The Ministry of the Spirit Part 4

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 pa.s.sages which connect the knowledge of G.o.d 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 G.o.d none knoweth save the Spirit of G.o.d" (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 G.o.d can know and make known the thoughts and teachings and revelations of G.o.d. 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 lords.h.i.+p 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 G.o.d in Jesus Christ, who is the manifestation of G.o.d. It is so likewise between the second and third Persons of the Trinity. Christ is the image of the invisible G.o.d; 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 sons.h.i.+p 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 a.s.surance 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 pa.s.s 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 G.o.d.

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Let not this great subject be embarra.s.sed 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 G.o.d.

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.

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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 scholars.h.i.+p 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 G.o.d. _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 G.o.d."

[1] Rev. E. Boys, "Filled with the Spirit," p. 87.

[2] It is a.s.sumed 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 a.s.surance 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 c.u.mming_, "_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 s.p.a.ce, S/Sh (s.h.i.+n), 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 s.h.i.+pmasters 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 owners.h.i.+p. 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 c.u.mming, D.D., pp.

146, 147.

[9] "_Veni Creator Spiritus_," by Princ.i.p.al H. C. G. Moule, p. 13.

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VI

THE COMMUNION OF THE SPIRIT

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"In his intimate union with his Son, the Holy Spirit is the unique organ by which G.o.d 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_.

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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"--_choinonia_--signifies the having in common. It is used of the fellows.h.i.+p of believers one with another, and also of their mutual fellows.h.i.+p with G.o.d. The Holy Spirit dwelling in us is the agent through whom this community of life and love is effected and maintained. "And truly our fellows.h.i.+p," 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 G.o.dhead 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 G.o.d's right hand did he a.s.sume 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 G.o.d," and press the "again" _anothen_ 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 G.o.d who is above as truly as he has been begotten of his father on earth, he cannot see the kingdom of G.o.d.

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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d in holy fellows.h.i.+p with the Father. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was toward G.o.d", _pros ton theon_--not merely proceeding from G.o.d, but tending toward G.o.d by eternal communion. Conversion restores man to this lost att.i.tude: "Ye turned to G.o.d, _pros ton theon_, from idols to serve the living and true G.o.d" (1 Thess. 1: 9). Regeneration restores man to his forfeited life, the unfallen life of the Son of G.o.d, the life which has never wavered from steadfast fellows.h.i.+p 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 G.o.d 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 ant.i.thesis 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 sons.h.i.+p can be established, and that is by begetting. That G.o.d has created all men does not const.i.tute them his sons in the evangelical sense of that word. The sons.h.i.+p 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 sons.h.i.+p rests either upon a daring denial or a daring a.s.sumption--the denial of the universal fall of man through sin, or the a.s.sumption 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 beat.i.tude but an anathema.[1]

The contrast between the two lives and the way {104} in which the partners.h.i.+p--the _choinonia_--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--_choinonia_--of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption which is in the world by l.u.s.t" (2 Pet. 1: 4, R. V.). Here are the two streams of life contrasted:

1. The corruption in the world through l.u.s.t.