Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

In the Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, he examines historically what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit. This is an old classic work (1862). In the New Testament portion, he looks at topics.

Table of Contents of Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

Smeaton-The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (1882)

First Division. Introductory Dissertation of Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

I. The Books of Moses and Job- [1]
– Man-made to be the temple of the Holy Ghost.
II. From the Time of Moses to David
III. From the Rise of David to the Exile.
IV. From the Beginning of the Exile to the End of the OT Canon [8]
– The Testimony to the Spirit in the Gospels and Acts
– The Effusion of the Spirit on Pentecost
– The Testimony to the Spirit in the Apostolic Epistles
– The Testimony of Paul
– The Testimony of James
– The Testimony of Peter
– The Testimony of the Apostle Jude
– The Testimony of the Apostle John

SECOND DIVISION of Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

I. His Personality and Procession of the Holy Spirit
– On the Procession of the Holy Spirit
– The Deity of the Holy Spirit based on the Procession
II. The Work of the Spirit in the anointing of Christ
III. The Work of the Spirit in the Inspiration of Prophets and Apostles
IV. The Spirit’s Regenerating Work on the Individual [1]
– The Sayings of Jesus on the Spirit’s Work in Regeneration
V. On the Spirit of Holiness
VI. The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Church

THIRD DIVISION of Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

Historical Survey of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
Historic Survey of the Doctrine of the Procession of the Spirit
The Work of the Spirit
The Period of the Reformation
Index to Texts Elucidated

Sample Chapter THE TESTIMONY OF THE APOSTLE PAUL

Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

In none of the apostles do we find so many allusions as is supplied in the Epistles of Paul to the Spirit’s work in the full extent of His saving and sanctifying operations. Besides other reasons which might be mentioned, this may be ascribed to the fact that Paul had not known Christ after the flesh (2Cor 5.16), and received his revelations more in the way of inward communication by the Spirit than by outward intercourse with his Lord, though he also received the latter. And accordingly, in the memorable passage where he says: “Now the Lord is that Spirit” (2Cor 3.17), the close connection in which he places Christ and the Spirit shows how fully he apprehended their joint mission, and how emphatically he intimates that Christ is never to be conceived of apart from the Spirit, nor the Spirit conceived of apart from Him.

To the impartial inquirer who only seeks the truth, the Apostle Paul conveys, with sufficient evidence, a testimony to the divine dignity of the Spirit, when we find him saying in the Book of Acts, that the Holy Ghost spoke by the prophet Isaiah (Act 28.25); that the Spirit testified from city to city, that bonds and imprisonment awaited him (20.23); when he declares that the Holy Ghost sustained him in his ministry (Rom 15.19); when he appeals to the Holy Ghost, and calls Him to witness (Rom 9.1); when he uses the same expression, SENT FORTH (e.xape,steilen), to describe the mission of the Spirit that he employed, to describe the mission of the Son (Gal 4.4-6). But we shall find, as we proceed, other proofs even more express.

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When we survey the names or titles of the Spirit in Paul’s Epistles, they are numerous. Thus He is called the Spirit of God (Rom 8.9), the Spirit of His Son (Gal 4.6), the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8.9), the Spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead (Rom 8.11). If we look at the economy in virtue of which the Spirit is sent, He is said to be shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour (Tit 3.6). If we survey His titles as derived from the benefits and blessings which He confers, and of which He is the immediate author, He is called the Spirit that dwells in us (Rom 8.11), the Spirit of grace (Heb 10.29), the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus (Eph 1.17), the Spirit of adoption (Rom 8.15), the Spirit of life (Rom 8.2), the Spirit of meekness (Gal 6.1), the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2Tim 1.7).

The commencement of the Christian life, as contrasted with the previous sinful life, is uniformly ascribed by the apostle to the Holy Ghost. Thus he says: “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1Cor 12.3); and again: “He saved us by the washing [laver] of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Tit 3.5). Whether we refer this expression: the laver of regeneration, to baptism or not, certainly the last term, the renewing of the Holy Ghost, must be construed as referring to the active operation of the Spirit at the commencement of the Christian life. As it is the shedding or pouring out of the Spirit (e.xeceen.) to which salvation is traced, this cannot be referred to mere doctrine. The personal Spirit is mentioned as the producing cause. If it is asked in what sense can men be said to be saved by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, when the salvation is in Christ, the answer is obvious. There is a series of truths of which no link can be awanting.

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• Anonymous – The Fire Within
• Anthology of the Holy Spirit DC#01
• Anthology on the Holy Spirit
• Arminius On The Sin Against the Holy Spirit
• Arthur – Tongue of Fire
• Austin-Sparks Anointing of the Holy Spirit
• Austin-Sparks Burning Fire of the Spirit
• Austin-Sparks Crisis of Pentecost and & Significance of Holy Spirit’s Coming

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THE BIBLICAL TESTIMONY Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

We are saved by the divine purpose, for God hath chosen us to salvation; we are saved by the atonement as the meritorious ground of all; we are saved by faith as the bond of union to Christ; we are saved by grace as contrasted with works done; we are saved by the truth as conveying God’s testimony; and we are saved, as it is here expressed, by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, as producing faith in the heart. The special work of the Spirit in conversion is thus proved to be as essentially necessary and indispensable as any other link in the chain. The apostle further speaks of saving blessings which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, revealed to us by the Spirit (1Cor 2.10); and he adds that we receive not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God (1Cor 2.12). When the Spirit is called “the Spirit of faith,” that is, the AUTHOR or producing cause of faith (2Cor 4.13), according to the uniform meaning of that formula, there can be no more conclusive proof that the commencement of the new life must be ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

There are three Pauline Epistles which are very full and definite in the elucidation of the doctrine of the Spirit — viz. the Epistles to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, and to the Romans. I shall first refer to their testimony, but by no means in a minute or ‘exhaustive way, in the above-mentioned order.

One principal topic found in the EPISTLES TO CORINTH has reference to the personality and work of the Holy Ghost. It was particularly necessary to call the attention of the Corinthian Christians to the personality and presence, the influence and operations, of the Spirit, because they were counteracting his work by attaching undue importance to human wisdom, and pluming themselves on the possession of various supernatural gifts which they owed absolutely to the Spirit, but which were given for a different purpose. They dishonoured the Spirit, partly by self-complacency, emulation, and contentious partisanship; partly by their readiness to think lightly of the old licentious tendencies and feelings for which Corinth had only been too notorious, and which all too plainly threatened to return.

More theWord Modules on the Deity of the Holy Spirit

• Austin-Sparks Holy Spirit
• Luginbill Pneumatology Holy Spirit
• Smith Person and Gift of the Holy Spirit
• Steele Gospel of the Comforter
• Thompson Holy Comforter His Person and His Work

By the Holy Spirit the apostle did not mean, as some have thought, a mere title of God or of Christ. He meant and taught the personal Holy Ghost, distinct from the Father and the Son, but partaker of the same numerical divine nature. He referred to the Spirit sent forth on His mission as the guide and teacher of the Christian Church, whose fellowship as a divine person was invoked in the apostolic benediction (2Cor 13.14), as the great gift of the Christian Church. He reminded the Corinthians, who were so favoured with a supply of supernatural endowments as to come behind in no gift, that they were the temple of God and inhabited by the Spirit (1Cor 3.16), and then subjoins a warning against defiling it (ver. 17).

In the most conclusive way, but without formal proof, the apostle introduces the PERSONALITY AND OMNISCIENCE of the Holy Ghost when he says: “The Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1Cor 2.10). He is thus referred to as personally distinct from God; for He searches the deep things of God; and He who can fathom the plans, the purposes, and deep things of God, must be distinct in person, yet divine in essence. The same divine personality is brought out in connection with the rich profusion of extraordinary gifts with which the Christian Church was endowed (1Cor 12.4-6): “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit: and there are differences of administrations (or ministries), but the same Lord: and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God who worketh all in all.” The Spirit, the producer of the gifts, is thus distinguished from the gifts. But He is also distinct from God, the author of the operations, and from the Lord Jesus, the author of the ministries. The import is to the same effect as that which

THE BIBLICAL TESTIMONY Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

the apostle elsewhere expresses, when he speaks of one God the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, and one Spirit who unites Christians in the closest bond of union (1Cor 8.6; Eph 4.4-6). A personal will is ascribed to Him; He divides His gifts to every one severally as He will (ver. 11). To the subject of spiritual or miraculous gifts, which occupies a most important place in these Epistles, I need not refer, after the elucidation already given, except to say that they illustrate the peculiar economy of the Holy Spirit.

Other passages not less clearly teach the special action of the Spirit in the whole application of redemption. To some of these we shall now allude.

“Such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1Cor 6.11). The three verbs : WASHED, SANCTIFIED, and JUSTIFIED, have such an affinity to each other that they must all be put in one category, as referring to the absolution, sacrificial acceptance, and judicial justification of the Corinthians, compared with their former state as one of guilt, exclusion from God’s presence, and just condemnation. One and the same thing, says Calvin, is expressed by different terms. How far these Christians corresponded individually to their high calling we forbear to inquire. But what we desire to place prominently before our mind is that these saving blessings are referred, first, to the name or merits of Christ as the procuring cause, and then to the Spirit of our God, who made the Corinthians partakers of them by His own effectual application. Plainly this operation of the Spirit is distinguished from the preaching of the gospel. The latter may be, and probably is, included in the phrase: the name of the Lord Jesus, which certainly intimates His merits, and may take in the further thought of the preaching of His merits. But manifestly something more than moral suasion is intimated as to the application of redemption. A power immeasurably greater — that is; the
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Spirit of our God — is referred to as enlightening their mind and leading them to embrace the great salvation, and to be assured that they were washed, sanctified, and justified.

More theWord Modules on the Personality of the Holy Spirit

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• Bonar Gospel of the Holy Spirit’s Love
• Luginbill Pneumatology Holy Spirit
• Smith Person and Gift of the Holy Spirit
• Torrey, R.A. – Person and Work of The Holy Spirit
• Warfield Person & Work of the Holy Spirit

“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1Cor 2.14). Here the apostle, after noticing the unsearchable glory of revelation, and tracing it up to the Spirit of God, sets forth, in the subsequent part of the chapter, that the spiritual discernment and saving reception of it are not less from the Spirit of God than the revelation itself. As to the title NATURAL MAN, it is not difficult to apprehend its meaning, if we are content to interpret Scripture by Scripture, without being encumbered by the language of philosophy. They who are so called are simply those having the animal and rational elements of man without the Spirit (Jude 19). The point of the expression, whether we suppose extreme depravity or not (Jas 3.15), is the privation or absence of the Spirit; and where this is, men do not receive the things of the Spirit — that is, the atonement and all the saving provisions of the gospel — and they cannot know them. I shall not efface the angles of this expression to make it less emphatic, nor apologize for the expression being used; for I am only an interpreter; and with that my duty ends. The natural man is he who is not occupied by the supernatural power of the Spirit. The phrase: “to receive the things” of the Spirit of God, as applied to the word of truth, is a common New Testament expression — meaning that through grace the word is not only viewed as true, but assented to as good (Act 17.11; 2Cor 11.4; 1Thes 1.6). That word the natural man does not receive. But when it is added: “neither can he know them,” expositors and divines in general, of the modern type, transmute the words into will not know them. Heumann and others adduce as corroborative proof for this sense:
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THE BIBLICAL TESTIMONY Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

“He could there do no mighty work because of their unbelief” (Mar 6.5, 6). But it is a mistaken interpretation. The unbelief of Christ’s townsmen at Nazareth was such that they neither brought their diseased and helpless friends to receive His miracles, nor came themselves to hear His wisdom; thus limiting or curtailing His opportunity of conferring benefits. Or if we refer the words to the moral obstruction interposed by the unbelief itself, and suppose that Jesus, from a regard to the declarative glory of God, would not proceed to work miracles which were only to be met with scorn and rejection, there is as little warrant for transmuting the apostle’s cannot know into will not know.
Why the natural man neither receives nor knows the things of the Spirit of God is next subjoined. The way of salvation by the cross, described as “the things of the Spirit of God,” appears to him absurd; for they are foolishness to him. Though the propositions, as such, in which the doctrines are expressed can be sufficiently apprehended by the natural understanding, he receives them not, neither can he know them, without a supernatural discernment, taste, or relish for them imparted by the Spirit of God. The apostle makes no concealment of the malady, and draws a broad distinction between one who has the Spirit and one who has not the Spirit.

This leads me to notice some of those significant expressions scattered over the Epistles where the Spirit receives express titles from the work which He performs in the application of redemption, especially this title: the Spirit of faith.
“We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak” (2Cor 4.13). The title SPIRIT OF FAITH intimates that the Holy Ghost is the author of faith; for all men have not faith; that is, it is not given to all, and does not belong to all (2Thes 3.2). The
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designation means that the producing cause of faith is the Holy Spirit, who produces this effect by that invincible call and invitation which accompanies, according to the good pleasure of His will, the external proclamation of the gospel The faith, therefore, of which He is the author, is not effected by the hearer’s own strength or by the hearer’s own effectual will (Joh 6.44, 45; Eph 2.8; Phi 1.29). But it is also a fruit of Christ’s merits; for, apart from the merits of the Saviour, no benefit can be conferred or can actually take effect upon condemned men (Eph 1.3). And though the mode in which the Spirit produces faith cannot, in all its outlines, be fully comprehended by believers in this life, of one thing there can be no doubt, He takes out of the heart every hindrance and obstruction, pleasantly persuades the judgment, and gently binds the will — nay, works in us both to will and to do; or, to put it into the words of Jesus, “Everyone, therefore, that hath HEARD AND LEARNED of the Father cometh unto me” (Joh 6.45). The word of truth and the regenerating work of the Spirit are fully distinct, but always concurrent. The special operation of the Spirit inclines the sinner, previously disinclined, to receive the invitations of the gospel; for it is He alone, acting as the Spirit of faith, that removes the enmity of the carnal mind to those doctrines of the cross which, but for this, would seem to him unnecessary, or foolish and offensive.

The apostle, in a profound passage in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, delineates the difference between the Jewish and Christian economy as two different modes of administering one and the same covenant of grace. He contrasts the two in the great points of antithesis between them. But what we have to consider here is their relation to the gift of the Holy Spirit. One important topic bearing on the difference of the two economies, is the supply of the Spirit in the New Testament as contrasted with the Old.
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THE BIBLICAL TESTIMONY Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

This is fully elucidated by the apostle (2Cor 3.6-18). The New Covenant, contrasted with that of Sinai, is called THE MINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT (2Cor 3.8), because it was an essentially different economy. The New Covenant is called THE SPIRIT, not the letter, because accompanied with the mission of the Comforter and with the powerful operations of the Spirit in a manner unknown before. Among its distinctive privileges, the supplies of the Holy Spirit, which were of old promised by the prophets, are conferred in a wholly new way, and with a copiousness not conferred before.

The antithesis between the Old and New Covenant is expressed in the striking proposition, which is not without its difficulty: “the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life” (ver. 6). This may be taken as a general proposition; and when so taken, it will be akin to the words: “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing” (Joh 6.63). If, on the other hand, it refers to the difference of the economies, which seems clearly to be the design of the apostle, the meaning must be, that the former left men without the quickening Spirit; or that the Spirit of life was not dispensed by that economy. When it is said, with special reference to the New Covenant: “the Spirit giveth life,” the import is that the Spirit of life is now communicated in full and abundant measure; that is, that Christ’s words are spirit and life (Joh 6.63), as compared with that shadowy dispensation which has passed away.

A brief explanation will serve to remove the difficulty which expositors have found in the passage. Some have thought that the Sinaitic Covenant was simply a covenant of works, wholly different in character from the covenant of grace. That supposition cannot be accepted, for the law is not against the promise of God (Gal 3.17). The apostle very often speaks of a matter in a certain respect; that is, not absolutely, but in a certain respect (secundum quid), and the statement here made must be so understood. The Sinaitic Covenant, so far as founded on the law of rites
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and apart from the covenant of grace, which involved the promise of the Holy Spirit, was A KILLING LETTER, not only diverse from the New Covenant, but leaving men in a state of bondage and death, and imparting no relief.
A twofold view may be taken of the Sinaitic Covenant. It may be taken more largely or more strictly — a distinction to be applied as a key to solve many difficulties in the Pauline Epistles. Taken more largely, the Sinaitic Covenant, or the Old Testament type of religion, contains the patriarchal gospel, or the Abrahamic Covenant, based upon Abraham’s seed, in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed, and thus as comprehending the promise. Taken more strictly, the Sinai Covenant — a subsequent dispensation of which the patriarchs knew nothing
— was a national transaction between God and Israel, and conditional in its character. The immutable moral law, which existed before its promulgation and exists since its abrogation, was its core. The nation was specially bound to the law of a carnal commandment, to a shadowy priesthood, to innumerable rites and ceremonies, which were but the letter, without any supply of the Spirit, and which were enforced with strictness and severity. The whole design looked to the end of the shadow in the atoning work of Messiah. Strictly taken, the Sinai Covenant is letter and shadow — national, transitory, conditional, and burdensome in the whole character of its arrangements. Such was the distinction between the two. But it is necessary to add that it presupposes the Abrahamic Covenant, because God could make no covenant with sinful man but in a relation of grace. He could not have made a covenant at Sinai unless with a certain respect to grace, and having the covenant of grace as its basis and support.
When it is called “a killing letter,” and contrasted with the Spirit which giveth life, the meaning is, that the Sinai Covenant, strictly taken, or used as the mere letter, did not give the Spirit of life. But the apostle’s words do not imply that there was no Holy Ghost operating on the saints of
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THE BIBLICAL TESTIMONY Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
the Old Economy, or that there were not millions of saved men under it trained to eminent holiness and wisdom.
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There were countless numbers of regenerate men in the Old Economy distinguished for a faith and wisdom, a holiness, self-denial, courage and zeal, redounding to the declarative glory of God, such as far surpasses all modern examples. But it must be noted that none of them received the regenerating grace and the Spirit of life which they possessed from the Mosaic law, or from the letter sundered from the promise. All who had the Spirit of life received it by faith upon the promise of a Saviour, and not from the Sinai Covenant. For under all economies, salvation and the supply of the Spirit were by faith. The measure of the Spirit, under the Old Testament, was comparatively limited, like the first-fruits; and it was given by anticipation. In comparison with the numbers composing the Old Testament Church, only a few were made partakers of the gift of the Spirit, while the vast multitude had no eye to see nor ear to understand. On these grounds the apostle calls the one economy the letter, and the other the Spirit.

2 Corinthians Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

In the Second Epistle to the CORINTHIANS, the apostle gives expression to Christian experience in many particulars. The Spirit is adduced as a pledge of salvation, and as giving an assurance of the participation of God’s love.
“Now He who establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2Cor 1.21). That the efficacy of the Spirit is something distinct from the preaching of the gospel, is clearly indicated in this passage and in similar passages. The theory which identifies them finds no countenance from these words; for there is an influence of the Spirit on the heart of Christians, apart from the mere moral influence of the word. The apostle, as the founder of the Corinthian Church, speaks of being united with them in Christ,
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and of their being anointed as a royal priesthood to make a common confession of Christianity. The previous allusion to Christ as the Anointed One, seems to have led him to describe THEM: AS ANOINTED, which implies something more than mere instruction through the word: It is unction for priestly service. He adds, “who hath also sealed us,” implying that they bore A SEAL or impress from God, by which they not only were themselves assured, but marked as belonging to God, who put a seal on them, which made them known to others as His property. Not only so: God gave them the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts. The term EARNEST (a.r.r.abw[n), three times applied in the New Testament to the Holy Spirit, denotes a certain sum. in hand, a pledge of something further to be conferred, and it was a security that they should not be put to shame. Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as producing these effects on the heart. For we cannot expound the term EARNEST merely of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, which accompanied the first proclamation of the gospel as a proof of its divine origin.

“Ye are declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God” (2Cor 3.3). The Church of Corinth, a large flourishing community, was an emphatic proof of Paul’s apostleship, and of the success with which his zealous efforts had been crowned in spreading the gospel. They were an epistle, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God — where we cannot fail to notice two persons, the living God and His Spirit, by whom he acted at first, and continued to act, on the heart of these Corinthians. By the Spirit we cannot there understand revelation, or the divine origin of Christianity; for comments of that nature only betray an adverse bias, and are not worthy of serious refutation. Plainly, the apostle distinguishes his ministry from the writing of the Spirit. He refers to the efficacious effect of his ministry, and ascribes it to the Holy Spirit. Nor does he appeal to miraculous gifts,
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but to the Spirit’s influence in effecting the spiritual renovation of the heart, as contrasted with the Old Covenant, which was written on tables of stone.
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“He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit” (2Cor 5.5). The Spirit is again called “the earnest,” and the longing for the heavenly glory is connected with His operation.
In the Epistle to the GALATIANS, the apostle’s doctrine on the entire economy of the Spirit is peculiarly full. This was due to circumstances which made it necessary.

The gospel, as preached by Paul among the Galatians, had found a ready acceptance, and been accompanied with the miraculous ministration of the Spirit, and with the most arresting displays of power (Gal 3.5). The Galatians, it is said, had begun in the Spirit (3.3). Before much time elapsed, the recently-formed churches were subjected to the test of false teachers. Emissaries from the Pharisaic party demanded that Christians from the ranks of the Gentiles should observe the Jewish rites as necessary to justification before God. In a word, these ceremonies, along with the doctrine of Christ, were to be retained as essentially necessary. The apostle, in writing this Epistle, assails that fundamental error with all his energy, refuting it from central truth and from their own experience in the past.

He shows that they had not received the Spirit by the works of the law, but by the message or preaching (a.kon,) of faith (3.3). This is the Holy Spirit, with all His gifts, as promised by the prophets to the Church; for the ordinary saving gifts of regeneration and holiness, as well as the supernatural gifts, are here included. These were not received by the performance of any actions of the ceremonial or moral law, which could only have filled their mind with a knowledge of sin and a fear of wrath. On the contrary, they had received the Spirit by the message of faith.
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We are next taught that the promised Spirit was procured by nothing less than the vicarious death of Christ. This argument completely exploded the legalism of the false teachers. The donation of the Spirit is thus connected with the atonement: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, that (i[vna) the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (3.14). The meaning of these words is: the death of Christ was the meritorious cause or purchase of this great gift — the promised Spirit. The final particle (i[vna) leans on the words which describe the sacrifice of Christ. It is the connection of merit and reward, of cause and consequence.

To show, moreover, that works of law are wholly excluded, and that the great donation of the Holy Spirit, which was given to the Galatians at the founding of the Church among them, was not to be traced to doing on the part of man, but to simple reliance on the merits of Christ, the apostle adds: “That we might receive the promise of the Spirit (or the promised Spirit) through faith.” The Spirit of the Son — in other words, the Spirit of adoption — is further described by Paul as given only to those who are sons by faith, and partakers of the atonement (4.6). The proof is thus complete, that the Holy Spirit was not received by the works of the law.

The last part of the Epistle displays the work of the Spirit in another light. The former allusions were more to the Christian’s privileges. The two closing chapters set forth the graces of the Holy Spirit and the Christian’s fruitfulness. The same apostle who was solicitous in the first part to assert the liberty of the Christian, and who bids us stand fast in it, is not less solicitous to set forth in the second part the Spirit’s renewing and sanctifying influence. Thus, with respect to Christian HOPE or patience, he puts it in causal connection with the Spirit’s operation in these terms: we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith (5.5). The distinction between flesh and spirit, nature and grace, is next
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described in such a way as proves the momentous importance of drawing a strict line between the two, of apprehending it in the Christian’s consciousness, and following it out in the Christian’s walk: “I say then, walk in (by) the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (5.16, 17). He adduces it as a proof of their liberty from the curse of the law, that the Christian is led by the Spirit (5.18.) After enumerating the works of the flesh, he specifies as the fruit of the Spirit — “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance” (5.22). He calls these the fruit of the Spirit, as if they grew on a living, fruitful tree; and he adds that against such persons — for the allusion is to persons (kata. tw[n toiou,twn) — there is no law (5.23). From living by the Spirit he argues the duty of walking by the Spirit (5.25), and he concludes these duties by referring to the duty of sowing to the Spirit (6.8).

Romans Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

The Epistle to the ROMANS gives an outline of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in an experimental, not in a controversial way. This Epistle was meant not so much to smooth differences or unite parties, as to confirm the Church in true doctrine. On the subject which engages our attention, the Epistle to the Romans contains very marked allusions which distinguish the Holy Spirit’s work from the operation of Providence on the one hand, and from the objective presentation of truth on the other. The Epistle shows another influence distinct from the word though connected with it, in producing faith, and in leading Christians in whom faith already exists. To this I refer the more readily, because the celebrated Griesbach in two University-programmes laboured to prove that the term SPIRIT in the eighth chapter means nothing more than Christian character and disposition; and because many others, paralysed by these objections, have been in the habit of affirming that there are few passages where the sense of the word “Spirit” is more difficult. We shall find that it does not occur in more senses than one, and that it neither means influence nor Christian disposition, but the Holy Spirit.
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This appears beyond dispute when it is said that the Gentiles were made obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God (Rom 15.19). That the miracles wrought by Paul are there attributed to the Spirit, is beyond dispute. The agent and the power which the agent puts forth are both mentioned in alluding to these miracles. The conversion of the Gentiles, in like manner, or the offering up of the converted Gentiles as an acceptable sacrifice, is ascribed to the Holy Ghost (15.16).

On the economy of the Spirit, in connection with Christ’s Sonship, there is a noteworthy passage, though on almost all sides it is incorrectly referred to the divine nature of our Lord: “Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (1.3, 4). Plainly the apostle does not allude to the two natures of our Lord as commentators expound it, but to THE TWO STATES of humiliation and exaltation. And the expression: “Spirit of holiness,” does not refer to the divine nature, but to the dispensation of the Spirit after His resurrection, which supplied the most conclusive evidence of our Lord’s divine Sonship. The effusion of the Spirit on the apostles and on the Church terminated the controversy whether He was the Son of God. The communication of the Holy Spirit — a gift competent to no created being — proved Him to be the Messiah and the Son of God, according to His own claim (Joh 5.19).

“The love of God is shed abroad upon our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us” (Rom 5.5). These words intimate that the Holy Ghost as a divine agent does a certain work; that He is given according to a divine economy; and that through His aid the redeeming love in God’s heart is shed abroad in our hearts,
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tasted and enjoyed, not only in the first stages of the Christian’s experience, but ever afterwards. Plainly this is distinct from miraculous gifts and from the proclamation of the gospel. It intimates that the Holy Ghost sheds abroad God’s boundless, free, unchanging love in our hearts, and that He is given to believers as a perpetually indwelling guest — reminding the Christian of reconciliation, supplying the constant experience of the divine love, and assuring him of its perpetuity as a gift never to be forfeited.

It is in the eighth chapter, however, that we find the doctrine of the Holy Spirit most fully developed, from different points of view. The apostle’s object is to prove the certainty of the believer’s salvation from the fact that they are led by the Spirit of God. He demonstrates that they enjoy the effectual operation of the Spirit as a blessing which has its ground in the surety — obedience of Christ its procuring cause (2-4). The argument is, that they who are occupied by the Spirit and who walk after the Spirit are exempt from condemnation. In other words, he argues that they who are free from the service of sin through the Spirit of life are by that fact proved also to be free from condemnation. The apostle had set in a clear light the connection between justification and sanctification on the ground of merit or purchase.

(6.1-13). He here shows that the spiritual life is secured by the effectual operation of the Holy Spirit. The entire section exhibits the Christian in the highest stages of the divine life, and supplies a rule by which the Christian teacher is to regulate his thinking and phraseology.

The apostle begins his discussion on the Spirit with these memorable words: “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8.2). The two laws — that of sin and death, already referred to in the seventh chapter (7.23), and a counterpart law of life in Christ — are again put in direct antithesis —
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that is, into the contrast of flesh and spirit, which we find pervading the whole Pauline theology. But why, it may be asked, is the Spirit called the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus? The entire expression is equivalent to this: the spirit of life residing in Christ and dispensed by Christ is a law of irresistible power counteracting the law of sin and death. It is the law written on the heart, by which the regenerate man is step by step enabled to resist sin and follow holiness. It is the law of the life-giving Spirit in the fellowship of Christ Jesus.

The apostle next adverts to several operations of the Spirit which deserve the most attentive consideration singly and collectively.

The first thing to be noticed is the sequence of operations as described in the Christian’s experience. There are three distinct expressions, which are introduced in this order:

They walk after the Spirit (8.4);
They are spiritually-minded (8.6);
They are in the Spirit (8.9).

In the order of sequence the last named, however, comes first, as follows: — they are in the Spirit by the act of regenerating grace; they are spiritually-minded — that is, they mind the things of the. Spirit when they are inwardly disposed, moved, and animated according to the mind of the Spirit; they walk after the Spirit, which refers more to their outward practical life., The sequence is such as proves that it is not sufficient to perform good works which challenge the attention of spectators, unless there be the inner change of character and disposition, which naturally weans the heart from the objects to which the natural bias disposes it.

The second thing mentioned in the passage is, that the Spirit DWELLS in the Christian (8.9). A running contrast between the flesh and Spirit is carried out through the entire section. And the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ is adduced as a conclusive proof that we are not in the flesh,
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but in the Spirit; for Christ, the second Adam, received the Spirit as a reward for the performance of His work of suretyship, that He might impart the Spirit to all believers.
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When the apostle subjoins: “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His” (ver. 9), it shows that the participation of the Holy Spirit is not universal; and that only they who are given to Christ and redeemed by Him, enjoy the inhabitation of the Spirit in the Biblical acceptation of the term. In them He dwells, as in His habitation or abode, for ever. It is this inhabitation which imparts the spiritual mind, the mark by which the true disciple is distinguished; for Christ and His people are anointed with the same Spirit.

The Spirit is LIFE because of righteousness (ver. 10). Though the body is dead because of sin, this death is not regarded as a punishment or anything properly penal, but only as a consequence, still permitted to run its course, after Christ has fully satisfied divine justice. But the Spirit is life on the ground of Christ’s righteousness. As He gave life to all creatures at first, so does He give life immortal, incorruptible, and unfading to the new creature — that is, to all the redeemed of the Lord.

They who have the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body (ver. 13). They are debtors, not to the flesh, but to the Spirit. The flesh, or the deeds of the body, they mortify, because they are the cause of death. They cannot so kill it that it shall stir no more; but they, by the Spirit, weaken it, and lop off its branches one by one.

They are led by the Spirit of God, and are thus evinced to be the children of God (ver. 14). The expression: “led by the Spirit,” refers to an inward prompting, impulse, and inclination, which so rules and guides them that they cannot omit duty or neglect privilege. It implies the helplessness of a child which cannot stand alone, but needs a strong supporting hand; for it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps (Jer 10.23). The saints of God, to whom the expression applies, are not only ignorant of the way, but when they know it,
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their liability to stumble too readily betrays itself, and their natural reluctance must constantly be overcome. This LEADING is attributed to the Spirit of God, the master of the inclinations, of the will and the affections by which men are moved and animated, so that in due time they desire to do nothing but what they are prompted to undertake by the illumination from on high.

They are on this ground evinced to be the CHILDREN OF GOD; and this leads the apostle to describe the Holy Spirit as the author of adoption, and as prompting the believer to realize the privileges connected with the filial relationship. Philippi seems to me mistaken1 in denying that the phrase SPIRIT OF ADOPTION can glean the Spirit who effects the sonship or transplants us into the relationship of sons. The analogy of all the phrases of this description — such as the Spirit of love, the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of power, the Spirit of revelation, and the like implies that He is the producing cause of the term following in the genitive. This is no exception to the uniform usage. The same Spirit produces the bondage to fear, and effects the adoption. On this great central blessing put in our possession by the Spirit, I shall not now enlarge, as it afterwards engages our attention in the dogmatic part of this treatise.
The other effects of the Spirit mentioned in this chapter are these: Christians have the first-fruits of the Spirit, and the Spirit helps them in prayer.

With regard to the first-fruits, the apostle says: “We ourselves also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit” (ver. 23). Speaking of the groaning universe waiting for deliverance, he adds, that
1 He says, incorrectly: “Das tgeu[ma uioqisi.aj. kann nun nicht sein der Geist welcher die Kindschaft wirkt” (Rom 8.15).
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Christians also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit groan. Some, with Grotius, incorrectly limit these terms to the apostles. James, indeed, speaks of the early Christians as the first-fruits (Jas 1.18). But the Apostle
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Paul is not speaking OF PERSONS, but OF GIFTS; and there is only one tolerable interpretation — viz. that which refers the first-fruits to the commencement of the communications of the Spirit which are enjoyed in this life.
The other benefit is the Spirit’s help in prayer (ver. 26). When Christians know not what to ask, the Spirit helps their infirmities, interceding IN THEM with unutterable groanings, while Christ intercedes FOR THEM.
The only other passage which I shall adduce from this Epistle is the prayer of Paul, that the Roman Christians might be filled with faith and hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. He ascribes both the origin and growth of these graces to the Holy Spirit (15.13).

Ephesians Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

The Epistle to the EPHESIANS, amid the deep truths opened up to a congregation which was specially prepared to take them in, interweaves the doctrine of the Spirit in a way which makes the train of the argument in the highest degree practical.

The economy in virtue of which the Holy Spirit is dispensed is thus exhibited in the prayer for the congregation: “Making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Eph 1.17). He asks the Spirit on their behalf from the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, the dispenser of the Spirit, on the ground of Christ’s merits as the procuring cause. The import of the words: “The Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus,” comprehends a full discovery of what was planned and effected by God in the work of man’s redemption. We have here a numerous and varied class of blessings of which the Holy Ghost is the producing cause. It is what philologists call the genitive of the author.
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“The Spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Christ” is a memorable title of the Spirit from the work which He performs upon the human mind (Eph 1.17), in illuminating the eyes of the heart, as it is here expressed, to behold a beauty in divine things of which it had previously no conception.

Notwithstanding the lingering remains of the image of God in reason, conscience, and the longing after immortality, there was not before this one spark from which the illumination of the understanding could arise only darkness and enmity (1Cor 2.14; Rom 8.7). The Spirit enlightened the understanding, which was previously alienated from the life of God (Eph 4.18), to perceive the truth of the gospel, as worthy of God and divinely adapted to human wants, and especially the truth relating to Christ’s atonement. Not that the natural man could not with sufficient correctness grasp the thought in a speculative way; but it was much in the same way in which a blind-born man thinks or speaks of colours. When the eyes of the heart are opened, a glory is beheld in Christ’s person and work unknown before; and a light is conveyed to the mind which produces a transforming change on all its powers.

Another passage in this Epistle not less emphatic is: “Through Him (Christ) we both have access by [in] one Spirit unto the Father” (Eph 2.17). The apostle, speaking in the person of the Church composed of Jews and Gentiles, says: “We BOTH have access, or introduction, to the Father,” and he mentions the mediator through whose merits that introduction is effected. He adds that it is IN ONE SPIRIT, whom we possess as a Spirit of faith and love, infusing confidence on the ground of Christ’s priesthood. The one Spirit can only mean the one Holy Ghost, which men of all nationalities, without distinction, now enjoy; and the force of the preposition: “IN one Spirit,”
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is by no means to be stripped of its significance, as has too often been done by commentators. The intention of the apostle was to bring out with precision the difference of the relation in which Christ and the Spirit stand to the Church — the one as the meritorious
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Surety, the other as the life-giving agent who puts us in possession of the whole redemption.

In the use of a favourite expression, the apostle again calls the Spirit a SEAL and EARNEST. “After that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance” (1.13). To the same effect the apostle warns them not to grieve the Holy Spirit by whom they were sealed (4.30). As to the order in which this sealing stands, it comes after believing — that is, next after faith; and as to the SEAL itself, too much ingenuity bas often been used in elucidating it. Without appealing to classical or Hebrew examples, it may suffice to say that the impress of a seal implies a relation to the owner of the seal, and is a sure token of belonging to him. From the three passages where the term SEAL is expressly used, we gather that believers are God’s inviolable property, and known to be so by the Spirit dwelling in them. The sealing implies that the image engraven on the seal is impressed on the thing, or on the person sealed. In this case it is the image of God impressed on the heart by the enlightening, regenerating, and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. By that seal believers are declared to be the inviolable property of God (2Tim 2.19); and they are sealed to the day of redemption as something which is to be inviolably secure (Eph 4.30). Not only so: there is a subjective assurance which they acquire as to their gracious state and final glory. The Spirit is also called an EARNEST (ar.r,abwn.) as well as a seal — that is, a foretaste which is equivalent to the first-fruits of the Spirit, elsewhere mentioned (Eph 4.14).

The apostle prays in a second memorable prayer for the Ephesians, that they might be strengthened with might BY THE SPIRIT in the inner man, that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith (3.16). The Spirit strengthens the believer by giving him a share in all the benefits and blessings which Christ procured, as well as by confirming faith and love, that the conscious indwelling of Christ may be realized; the indwelling of Christ answering to the confirmation of the Spirit.
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When the apostle refers to the Church, he calls it an habitation of God in the Spirit (Eph 2.22), and, by another figure, one body and one Spirit (4.4). Nor does he stop at doctrine: while enforcing Christian duty, he introduces the Holy Spirit in many connections. When he warns the Ephesians against indulging angry passions and unworthy practices, he says: “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,” implying that such things on the part of Christians grieve the Spirit1 (4.30). When he exhorts them to prayer, he bids them pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit (6.18). When he warns them against intemperance, he immediately subjoins an exhortation, calculated in its exercise to exclude all tendency to the habit of intemperance by the spiritual joy and satisfaction which take possession of the Christian: but be filled with the Spirit (5.18); for the enjoyment of that fulness of the Spirit satisfies the soul, and leaves it no longer a prey to intemperance or any such desires. But in what sense can the Christian be EXHORTED to be filled with the Spirit, when we call to mind that it is God alone by whom the Spirit is bestowed? The answer is easy. It is of God’s gracious gift when the Spirit replenishes any soul. But it is also a subject of exhortation. This is of the same nature with the exhortations in the Epistle to the Galatians: walk in the Spirit (Gal 5.16, 25). The Father, in the covenant, provided for the restoration of the Spirit; the Son procured the Spirit by His satisfaction, and lives to confer the

See the beautiful remarks of Rev Robert Hall on the work of the Spirit. “Vindictive passions,” says he, “surround the soul with a sort of turbulent atmosphere, than which nothing can be conceived more opposite to that calm and holy light in which the blessed Spirit loves to dwell” (vol. i p. 410).
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gift; and we have only to receive and make room for Him daily, neither resisting nor grieving Him away from the heart.
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Philippians Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

In the Epistle to the PHILIPPIANS several allusions to the Holy Spirit are found, having reference partly to Paul’s own condition and partly to theirs. Errorists had not as yet troubled the Church from within, but marked intimations and warnings are given respecting them to this congregation, of whom the apostle always speaks with the deepest affection.

After noticing the mixed motives of some who preached the gospel of contention, not sincerely, the apostle adds: “I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and THE SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT of Jesus Christ” (Phi 1.19). According to his own declaration elsewhere, he was persuaded that ell this would work together for good. Their prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Christ are not put together as co-ordinate. He means that all would redound to the victory of Christ’s cause, and to his own highest advantage, through the supply (e.picorhgi.a) of the Spirit, while their prayer would be no unimportant sub-ordinate link in the chain. As to the words here used, the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of Jesus Christ,” not only because He is from the Son as well as from the Father, according to the eternal procession from both, but because the gift of the Spirit is derived from Christ’s merits. He procured by his obedience and satisfaction not only the restoration of the divine favour, but the gift of the Holy Ghost, who is thus rightly called the Spirit of Christ. The more copious effusion of the Spirit is referred to the action of Christ no less than to the action of the Father, who gave to the Son the power of sending the Spirit, and of conferring all the benefits which were acquired by His death (Zec 12.10).

The apostle expresses his confidence that the cause of the gospel would be promoted by the aid of the Spirit of Christ, who would not only cause the truth to triumph over falsehood, but nerve him with necessary courage to seal, if need be, his testimony with his blood. But that no one might imagine that; these results would be given to the indolent or
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lukewarm, the apostle links the supply (epicorhgi,a.) of the Spirit with the prayers of believing men in the Church, to which he was writing; for he constantly asked prayer as a means of spreading Christian truth. Such is the weakness of human efforts, that we accomplish nothing unless the Holy Ghost is the guide and ruler of all our actions, and unless He is invocated, as it is here intimated that he should be invocated, by the Church, as alone able to bring help.
To ward off the danger of disunion and mutual alienation, of which there was no little fear (4.2), the apostle bids them stand fast in ONE SPIRIT (1.27); and at the commencement of the second chapter, he bases one of his arguments for unity, love, and concord on the fact that they had received the communication (fellowship) of the Spirit; for this communication evinces itself in unity and love.

Another passage referring to the worship of God in the Spirit is: “We are the circumcision who WORSHIP GOD IN THE SPIRIT, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (3.3); the contrast being between worship in the Spirit and ritualistic tendencies. The apostle depreciates circumcision; he speaks of it as nothing better now than concision, and by contrast he says we are the circumcision, the spiritual Church. The next clause is: who worship God in the Spirit, as the result of regeneration, and as deduced from it. It is not to be resolved into the vague idea of spiritual worship, as commentators too commonly put it, but viewed as worship in the power of the Spirit; the term Spirit being plainly the echo of the promise: “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” The reference is not so much to sanctification — though that, too, is comprehended — as to the adoption of sons; nor does the apostle stop there, for another
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equally important point is, that this worship of God in the Spirit discovers itself in the exercise of rejoicing in Christ Jesus — that is, as not leading away from Christ, but to Christ, and inducing a reliance on Christ’s merits and offices, and His whole mediatorial work. And in that proportion men abandon or forego all confidence in the flesh.
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The Pauline Epistles, which yet remain to be noticed, contain only a few additional allusions, and our survey of them may be brief.

Colossians Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

The Epistle to the COLOSSIANS, written to anchor the Church in sound doctrine against erroneous views, contains but one express allusion to the doctrine of the Spirit, though the whole Epistle implies it. The apostle, referring to Epaphras, says: “Who also declared to us your love in the Spirit” (1.8). The Greek exegetes, followed by not a few Protestants, throw this into the vague phrase: “spiritual love,” as contrasted with ordinary love in the relations of life. The love was to be exercised toward Paul, who was absent, and not personally known to the Colossians; and hence he calls it “your love in the Spirit,” because the Spirit was its producing cause or author. The love to the saints was a fruit of the Spirit, as is elsewhere described.

Thessalonians Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

The Epistles to the THESSALONIANS contain the following allusions to the doctrine of the Spirit. When the apostle recalls their first reception of the gospel, he says: “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and much assurance” (1Thes 1.5). Various interpretations have been given of these words, but they offer, really, little difficulty. The obvious meaning suggested by the antithesis is, that the gospel was accompanied with converting power; and when it is added: “and in the Holy Ghost,” Calvin makes the expression refer merely to THE AUTHOR of the previously mentioned power. Others refer the words to the gifts of the Spirit, especially the supernatural gifts conferred upon believers in the apostolic age to confirm the truth (Gal 3.2). Whether we accept the one view or the other, there was a full certainty (plhrofori,a), a complete and perfect satisfaction, from which all dubiety was removed. According to this interpretation, the terms do not refer to the power with which Paul preached, as man, suppose, but to the experience of the Thessalonians who received the Spirit.
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There are allusions also to the sin of despising the Spirit and of quenching the Spirit. As to the first, it is said: “He that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given to us His Holy Spirit” (1Thes 4.8). This seems to refer to the inspiration and supernatural guidance given to the apostles in revealing divine truth. As to quenching the Spirit (1Thes 5.19), the allusion must either be to supernatural gifts, as some interpret the passage, or to the testimony of the Spirit, which through sinful practices, indifference, or neglect, may be quenched. It is best to understand it of the supernatural operation of the Spirit, as the following verse, containing a warning not to despise prophecy, seems to imply.

“God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation THROUGH SANCTIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT and belief of the truth” (2Thes 2.13). The believing reception of the gospel was effected by the Spirit changing their hearts. The apostle, by the phrase: “the sanctification of the Spirit,” means the cause by which their effectual calling was begun and carried out. The Spirit produced a full separation in heart and tone of mind from an ungodly world, thus setting apart all who were included in God’s gracious purpose or decree. He works faith in them as the Spirit of sanctification.
When we examine the two EPISTLES TO TIMOTHY, only two allusions to the doctrine of the Spirit call for special mention. In the first Epistle, He who was manifest in the flesh is said to be justified in the Spirit (1Tim 3.6). Of all the explanations that have been attempted of this
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expression, only two deserve attention. The one is, that He had proclaimed Himself the Son of God, and been put to death as a blasphemer, and that He was now raised up by His own divine nature, and justified in all that He claimed to be. The other interpretation, which I prefer, is, that He was put to death under the charge of our imputed guilt, as our Surety, but justified by the Holy Spirit when He rose. Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
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2 Timothy Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

The SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY repeats the frequent expression: “the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us” (2Tim 1.14), which may be taken as the brief formula of all living Christianity. The charge to Timothy to keep the gospel doctrine committed to him, was to be carried out only by dependence on the Spirit, and in believing prayer for His influences: et Keep through the HOLY GHOST which dwelleth in us.”

Hebrews Smeaton Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

The EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS, which, with the Greek Church, I accept as of Pauline origin, brings out several points in the doctrine of the Spirit. As to the person of Christ, it sets forth how the Redeemer, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God (Heb 9.14), and how God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost as the oil of gladness above His fellows as His reward (1.9). The testimony to the work of the Spirit in the inspiration of Scripture is very emphatic, e.g.: the Holy Ghost says (Heb 3.7); the Holy Ghost signifying this (9.8); whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us (10.15). The vast array of miracles and supernatural gifts with which the preaching of the gospel or the New Economy was ushered in is described as the accompanying testimony of God, with signs and wonders, and diverse miracles and GIFTS or THE HOLY GHOST according to His own will, (2.4). The two difficult passages which involve the apostasy of some professing Christians after being made partakers of the Holy Ghost (6.4), and where the parties have done despite to the Spirit of grace (10.29), are instances of men receiving only the supernatural gifts,1 not true grace.
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