It
is evident from many tracts and treatises on the Baptism of the HolySpirit
that due importance has not been given to the peculiar characteristicof
the Pentecost gift in its relation to the sonship of believers.
Before
considering this theme a few brief statements may be madeconcerning
the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit and His relation tothe
people of God in the dispensations and times preceding the Day ofPentecost.
1.
The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, another Person, but not a
differentBeing.
In
general it may be said, He is not an "influence" or a sum and series
of"influences,"
but a personal Being with names and affections, words andacts,
interchanged with those of God.
He
is God as Creator. (Genesis 1:2; Psalm 104:30; Job 26:13;Luke
1:35). He is one with God as Jehovah (Lord) in providentialleading
and care, and susceptible of grief on account of the unholiness ofHis
chosen people. We cannot grieve an "influence," but only a person,
anda
person, too, who loves us. (Psalm 78:40; Ephesians 4:30). He isone
with God as Adonai (Lord), whose glory Isaiah beheld and Johnrehearses,
who commissioned the prophet and sent forth the apostle.(Isaiah
6:1-10; John 12:37-41; Acts 13:2; 20:15-18). In theseScriptures
one and the same act is that of Jehovah and of Jesus and of theHoly
Spirit.
Besides
the clear evidence of personality and equality in the baptismalwords
and in the benediction (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14),the
promise of Jesus affirms the presence and the abiding of the Spirit to beone
with His own and with the Father’s
in this Word. "If a man love Me hewill keep My words, and My Father will
love him, and we will come untohim and make our abode with him" (John
16:23). Above all, the name"another Comforter" (Paraclete)
suggests a Person who would do for thedisciples what Jesus the other Comforter (Luke
2:25) had been doingfor them. He speaks, testifies, teaches,
reminds, reproves, convicts, warns,commands, loves, consoles, beseeches,
prays, intercedes, (often the word is"paracletes"); in brief, all
these and other acts and dealings are not those ofan
impersonal medium or influence, but of a person, and One who in thenature
of the case cannot be less than God in wisdom, love and power, andwho
is one with the Father and the Son; another Person indeed, but not adifferent
Being.
2.
The spiritual, Divine life in the people of God is the same
in kind inevery
age and dispensation, but the relation to God in which the life wasdeveloped
of old was different from that which now exists betweenbelievers
as sons and God as Father, and in accordance with thatrelationship
the Holy Spirit acted.
He
was of old the Author and Nourisher of all spiritual life and power inrighteous
men and women of past ages, in patriarch and friend of God, inIsraelites
as minors and servants, in pious kings and adoring psalmists, inconsecrated
priests and faithful prophets; and whatever truth had beenrevealed,
He employed to develop the Divine life He had imparted. Fromthe
beginning, He used promise and precept, law and type, Psalm and ritualto
instruct, quicken, convince, teach, lead, warn, comfort and to do all forthe
growth and establishment of the people of God.
The
Psalms run through the gamut of the spiritual experience possible forthose,
who while waiting for the consolation of Israel and the future outpouringof
the Holy Spirit, were "apart from us" not to be "made
perfect"as
sons and as "worshipers." More than one prayed,
"Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou
art my God; let Thy goodSpirit lead me into the land of
uprightness" (Psalm 143:10).
But there was then
still lacking among men the consummate Reality andperfect
Illustration of a Son of God.
When at last, all
righteousness and holy virtues appeared in a Life of filiallove
and obedience, even in Christ "the first-born of many brethren," thenthe
Mold and Image of the spiritual life of the saints of the old covenant,who
were waiting for sonship, was seen perfect and complete.It
was pre-eminently the life of a Son of God and not only of a righteousman;
of a Son ever rejoicing before the Father, His whole being filled withfilial
love and obedience, peace and joy. In ways God-ward and man-ward, inself-denial
and in full surrender to His Father’s
will, in hatred of sin and ingrace to sinners, in purity of heart and
forgiveness of injuries, in gentlenessand all condescension, in restful yet
ceaseless service, in unity of purposeand faultless obedience —
in a word, in all excellencies and graces, in allvirtues and beauties
of the Spirit, in light and in love, the Lord Jesus setforth.
the mold and substance of the life spiritual, divine, eternal.
3. Redemption
must precede both the sonship and the gift of the Spirit.
This is very clearly
seen in the Apostle’s argument on the
great subject:
"God sent forth His Son, born of a
woman, born under the law,that He might redeem them that were under the
law, that we mightreceive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons God
sentforth
the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father"(Galatians
4:4-6).
The word
"adoption" signifies the placing in the state and relation of a son.It
is found in Romans 9:4; 13:15,23; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians1:5.
In the writings of
John believers are never called sons, but "children"("born
ones"), a word indicating nature, kinship. Sonship relates not tonature,
but to legal standing; it comes not through regeneration, but byredemption.
The disciples of Jesus had to wait until the Son of God hadredeemed
them; and then on the redeemed disciples the Spirit of God waspoured
at Pentecost, not to make believers sons, but because they hadbecome
sons through redemption. In brief, sonship, though ever sinceredemption
inseparable from justification, does in the order of salvationsucceed
justification. Justification in Romans 5:1 precedes the "grace"of
sonship in 5:2. This "access" or "introduction" is of the
justified into thepresence of God as Father; and it is through Christ and by
the Spirit.(Ephesians
2:18; 3:12).
We were
"predestined" to be sons of God, and to be "conformed to theimage
of His Son" (Ephesians 1:5; Romans 8:29). In Ephesians1:5
the "sonship" is rather corporate; all believers are viewed as one
"son,"one "body," just as Jehovah said of Israel,
"My son," "My first born." Thiscorporate
ness is really to be understood in Galatians 3:28, which mayread,
"Ye are all one son in Christ Jesus," instead of "one man."
(See alsoEphesians
4:13; 1 Corinthians 12:12).
And this image is His
as glorified, so that until we have been conformed toHis
body of glory, our "adoption" or sonship is not complete nor ourexperience
of redemption finished. (Romans 8:23).
And special emphasis
should be laid upon the truth that sins were beforeGod
only pretermitted until the atonement was made; "propitiation for thepretermission
[passing over] of sins that are past" (Romans 3:25); "forthe
redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament"(Hebrews
9:15).
Remission came through
the great offering for sin, just as sonship camethrough this
redemption; and as the Spirit was given because believers hadbecome
sons, so also He could be given because believers had received theremission
of their sins. This is the invariable order; faith in Christ, remissionof
sins, gift of the Holy Spirit.
Yea, more, as without
the gracious power of the Spirit of God the newbirth would be
impossible, so without the redeeming blood of Christ theestate
of sonship would have been unattainable; the Spirit and the blood areequally
necessary to the full accomplishment of the eternal purpose of God.
In brief, through
redemption the new dignity of sonship was conferred, thenew
name "sons" was given to them as a new name "Father" had
beendeclared
of Him; a new name was given to the life in this new relation, "thelife
eternal," and a new name, "Spirit of His Son," was given to the
HolySpirit,
who henceforth, with new truth and a new commandment, wouldnourish
and develop this life and illumine and lead believers into all theprivileges
and duties of the sons of God.
These facts are then
all related to and dependent upon each other; Jesusmust
first lay the ground of the forgiveness of sins of past and future timesin
His work of redemption and reconciliation; as risen and glorified, notbefore,
He is "the first-born of many brethren," to whose image they arepredestined
to be conformed; as the Son, He declared to them the name ofGod
as Father, the crowning name of God corresponding to their highestname,
sons of God. As His "brethren" in this high and peculiar sense, Hedid
not call them until He had first suffered, died, and risen again from thedead,
but that name is the first word He spoke of them on the morning ofresurrection,
as if it were the chiefest joy of His soul to name and greetthem
as His brethren, and sons of God, being in and with Him "sons of theresurrection;"
and because they were sons, the Father, through the Son,sent
forth the Spirit of His Son into their hearts, crying, "Abba,
Father!"
It is the marvelous
dignity of a sonship in glory, like that of our Lord Jesus,with
all its attendant blessings and privileges, service and rewards, sufferingand
glories, to which the gift of the Holy Spirit is related in this presentdispensation.
Accordingly, when the
disciples were baptized with the Spirit on the Dayof
Pentecost they were not only endued with ministering power, but theyalso
then entered into the experience of sonship. Then they knew as theycould
not have known before, though the Book of the Acts records butlittle
of their inner life, that through the heaven-descended Spirit the sonsof
God are forever united with the heaven-ascended, glorified Son of God.Whether
they at first fully realized this fact or not, it is seen as in theGospel
of John, they were in Him and He in them. Was Jesus begotten ofthe
Spirit, so were they; was He not of the world as to origin and nature,neither
were they; was He loved of the Father, so were they, and with thesame
love; was He sanctified and sent into the world to bear witness to thetruth,
so likewise He sent them; did He receive the Spirit as the seal of Godto
His Sonship, so were they sealed; was He anointed with power and lightto
serve, so they received the unction from Him; did He begin to servewhen
there came the attesting Spirit and confirming word of the Father, sothey
began to serve when the Spirit of the Son, the Witness, was sent forthinto
their hearts, saying Abba, Father; was He, after service and suffering,received
up in glory, so shall they obtain His glory when He comes again toreceive
them unto Himself. Verily, "we are as He is in this world." (1John
4:17; John 10:36; 17:1-26; Romans 5:5).
In view of these
truths of Divine revelation how foolish the wisdom of thenatural
man and how sadly misleading the doctrine which makes the"fatherhood
of God and the brotherhood of man," which are by nature andcreation,
identical and co-extensive with that which is by grace andredemption;
for not only does the imperative word, "Ye must be bornagain,"
sweep away all the merit and glory of man as he is by the first birth,but
also, the predestination to a sonship like that of the Son of God inglory
lifts the "twice-born" to a height and dignity never conceived of bythe
natural man.
4. In
the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost all gifts, forbelievers
in Christ were contained and were related to them as Sons of Godboth
individually and corporatively as the Church the Body of Christ.
In kind, as can be
seen on comparison, there was no difference in His giftsand
acts before and after that day, but the new Gift was now to dwell in thehearts
of men as sons of God and with more abundant life and variedmanifestations
of power and wisdom.
But by the Spirit the
one Body was formed and all gifts are due to Hisperpetual presence. (1
Corinthians 12:14). Also, it is to be understoodthat such a word of Jesus,
"If ye then being evil know how to give goodgifts unto your
children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father givethe
Holy Spirit to them that ask Him," could not have been fulfilled until alater
hour, for repeating His promise at another time it is said of Jesus,
"But this spake He of the Spirit
which they that believed on Himshould receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet
given, because Jesuswas not yet glorified" (John 3:7-39)
These are some of the
anticipative sayings of our Lord, not to be madegood until He had died
and risen again. The good things could not be givenuntil
"transgression had been forgiven and sin covered." The water couldnot
pour forth until the Rock had been smitten. And as to the use of thewords,
"baptize" and "pour," they afterwards, in later Scriptures,
imply theoriginal
incorporating act.
It is significant that
after Pentecost only the words, "filled with the Spirit,"are
used. Nothing is said of an individual receiving a new or fresh "baptismof
the Spirit." It would imply that the baptism is one for the whole Bodyuntil
all the members are incorporated; one the outpouring, many thefillings;
one fountain, many the hearts to drink, to have in turn a well ofwater
springing up within them.
The disciples were
indeed endued with power for service according topromise; on that
especially their eyes and hearts had been fixed; that wasthe
chief thing for them; but in the light of later Scriptures it is seen that thechief
thing with God was not only to attest the glory of Jesus by the gift ofthe
Spirit, but also "in one Spirit to baptize into one body" the
"children ofGod," who until then were looked upon as
"scattered abroad," asunincorporated members. (1 Corinthians
12:13; John 11:52;Galatians 3:27,28). And the Gift, whether to the Body or to
theindividual
member, is once for all. As the Christian is Once for all in Christ,so
the Holy Spirit is once for all in the Christian; but the intent of thepresence
of the Spirit is often but feebly met by the believer, just as hisknowledge
of what it is to be "in Christ" is often most defective.