SPIRIT, HOLY. The term Spirit is applied to the Deity, as the sole, absolute, and uncreated Spirit. 'God is a Spirit.' This, as a predicate, belongs to the divine nature, irrespective of the distinction of persons in that nature. But its characteristic application is to the third person in the Divinity, who is called the 'Holy Spirit' ('pneuma hagion'), because of his essential holi ness, and because in the Christian scheme it is his peculiar work to sanctify the people of God. He is denominated The Spirit, by way of eminence, as the immediate author of spiritual life in the hearts of Christians.
The words Spirit. and Holy Spirit. frequently occur in the New Testament, by metonymy, for the influence or effects of his agency.
a. As a procreative power—'the power of the Highest' (Luke i :35).
b. As an influence, with which Jesus was en dued (Luke iv:4).
c. As a divine inspiration or afflatus, by which the prophets and holy men wrote and spoke (in the spirit. through the spirit, by the spirit). 'Holy men of God spike as they were moved by the Holy Ghost' (2 Pet. i :21: Num. xi:26; Neh. ix: 3o; Ezek. III :12, 14). John in Patmos was wrapped in prophetic vision — was iv r vdisarc (Rev. i:10; iv :2; xvii :3).
d. As miraculous gifts and powers, with which the Apostles were endowed, to qualify them for the work to which they were called. 'Jesus breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost' (John xx :22). 'And they were filled with the Holy Ghost.' etc. (Acts :4)• 'They were baptized with the Holy Ghost (with the Holy Spirit—Acts i :5 ; comp. Joel ii :28 With Acts ii :16-18. where the roach of die prophet is translated pneuma, spirit, by the Apostle).
But the phrase, Holy Spirit, is specially used to denote a divine personal ogcnt. The Holy Spirit is associated, as a distinct person, with the Father and the Son, in the baptismal formula and the apostolical benediction. The Father and Son are real persons. It is reasonable to think that the spirit which is joined with them in this solemn form of induction into the Christian church is also a personal agent, and not an abstraction—a mere power or influence. The subject is baptized
into the belief of three personal agents. To sup pose that, in this solemn profession of faith, he avows his belief in the Father and the Son. and the power or influence of God, is forced and frigid.
He is baptized into the name of each of the three—into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matt. xxviii:19). The word ononta is the appellation of a person. And when used tropically, as in Acts i :5, it stands for persons, and not for their influence, or virtue, or power. So in the formula name, onoma—the Holy Ghost—by the uses loquendi, is required to be the designation of a personal agent. We are not baptized into the name of an influence or a power, but into the name of a person—of three real and distinct subjects, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
In the apostolical benedictions, the Spirit, as a person, is associated in the same way with the Father and Son. 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all' (2 Cor. xiii: 13). In this uniting of the three there is the recognition of the distinct personality of each, in the separate charisma which is appropriated to each.
Distinct personal acts and attributes are as cribed to the Holy Spirit too frequently and fully to admit of explanation by the prosopopceia.
The Holy Ghost speaks; by Esaias the prophet (Acts xxviii :25), expressly (I Tim. iv :1). He teaches (Luke xii:12). He reproves the world of sin (John xvi :8). The Spirit helpeth our infirm ities, and rnaketh intercession for the saints (Rom. viii :26, 27). He is grieved (Eph. iv: 3o).
Apostles are set apart to him in the work of the ministry, and he appoints them to that work (Acts xiii :2 ; XV :28).
These are all acts which imply a personal agent: and these acts and attributes distinguish the Spirit from the person of the Father on the one hand, and from the personal subjects upon which he acts on the other.