The Personality of the Holy Spirit

The Spirit of Holiness Becomes Personality in Us

The divine Spirit that the world’s Redeemer promised to send, is the presence and power of God.

— E.G. White, Signs of the Times, 11/23/1891

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Messiah; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom. 1:16). The gospel of the Messiah becomes personality in those who believe, and makes them living epistles, known and read of all men.

— E.G. White, Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 199

When the Messiah spoke of the Spirit of Truth in John 16, He was speaking of its operation in the vessels it becomes embodied in, which are to be us.

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

— 1 Corinthians 3:16

The truth of God’s character is to be embodied in us. We stand in the same position that the Messiah was in when He was here: He lived to glorify the Father, and we are to live to glorify His Son, “that the Father may be glorified in the Son“ (Jn. 14:13).

“He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak.” “He shall glorify Me.”

If we are truly filled with the Spirit of Truth, we will not speak our own words, nor glorify ourselves, but speak only the words of truth that the Messiah gives us, just as He did when He was here, who said: “The words that I speak unto you I speak not from Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works” (v. 10). These things are confirmed in the ensuing statements from inspiration:

The Holy Spirit was to glorify the Redeemer of the world, who came to demonstrate the love of the Father by a life of suffering and humiliation, and by a death of shame. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Messiah by manifesting in the members of the church the self-denial, the self-sacrifice, the devotion of those who truly follow the great Exemplar. They shed a heavenly influence, and reveal in their characters the loveliness of the Messiah, working in harmony with the Holy Spirit. They can be silent concerning their own finite selves, but can extol the greatness of the Messiah, wakening an interest in others by the revealing of his marvelous love. They are able to show forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light…

Each member must co-operate with the Holy Spirit in His office work.

— E.G. White, Review and Herald, 1/27/1891

Hence, we work for the Spirit of Holiness, whose office is to bring the truth of Jehoshua to the world, displayed outwardly by our characters. But we are not the Spirit of Holiness and never will be. We are only representatives of the Messiah and His Spirit; it is all His working, and we are just His agents:

There is nothing that Christ desires so much as agents who will represent to the world His Spirit and character. There is nothing that the world needs so much as the manifestation through humanity of the Saviour’s love. All heaven is waiting for channels through which can be poured the holy oil to be a joy and blessing to human hearts.

Christ has made every provision that His church shall be a transformed body, illumined with the Light of the world, possessing the glory of Emmanuel. It is His purpose that every Christian shall be surrounded with a spiritual atmosphere of light and peace. He desires that we shall reveal His own joy in our lives.

The indwelling of the Spirit will be shown by the outflowing of heavenly love. The divine fullness will flow through the consecrated human agent, to be given forth to others.

— E.G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 419

Notice that the Spirit of Holiness is to dwell in us. This is not so true of the Spirit in its working in nature. There is to be a glory in us, in hope of the greater glory when we shall put on our new bodies. This is where the nature of the Spirit of Holiness is a mystery. How can a living essence dwell in us? What kind of existence is this? How can God make His holy presence dwell in us when He is in heaven? These are not mysteries meant for us to solve, and this is where silence is golden. But, as the Bible directs us, we are only to worship and pray to a personal God and His personal Son who are in heaven, yet not denying the existence of the Spirit of Holiness proceeding from Jehoshua, operating by His will and Word, as well as its indwelling in us that God may be glorified through us.

Here are a couple of other quotes on this order:

As Christ is the channel for the revelation of the Father, so we are to be the channel for the revelation of the Messiah. While our Saviour is the great source of illumination, forget not, O Christian, that He is revealed through humanity. God’s blessings are bestowed through human instrumentality. Christ Himself came to the world as the Son of man. Humanity, united to the divine nature, must touch humanity. The church of the Messiah, every individual disciple of the Master, is heaven’s appointed channel for the revelation of God to men. Angels of glory wait to communicate through you heaven’s light and power to souls that are ready to perish. Shall the human agent fail of accomplishing his appointed work? Oh, then to that degree is the world robbed of the promised influence of the Holy Spirit!

— E.G. White, Mount of Blessings, p. 40

Christ says, speaking of the Comforter, “He shall not speak from Himself;” “He shall testify of Me;” “He shall glorify Me.” How little has Christ been preached! The laborers have presented theories, plenty of them, but little of Christ and His love. As the Saviour came to glorify the Father by the demonstration of his love, so the Spirit came to glorify Christ by revealing to the world the riches of His love and grace. If the Holy Spirit dwells in us, our work will testify to the fact, we shall lift up Jesus. Not one can afford to be silent now; the burden of the work is to present Christ to the world.

— E.G. White, Review and Herald, 12/23/1890

The Spirit of Holiness brings to us the Messiah’s own holy life that He lived in our flesh, with all of its holy characteristics, to live this same holy life again in our flesh—His “church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Ephesians 1:22-23).

Did you catch that? We are to become the fullness of the Messiah, bodily, by His Spirit—the Spirit of Truth—that dwells in us. And here it is again: The Spirit of Truth is raising up a body to dwell in for eternity; He is raising it up “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Messiah (4:13).

The Messiah must have an everlasting body for His Spirit to dwell in that will encompass this planet, testifying to the glory of God, having conquered the darkness of this world. The Messiah is the great Exemplar of the Spirit of Truth manifest in the flesh for the multitude to imitate. That is all He, as one person, could be, since He is not personally omnipresent.

The Spirit of Truth already has a personality of His own in the Messiah, who can only be in one place. But He must become manifest in the sons of God, in whom He will become a diversity of unique personality. This is the ultimate goal—that which will glorify God, who is the Source of all. Each unique person He dwells in has experiences, unique ways to glorify God in the manifestation of His character. God cannot manifest His character Himself. He cannot obey and manifest what is written in the Law, but He can in us.

We have looked at Romans 8 a couple of times already, but let’s look at it again:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with the Messiah; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

— Verses 14 to 19

This manifestation is first in the display of the inward glory of holy character in the 144,000, but after this display is made, the outward glory of light will also clothe the saints, shining for all eternity; in both cases, the Spirit will display the glory of Jehovah, filling the earth.

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.

— Habakkuk 2:14

Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious Name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory.

— Psalm 72:18-19

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with His glory.

— Revelation 18:1

There is another question to be answered:
How are we to practically receive the Spirit of Holiness?

Obviously, not everyone who asks for it receives it. So, we must learn the principle that the Spirit of Holiness is in the Word of God.