SSLS 2017-01-24
2017 1st Quarter
Lesson 4, January 21-27, The Personality of the Holy Spirit
Tuesday, January 24
If we were to attempt to portray the Holy Spirit as an impersonal power, we would certainly be tempted to reduce the redundancy found in these following passages of Scripture:
“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” KJV, Romans 15:13, emphasis added.
“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” KJV, 1 Corinthians 2:4, emphasis added.
“For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things…”. KJV, Acts 15:28, emphasis added.
“In describing to His disciples the office work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus sought to inspire them with the joy and hope that inspired His own heart. He rejoiced because of the abundant help He had provided for His church. The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He could solicit from His Father for the exaltation of His people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world’s Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church.” (Ellen White, Desire of Ages, 671, emphasis added.)
“The Holy Spirit is grieved and driven away by the self-sufficiency and rude traits of character which are cherished. These unhallowed elements must be burned out by the Spirit of God. In dealing with our brethren, we must remember that they are children of God, and that he will teach one of his faithful workers as readily as he will teach another. There is no respect of persons with him. He would not have any man receive the idea that God will teach him only, and that all must come to his light. Brethren, go to Jesus, fast and pray, and wrestle with God. Let every one know for himself what the will of the Lord is; then he will not move blindly.” (Ellen White, Review and Herald, December 15, 1885, Art. A, emphasis added.)
“The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour. There are three living persons of the heavenly trio. In the name of these three powers,—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will cooperate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ.” (Ellen White, Bible Training School, March 1, 1906, emphasis added.)