2. It is so in the communication of the Spirit unto them that do believe, to furnish them with the gifts and graces of the kingdom of heaven, and to interest them in all those privileges of this salvation which God is pleased in this life to impart unto us and to intrust us withal. So the apostle, dealing with the Gala- tians about their backsliding from the gospel, asketh them whether they “received the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the word of faith,” chap. ii. 2; that is the gospel. That was the way and means whereby God communicated unto them his Spirit, by whom, among many other privileges, we are sealed unto the day of redemption. This is the covenant of God, that his Spirit and the word of the gospel shall go and shall abide together with his elect, Isa. lix. 21. And he is given unto us by the gospel on many accounts :—
(1.) Because he is the gift and grant of the author of the gospel, as to all the especial ends and concernments of salvation, John tells us that the Spirit was not given when Jesus was not as yet glorified, chap. vii. 39,—that is, not in such a manner as God hath annexed unto this salvation; and therefore Peter tells us that when
VER. 2-4.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS, 299
the Lord Christ ascended up on high, he received of the Father the promise of the Spirit, and poured him forth on them which did believe, Acts ii. 33. And this he did, according to his own great promise and prediction whilst he conversed with his disciples in the days of his flesh. There was not any thing that he more sup- ported and encouraged them withal, nor more raised their hearts to an expectation of, than this, that he would send unto them and bestow upon them the Holy Ghost, for many blessed ends and pur- poses, and that to abide with them for ever, as we may see, John xiv. 15, 16. And this is the great privilege of the gospel, that the author of it is alone the donor and bestower of the Holy Spirit; which of what concernment it is in the business of our salvation, all men know who have any acquaintance with these things.
(2.) He is promised in the gospel, and therein alone. All the promises of the Scripture, whether in the Old Testament or New, whose subject is the Spirit, are evangelical; they all belong unto and are parts of the gospel. For the law had no promise of the Spirit, or any privilege by him, annexed unto it. And hence he is ealled “The Holy Spirit of promise,’ Eph. i. 13; who, next unto the person of Christ, was the great subject of promises from the founda- tion of the world.
(3.) By these promises are believers actually and really made
partakers of the Spirit, They are “vehicula Spiritus,” the cha- riots that bring this Holy Spirit into our souls, 2 Pet.i. 4. By these “great and precious promises” is the “divine nature” communicated’ untous,.so far forth as unto the indwelling of this blessed Spirit. Every evangelical promise is unto a believer but as it were the clothing of the Spirit; in receiving whereof he receives the Spirit himself, for some of the blessed ends of this great salvation. God makes use of the word of the gospel, and of no other means, to this purpose. So that herein also it is “the grace of God that bringeth salvation.” - 8. In our justification, And this hath so great a share in this salvation that it is often called salvation itself; and they that are justified are said to be “ saved;” as Eph. ii. 8. And this is by the gospel alone; which is a point of such importance that it is the main subject of some of Paul’s epistles, and is fully taught in them all. And in sundry respects it is by the gospel:—
(1.) Because therein and thereby is appointed and constituted the new law of justification, whereby even a sinner may come to be jus- tified before God. The law of justification was, that he that did the works of the law should live in them, Rom. x. 5, But this became weak and unprofitable by reason of sin, Rom. viii. 3; Heb. viii. 7-12. That any sinner (and we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God) should be justified by this law or rule implies a contradic- tion, and is utterly impossible. Wherefore God by the gospel hath
- 800 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. II.
constituted a new law of justification, even “the law of faith,” Rom. iii. 27; which is the holy declaration of his will and grace that sin- ners shall be justified and accepted with him by faith in the blood of Christ, “without the works of the law,’—that “he that believeth shall be saved.” This is equally constituted and appointed in the law of faith to be proposed unto all that shall believe. And on the account hereof the gospel is salvation.
(2.) Because in every justification there must be a righteousness before God, on the account whereof the person to be justified is to be pronounced and declared righteous, this is tendered, proposed, and exhibited unto us in and by the gospel. This is no other but the Lord Christ himself and his righteousness, Isa. xlv. 21,22; Rom. vill. 3, 4, x. 4; 2 Cor. v. 21; Gal. i. 13, 14. Now, Christ with his whole righteousness, and all the benefits thereof, are tendered unto us, and given unto or bestowed on them that do believe, by the promise of the gospel. Therein is he preached and proposed as crucified before our eyes, and we are invited to accept of him; which the souls of believers through the gospel do accordingly. )