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, norof the will of man, but of God"; and concerning inspiration by the Spirit, the teaching is equally explicit: "For no prophecy ever cameby 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 productiveprinciple, embraces the entire activity of those whom he inspires, rendering their language theword of God."[4]
If it be urged that the quotations which the New Testament makes from the Old are rarelyipsissima 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 cometoZion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob," in Isa. 59: 20, to "There shall comeoutof 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]
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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 calledo logos tou theon, "the Word of God," butta 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 withthe 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 thelively oracles(of God) to give unto us" (Acts 7: 38); and Peter says, "If any man speak let him speak asthe 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 thecommandments 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., Ifto pneumahere is thewind, 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 asaiônandparaklêtos, 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.
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"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.
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"And when he is comehe 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 himunto 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 intoall the worldand 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 sentunto the Church, testifyingof Christ, and bringing convictionto 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 knowledgeshall 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 aParacletewith 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 Jesusand 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 himfor the world, since Christ said of him: "Whom theworld cannot receive, becauseit seeth him not, neither knoweth him." And yet it is "toconvince 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.
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"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 righteousnessunto 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 ofrighteousness, 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; butconscience 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 heartssprinkled 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.
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"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.
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"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 namedo 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 outa 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 calledChristiansfirst 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, andthe people for his nameshall 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 theParousiareturn 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 toParousia. At theParousia—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, butnot 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, theecclesia, 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 Gentilesto 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, andall 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.
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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 sealedunto 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 receivedthe 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.
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Genesis 50: 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Exodus 30: 30-33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Leviticus 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Leviticus 23: 11-16 . . . . . . . . . . . 29Leviticus 8: 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Leviticus 14: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
1 Samuel 16: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
2 Samuel 23: 2, 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
1 Kings 19: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Psalms 133: 1, 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Psalms 17: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Psalms 84: 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Psalms 17: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Isaiah 11: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Isaiah 59: 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Isaiah 32: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Joel 2: 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Joel 3: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Amos 9: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Zechariah 12: 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Matthew 3: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Matthew 12: 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Matthew 3: 11, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 76Matthew 16: 24, 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Matthew 6: 27, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 115Matthew 18: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Mark 13: 32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Mark 12: 36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Luke 3: 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Luke 4: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Luke 4: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Luke 10: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Luke 2: 1, 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Luke 2: 34, 35 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Luke 19: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
John 14: 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20John 1: 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23John 20: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31John 15: 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35John 14: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38John 14: 18; 14: 26; 16: 13 . . . . . . . 39John 16: 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40John 14: 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42John 16: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43John 14: 12; 15: 26 . . . . . . . . . . . 44John 16: 8-10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45John 16: 12, 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46John 16: 13, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 47John 16: 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49John 14: 18; 14: 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . 50John 1: 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58John 3: 16; 1: 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . 67John 1: 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76John 6: 27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77John 3: 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78John 2: 23, 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
John 16: 13; 14: 17; 15: 26; 16: 13 . . . 92John 3: 31; 8: 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . 101John 3: 7, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103John 13: 35. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113John 1: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124John 14: 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138John 16: 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147John 20: 22, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 165John 6: 63, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 170John 15: 15; 17: 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . 175John 16: 8, R. V.; 14: 17 . . . . . . . . 187John 16: 8, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 188John 15: 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189John 15: 26, 27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195John 16: 13, R. V.; 14: 19 . . . . . . . . 196John 12: 31; 5: 24, R. V. . . . . . . . . 199
Acts 9: 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Acts 2: 41; 5: 14; 11: 24 . . . . . . . . 55Acts 10: 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Acts 11: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Acts 2: 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Acts 8: 14-17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Acts 1: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Acts 2: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Acts 9: 17; 4: 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Acts 4: 31; 6: 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Acts 4: 27, R. V.; 10: 38 . . . . . . . . 88Acts 15: 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Acts 20: 28, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Acts 10: 44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Acts 5: 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Acts 1: 8, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Acts 13: 2; 13: 4; 13: 9; 13: 52 . . . . . 160Acts 15: 8; 15: 28; 16: 6, 7 . . . . . . . 161Acts 1: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Acts 15: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Acts 7: 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Acts 7: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Acts 3: 14, 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191Acts 2: 33; 5: 30-32 . . . . . . . . . . . 194Acts 13: 39, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Acts 24: 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Acts 11: 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Acts 15: 14, 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Acts 3: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Romans 1: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Romans 8: 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Romans 6: 3, 4; 8: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . 62Romans 6: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Romans 11: 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Romans 1: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Romans 6: 3, 4; 7: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . 109Romans 6: 11, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 110Romans 8: 13; 8: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Romans 15: 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Romans 8: 23; 8: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . 119Romans 12: 2, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 123Romans 1: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Romans 8: 26, 27, R. V. . . . . . . . . . 148Romans 8: 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Romans 11: 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Romans 3: 2, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Romans 8: 1; 8: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Romans 2: 15, 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Romans 9: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Romans 8: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Romans 11: 6, 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Romans 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Galatians 4: 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Galatians 3: 2; 3: 14 . . . . . . . . . . 71Galatians 4: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Galatians 2: 20, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . 110Galatians 5: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Galatians 1: 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Galatians 1: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Galatians 6: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Galatians 6: 8, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . 160Galatians 1: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Ephesians 1: 7; 3: 16 . . . . . . . . . . 42Ephesians 1: 20, 21 . . . . . . . . . . . 45Ephesians 4: 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Ephesians 6: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Ephesians 4: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Ephesians 1: 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Ephesians 4: 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Ephesians 5: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Ephesians 4: 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Ephesians 2: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Ephesians 4: 8-12, R. V. . . . . . . . . . 134Ephesians 6: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Ephesians 5: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Ephesians 2: 22, R. V.; 3: 16, R. V.;2: 18, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . 154Ephesians 4: 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Ephesians 5: 23; 5: 29 . . . . . . . . . . 206Ephesians 5: 27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207Ephesians 1: 13, 14 . . . . . . . . . . . 208Ephesians 4: 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Philippians 2: 6, 7, R. V. . . . . . . . 42, 43
Colossians 1: 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Colossians 3: 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Colossians 2: 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Colossians 3: 2, 5, R. V. . . . . . . . . 110Colossians 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Hebrews 9: 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Hebrews 1: 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Hebrews 6: 4, 5, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . 121Hebrews 6: 5, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 123Hebrews 2: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Hebrews 7: 25, R. V. . . . . . . . . . . . 148Hebrews 3: 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Hebrews 3: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158Hebrews 3: 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Hebrews 1: 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Hebrews 10: 14, 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Hebrews 9: 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Hebrews 2: 14, 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . 199Hebrews 9: 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Hebrews 6: 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
James 1: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105James 3: 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126James 6: 16; 5: 16, R. V . . . . . . . . . 155James 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Jude 1: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Jude 1: 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Revelation 22: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Revelation 1: 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Revelation 3: 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Revelation 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Revelation 2: 7; 14: 13 . . . . . . . . . 170Revelation 11: 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
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Adam: fall of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102child of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106nature derived from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107inheritance from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Adam life: birth into . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Adolph Monod: farewell of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184Age of the Spirit: defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Age-work: continuance of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Ambrose: observation of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Ananias and Sapphira: sin of . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 23Andrews, Bishop: beautiful words of . . . . . . . . . 54Anointing: Importance of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88, 89examples of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Ante-Pentecostal days: spiritual nonage of . . . . . . 48Apostles: Matthias chosen by . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136prerogatives of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166order of, ceased . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Asceticism: inversion of divine order . . . . . . . . 111Augustine: quotation from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18calls Pentecost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19saying of true . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20replies to rationalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Baptism: a monogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Baptized: into Moses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Bengel: statement of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Bible: Holy Ghost breathes within it . . . . . . . . . 170divine author of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177infallibility of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179a sensitive plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Bickersteth, E. H.: quotation from . . . . . . . . . . 81Boys, E.: extract from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Butler, 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