11. If we ought to advance our argument yet
further, and turn our inspection to higher themes, let us contemplate
the divine nature of the Holy Spirit specially from the following point
of view. In Scripture we find mention of three creations.
The first is the evolution from non-being into being. παραγωγὴ
ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ
ὄντος εἰς τὸ
εἶναι. For παραγωγή
it is not easy to give an equivalent; it is leading or bringing with
a notion of change, sometimes a change into error, as when it means
a quibble. It is not quite the Ben. Latin
“productio.” It is not used intransitively;
if there is a παραγωγὴ,
there must be ὁ
παράγων, and
similarly if there is evolution or development, there must be an
evolver or developer. The second is change from the worse to
the better. The third is the resurrection of the dead. In
these you will find the Holy Ghost cooperating with the Father and the
Son. There is a bringing into existence of the heavens; and what
says David? “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made
and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.”
Ps. xxxiii.
6. τῷ
πνεύματι
τοῦ
στόματος
αὐτοῦ, LXX. Again, man is created through baptism,
for “if any man be in Christ he is a new
creature.”
2 Cor. v. 17. And why
does the Saviour say to the disciples, “Go ye therefore and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost”? Here too you see the
Holy Ghost present with the Father and the Son. And what would
you say also as to the resurrection of the dead when we shall have
failed and returned to our dust? Dust we are and unto dust we
shall return. cf.
Gen. iii. 19. And He
will send the Holy Ghost and create us and renew the face of the
earth. cf.
Ps. ciii. 30. For what
the holy Paul calls resurrection David describes as renewal.
Let us hear, once more, him who was caught into the third
heaven. What does he say? “You are the temple of
the Holy Ghost which is in you.”
1 Cor. vi.
19. Now every temple The Greek word
ναός
(ναίω)=dwelling-place. The Hebrew probably indicates
capacity.
Our “temple,” from the latin
Templum (τέμενος—vΤΑΜ) is derivatively a place
cut off. is a temple of God, and if we are a
temple of the Holy Ghost, then the Holy Ghost is God. It is
also called Solomon’s temple, but this is in the sense of his
being its builder. And if we are a temple of the Holy Ghost in
this sense, then the Holy Ghost is God, for “He that built all
things is God.”
Heb. iii. 4. If we are
a temple of one who is worshipped, and who dwells in us, let us
confess Him to be God, for thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and
Him only shalt thou serve.
Matt. iv. 10. cf. note on
p. . Supposing
them to object to the word “God,” let them learn what
this word means. God is called Θεὸς either because He
placed (τεθεικέναι)
all things or because He beholds (Θεᾶσθαι) all
things. If He is called Θεὸς because He
“placed” or “beholds” all things, and the
Spirit knoweth all the things of God, as the Spirit in us knoweth
our things, then the Holy Ghost is God. 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. On the derivation of
Θεός from
θέω
(τίθημι) or θεάομαι,
cf. Greg. Naz.
Skeat rejects the theory of connexion
with the Latin Deus, and thinks that the root of τίθημι may be
the origin. Again, if the sword of the
spirit is the word of God,
Eph. vi. 17. then the
Holy Ghost is God, inasmuch as the sword belongs to Him of whom
it is also called the word. Is He named the right hand of
the Father? For “the right hand of the Lord bringeth
mighty things to pass;”
Ps. cxviii.
16. P.B.
“doeth valiantly,” A.V. ἐποίησε
δύνα μιν,
LXX. and
“thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the
enemy.”
Ex. xv. 6. But the
Holy Ghost is the finger of God, as it is said “if I by the
finger of God cast out devils,”
Luke xi. 20. of which the version in another Gospel
is “if I by the Spirit of God cast out
devils.”
Matt. xii.
28. So the
Holy Ghost is of the same nature as the Father and the
Son.