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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadR.A. Torrey Collection: Torrey, R.A. - What Bible Teaches: 02 The Deity of the Holy Spirit
TOPIC: Torrey, R.A. - What Bible Teaches (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 02 The Deity of the Holy Spirit
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Ch 02 The Deity of the Holy Spirit
I. DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. Heb_9:14 — -"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"
First Proposition: The Holy Spirit is eternal. <19D907> Psa_139:7-10 — "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
Second Proposition: The Holy Spirit is omnipresent. Luk_1:35 — "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
Third Proposition: The Holy Spirit is omnipotent. 1Co_2:10-11 — "For God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." Joh_14:26 — "But 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." Joh_16:12-13 — "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come."
Fourth Proposition: The Holy Spirit is omniscient.
Concluding Proposition: Each of the four distinctly divine attributes is ascribed to the Holy Spirit.
II. DIVINE WORKS. Job_33:4 "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." <19A430> Psa_104:30 — "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth."
First Proposition: Creation is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. Joh_6:63 — "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Rom_8:11 — "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." Gen_2:7 — "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Second Proposition: The impartation of life is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. 2Pe_1:21 R.V. — "For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost." 2Sa_23:2-3 — "The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God."
Third Proposition: The Bible ascribes authorship of divine prophecies to the Holy Spirit.
Concluding Proposition: The Bible ascribes three distinctively divine works to the Holy Spirit.
III. STATEMENTS THAT REFER TO THE LORD OR JEHOVAH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT APPLIED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. Isa_6:8-10 — "Also I heard the voice of the LORD, saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." (Compare to Act_28:25-27 — "And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word.
Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and should be converted, and I should heal them.") This same passage is applied to Jesus Christ. Could it be that in the threefold "holy" of the seraphic cry in Isa_6:3, "And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory," we have a hint of the triune personality of the Jehovah of Hosts and hence the propriety of the threefold application of the vision? Exo_16:7 — "And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; and what are we, that ye murmur against us?" (Compare Heb_3:7-9 — "Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.") See also Psa_95:8-11.
Proposition: Statements which in the Old Testament distinctly name the Lord, God, or Jehovah as their subject are applied to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament; thus, the Holy Spirit occupies the position of deity in the New Testament thought.
IV. THE WAY IN WHICH THE NAME OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS COUPLED WITH THAT OF GOD. 1Co_12:4-6 — "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all." Mat_28:19 — "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 2 Corinthians 13-14 "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen."
Proposition: The name of the Holy Spirit is coupled with the name of God in a way that it would be impossible for a reverent and thoughtful mind to couple the name of any finite being with that of the deity.
V. THE DIVINE NAME APPLIED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. Act_5:3-4 "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God."
Proposition: The Holy Spirit is called God.
By the ascription of all the distinctively divine attributes and several distinctively divine operations; by referring statements that in the Old Testament distinctly name Jehovah, the Lord, or God as their subject to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament; by coupling the name of the Holy Spirit with the name of God in a way that it would be impossible to couple that of any finite being with that of the deity; by calling the Holy Spirit "God" — in all these unmistakable ways, God in His word distinctly proclaims the Holy Spirit is a divine person.