The Power of the Holy Spirit

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.--Acts 2:1-4

The subject of the holy spirit, its office and operation, has been grievously misunderstood by many of the Lord’s people for centuries, and only in the light of the rising Sun of Righteousness has this subject become more clearly understood in harmony with all the various scriptural testimonies pertaining to it. The doctrine of the Trinity, which began to rise in the second century and reached a large development in the fourth century, is responsible in considerable measure for much of the darkness which blends with the truth on this subject in many Christian minds, much to their disadvantage.

There is consistency in the Scripture teaching that the Father and the Son are in full harmony and oneness of purpose and operation. And equally consistent is the Scripture teaching respecting the holy spirit—that it is not another God, but the spirit, influence, or power exercised by the one God, our Father, and by his only begotten Son—in absolute oneness, therefore, with both of these. But how different is this unity of the Father, the Son, and the holy spirit from that held and taught under the name of the Trinitarian doctrine, which declares that there are the three persons in the one God. This view suited well the Dark Ages, which it helped to produce.

Our Lord represents the matter in clear light and in harmony with all the other scriptures on the subject when he declares that the holy spirit must come from the Father, when he declares that the Son would petition the Father to send the spirit; when he declares that this special power or spirit of the Father would be another Comforter, instead of our Lord Jesus himself, whose going away was necessary and expedient. It was preferable or expedient that he should personally leave his disciples and appear before the Father as their Advocate, and thus secure to them the holy spirit, which would represent the Father and himself.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

It was on the day of Pentecost that the disciples "with one accord in one place," experienced the miraculous outpouring of the holy spirit. We are not to understand from the account given in the second chapter of Acts that a mighty wind blew upon the praying and waiting company on Pentecost Day but that there was merely a sound which resembled that of a mighty wind. It was the more miraculous that there was no wind. Then "there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were filled with the holy spirit." It was the promised blessing from on High, from the Father’s throne, through the Son; as St. Peter explained, "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another" (1 Peter 4:10). We are not to understand that the multitude, being of one mind, produced this manifestation but rather that the Lord, by his providence, brought them into the condition of full accord, preparatory to the giving of this blessing. Similarly he says that special blessings may be expected when two or three unite in their petition—not that their uniting effects anything, but that the Lord is pleased to reward the united efforts of his people and thus to encourage them to forsake not the assembling of themselves.

The entire house was filled with a wonderful power, and every believer was apparently electrified, vivified. They were filled with this holy spirit, this hallowed influence, and began to speak in foreign tongues under the influence that had come upon them. Following the miraculous sound and the electrical influences pervading the room and the manifestation of the lights upon their heads, we may be sure a considerable degree of holy joy and excitement was manifested amongst the believers; and this soon spread abroad and attracted a large concourse of people through curiosity, because it was stated that they were "continually in the temple" (Luke 24:53; Acts 2:46).

The flames of fire beautifully symbolize the light of Truth, the enlightenment of the mind, which comes through the begetting of the holy spirit. This power divine was remarkably manifested in the eleven apostles, for while the multitude still recognized them as "ignorant and unlearned men," nevertheless they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus and learned of him and that they had a certain kind of enlightenment of mind and heart, which could come from no other quarter.

And is not this true of all those who have been begotten of the holy spirit. This communication of the divine life through the holy spirit is a hidden transaction, great indeed in its significance and issues. "As in the origin of our natural life we are made in secret and curiously wrought, much more in our spiritual. But the issue has to do with the farthest eternity." No manifestation of the spirit of God, prior to the first advent of our Lord Jesus, was exactly the same as the manifestation and operation of the Lord’s spirit upon our Lord Jesus, from the time of his baptism until his crucifixion, and upon the Church of Christ from the day of Pentecost unto now—until the very end of this Gospel age, and the completion of the Church’s course in the first resurrection. In harmony with this we read, "The holy spirit was not yet given [except to our Lord Jesus], because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39).

The Communionof the Spirit

The familiar benediction which invokes upon us the "communion of the holy spirit" has probably a deeper meaning in it than has generally been recognized. The word "communion" signifies the having in common. It is used of the fellowship of believers one with another and also of their mutual fellowship with God. The holy spirit dwelling in us is the agent through whom this community of life and love is effected and maintained. "And truly our fellowship," says John, "is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). But this is possible only through the communion of the holy spirit. In his promise of the Comforter, Jesus said: "He shall take of mine and show it unto you." As the Son while on earth communicated to men the spiritual riches of the invisible Father, so the spirit now communicates to us the hidden things of the invisible Son; if we were required to describe in a word the present office-work of the holy spirit, we should say that it is to make true in us that which is already true for us in our glorified Lord. All light and life and warmth are stored up for us in the sun; but these can reach us only through the atmosphere, which stands between us and that sun as the medium of communication; even so in Christ are "hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," and by the holy spirit these are made over to us.

The operation of God’s spirit during this Gospel age is widely different from its operation in previous times; and this difference is expressed in the words "spirit of adoption," "spirit of sonship," "spirit of holiness," "spirit of truth," and kindred expressions. The holy spirit in this sense of the word is guaranteed only to the house of sons.

Spirit of Holiness:Our Sanctification

"According to the spirit of holiness" Christ "was declared to be the Son of God in power by the resurrection from the dead," but "according to the flesh, the seed of David" (Rom. 1:3,4). How striking the contrast between our Lord’s two natures, as revealed in this passage: Son of David as to the flesh, Son of God as to the spirit. And "as he is, so are we in this world." We who are of the regeneration have two natures, the one derived from Adam, the other derived from Christ; and our sanctification consists in the double process of mortification and vivification, the deadening and subduing of the old and the quickening and developing of the new. In other words, what was wrought in Christ who was "put to death in the flesh but quickened in the spirit" is rewrought in us through the constant operation of the holy spirit; and thus the cross and the resurrection extend their sway over the entire life of the Christian. Consider these two experiences:

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matt. 16:24,25). These words, so constantly repeated in one form or another by our Lord, make it clear that the death-principle must be realized within us in order that the life-principle may have final and triumphant sway. It is to this truth which every disciple is solemnly committed in his baptism: "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:3,4). Baptism is the monogram of the Christian; by it every believer is sealed and certified as a participant in the death and life of Christ; and the holy spirit has been given to be the executor of the contract thus made at the symbolic grave of Christ.

Indwelling of the Spirit

"Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:11, R.V.) This is the condition of making true in ourselves what is already true for us in Christ, of rendering practical what is now judicial; in other words, of being dead to the power of sin in ourselves as we are already dead to the penalty of sin through Jesus Christ. As it is written in the Epistle to the Colossians: "For ye died [judicially in Christ], mortify [make dead practically] "therefore your members which are upon the earth" (Col. 3:2,5, R.V.). It is this condition which the holy spirit is constantly effecting in us if we will have it so. "If ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Rom. 8:13). It is the spirit of God overcoming our fleshly nature by his indwelling life on whom is our sole dependence. Our principal care therefore must be to "walk in the spirit," and to "be filled with the spirit."

No degree of mortification can ever bring us to sanctification. We are to "put off the old man with his deeds," by "putting on the new man who is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."

The indwelling of the spirit can alone effect this work of development. The "fruits of the spirit" are to be encouraged, to be cultivated more and more that we may yield the full, perfect fruitage of love. These fruits of the spirit are designated by the apostle to be "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Such fruits are not miraculous gifts but gradual and indirect gifts. They are wrought out in us in proportion as we come into harmony and obedience of thought and word and deed with the spirit of our Father; in proportion to our separation from the world and its spirit. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world," says the Scripture. But experience proves that this is possible only by having our hearts so filled with the love of God, by being so absorbed with the things of the spirit, that the things of the world will have lost their attraction and their value. As another has expressed: "Loving not is only possible through loving, the worldly affection being overcome by the heavenly."

Transformed Into the Same Image

Now "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy spirit which is given unto us"; and what is true of the love of Christ is true of the likeness of Christ. How is it acquired? As it is written: "We all with unveiled face, reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18, R.V.). The indwelling spirit must be "behind all, beneath all, and effectually operative in all. It is only the spirit of the Lord dwelling within us that can fashion us to the image of the Lord set before us." Who is sufficient of himself to accomplish this work? The disciple is required to be consciously and intelligently active in his own growth, to "give all diligence to make his calling and election sure"; but this can be accomplished only through the spirit. We must surrender ourselves to the divine will. We must live in the spirit, pray in the spirit, walk in the spirit; all of which are "as essential to our development in holiness, as the rain and the sunshine are to the growth of the oak." There must be a total self-surrender to God, and an infilling of the holy spirit. "If through the communion of the holy spirit the life of Christ is constantly imparted to us, that life will prevail within us." In proportion to the closeness of our abiding in him will be the completeness of our success in bringing forth the fruits of the spirit. "He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."

Although we cannot agree with those who teach that repeated Pentecosts and spirit baptisms are to be expected and prayed for, we do believe that the Lord’s people need to come into a similar attitude to that of the brethren who were blessed on Pentecost day in order to enter the favors and privileges which are ours through Christ. There was to be but one Pentecost. The holy spirit which there came to the Church abides with us still, and its blessing is the privilege of those consecrated ones whom the Lord accepts and adopts into his family. But before any one is prepared to get a proper blessing of the Lord’s spirit, he must first have the justification by faith and a heart free from the love of sin and must present his solemn resolution to be, to do, to serve the Lord, the Truth, the brethren. He must be in this attitude to receive the enlightenment, the comfort, the fellowship of God’s holy spirit. Even though he be inflamed with a desire to serve the Lord, the Truth, and the brethren, he will do wisely to follow the course of the early Church—tarry, study, pray that he may himself be filled with the spirit. Earnest of Our Inheritance

We have not yet, beloved, reached the consummation of our Great Hope; but "the spirit, through whose inworking power this great change is to be wrought, already dwells in us, giving us by his present quickening the pledge and earnest of our final glory." And so we read in another scripture: "But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you." Such is the power of the holy spirit. Let us not lose sight of the important fact that until we have received our share of the blessing of Pentecost, until we have come under the anointing of the holy spirit, we cannot have the mind of Christ, nor can we be transformed into his glorious image. Would that all of the Lord’s people might seek earnestly a larger measure of this holy spirit—watching and praying thereunto with all perseverance.