19. Chapter 3. Things in which we have communion with the Holy Spirit –
Chapter 3. Things in which we have communion with the Holy Spirit – The effects of the Holy Spirit in us, or towards us, are the subject-matter of our communion with him. They are the things in which we hold unique fellowship with him as our comforter. The following effects are proposed: 1. The first and most general is that of John 14:26, “He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.” There are two parts to this promise: (1.) Teaching. (2.) Reminding. I will speak later of the first part, his teaching, when I address our anointing by him.
(2.) The first general promise of the Spirit as a comforter is that he will remind us of all the things that Christ spoke: “Hupomnesei humas panta,”
[NT:5279,5209,3956] “He will make you mind all these things.” This may be considered two ways:
[1.] In respect to the words he actually said. Our Savior promises his apostles that the Holy Spirit will directly remind them of the things he said, so that by his inspiration they might be enabled to write and preach them for the good and benefit of his church. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:21,
“Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (that is, in writing the Scripture); “hupo Pneumatos Hagiou feromenoi.”
[NT:5259,4151,40,5342] They were borne up by him, and carried beyond themselves to speak his words, and to write down what he dictated to them. The apostles might forget much of what Christ said to them. What they did retain by natural remembrance, was not a sufficient foundation for a rule of faith to the church. The word of prophecy is not “idias epiluseos,”
[NT:2398,1955] 1 Peter 1:20, from any man’s private motivation. It does not come from any private conception, understanding, or remembrance. That is why, Christ promises that the Holy Spirit will do this work, so that they might infallibly repeat what he delivered to them. Hence, the phrase in Luke 1:3, “Purekoloutekoti anoten,” [NT:3877,509] is better rendered, “Having obtained perfect knowledge of things from above” rather than
“Having obtained perfect knowledge of things from the beginning.” It denotes that the source of his understanding is such that he is able to give an infallible rule of faith to the church.
[2.] Reminding may be in respect to the comfort of what he said. This seems to be largely the intent of this promise. He had been speaking to them of things suited for their consolation. He gave them precious promises of the supplies they would have from him in this life, the love of the Father, and the glory he was providing them. The sense and comfort of these things is inexpressible, and the joy arising from them is full of glory.
He says, “I know how unable you are to make use of these things to console yourselves. Therefore, the Spirit will restore them to your minds, in their full strength and vigor, for that purpose for which I speak them.” This is one reason why it was expedient for believers to have the presence of the Spirit in place of Christ’s body. While he was with them, the heavenly promises Christ gave them had little effect on their hearts! When the Spirit came, he made all things full of joy for them! This unique work, which belonged to the Spirit by virtue of his office, was reserved for him so that he too might be glorified. His work to the end of the world is to bring the promises of Christ to our minds and hearts. He gives us their comfort, joy, and sweetness, far beyond what the disciples experienced when Christ spoke the promises to them in person. Their gracious influence was being restrained, so that the dispensation of the Spirit might be glorified. This is true of the next words in this promise, John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.” The consequence of the Comforter being sent, to bring to mind what Christ said, is peace and freedom from a troubled heart. Whatever peace, relief, comfort, joy, and support that we receive from any work, promise, or thing done by Christ, all belongs to this dispensation of the Comforter. It would be useless to apply our natural abilities to remember, call to mind, or consider the promises of Christ. But when the Comforter undertakes the work, it is done to fit the purpose.
Afterward, I will discuss how we have unique communion with the Spirit in faith and obedience, and in the consolation that we receive from Christ’s promises that the Spirit brings to mind. In general, what we obtain is this: our Savior Jesus Christ leaves the efficacy of those promises of consolation, which he gave in person to his apostles, to the Holy Spirit. In this we see the immediate source of all the spiritual comfort we have in this world, and the fellowship which we have with the Holy Ghost in that comfort.
Only here, as in the following particulars, what should be borne in mind is the manner of the Spirit’s working this comfort, and the interest of his power, will, and goodness in his working. He comforts powerfully, voluntarily, and freely.
1st. Powerfully. Therefore, comfort from the words and promises of Christ sometimes breaks in through all opposition into the saddest and darkest condition imaginable. It comes and makes men sing in a dungeon, rejoice in flames, and glory in tribulation. It will pass into prisons, racks, through temptations, and the greatest distresses imaginable. Why is this?
“To Pneuma energei,” the Spirit works effectually. His power is in it. He will work, and none will stop him. If he will bring to our remembrance the promises of Christ for our consolation, then neither Satan nor man, sin nor world, not even death, will interrupt our comfort. The saints, who have communion with the Holy Spirit, know this to their advantage. Sometimes the heavens are black over them, and the earth trembles under them.
Public, personal calamities and distresses appear so full of horror and darkness, that they are ready to faint with the apprehensions of them. This is where their great relief comes from, and the revival of their spirits. Their consolation or trouble does not depend on any outward condition or inward frame of their own hearts. It depends on the powerful and effectual workings of the Holy Spirit, to which they surrender by faith.
2dly. Voluntarily. He distributes to everyone as he will. Therefore, this work is done in great variety, both to the same person and to various people. For the same person, every promise brings sweetness when his pressures are great and heavy. Sometimes he may be full of joy or consolation in great distress. Other times, in the least trial, he may search the promise seeking comfort, but it is far away. The reason is, “Pneuma diairei katos bouletai,” the Spirit distributes as he will. And so with various people, under the same circumstances, some find each promise is full of life and comfort while others taste little of it all their days. And faith affects this whole business of consolation. It depends on the sovereign will of the Holy Spirit. It is not tied to any rules or course of procedure.
Therefore faith is exercised waiting upon the Spirit for the seasonable accomplishment of the good pleasure of his will.
3dly. Freely. The variety in dispensing consolation by promises results from the freedom of the Spirit’s operation. Hence, comfort is given unexpectedly, when the heart has every reason in the world to expect distress and sorrow. Thus, sometimes it is the first means to recover a backslider, who might justly expect to be cut off. These considerations apply to all the other effects and fruits of the Comforter. In this first general effect or work of the Holy Spirit towards us, we have communion and fellowship with him. The life and soul of all our comforts is found in the promises of Christ. They are the breasts of all our consolation. Who knows how powerful they are in their bare letter, or when they are enhanced by considering and meditating on them? They sometimes break unexpectedly upon the soul with a conquering, endearing life and vigor. This is where faith deals uniquely with the Holy Spirit. It considers the promises themselves. It looks up to him, waits for him, considers his appearances in the word, and owns him in his work and efficacy. No sooner does the believer begin to feel the life of a promise warming his heart, than he knows the Holy Spirit is there relieving, cherishing, supporting, and delivering him from fear, entanglements, and troubles. This will add to his joy, and lead him into fellowship with the Spirit.
2. The next general work of the Spirit seems to be that in John 16:14, “The Comforter will glorify me; for he will receive of mine, and will show it to you.” The work of the Spirit is to glorify Christ. From this we can see that the Spirit does not substitute himself for Christ, or say that he is everything in himself. That would not be the Comforter. His work is to glorify Christ, the one that sends him. It would be an evident sign of a false spirit if it did not glorify Christ; and such are many spirits that have gone abroad into the world. But what this Spirit will do to glorify Christ is to, “take of mine,” “ek tou emou lepsetai.”
What these things are is declared in the next verse: “All things that the Father has are mine; therefore I said he will take of mine.” Our Savior is not speaking of the essence and essential properties of the Father and Son, but of the grace that is communicated to us by them. By, “my things,” Christ means the fruit of his purchase and mediation, the basis on which he says all his Father’s things are his. That is, he means all the fruits of election, the things that the Father, in his eternal love, has provided to be dispensed in the blood of his Son. He is saying,
“The Comforter will receive these. They will be committed to him to dispense for your good and advantage, and for their appointed purpose.” So it follows, “anangelei,” [NT:312] he will show them, or declare and make them known to you.”
This, then, is how he comforts. He reveals to the souls of sinners the good things of the covenant of grace which the Father has provided, and the Son has purchased. He shows to us mercy, grace, forgiveness, righteousness, and acceptance by God. He lets us know that these are the things of Christ that he has procured for us. He shows them to us for our comfort and security. He effectually declares these things to believers, and makes them know them for their own good, and know them as the things that come originally from the Father. They were prepared from eternity in his love and goodwill, purchased for them by Christ, and stored in the covenant of grace for their use. Then Christ is magnified and glorified in their hearts. Then they know what a Savior and Redeemer he is. A believer does not glorify or honor Christ when he learns of the eternal redemption he has purchased for him. It is a unique effect of the Holy Spirit as our comforter. “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit,” 1 Corinthians 12:3.
3. He “sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts,” Romans 5:5. What is meant here is the love of God to us, not our love to God. The context is so clear that nothing can be added to it. The love of God is either of ordination or acceptance; it is either the love of his intent to do us good, or the love that gains us acceptance and approval by him. Both of these are frequently called the love of God in Scripture, as I have said. Now, how can these be shed abroad in our hearts? They cannot be in themselves, but only the sense of them. It is a spiritual apprehension of them. “Ekkechutai” [NT:1632] is “shed abroad.” It is the same word that is used concerning the Comforter being given us, Titus 3:6. God sheds him abundantly, or pours him on us; so he sheds abroad, or pours out the love of God in our hearts. The expression is metaphorical. What it indicates is that the Comforter gives a sweet and plentiful evidence and persuasion of the love of God to us. It is such that the soul is taken, delighted, and satiated with it. This is his work, and he does it effectually. It is an inexpressible mercy to give a poor sinful soul a comforting persuasion, an overflowing sense that God in Jesus Christ loves him, and delights in him, that he is well pleased with him, and that he has thoughts of tenderness and kindness towards him.
We have this in a unique manner by the Holy Spirit; it is his unique work. Just as all his works are mixed with love and kindness, they are mixed with this communication of a sense of the love of the Father. In this, we have unique communion with the Spirit, and by him we have communion with the Father in his love, shed abroad in our hearts. So not only do we rejoice in, and glorify the Holy Spirit who does this work, but in the Father whose love it is. We also rejoice in the Son, in taking his things and showing them to us. What we have of heaven in this world is found in this. It is the basis and manner of our fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
4. Another effect of his work in and towards us is this: Romans 8:16, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” By nature, we are children of Satan, of the curse and wrath. By the Spirit we are put into another capacity. We are adopted as children of God. By receiving the Spirit of our Father we become the children of our Father. This is why he is called, “The Spirit of adoption,” Romans 8:15. Sometimes the soul questions whether it is a child of God, because some its old condition remains. When that happens, the soul gravely puts in its claim of adoption, with all the evidence it has to make good its title. The Spirit comes and bears witness in this case. This is an allusion to judicial proceedings about titles and evidence. The judge being set, the person puts in his claim, produces his evidence, and pleads his case. His adversaries endeavor to uncover anything that might invalidate his claim and annul his plea. In the midst of the trial, a person of known and approved integrity comes into the court, and gives testimony fully and directly on behalf of the claimant. This silences all his adversaries, and fills the claimant with joy and satisfaction. So it is in this case. The soul, by the power of its own conscience, is brought before the law of God. There a man puts in his plea that he is a child of God, that he belongs to God’s family. To this end, he produces all his evidence, everything by which faith gives him an interest in God. Satan, in the meantime, opposes with all his might. Sin and the law assist him. Many flaws are found in the evidence. The truth of them is questioned, and the soul hangs in suspense as to the outcome. In the midst of this contest, the Comforter comes. By a word of promise or other testimony, he overpowers the heart with a comforting persuasion, suppressing all objections that his plea is good. He is a child of God.
Therefore it is said of the Spirit, “Summarturei toi Pneumati hemon,” he “bears witness with our spirit.” When our spirits are pleading their right and title, he comes in and bears witness on our side. This enables us, at the same time, to demonstrate our filial obedience, kind and childlike. This is called “crying, Abba, Father,” Galatians 4:6.
Remember the manner of the Spirit’s working, mentioned before. He does it effectually, voluntarily, and freely. Sometimes the dispute is a long one. The cause is pleaded for many years. The law sometimes seems to prevail, sin and Satan seem to rejoice, and the soul is filled with dread about its inheritance.
Perhaps the soul’s own witness, from its faith, sanctification, and former experience, maintains the plea with some sense of comfort. But the work is not done. The conquest is not complete until the Spirit, who works freely and effectually, when and how he will, comes in with his testimony as well. He clothes his power with a word of promise. He makes all parties concerned pay attention to him. And he puts an end to the controversy. In this, he gives us holy communion with himself. The soul knows his voice when he speaks, nec hominem sonat, not with a man’s voice. There is something too great in it to be the effect of a created power. When the Lord Jesus Christ at one word stilled the raging of the sea and wind, all that were with him knew there was divine power at hand, Matthew 8:25-27. And when the Holy Spirit by one word stills the tumults and storms that are raised in the soul, giving immediate calm and security, the soul knows his divine power, and rejoices in his presence.
5. He seals us. “We are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise,” Ephesians 1:13. “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by which you are sealed to the day of redemption,” Eph.
4:30. I am not very clear in the certain specific intent of this metaphor. I will give what I am persuaded of briefly. In a seal, two things are considered: (1.) its nature, and (2.) its use.
(1.) The nature of sealing consists in imparting the image or character of the seal to the thing that is sealed. To seal something is to stamp the character of the seal on it. In this sense, the effectual communication of the image of God to us should be our sealing. The Spirit actually communicates the image of God in righteousness and true holiness to believers, and seals them with it. To have this stamp of the Holy Spirit is to be sealed by the Spirit. It is evidence to the soul that it is accepted by God. In this sense, our Savior is said to be sealed of God, John 6:27. He carried the impress of the power, wisdom, and majesty of God in the discharge of his office.
(2.) The purpose or use of sealing is twofold:
[1.] It confirms or ratifies any grant or conveyance made in writing. In such cases, men set their seals on their grants to make them good and confirm them. When this is done, they are irrevocable. They also confirm the truth of the testimony given by someone by sealing it. This was the practice of the Jews. When someone gave true witness to a matter, the judges immediately placed their seals on it, to confirm it in judgment. Thus it is said that one who receives the testimony of Christ “has set his seal to it that God is true,” John 3:33. The promise is the great grant and conveyance of life and salvation in Christ that is given to believers. So we may have full assurance of the truth and irrevocableness of the promise, God gives us the Spirit to satisfy our hearts of it. He is said to seal us by assuring our hearts of those promises and their stability. Although many expositors go this way, I do not see how this can be consistent with the meaning of the word. It is not said that the promise is sealed, but that we are sealed. When we seal a deed or grant, we do not say the man is sealed, but the deed or grant.
[2.] Sealing is also used to appropriate, distinguish, or keep safe. Men set their seals on what they appropriate to identify it as their own. They place a seal on what they desire to keep safe for themselves. Evidently, it is in this sense that the servants of God are said to be sealed, Revelation 7:4, Ezek.
9:4. They are marked with God’s mark as his special ones. Believers are sealed when they are marked for God to be heirs of the purchased inheritance, and to be preserved until the day of redemption. Now, if this is the sealing intended, it does not denote a sense in the heart, but the actual security of the person. The Father gives the elect into the hands of Christ to be redeemed. Having redeemed them, in due time they are called by the Spirit, and marked for God. And so they surrender themselves to the hands of the Father.
If you ask, “Which of these two is meant by our being sealed by the Holy Spirit?” then I answer, both. We are sealed until the day of redemption when the stamp, image, and character of the Spirit, placed upon our souls, gives us a fresh sense of the love of God, and a comforting persuasion of our acceptance by him.
Thus, the Holy Spirit communicates his own likeness to us, which is also the image of the Father and the Son. “We are changed into this image by the Lord the Spirit,” 2 Corinthians 3:18. Here, he brings us into fellowship with himself. Our likeness to him gives us boldness with him. We look for his work. We pray for his fruits. And when any effect of grace, any discovery of the image of Christ that is implanted in us, persuades us that we are set apart for God, then we have communion with him in that.
6. He is an earnest or deposit to us. 2 Corinthians 1:22, He has “given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts;” chap. 5:5, “Who also has given to us the earnest of the Spirit;” Ephesians 1:13-14, “You are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.” In the two former passages we are said to have the earnest of the Spirit. In the latter, the Spirit is said to be our earnest. “Of the
Spirit,” then, is the genitivus materiae or material source. It does not denote the cause of it, but the subject. The Spirit is not the author of the earnest, but the earnest itself, as in the latter passage. Considering what is meant by the “Spirit” here, and what is meant by an “earnest,” will give some insight into this privilege that we receive by the Comforter.
(1.) Trying to determine what grace, what gift of the Spirit, is meant by this earnest, serves no purpose. It is the Spirit himself, personally considered, that is said to be this earnest, 2 Corinthians 1:22. It is God who has given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. It is an expression directly corresponding to Galatians 4:6,
“God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts.” That is, only the person of the Spirit can be called the Spirit of his Son. And in Ephesians 1:14, he has given the Spirit as that earnest, the Spirit of promise. Giving us this Spirit gives us this earnest.
(2.) The word for earnest is “arraton” [NT:728]. Neither the Greek nor the Latin has any word to directly express what is meant here. The Latins have made words for it from what is expressed here in the Greek, arrha and arrabo. The Greek word is only the Hebrew herabon [ ‘eravon], which some believe came from the Syrian merchants as a word of trade. It is rendered by some, in Latin, pignus, a “pledge.” But this cannot be what is meant here. A pledge is property that someone gives or leaves in the custody of another, to assure him that he will give or pay him some other thing. It is in the nature of what we call a “pawn.” What is meant here is a part of what is to come, and only a part of it, according to the trade use of the word from which the metaphor is taken. It is excellently rendered in our language an “earnest.” An earnest is part of the whole price, or part of a grant given beforehand, to assure the person to whom it is given that at the appointed time he will receive the whole of what is promised to him. To be an earnest, it is required,
[1.] That it is part of the whole, of the same kind and nature. We give so much money in earnest as a promise to pay the remaining money later.
[2.] That it is a confirmation of a promise. First the whole is promised, and then the earnest is given until the completion of that promise. The Spirit is this earnest. God gives us the promise of eternal life. To confirm this to us, he gives us his Spirit. He is the first part of the promise, to assure us of the fulfillment of the whole. And so he is said to be the earnest of the inheritance that is promised and purchased.
Consider that he may be said to be an earnest on the part of God who gives him, and on the part of believers who receive him:
1st. He is an earnest on the part of God, in that God gives him as a choice part of the inheritance itself, of the same kind as the whole, as an earnest ought to be. The full inheritance that is promised is the fullness of the Spirit in the enjoyment of God. When that Spirit given to us in this world has perfectly taken away all sin and sorrow, and enabled us to enjoy the glory of God in his presence, that is the full inheritance promised. The Spirit given to us to make us fit to enjoy God in some measure while we are here, is the earnest of the whole promise.
God does it to assure us of the inheritance. Having given so many external assurances, such as his word, promises, covenant, oath, and the revelation of his faithfulness and immutability in all of them, he is also pleased to graciously give us one within us, Isaiah 59:21, so that we may have all the security we are capable of. What can more be done? He has given us the Holy Spirit, the first-fruits of glory, the greatest pledge of his love, and the earnest of it all.
2dly. He is an earnest on the part of believers, acquainting them with the love of God, and with their inheritance.
(1st.) The love of God. Being accepted by God lets them know their favor in his sight, that he is their Father, and that he will deal with them as with children. Because they are his children, the inheritance will be theirs. He sends his Spirit into our hearts, “crying, Abba, Father,” Galatians 4:6. And what is the inference for believers? Galatians 4:7, “Then we are not servants, but sons; and if sons, then heirs of God.” The same apostle argues in Rom.
8:17, “If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” Being persuaded by the Spirit that we are children, the inference is, “Then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” We have a right to an inheritance, and a superior claim to it. This, then, is the use we have of the Spirit, persuading us of our sonship and acceptance by God our Father. And what is this inheritance of glory? “If we suffer with him, we will be glorified together.” The Spirit is given to us for this purpose. 1 John 3:24,
“Hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us.” The apostle speaks of our union with God, expressed in the preceding words: “He that keeps his commandments dwells in him, and he in him.”
We know this by the Spirit that he has given us; the Spirit acquaints us with it. It is not that we have such an acquaintance, because he gives a sense of this as he pleases. But the argument is good and conclusive in itself. “We have the Spirit; therefore he dwells in us, and we in him.”
Because God dwells in us by his Spirit, our interest in him, our knowledge of his love, comes from that.
(2dly.) The Spirit acquaints believers with their inheritance, 1 Corinthians 2:9-10. As an earnest, and being part of the whole inheritance, the Spirit gives us knowledge of that inheritance. In all respects, the Spirit is so completely an earnest, given by God, received by us, that he is the beginning of our inheritance, and the assurance of it. To the extent we have the Spirit, we have perfect enjoyment of heaven, and evidence of its future fullness. Believers receive him and rejoice in him under this perception of him in the dispensation of grace. They rejoice in every gracious, self-evidencing act of his in their hearts. It is like a drop from heaven, and they long for the ocean of it. Not to treat every effect of grace this way, is to neglect the work of the Holy Spirit in us and towards us.
What remains is to differentiate between believers receiving the Spirit as an earnest of the whole inheritance, and hypocrites “tasting of the powers of the world to come,” Hebrews 6:5. A taste of the powers of the world to come seems to be the same thing as receiving the earnest of the inheritance, but it is not.
[1st.] There are no grounds to think that “the powers of the world to come” means the joys of heaven. They are not called that anywhere. Nor does it suitably express the glory that will be revealed and that we will partake of. It doubtless means the powerful ministry of the ordinances and dispensations of the times of the gospel.
[2dly.] Suppose that “the powers of the world to come” did mean the glory of heaven. There is still a wide difference between taking a vanishing taste of it, and receiving an abiding earnest from God. Taking a taste of the things of heaven, and having them assured of God as from his love, differ greatly. A hypocrite may have a great deal of joy and contentment in considering the good things of the kingdom of God for a season. But the Spirit, as an earnest, pledges them to be provided to us in the love of God and the purchase of his Son Jesus Christ.
7. The Spirit anoints believers. We are “anointed” by the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 1:21. We have “an unction from the Holy One, and we know all things,” 1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:27. I cannot fully examine this expression here. I have done it elsewhere. At the bottom of it are the use of unctions in the Judaic church, the meanings and purposes associated with it, and the offices to which men were consecrated to by it. It refers to the anointing of Jesus Christ, from which he is called Messiah (the anointed one), and the Christ. The whole performance of his office of mediator is also called his anointing, Daniel 9:24. Christ is said to be “anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows,” Hebrews 1:9; which is the same as John 3:34, “God gives not the Spirit by measure to him.” We, who have the Spirit by measure, are anointed with the “oil of gladness.” Christ has the fullness of the Spirit, from which our measure is communicated. So he is anointed above us, “that in all things he may have the pre-eminence.” Christ was anointed with the Spirit to his threefold office of king, priest, and prophet. By virtue of an unction, having the same Spirit dwelling in us as in him, we gain an interest in these offices of his.
We too are made kings, priests, and prophets to God. It would take a long discourse to handle this topic, and my design is only to outline these things.
I will therefore fix on only one passage where the communications of the Spirit in this unction of Christ are enumerated, and by which we receive our measure from him and with him. By this unction, we are made partakers with him. Isa.
11:2, 3, “The Spirit of the LORD will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the LORD...” Here are listed many of the endowments of Christ from the Spirit with which he was abundantly anointed. Primarily they are wisdom, counsel, and understanding. Because of these, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are said to be in him, Colossians 2:3. This is only part of the equipping of Jesus Christ for the discharge of his office. Yet, it is such that, where our anointing for the same purpose is mentioned, it specifically effects such qualifications in us. In 1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:27, the work of the anointing is to teach us. The Spirit in that work is a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel, knowledge, and quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. The great promise of the Comforter is that he will “teach us,” John 14:26, and “guide us into all truth,” John 16:13. Teaching us the mind and will of God, in the way we are taught it by the Spirit, our comforter, is an eminent part of our anointing by him.
There is a threefold teaching by the Spirit:
(1.) The Spirit teaches us conviction and illumination. So the Spirit teaches the world by the preaching of the word; as he is promised to do, John 16:8.
(2.) The Spirit teaches us sanctification. He opens blind eyes, gives new understanding, and shines into our hearts to give us a knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He enables us to receive spiritual things in a spiritual light, 1 Corinthians 2:13. He gives a saving knowledge of the mystery of the gospel, and this in some degree is common to believers.
(3.) The Spirit teaches us consolation. He makes the discoveries of the mind and will of God, in the light of the Spirit of sanctification, sweet, useful, and joyful to the soul. Here the oil of the Spirit is called the “oil of gladness;” it brings joy and gladness with it. The name of Christ discovered through the Spirit is a sweet “ointment poured forth.” It causes us to run after him with joy and delight, Song of Solomon 1:3. By our daily experience, we see that many have little taste, sweetness, or relish in their souls for the truths they savingly know and believe. But when we are taught by this unction, oh, how sweet everything is that we know of God! As we may see in the passage of John where mention is made of the teaching of this unction (1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:27), it refers specifically to the Spirit teaching us the love of God in Christ, the shining of his countenance which, as David says, puts gladness into our hearts, Psalms 4:6-7. The Spirit teaches us about the love of God in Christ. He makes every gospel truth like wine well refined to our souls, and he makes the good things of God’s love a feast of sumptuous things. He gives us joy and gladness in all that we know of God. This is the great preservative of the soul to keep it close to truth. The apostle speaks of the teaching we receive by this unction. It is the means by which we are preserved from seduction. Indeed, to know the power, sweetness, joy, and gladness of any truth, is the best insurance of the soul’s constancy in preserving and retaining it. Those who find no more sweetness in the one than in the other will readily exchange truth for error. All the privileges we enjoy, all the dignity and honor we are invested with, our whole dedication to God, our nobility and royalty, our interest in all the advantages of the church and our approaches to God in worship, our separation from the world, the name by which we are called, the liberty we enjoy, are all branches of this anointing of the Holy Spirit; they all flow from its effect. I have mentioned only our teaching by this unction, a teaching that brings joy and gladness with it by giving us a sense of the truth in which we are instructed. When we find any of the good truths of the gospel coming home to our souls with life, vigor, and power, giving us gladness of heart, and transforming us into its image and likeness, then the Holy Spirit is at work pouring out his oil.
8. We also have adoption by the Spirit. Hence, he is called the “Spirit of adoption.” That is, either he is given to adopted ones to assure them of their adoption, and to persuade them of the Father’s adopting love, or else he gives them the privilege of adoption itself, as intimated in John 1:12. Nor is there a conflict with Galatians 4:6; for God may send the Spirit of supplication into our hearts because we are sons, and yet we may still be adopted by his Spirit.
9. He is also called the “Spirit of supplication;” for which he is promised in Zechariah 12:10. How he effects that in us is declared in Romans 8:26-27; Galatians 4:6. For this reason we are said to “pray in the Holy Spirit,” Jude 1:20. Our prayers may be considered two ways:
(1.) First, as a spiritual duty required by God. As such, they are wrought in us by the Spirit of sanctification, who helps us to perform all our duties by exalting all the faculties of the soul to spiritually discharge our respective offices in these duties.
(2.) As a means of retaining communion with God. Prayers are the means by which we sweetly ease our hearts in the heart of the Father, and receive refreshing tastes of his love. The soul is never more raised with the love of God than when it is taken by the Spirit into intimate communion with him in the discharge of this duty. In this role, prayer belongs to the Spirit of consolation, to the Spirit promised as a comforter.
Let me summarize the specific effects which he works in us and towards us.
These effects are his bringing the promises of Christ to mind, glorifying him in our hearts, shedding abroad the love of God in us, witnessing with us as to our spiritual condition, sealing us until the day of redemption (as the earnest of our inheritance), anointing us with the privilege of consolation, confirming our adoption, and being present with us in our supplications. The wisdom of faith is to seek out and meet with the Comforter in all these things, not losing their sweetness by being ignorant of their author, nor coming short of the responses required of us.