“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.” Luke 1:35. “For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” Mat. 1:20. By this we understand the Holy Spirit to have the power of creation.
Some have erroneously taught that the Holy Spirit is the Word. How can they do so when the second person in the trinity declares he is the Word? John 1:1. “For there are three that bare record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.” 1 John 5:7. Is not this plain enough to stop the mouths of all such false teachers?
The office of the Holy Spirit. He is everywhere termed the Holy Spirit. It is true. Christ is holy, and God is holy, but this term is especially applied to [pg 312] the Spirit, because his particular mission is to restore mankind to holiness. Holiness and sanctification, so far as they apply to a state, are synonymous terms. The Holy Spirit is the sanctifier. Rom. 15:16. This is the especial mission and prime work of the Holy Spirit. Much is involved in the work of sanctification. In this is the destruction of carnality and division, and consequently the unifying of the children of God. The Holy Spirit is the agency in answering the prayer of the Savior: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word: that they all may be one.” John 17:20, 21. Sanctification is the work which effects this oneness. “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Heb. 2:11. Holiness and unity accomplished by the Holy Spirit are the two most sublime themes in the New Testament. Nothing accomplished in the mission of the Holy Spirit is more glorifying to God.
God The Son.
Jesus Christ, the second person in the trinity, is also called God. “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” John 20:28. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God.” John 1:1. He is God revealed in the flesh on a mission of love and mercy to this world. He came as a Redeemer or Savior. An [pg 313] angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream before the nativity of the holy child and gave him the name Jesus or Savior (see margin of Mat. 1:21), because he should save his people from their sins. He was both God and man. Born of a woman, he was human. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, he was divine. As God, he was not subject to temptation, “for God can not be tempted;” but as a man he endured all the temptations common to mankind. In the beginning of his ministry he was forty days tempted of the devil.
He is one with God the Father. “I and my Father are one.” John 10:30. Because of his divinity he is eternal. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.” Rev. 1:8. He is omnipotent. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” He is able to subdue all things unto himself. Phil. 3:21. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Mat. 28:18. He is omnipresent. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Mat. 18:20. “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Mat. 28:20. He is omniscient. “He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” John 21:17. “Now we [pg 314] are sure that thou knowest all things.” John 16:30. He is immutable. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” Heb. 13:8.
His mission to this world was to be offered as a sacrifice for the sins of this world. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” Heb. 9:28. God prepared a body for his Son which he could bring as a sacrifice for the sins of many. “But a body hast thou prepared me.” Heb. 10:5. Truly, “without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” 1 Tim. 3:16. The writers of the Gospels record the event of his crucifixion. On the cross he cried, “It is finished.” His mission was completed, the sacrifice was made, the blood was shed. The blood has a great atoning power, the devastation caused by sin is covered by the blood. It destroys the works of the devil.
Provision was made by the atoning blood for sickness as well as for sin. “When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Mat. 8:16, 17. God manifested in the flesh is a perfect Redeemer, the conqueror of sin, sickness and death, the destroyer of Satan's works, and the light of the world.
God The Holy Ghost.
That the Holy Spirit is a personage many question. But the doubts and denials of a nation, or of a world, do not change the Word of God. He is the third person in the trinity without controversy. The Holy Spirit is not a mere emanation or influence, but a person or being, capable of works, or the performance of a mission. As a person he guides: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13. He as a person teaches: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26.