View source for Now apply this figure to resisting the Holy Spirit

====Now apply this figure to resisting the Holy Spirit====
        <p>Now apply this figure to resisting the Holy Spirit, and see how he is resisted as a Person, and not as an influence. How did the Jewish council resist the Holy Spirit? In a similar way as that whereby a riotous mob resists a magistrate. They resisted his Person. But how could they resist his Person? They did not see him as a Person; they did not know him as a Person. No! but they resisted him in his word, his testimony, his authority. But how could they do that? By disbelieving, disobeying, spurning his authority, and opposing his testimony; especially as speaking first in the prophets, and then in the words and miracles of the blessed Lord, whom they had just crucified. "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers." (Acts 7:52.) It was not then the secret and sacred influence of the blessed Spirit upon their hearts which they resisted, for that neither did he put forth, nor did they feel, but it was his Person and authority as testifying to the Son of God by the prophets, and by the miracles, death, and resurrection of our blessed Lord. (Acts 5:30-32; Rom. 1:4.) Thus to resist, and that effectually, the Holy Spirit in his Person and his testimony, was their sin, their condemnation, and their ruin. </p>
        <p>* The carnal mind, as being enmity against God, always resists the Spirit; and therefore in that sense he may be resisted in his influences; but as He always overcomes this resistance in God's people by giving them a new heart and a new spirit, he is never, in the case of a child of God, effectually resisted. Toplady, therefore, if we mistake not, and other good men as well as sound divines have objected to the use of the expression "irresistible" influences of the blessed Spirit, and have preferred the term "invincible," on this simple ground, that his influences may be resisted, though not effectually; and are therefore rather "invincible" than "irresistible." </p>
        <p>9. But as a further argument under the same class of proof— <em>personal </em>actions, the Holy Spirit is said also to <em><strong>have a temple in which he dwells </strong>. </em>"What! Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?" (1 Cor. 6:19.) Now compare with this passage another testimony of the blessed Spirit--"And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (2 Cor. 6:16.) 

In one testimony, the body of the believer is called "the temple of the Holy Spirit;" in the other, the believer is said to be "the temple of the living God." But it may be said that this may only mean an influence of God, called the Holy Spirit. We have nothing to do with what a text <em>may </em>mean; what we have to do with is what a text <em>does </em>mean, and <em>must </em>mean. Does not a temple imply a habitation of and for God? There may be an influence, and a divine influence too, felt in a temple, as David saw and felt the power and glory of God in the sanctuary. But the temple was not built for the <em>influence </em>to inhabit, but for the <em>Person </em>of him from whom the influence comes. What saw Isaiah in the temple? The Lord, or his influence? "In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." (Isa. 6:1.) It was the Lord whom he saw, and the influence that he felt. "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have soon the King, the Lord of hosts." (Isa. 6:5.) And how prayed Solomon at the dedication of the temple?</p>

<p>"But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house which I have built!" "Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into your resting-place, you, and the ark of your strength; let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness." (2 Chron. 6:18, 41.) A temple, all must admit, is the house of God. "But Solomon built him a house." (Acts 7:47.) But who ever built a house for an influence, or a breath, a virtue, an emanation, or an operation? A house is built for a person or persons to inhabit. So a temple presumes the habitation of God, and of God there in Person. God is worshiped in his temple only as dwelling there. "The Lord is in his holy temple." (Psalm 11:4; Hab. 2:20.) This made Moses say, "He is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation." (Exod. 15:2.) And David, "I will worship toward your holy temple." (Psalm 138:2.) "Worship God," said the angel to John. (Rev. 19:10.) But you cannot and must not worship an influence. You may and should worship the Holy Spirit as a Person in the Godhead; but if he were only an influence, such worship would be idolatry. In fact, the root of idolatry was the worship of God's perfections and attributes, under outward and visible representations, instead of worshiping God himself, "in spirit and in truth." Take away, then, the Person of the Holy Spirit, and reduce his divine Personality to an influence, or an emanation from God and nothing more, and he has neither temple nor worship, cannot be served without disobedience, or adored without idolatry. </p>
        <p>10. One argument more under nearly the same class of proof will bring to a conclusion this part of our subject. The <em><strong>sin against the Holy Spirit </strong></em>is the clearest possible testimony that he is a divine Person. As all language is necessarily imperfect, and often assumes the character of metaphor and figure, we speak sometimes figuratively of sinning against conviction, or of sinning against light and love, etc. It might, therefore, be argued from such and similar expressions, that the sin against the Holy Spirit does not necessarily imply that he is a Person, as we may sin against an influence, as well as against a Person. But if we once begin to press figurative expressions into our service to overthrow by them grand scriptural truths; we may soon make the whole Bible a figure, and push the God of the Bible out of his own book, as those have done who explain the creation and fall of man, as revealed in the book of Genesis, to be a figurative representation, and that the whole is—a myth. Casting aside, then, the figurative meaning of sinning against a thing, and taking the expression in the full strength of its real signification, sin to be sin must be committed against a Person, and that Person, God. </p>
        <p>If there were no God, there could be no sin; and if that God had not spoken to the sons of men, and given a law from his own mouth, there could have been no sin; for sin is the transgression of the law,* (1 John 3:4,) whether of the law of Moses, or the law of Christ. All will admit that sin is against God, and against God as a Person--"Against you, you only have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight." (Psalm 51:4.) When, then, we speak of sinning against light or love, we do not mean that we sin against light that is able to punish, or against love that is able to destroy; but against him who is both light and love. Look into your own conscience when guilt lies hard and heavy upon it, and you will both see and feel that <em>this </em>is the load, <em>this </em>the pang, that you have sinned <em>against God </em>—not against an <em>influence, </em>but against the very <em>Person </em>of the Almighty. The sin, then, against the Holy Spirit must be against tho Person of the Holy Spirit. </p>
        <p>But assume for a moment that the blessed Spirit is not a Person in the Godhead, but a transient influence put forth by God, then which must be the greater sin—to sin against God's influence, or to sin against God himself? You must allow that God is greater than his influence; as the Son of God was certainly greater than the virtue which went out of him and healed the diseased woman. But why should the sin against the Holy Spirit be greater than the sin against God, if the Holy Spirit be only an influence or an emanation from God? And we know that it is greater, no, the greatest of all sins and absolutely unpardonable; for the Lord himself declares--"therefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men." According to the Lord's own testimony, then, "All <em>manner </em>of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men;" and, therefore, blasphemy against God; but to blaspheme the Person of God must be a greater sin than to blaspheme the influence of God, if the Holy Spirit be only an influence from God. The very greatness of the sin, therefore, establishes the greatness as well as proves the reality of his Person. </p>
        <p>* It should have been rendered "transgression of law," not <em>"the </em>law," or rather "iniquity," for there is no mention of, or allusion to, the law of Moses in the original. The whole verse might be, and indeed should have been rendered thus--"Every one who commits sin commits also iniquity; for sin is iniquity," or lawlessness—a breach of law. The same word occurs, 1 Cor. 9:21, and is thus rendered in our admirable translation--"To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law." But here again, our translators have rather missed the Apostle's meaning by using the words, "but under the law to Christ." It should be "under law" (or "in law," without the article) "to Christ;" that is, though to them that are without law ( <em>that is, </em>the Gentiles) I became as without law, still I was not a lawless one—an iniquitous wretch who throws all law aside. No! I was under law (or "in law;" in the very heart and arms of law,) "the law of liberty" and love, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," "to Christ," as living under the constraining influence of his love. Thus, this passage, (1 Cor. 9:21,) which has been so often brought forward to prove that believers are <em>under </em>the law as a rule proves the exact contrary, and establishes that though they are not under <em>the </em>law, they are not without law—the perfect law of liberty and love. John's testimony which we have already quoted (1 John 3:4) is exactly to the same purport. </p>
        <p>Such are a few of the scriptural arguments whereby we establish the heavenly doctrine of the Deity and Personality of the Holy Spirit. But however strong these arguments are, we may observe that the weight of their testimony is due not only to their quality, but to their quantity. There is in them what is sometimes called "cumulative evidence;" that is, they form collectively a mass of evidence heaped together, and all bearing on one point. It is not, therefore, upon one or two isolated texts, (though one "Thus says the Lord," would be sufficient,) that we rest our faith in the Deity and Personality of the blessed Spirit, but on a vast number and variety of testimonies from different quarters, all converging to one point. This is the special privilege, and this the distinguishing beauty and glory of truth that, as in a good cause in a court of law every successive witness confirms the testimony of the preceding, so the more that the evidence for the grand distinguishing doctrines of revelation is examined, the closer the inquiry, the more searching the interrogatory, the more clearly it shines, and the more strongly and firmly it is established. So it is with the Deity and Sonship of our blessed Lord; so it is with the Deity and Personality of the Holy Spirit. Witnesses without number lift up their voice in the fullest unison, and the sweetest harmony, and their united anthem is, "Glory to you, O God the Father; glory to you, O God the Son; and glory to you, O God the Holy Spirit." </p>
        <p>11. But to the believing child of God, who has felt any measure of the light, life, and power of the blessed Spirit in his heart, there is a proof more convincing and more confirming than even these solid Scripture testimonies, with all the weight of their united cumulative evidence— <em>the <strong>Communion </strong></em><strong>which he has felt with the Holy Spirit </strong>, the Comforter; for as "grace" is the especial gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, and "love" the especial gift of God, so "communion" is the especial gift of the Holy Spirit. We need not quote our proof. The well-known text, 2 Cor. 13:14, will recur immediately to the mind. But "communion," or "fellowship," for the meaning of the two words is just the same, as the expression in the original is identical, must be with a Person. We cannot commune with an influence, a breath, or an emanation. David, indeed, says "Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still;" (Psalm 4:4;) but this is only because he figuratively personifies the heart, that is; represents and treats it as a person, who can speak and be spoken unto, as in the words--"When you said, Seek you my face; my heart said unto you, Your face, Lord, will I seek." But laying aside all mere figurative language, communion, real communion, can only be with a Person, for it necessarily implies two parties, one who speaks and another who answers. Surely, when the Apostle says, "And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ," (1 John 1:3,) it must be admitted that the Father and the Son are Persons, not names or influences, and that this fellowship implies mutual converse. If, then, there be fellowship with the Father as a Person, and fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ as a Person, there will be fellowship with the Holy Spirit as a Person. But communion or fellowship implies, as we have already shown, mutual communion, converse, delight. </p>
        <p>"With him sweet converse I maintain; </p>
        <p>Great as he is, I dare be free. </p>
        <p>I tell him all my grief and pain, </p>
        <p>And he reveals his heart to me." </p>
        <p>As, then, the blessed Spirit, as a divine Person in the Godhead, bends down, so to speak, over the soul to teach, to comfort, to soften, to sanctify it, and the soul looks up to him with adoring reverence, living faith, and tender love, receiving what he communicates, believing what he reveals, and feeling what he inspires, <em>there </em>there is the fullest evidence which can be afforded in this time-state of his Deity and distinct Personality. Can we have faith but in a Person? We may believe an influence, but we cannot believe <em>in </em>an influence. The two things are quite distinct. We may believe the wind, that is, believe there is such a thing as wind, for we feel it blow on our faces; but we do not believe <em>in </em>the wind, as if it were a Person who sent itself, and, so to speak, blew itself. So we believe the influence of the blessed Spirit from feeling it; but we do not believe <em>in </em>the influence, as if it were a Person, and possessed a personal existence. But we do believe <em>in </em>the Holy Spirit, for faith confides in him as a Person in the Godhead; and by this faith only have we any communion with him. </p><p>An influence is felt and gone; but a person abides and remains. So it is with <em>hope. </em>You cannot hope in an influence, though you can hope in him who sends and gives the influence. Do we hope in the rain, or in him who sends the rain? If we hoped in the rain, the hope would fail when the rain failed—the very time when the hope was most wanted. But if we hope in him who sends the rain, the hope will abide, whether the rain fall or fail. So with <em>love. </em>We cannot love an influence, though we may love to feel the influence. But we love the Person of the Holy Spirit, who communicates the influence. That there is "the love of the Spirit," the Scripture plainly declares--"I beseech you, for the love of the Spirit." (Rom. 15:30.) Now, whether we understand by the "love of the Spirit" his love to us, or our love to him, either interpretation will prove his Personality. If the Spirit loves us, he must love us as a Person, for an influence or an emanation cannot love; and if we love him, we must love him as a Person, not as an influence. Do we not love God as a Person, and love his dear Son as a Person? Then must we not love the blessed Spirit as a Person? A spiritual influence is a blessed thing, and though not precisely a scriptural word, it has a scriptural meaning; for the word "influence" properly means "an inflowing;" and thus corresponds to the expression "shed abroad," (Rom. 5:5,) and "poured out." (Isa. 44:3.) But we cannot worship an influence as we worship God; and therefore those who deny the Personality of the Holy Spirit cannot and do not pray to him, and censure those who do. Such can never say or sing the sweet words: "Blessed Spirit of truth, eternal God," etc. </p>
        <p>But this the believer can do with all his heart, and with the full testimony of an approving conscience. He can and does adore the Spirit, worship the Spirit, pray to the Spirit; and as he feels his sacred operations and heavenly influences descending on his bosom, he can and does have communion with the Spirit as a divine and distinct Person in the ever-blessed Trinity. </p>
        <p>O, you erroneous men, who deny this grand and glorious truth of the Deity and Personality of the blessed Spirit, how you sin against God! how you sin against your own souls! What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from afar? Who will teach you, who will comfort you, who will support you on the bed of death? Not the influence when you deny the Person of him who sends the influence. But the believer has both—both the Person and the influence; the Holy Spirit and his operations; the blessed Spirit and his communications; the Comforter and his consolations; the Teacher and his instructions; the Testifier and his testimonies; the Interceder and his intercessions; the Advocate and his pleadings; the Spirit of truth and his leadings; the divine Sealer and his heavenly sealings. By his gifts he knows the Giver; by his graces he loves their Author; and by his fellowship he has union and communion with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three distinct Persons in One glorious undivided Godhead. </p>


[[Meditations on the Holy Spirit 5]]