The Spirit, however, is not nearly so prominent in St. John's prophetic visions as are the angels. While the Spirit is the source of knowledge — of the omniscience of Jesus and God, and of the certitude of the Christian which surveys the Last Things — yet, when the catastrophic interventions of Divine power in the world's history are to be portrayed, it is the angels who appear as the agents of the Divine purposes. Still St. John summons Christ's people to that heroic conflict and that service of perfect love in which they are ready to die for Christ's sake, and to stand against the world even when, under a single head, it con- centrates all its force to make war upon Christ. In this, however, their eyes are not bent upon their own spiritual standing ; rather they are turned away from man towards the higher realm where the Lamb seated upon the throne of God rules all things.
(2) Gospel.— T\iQ great theme of St. John's Gospel is the Divine sonship of Jesus ; the faith of the disciples finds its object in Him, and their love is service to Him. His credentials consist in His possession of the Spirit (P^ 334j_ ^he Spirit is the medium through which Jesus accomplishes His work. Hence the two metaphors with which St. John expresses the work of Jesus, viz. 'life' and ' light,' apply also to the work of the Spirit. The Spirit is one with the word of Jesus, and makes that word tlie source of life (6"^). It is associated with baptism in such wise that the water initiates the new life in man (3^) ; it works in the flesh and blood of Jesus, so that they can be eaten and drunk, and thus give life to believers (Q*^). After the departure of Jesus, moreover, the Spirit is the power by which the disciples complete their task, for the truth dwells in them through the Spirit (cf. art. Paraclete). The Spirit in- stitutes the new tj'pe of worship in the community (4^). In the Fourth Gospel, therefore, the Si>irit is in its Divine pre-eminence exalted above the human consciousness. It is manifested only in its work, and this is simply the Christian liife — the faith directed to Jesus, and the love tendered Him ; for the Spirit does not reveal itself, but glorifies Christ.
(3) First Epistle. — According to the First Epistle of St. John, again, it is the Spirit that bestows the word — not only the word of prophecy, but also that of confession (4^-''). The Spirit becomes manifest in leading men to confess Jesus. Hence it is con- joined with the water and the blood as the power that generates faith in Christ (5*), and therefore it is also that gift which manifests and safeguards the perfect fellowship of Jesus with believers (3-^). It keeps the community from the seduction of error, for it teaches and reveals the truth (2-i- ^). The community must have absolute confidence in the guidance of the Spirit ; by its possession of the Spirit it secures fellowship with the apostle, since the Spirit makes it submissive to him (4''), and at the same time it secures its independence, since it discovers knowledge for itself, and is not fettered to the apostle. The designation here applied to the Spirit, viz. 'oil of anointing' {xpitrfia [2-^]), reminds the readers of Avhat im- parted the Spirit to them : they possess Him as the property of the Anointed (Xpia-rds), who con- summates His fellowship with them, and shares with them His chrism, in the fact that the Spirit leads them to knowledge and certitude.
The references to the Spirit in all the three documents just dealt with reveal their specifically Johannine colouring in their speaking of the Spirit as the source of knowledge. As the Christian life consists in the knowledge of God, it is the Spirit also that brings about the new birth from God.
That point of view common to all the Palestinian teachers, which distinguishes their utterances regarding the Spirit from the Pauline doctrine, is clearly related, both positively and negatively, to the religious attitude of the Jews. From that attitude sprang the Christian sense of being under obligation to God, and the Christian estimate of obedience as the chief element in religion. The promise of the Spirit did not lead the Christians of Palestine to observe its work in themselves, to find their joy therein, and to enrich and perfect their spiritual life thereby ; it prompted them, rather, to do the will of God in obedience to Jesus. It was therefore enough for them that the work of the Spirit should be manifest in the existence of the Church and the word that sustained it. Simultaneously, however, their controversy with the Jews wrought with profound efi'ect upon the religious standpoint of the Christians. The Jew, in virtue of his Divine calling, acquired a proud self-consciousness, and, after every religious efibrt he put forth, he was inclined to display and admire it. Thus the apostolic preaching came to be a ceaseless striving against religious vainglory. Might not the conviction that the Cliurch possesses the Spirit engender pride? Must it not prove positively baneful that man should discern the workings of Divine grace in the movements of his thought and will ? With a humble but bold sincerity the leaders of the Palestinian Church sought to prevent believers from dwelling upon their personal experiences of the Spirit, and dis- countenanced introspection except as a means of maintaining their union with Jesus in penitence and obedience. In this attitude we see also the strength of the hope which turned their longings towards the coming world and the coming Christ : in that consummation the work of the Spirit will at length be fully manifested in those whom it raises from the dead.