illustration: "Behold the husbandman waiteth for the
precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receive the
early and latter rain." {212} As in husbandry the one rain belonged to
the time of sowing, and the other to the time of harvest, so in
redemption the early rain of the Spirit was at Pentecost, the latter
rain will be at the Parousia; the one fell upon the world as the first
sowers went forth into the world to sow, the other will accompany "the
harvest which is the end of the age," and will fructify the earth for
the final blessing of the age to come, bringing repentance to Israel
and the remission of sins, "that the times of refreshing may come from
the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus Christ, before
appointed for you, whom the heavens must receive until the times of the
restitution of all things" (Acts 3: 19-21).
[1] "Through the Eternal Spirit," by Elder Cumming, D. D., p. 185.
{213}
SCRIPTURE INDEX
PAGE
Genesis 50: 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Exodus 30: 30-33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Leviticus 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Leviticus 23: 11-16 . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Leviticus 8: 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Leviticus 14: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
1 Samuel 16: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
2 Samuel 23: 2, 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
1 Kings 19: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Psalms 133: 1, 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Psalms 17: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Psalms 84: 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Psalms 17: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Isaiah 11: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Isaiah 59: 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Isaiah 32: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Joel 2: 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Joel 3: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Amos 9: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Zechariah 12: 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Matthew 3: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Matthew 12: 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Matthew 3: 11, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Matthew 16: 24, 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Matthew 6: 27, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Matthew 18: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Mark 13: 32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Mark 12: 36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Luke 3: 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Luke 4: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Luke 4: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Luke 10: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Luke 2: 1, 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Luke 2: 34, 35 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Luke 19: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
John 14: 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
John 1: 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
John 20: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
John 15: 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
John 14: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
John 14: 18; 14: 26; 16: 13 . . . . . . . 39
John 16: 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
John 14: 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
John 16: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
John 14: 12; 15: 26 . . . . . . . . . . . 44
John 16: 8-10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
John 16: 12, 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
John 16: 13, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
John 16: 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
John 14: 18; 14: 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
John 1: 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
John 3: 16; 1: 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
John 1: 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
John 6: 27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
John 3: 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
John 2: 23, 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
John 16: 13; 14: 17; 15: 26; 16: 13 . . . 92
John 3: 31; 8: 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
John 3: 7, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
John 13: 35. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
John 1: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
John 14: 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
John 16: 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
John 20: 22, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
John 6: 63, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
John 15: 15; 17: 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
John 16: 8, R. V.; 14: 17 . . . . . . . . 187
John 16: 8, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
John 15: 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
John 15: 26, 27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
John 16: 13, R. V.; 14: 19 . . . . . . . . 196
John 12: 31; 5: 24, R. V. . . . . . . . . 199
Acts 9: 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Acts 2: 41; 5: 14; 11: 24 . . . . . . . . 55
Acts 10: 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Acts 11: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Acts 2: 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Acts 8: 14-17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Acts 1: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Acts 2: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Acts 9: 17; 4: 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Acts 4: 31; 6: 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Acts 4: 27, R. V.; 10: 38 . . . . . . . . 88
Acts 15: 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Acts 20: 28, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Acts 10: 44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Acts 5: 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Acts 1: 8, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Acts 13: 2; 13: 4; 13: 9; 13: 52 . . . . . 160
Acts 15: 8; 15: 28; 16: 6, 7 . . . . . . . 161
Acts 1: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Acts 15: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Acts 7: 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Acts 7: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Acts 3: 14, 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Acts 2: 33; 5: 30-32 . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Acts 13: 39, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Acts 24: 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Acts 11: 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Acts 15: 14, 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Acts 3: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Romans 1: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Romans 8: 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Romans 6: 3, 4; 8: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Romans 6: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Romans 11: 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Romans 1: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Romans 6: 3, 4; 7: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Romans 6: 11, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Romans 8: 13; 8: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Romans 15: 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Romans 8: 23; 8: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Romans 12: 2, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Romans 1: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Romans 8: 26, 27, R. V. . . . . . . . . . 148
Romans 8: 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Romans 11: 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Romans 3: 2, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Romans 8: 1; 8: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Romans 2: 15, 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Romans 9: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Romans 8: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Romans 11: 6, 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Romans 8: 23; 8: 15; 8: 19 . . . . . . . . 211
1 Corinthians 12: 12 . . . . . . . . . . . 54
1 Corinthians 12: 13 . . . . . . . . . . . 55
1 Corinthians 10: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . 57
1 Corinthians 2: 11, R. V. . . . . . . . . 90
1 Corinthians 12: 3 . . . . . . . . . . . 91
1 Corinthians 15: 51, 52 . . . . . . . . . 120
1 Corinthians 15: 52; 15: 44 . . . . . . . 125
1 Corinthians 3: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . 130
1 Corinthians 2: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
1 Corinthians 10: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . 156
1 Corinthians 12: 11, R. V. . . . . . . . 166
1 Corinthians 2: 10-13 . . . . . . . . . . 173
1 Corinthians 14: 37 . . . . . . . . . . . 180
1 Corinthians 2: 9, 10 . . . . . . . . . . 181
1 Corinthians 12: 3, R. V. . . . . . . . . 195
1 Corinthians 6: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . 196
1 Corinthians 2: 9, 10 . . . . . . . . . . 197
1 Corinthians 12: 12 . . . . . . . . . . . 205
1 Corinthians 15: 24-28 . . . . . . . . . 207
1 Corinthians 15: 20; 15: 23 . . . . . . . 208
2 Corinthians 1: 21, 22 . . . . . . . . . 78
2 Corinthians 1: 21, R. V. . . . . . . . . 88
2 Corinthians 5: 14, R. V. . . . . . . . . 110
2 Corinthians 3: 18, R. V. . . . . . . . . 113
2 Corinthians 3: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . 123
2 Corinthians 3: . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Galatians 5: 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Galatians 4: 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Galatians 3: 2; 3: 14 . . . . . . . . . . 71
Galatians 4: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Galatians 2: 20, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . 110
Galatians 5: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Galatians 1: 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Galatians 1: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Galatians 6: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Galatians 6: 8, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . 160
Galatians 1: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Ephesians 1: 7; 3: 16 . . . . . . . . . . 42
Ephesians 1: 20, 21 . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Ephesians 4: 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Ephesians 6: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Ephesians 4: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Ephesians 1: 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Ephesians 4: 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Ephesians 5: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Ephesians 4: 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Ephesians 2: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Ephesians 4: 8-12, R. V. . . . . . . . . . 134
Ephesians 6: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Ephesians 5: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Ephesians 2: 22, R. V.; 3: 16, R. V.;
2: 18, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . 154
Ephesians 4: 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Ephesians 5: 23; 5: 29 . . . . . . . . . . 206
Ephesians 5: 27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Ephesians 1: 13, 14 . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Ephesians 4: 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Philippians 2: 6, 7, R. V. . . . . . . . 42, 43
Colossians 1: 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Colossians 3: 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Colossians 2: 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Colossians 3: 2, 5, R. V. . . . . . . . . 110
Colossians 3: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
1 Thessalonians 2: 19 . . . . . . . . . . 50
1 Thessalonians 3: 13 . . . . . . . . . . 60
1 Thessalonians 1: 9 . . . . . . . . . . . 102
1 Thessalonians 5: 23, R. V. . . . . . . . 122
1 Thessalonians 1: 5 . . . . . . . . . . . 144
1 Thessalonians 1: 6 . . . . . . . . . . . 145
1 Thessalonians 4: 18 . . . . . . . . . . 155
1 Thessalonians 4: 17 . . . . . . . . . . 205
2 Thessalonians 2: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . 130
2 Timothy 2: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
2 Timothy 3: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Titus 2: 13, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Hebrews 1: 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Hebrews 9: 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Hebrews 1: 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Hebrews 6: 4, 5, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . 121
Hebrews 6: 5, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Hebrews 2: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Hebrews 7: 25, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Hebrews 3: 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Hebrews 3: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Hebrews 3: 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Hebrews 1: 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Hebrews 10: 14, 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Hebrews 9: 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Hebrews 2: 14, 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Hebrews 9: 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Hebrews 6: 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
James 1: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
James 3: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
James 6: 16; 5: 16, R. V . . . . . . . . . 155
James 2: 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
1 Peter 4: 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
1 Peter 2: 9, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 89
1 Peter 1: 23, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 105
1 Peter 4: 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
1 Peter 1: 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
1 Peter 1: 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
1 Peter 1: 23, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 170
1 Peter 1: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
1 Peter 4: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
1 Peter 3: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
2 Peter 1: 4, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 104
2 Peter 1: 21, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 175
1 John 2: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
1 John 2: 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
1 John 2: 27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
1 John 1: 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
1 John 1: 8, 3: 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
1 John 3: 5, 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
1 John 3: 2, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
1 John 4: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
1 John 2: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Jude 1: 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Jude 1: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Jude 1: 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Revelation 22: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Revelation 1: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Revelation 3: 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Revelation 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Revelation 2: 7; 14: 13 . . . . . . . . . 170
Revelation 11: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
{217}
GENERAL INDEX
PAGE
Adam: fall of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
child of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
nature derived from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
inheritance from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Adam life: birth into . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Adolph Monod: farewell of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Age of the Spirit: defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Age-work: continuance of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Ambrose: observation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Ananias and Sapphira: sin of . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 23
Andrews, Bishop: beautiful words of . . . . . . . . . 54
Anointing: Importance of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88, 89
examples of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Ante-Pentecostal days: spiritual nonage of . . . . . . 48
Apostles: Matthias chosen by . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
prerogatives of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
order of, ceased . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Asceticism: inversion of divine order . . . . . . . . 111
Augustine: quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
calls Pentecost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
saying of true . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
replies to rationalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Baptism: a monogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Baptized: into Moses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Bengel: statement of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Bible: Holy Ghost breathes within it . . . . . . . . . 170
divine author of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
infallibility of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
a sensitive plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Bickersteth, E. H.: quotation from . . . . . . . . . . 81
Boys, E.: extract from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Butler, Archer: quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Calvary: typology of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
once for all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Calvin, John; quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Canon Garratt: excerpt from . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Cartwright: extract from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Choirs: composed of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Christ: life of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
on earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
inspired characterizations of . . . . . . . . . . . 23
image of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
fulfills all types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
our Passover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
earthly work of, completed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
ready to be communicated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
expiatory work of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
accepted by God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
foretells Comforter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
the testator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
indwelling of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
generosity of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
earthly--equal to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
power to impart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
coronation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
prayers of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
mystical body of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
present by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
visible union of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
manifestation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
indwelt by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
description of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
vivifying power of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
disfigured . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
twofold manifestation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
faith of, ignored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
our justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
effective service for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
example in all things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
our pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
endued by the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
possessed by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
holiness essential to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
draws to himself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
justification in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
the Holy One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
deity of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
image of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
conformity to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
made atonement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
treasure hidden in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
the heart of the church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
begotten by Holy Ghost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
origin of life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
nature derived from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
came as Saviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
efficacy of his sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
victory through . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
manifested love of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
pattern of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
imparting life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
inheritance from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
official seat of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
bride of, betrayed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
living voice of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
identification with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
helping us to pray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
attitude of, described . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
divinity of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
spirit of, necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
threefold work of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
died for the sins of the world . . . . . . . . . . . 190
satisfied God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
perfected righteousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
our High Priest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
resurrection of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
enthronement of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
lifted to heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
continuance of within the veil . . . . . . . . . . . 197
not seen by the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
reflected by the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
answers all questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
death of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
judged sin on the cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
redemptive work of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
administration of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
the first-fruits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Christ-life: spiritual birth into . . . . . . . . . . 104
Christian Church: home of the Spirit . . . . . . . . . 20
Christian doctrine: undeveloped . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Christian life: crisis in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
a gradual growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
possibilities of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Christians: good text for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
ignorance of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
privilege of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
belief of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
possessors of the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
prove veracity of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
divine naming of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Church: first capital sin of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
temple of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
image of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
greater riches for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
history of begun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
definition of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
formation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
introduction into . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
unsanctified, sometimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
to be like Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
appellation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
complement of her Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
disfigures Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Paraclete abides in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
effective service in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
monograph of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Christ the heart of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
the temple of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
guidance of the Lord for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
is manifold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
dead yet living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
appointments in State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Spirit withdrawn from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
feature of worship in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
service of, described . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
fellowship with Head of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
requirements of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161,162
Spirit sent unto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
communications of to the world . . . . . . . . . . . 197
translation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Comforter: another given . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
indwelling of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
coming of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
presence of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
foretold by Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
reverent subjection of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
ignorant of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Jesus' promise of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
witness of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
sending of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
ministry of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
return of to heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
consolation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Communion: significance of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
through Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Conscience: definition and work of . . . . . . . . . . 189
accusing power of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Conversion: definition of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Course of redemption: Moberly's divisions . . . . . . 16
Cross: plain attractions of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Cumming, J. Elder: quotation from . . . . . . . . . 72, 73
excerpt from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85, 86
quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128, 207
Day of Pentecost: Holy Spirit embodied
in the church at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Death: division of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Disciple: requirements of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Dispensation: mystery and glory of . . . . . . . . . . 25
Divine love: source of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Divine ministries: succession of . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Ephesians: description in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Exodus; typical illustration of . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Father: Jesus' return to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Felix: reference to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Fuller, Andrew: statement of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Gaussen's Theopneustia: quotation from . . . . . . . . 164
Gentiles: door opened to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
God: omnipresence of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
union of, to humanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
indwelling with men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
becomes known . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
emanation from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
witness of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
withholding from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
claims of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Christ, pattern of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
total surrender to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
action of Spirit of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
manifestation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
all in all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
created all men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
communion with, imperiled . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Godet: beautiful words of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Godhead: mysterious unity of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
persons of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
co-equal partner in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
earthly ministry of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
distinctly foreshadowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Paraclete a member of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
mutual converse of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
our relations to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
executive of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
God-Jehovah: economy of, incomplete . . . . . . . . . 26
God's communion: broken and restored . . . . . . . . . 30
Great Commission: meagre giving for the . . . . . . . 158
record of giving of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Gregory Nazianzen: quoted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Hare, Julius Charles: extract from . . . . . . . . . . 186
Harnack, Prof.: statement of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Heresy: meaning of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Holiness: explanation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
synonymous name for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Holy Ghost: "dies natalis" of . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
personality of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
office of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
work of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
communicates power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
great work of begun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
statement of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
all filled with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
baptized in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
unction of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
incorporation into body of Christ through . . . . . 59
baptism of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
unceasing work of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
view of, urged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
possession of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
faith toward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
traits of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
blessings of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
ignorance regarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Christ begotten by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
fullness of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
incidents regarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83, 84
inheritance in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
the gift of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
crisis brought by a full reception of . . . . . . . 94
has been given . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
present office-work of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
operation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
hidden life of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
completed in us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
the one Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
prerogative of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
insubordination to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
appoints leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136,137
elders chosen by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
ignoring voice of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
preaching in the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
inspiration of, ignored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
God's interpreter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
prayer in the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
office of, magnified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
unction of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
attempted purchase of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
minute directions of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
action of, supreme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
renewing power of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
breathes within the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
position regarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
testimony of Paul to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
regeneration by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
David's words concerning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
disciples, recipients of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
presentation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
the gift of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
sent by the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
temporal mission of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
administration of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
age-ministry of, terminates . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Holy Spirit: lack of attention to . . . . . . . . . . 13
consideration of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
best treatise on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
age-ministry of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
vagueness of doctrine of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Jesus' presence by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
temporal mission of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
dispensation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
made partakers of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
came into the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
resides on earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
abides perpetually in church . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
deference paid to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
indwelling of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Son revealed by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
relation of stated by Tophel . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
descent of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
commended by Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
office of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
sent down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
filled with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
a witness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
"dies natalis" of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
named by our Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
subordination to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
distributes the estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
the divine Conveyancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
communicates power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
advent of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
prays with church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
history of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
union through . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
duty to receive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
personality of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
ignorance regarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
reception of gift of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
our signet ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
will be the seal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
interprets himself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
is the anointing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
recognition of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
agent for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
power of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
conveyance of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
the Executor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
subdues sinful nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
subjection to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
designation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
guidance of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
administration of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
in church service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
witness of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
supremacy of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
prayer inspired by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
in missions of the church . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
acts and speaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
directing power of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
sovereign individuality of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
inimitableness of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
authenticates books for us . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
ground of conviction of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
an evangel of grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
imparts to us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
church translated by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Person of the Godhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
work of, elective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
a divine agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Human system: life and death . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Inspiration: significance of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
gospel a stereotyped . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Scripture given by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
verbal, essential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Jesus claims verbal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
of the Holy Ghost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
of Scripture writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173,174
Irving, Edward: beautiful statement of . . . . . . . . 121
quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Isaiah: passion-prophecy of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
reference to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
James: words of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
exhortation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Jesus: surprising saying of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
pre-existence of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
agent in creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
birth of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
sublime word of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
mysterious saying of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
not yet glorified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
paschal talk of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
atoning blood of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
farewell sermon of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,44
teaching of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
parousia of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
All in all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
replies of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
full of the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
spirit of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
significant saying of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
question of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
scribes' question concerning . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
words of concerning Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
doctrine of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
claims of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
charged with blasphemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
limitation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
prophecy at birth of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
literal fulfillment of promise of . . . . . . . . . 194
strange paradox of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
words of at the cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
spake literal truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
government of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Jesus Christ: ministry of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
time-ministry of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
gives Great Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
dualism of teaching of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Jews: charge of against Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
denial of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
church gathered from the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
John: mentioned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Jordan: symbolism of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Jukes, Andrew: extract from . . . . . . . . . . . . 68, 69
excerpt from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Kelly, William: observation of . . . . . . . . . . . 69, 70
Lee, Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures:
quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175,176
Leper: cleansing of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Lord: farewell discourse of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
question concerning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
deference paid to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
glory shines forth from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
presentation of sheaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
words of risen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
named the Holy Ghost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
words of concerning "Paracletos" . . . . . . . . . . 36
Paraclete distinct from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
speaks concerning Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
valedictory discourse of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
return of to glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
dying of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
complement of the church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
resurrection of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
advent of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
appropriating to himself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
assumed prerogative of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
words of to Nicodemus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
antithesis of two natures in . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
constant words of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
fashioned to image of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
mystical body of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
coming of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
experience of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
guiding the church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
post-ascension gospel of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
ascent of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
calls Saul of Tarsus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
power of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
conditions imposed by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
voice of heard in church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
commission to speak for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Spirit breathed by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
testimony of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Apocalyptic words of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Abigail's prayer to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
words of, concerning Comforter . . . . . . . . . . . 187
messengers sent by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
a sin against the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
exaltation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
sent the Holy Ghost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
harvest at return of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Luther: pointed statement of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
wise words of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Manning, Henry E.: quotation from . . . . . . . . . . 12
best treatise from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Master: instructions of to disciples . . . . . . . . 36, 37
Method: that employed in writing . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Milton: quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Ministry: of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Moberly: divisions of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Morrison: comment of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Moule, H. C. G.: excerpt from . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Murray, Andrew: quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Neander, Church History: excerpt from . . . . . . . . 168
New birth: definition of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
acquirement of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
New Testament Scriptures:
authoritative voice of the Lord . . . . . . . . 167
Old Testament: words of Peter concerning . . . . . . . 170
as oracles of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Olshausen's Commentary: note from . . . . . . . . 165, 166
Owen, John: summing up of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Paraclete: sent by Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
meaning of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
attributes of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
conclusion regarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
duties of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
teaching of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
difference of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
realization of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
question and answer of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
related to limitation of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . 187
certifies to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
with the Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
statement concerning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Parousia: Lord's second coming . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
introduces the church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Paschal lamb: typology of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Paul: epistles of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41, 42
words of . . . . . . . . . . 71, 111, 112, 120, 180, 211
exponent of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
subject of preaching of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
work of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
words of, interpreted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
testimony of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
words of, before Felix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
observation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Pentecost: work inaugurated at . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
styled "dies natalis" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
promise fulfilled at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
impossible precedence of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
typology of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
predetermined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
has come . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
church began its history at . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
story of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
body of Christ baptized at . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Holy Ghost descended at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
foretaste of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
once for all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Persons of the Trinity: deference of . . . . . . . . . 27
Peter: question of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
bold testimony of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
deep saying of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
statement of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
reference of to Old Testament . . . . . . . . . . . 171
talk of, on Pentecost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
defense of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
words of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
inspired saying of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Prayer: a vital element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
in the name of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
high ground regarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
connected with Holy Ghost . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Preaching: importance of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
of the cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
the inspiration of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Redemption by Incarnation: doctrine of in vogue . . . 67
Regeneration: what is it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
power of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
examples of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Resurrection: time fixed for . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Romans eighth: deep teachings of . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Roos: quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Rothe, Dogmatics: excerpt from . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Salvation: two sides to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Sanctification: continuous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
instantaneousness of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Saul of Tarsus: sealed with the Spirit . . . . . . . . 136
Saviour: lived before incarnation . . . . . . . . . . 13
redemptive work of, completed . . . . . . . . . . . 30
promise of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
follow teachings of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
and a comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
departure of, conditioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Scriptures: teaching of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
confounding of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
examined, regarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
given by inspiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
definition of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
minute study of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
literal inspiration of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
the style of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
divine Author of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
alleged discrepancies of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
veracity of, confirmed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
infallibility of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
contrast exhibited in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
harmony of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Shechinah: resting-place of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Son of God: naming of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
self-emptying of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Sonship: doctrine of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Spirit; descending on Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
study of doctrine of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
indwelling of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
sending down of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
teaching of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
typology of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
work of, begun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
history of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
best dictionary of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
promise of advent of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
the measure of the Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
signified time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
nature and offices of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
influence of, manifested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
baptistery of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
baptism of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
walk in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
praying in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
fell on house of Cornelius . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
supreme work of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
the indwelling of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
enduement of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68, 76
gift subsequent to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
appropriation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
God's gift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
reception of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
traits of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
baptism in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Christ waited for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
anointing of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
sealing of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77, 81
possession of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79, 80
great office of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
fullness of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
reception of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
infilling of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
supreme place of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
anointing of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
sanctification in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
manifestation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
appellations of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Christian's privilege in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
illustrations of enduement of . . . . . . . . . . . 93
yearning of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
energy of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
communicates to us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
life by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
incorporation by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
of holiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
supremacy of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
effects exclusion of sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
behind all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
surrender to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
of glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
change wrought by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
working in us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
perfecting power of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
descent of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
power of, ignored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
is the breath of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
dispensation of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
doctrine of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
deepest work of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
ministry of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
strengthening power of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
access by, unto the Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
method of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
inspirer of worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
imitation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
story of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
directing enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160, 161
Christians possessors of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Jesus' words concerning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
authoritative voice of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
intercedes for us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
thoughts regarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
of Christ necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
universal diffusion of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
conviction of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
sent unto the church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
the witness to grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
proceeds from God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
sent to convince the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
reflects Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
co-witness of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
distinctive work of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
elective work of, completed . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Stephen: words of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
error in statement of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Streams of life: two contrasted . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Testimonies: of new life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Tophel, Pastor: quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
excerpt from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
criticism of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Types: accuracy of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
foretell accurately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Webb, Bishop: extract from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Word of God: a unique book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
infallible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
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