The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 75

THE CREATURELY MAN ened sinner.

human

But

nature

is

in

human

this will not be so

;

for in death the

so completely changed that the impulse to sin

disappears entirely in the

heaven

35

;

wherefore in heaven the Holy Spirit will work In the present state

nature itself for ever and ever.

of humiliation the nature of the regenerate is

still the Adam-nature. mystery of the work of the Holy Spirit in him is this: that /// and by that broken and corrupt nature He works the holy works of God. It is as light shining through our window-panes, but in no

The

gfreat

wise identical with the glass.

was whole, intact; everyhim was holy. We must avoid the dangerous error that the newly created man had an inferior degree of holiness. God made man upright, with nothing crooked in or about him. All In Paradise, however, man's nature

thing about

his inclinations

and powers with

all their

workings were pure and

God delighted in Adam, saw that he was good surely nothing more can be desired. In this respect Adam differed from the child of God by grace in not having eternal life he was to attain this as the reward for holy works. On the other hand, Abraham, holy.

;

;

the father of the faithful, begins with eternal

works were

life,

from which holy

to proceed.

Hence a perfect

contrast.

works.

Abraham has

works.

Hence

for

Adam

Adam must

attain eternal life

by

through which he obtains holy there can be no indwelling of the Holy

eternal

life

There was no antagonism between him and the Spirit. So the Spirit coVi\^ pervade him, not merely dwell vsx him. The nature Spirit.

man repels the Holy Spirit, but Adam's nature attracted Him, freely received Him, and let Him inspire his being. Our faculties and inclinations are impaired, our powers are enervated, the passions of our hearts corrupt; hence the Holy Spirit must come to us from without. But since Adam's faculties were all intact, and the whole expression of his inward life undisturbed, therefore could the Holy Spirit work through the common powers and operations of his nature. To Adam spiritual things were not a superna.tuT3i\, but a natural good except eternal life, which he must earn by fulfilling the law. Scripture expresses this unity between Adam's natural life and spiritual powers by identifying the two expressions "To breathe into the breath of life," and "to become of sinful

—

—

a living soul."

Other passages show that this divine "inbreathing" indicates Jesus breathed upon His disciples

especially the Spirit's work.

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