spoken of " His Spirit," occur in all parts of Scripture from Gen- esis to Revelation. These and equivalent terms are evidently to be understood in the same sense throughout the Scriptures. If the Spirit of God which moved on the face of the waters, which strove with the antediluvians, which came upon Moses, which gave skill to artisans, and which inspired the prophets, is the power of God; then the Spirit which came upon the Apostles, which Chi-ist promised to send as a comforter and advocate, and to which the instruction, sanctification, and guidance of the people of God are referred, must also be the power of God. But if the' Spirit is clearly revealed to be a person in the later parts of Scripture, it is plain that the ear- lier portions must be understood in the same way. One part of the Bible, and much less one or a few passages must not be taken by themselves, and receive any interpretation which the isolated words may bear, but Scripture must interpret Scripture. Another obvious remark on this subject is, that the Spirit of God is equally prominent in all parts of the word of God. His intervention does not occur on rare occasions, as the appearance of angels, or the The- ophanies, of which mention is made here and there in the sacred volume ; but He is represented as everywhere present and every- where operative. We might as well strike from the Bible the name and doctrine of God, as the name and office of the Spirit. In the New Testament alone He is mentioned not far from three hundred times. It is not onh^, however, merely the frequency with which the Spirit is mentioned, and the prominence given to his person and work, but the multiplied and interesting relations in which He is represented as standing to the people of God, the im- portance and number of his gifts, and the absolute dependence of the believer and of the Church upon Him for spiritual and eternal life, which render the doctrine of the Holy Ghost absolutely fundamen- tal to the gospel. The work of the Spirit in applying the redemp- tion of Christ is represented to be as essential as that redemption itself. It is therefore indispensable that we should know what the Bible teaches concerning the Holy Ghost, both as to his nature and office.
Proof of his Personality. The Scriptures clearly teach that He is a person. Personality includes intelligence, will, and individual subsistence. If, there- fore, it can be proved that all these are attributed to the Spirit, it is thereby proved that He is a person. It will not be necessary or advisable to separate the proofs of these several points, and cite passages which ascribe to Him intelligence ; and then others,
624 PART I. — THEOLOGY. [Ch. VTH. — The Holy Spirit.
which attribute to Him will ; and still others to prove his individual subsistence, because all these are often included in one and the same passage ; and arguments which prove the one, in many cases prove also the others.
1. The first argument for the personality of the Holy Spirit is derived from the use of the personal pronouns in relation to Him. A person is that which, when speaking, says I ; when addressed, is called thou ; and when spoken of, is called he, or him. It is indeed admitted that there is such a rhetorical figure as personification ; that inanimate or irrational beings, or sentiments, or attributes, may be introduced as speaking, or addressed as persons. But this cre- ates no difficulty. The cases of personification are such as do not, except in rare instances, admit of any doubt. The fact that men sometimes apostrophize the heavens, or the elements, gives no pre- text for explaining as personification all the passages in which God or Christ is introduced as a person. So also with regard to the Holy Spirit. He is introduced as a person so often, not merely in poetic or excited discourse, but in simple narrative, and in didactic instructions ; and his personality is sustained by so many collateral proofs, that to explain the use of the personal pronouns in relation to Him on the principle of pez'sonification, is to do violence to all the rules of interpretation. Thus in Acts xiii. 2, "The Holy "Ghost said. Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work where- unto I have called them." Our Lord says (John xv. 26), " When the Comforter (6 ■n-apdKXrjTO';') is come whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth (to Trvevixa ti}? aXtjOeias) which (o) proceedeth from the Father, Me (eKcti/os) shall testify of me." The use of the masculine pronoun ffe instead of zY, shows that the Spirit is a person. It may indeed be said that as Trapa.KXrjTO's is masculine, the pronoun referring to it must of course be in the same gender. But as the explanatory words to irvev/xa in- tervene, to which the neuter o refers, the following pronoun would naturally be in the neuter, if the subject spoken of, the Trvev/xa^ were not a person. In the following chapter (John xvi. 13, 14) there is no ground for this objection. It is there said, " When ffe (eKcu'os), the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth : for He shall not speak of Himself ; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me (eVcivos i/xk 8o$daeL ) : for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." Here there is no possibility of accounting for the use of the personal pronoun He (cKctvos) on any other ground than the personality of the Spirit.