Why Holy
only in terms of nature, as being a spiritual essence, but also with regard to His person and role. He is both breathed forth from the Father and the Son, proceeding from both of them, and by His role,
He breathes life into all whom God has given Christ to redeem and whom He Himself sanctifies. He is the Spirit of God in the sense of proceeding from God, and yet He is God Himself. Those who deny this deny their own baptism, for they are baptized into the name of the Holy Spirit just as they are baptized into the name of the Father and the Son. Nothing less than a person who is God is necessary to assure our souls of God's love and to transform our nature when it is in opposition to Him. Who else can reveal to us the mind of God except the Spirit of God? In this, we witness the united willingness of both the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit: when both the Father and the Son are eager to send such a great person to minister to us and assure us of the immense good the Father has ordained and the Son has accomplished on our behalf.
Why Holy?
That which the Spirit takes delight in is holiness, whereas our corrupted nature finds the least delight in it and opposes it the most.
Holiness is the glory and pinnacle of all other virtues, without which they are neither inherently good nor bring us comfort. It signifies freedom from all impurity and a perfect hatred of it, as well as the absolute perfection of all that is excellent. So, what does it mean to grieve such a Holy Spirit? We are grieving the Spirit of God, before whom even the heavens themselves are impure, and not only do the devils tremble, but the angels also cover their faces in reverence.
What, then, should we think of those who not only neglect but also despise, and even oppose, this holiness, enduring anything else instead? What is hated in the world with intense and complete hatred except holiness, "without which we shall never see God" (Heb.
12:14), nor enter into that pure place that we all desire to reach?
By nature, a desire for holiness and a desire for happiness were planted within us. The desire for happiness still remains, but the desire for holiness, which is the perfection of the image of God in us, is both lost and extinguished. To further eradicate it from the world, men oppose its truth and do so successfully, as they employ the guise of holiness to carry out their devilish schemes. In the realm of popery, for instance, everything is considered holy except that which truly deserves holiness—the truth of God and its expression. Even the Man of Sin himself is given no lesser title than "His Holiness." A show of contrived holiness may satisfy human nature, as it appears glorious and serves certain purposes. However, the truth of holiness, being contrary to the corrupt nature of man, will never be embraced until our nature is renewed by the Holy Spirit through the use of holy means that He sanctifies for that purpose. It is through this process that a person becomes a saint, and civil virtues become graces, elevating things that are otherwise common to a higher level of excellence. This is to a Christian what reason is to a man—it gives him a distinct existence and beauty unlike any other. It transforms every action we perform in obedience to God into a service and imbues all our actions with a religious reverence, directing them towards the highest end.
Now, the apostle's admonition is to refrain from grieving such a holy Spirit. These truths are presupposed:
First, the Holy Spirit is not personally within us as the second person is within Christ as man. Otherwise, the Holy Spirit and we would be one person. Nor is the Holy Spirit in us merely in an essential sense, for in that case, He would be in all creatures. Neither is He in us solely by stirring up holy motions; rather, He is in us mystically, as if we were temples dedicated to Him. Christ's human nature is the first temple in which the Spirit dwells, and we become temples by being united with Him. The difference between His presence in Christ and in us is that the Spirit dwells in Christ to a greater degree, for as the head, He imparts the Spirit to all His members. Secondly, the Spirit is in Christ completely, without anything opposing Him. However, the Spirit always encounters something within us that does not belong to Him and is ready to resist Him. Thirdly, the Spirit is in us derivatively from Christ. We receive grace as a secondary measure from Him, corresponding to the grace in Him. The Holy Spirit was immediately present in Adam before his fall, but now He is first in Christ, and then for Christ in us as members of the body of which Christ is the head. It is advantageous for us that He first dwells in Christ and then in us. This ensures that His communion with us is inseparable, just as it is with Christ Himself, with whom the Spirit unites us. The Holy Spirit dwells in those who belong to Christ in a different manner than in others. While He is in others with common gifts, in His own He is present as holy and as the one who sanctifies them. It is similar to how the soul resides throughout the entire body concerning various operations, but it is only in the head that the soul understands and governs the whole body. Similarly, the Holy Spirit is present in His own in terms of nobler operations, and His person is accompanied by His work, though not personally. Although the whole person is the temple of the Holy Spirit, the soul is especially so, and within the soul, it is the spirit of our minds that is most suitable to Him, being a Spirit. Hence, the apostle desires "the grace of Christ to be with our spirits" (2 Tim. 4:22). The best spirits take
the greatest delight in the best part of us, which is our spirits. In the temple, the further one proceeds, the greater the holiness until reaching the Holy of Holies. Similarly, in a Christian, the most inward part, the spirit, is akin to the "Holy of Holies," where incense is continually offered to God. What a mercy it is that He who possesses the heaven of heavens as His dwelling place can transform a dungeon into a temple, a prison into a paradise, and even turn hell into heaven. We should marvel at the love of the Holy Ghost, who willingly takes up residence within such defiled souls, next to the love of Christ in assuming our nature and dwelling within it.
2. The second presupposition is that once the Holy Spirit has prepared us as a dwelling for Himself and takes pleasure in residing in us, He becomes our counselor in all our doubts, our comforter in all our distress, our encourager in all our duties, and our guide throughout our entire lives until we dwell with Him eternally in heaven—the ultimate purpose of His dwelling in us. He goes before us just as Christ did in the pillar of cloud and fire before the Israelites, acting as our defense by day and our guidance by night. When we sin, what else are we doing but grieving this guide?
3. The third foundation is that even the best of us are prone to grieve this Holy Spirit. Otherwise, what purpose would this warning serve? We have ample evidence of this in our own hearts. Within us, we possess that which is enmity towards the Spirit—sin—and an adversary to the Spirit and ourselves—Satan.
These two, working in tandem, and maintaining a connection, incite us to engage in actions that grieve this good Spirit.
4. The fourth presupposition is that by exercising Christian care and watchfulness, we can walk in a steady and pleasing manner,