CHAPTER VII THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE SONS OF GOD
BY REV. W. J . ERDMAN, D. D., GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
It is evident from many tracts and treatises on the Bap tism of the Holy Spirit that due importance has not been given to the peculiar characteristic of the Pentecost gift in its relation to the sonship of believers i Before considering this theme a few brief statements may be made concerning the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit and His relation to the people of God in the dispensa tions and times preceding the Day of Pentecost. 1. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, another Person, but not a different Being. 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 and acts, interchanged with those of God. He is God as Creator. (Gen. 1 :2 ; Psa. 104:30; Job 26:13; Luke 1: 35.) He is one with God as Jehovah (Lord) in providential leading and care, and susceptible of grief on account of the unholiness of His chosen people. We cannot grieve an “influence,” but only a person, and a person, too, who loves us. (Psa. 78:40; Eph. 4:30.) He is one with God as Adonai (Lord), whose glory Isaiah beheld and John rehearses, who commissioned the prophet and sent forth the apostle. (Isa. 6:1-10; John 12:37-41; Acts 13:2; 20:15-18.) In these Scriptures one and the same act is that of Jehovah and of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit. Besides the clear evidence of personality and equality in the baptismal words and in the benediction (Matt. 28:19;
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