John Owen · 11 of 123

Chapter III. Divine nature and personality of the Holy Spirit proved and vindicated. · Part 3

“Disce, puer, virtutem ex me, verumque laborem; Fortunam ex aliis:”

for virtue and industry are to be learned properly, but fortune, as they called it, or prosperous events, are not so. These things, therefore, are very different, and their difference is obvious unto all. But we insist not merely on this or that particular instance. Let any man not absolutely prepossessed with prejudice read over that discourse of our Saviour unto his disciples, wherein he purposely instructs them in the nature and work of the Spirit of God, on whom, as it were, he then devolved the care of them and the gospel, according unto the promise, John xiv., xv., xvi., and he will need no farther instruction or confirmation in this matter. He is there frequently called “The Comforter,” the name of a person, and that vested with an office, with respect unto the work that he would do; and “Another Comforter,” in answer and conformity unto the Lord Christ, who was one Comforter and a person, as all grant, chap. xiv. 16, 26. If he be not so, the intention of this expression with these circumstances must be to deceive us, and not instruct us. He tells them, moreover, that he is one whom the world neither sees nor knows, but who abideth with and dwelleth in believers, verse 17; one whom the Father would send, and who would come accordingly, and that to teach them, to lead and guide them and to bring things to their remembrance, verse 26; a Comforter that should come and testify or bear witness unto him, chap. xv. 26; one that should be sent of him, “to reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment,” chap. xvi. 7, 8, and to abide with his disciples, to supply his own bodily absence. So is he said to “speak,” “guide,” “teach,” “hear,” to “receive of Christ’s and to show it unto others,” chap. xiv. 26, xvi. 13, 14, with sundry other things of the same nature and importance. And these things are not spoken of him occasionally or in transitu, but in a direct continued discourse, designed on purpose by our Lord Jesus Christ to acquaint his disciples who he was, and what he would do for them. And if there were nothing spoken of him in the whole Scripture but what is here declared by our Saviour, all unprejudiced men must and would acknowledge him to be a divine person. And it is a confidence swelling above all bounds of modesty, to suppose that because one or other of these things is or may be metaphorically or metaleptically ascribed unto this or that thing which are not persons, when the figurativeness of such an ascription is plain and open, that therefore they are all of them in like manner so ascribed unto the Holy Ghost in that discourse of our Saviour unto his disciples, wherein he designed the instruction of them, as above declared. Of the same nature is that which we discoursed before concerning his searching of all things, from 1 Cor. ii. 10; which as it proves him to be an understanding agent, so it undeniably denotes a personal action. Such also are the things mentioned, Rom. viii. 16, 26: He “helpeth our infirmities,” he “maketh intercession for us,” he himself “beareth witness with our spirit;” the particular meaning of all which expressions shall be afterward inquired into. Here the only refuge of our adversaries is to cry up a prosopopœia (Schlichting. p. 627) But how do they prove it? Only by saying that “these things belong properly to a person, which the Spirit is not.” Now, this is nothing but to set up their own false hypothesis against our arguments, and, not being able to contend with the premises, to deny the conclusion.

There are two other places of this nature, both to the same purpose, sufficient of themselves to confirm our faith in the truth pleaded for; and these are, Acts xiii. 2, 4, “As they ministered unto the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed.” The other is chap. xx. 28, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.” These places hold a good correspondence; and what is reported in an extraordinary case, as matter of fact, in the first, is doctrinally applied unto ordinary cases in the latter. And two things are remarkable in the first place:— 1. The Holy Ghost’s designation of himself as the person unto whom and whose work Barnabas and Saul were to be separated and dedicated. Saith he, Ἀφορίσατε δή μοι, not “Separate me,” as in our translation, making the Spirit only the author of the command, but “Separate unto me;” which proposeth him also as the object of the duty required, and the person whose work was to be attended. Who or what, then, is intended by that pronoun “me?” Some person is directed unto and signified thereby; nor can any instance be given where it is so much as figuratively used, unless it be in a professed parable. That remains, therefore, to be inquired into, Who is intended in that word “me?” And the words are the words of the Holy Ghost: “The Holy Ghost said, Separate unto me;” he, therefore, alone is intended. All the answer which the wit and diligence of our adversaries can invent is, that “these words are ascribed unto the Holy Ghost because the prophets that were in the church of Antioch spake therein by his instinct and inspiration.” But in this evasion there is no regard unto the force of our argument; for we do not argue merely from his being said to speak, but from what is spoken by him, “Separate unto me,” and do inquire whether the prophets be intended by that word or no? If so, which of them? for they were many by whom the Holy Ghost spake the same thing, and some one must be intended in common by them all; and to say that this was any of the prophets is foolish, indeed blasphemous. 2. The close of the second verse confirms this application of the word, “For the work whereunto I have called them.” This confessedly is the Holy Ghost. Now, to call men to the ministry is a free act of authority, choice, and wisdom; which are properties of a person, and none other. Nor is either the Father or the Son in the Scripture introduced more directly clothed with personal properties than the Holy Ghost is in these places. And the whole is confirmed, verse 4, “So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed.” He called them, by furnishing them with ability and authority for their work; he commanded them to be set apart by the church, that they might be blessed and owned in their work; and he sent them forth, by an impression of his authority on their minds, given them by those former acts of his. And if a divine person be not hereby described, I know not how he may so be.

The other text speaks unto the same purpose. Acts xx. 28, it is expressly said that the Holy Ghost made the elders of the church the overseers of it. The same act of wisdom and authority is here again assigned unto him. And here is no room left for the evasion insisted on; for these words were not spoken in a way of prophecy, nor in the name of the Holy Ghost, but concerning him. And they are explicatory of the other; for he must be meant in these expressions, “Separate unto me those whom I have called,” by whom they are made ministers. Now, this was the Holy Ghost; for he makes the overseers of the church. And we may do well to take notice, that if he did so then, he doth so now; for they were not persons extraordinarily inspired or called that the apostle intends, but the ordinary officers of the church. And if persons are not called and constituted officers, as at the first, in ordinary cases, the church is not the same as it was. And it is the concernment of those who take this work and office upon them to consider what there is in their whole undertaking that they can ascribe unto the Holy Ghost. Persons furnished with no spiritual gifts or abilities, entering into the ministry in the pursuit of secular advantages, will not easily satisfy themselves in this inquiry when they shall be willing, or be forced, at the last to make it.

There remains yet one sort of testimonies to the same purpose, which must briefly be passed through: and they are those where he is spoken of as the object of such actings and actions of men as none but a person can be; for let them be applied unto any other object, and their inconsistency will quickly appear. Thus he is said to be tempted of them that sin: “How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord,” Acts v. 9. In what sense soever this word is used, — whether in that which is indifferent, to try, as God is said to tempt Abraham, or in that which is evil, to provoke or induce to sin, — it never is, it never can be, used but with respect unto a person. How can a quality, an accident, an emanation of power from God, be tempted? None can possibly be so but he that hath an understanding to consider what is proposed unto him, and a will to determine upon the proposal made. So Satan tempted our first parents; so men are tempted by their own lusts; so are we said to tempt God when we provoke him by our unbelief, or when we unwarrantably make experiments of his power; — so did they “tempt the Holy Ghost” who sinfully ventured on his omniscience, as if he would not or could not discover their sin; or on his holiness, that he would patronize their deceit. In like manner, Ananias is said to “lie to the Holy Ghost,” verse 3; and none is capable of lying unto any other but such an one as is capable of hearing and receiving a testimony, for a lie is a false testimony given unto that which is spoken or uttered in it. This he that is lied unto must be capable of judging and determining upon; which without personal properties of will and understanding none can be. And the Holy Ghost is here so declared to be a person as that he is declared to be one that is also divine; for so the apostle Peter declares in the exposition of the words, verse 4, “Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” These things are so plain and positive that the faith of believers will not be concerned in the sophistical evasions of our adversaries. In like manner, he is said to be resisted, Acts vii. 51; which is the moral reaction or opposition of one person unto another. So also is he said to he grieved, or we are commanded not to grieve him, Eph. iv. 30; as they of old were said to have “rebelled and vexed the Holy Spirit of God,” Isa. lxiii. 10. A figurative expression is allowed in these words. Properly, the Spirit of God cannot be grieved or vexed; for these things include such imperfections as are incompetent unto the divine nature. But as God is said to “repent” and to be “grieved at his heart,” Gen. vi. 6, when he would do things correspondent unto those which men will do or judge fit to be done on such provocations, and when he would declare what effects they would produce in a nature capable of such perturbations; so on the same reason is the Spirit of God said to be grieved and vexed. But this can no way be spoken of him if he be not one whose respect unto sin may, from the analogy unto human persons, be represented by this figurative expression. To talk of grieving a virtue or an actual emanation of power, is to speak that which no man can understand the meaning or intention of. Surely he that is thus tempted, resisted, and grieved by sin and sinners, is one that can understand, judge, and determine concerning them; and these things being elsewhere absolutely spoken concerning God, it declares that he is so with respect unto whom they are mentioned in particular.

The whole of the truth contended for is yet more evident in that discourse of our Saviour, Matt. xii. 24. The Pharisees said, “He doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils.” And Jesus answered, verse 28, “If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” Verses 31, 32, “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him.” To the same purpose, see Luke xii. 8–10. The Spirit is here expressly distinguished from the Son, as one person from another. They are both spoken of with respect unto the same things in the same manner, and the things mentioned are spoken concerning them universally in the same sense. Now, if the Holy Ghost were only the virtue and power of God, then present with Jesus Christ in all that he did, Christ and that power could not be distinctly spoken against, for they were but one and the same. The Pharisees blasphemed, saying, that “he cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils.” A person they intended, and so expressed him by his name, nature, and office. To which our Saviour replies, that he cast them out by the Spirit of God, — a divine person, opposed to him who is diabolical. Hereunto he immediately subjoins his instruction and caution, that they should take heed how they blasphemed that Holy Spirit, by assigning his effects and works to the prince of devils. And blasphemy against him directly manifests both what and who he is, especially such a peculiar blasphemy as carrieth an aggravation of guilt along with it above all that human nature in any other instance is capable of. It is supposed that blasphemy may be against the person of the Father: so was it in him who “blasphemed the name of Jehovah and cursed” by it, Lev. xxiv. 11. The Son, as to his distinct person, may be blasphemed; so it is said here expressly; — and thereon it is added that the Holy Ghost also may be distinctly blasphemed, or be the immediate object of that sin which is declared to be inexpiable. To suppose now that this Holy Ghost is not a divine person is for men to dream whilst they seem to be awake.

I suppose by all these testimonies we have fully confirmed what was designed to be proved by them, — namely, that the Holy Spirit is not a quality, as some speak, residing in the divine nature; not a mere emanation of virtue and power from God; not the acting of the power of God in and unto our sanctification; but a holy intelligent subsistent or person. And in our passage many instances have been given, whence it is undeniably evident that he is a divine, self-sufficient, self-subsisting person, together with the Father and the Son equally participant of the divine nature. Nor is this distinctly much disputed by them with whom we have to do; for they confess that such things are ascribed unto him as none but God can effect: wherefore, denying him so to be, they lay up all their hopes of success in denying him to be a person. But yet, because the subject we are upon doth require it, and it may be useful to the faith of some, I will call over a few testimonies given expressly unto his deity also.

First, he is expressly called God; and having the name of God properly and directly given unto him, with respect unto spiritual things, or things peculiar unto God, he must have the nature of God also. Acts v. 3, Ananias is said to “lie to the Holy Ghost.” This is repeated and interpreted, verse 4, “Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” The declaration of the person intended by the “Holy Ghost” is added for the aggravation of the sin, for he is “God.” The same person, the same object of the sin of Ananias, is expressed in both places; and, therefore, the Holy Ghost is God. The word for lying is the same in both places, ψεύδομαι, only it is used in a various construction. Verse 3, it hath the accusative case joined unto it: Ψεύσασθαί σε τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, — that “thou shouldst deceive,” or think to deceive, or attempt to deceive, “the Holy Ghost.” How? By lying unto him, in making a profession in the church wherein he presides of that which is false. This is explained, verse 4, by ἐψεύσω τῷ Θεῷ, “thou hast lied unto God;” the nature of his sin being principally intended in the first place, and the object in the latter. Wherefore, in the progress of his discourse, the apostle calls the same sin, a “tempting of the Spirit of the Lord,” verse 9; it was the Spirit of the Lord that he lied unto, when he lied unto God. These three expressions, “The Holy Ghost,” “God,” “The Spirit of the Lord,” do denote the same thing and person, or there is no coherence in the discourse. It is excepted “That what is done against the Spirit is done against God, because he is sent by God.” It is true, as he is sent by the Father, what is done against him is morally and as to the guilt of it done against the Father. And so our Saviour tells us with respect unto what was done against himself; for saith he, He that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.” But directly and immediately, both Christ and the Spirit were sinned against in their own persons. He is God [who is] here provoked. So also he is called “Lord,” in a sense appropriate unto God alone: 2 Cor. iii. 17, 18, “Now the Lord is that Spirit;” and, “We are changed from glory to glory,” ἀπὸ Κυρίου Πνεύματος, “by the Lord the Spirit,” or the Spirit of the Lord; where also divine operations are ascribed unto him. What is affirmed to this purpose, 1 Cor. xii. 6–8, hath been observed in the opening of the beginning of that chapter at the beginning of our discourse. The same, also, is drawn by just consequence from the comparing of Scriptures together, wherein what is spoken of God absolutely in one place is applied directly and immediately unto the Holy Ghost in another. To instance in one or two particulars: Lev. xxvi. 11, 12, “I will,” saith God, “set my tabernacle among you; and I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” The accomplishment of this promise the apostle declares, 2 Cor. vi. 16, “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” How and by whom is this done? 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which ye are.” If it were, then, God who of old promised to dwell in his people, and to make them his temple thereby, then is the Holy Spirit God; for he it is who, according to that promise, thus dwelleth in them. So Deut. xxxii. 12, speaking of the people in the wilderness, he saith, “The Lord alone did lead him;” and yet, speaking of the same people, at the same time, it is said, that “the Spirit of the Lord did lead them, and caused them to rest,” Isa. lxiii. 14. “The Spirit of the Lord,” therefore, is Jehovah, or Jehovah alone did not lead them. That, also, which is called in the same people their “sinning against God, and provoking the Most High in the wilderness,” Ps. lxxviii. 17, 18, is termed their “rebelling against and vexing the Holy Spirit,” Isa. lxiii. 10, 11. And many other instances of an alike nature have been pleaded and vindicated by others.

Add hereunto, in the last place, that divine properties are assigned unto him, as eternity, Heb. ix. 14, he is the “eternal Spirit;” — immensity, Ps. cxxxix. 7, “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?” — omnipotency, Mic. ii. 7, “The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened,” compared with Isa. xl. 28; “The power of the Spirit of God,” Rom. xv. 19; — prescience, Acts i. 16, This scripture must be fulfilled, “which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas;” — omniscience, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11, “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God;” — sovereign authority over the church, Acts xiii. 2, 4, xx. 28. The divine works, also, which are assigned unto him are usually, and to good purpose, pleaded in the vindication of the same truth; but these in the progress of our discourse I shall have occasion distinctly to consider and inquire into, and, therefore, shall not in this place insist upon them. What hath been proposed, cleared, and confirmed, may suffice as unto our present purpose, that we may know who he is concerning whom, — his works and grace, — we do design to treat.

I have but one thing more to add concerning the being and personality of the Holy Spirit; and this is, that in the order of subsistence, he is the third person in the holy Trinity. So it is expressed in the solemn numeration of them, where their order gives great direction unto gospel worship and obedience: Matt. xxviii. 19, “Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” This order, I confess, in their numeration, because of the equality of the persons in the same nature, is sometimes varied. So, Rev. i. 4, 5, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ.” The Holy Spirit, under the name of the seven Spirits before the throne of God, because of his various and perfect operations in and towards the church, is reckoned up in order before the Son, Jesus Christ. And so in Paul’s euctical conclusion unto his epistles, the Son is placed before the Father: 2 Cor. xiii. 14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.” And some think that the Holy Ghost is mentioned in the first place, Col. ii. 2, “The acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.” In this expression of them, therefore, we may use our liberty, they being all one, “God over all, blessed for ever.” But in their true and natural order of subsistence, and consequently of operation, the Holy Spirit is the third person; for as to his personal subsistence, he “proceedeth from the Father and the Son,” being equally the Spirit of them both, as hath been declared. This constitutes the natural order between the persons, which is unalterable. On this depends the order of his operation; for his working is a consequent of the order of his subsistence. Thus the Father is said to send him, and so is the Son also, John xiv. 16, 26, xvi. 7. And he is thus said to be sent by the Father and the Son, because he is the Spirit of the Father and Son, proceeding from both, and is the next cause in the application of the Trinity unto external works. But as he is thus sent, so his own will is equally in and unto the work for which he is sent; as the Father is said to send the Son, and yet it was also his own love and grace to come unto us and to save us. And this ariseth from hence, that in the whole economy of the Trinity, as to the works that outwardly are of God, especially the works of grace, the order of the subsistence of the persons in the same nature is represented unto us, and they have the same dependence on each other in their operations as they have in their subsistence. The Father is the fountain of all, as in being and existence, so in operation. The Son is of the Father, begotten of him, and, therefore, as unto his work, is sent by him; but his own will is in and unto what he is sent about. The Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son, and, therefore, is sent and given by them as to all the works which he immediately effecteth; but yet his own will is the direct principle of all that he doth, — he divideth unto every one according to his own will. And thus much may suffice to be spoken about the being of the Holy Spirit, and the order of his subsistence in the blessed Trinity.