Lord, e.g. in Ac 3" 22", 2 Ti 48, He P, Ja 5«, 1 P 3^8^ Kev 19", as in Jn 5^°. It is this attribute which assures a just judgment ; but it includes more than ' justice ' in the ordinary human sense ; it embraces all tiiat ' uprightness ' stands for. (With the whole of this sub-section, cf. § 3 above.)
(/) Christ's Godhead is not contrary to His true hmnanity. — In weighing all the above considera- tions, we must remember the great stress that is laid in the NT on the true humanity of Jesus {e.g. Ac 1731, Ro P, 1 Ti 25, Rev V% though this does not come within the scope of this article. The apostles did not make their Master to be a mere Docetic or phantom man. Jesus really suflered in His human spirit as well as in His human body. But when we review all the passages given in the preceding paragraphs, and others like them, what- ever deductions we may make because of a doubtful reading here or a questionable interpretation there, we cannot doubt that the apostles taught that Jesus is no mere man, or even a created angel, but is God. See further below, § 9.
7. Personality and Godhead of the Holy Ghost. — Much is said in the OT of the Spirit of God, who from the first had given life to the world (Gn P 2^, Job 33^). The ' Spirit ' in Hebrew, as in Greek and Latin, is the Breath of God (nn, TrveO/xa, spiritus), who not only gave physical life at the first, but is the moving power of holiness. The Psalmist prays: 'Take not thy holy spirit from me' (Ps 51'^). But the OT teachers had not yet learnt what Christian theology calls the personality of the Holy Ghost (see above, 5 (a)), though in the teaching about ' Wisdom,' which is in some degree personified in the OT, e.g. in Pr 8 and the Sapi- ential books of the Apocrypha, and also in the phraseology of such passages as Is 48'* 63'", they made some approach to it. In Christian times, while there has been on the whole little doubt about the Godhead of the Spirit (though in the 4th cent, the Arians asserted that He was a created being), yet men have frequently hesitated about His distinct personality, and have thought of Him merely as an Attribute or Influence of the Father. It is therefore important to investigate the apos- tolic teaching on the subject. We must first notice that the NT writers fully recognize that the Holy Spirit had worked in the Old Dispensation ; He 'spake by the prophets' [the enlarged 'Nicene' Creed] ; the words quoted from the OT are the words of the Holy Ghost (Ac l'« 28^, 1 P 1", 2 P 1-', Mk 12^", etc.). Tlie Pentecostal outpouring was not the first working of the Spirit in the world. But the apostolic writers teach a far higher doc- trine of the Spirit than was known in the OT.
[a) The Godhead of the Holy Ghost. — We have already seen (above, 5 (c)) that the Spirit is in the NT teaching joined to the Father and Son in a manner which implies Godhead. The ' Spirit of God' (see below) must be God. When Ananias lied ' to the Holy Ghost,' he lied not ' unto men but unto God' (Ac S'"- ; cf. v.', where he and Sapphira are said to have ' agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord '). With this we may compare Mk 3^^ where blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is said to have ' never forgiveness ' ; the II ISIt 12^"- adds : ' Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him.' The inference is that if the Son is God, the Spirit is God. — Divine attributes are predicated of the Spirit. In particular. He is throughout named holy. We may ask why this epithet is so con- stantly given to Him, for it is obviously not in- tended to derogate from the Father or the Son. May not the reason be sought in the work of the Spirit ? It is through Him that man becomes holy, through Him that God works on man. In this connexion we may notice two points. (1) In the
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OT we do not find the absolute title 'the Holy Spirit,' though the Spirit is called ' holy ' in Ps 51" ('tiiy holy spirit') and Is 63"*'- ('his holy spirit'). The use of the title 'the Holy Spirit' is a token of advance to the conception of personality ; see below (b). (2) In the NT there is frequently a difl'erence between the title when used without the article and when used with it, so that irveC/m S.yiov ('Holy Spirit') is a gift or manifestation of the Spirit in its relation to the life of man, while the same words with the article (rb irpeOfia rb dyiov or rb dyiov 7rvev/j.a) denote the Holy Spirit considered as a Divine Person (Swete, The Holy Spirit in the NT, 1909, p. 396 f.).— Again, knowledge of the deep things of God is predicated of the Spirit (1 Co 2'*"-). He is the truth (1 Jn 5^; cf. Jn 15-**). He is the Spirit of life (Ro 8^), and immanent in man (Ro 5* 8« 14", 1 Co 6'3 [cf. esp. 2 Co 6'«] 7^ Gal 46, Jn 14'^ etc.). He is eternal (He 9'*; but on this verse see Swete, p. 61).