The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 68

THE CREATION

28

ways so that from Word and that of the

different of the

;

only that which

this passage it

appears that the work

Spirii are the same, the latter adding

peculiarly His own.

is

should be noticed that hardly any of these passages mention the Holy Spirit by His aivn name. It is not the Holy Spirit, but the " Spirit of His mouth," " His Spirit," " the Spirit of the Lord." On It

many

hold that these passages do not refer to the Third Person in the Holy Trinity, but speak of God as One, without personal distinction and that the representation of God as creating anything by His hand, fingers, word, breath,

account of

Holy

this,

Spirit as the

;

human way of speaking, signifying only that God was thus engaged. The Church has always opposed this interpretation, and rightly

or Spirit is merely a

so,

on the ground that even the Old Testament, not merely in a few

places but throughout its entire economy, bears undoubted testi-

mony

to the three divine Persons, coequal yet of one essence.

It

by a wrong interpretation. And to the reply, " But our interpretation is as good as yours," we answer that Jesus and the apostles are our authorities; the Church is

true that this too has been denied, but

received

its

confession frorn their

Secondly,

we deny

that

"

lips.

His Spirit" does not refer to the Holy

Ghost, for the reason that in the

New

Testament similar expresHim, e.g., God hath sent 6); "Whom the Lord shall

sions occur that undoubtedly do refer to forth the Spirit of His

consume by the

Son"

Spirit of His

(Gal. iv.

mouth "

(2

Thess.

etc.

—8) By the

ii.

Thirdly, judging from the following passages,

;

"

Word oi

And God said. Let there be light" (Gen. i. 3) and " All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made " (John i.

the Lord were the heavens

made " (Psalm

xxxiii. 6)

;

"

;

—

there can be no doubt that Psalm xxxiii. 6 refers to the Second 3), Person in the Godhead. Hence also the second clause of the same verse, " And all their host by the Spirit of His mouth," must refer to the

Third Person.

Finally, to speak of a Spirit of

God

that is not the

Holy

to transfer to the Holy Scripture a purely Western and

Spirit is

human

idea.

We as men often speak of a wrong spirit which controls a nation, an army, or a school, meaning a certain tendency, inclination, or persuasion

— a spirit that

and being.

But

this

proceeds from a man distinct from his person not and can not apply to God. Speak-

may

ing of Christ in His humiliation, one

may

rightly say,

"

To have

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