The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit. R. A. Torrey
that dwelleth in you.” In the description of the creation of man in Gen. ii. 7, it is the breath of God, that is the Holy Spirit, who imparts life to man, and man becomes a living soul. The exact words are, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” The Greek word which is rendered “spirit” means “breath” and though the Holy Spirit as a Person does not come out distinctly in this early reference to Him in Gen. ii. 7, nevertheless, this passage interpreted in the light of the fuller revelation of the New Testament clearly refers to the Holy Spirit.
The authorship of Divine prophecies is also ascribed to the Holy Spirit. We read in 2 Pet. i. 21, R. V., “For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but [pg 028] men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost.” Even in the Old Testament, there is a reference to the Holy Spirit as the author of prophecy. We read in 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, 3, “the Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.”
So we see that the three distinctly Divine works of creation, the impartation of life, and prophecy are ascribed to the Holy Spirit.
III. Statements which in the Old Testament distinctly name the Lord or Jehovah as their subject are applied to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, i.e., the Holy Spirit occupies the position of Deity in New Testament thought.
A striking illustration of this is found in Isa. vi. 8–10, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed.” In verse five we are told that it was Jehovah (whenever the word Lord is spelled in capitals in the Old Testament, it stands for Jehovah in the Hebrew and is so rendered in the American Revision) whom Isaiah saw and who speaks. But in Acts xxviii. 25–27 there is a reference to this statement of Isaiah's and whereas in Isaiah we are told it is [pg 029] Jehovah who speaks, in the reference in Acts we are told that it was the Holy Spirit who was the speaker. The passage in Acts reads as follows, “And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” So we see that what is distinctly ascribed to Jehovah in the Old Testament is ascribed to the Holy Spirit in the New: i.e., the Holy Spirit is identified with Jehovah. It is a noteworthy fact that in the Gospel of John, the twelfth chapter and the thirty-ninth to forty-first verses where another reference is made to this passage in Isaiah, this same passage is ascribed to Christ (note carefully the forty-first verse). So in different parts of Scripture, we have the same passage referred to Jehovah, referred to the Holy Spirit, and referred to Jesus Christ. May we not find the explanation of this in the threefold “Holy” of the seraphic cry in Isaiah vi. 3, where we read, “And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” In this we have a distinct suggestion of the tri-personality of the Jehovah of Hosts, and hence the propriety of the threefold application of the vision. A [pg 030] further suggestion of this tri-personality of Jehovah of Hosts is found in the eighth verse of the chapter where the Lord is represented as saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
Another striking illustration of the application of passages in the New Testament to the Holy Spirit which in the Old Testament distinctly name Jehovah as their subject is found in Ex. xvi. 7. Here we read, “And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord; for that He heareth your murmurings against the Lord: and what are we that ye murmur against us?” Here the murmuring of the children of Israel is distinctly said to be against Jehovah. But in Heb. iii. 7–9, where this instance is referred to, we read, “Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, and in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years.” The murmurings which Moses in the Book of Exodus says were against Jehovah, we are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews were against the Holy Spirit. This leaves it beyond question that the Holy Spirit occupies the position of Jehovah (or Deity) in the New Testament (cf. also Ps. xcv. 8–11).
IV. The name of the Holy Spirit is coupled with that of God in a way it would be impossible for a reverent and thoughtful mind to couple the name of any finite being with that of the Deity.
We have an illustration of this in 1 Cor. xii. 4–6, “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. [pg 031] And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” Here we find God, and the Lord and the Spirit associated together in a relation of equality that would be shocking to contemplate if the Spirit were a finite being. We have a still more striking illustration of this in Matt. xxviii. 19, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Who, that had grasped the Bible conception of God the Father, would think for a moment of coupling the name of the Holy Spirit with that of the Father in this way if the Holy Spirit were a finite being, even the most exalted of angelic beings? Another striking illustration is found in 2 Cor. xiii. 14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” Can any one ponder these words and catch anything like their real import without seeing clearly that it would be impossible to couple the name of the Holy Spirit with that of God the Father in the way in which it is coupled in this verse unless the Holy Spirit were Himself a Divine Being?
V. The Holy Spirit is called God.
The final and decisive proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit is found in the fact that He is called God in the New Testament. We read in Acts v. 3, 4, “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part [pg 032] of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God.” In the first part of this passage we are told that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit. When this is further explained, we are told it was not unto men but unto God that he had lied in lying to the Holy Spirit, i.e., the Holy Spirit to whom he lied is called God.
To sum it all up, by the ascription of all the distinctively Divine attributes, and several distinctly Divine works, by referring statements which in the Old Testament clearly name Jehovah, the Lord, or God as their subject to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, by coupling the name of the Holy Spirit with that of God in a way that would be impossible to couple that of any finite being with that of Deity, by plainly calling the Holy Spirit God, in all these unmistakable ways, God in His own Word distinctly proclaims that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person.
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