The aim of the present artic'le is to set forth briefly those views of God, expressed or implied in the words of Jesus, which may properly be con- sidered apart from the Divine Fatherhood, and which are, to some extent, characteristic of Jesus.
1. God is one. — To Jesus, as to His people through many centuries, God was one. He did not modify this ancient belief. To the scribe who asked which commandment was greatest, Jesus quoted the familiar confession from Dent, (e'"-) which begins with the words, ' Jehovah our God is one Jehovah' (Mk 12^); and the author of the Fourth Gospel represents Jesus as addressing these words of prayer to the Father — 'This is life eternal, that they should know thee, the only true God' (rbv fiivof dXTjSii'Ji' eeov, Jn 17').
Jesus spoke cf the Ilnly S))iiit ; ,iim1 if llu'ie is any place at whirh H,- Mi'L'^'-^t- a i^i-oiml .ii-iinc-
tion in theDivini- I'.riii;;, it i^hn.-. |i : ■uy,
therefore, to oon-i.li'r His wurds "ii ilii- -unjp<'t. His references to tlie Spirit in the oldest (rtispels are extremely rare ; and in only one instance do all the Synop'tics agree in reporting the use of this term. This is the passage concerning blasphemy
* 0pvy/Mi !9 used in Pr 1912 of the roaring of a lion, and in Sir 513 of beasts ' ready to devour.'
t The notion of some, that the phrase in the Gospels is h.-uicd upon a conception of Gehenna as a place of extreme cold, and that 'gna»hing' = ' chattering of teeth,' is very precarious.
against the Spirit (Mk 3^, Mt 1231, lj^ joio). There are three other* occasions on which, according to one or two of the Synoptics, Jesus spoke of the Spirit, (a) The first of these occasions was when He spoke words of encouragement to His disciples in anticipation of their future need of support when called before governors and kings. According to Matthew (10™), He said to them, ' It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.' In Luke we have two passages referring to the same, or at least very similar occasions ; one of these speaks of the Holy Spirit (tA dyioi/ TrfeOna), while in the other Jesus is represented as saying, '/ will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to Avithstand ' (Lk 12'- 21'*). Mark has a similar word of Jesus, but puts it on a difl'erent occasion. The situation of the disciples is the same, and Jesus says, ' It is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit ' (Uk 13"). The thought which all the accounts have in common is that of Divine assistance. The agent who assists is either the ' Holy Spirit,' the ' Spirit of your Father,' or Jesus Himself.
(6) Another reference by Jesus to the Spirit is found in His reply to those wlio accused Him of working in league with Beelzebul. Here He said, 'If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons' (Mt 12^) ; or, according to Luke, ' If I by the jfinger of God cast out demons' (11™).
(c) Finally, according to Mark (12^), Jesus re- ferred to the llOth Psalm as spoken in the Holy Spirit. Mt. has simply iv wdii.aTi, and Lk. no reference to the Spirit.
Now the language of these passages does not appear to suggest a different view of the Spirit from that of the old prophets. If Jesus as a rule represented His (disciples as dependent on the Father, and the Father as caring for them, and then in a single instance, when speaking still of the Di\nne aid, said, ' the Spirit of your Father ' or the ' Holy Spirit,' we cannot suppose that He made any personal distinction between them. His word is an echo of such a passage as Is 61' ' The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me,' and is in part a fulfilment of the promise in Joel (2^) that the Spirit shall be poured out upon all flesh. The statement of Jesus regarding the 110th Psalm, that it was spoken in the Holy Spirit, is quite parallel to this word concerning His disciples. It shall be with them as it was with the author of this psalm. The Spirit of their Father will speak in them.
Again, when Jesus .said, ' If I by the Spirit of God [or the finqcr of God] cast out demons,' it is manifest that His thought is that of God's pres- ence and aid. It is like the language of Micah when he said, ' I am full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah ' (3'). The Fourth Gospel expresses the same thought when it represents Jesus as saying, ' The i ather abiding in me doeth his works' (Jn W>).
Finally, when Jesus warned the scribes and Pharisees concerning the irremissible sin of blas- phemy against the Holy Spirit, it is obvious that we cannot draw any personal distinction between this Spirit and God. These men had attributed the manifestly good work of Jesus to the prince of bad spirits. 'Thus they had wilfully called good evil (cf. Is 5™). They had violated conscience ; they had quenched, at least for the moment, this inner and fundamental voice of God. This mani- festation of God \\-ithin them is called the Spirit of God in accordance with OT usage, which ascribes a spirit to Jehovali, in and through which He