This conclusion is not given, be it remembered, as a positive dictum as to the mode of union of man with God through the fellowship or possession of the Holy Ghost. It is only a tentative suggestion as to a possible mode of that union, to meet the question as to how it can be possible to regard the Holy Ghost as a spirit-personage in the sense of his being an individual—a conclusion forced upon the understanding by the revelations of God which present him to us—and at the same time accept the notion—also forced upon the understanding by what is revealed of the Holy Ghost—that he is in conscious union with unnumbered millions of minds who have been brought into fellowship with God through the spiritual birth. But for the matter itself, as to any dogmatizing about it—"The wind bloweth where it listeth, * * * * ye know not whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
LESSON XIV.
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
OFFICES (I. E., FUNCTIONS) OF THE HOLY GHOST.
ANALYSIS | REFERENCES. |
I. Chief Office—Witness for Father and the Son. | The Scripture passages cited in the body of this lesson. |
II. Comforter. | |
III. Teacher. | |
IV. Remembrancer. |
SPECIAL TEXT: "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." (St John xv.26.)
DISCUSSION.
1. Review of Former Statement: It has already been pointed out in Lesson X, when considering the Holy Ghost in association with the Father and the Son in the Godhead, that his chief office, in the sense of function, is to be a witness for the two other divine personages of the Godhead, and for the truth of God—for the whole volume of it. That description of his office, however, was merely incidental, as explained in a footnote at the time, and followed only so far as was necessary to indicate merely the chief work of this divine Spirit.
2. Chief Function of the Holy Ghost—Witness for God: It was there emphasized, however, that the chief function of the Holy Ghost was to be Witness for God the Father, and for Jesus Christ:
"Ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and of the Son."[A] "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost"[B]