The Holy Spirit

This article was written by Clifton Inman. It appeared in the October 15, 1970 edition of the "Bible Herald" which was published by the Bible Herald Corporation in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Jesus asked if when a son asks for bread will his father give him a stone, or for a fish will he give a serpent, or for an egg will he give him a scorpion. He then said, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?"

This promise is repeated and enforced in John 7:30. Some would limit the passage in Luke 11:13 to the apostles because they were the only ones present when it was spoken, but John 7:39 can not be so limited. Let us read, beginning with verse 37, "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.")

This passage is rather difficult. We read of the Holy Spirit and His work throughout the Old Testament. We have read of His work and presence already in the New Testament. Yet it is said that He has not yet been given. How can this be?

Some try to explain this by the fact that the first part of the verse uses Spirit and the last Holy Ghost. But this is only in the King James version and we note that this translation shows that the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost are one and the same.

Others point out that, though the Holy Spirit worked through various men and spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament, He was never given to all the people. This seems to be somewhat of a poorly founded assumption.

But the Holy Spirit was promised of Jesus (both here and in passages to follow in John chapters 14-16) to do a definite work; the work of guidance in the setting up of Christ's kingdom. This had not yet happened. When this happened there would be greater blessings from the Spirit than had ever been experienced before. He indeed would be within the believer a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Blasphemy of the Spirit Matthew 12:28, 31, 32; Mark 3:29, Luke 12:10

When Jesus cast out devils by the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) He was accused of casting them out by Beelzebub. This was the same as accusing the Holy Spirit of being Beelzebub. This was blaspheming (slandering) or speaking against the Holy Spirit. Jesus then gave the strongest warning against this sin. This writer well recalls the time he asked Brother R. L. Whiteside about this passage. He asked him, "What is the sin against the Holy Spirit?"

Brother Whiteside said, "The sin is named; it is blasphemy or speaking against the Holy Spirit." This taught me a great lesson of looking at the context to see what is said. He could not understand why people went into long, tedious, and unnecessary excursions to explain the passages. Neither do I.

But let us never be so afraid of speaking against the Holy Spirit that we will let men say and do every foolish thing under the sun and never point out its sinfulness because they are claiming to do it in the name of the Holy Spirit.