What Jesus Taught

by Osborne J. P. Widtsoe

Who, then, is this Spirit, this Comforter? Jesus tells plainly: "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." The Holy Ghost, then, is a special witness to Jesus; and the Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead in heaven. When Jesus commissioned the apostles after His resurrection to preach the Gospel, He said to them, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." It is further clear that, as a member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost is a member separate and distinct from God and the Son; for at the baptism of the Son, all three were individually and separately present.

The mission of the Holy Ghost.

The duties of the Holy Ghost are many. When Nicodemus came by night to be instructed by Jesus, Jesus assured him that, "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;" for, said He, "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." This means, of course, that when one receives the gift of the Holy Ghost, one enters upon a new spiritual life. And in bringing about such a new spiritual life, the Holy Ghost convinces the sinner of his evil deeds, and leads him to the truth, testifying as we have already learned of the Christ.

The Holy Ghost in Jesus and the apostles.

Jesus, himself, was "full of the Holy Ghost." After the ascension. His promise of a Comforter was literally fulfilled to the Apostles. On the day of Pentecost, they "were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

The Holy Ghost amongst the Nephites.

On the American continent, too, as you must remember, Jesus chose twelve apostles. The Holy Ghost rested mightily upon them, and the way in which Jesus conferred the Holy Ghost on them is interesting. The third Nephi records the incident in these words: "It came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of these sayings, He touched with His hand the disciples whom He had chosen, one by one, even until He had touched them all, and spake unto them as He touched them." Moroni describes the incident more fully: "The words of Christ, which He spake unto His disciples, the twelve whom He had chosen, as He laid His hands upon them. And He called them by name, saying, ye shall call on the Father, in my name, in mighty prayer; and after ye have done this, ye shall have power that on him whom ye shall lay your hands, ye shall give the Holy Ghost; and in my name shall ye give it, for thus do mine apostles."

How to confer the Holy Ghost.

As Jesus Himself did, then, amongst the Nephites, and as He instructed the Nephite apostles to do, so also did the Jewish apostles. They conferred the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. It is the proper way. When the Church was re-established by the great American, Joseph Smith, the ordinance of the laying on of hands was restored with it.

Nature of the Holy Ghost.