1 Cor. ii. 10. The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
IN the verse immediately preceding our text, which is a citation from the Propliet Isaiah, there is a re- markable difference between the words, as uttered by the Prophet, and as cited by the Apostle. The Apostle quotes only so much as was sufficient to
shew that the great mystery of redemption was never conceived by man before it was revealed to us by God. But the prophet excludes all the bright intelligences of heaven, no less than men ; and intimates that none but God was privy to the Divine counsels : " Neither hath eye seen^ O God, besides thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for him''." This omis- sion we should not have particularly noticed, if the Apostle had not, by his subsequent observations, drawn our attention to it more particularly, by shew- ing, that though there was no finite intelligence privy to these counsels, there was One, who, though God, was in some respects to be distinguished from Him, whose counsels they were, and who did " search," and behold with perfect accuracy, the very utmost depths of that mystery, and who also had revealed them to the Apostle : — " God," says the Apostle, " hath revealed them to us by his Spirit : for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him ? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God ; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." Now, throughout this whole passage, there is repeated mention made of God, as the source and fountain from whence this mysterious plan emanated ; and of the Spirit of God, as a distinct Agent discovering these depths to us. From hence we have an insight into the doctrine of the Trinity of persons in the Godhead ; a doctrine obscurely intimated in the words of the prophet, but plainly declared in the Apostle's fuller explanation of them. The personality of the Holy Spirit, and his divinity, are here repeatedly asserted : and a beautiful light is thrown upon those words of the prophet ; " No eye hath seen, O God, besides thee :" for though no created being hath seen, the Holy Ghost hath : for " the Spirit searcheth all tilings, yea, the deep things of God."
^ Isai. Ixiv. 4. G 2