THE TESTIMONY TO THE SPIRIT

IN THE APOSTOLICAL EPISTLES II

(The Life-Giving Spirit)

by George Smeaton (1882)

The Epistle to the ROMANS gives an outline of the doctrine of theHoly Spirit in an experimental, not in a controversial way. On thesubject which engages our attention, the Epistle to the Romanscontains very marked allusions which distinguish the Holy Spirit’swork from the operation of Providence on the one hand, and from theobjective 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 alreadyexists. (I.e. in producing evangelical obedience and good works)To this I refer the more readily, because the celebrated Griesbach intwo University programmes labored to prove that the term SPIRIT inthe eighth chapter means nothing more than Christian character anddisposition; and because many others, paralysed by these objections,have been in the habit of affirming that there are few passages wherethe sense of the word “Spirit” is more difficult. We shall find that itdoes not occur in more senses than one, and that it neither meansinfluence nor Christian disposition, but the Holy Spirit.This appears beyond dispute when it is said that the Gentiles weremade obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the

power

of the

Spirit

of God

(Rom. xv. 19). That the miracleswrought by Paul are there attributed to the Spirit, is beyond dispute.

The agent and the power which the agent puts forth are bothmentioned in alluding to these miracles. The conversion of theGentiles, in like manner, or the offering up of the converted Gentilesas an acceptable sacrifice, is ascribed to the Holy Ghost (xv. 16).On the economy of the Spirit, in connection with Christ’s Sonship,there is a noteworthy passage, though on almost all sides it isincorrectly referred to the divine nature of our Lord: “Concerning HisSon Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of Davidaccording 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”(Rom. i. 3, 4). Plainly the apostle does not allude to the two natures of our Lord, as commentators generally expound it, but to THE TWOSTATES OF humiliation and exaltation. And the expression: “Spirit of holiness,” does not refer to the divine nature, but to the dispensationof the Spirit after His resurrection, which supplied the mostconclusive evidence of our Lord’s divine Sonship. The effusion of theSpirit on the apostles and on the Church terminated the controversywhether He was the Son of God. The communication of the HolySpirit—a gift competent to no created being— proved Him to be theMessiah and the Son of God, according to His own claim (John v. 19).“

The love of God is shed abroad upon our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us

”

(Rom. v. 5). These words intimate that the HolyGhost as a divine agent does a certain work; that He is givenaccording to a divine economy and that through His aid the redeeminglove in God’s heart is shed abroad in our hearts; that is, is tasted andenjoyed, not only in the first stages of the Christian’s experience, butever afterwards. Plainly this is distinct from miraculous gifts and fromthe proclamation of the gospel. It intimates that the Holy Ghost shedsabroad God’s boundless, free, unchanging love in our hearts, and thatHe is given to believers as a perpetually indwelling guest,—remindingthe Christian of reconciliation, supplying the constant experience of the divine love, and assuring him of its perpetuity as a gift never to beforfeited.

It is in the eighth chapter, however, that we find the doctrine of theHoly Spirit most fully developed, from different points of view. Theapostle’s object is to prove the certainty of the believers’ salvationfrom 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 whichhas 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 whowalk after the Spirit are exempt from condemnation. In other words,he argues that they who are free from the service of sin through theSpirit of life are

that fact proved also to be free fromcondemnation. The apostle had set in a clear light the inseparableconnection between justification and sanctification on the ground of Christ’s merit or purchase (vi. 1-13).

He here shows that thespiritual life is secured by the effectual operation of the HolySpirit.

The entire section exhibits the Christian in the highest stages of thedivine life, and supplies a rule by which the Christian teacher is toregulate his thinking and phraseology.

The apostle begins his discussion on the Spirit with these memorablewords: “

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death

” (Rom. viii. 2). The two laws—that of sin and death, already referred to in the seventh chapter (vii. 23), and acounterpart law of life in Christ—are again put in direct antithesis— that is, into the contrast of flesh and spirit, which we find pervadingthe whole Pauline theology. But why, it may be asked, is the Spiritcalled the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus? The entireexpression 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 whichthe regenerate man is step by step enabled to resist the power of sinand to follow holiness.

It is the law of the life-giving Spirit in thefellowship of Christ Jesus.

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

1. The first thing to be noticed is the sequence of operations asdescribed in the Christian’s experience. There are three distinctexpressions, which are introduced in this order: (1) They walk after the Spirit (viii. 4); (2) they are spiritually-minded (viii. 6); (3) they arein the Spirit (viii. 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