But now we come to the question, Is the Holy Spirit a distinct
personality from the Father and from the Son? He might be a person, as
we have clearly seen that He is, and He might be a divine person, as
we have just seen that He is, and at the same time He might be only
the same person who manifested Himself at times as the Father and at
other times as the Son, and in that case there would not be three
divine Persons in the Godhead, but one divine Person, who variously
manifested Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So the question that
now confronts us is, Is the Holy Spirit a distinct personality separate
and distinct from the Father and from the Son? This question is plainly
answered in various passages in the New Testament.
1. _We find this question answered in the first place in John 14:26
and John 15:26._ In John 14:26 we read: +"But the Comforter, even
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach
you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto
you."+ In John 15:26 we read: +"But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth,
which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me."+ In
both of these passages we are told that the Holy Spirit is an entirely
distinct personality from the Father and the Son, that He is sent from
the Father by the Son. We are elsewhere taught that Jesus Christ was
sent by the Father (John 6:29; 8:29, 42). It is as clear as language
can make it in these passages that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not
one and the same Person manifesting Himself in three different forms,
but that they are three distinct personalities.
2. _We find clear proof that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three
distinct personalities_ in John 16:13, where we read: +"Howbeit when
He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the
truth: for He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He
shall hear, these shall He speak: and He shall declare unto you the
things that are to come."+ In this passage the clearest possible
distinction is drawn between the Holy Spirit who speaks and the One
from whom He speaks, and we are told in so many words that this One
from whom He speaks is _not Himself, but another_.
3. In the next verse the same thought is brought out in still another
way. In this verse, John 16:14, we read: +"He shall glorify me: for
He shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you."+ Here the
clearest distinction is drawn between _He_, the Holy Spirit, and _Me_,
Jesus Christ. It is the work of the Holy Spirit not to glorify Himself,
but another, and this Other is Jesus Christ, and He takes what belongs
to another; that is, to Christ, and declares it unto believers. It
would be impossible to express in human language a distinction between
two personalities more plainly than the distinction between the Son and
the Holy Ghost is expressed in this verse.
4. The distinction between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
is very clearly brought out in Luke 3:21, 22: +"Now it came to
pass, when all the people were baptised, that, Jesus also having been
baptised, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit
descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out
of heaven, thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased."+
Here _a clear distinction is drawn between Jesus Christ who was on the
earth, and the Father who spake to Him from heaven, and the Holy Spirit
who descended in bodily form as a dove from the Father upon the Son_.
5. Still another striking illustration is found in Matthew 28:19:
+"Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptising
them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit."+ _Here a clear distinction is drawn between the name "of
the Father," and the name "of the Son," and the name "of the Holy
Spirit."_
6. A very striking setting forth of a clear distinction between the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit is found in John 14:16, 17: +"And I will
pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter that He may be
with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth."+ Here _the clearest
possible distinction is drawn between the Son who prays, and the Father
to whom He prays_, and _"another Comforter," who is given in answer to
His prayer_. Nothing could possibly be plainer than the distinction
that Jesus Christ draws in this passage between Himself and the Father
and the Holy Spirit.
7. We find the same thing again in John 16:7: +"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 go, I will
send Him unto you."+ _Here the Lord Jesus Himself draws a clear
distinction between Himself, who is about to go away, and the Holy
Spirit, the other Comforter who is coming to take His place after He
has gone away._
8. The same thing is brought out again in Peter's sermon on the day of
Pentecost in Acts 2:33, where Peter is recorded as saying: +"Being
therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the
Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath poured forth this, which
ye see and hear."+ _Here a clear distinction is drawn between the
Son exalted to the right hand of the Father, and the Father Himself,
and the Holy Spirit whom the Son receives from the Father, and sheds
upon the Church. To sum up all under this head: again and again the
Bible draws the clearest possible distinction between the Holy Spirit,
and 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._
We have seen that the Bible makes it plain that the Holy Spirit is a
Divine Person and that He is an entirely separate personality from
the Father and from the Son. In other words, that _there are three
divine Persons in the Godhead_. It has oftentimes been said that the
doctrine of the Trinity is not taught in the Bible. It is true that the
doctrine of the Trinity is not directly taught in the Bible in so many
words, but the doctrine of the Trinity is simply the putting together
of truths that are clearly and unmistakably taught in the Bible. It
is clearly taught in the Bible that there is but one God (Deuteronomy
6:4). But it is taught with equal clearness, as we have seen to-day,
that there are three Divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost; and the doctrine of the Trinity is the putting together of these
truths which are taught with equal plainness.
But, some one may ask, How can God be three and one at the same time?
The answer to this question is very simple and easily understandable.
He cannot be three in one in the same sense, nor does the Bible teach
that He is. But in what sense can He be one and three? A perfectly
satisfactory answer to this question is manifestly impossible from
the very nature of the case—first, because God is Spirit and numbers
belong primarily to the physical world, and _difficulty must always
arise when we attempt to conceive of spiritual being in the forms
of physical thought_. In the second place, a perfectly satisfactory
answer to the question is impossible because God is infinite and we are
finite. "God dwells in the light that no man can approach unto," and
_our attempts at a philosophical explanation of the Trinity of God is
an attempt to put the facts of infinite being into the forms of finite
thought, and of necessity such an attempt can at the very best be only
partially successful_. This much we know, that God is essentially one,
and also that there are three Persons in this one Godhead. _There
is but one God, but this one God makes Himself known to us as three
distinct Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit._ There is one God,
eternally existing, and manifesting Himself in three Persons—Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. If we were to go into the realm of philosophy,
it could be shown that from the very necessities of the case, that if
God were to be God, there must be in the eternal Godhead before the
creation of finite beings a multiplicity of persons; for otherwise
God could not love, for there would be no one to love, and therefore
God could not be God. The ease with which one can grasp the Unitarian
conception of God is not in its favour but against it. Any god who
could be thoroughly comprehended by a finite mind would not be an
infinite God. It would be impossible for a thoroughly intelligent mind
to really worship a god whom he could thoroughly understand. If God is
to be really God, He must be beyond our complete understanding.
The doctrine of the Trinity is not merely a speculative doctrine. It
is a doctrine of tremendous daily practical importance. It enters
into the very warp and woof of our experience, if our experience is a
truly Christian experience. For example, in our prayer we need God,
the Father, to Whom we pray, we need God, the Son, through Whom we
pray, and we need God, the Holy Spirit, in Whom we pray. So also in
our worship we need God, the Father, the very centre of our worship,
we need the Son, through Whom we approach Him in our worship, and we
need to worship by the Holy Spirit. But all three—Father, Son and Holy
Spirit—are the objects of our worship. The long metre doxology is
thoroughly Christian in its worship when it sings:
"Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost."
And so, also, is the Gloria Patri, the words of which we so often sing,
but the thought of which we so seldom grasp:
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it
was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end,
Amen.