The presence of the Spirit with God's workers will give the proclamation of truth a power that not all the honor or glory of the world could give." — The Acts of the Apostles, p. 51. As we have already seen, it is the absence of this heavenly gift that is the cause of the spiritual drought, spiritual darkness, spiritual declension and death that the church experiences. And the absence of the Spirit is the result of our neglect of Him. "Wherever the need of the Holy Spirit is a matter little thought of, there is seen . . . spiritual declension and death. Whenever minor matters occupy the attention, the divine power which is necessary for the growth and prosperity of the church ... is lacking." —Ibid., p. 50. Then let us seek to know more concerning the Spirit, that we may receive this blessing that brings all other blessings in its train.
There are three fundamental facts about the Holy Spirit that every Christian worker and believer should understand. First is His divinity. He is a member of the Godhead in exactly the same sense as are the Father and the Son. This is evident by the way the name of the Holy Spirit is joined with that of the Father and Son in the baptismal foimula of Matthew 28:19 and the apostolic benediction of 2 Corinthians 13: 14. From the mouth of the Founder of the Christian faith and the pen of its greatest theologian come this united testimony of the unity of the Godhead of which the Holy Spirit is an integral and equal partner.
Note further the vital interrelationship of the Persons of the Godhead in the sevenfold unity of the faith expressed in Ephesians 4:3-6. "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." In every sense as the Father and the Son are divine, so also is the Spirit. It was through the breathing of the Spirit of God into his nostrils that man became a living soul at Creation, and it is through the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the spiritually inert life of the sinner "dead in trespasses and sins" that new life is imparted to the soul.
This creative, life-saying power is evidence enough, if any were needed, that the Holy Spirit is God. "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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. 8:10, 11).
Second, just as the Holy Spirit is divine, so is He a person. This seems to be a hard concept for many to receive, owing to the impersonal nature of the word "spirit." We conceive of a spirit as something disembodied and therefore impersonal. So we tend to use the impersonal pronoun "it" to speak of the Holy Spirit instead of the personal pronoun, "He," "Him," or "His," which we apply so naturally to God the Father or to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, as Dr. R. A. Torrey so pertinently shows in his book The Three-Phase Secret of the Holy spirit, it is of the highest importance that we decide whether the Holy Spirit is a power that we in our weakness and ignorance are somehow to get hold of and use, or whether the Holy Spirit is a personal being, infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely tender, who is to get hold of us and use us. The one conception is heathenish, the other Christian.
Simon Magus was the first recorded believer who revealed the heathenish concept by seeking to buy the power of the Holy Spirit for his own ends. The apostle Peter rightly condemned that attitude with the words, "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money" (Acts 8:20). J. B. Phillips in his Modern English New Testament makes the apostle's horror at Simon Magus' blasphemous suggestion more evident by translating the words into vigorous fisherman's language, "To hell with you and your money." *
Yet the heresy of Simon Magus persists to this day and fails to evoke our wrath and condemnation. Indeed, we all are guilty to some extent of this sin when we talk or think of the Holy Spirit as "the divine influence," or "the divine energy," or "a divine emanation." Nay, brethren, the Spirit is more than all these. He is a person. He has the traits, qualities, and reactions of a person, and the names given to Him in the New Testament are the names of a person. In John, chapters 14 and 15, Jesus promised to send the Paraclete. This Greek word has been variously translated "Comforter," "Advocate," "Helper," "Counsellor," and it means all of these and more. Jesus made it plain that the Spirit would be and do all that is implied in the name. To fulfill this office the Paraclete must be a person, just as Jesus is, for the same name is used of Jesus in 1 John 2:1, where the Greek tens us that "we have a paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
In all His references to the Holy Spirit, Jesus used the personal pronoun "He" or "Him," never "It," even though at times this involved a violation of the rules of grammar—using a personal pronoun to refer to an impersonal noun. Moreover, He described His functions as those which involved personality. The Paraclete was to "abide" with the disciples forever; He was "to teach" them all things; to "bring to your remembrance," and to "testify" of Christ. He was to convince or convict, to guide, to reprove, to reveal Christ and to glorify Him. All of these are actions that cannot be assigned to an impersonal influence, but to a personal being. And our responses to these functions of the Holy Spirit produce in Him the reactions of an infinitely tender and sensitive person. It is this divine Person who can be grieved, resisted, insulted, or blasphemed against (Gen. 6:3; Eph. 4:30: Heb. 10:28, 29; Mark 3 : 29).
Third, the Holy Spirit, this divine Person and member of the Godhead, is Christ's personal representative upon earth. He is the true vicegerent of the Saviour. He is here by divine appointment as the personal "presence" of God with man. By His presence with us Christ is with us. In His farewell conversation with His disciples Jesus gave them the assurance of the coming of the Comforter, who "dwelleth with you, and shall be in you," then added, "I will not leave you orphans [margin]: I will come to you" (John 14:16-18). By the coming of the Comforter, Jesus Himself comes to abide with His followers.
This apparent contradiction is a powerful evidence of the personality and divinity of the Holy Spirit. In John 16:7 He declared that "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." Yet in chapter 14:18 He declares that He, Himself, would come to them, and in Matthew 28:20 He promises to be with them always, even unto the end of the world. When He came to be with men, Jesus was "Immanuel"—"God with us." Now He has returned to the throne of Divinity bearing the human flesh that He has taken for all eternity, and has sent the Holy Spirit to be "Immanuel"—"God with us." Since the incarnation of Christ, the Godhead has been linked with humanity, and forever dwells among men by one of the divine Persons of the Trinity.
The promise of John 14:16, 17 was, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth." Students of Greek are well aware that there are two words translatable as "another" in English. Heteros means another of a different kind; Allos is another of the same kind, and it is this relative that is used in this passage. Allon paraleyton is the term used. Jesus was the paraclete or comforter of His disciples while He was with them. He was the representative of the Godhead with mankind during His earthly life. Upon His return to the Father, mankind was not to be abandoned. Ah, no! Another Comforter of the same kind, a divine Person of the same rank, would represent Divinity with humanity. While humanity in the person of Christ ascended to heaven, Divinity in the person of the Holy Spirit would come and abide forever with men. And in Him the very presence of God and of Christ would be with us, for where one member of the Godhead is, all are present through the mysterious unity of the Triune God.
And so the Holy Spirit comes to live with us and in us, to transform our lives and impart the power needed for victorious living and triumphant witnessing. This Holy Spirit is waiting for the church and its members to accept Him as their divine controller so He can use surrendered lives for the glory of God. "We cannot use the Holy Spirit; the Spirit is to use us."—Gospel Workers, p. 285. Without Him we are powerless, but with Him in control all power is given. "Learning, talents, eloquence, every natural or acquired endowment, may be possessed; but without the presence of the Spirit of God, no heart will be touched, no sinner be won to Christ. On the other hand, if they are connected with Christ, if the gifts of the Spirit are theirs, the poorest and most ignorant of His disciples will have a power that will tell upon hearts. God makes them the channel for the outworking of the highest influence in the universe."—Christ's Object Lessons, p. 328.
"There are many who profess to believe and claim the Lord's promises; they talk about Christ and the Holy Spirit; yet they receive no benefit, because they do not surrender their souls to the guidance and control of divine agencies."—Gospel Workers, pp. 284, 285.
"What we need is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Without this, we are no more fitted to go forth to the world than were the disciples after the crucifixion of their Lord."—Ellen G. White, in Review and Herald, Feb. 18, 1890.
How long must God wait for his church to accept this proffered power? "If all were willing, all would be filled with the Spirit."—The Acts of the Apostles, p. 50. God is ready now to give what the church needs, but He will not bestow His Spirit upon an unwilling people. Shall we not pray that God will make His people willing in the day of His power (Ps. 110:3)?
* The Bible texts in this article credited to Phillips are from The New Testament in Modern English, © J. B. Phillips 1958. Used by permission of The Macmillan Company.
