St. Peter says he opened the Church to the Gentiles because the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven told him to do so (Ac 118), and because the Holy Spirit told him to do so (Ac 1011). St. John says the Spirit of truth in the Apostles made them men of God (1 Jn 4*°), and witnessed through them that the Father sent the Son to give life to believers (vv. 14), The Spirit in the Apostles made them preach the incarnate Son, and denounce all con- trary preaching as of the devil (1 Jn 3%), The Lord Jesus sent Ananias to St. Paul that he might be filled with the Holy Ghost (Ac 91”); then St. Paul preached Christ, that He is the Son of God (v.). St. Paul supported his claim to be an Apostle by appealing to the call of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ (Ro 11, Gal 11: 16, 1 Co 14), who filled him with the Holy Ghost at his conversion for apostleship (Ac 917 1°). He traces the grace of apostleship and of all work in the Church to the Holy Spirit (1 Co 125) and the Son (v.”, 1 Ti 1®, 1 Co 77°, 2 Ti 2-1) ; and he spoke from experience. These Apostles tested all Christ’s Trinitarian pro- mises. In His name, as the name of God, they cast out devils (Mk 16", Ac 16'8), healed the sick (7d. Ac 3° 94), and raised the dead (Ac 9% 20"). The Holy Ghost in their work honoured the Son as He honoured the Father (Jn 5% Ac 3° 161, Ja 2"). St. Peter found that the Spirit inspired him to speak as Jesus promised (Mt 10% °°, Lk 12!*), and, thus inspired, he preached repentance towards the Father and faith in the Son as the way of life (Ac 48: 1-31.33), He saw also in the OT covenant of God with parents and their children a point of connexion for the doctrine of approach to the Father through the Son (Ac 2°**? 315-17), Sins were remitted or retained by the Apostles on the authority of the Son and as inspired by the Spirit (Mt 1838, Jn 20223, Ac 8), They imparted the Holy Spirit for service (Ac 8"), and, full of the Holy Ghost, acted in the name of Christ as minis- ters of discipline (Ac 15”), in conscious opposition to the kingdom of Satan (1 Co 5° 64). They could pronounce Anathema in view of the coming Lord. Christ in the midst, and the Spirit in the midst with the Apostles as ministers, formed the Supreme Court of the Church. St. Paulsums up his apostleship (Ac 20-24) in (a) the constant witness of the Holy Spirit, guiding him through bonds and persecutions of Satan and bad men; (4) a ministry received from the Lord Jesus Christ; and (c) a gospel of the grace of God revealed in His Son. That was his practical work, and not a theological elaboration (Ro 15" 1°), The Apostles claimed and exercised doctrinal authority over the Church (1 Jn 46. 1 Co 41 54 9! 11%), resting their claims on the command of the Son through the Spirit (Ac 1). They alone perfectly knew the meaning of Jesus (1 Co 238), as Jesus alone perfectly knew the mean- ing of the OT. They also had the Spirit of pro- phecy, so that they could declare the future glories of Christ’s kingdom, and the overthrow of the kinedom of the devil (1 Co 5° 16, 1 Ti 1”, 1Jn 2” 43, Rev 2° 3°). Ansa (2) The Apostolic Church was built upon faith in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Pentecost was in an important sense the birthday of the Church ; and St. Peter explained it by saying that the Son at the right hand of the Father, having received the pro- mise of the Spirit, ‘shed forth this which ye now see and hear.’ The Holy Ghost sent. by the glori- fied Son made the Church. If anything is certain, it is that the Apostolic Church saw its foundation laid in the ascension of Christ and the descent of the Spirit. This Spirit of Christ was the regener- ating, sanctifying, working power in the Church. If any man had not the Spirit of Christ, he was none of His (Ro 8°). Surrounded by pagans whose gods were devils (1 Co 10”), and by Jews who were
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led by Satan to crucify the Lord (Jn 6” 8 137), Christians were kept by the power of the Holy Ghost (Ro 5°). They met heresy in the same power (1Jn 4%"), and were given by the Spirit a twofold defence: (1) the Old Testament, inspired at first by the Spirit, and now made practical by the Spirit ; and (2) growing faith in the Son of God. The Spirit revealed Him in the hearts of believers as the personal, glorified, triumphant Lord (1 Co 24), The OT and Christ were shown to be essentially the same Word of God, once spoken by the prophets, now incarnate and glorified in Christ. But, as in the OT, so in the NT, the Spirit is never confounded with the Word or with Christ. Whether speaking through Apostles or Prophets, the Spirit ever de- clares Jesus Christ to be the true cornerstone of the Church (Eph 2”, 1 P 2%). Through the Spirit be- lievers already share the glory of Christ, and through Him receive all the gifts of the Spirit (1 P37, Eph 1 6%, 2 Co 1, Ro 8°).