Part 1
©APOSTLE SHADRACK
LUHWAGO
luhwagoshadrack17 @gmail.com
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1. His Nature.
=} invisible power;
=}immaterial,
=}invisible agents, as the soul and angels;
=}God himself, who is said to be a Spirit, to express his
nature as an immaterial, intelligent being;
=}the Third Person of the Trinity
=}He is the power or efficiency of God, ie, the person
through whom the efficiency of God is directly exercised;
=}As Father and Son are terms expressive of relation, it is
natural to infer that the word Spirit is to be understood in the same way.
=}The Son is called the Word, as the
revealer or image of God, and the Third Person is called Spirit as his breath
or power.
=}He is also predominantly called the Holy Spirit, to
indicate both his nature and operations.
=}He is absolutely holy in his
own nature, and the cause of
holiness in all creatures. For the same reason He is called the Spirit of Truth,
the Spirit of Wisdom, of Peace, of Love, and of Glory.
2:His Personality.
The two points to be considered in reference to this
subject, are, first the nature, and second the office or work of the Holy
Spirit.
=}With regard to his nature, is He a person or a mere power?
and if a person, is He created or divine, finite or infinite?
=}Before Concluding that the Holy Spirit is a person, it may
be well to remark, that the terms
=}“The Spirit,”
=} “The Spirit of God,”
=}“The Holy Sprit,” and
=}when God speaks, “My Spirit,” or, when God is spoken of “His Spirit,” occur in all
parts of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. These and equivalent terms are
evidently to be understood in the same sense throughout the Scriptures.
=}If the Spirit of
God which moved on the face of the waters, which strove with the antediluvians,
which came upon Moses, which gave skill to artisans, and which inspired the
prophets, is the power of God;
=}then the Spirit which came upon the Apostles, which Christ
promised to send as a
1:comforter and
2: advocate, and to which the instruction,
3:sanctification, and
4: guidance of the people of God are
referred, must also be the power of God.
But if the Spirit is clearly revealed to be a person in the
later parts of Scripture, it is plain that the earlier portions must be
understood in the same way.
=} Another obvious remark on this subject is, that the
Spirit of God is equally prominent in all parts of the word of God.
=} His intervention
does not occur on rare occasions, as the appearance of angels, or the Theophanies,
of which mention is made here and there in the sacred volume; but He is
represented as everywhere present and everywhere operative.
=}We might as well strike from the Bible the name and
doctrine of God, as the name and office of the Spirit.
In the New Testament alone He is mentioned not far from
three hundred times. It is not only, however, merely the frequency with which
the Spirit is mentioned, and the prominence given to his person and work, but
the multiplied and interesting relations in which He is represented as standing
to the people of God, the importance and number of his gifts, and the absolute
dependence of the believer and of the Church upon Him for spiritual and eternal
life, which render the doctrine of the Holy Ghost absolutely fundamental to the
gospel.
=}The work of the Spirit in applying the redemption of
Christ is represented to be as essential as that redemption itself. It is
therefore indispensable that we should know what the Bible teaches concerning
the Holy Ghost, both as to his nature and office.
3:PROOF OF HIS PERSONALITY.
The Scriptures clearly teach that He is a person.
Personality includes
intelligence, will, and individual subsistence. If, therefore, it can be
proved that all these are attributed to the Spirit, it is thereby proved that
He is a person.
a)The first argument for the personality of the Holy Spirit is derived
from the use of the personal pronouns in relation to Him.
A person is that which, when
speaking, says I; when addressed, is
called thou; and when spoken of, is called he,
or him. It is indeed admitted that there is such a rhetorical figure as personification;
that inanimate or irrational beings, or sentiments, or attributes, may be
introduced as speaking, or addressed as persons. But this creates no
difficulty. The cases of personification are such as do not, except in rare
instances, admit of any doubt. The fact that men sometimes apostrophize the heavens, or the elements, gives no pretext for
explaining as personification all the passages in which God or Christ is
introduced as a person.
Thus in Acts 13; 2, “The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work
whereunto I have called them”
Our Lord says (John 15: 26), “When the Comforter 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” The use of the masculine pronoun He instead of it, shows that the Spirit is a person. In the following chapter (John16: 13, 14) there
is no ground for this objection. It is there said, “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 shall show it unto you”
Here there is no possibility of accounting for the use of the personal pronoun He on any other ground than the
personality of the Spirit.
2:We stand in relations to the Holy Spirit which we
can sustain only to a person. He is the object of our faith. We believe on the
Holy Ghost.
This faith we profess in baptism. We are baptized not only
in the name of the Father and of the Son, but also of the Holy Ghost. The very
association of the Spirit in such a connection, with the Father and the Son, as
they are admitted to be distinct persons, proves that the Spirit also is a
person.
By baptism we profess
to acknowledge the Spirit as we acknowledge the Father and the Son, and we bind
ourselves to the one as well as to the others.
If when the Apostle tells the Corinthians that they were not
baptized, and when he says that the Hebrews were baptized unto Moses, he means
that the Corinthians were not, and that the Hebrews were made the disciples,
the one of Paul and the others of Moses; then when we
are baptized unto the name of the Spirit, the meaning is that in baptism we
profess to be his disciples; we bind ourselves to receive his instructions, and
to submit to his control. We
stand in the same relation to Him as to the Father and to the Son; we
acknowledge Him to be a person as distinctly as we acknowledge the personality
of the Son, or of the Father. Christians not only profess to believe on the
Holy Ghost, but they are also the recipients of his gifts.
He is to them an object of prayer. In the apostolic benediction, the
grace of Christ, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost,
are solemnly invoked.
We pray to the Spirit for the communication of Himself to
us, that He may, according to the promise of our Lord, dwell in us, as we pray
to Christ that we may be the objects of his unmerited love.
Accordingly we are exhorted not “to sin
against,” “not
to resist,” not “to grieve”
the Holy Spirit. He is represented, therefore, as a person who can be the object
of our acts; whom we may please or offend; with whom we may have communion,
3. The Spirit also
sustains relations to us, and performs offices which none but a person can
sustain or perform.
He is our teacher, sanctifier, comforter, and guide. He governs
every believer who is led by the Spirit, and the whole Church. He calls as
He called Barnabas and Saul, to the work of the ministry, or to some special
field of labour. Pastors or bishops are made overseers by the Holy Ghost.
4:In the exercise of these and other functions, personal
acts are constantly attributed to the Spirit in the Bible; that is, such acts
as imply intelligence, will, and
activity or power.
The Spirit searches, selects, reveals,
and reproves. We often read that “The Spirit said” (Acts 13:2; 21: 11; 1 Tim 4: 1,)
This is so constantly done, that the Spirit appears as a
personal agent from one end of the Scriptures to the other, so that his
personality is beyond dispute. The only possible question is whether He is a
distinct person from the Father. But of this there can be no reasonable doubt,
as He is said to be the Spirit of God and the Spirit which is of God as He
is distinguished from the Father in
the forms of baptism and benediction; as He proceeds from the Father; and as He
is promised, sent, and given by the Father.
5. All the elements of personality, namely, intelligence, will, and individual
subsistence, are not only involved in all that is thus revealed concerning
the relation in which the Spirit stands to us and that which we sustain to Him,
but they are all distinctly attributed to Him.
The Spirit is said
to know, to will, and to act. He searches, or knows all things, even the deep
things of God. No man knoweth the things of God, but the Spirit of God
(1 Corith 2: 10, 12) He
distributes “to every man severally as he will” (1 Corith
12: 11. If He can be loved, reverenced, and obeyed,
or offended and sinned against, He must be a person
6. The personal
manifestations of the Spirit, when He descended on Christ after his baptism,
and upon the Apostles at the day of Pentecost, of necessity involve his
personal subsistence.
It was not any attribute of God, nor his mere efficiency,
but God himself, that was manifested in the burning bush, in the fire and
clouds on Mount Sinai, in the pillar which guided the Israelites through the
wilderness, and in the glory which dwelt in the Tabernacle and in the Temple
THUS people of God
always regard the Holy Spirit as a person. look to Him for instruction,
sanctification, direction, and comfort.. Christianity (subjectively considered)
would not be what it is without this sense of dependence on the Spirit, and
this love and reverence for his person. All the liturgies, prayers, and praises
of the Church, are filled with appeals and addresses to the Holy SPIRIT
THIS MARK THE END OF PART ONE
WELCOME FOR PART TWO ON DIVINITY
OF HOLY SPIRIT
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