Jesus taught that
the Holy Ghost Himself is to be
our Divine Teacher: “When
That One should come, the
Spirit of Truth, He will show you
the way, guide you, as a Guide
who introduces the traveler into
an unknown country, into all
Truth: for He shall not
speak from, on the part of,
Himself; but whatsoever He should
hear, that will He speak: and the
things coming, He will proclaim
to you. That One will glorify Me:
because out of that of Me He will
receive, and shall proclaim
it to you. [The repetition of the
word proclaim three times in this
passage puts emphasis on this
dimension of the Spirit’s
work]. All things that the Father
has are Mine: on account of this
I said, that out of that of Me He
will receive, and proclaim
to you.” John 16: 13-15.
(Literal translation from Greek).
The Most
Glorious Gift
So everything that
the Father has is the Son’s
–the infinite love, justice,
righteousness, purity,
holiness-all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. The Holy
Spirit receives these glorious
attributes of Christ and the
Father, and proclaims them directly
to us, as a Divine Guide Who
shows us the way into this
glorious unknown country, into all
the truth possessed by
the Father and the Son. Just
contemplating this great Gift
utterly takes the breath away.
What a Treasure, what a Gift! All
else must be laid aside to make
room for the reception of the
most glorious Treasure in heaven
and earth!
The
Donation of the Holy Spirit
“The
donation of the Holy Spirit was
the greatest gift God could
bestow upon finite man. This
is free to all and in this gift,
there could be no computation;
this endowment specially
signalized the enthronement of
the only begotten Son of God in
His mediatorial kingdom. In
this the gift of the Comforter
the Lord God of heaven
demonstrates to man the perfect
reconciliation which He had
effected between Himself and men,
which hope, says the apostle,
“we have as an anchor of the
soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth into that
within the veil, whither the
forerunner is for us
entered.” 6MR 224.
Christ’s
Largest Subject
“Christ had
an infinite variety of subjects
from which to choose in his
teaching, but the one
upon which he dwelt most largely
was the endowment of his Holy
Spirit.” RH 6-10-02
“Before
offering Himself as the
sacrificial victim, He instructed
His disciples regarding a most
essential and complete gift which
He was to bestow upon His
followers-the gift that would
bring within their reach the
boundless resources of His
grace.” AA47.
The Time
of the Holy Spirit’s Power
“But Christ
as the precious pearl, and our
privilege of possessing this
heavenly treasure, is the theme
on which we most need to dwell. It
is the Holy Spirit that reveals
to men the preciousness of the
goodly pearl. The
time of the Holy Spirit’s
power is the time when in a
special sense the heavenly gift
is sought and found.
In Christ’s day, many
heard the gospel, but false
teaching darkened their minds,
and they did not recognize in the
humble Teacher of Galilee the
Sent of God. However, after
Christ’s ascension
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
signalized His enthronement in
His mediatorial kingdom.
On that day of Pentecost the
Spirit was given.” COL
118-120.
The Holy Ghost,
not Spiritual Directors, not
ecclesiastical hierarchies, is
our Teacher.
The
Anointing
In the New
Testament this understanding is
developed: “Ye
yourselves are taught of God to
love one another.” 1
Thessalonians 4:9. “But the
anointing which he have received
of Him abideth in you, and ye
need not that any man teach you:
but as the same anointing
teacheth you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, and even
as it hath taught you, ye shall
abide in Him.” 1
John 2:27.
The
Individual is Taught Directly by
the Holy Spirit
Thus in
Protestantism, the individual is
taught directly by the Holy
Spirit. “Has not God said He
would give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him? And
is not this spirit a real, true
actual guide? Some men seem
afraid to take God at His word as
though it would be presumption in
them. They pray for the Lord to
teach us and yet are afraid to
credit the pledged word of God
and believe we have been taught
of Him. So long as we
come to our heavenly, Father
humbly and with a spirit to be
taught, willing and anxious to
learn, why should we
doubt God’s fulfillment of
His own promise? You
must not for a moment doubt Him
and dishonor Him thereby.
When you have sought to know His
will, your part in the operation
with God is to believe that you
will be led and guided and
blessed in the doing of His will.
We may mistrust ourselves lest we
misinterpret His teachings, but
make even this a subject of
prayer, and trust Him, still
trust Him to the uttermost, that
His Holy Spirit will lead you to
interpret aright His plans and
the working of His providence
(Letter 35, 1893).” 3 BC
1155, 1156.
The Holy
Spirit Can Teach You More in One
Moment Than All the Great Men of
Earth
How powerful,
effective, and all encompassing
is God’s teaching? “God
can teach you more in one moment
by his Holy Spirit than you could
learn from the great men of the
earth.” RH 2-18-90.
Born Into
the Kingdom
The true
Christian, the true Protestant is
born again from above, by the
Holy Ghost: “Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be
born again (margin, from above)
he cannot see the kingdom of
God… Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God… The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh,
and whither it goeth: so is
Every one that is
born of the Spirit. “ John
3:3, 5, 8.
Freely
Surrendered to the Spirit’s
Control
This new birth is
a being born into the Spirit,
into the baptism of the Spirit,
where the human will is gladly
and freely surrendered to the
Holy Spirit’s full and
absolute control. This produces
the highest sense of freedom that
the soul is capable of, for
“the Lord is that Spirit:
and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty.
The
Highest Sense of Freedom
“In the work
of redemption there is no
compulsion. No external force is
employed. Under the influence
of the Spirit of God, man is left
free to choose whom he will
serve. In the change
that takes place when the soul
surrenders to Christ, there is
the highest sense of freedom.
The expulsion is the act of the
soul itself.” DA 466.
Man is in bondage
to Satan and sin until Christ
sets him free in the new birth
when the soul surrenders to
Christ and there is the highest
sense of freedom.
Having been born
into freedom, he is to stay in
freedom: “Stand fast
therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us
free, and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage.”
Galatians 5:1.
Born Into
Freedom, Taught by the Author of
Freedom
Thus, the
Protestant Christian is born into
freedom, true freedom, and the
highest freedom that they are
is-the full and absolute
self-surrender to Christ and the
Holy Spirit. Now Christ and the
Holy Spirit teach him all about
freedom. Things are deeper than
the human mind is capable of are
revealed to his soul by the Holy
Spirit: “Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath
prepared for them that love Him.
But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit: for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God.” 1
Corinthians 2: 9, 10.
Faith
Demands Freedom
Faith demands
freedom for its very existence
and exercise.
Righteousness
by Faith
Another crucial
element in Protestantism is Righteousness
by Faith. Sola Fide,
by Faith alone, is the motto of
true Protestantism. Righteousness
by Faith is the means by which the
soul lays hold on the very
righteousness of God Himself by
faith-not
through a Spiritual Director and
Spiritual Formation.
By faith, alone
the very righteousness of Christ
Himself becomes our
righteousness. He becomes our
way: “I AM the Way, the
Truth, and the Life.” John
14:6.
Living By
the Word
The born again
Christian lives by the Word of
God. Jesus said, “If any
man will do His will, he shall
know of the doctrine, whether it
be of God, or whether I speak of
Myself.” John 7:17.
This is why the
true Protestant takes the Word of
God as the man of its counsel,
and the Holy Spirit as teacher of
that Word. Sola Scriptura,
Scripture Alone, is the great
motto of true Protestantism.
Exactly to the
degree with which we cherish,
surrender to, and follow the Holy
Spirit and Christ in our heart-to
that degree do we have true
freedom.
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