The Person and Work of The Holy SpiritTorrey, R. A. (Reuben Archer)
Religion
The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit
Torrey, R. A. (Reuben Archer)
Holy Spirit
We read in Ps. xxxiii. 6, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made;
and all the host of them _by the breath of His mouth_.” We have already
seen in our study of the names of the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit is
the breath of JEHOVAH, so this passage teaches us that all the hosts of
heaven, all the stellar worlds, were made by the Holy Spirit. We are
taught explicitly in Job xxxiii. 4, that the creation of man is the Holy
Spirit’s work. We read, “_The Spirit of God_ hath made me, and _the breath
of the Almighty_ hath given me life.” Here both the creation of the
material frame and the impartation of life are attributed to the agency of
the Holy Spirit. In other passages of Scripture we are taught that
creation was in and through the Son of God. For example we read in Col. i.
16, R. V., “For in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon
the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created
through Him and unto Him.” In a similar way we read in Heb. i. 2, that God
“hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in His Son, whom He
appointed heir of all things, _through whom_ also He made the worlds
(ages).” In the passage given above (Ps. xxxiii. 6), the Word as well as
the Spirit are mentioned in connection with creation. In the account of
the creation and the rehabilitation of this world to be the abode of man,
Father, Word and Holy Spirit are all mentioned (Gen. i. 1-3). It is
evident from a comparison of these passages that the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit are all active in the creative work. The Father works _in_ His Son,
_through_ His Spirit.
II. Not only is the original creation of the material universe attributed
to the agency of the Holy Spirit in the Bible but _the maintenance of
living creatures_ as well.
We read in Ps. civ. 29, 30, “Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou
takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou
_sendest forth Thy Spirit_, they are created: and Thou _renewest_ the face
of the earth.” The clear indication of this passage is that not only are
things brought into being through the agency of the Holy Spirit, but that
they are maintained in being by the Holy Spirit. Not only is spiritual
life maintained by the Spirit of God but material being as well. Things
exist and continue by the presence of the Spirit of God in them. This does
not mean for a moment that the universe is God, but it does mean that the
universe is maintained in its being by the immanence of God in it. This is
the great and solemn truth that lies at the foundation of the awful and
debasing perversions of Pantheism in its countless forms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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