NEGATIVELY. POSITIVELY. GOD'S POWER. GOD'S DISPOSITION IN HIMSELF. IN CHRIST. 

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IT IS our purpose to discuss in considerable detail the subject of the Holy Spirit; and we will begin the discussion with an examination of the nature of the Holy Spirit; and because it has been widely and erroneously held that the Holy Spirit is a person, we will approach the discussion of its nature in a negative way, i.e., we will show what it is not before discussing what it is. The Scriptures use a variety of appellations in referring to it, e.g., the Holy Spirit, the Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Christ, etc., besides descriptive terms, like the Comforter, Spirit of Grace, Spirit of Holiness, etc. The basal part of the name, Spirit, is the translation of the Hebrew and Chaldee word, ruach, and of the Greek Word, pneuma, to the former of which is sometimes added the Hebrew word for holy, kodesh, and to the latter of which is often added the Greek word for holy, hagion, and in connection with which the definite article is sometimes used, and sometimes is omitted. The A. V. is unhappy in usually rendering the words ruach and pneuma in this connection with the word, ghost, a mistake that the A.R.V. has corrected by rendering them uniformly by the word, Spirit, when they are used with reference to the Holy Spirit. In E Vol. II, 511-518, it is Scripturally proven that the words ruach and pneuma have twelve meanings, the most of which do not concern our subject. Here we will discuss their meaning alone as related to our subject. 

In arriving at the meaning of Biblical words, we should not accept as true meanings those that contradict Scriptural uses of these words; for if such contradictions 

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are found between the suggested meanings and any of their Biblical uses, we may be sure that there is something wrong with the suggested meanings. This principle enables us to see whether the proposition that the Holy Spirit is a person is true or false. It is true that many teach that the Holy Spirit is a person, but do so in the teeth of Scriptures that cannot be harmonized with that thought. We will set forth 14 sets of passages that cannot be harmonized with the thought that the Holy Spirit is a person, and that prove that it is not a person. And since these 14 sets of passages cannot be reconciled with the thought that the Holy Spirit is a person, we are warranted in teaching what we above tersely said: The Holy Spirit Is Not A Person. We now proceed to the discussion of these 14 sets of passages that are irreconcilable with the thought that the Holy Spirit is a person. 

(1) The first of these sets of passages is the one that teaches that God's people at Pentecost and in Cornelius' home were baptized with the Holy Spirit. The following passages set forth this thought: Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:16. Please note that in this matter the means with which the baptizing was done was the Holy Spirit, just as in water baptism the means with which the baptizing is done is water. The one doing the baptizing with the Holy Spirit according to these passages was Christ, who used the Spirit as the element with which the act of baptism was done. Without pausing to prove whether baptism is to be performed by sprinkling, pouring or immersing, the only three methods that have advocates, it is easy to see that a person could not be used as the element, corresponding to water as the element of water baptism, with which the baptizing was done; for how could one be sprinkled with a person? How could a person be poured out upon one? Or how could one be immersed in a person? Evidently this set of passages contradicts the thought that the Holy Spirit is a person. 

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(2) Again, many Scriptures teach that some are filled with, and are full of the Holy Spirit. The following are passages that so teach: Luke 1:15, 41, 67; Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 6:3, 5; 7:55; 9:17; 11:24; Eph. 5:18; Ex. 31:3; 35:21, 31. We can readily see how one can be filled with certain good qualities, like goodness, love, faith, etc., or certain evil qualities, like wrath, hatred, malice, etc., but cannot see how one person can be filled with; and thus be full of another person. The difficulty is greatly increased when many persons are said by the Bible to be filled with the Holy Spirit, if the Holy Spirit were a person; for manifestly such a thought would be absurd as well as impossible. Hence we have here another Scriptural fact that is taught in many passages, and that contradicts the thought that the Holy Spirit is a person. 

(3) A third set of Scriptures tells us that the Holy Spirit was poured out, shed forth on certain persons, in fact upon all of God's real people of the Gospel Age, and that it will be poured out for all mankind in the Millennium. Please note the following passages as teaching this thought: Acts 2:17, 18, 33; Is. 32:15; Ezek. 39:29; Joel 2:28, 29. If the Holy Spirit were a person these passages would teach that a person is poured out upon another, a thing that is incompatible with the thoughts involved in such a transaction; for to pour out something upon a person implies that either a fluid, or a quality or a force is the thing that is poured out upon him. The absurdity becomes all the greater, if many persons are the ones poured upon at the same time, as was the case at Pentecost and in Cornelius' home. Evidently the idea of the Holy Spirit's being a person is inconsistent with our third set of passages. 

(4) A fourth consideration proven by a large number of passages contradicts the idea that the Holy Spirit is a person; for numerous Scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit is in, abides in and dwells in God's true people. The following are such passages: John 14:17; Rom. 8:9, 11; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; Eph. 2:22; 2 Tim. 1:14; 

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Jas. 4:5; 1 Pet. 1:11; 4:14; Num. 27:18; Is. 63:11; Ezek. 11:19; 36:26, 27; 37:14; Dan. 4:8, 9, 18; 5:11, 14. That a quality, a power or a force can be in a person is evident; but that a person can be in another is unthinkable; and all the more is it unthinkable that that person should be in many persons the world over at one and the same time, as the Holy Spirit is in many persons the world over at one and the same time. Accordingly, this set of passages contradicts the thought that the Holy Spirit is a person. 

(5) A fifth set of passages teaches that the Holy Spirit is upon God's people, as the following Scriptures prove: Matt. 3:16; Luke 1:35; 2:25; John 1:32, 33; Acts 10:44; 11:15; 19:6; 1 Cor. 3:16; Num. 11:17, 25, 26, 29; 24:2; Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Sam. 10:6, 10; 11:6; 16:13; 19:20, 23; 2 Chron. 15:1; 24:20; Is. 11:2; 42:1; 44:3; 59:21; 61:1; Ezek. 11:5. If the Holy Spirit were a person, these passages would teach that he was sitting, standing or reclining not only upon one, but upon many persons, the world over and that at one and the same time. Such a thought is not only unthinkable and nonsensical, but is also contradictory to our fifth set of passages. 

(6) A sixth set of Scriptures declares that God's people are in the Holy Spirit, as can be readily seen from the following: Rom. 8:9; 14:17; Gal. 3:3; 5:16, 25; Ezek. 37:1. If the Holy Spirit were a person, this set of Scriptures would prove that he would have to be spread out all over the world, since God's people are scattered over the whole world. Consequently each one would be in but a part of Him which would make their possession of Him to be of but an infinitesimal part of Him. Of course, such absurdities are not taught in these Scriptures, which they would have to teach, if the Spirit is a person. Hence this set of Scriptures contradicts the thought of the Spirit's being a person. 

(7) A seventh set of Scriptures teaches that Jesus and the Church are anointed with the Holy Spirit. The following passages prove this thought: Luke 4:18; Is. 61:1; 

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Acts 4:27; 10:38, compared with Matt. 3:16; 2 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 2:20, 27. Please note the fact that in these passages the Holy Spirit is not spoken of as the anointer, but it is described as the ointment itself, that with which, not by which, the anointing is done. A literal anointing makes one fragrant, beautifies, and qualifies one to do his task smoothly and frictionlessly by pouring or rubbing the ointment upon the one to be anointed. A symbolic anointing makes one spiritually fragrant, beautiful, and qualifies one to do his work smoothly and frictionlessly. Neither a literal anointing nor a symbolic anointing can be performed with a person used as the ointment; for such a thought is preposterous, and certainly contradicts the set of Scriptures just cited. Hence the Holy Spirit is not a person. 

(8) An eighth consideration disproves the thought that the Holy Spirit is a person; for according to the Bible in 1 Cor. 12:13, God's faithful people drink the Holy Spirit. For the proper translation of the pertinent words please see the A.R.V. or Rotherham. In this passage the thing drunk is declared to be the Holy Spirit. But if the Holy Spirit were a person how could we drink him? Such a thing would be nonsense. Hence this passage proves the Holy Spirit not to be a person. 

(9) Again, the Holy Spirit is said to be in our hearts the earnest of our inheritance until our deliverance, as we read in 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14. An earnest is the hand-payment that the buyer of a property gives as a guarantee to its seller that he will purchase and pay in full for the property at the stipulated time, and that the seller accepts as a guarantee that the seller will complete the selling process. Accordingly, God gives the Holy Spirit to His people as a part payment and His guarantee to them that He will give them the complete inheritance on the day of deliverance, after they have completed their part in the transaction, i.e., completed the carrying out of their consecration. As the Holy Spirit, according to these passages, is the earnest, the hand-payment, i.e., part of what God agrees to give 

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His faithful, it cannot be a person; for it is a part of their inheritance. Moreover, who, apart from slavery, ever heard of a person's being a part-payment of an inheritance? Such a thing is absurd. Hence we can see from the fact that the Holy Spirit is the hand-payment of our inheritance given us as a guarantee, until we get the entire inheritance, that it is not a person. 

(10) Moreover, the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is given us by God as the seal set upon our relation to God until the day of our deliverance, which is proven by 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; 4:30. Seals are used to sanction or make valid a transaction (Jer. 32:9-12; John 3:33; 6:27; 1 Cor. 9:2) and to give security or a guarantee to a thing (Esth. 8:8; Job 41:15; Dan. 12:4; Rev. 5:1). It will be noted that the Holy Spirit is itself in Eph. 1:13 and 4:30 called the seal, i.e., the thing with which God's people are sealed. It makes valid our relation to God as sons and heirs and is the guarantee of that relation as existing between God and us. But how a person can be a seal with which we are sealed with the impression of validity and guarantee, nobody can explain or understand; for a person is not the impression that attests as valid and that at the same time guarantees a paternal, filial and hereditary relationship as existing between God and us. Hence the Holy Spirit cannot be a person. 

(11) Those who claim that the Holy Spirit is a person claim that as such he is God Almighty Himself in a third person. This cannot be true; for if it were, St. Paul would not so solemnly exhort us not to quench the Spirit (1 Thes. 5:19); for he would then be exhorting us not to put out of existence God Almighty, a thing that is impossible to do. Imagine weak humans putting the Almighty out of existence! This same passage proves that the Holy Spirit is not a person; for persons are not quenched. Fires are quenched; fevers are quenched; warm feelings are quenched; but persons are not quenched. But this passage, prohibiting a

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thing that can be done, proves that the Spirit of God is not a person, let alone the third person in God. 

(12) The Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit as symbolic ink, as we can see from 2 Cor. 3:3. The Apostle in this verse is making a contrast between literal epistles written by him with literal ink, and symbolic epistles written by him with the Holy Spirit as a figurative ink. The former were written by him as a human agent on paper, parchment, etc., with pen and ink; the latter by the heart's labor of himself as God's servant who used the pen of God's Word and the ink of God's Spirit to write symbolic letters—epistles of Christ, as He calls them. If the Holy Spirit is symbolic ink, it cannot be a person; for how could a person be the symbolic ink with which epistles of Christ are indited? Accordingly, this passage, contradicting the thought that the Holy Spirit is a person, proves it not to be a person. 

(13) Again, those who teach that the Holy Spirit is a person likewise teach that He is God Almighty in His third person. If this be true, then the Holy Spirit is omniscient and is so intuitively, and consequently does not come to a knowledge of matters by studying, searching them out, but has always known them intuitively, i.e., without study and investigation. But the Bible teaches (1 Cor. 2:10) that the Holy Spirit does study out, search out all spiritual things. Hence it is not God Almighty in a third person and is not a person at all; for it does this studying through the mental faculties of God's people, as 1 Cor. 2:7-16 teaches. Hence the Holy Spirit is not a person. 

(14) Finally, the Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit as a gift offered by God to, and received and possessed by God's people as a personal acquisition in ever increasing measure as they obey, and is gradually decreased in the unfaithful. The passages that prove this are the following: Luke 11:13; John 3:34; 7:39; Acts 2:38; 8:17, 18; 10:45, 47; 15:8; 19:2; Rom. 5:5; 8:15; 2 Cor. 13:14; Gal. 3:2; 4:6; Phil. 2:1; 1 Thes. 4:8; 2 Tim. 1:7; Heb. 6:4; 1 John 3:24; 4:13. The bare 

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mention of these facts is inconsistent with the thought that the Holy Spirit is a person. Its greater inconsistency is manifest from the fact that these things are true of a number of persons; for if the Holy Spirit were a person he could not be offered, received and possessed, and that increasingly by many, and decreased, and that gradually by not a few. These verses disprove the view that the Holy Spirit is a person. 

The 14 points given above refute the position that the Holy Spirit is a person. Accordingly, the thought expressed above is factual, true and Biblical. It will be noticed that we have not above attempted to prove what the Holy Spirit is; for above we have, as it were, pulled down a condemned edifice and carted away its debris preparatory to the erection of a new and true building exhibiting what the Holy Spirit is, which, God willing and helping, we hope to do somewhat further on. We trust that our readers will look up and study carefully all the references cited above, and thus come to the Scriptural assurance as to what the Holy Spirit is not—a person, which proves our thought to be true. 

We have given 14 Biblical proofs that the Holy Spirit is not a person. But the translators of the A. V. and those of most other "orthodox" translations, believing the Holy Spirit to be a person, colored their translations in a way to favor their view on the subject. One of their worst perversions on this subject is rendering the Greek words for Holy Spirit, pneuma hagion, by the words, the Holy Ghost. To most minds the word ghost conveys the thought of a disembodied spirit being, a spirit being which at death, they hold, left the body that while one was alive it inhabited. Hence they attach the idea of a person to the word ghost, and thus this wrong translation enables them to transfer the thought of a person to the Holy Spirit. Hence to them the expression, Holy Ghost, means a spirit person. This is one of the worst mistranslations in the A. V. The A. R. V., which is one of the best translations in the English language, and 

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which as a whole was made by orthodox theologians, has dropped entirely the expression Ghost and put in its place the word Spirit, whenever the Holy Spirit is meant. And by this it has corrected one of the most serious A. V. blots, its rendering the expression, pneuma hagion, 90 times by the term, Holy Ghost. 

Another serious A. V. mistranslation that tends to convey the thought that the Holy Spirit is a person is its insertion of the definite article the into the translation of the expressions, pneuma and pneuma hagion, where the Greek definite article is wanting. While the Greek language has the definite article for the, it does not have the indefinite article for a or an. The general rule for the translation of a common noun without the definite Greek article into a language like English, which has the indefinite article a or an, is the following: Common singular Greek nouns without the definite article are to be translated, e.g., into English, with the indefinite article a or an, e.g., there is not the definite article in the Greek before the words italicized in the following passages taken from John 1-3, as examples for the whole Greek Testament; and therefore the A. V. was right in inserting the indefinite article a before the italicized words: There was a man sent from God (John 1:6). After me cometh a man (30). The Spirit descending from heaven like a dove (32). He made a scourge of small cords (2:15). Make not my Father's house an house of merchandise (16). There was a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews (3:1). Thou art a teacher (2). There arose a question (25). A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven (27). 

This rule has been frequently and greatly transgressed against by the insertion of the definite article the before the translation of the expressions, pneuma [Spirit] and pneuma hagion [Holy Spirit], whereas in the Greek there is no article at all; and therefore the indefinite article should have been used before them in the English translation: a spirit [power], a 

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Holy Spirit [power]; for power is the first meaning of the Hebrew word ruach and of the Greek word pneuma, as we will now show, both from the Old Testament and from the New Testament. First we will quote some Old Testament passages to prove the point, that the Hebrew word ruach means power: The spirit [power] which is upon thee (Num. 11:17). The spirit [power] that was upon him (25). The spirit [power] rested upon them (25). The spirit [power] rested upon them (26). O that the Lord would put His spirit [power] upon all His people (29). In these passages we are told how God took a part of His power with which He had endowed Moses to enable him to do his work, and gave it to the 70 elders to enable them to assist him to do his work. Let there be a double portion of thy spirit [power] upon me (2 Kings 2:9). Here in prospect of becoming Elijah's successor Elisha asks that a two-class power from Elijah as mouthpiece for the Lord become his as Elijah's successor. After Elisha got this two-class power as Elijah's successor, he was recognized by the sons of the prophets as having received it: The spirit [power] of Elijah doth rest on Elisha (15). God commends Joshua's having power in him, saying that he had power: In whom is spirit [power; the word for the is lacking in the Hebrew; Num. 27:18]. God's making the power of princes naught is described as follows: He shall cut off the spirit [power] of princes (Ps. 76:12). The power of God as exercised by His Truth is called the spirit [power] of judgment; and that of destructive punishments is called the spirit [power] of burning (Is. 4:4). The power that acted in and on Ezekiel is called a spirit [power] (the A. V. here mistranslates the word by the spirit) in the following passages: A spirit [power] entered into me (Ezek. 2:2; 3:24). A spirit [power] took me up (3:12, 14; 43:5; 8:3; 11:1, 24; 37:1).

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We will now quote a few passages from the New Testament proving power to be one of the senses of the word pneuma: Veiled by the mistranslation with the definite article, the sense of power is clearly seen in Jesus' words, How then did David by spirit [a power Divine] call Him [Christ] Lord (Matt. 22:43). Which had a spirit [a power] of infirmity (Luke 13:11). The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit [power, John 6:63; compare with Heb. 4:12]. St. Paul, exhorting the brethren to seek earnestly for spiritual powers, of miracles, tongues, etc., says, Be zealous of spirits [powers, 1 Cor. 14:12, mistranslated spiritual gifts in the A. V.; please see the margin for the correct translation]. In the same chapter he shows that the powers of prophets are harmonious with one another: The spirits [powers] of the prophets are subject to the prophets (32). Thus the Revelator shows how the power of life entered the two dead prophets: The spirit [power] of life from God entered into them (Rev. 11:11). Thus we see that one of the meanings of the Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma is power. In fact the sense invisible power underlies all 12 senses in which these two words are used, as we have shown in detail in E2, 511-523. These remarks will help us better to see that one of the meanings of the expression, Holy Spirit, is God's power, which is a holy power. The translation with the definite article where the indefinite article should have been used occurs 53 times, to the darkening of the thought, whereas had these 53 translations been correctly made, the idea of power as one of the meanings of the expressions, spirit and Holy Spirit, would have been very patent. We will have occasion to refer to this matter when giving some of our proofs for the meaning of God's power as being one of the senses of the expression, Holy Spirit, which is the first definition of the term, Holy Spirit. 

The expression, Holy Spirit, has several meanings. It primarily means God's power, however or by whomsoever 

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exercised. This becomes apparent, e.g., from Luke 1:35: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee; and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee." All of us are familiar with the fact that, among other ways, Hebrew poetry is made by repeating the same thought in different words, which is called parallelism. Here we have a case of a parallelism: the expression, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, means the same as the expression, the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. Hence the expression, Holy Ghost, means the same as the expression, power of the Most High. The definite article is here wanting in the Greek before the expression, pneuma hagion; hence it should have been rendered a Holy Spirit [a holy power], not the Holy Spirit; and, of course, the word Ghost should not at all have been used here. Hence the indefinite article also proves that here a Holy power of God is meant by the expression, a Holy Spirit. 

The same two mistranslations occur in John 20:22, where the translation should be: Receive ye a Holy Spirit, not the Holy Ghost. That the words, a Holy Spirit, here evidently mean a holy power is manifest from the transaction itself; for Jesus was here giving the Apostles, and in them representatively the entire Priesthood, a holy power, i.e., the power as God's mouthpieces to declare ministerially to the repentant believer the forgiveness of his sins and to the impenitent the retention of his sins. Thus the nature of the transaction, as the words following those quoted above prove, demonstrates that here the expression, pneuma hagion, means a holy power. 

Again, Jesus in a number of other passages speaks of the Holy Spirit as power, e.g., He tells us that by God's Spirit He casts out devils (Matt. 12:28), and yet calls this same Spirit in connection with the same act, the finger [power] of God (Luke 11:20). In the same connections He accused the Jews who blasphemed this holy power of blaspheming the Holy Spirit (not 

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Ghost!), as can be seen in Matt. 12:31, 32; Mark 3:29; Luke 12:10. He tells the disciples that they would receive the promise of the Father (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4), which was the Holy Spirit; and in the same connection He calls it power (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8). In speaking of the powers in the gifts of the Spirit Paul calls them spirits (mistranslated spiritual gifts in the A. V.; see margin for the right translation), which clearly proves that one of the meanings of the word spirit is power, as can also be seen from the many examples given in the third and fourth paragraphs preceding this one. 

We desire to quote a large number of passages in which the A. V. misrenders the expression, pneuma hagion [a Holy Spirit], by the expression, "the holy Ghost," and in which, when the misrendering is corrected, the passages very clearly teach that one of the meanings of these terms is a holy power. Instead of quoting the mistranslations of the A. V., we will give the literal translations, and every reader will be able quickly to see the proper thought: She was found with child from a Holy Spirit [a Holy Power, Matt. 1:18]. That which is conceived in her is of a Holy Spirit [a Holy Power, 20]. He shall baptize you with a Holy Spirit [a Holy Power, 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5; 11:16]. He shall be filled with a Holy Spirit [a Holy Power, Luke 1:15, 41, 67; Acts 4:8, 31; 6:3, 5; 7:55; 9:17; 13:9, 52]. But which a Holy Spirit [a Holy Power] teacheth (1 Cor. 2:13). No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by a Holy Spirit [a Holy Power, 1 Cor. 12:3]. Gifts of a Holy Spirit [a Holy Power, Heb. 2:4]. Made partakers of a Holy Spirit [a Holy Power, 6:4]. Preached the gospel with a Holy Spirit [a Holy Power] sent down from heaven (1 Pet. 1:12). Holy men of God spake as they were moved by a Holy Spirit [a Holy Power, 2 Pet. 1:21]. In this paragraph we quoted a fair number of the 90 passages in which the A. V. contains the misrendering of the Greek expression, 

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pneuma hagion [a Holy Spirit], as the Holy Ghost. Properly rendered they very plainly show that this Greek expression means a Holy Power. In other connections we quote others of these 90 misrendered passages, from which it will all the more clearly appear that one of the meanings of the words, pneuma hagion, is a Holy Power. 

A few examples in which the word pneuma occurs as an abstract noun without the Greek definite article will be given in proof that it means power. Thus we read that the Lord's power translated Philip from the presence of the Ethiopian eunuch: The spirit of the Lord [the power of the Lord] caught away Philip (Acts 8:39). St. Paul, pointing out that his speech and preaching were not by eloquence or human wisdom but by Divine power, says: My speech and preaching were … by demonstration of spirit, even power [thus he defines spirit to mean power here] … that your faith … stand … in the power of God (1 Cor. 2:4, 5). He also shows the many qualities, conditions and activities in which he conducted his ministry and, among other things, he says that it was by Holy Spirit, holy power, not by the Holy Ghost, as the A. V. puts it with its two misrenderings (2 Cor. 6:6). He inquired of certain Ephesians whether they had received Holy power by which they could work miracles, speak in tongues, etc., and they replied that they had never heard of there being such a holy power: Have ye received Holy Spirit [Holy power, mistranslated, the Holy Ghost]? … we have not heard whether there be any Holy Spirit [Holy power, Acts 19:2]. Thus he mentions the fact that the offering up of the Gentile brethren was sanctified by holy power when he says: I should be the minister … to the Gentiles … that the offering up of the Gentiles might be … sanctified by Holy Spirit [Holy power, not as misrendered in the A. V., by the Holy Ghost, Rom. 15:16]. Speaking of the things of God which he taught in power, he says: Which things 

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also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which Holy Spirit [Holy power, not as the A. V. mistranslates, the Holy Ghost] teacheth (1 Cor. 2:13). Speaking of the power by which the star-members have been enlightened with the mystery of Christ, he says: It is now revealed to the holy Apostles and Prophets by Spirit [power, not as the A. V. renders it, the Spirit, Eph. 3:5]. 

If the Holy Spirit, among other things, is the Holy Power of God, we can readily see how the Bible can speak of people's being filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35, 41, 67; Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 7:55; 9:17; 13:9), as we saw under point (2) above, people cannot be filled with a person. If the Holy Spirit, among other things, is the Holy Power of God, we can readily see how people can have the Spirit upon them (Matt. 3:16; Luke 1:35; 2:25; John 1:32, 33; Acts 10:44; 11:15; 19:6; 1 Cor. 3:16; Num. 11:17, 25, 26, 29; 24:2; Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Sam. 10:6, 10; 11:6; 16:13; 19:20; 2 Chro. 15:1; 24:20; Is. 11:2; 42:1; 44:3; 59:21; 61:1; Ezek. 11:5), as we saw under point (5), this cannot be true of a person. If the Holy Spirit, among other things, is God's Holy Power, we can readily see that one can be baptized with it (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:16), as we saw under point (1) above, this cannot be done with a person. If the Holy Spirit, among other things, is the Holy Power of God, we can readily see how it can be poured out upon people (Acts 2:17, 18, 33; Is. 32:15; Ezek. 39:29; Joel 2:28, 29), as we saw under point (3) above, this could not be done with a person. If, among other things, the Holy Spirit is God's power, we can readily see how it can be in and dwell in people (Num. 27:18; Is. 63:11, Dan. 4:8, 9, 18; 5:11, 14; 1 Pet. 1:11), as we saw under point (4) above, a person cannot be in and dwell in one or more persons. If the Holy Spirit, among other things, is God's Holy Power, we can readily see that it is

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given to, and is received by many people (Acts 8:17, 18; 10:45, 47; 15:8; 19:2; Rom. 5:5), as we saw under point (14) could not be done with a person, i.e., be given to, and be received by many people. 

Apart from a few passages cited from the Old Testament above, our proofs that, among other things, the Holy Spirit is God's power, have been taken from the New Testament. Accordingly, we will now present some Old Testament proofs on this subject. While other senses of the word occur more frequently in the New Testament than does the sense power, in the Old Testament, apart from prophecies of Gospel and Millennial Age matters, the expressions, Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of God, My Spirit and His Spirit are almost exclusively used in the sense of God's power. In the beginning of this article we saw from not a few passages that the word ruach means, among other things, power, and that the thought of invisible power underlies every one of the 12 senses of this word in the Bible. Now we will show that in the Old Testament the (usual) meaning of the above-mentioned expressions is holy power. The expression, ruach kodesh [Holy Spirit], occurs only three times in the Old Testament (Ps. 51:11; Is. 63:10, 11). Ordinarily the terms, the Lord's Spirit, Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of God, my Spirit, His Spirit, are the pertinent expressions. 

We will now quote a number of passages containing these expressions, with some brief comments; and from them we can see that they mean, among other things, God's power. Thus the creative power of God acting through the prehuman Word upon chaos is presented to us: The Spirit [power] of God moved upon the face of the waters (Gen. 1:2). Pharaoh, speaking of Joseph as a unique one in whom was God's power to interpret dreams and to exercise executive authority, asked, Can we find such an one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit [power] of God is (Gen. 41:38)? David, telling how God by His power 

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inspired him to speak, says, The Spirit [power] of the Lord spake by me (2 Sam. 23:2). Obadiah, expostulating with Elijah against his telling Ahab of Elijah's presence, told him that God's power would carry him away to a place unknown to the first before Ahab could reach where he was, and this would bring Obadiah into trouble with Ahab: As soon as I am gone from thee the Spirit [power] of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not (1 Kings 18:12). Zedekiah, the false prophet, smiting the true prophet, Micaiah, on the cheek, demanded that he tell him which way God's power left the former and came to the latter: Which way went the Spirit [power] of the Lord from me to speak unto thee (1 Kings 22:24; 2 Chro. 18:23). The sons of the prophets, reasoning with the unwilling Elisha, express a thought somewhat similar to that expressed by Obadiah above, saying, The Spirit [power] of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley (2 Kings 2:16). 

Again, the good Word, omitting the definite article before the word ruach, says, Spirit [power] came upon [literally, clothed] Amasai (1 Chro. 12:18). Elihu declared of the creative power as God's Spirit, The Spirit of God hath made me (Job. 33:4). David, overcome by a consciousness of the greatness of his sin, fearing that God would take the Divine power from him that he as the Lord's anointed had, pleaded that this be not so, in the following language: Take not the Holy Spirit [power] from me (Ps. 51:11). 

On the contrary, he pleaded that that freely bestowed power might continue to uphold him. Uphold me with Thy free Spirit [power, 12]. The Psalmist tells of the Divine power acting creatively as God's channel of operation, as follows: Thou sendest forth Thy spirit [power]; they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth (104:30). Knowing that he could not take himself away from God's power, the Psalmist cries out, Whither shall I go from Thy

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Spirit [power, 139:7]? Knowing that nothing can put God's power into difficulty, the prophet Micah asks, with the expectation of receiving a negative answer, Is the Spirit [power] of the Lord straitened (Mic. 2:7)? Zechariah, pointing out the willfulness of the Israelites, speaks of their disregarding God's words that He had sent by His power through the earlier prophets, saying, Lest they should hear … the words which the Lord of Hosts sent in His Spirit [power] by the former prophets (Zech. 7:12). 

In concluding the proof that the first sense of the terms, Spirit, Holy Spirit, the Lord's Spirit, God's Spirit, etc., is power, we will briefly quote and comment on some Scriptures that speak of the Spirit, etc., coming upon and being upon and in certain ones. Here belong Gen. 41:38; Num. 27:18; 2 Kings 2:9, 15; 1 Chron. 12:18, commented on above. Speaking of God's power coming upon Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson, enabling them to judge and deliver Israel, God says: The Spirit [power] of the Lord came upon him (Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14). The same thing is said of Saul (1 Sam. 10:6, 10; 11:6), as it is also said of David, Saul's messengers and again of Saul, and of Azariah and Zechariah (16:13; 19:20, 23; 2 Chron. 15:1; 24:20). Ezekiel uses a similar expression. The Spirit [power] of the Lord fell upon me (Ezek. 11:5). The language of the foregoing cited passages being practically the same as that quoted above from Judg. 3:10, it is unnecessary to do more than to cite them. Now a few passages speaking of God's power being in or entering into God's servants will be quoted as proofs of the point under discussion: Of God's power in Joseph it is said, In whom the Spirit of God is (Gen. 41:38). As to Moses as a type of Jesus God says of Himself as the One who had put His power in him, He who hath put His Holy Spirit [power] within him (Is. 63:11). Ezekiel says this of himself, Spirit [power] entered into me [the word ruach here does not have the definite 

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article, Ezek. 2:2]. Nebuchadnezzar and others said this of Daniel in passages in which, instead of the rendering of holy gods, it should be the holy God. Thus: In whom is the Spirit [power] of the holy God (Dan. 4:8). I know that the Spirit [power] of the holy God is in thee (9). For the Spirit [power] of the holy God is in thee (18). In whom is the Spirit [power] of the holy God (5:11). The Spirit [power] of God is in thee (14). 

Having seen that the Holy Spirit is not a person, and that one of the definitions of the term, Holy Spirit, is God's power, and having submitted a sufficiency of Scriptures in proof of both propositions, it will now be in order for us to submit the second definition of the term and show its Scripturalness. In addition to the Holy Spirit's being God's power, it may as its second part be defined as God's disposition in Himself, in Jesus Christ, in the saints and in all other consecrated beings—the good angels, the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, the Great Company, the restored world of mankind and in all future creations of free moral agents, even as in Adam and Eve before their fall and in Jesus as a human being before His Spirit-begettal at Jordan, the Holy Spirit was God's disposition in them. By the word spirit in the sense of disposition, the natural or acquired mental, moral and religious character of persons is meant. Such character may be good, bad or indifferent. Hence we speak of one's having a good spirit, disposition, a bad spirit, disposition, or an indifferent spirit, disposition. The word spirit in the sense of disposition, is ordinarily used to mean the whole natural or acquired character of a person; but not infrequently it is used to denote any one of its parts. Thus we may speak of one's mental spirit, mental disposition, meaning thereby his intellectual character, the character of his intellectual faculties and thoughts; we may speak of one's moral spirit, disposition, to characterize his feelings, affections, graces and volitions as to his fellows; or we may speak of 

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his religious spirit, religious disposition, to indicate his feelings, affections, graces and volitions as to God, Christ or false gods. Accordingly, by God's spirit or disposition we mean His mental character, the cast of His mental faculties and thoughts, often Biblically covered by the word wisdom, as well as His moral character—feelings, affections, graces and volitions toward His creatures, Biblically indicated by the words justice and love and (will) power toward His creatures, as well also as His religious character—feelings, affections, graces and volitions as to good principles—the Truth and its Spirit, Scripturally implied in justice, love and (will) power toward these. For the purposes of this part of our discussion we will limit our present study to the Holy Spirit as God's disposition in Himself, leaving to later studies the discussion of the Holy Spirit as God's disposition in others. 

First we desire to prove that the words ruach and pneuma in the Bible are used in the sense of one's natural or acquired mental, moral and religious character as to the constitution of his faculties, their thoughts, feelings, affections, graces and volitions, i.e., in the sense of disposition. Accordingly, we will first quote from the Old Testament, showing that the word spirit Scripturally means disposition in general, then we will show that it means separately its intellectual, moral and religious features in thought, feelings, affections, graces and will, and afterwards do the same thing from the New Testament; for it is fundamental to our subject to prove Biblically that the words ruach and pneuma, i.e., spirit, among other things, means disposition. In this part of our discussion we will quote and very briefly comment on a large number of Scriptures, as a rule giving the passages under various heads in the order of their occurrence in the Bible. We begin with passages using the Hebrew word ruach, spirit, in the sense of disposition in general. Telling of how the disposition of the Israelites toward the building of the tabernacle made them willing to give very liberally

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the materials necessary for its construction, Moses says of them, Everyone whom his spirit made willing … brought … offering to the work of the Tabernacle (Ex. 35:21). Contrasting the disposition of Caleb with that of the ten spies who falsely slandered the land, God says, Caleb … had another spirit with him (Num. 14:24). The wickedness of Abimelech and the men of Shechem aroused God, in preparing to send condign punishment, to occasion a quarreling disposition to come up between them. The Lord sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem (Judg. 9:23). Hannah was by her barrenness and the taunts of Peninnah, given a sad disposition and stated this fact: I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit (1 Sam. 1:15). God's forsaking Saul for his wrongs and his contrary providences aroused in Saul a melancholy disposition which stirred him up to various wrongs. Thus God is spoken of repeatedly as punishing him with an evil disposition. An evil spirit from the Lord (1 Sam. 16:14-16, 23; 18:10; 19:9). 

Ahab's sorrow over Naboth's unwillingness to part with his patrimonial estate aroused Jezebel to inquire as to the cause of this disposition in him, Why is thy spirit so sad? (1 Kings 21:5). The ambitious disposition of Pul and Tilgath-pilneser are spoken of in 1 Chro. 5:26 as their spirit. God's arousing the Philistines' and Arabians' dispositions to punish Jehoram of Judah for his wickedness is described as follows: The Lord stirred up … the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians (2 Chro. 21:16). A contrasted thought is expressed of the disposition of Cyrus and the Israelites in 2 Chro. 36:22; Ezra 1:1, 5. Job speaks of his sadness of disposition as anguish of spirit (Job 7:11). His friend falsely accused him of turning his disposition against God, Thou turnest thy spirit against God (15:13). To him it seemed natural under the circumstance that his disposition should be agitated, Why should not my spirit be troubled? (21:4). Elihu tells that his disposition constrained him to speak, The spirit 

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within me constraineth me (32:18). Beautifully David describes the disposition of the reformed and forgiven sinner, In whose spirit there is no guile (Ps. 32:2). He tells that God saves those who have a contrite disposition, in the words, The Lord … saveth such as be of a contrite spirit (34:18), as he also prays that God would renew a righteous disposition in him, Renew a right spirit within me (51:10), and declares that the sinners' sacrifices to God are a broken disposition (17). He speaks of his disposition as overcome, My spirit was overwhelmed (17:3; 142:3; 143:4). Speaking of the disposition of apostates, he declares, Whose spirit was not steadfast (78:8). He speaks of Israel's murmuring as angering Moses' disposition, They provoked his spirit (106:33). In contrast with talebearers, Solomon says that secret-keepers have a faithful disposition, He that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter (Prov. 11:13). He disparages those who have hasty dispositions as exalting folly, He that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly (14:29). He likewise shows that great sorrow breaks the disposition, By sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken (15:13). God's testing the dispositions is asserted, The Lord weigheth the spirits (16:2). Solomon speaks of a proud disposition (18), a humble disposition (19), of ruling one's disposition (32), of a broken disposition (17:22), of an excellent disposition (27), of a wounded disposition (18:14), of failing to control one's disposition (25:28), in each case the word ruach being used and translated by the word spirit. The wise man enumerates many things that annoy one's disposition, as a vexation of spirit (Eccl. 1:14, 17; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6, 16; 6:9). He counsels in favor of a patient disposition (7:8), and against the proud and hasty disposition (8, 9). God speaks of a perverse disposition (Is. 19:14), of a sleepy disposition (29:10), of one's being grieved in disposition (54:6), of a contrite and humble disposition (57:15), of a sad disposition (61:3), of a poor and contrite disposition (66:2), the disposition of the 

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Median kings (Jer. 51:11), a new disposition (Ezek. 11:19; 18:31; 36:26), a harlot's disposition (Hos. 4:12; 5:4), the residue of one's disposition (Mal. 2:15), and watching one's disposition (2:15), in each case the word ruach being used and translated by the word spirit. God asserts that He gave man his disposition, Formeth the spirit of man within him (Zech. 12:1). Thus we have given a large number of the many Old Testament uses of the word ruach in the sense of the disposition in general. 

Now we will quote and refer to a goodly number of the many New Testament uses of the word pneuma in the sense of the disposition in general. One of the beatitudes so uses it, Blessed are the poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3); John was to come in Elijah's disposition (he shall go before him in the spirit … of Elias, Luke 1:17); he and Jesus grew strong in disposition, Waxed strong in spirit (80; 2:40). John and James did not know that their disposition was a wrong one, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of (9:55). The true worshipers worship and must worship God in their disposition (John 4:23, 24). Apollos was fervent in disposition, This man was … fervent in spirit (Acts 18:25). Jesus had a holy disposition, The Son of God … according to the spirit of holiness (Rom. 1:4). St. Paul served God with his disposition, God … I serve with my spirit (9). He speaks of the slavish and filial disposition in contrast with one another, We have not received the spirit of bondage … but … of adoption [literally, of sonship] (8:15), and shows that the Word gives witness of sonship to those who have that disposition, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit (16). He testifies of those who have a drowsy disposition, He hath given them the spirit of slumber (11:8). He also speaks of a meek spirit (1 Cor. 4:21; Gal. 6:1). He counsels God's people to be holy in body and disposition, That she may be holy both in body and in spirit (1 Cor. 7:34). One of the gifts of the Spirit was the ability to judge dispositions, To another the 

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discerning of spirits (12:10). He exhorts us to cleanse our dispositions from all filthiness, Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the … spirit (2 Cor. 7:1). He prays that Jesus' grace be with brethren's dispositions (Gal. 6:18), and also prays that God might preserve blameless the brethren's entire disposition, I pray God your whole spirit … be preserved blameless (1 Thes. 5:23). He exhorts Timothy, among other things, to be an example in disposition, Be thou an example of the believers in … spirit (1 Tim. 4:12), as he also tells him that God has not given us a cowardly, but a strong, loving and wise disposition, God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7). He prays that Jesus be with his disposition, Jesus Christ be with thy spirit (4:22). He declares that we are approaching the Ancient Worthies as just men perfected in their dispositions, Ye are come … to the spirits of just men made perfect [literally, ye have approached … God the judge of all, even of just men perfected in their spirits] (Heb. 12:22, 23). And, finally, Peter speaks of the desirability of the sisters being of a meek and quiet disposition (1 Pet. 3:4). Thus we have proven from both Old and New Testament Scriptures that one of the meanings of the Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma is disposition in general. 

But we also said that various particular features of the disposition are indicated by these two words, i.e., the mind as faculty and its contents, the thoughts, the feelings and affections, the graces and the will or volitions. These are all particular parts of the disposition, and the word spirit is also used to cover these individually—particularly. This we will now proceed to prove of each of them from the Old and New Testaments. First we will show this with reference to the mind as a faculty and its contents, thoughts, which constitute the mental part of one's disposition. Pharaoh's two dreams perplexed his mind. His spirit was troubled (Gen. 41:8). Joshua was full of wise thoughts, Joshua 

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… was full of the spirit of wisdom (Deut. 34:9). David's mind diligently studied his relations to God, man and himself, My spirit made diligent search (Ps. 77:6). The fool lacks secretiveness and tells all his thoughts, A fool uttereth all his mind [ruach] (Prov. 29:11). Our mind seeks to find the Lord and His ways, With my spirit within me will I seek thee early (Is. 26:9). God knows all our thoughts, I know the things that come into your mind [ruach], every one of them (Ezek. 11:5). God declares the non-fulfilment of the hopes that come into the mind of the wicked, That which cometh into your mind [ruach] shall not be at all (Ezek. 20:32). Nebuchadnezzar's mind or thoughts were worried over his dreams, Dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled (Dan. 2:1), and his mind was distressed to learn its meaning, My spirit was troubled to know the dream (3). The papacy in its distress, due to the time of trouble, changes its mind as to cooperation with Protestants, Then shall his mind [ruach] change, and he shall pass over [into working cooperation with Protestants], and offend [transgress] (Hab. 1:11). A few New Testament passages where in the sense of mind or thought the word pneuma has been translated spirit: Of Jesus' mind perceiving the reasonings of the scribes against Him for telling the paralytic that his sins were forgiven, it is said, Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves (Mark 2:8). Paul urges the brethren to be renewed in their mental disposition, Be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind (Eph. 4:23). He, speaking of his being absent bodily but present in mind, says, Though I be absent in the flesh; yet am I with you in the spirit (Col. 2:5). John repeatedly speaks of himself as being in thought under certain conditions and acts, I was in spirit on the Lord's day (Rev. 1:10); immediately I was in [the word the is not in the Greek] spirit (4:2); So he carried me away in [the, not in the Greek] spirit (17:3; 21:10). In each of these four passages the word thought substituted for the word spirit, gives the 

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right sense, and is the meaning of the word pneuma there. Thus we have proven that ruach and pneuma are Biblically used to mean the mental part of disposition as a particular use of these words. 

We will now proceed to the proof that both words refer to the feelings, affections, and graces of the disposition, which are a part of the moral and religious disposition. These with the mental part of our natural or acquired character, the particular parts of our disposition, are included in the disposition in general. But we bring out these particulars to prove all the more cogently such inclusion. The feelings of dismay and non-plusment that overcame the queen of Sheba at Solomon's wisdom, greatness and power, are stated as follows: There was no more spirit in her (1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chro. 9:4). The Psalmist speaks of his losing his grace of courage amid his sore trials, O Lord, my spirit faileth (Ps. 143:7). Again, he shows that the graces of courage, self-control and perseverance will enable us to bear our infirmities, The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity (Prov. 18:14). Thus we are warned to be cautious against stirring up the feelings of anger and wrath in rulers, If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences (Eccl. 10:4). The loss of the graces of courage, confidence and perseverance by Egypt is showed, The spirit of Egypt shall fail (Is. 19:3). God is described as delighting to re-enkindle the graces of faith, hope and courage in the humble. I dwell in the high and holy place … to revive the spirit of the humble (57:15). God shows how in the time of trouble in the measurably unfaithful, the graces of faith, hope, courage, perseverance, etc., will break down, Every spirit shall faint (Ezek. 21:7). The Lord stirred up the graces of courage, zeal, piety, loyalty and obedience in Zerubbabel, Joshua and all the rest of the people to start rebuilding the temple, The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel … the spirit of Joshua … 

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and the spirit … of the people … work in the house of the Lord (Hag. 1:14). 

The feeling of deep sorrow was experienced by Jesus at the unbelief of the Pharisees, He sighed deeply in his spirit (Mark 8:12). Mary felt the grace of joy, at the honor bestowed upon her as the prospective mother of the Messiah, My spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Savior (Luke 1:47). Jesus exercised the grace of joy at God's revealing and concealing the Truth according to the heart's attitude of those involved, Jesus rejoiced in spirit (10:21). Jesus felt sorrow at the ravages of the curse, Jesus groaned in spirit (John 11:33). Judas' treachery filled Jesus with the feeling of agitation, He was troubled in spirit (13:21). The idolatry of the Athenians aroused in Paul the feeling of repugnance at the sin and love for, and desire to help the sinners, His spirit was stirred in him (Acts 17:16). St. Paul exhorts us to cultivate the grace of fervency, Fervent in spirit (Rom. 12:11). St. Paul declares that his graces of piety, reverence and adoration prompted his worship of God, My spirit prayeth … I will pray with the spirit … I will sing with the spirit (1 Cor. 14:14, 15). He speaks of brethren refreshing the graces of others and his faith, hope, love, obedience, etc., They have refreshed my spirit (1 Cor. 16:18). His spirit was refreshed (2 Cor. 7:13). He speaks of the brethren as having the same grace of faith, We having the same spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13). Thus we see how the words, ruach and pneuma, in particular uses mean the feelings, affections and the graces as parts of the disposition. 

Finally, we will quote and briefly comment on a few passages that use the words, ruach and pneuma, to mean the will and volitions of the disposition. Ex. 35:21, quoted as the first passage on disposition in general, proves also that the exercise of the will, volition, is a particular use of the word ruach. The Lord, to punish him, shaping events in a way that He knew that Sihon's wickedness would move him to oppose Him, by 

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those events hardened his will that he might bring his punishment upon himself through his wickedness, The Lord hardened his spirit (Deut. 2:30). Overcome by Solomon's wisdom, the queen of Sheba's disposition lost its will and its volition to nonplus him. There was no more spirit in her, a passage that also was properly used above to show her disposition of dismay and bafflement (1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chro. 9:4). Paul exercised his disposition in the volitions to go to Jerusalem and Rome, Paul purposed in his spirit … to go to Jerusalem … Rome (Acts 19:21). Paul exhorts the brethren to be firm and persevering in the disposition of one will to do God's will, Stand fast in one spirit (Phil. 1:27). The sense of will and volition of the disposition in these words, is not only implied in the general use of them as the whole disposition, but in the particular uses of them, as the moral and religious parts of the disposition and in some cases in the particular use of them as mind and thought. We have above quoted and briefly commented on a very large number of passages that use of our dispositions the words ruach and pneuma in a general sense and in a particular sense: In fact these words are used in these senses by far more frequently in the Bible than in any one of their other senses. They are so used perhaps as often as the other 11 senses combined and in the New Testament these senses occur decidedly more often than all the other 11 combined. These facts will in part account for our using so many of them; and another reason for such numerous use of them is to lay a good foundation for the proof that the words, the Holy Spirit, among other things, mean God's disposition in Himself; for when we recognize that this sense is the prevailing one in the Bible, we will not think it strange that this sense is the one expressed by the term, the Holy Spirit, when that term refers to God Himself. The fact that God is a spirit being (John 4:24) utterly opposes the thought that the Holy Spirit is a person, a spirit being; for that would mean

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that God has a spirit being residing in His spirit being—an absurdity of the first rank. Hence we should look for another meaning than that of a personal spirit being for the Holy Spirit among the twelve senses of the words, ruach and pneuma; and the only ones of the twelve satisfying all the Scriptures, reason and facts, are God's power and God's disposition. 

We will now proceed to prove that the second sense of the expression, the Holy Spirit, in so far as it is in Him, is God's disposition. This we will prove by quotations with brief comments of both Old Testament and New Testament passages. Alluding to the grief that man's wilful wickedness, that refused to reform at the preaching of God's Word, caused God (Gen. 6:6), He states that His holy mind, heart and will—His holy disposition, would not forever struggle with such sinners to bring them to repentance, but would in due time cease such endeavors, and apply the punishment of the flood, My spirit shall not always strive with man (Gen. 6:3). In Ex. 31:3; 35:31, God defines certain things as what He, among other things, means by His Spirit and shows, among other things, that it is a disposition of wisdom, knowledge, understanding and practical ability, i.e., power to accomplish His undertakings. Here, then, the mental, artistic and practical power phases of God's disposition are brought to our attention and prove that God's Spirit in Himself is, among other things, His mental, artistic and practical disposition, I have filled him [Bezaleel] with the Spirit of God—in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship [ability to do the pertinent work] (Ex. 31:3; 35:31). These passages, as a key, enable us to see that similar qualities of features in God's disposition were bestowed upon Bazaleel's helpers. The wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom (Ex. 28:3). A decidedly comprehensive and all-around probative passage on God's Spirit being His general disposition is Is. 11:2: The Spirit [disposition] of the Lord shall rest upon 

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him [here follows God's own explanation of what His Spirit is; for He defines it thus]: the spirit of wisdom [a wise disposition] and understanding [a disposition that perceives and reasons correctly], the spirit of counsel [a disposition that gives true advice and acts with practicable ability] and might [a disposition that has the will power of self-control and patience, perseverance, to decide and to accomplish its decisions], the spirit of knowledge [a disposition that is expert in the Divine knowledge] and of the fear of the Lord [a reverent disposition in justice and love toward God and others]. Analysis of this passage results in the fact that it proves that God's Spirit, disposition, is one of that wisdom that tactfully applies His knowledge to obtain good results, of that power that works in self-control and patience, of that justice which gives duty-love to good principles and to His creatures, and of that love that delights in good principles and in those in harmony with them, that is in sympathetic oneness with them, that sympathizes with them in their disharmony with, or treatment against good principles, that pities the world for similar reasons, and that delights in sacrificing to advance good principles in the interests of others. This passage shows God's Spirit to be His wise, powerful, just and loving disposition. 

But some may object that this passage treats of Christ, and what God gave Him. We agree to this (Is. 42:1); but the passage teaches, as well as other passages, that God gave Him His own Spirit, disposition, in its fullness (John 3:34; Acts 10:38; Col. 2:9). Hence Christ's Spirit [disposition] as here described and God's Spirit [disposition] are identical (John 10:30; 17:11, 21, 22). Moreover, the passage directly says that God gave Christ His own Spirit. Hence the Spirit here described is not a spirit being, but God's own Spirit [disposition] in Himself, even though put by God upon Christ. Accordingly, God's disposition, perfect in wisdom, power, justice, and love, each in itself, in their perfect balancing harmoniously with one 

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another and in that harmony dominating harmoniously in crystallization all His other graces, the lower primary, secondary and tertiary graces, is with His power the meaning of God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit. His disposition in every way is good, Thy Spirit is good (Ps. 143:10). Such a perfect disposition makes God supreme over all, self-sufficient and independent of all. Hence the Bible denies that any can direct His disposition or counsel and teach Him anything, Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counselor hath taught him? (Is. 40:13). Both nominal Fleshly and Spiritual Israel by their sinfulness and erroneousness have displeased God's Holy disposition, because it loves righteousness and truth and hates iniquity and error, But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit (Is. 63:10). He promises to develop His holy disposition in Millennial Israel, I will put my Spirit within you (Ezek. 36:27; 37:14). So we see the Holy Spirit [ruach], among other things, to be God's holy disposition in Himself. 

Now we will take up the main New Testament passages that teach, among other things, that the Holy Spirit is God's holy disposition in Himself. On Pentecost St. Peter points out that the phenomenon that the Israelites witnessed was a part of God's power and disposition, His holy wisdom, power, justice and love, poured out upon the Church in the Gospel Age, In those days [the Gospel Age] I will pour out of my Spirit upon my servants and handmaids (Acts 2:18; Joel 2:29). He also declared that God would pour out of His disposition for the whole human family in the Millennial Age, I will pour out of my Spirit for all flesh (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28). To Ananias and Sapphira, St. Peter said that their course was one of bantering and presuming upon God's holy power and disposition, His holy heart and mind, Why have ye agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord (5:9). Paul declares that the brethren's spirit is the disposition of wisdom, power, justice and love, if the Holy disposition of God dwells in them, Ye are in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of

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God dwelleth in you (Rom. 8:9). He also declares that if the disposition of the God who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us, God by His disposition of wisdom, power, justice and love will energize our dying bodies unto His service, But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he … shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you (11). He further assures us that as many as are directed in their course in life by God's disposition—the disposition of wisdom, power, justice and love—they are sons of God, As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (14). He also stresses the fact that the love which is characteristic of the disposition of God should be an animating motive of prayer, I beseech you … for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers for me (15:30). St. Paul assures us that unregenerated man does not accept the spiritual things that flow out of God's holy disposition of wisdom, power, justice and love, to His faithful people; yea, he tells us that he regards them as foolishness and cannot perceive them because of lacking spiritual discernment, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14). Further on he speaks of the unregenerate knowing nothing of God's Spirit as His mind, mental disposition, and shows that it is identical with the mind, mental disposition, of Christ, which the faithful have, Who hath known the mind of the Lord … but we have the mind of Christ (16). The Apostle speaks of God's having given us of the wisdom, power, justice and love that constitute His Spirit, He hath given us of His holy Spirit (1 Thes. 4:8). He speaks of Second Deathers as insulting the disposition that animated God when He bestowed upon them the high calling, of which they have made shipwreck, They have done despite [insulted] unto the Spirit of the [so the Greek] grace [favor of the high calling] (Heb. 10:29). St. Peter

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tells those that suffer for truth and righteousness that they are highly favored; for thus the spirit of glory, even the disposition of God's wisdom, justice, love and power rests upon them, If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and [even] of God resteth upon you (1 Pet. 4:14). The Greek word kai, here rendered and should here be rendered even, as just indicated; because the expressions, the spirit of glory, and, of God, are here in apposition to each other, and so mean the same thing. 

Above we have shown that the words ruach and pneuma, among other things, mean disposition, as the mental, moral, religious and volitional character of persons as a whole, or in one or more of these parts, and have shown that applied to God's Spirit they mean His disposition of perfect wisdom, power, justice and love as a whole or in one or more of these parts. Hence one of the meanings of the Holy Spirit is God's disposition in Himself. It does not mean a spirit being or person. 

Next we desire to treat of the Holy Spirit as God's disposition in Christ. This means that in Christ there is the same disposition—mind, heart and will—as is in the Father, i.e., that Both of them have the same Holy Spirit, and that as God's Holy Spirit in Himself, either as power or as disposition, is not a spirit being, so also that Spirit in Christ, either as God's power or as God's disposition, is not a spirit being. In this discussion it is purposed to show from the Bible that the Holy Spirit in Christ is, not a person, but God's holy disposition—mind, heart and will—in Jesus. This will be shown both from Old Testament passages, and New Testament passages. The discussion will be begun with a study of Old Testament, and will thereafter be continued with one of New Testament passages. 

Is. 11:2 has already been discussed from the standpoint that it shows by definition that God's Spirit in Himself is His holy disposition, His holy mind, heart 

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and will, the chief attributes of which are perfect wisdom, power, justice and love. Here it will be discussed from the standpoint that the Holy Spirit is God's disposition in Christ, since the Spirit of both God and Christ is described in this passage. It will be noted that it is Jesus Christ who is here referred to in the spirit of prophecy, which, as the connection shows, applies to Him both while in the flesh and while in the Spirit. The passage pointedly by placing the words, "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear [reverence, i.e., duty and disinterested love] of the Lord," into direct apposition to the words, "the Spirit of the Lord," proves that these appositional words define the expression, Spirit of the Lord. It is, therefore, the spirit [disposition] of wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge, justice and love. The word wisdom here refers to the Divine truth, the words understanding and knowledge refer to that feature of faith that embraces cognition and comprehension of the Divine truth in faith. The word counsel here means the mental ability to plan the tactful use of this truth known and understood in faith, with the hope of accomplishing good thereby. The word might here refers to the moral and religious ability—power—to execute what the mental ability of such planning devises. And the words, fear of the Lord, refer to the justice and love that supply the motive powers to enable power to execute such devised plans. In brief, in this passage the Spirit of the Lord in other words is defined to be God's wise, powerful, just and loving disposition. That it cannot be a person is evident from the statement that it is upon our Lord, of whom to say that a person was upon Him implies an absurdity, while to say that upon and in Him was God's disposition of wisdom, power, justice and love would be saying a very reasonable and true thing. From this standpoint we recognize that Jesus, having such a disposition, could be so quick in the understanding of

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the Divine justice and love (v. 3) and so impartial in His decisions (v. 3), but would deal righteously with the poor, equitably with the meek and in justice punish the wicked and wicked institutions (v. 4), and that He would execute the affairs of the Lord righteously and faithfully (v. 5); for such a disposition would so think, feel, will and act, and no other would so do. 

Is. 42:1 and its context is another Scripture to the point. Here we are told by God something that He would do to Jesus, "I have put My Spirit upon Him." The thought expressed is much like that expressed in Is. 11:2, except that instead of God's saying that His Spirit would rest upon Jesus, He tells us here that it was He who put His Spirit (His disposition of wisdom, power, justice and love) upon Jesus. This statement is incompatible with the idea of the Spirit's being a person, who would not by God be put upon another; but it would be a very reasonable thing for God to give [so the Hebrew] His Spirit, His disposition of mind, heart and will, unto our Lord Jesus; for is the latter not the former's upheld servant and His delight as His choice one (v. 1)? And is Jesus not thereby qualified to give the Truth (judgment) to the nations (v. 1)? And did not such qualification make Him abstain from noisily haranguing the people (v. 2) and using unseemly places and positions to exercise His preaching office? Did it not make Him so gentle as to keep Him from injuring people especially marred by the curse (bruised reed) and from quenching even the weakest spirit ready to give up (smoking flax, v. 3)? Did it not also make Him so zealous for God and God's plan as to cause truth and righteousness to be victorious? Certainly, it will yet keep Him from failing and becoming discouraged in the arduous task of establishing truth and righteousness world-wide (v. 4). And will not this disposition in Him awaken the hope of island dwellers for Him to establish God's truth on doctrine and practice upon a firm and everlasting basis among them? It will be noted that the expression,

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I have put, is expressed as of a past action. This is what is called the prophetic past, i.e., the prophets use the past tense in prophesying future events to express the thought that they are so sure of its fulfilment as to speak of it as though already in the past. Please note on this point, among other numerous passages, Is. 53:3-10, as describing our Lord's sufferings as though in the past, while in reality they came over 750 years after Is. 53:3-10 was penned. Again, we see that the statement, "I have put My Spirit upon Him," is incompatible with the Spirit's being a person, as is also the case as the I. V. reads, "I have given Him My spirit." 

In Is. 61:1, 2 we have a passage which Jesus Himself (Luke 4:18, 19) applies to Himself. That this passage refers to Him in the days of His flesh is evident from the fact that He in His quoting it omits the part of v. 2 that applies to His Second Advent, and the whole of v. 3, that also applies to His Second Advent. Very similar is the pertinent language of this text, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me," to the pertinent language of Is. 11:2. And the thought is very similar, except instead of God's being the Speaker, Christ is the Speaker. Of course, according to this passage, the Spirit could not be a person; for that would put a person upon Jesus! Evidently God's holy disposition—mind, heart and will—especially of wisdom, power, justice and love, is here meant by the expression, "The Spirit of the Lord God." That it is not a person is also evident from the fact that it is the Spirit that is the anointing itself, as the qualification of Christ for His ministry. It is because of this anointing that Jesus is called Christ; for the Hebrew word mashach, from which the Hebrew word Messiah (anointed, Christ) is derived, means he anoints, and the Greek word chrio, from which the Greek word Christos (anointed) is derived, means I anoint. To anoint means to qualify one to be a priest or king. Hence typical priests, like, Aaron, etc., and typical kings, like Saul, David, Solomon, etc., received the

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typical anointing, i.e., literal oil, whereas Jesus and His footstep followers, as prospective Priests and Kings, while in the flesh have received the antitypical anointing with the symbolic oil, the Holy Spirit, the holy disposition of God, that qualifies one for the Divine service as a prospective king and priest. 

Sometimes this symbolic oil is called the oil of gladness (Ps. 45:7; Heb. 1:9), and sometimes the oil of joy (Is. 61:3), and the unity of the spirit, whose seven features are set forth in Eph. 4:4-6, as the antitype of the anointing oil poured out upon Aaron (Ps. 133:1, 2), and it contains every grace of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23; 2 Pet. 1:5-7). Hence the Holy Spirit is the antitype of the typical anointing oil; and as such Jesus received it (Matt. 3:16; Acts 10:38; Heb. 1:9); and the Church has throughout the Gospel Age been receiving it (Acts 2:1-4; 10:44, 45, 47; 2 Cor. 1:21, 22; 1 John 2:20, 27). Not only do Is. 11:1-5 and 42:1-4 prove that this holy disposition qualified Jesus for His ministry while in the flesh and spirit, but Is. 61:1-3 proves the same of Him; for while in the flesh it fitted Him to preach good tidings (the Gospel) to the meek, to bind up the hearts broken by the woes of the curse, to preach freedom to sin's slaves from its bondage and the deliverance of the dead from the prison-house of the tomb and to expound the doctrine that the Gospel Age is the period when those who have experienced both justification and consecration are acceptable to God in the high calling as sacrifices with Christ (v. 1; 2 Cor. 6:1, 2; Rom. 12:1; 1 Pet. 1:5). Surely, the holy disposition of wisdom, power, justice and love, and no other disposition, is the qualification for the ministry of Jesus and His saints. This disposition also qualifies Jesus and the Church for the work of the Harvest of the Gospel Age, as is shown in the second part of v. 2 and the whole of v. 3. How could they have proclaimed the day of vengeance, except as qualified thereto by God's holy disposition in them (v. 2)? How could they comfort all the 

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mourners among God's people during the Harvest, unless they had this good disposition (v. 2)? Without it how could they set forth comfort for those who have bewailed the abominations of error and wrong in nominal Zion (v. 3; Ezek. 9:4)? Without it how could they have led these into the beauty of holiness' joys out of sorrow's ashes? Without it how could they have given these joy instead of mourning (v. 3)? Without it how could they have clothed these with the graces so reflective of praise upon God (v. 3; Col. 3:12, 13)? Without it how could they have made these fruitful in righteousness as God's fruitage unto His praise (v. 3)? Surely, such a disposition of mind, heart and will in wisdom, power, justice and love is the abundant qualification of Jesus and the Church as God's anointed to perform the ministry which He has given them to perform! Evidently, having another person upon one is no qualification for such a service in this life, let alone for the life to come as glorified Kings and Priests. Moreover, if Jesus were a God-man, without the bestowal of the Spirit, by virtue of His inherent divinity He would not have needed an anointing of the Spirit to qualify Him as King and Priest, since His Deity would more than have qualified Him as such. 

We will now turn to New Testament passages which treat of God's Spirit in Christ; and our examination of them will prove to us that the Holy Spirit in Christ is not a person, but is God's holy disposition—His mind, heart and will of wisdom, justice, love and power—in Christ. First, we will study Matt. 3:16 (its parallel passages are Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32, 33); Acts 10:38; Heb. 1:9. We study the two latter with the former, because they are explanatory of the former, for by the language of Acts 10:38, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power," and Heb. 1:9, "God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above [Head over] Thy fellows [saints]." Sts. Peter and Paul describe here what is meant by the coming of the Spirit 

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from heaven upon Jesus in the form of a dove and abiding upon Him, as we are told in Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32, 33. While in Jesus' case the Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove to symbolize love to be His highest grace in the disposition given Him, to the Apostles it came as a large flame, which quickly was divided into as many parts as there were Apostles present, taking the form of fiery tongues, one of which sat upon each Apostle, symbolizing that they were the special Divine mouthpieces to proclaim God's Word. In both cases we note that, not a person came upon them, but a representation of God's Spirit. We may be quite certain that if the Holy Spirit were a person, he would not have been represented by a dove, a flame, fiery tongues, or the oil that anointed Aaron, as typical of the Holy Spirit with which Jesus and the Church have been anointed. On the contrary, this oil is explained as typing, among other things, as shown above, the oil of gladness, of joy and the disposition of Christian unity, the sevenfold unity of Eph. 4:4-6 (Ps. 45:7; 133:1, 2). The outward manifestation, the dove and the flame of fire, in each case, before resting on Jesus and the Apostles, represented the holy power of God that was about to beget them of the Spirit, which Jesus experienced (Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5), as well as the entire Church (John 1:13; 3:3-8; 1 Cor. 4:15; Phile. 10; Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:3, 23). 

If Jesus at Jordan had been a God-man who had at His human birth by His Divine nature taken into the unity of His Divine personality human nature, as the creeds teach, it would be the height of the absurd to have given Him at Jordan the Holy Spirit; for the union of the two natures in the one person would have given His human nature the character attributes of His Divine nature. Hence there would have been no need to beget Him of the Spirit; since that begettal is, among other things, designed to make possible the

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gift of such attributes. But Jesus, before His Spirit-begettal, being a perfect, sinless, human being and not a God-man, was by the bestowal of the Spirit given such attributes, by imparting to His perfect human graces the Divine character attributes. And this was the main part of His anointing, so far as His heart and will were concerned, while His mind anointing—giving Him the requisite knowledge to perform His ministry, began at Jordan, in the opening of the heavens to Him, and seems to have been mainly completed during the forty days in the wilderness. Partly from the facts of the experiences of the Church as to the anointing, and partly from the fact that Jesus was a perfect human being adorned with all perfect human affections and graces, we conclude that His begettal of the Spirit set in with effects that we will shortly describe. We are warranted in arriving at this conclusion, because of both Jesus and the Church the Bible, as shown above, teaches that they were Spirit-begotten and Spirit-anointed. In this He was our Forerunner (Heb. 6:20), whose after-runners we are (Heb. 12:1; 1 Cor. 9:24-26), our High Priest (Heb. 2:17; 3:1; 4:14, 15), whose under-priests we are (1 Pet. 1:5, 9), our King, whose under-kings we are (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:29, 30; Rev. 1:5; 3:21; 5:10; 17:14; 19:16; 20:4-6). As we have seen in past studies, Jesus consecrated Himself at Nazareth the 10th of the 7th month and was begotten of the Spirit on the 14th day of that month at Jordan. 

The following is what His Spirit-begettal wrought in Him: (1) It made His consecrated will able and willing to will God's will perfectly in spiritual respects, i.e., as a New Creature, whereas before His will, which was a human will alone, could will God's will perfectly as a human being only (Heb. 10:5-10); (2) it gave every one of His brain organs a spiritual capacity enabling it to attach itself to the things on the spiritual plane corresponding to the things on the human plane, to which alone before that begettal it 

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could attach itself and work on, e.g., His intellectual powers of perceiving, remembering and reasoning before His Spirit-begettal were limited in their activities to the things that such human powers can perceive, remember and reason on, while after His Spirit-begettal additionally the added spiritual capacities could project themselves beyond the limits that such human capacities could work on, to the corresponding things on the spiritual plane of existence in the intellectual sphere (1 Cor. 2:6-16); so also with His affectional organs, which after His Spirit-begettal could project themselves beyond the things to which they were before limited in activity, to the corresponding spiritual things (Col. 3:1-3); and (3) it enabled His formerly perfect human graces to get the capacity to project themselves in attachment to spiritual things, which before His Spirit-begettal He could not do (Rom. 6:3, 4). Thus His Spirit-begettal began the Divine life in Him as a New Creature, which consisted of: (1) His new spiritual will, (2) His new spiritual, intellectual and affectional capacities and (3) His new spiritual graces. This New Creature not yet anointed was typed by Aaron as he stood before Moses during his consecration before his anointing set in. 

Hence Christ's New Creature, which is the High Priest (Heb. 9:14, "who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself"), had to exist before it was anointed. Therefore, the anointing of Him as High Priest had to occur after His consecration and Spirit-begetting. As a matter of fact, it did begin in will, in mind and in heart immediately after His Spirit-begettal. We see this beginning in mind in the heavens—spiritual things—opening to Him at His begettal (Matt. 3:16). We see its beginning in His new will by His being moved by the New Creature that He had just gotten (Matt. 4:1) to go into the wilderness for meditation, prayer and accompanying testing. In heart in the very nature of the case it had to begin and be mainly completed at His Spirit-begettal, because His begettal enabled

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His every grace—all human graces perfectly had—to work as spiritual graces; for before His Spirit-begettal He was at the mark of perfect (untested) love as a human being. Hence immediately after His Spirit-begettal He was at the mark as a New Creature, and thus His anointing in heart was, at least mainly, had immediately after His Spirit-begettal. Additional to His being at the mark of perfect untested love and to His having every other grace and every affection in full measure, but untested as to spiritual uses, Jesus obtained the other two features of the anointing—strengthening and balancing—in part at least, during His wilderness experiences, and in completion shortly afterward, if it was not there completed. If afterward, how soon afterward we do not know. The crystallization process seems not to belong to the anointing; for it adds nothing new to the character as character features, though, of course, it makes every feature of character unbreakable. His perfecting, crystallization, continued up to the time of His death: for He was perfected in character through suffering (Heb. 2:10; 5:7, 8). We do not know whether His anointing in will and mind was completed by the end of His wilderness experiences, though when He left the wilderness He had it, if not complete, in will, mind and heart, fully enough to meet aright every progressive experience as it came to Him, beginning immediately after that, e.g., while His perfect human memory doubtless had memorized the entire Old Testament before Jordan, and while He could not understand spiritual things until immediately after His Spirit-begettal, His 40 days' wilderness study of the Word may not have given Him all the knowledge of them needed for His entire ministry; if it did not, He got the rest of the anointing in knowledge, understanding, counsel and might as to the Truth and its use after the wilderness experience. Our uncertainty herein is due to the silence of the Scriptures on this subject. But this much is

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certain, that before every unfolding experience of His 3½ years' ministry He had enough of the anointing in will, mind and heart to meet it perfectly and faultlessly as it came to Him. With this certainty we can content ourselves, even if we are uncertain as to the exact time and place of His will's, mind's and heart's complete anointing. So recognizing the nature of the anointing of the Spirit, it is self-evident that the Spirit in Christ is not a person, but is in Him God's holy disposition—His holy will, mind and heart, in wisdom, power, justice and love. This is clear. 

Some other pertinent New Testament passages remain to be studied on our subject. These will be found to give added strength to the thought that the Holy Spirit in Christ is God's disposition of wisdom, power, justice and love, in will, mind and heart. Rom. 1:4 is one of these passages: "Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Without doubt the expression, spirit of holiness, means a holy disposition. By a Hebraistic idiom this expression is the equivalent of the expression, Holy Spirit; for very often Hebrews, and Paul was a Hebrew, use nouns in the genitive case as equivalent to adjectives; thus the expression, the steward of unrighteousness, means the unrighteous, unjust, steward; the mammon of unrighteousness, unjust mammon; the judge of unrighteousness, the unjust judge (Luke 16:8, 9; 18:6); the wicked heart of unbelief, an unbelieving, wicked heart (Heb. 3:12); a vessel of choice, a chosen vessel (Acts 9:15); words of grace, gracious words (Luke 4:22); affections of vileness, vile affections (Rom. 1:26); body of sin, sinful body (Rom. 6:6); body of this death, this dead body (7:24); body of our humiliation, our humbled or vile body; body of His glory, His glorious body (Phil. 3:21); the body of flesh, the fleshly body (Col. 1:22; 2:11), etc. In a number of these cited cases the A. V. directly translates the genitive noun as an adjective, though in the Greek the 

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pertinent word is a noun in the genitive case. Such is the use of the word holiness in Rom. 1:4, and undoubtedly the expression, spirit of holiness, means here the Holy Spirit in the sense of a holy disposition; for it was Christ's holy disposition that made God declare Him to be His Son by resurrecting Him. 

Another very strong case to the point is Rom. 8:9: "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His." The expression, spirit of Christ, means the Holy Spirit as the Christlike disposition, as all will admit; and it is indispensable to one's being a part of the Christ Class that he have a Christlike disposition; and whoever has had and lost it is disowned by Christ, as whoever never had it never belonged to the Christ Class; hence the expression, spirit of Christ, means here Christ's disposition, the Holy Spirit in Him. 

Gal. 4:6 is another passage to the point: "Because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son [the Spirit of Christ, which is the Holy Spirit, the Christlike disposition] into your hearts, crying, Abba [the Syriac for father], Father." Here the filial disposition that all of God's sons have toward God, because they are, His sons, and that moves them to call out, Father, to Him, is called the Spirit, disposition, of Christ. It is certainly not a person, for such a person could not, according to the trinitarians, in truth call God his Father; for according to trinitarianism God is not the Father of the Holy Spirit as it views the Holy Spirit. Thus the Spirit of Christ, if conceived to be a person whom trinitarians call the Holy Spirit, could not in our hearts cry out, Father, to God; but if it is the filial disposition such as Jesus had and has, and as we have toward God as Father, it can and does most fittingly cry out, Abba, Father. Compare this passage with a parallel passage in Rom. 8:15, where this disposition is called, the spirit of adoption, literally, spirit, disposition, of sonship. Undoubtedly both passages use the terms synonymously, in the sense of filial disposition, which certainly is Christ's disposition toward 

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God as His Father, and is that of all God's sons. 

Phil. 1:19 gives us the same thought in the expression: "This shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." St. Paul shows in v. 18 that the preaching of Christ gave him joy; and this joy he shows in v. 19 will result in his gaining the crown of glory by the operation of two things: (1) the prayers of his dear Philippian brethren and (2) by God's bestowing on Him a sufficiency of the Spirit of Christ. In what way does the Spirit of Christ bring salvation to any one? Certainly, not by putting a spirit person into him! But it does occur to the faithful as it did to Jesus (Rom. 1:4), by their having a sufficiency of that same Holy Spirit, spirit of holiness, as Jesus had, for the having of which God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 1:4); hence this spirit, disposition, of holiness is what is meant by the Spirit of Christ in this passage. 

Here, too, belongs 1 Tim. 3:16, where, among other things, Jesus as the Mystery of Godliness is spoken of as "justified in Spirit." Certainly, this cannot mean that a spirit being that supposedly came into Him was justified; for such a spirit being is not Jesus, who here is the one spoken of as being justified, and not a supposed spirit being in Him. The thought of the expression, justified in Spirit (the word the is not in the Greek), used here of Jesus evidently is this, that God amid Jesus' entire trial of 3½ years, finding Him perfect and without any flaw whatsoever in His disposition, pronounced Him the worthy Lamb (Rev. 5:2-13). Hence, here, too, the word Spirit used of Jesus means God's disposition in Him. 

In John 3:34 God is spoken of as follows: "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him [Jesus]". If the Spirit here meant God Almighty in His supposed third person, it would have been impossible for Jesus to have received Him without measure, i.e., without limitation; for such a Spirit would be infinite 

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and the perfect Jesus, a human being, was finite, hence could not without limit have received such a person in His limited will, mind and heart. But if the Spirit of God in Christ was God's disposition in Him, His perfect human will, mind and heart would have placed no limitations on the full sway of such a disposition in Him, and this was actually true of Jesus; for whereas we by reason of our imperfect mental, moral and religious faculties do place limits on the full sway of God's disposition in us, Jesus' perfection of mental, moral and religious faculty and will power presented no such limits to its sway in Him. Thus only as disposition and not as an infinite spirit being, can it be said that God gave Jesus His Spirit without measure. 

1 Cor. 2:16: The Apostle here, contrasting the spiritual with the natural mind, that cannot perceive the mind of the Lord, says, "But we have the mind of Christ." The connection of the entire chapter, especially from v. 6 onward, with its comparisons and contrasts implies that by the expressions, the "mind of the Lord" and "the mind of Christ," the mental capacities of God and of Christ and the contents of those capacities, their knowledge and understanding are meant. Accordingly, when he says that we, in contrast with the fleshly mind, have the mind of Christ, he tells us that as New Creatures we have spiritual and mental capacities with accordant knowledge and understanding. Hence the expression, the mind of Christ, here means that part of the Holy Spirit that in His disposition constitutes the bent of His intellectual capacities, knowledge and understanding. 

In 1 Pet. 1:11 the expression, "Spirit of Christ," which worked in the prophets, evidently does not mean the spirit of Christ as His new-creaturely disposition; for this, apart from Jesus, to whom it was first given at Jordan, never had been given anyone before Jesus' glorification, i.e., not before Pentecost (John 7:39). Here in 1 Pet. 1:11 the expression evidently means Christ's prehuman power working in the prophets.