The Distinction of the Holy
Spirit from the Father and from His Son, Jesus Christ.
We have seen thus far that the Holy Spirit is a Person and a Divine
Person. And now another question arises, Is He as a Person separate
and distinct from the Father and from the Son? One who carefully
studies the New Testament statements cannot but discover that beyond
a question He is. We read in Luke iii. 21, 22, “Now
when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also
being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy
Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice
came from heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am
well pleased.” Here
the clearest possible distinction is drawn between Jesus Christ, who
was on earth, and the Father who spoke to Him from heaven as one
person speaks to another person, and the Holy Spirit who descended
in a bodily form as a dove from the Father, who was speaking, to the
Son, to whom He was speaking, and rested upon the Son as a Person
separate and distinct from Himself. We see a clear distinction drawn
between the name of the Father and that of the Son and that of the
Holy Spirit in Matt, xxviii. 19, where we read, “Go
ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost.” The
distinction of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son comes out
again with exceeding clearness in John xiv. 16. Here we read, “And I will
pray the
Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.” Here
we see the one Person, the Son, praying to another Person, the
Father, and the Father to whom He prays giving another Person,
another Comforter, in answer to the prayer of the second Person, the
Son. If words mean anything, and certainly in the Bible they mean
what they say, there can be no mistaking it, that the Father and the
Son and the Spirit are three distinct and separate Persons.
Again in John xvi. 7, a clear distinction is drawn between Jesus who
goes away to the Father and the Holy Spirit who comes from the
Father to take His place. Jesus says, “Nevertheless
I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if
I go not away, the
Comforter will
not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” A
similar distinction is drawn in Acts ii. 33, where we read, “Therefore
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the
Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which
ye now see and hear.” In
this passage, the clearest possible distinction is drawn between the
Son exalted to the right hand of the Father and the Father to whose
right hand He is exalted, and the Holy Spirit whom the Son receives
from the Father and sheds forth upon the Church.
To sum it all up, again and again the Bible draws the
clearest possible distinction between the three Persons, the Holy
Spirit, the Father and the Son. They are three separate
personalities, having mutual relations to one another, acting upon
one another, speaking of or to one another, applying the pronouns of
the second and third persons to one another.
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