What is meant by Spirit?
ministry, by reason of the types and shadows, which was 'the veil he put upon his face.'
What is meant by Spirit?
(3.) Their minds were blinded. There was 'a veil upon their hearts,' which is evident by experience in the Jews at this day, who so cleave in their affection to Moses, and to the shadows and ceremonies of his ministry, that they reject the scope and end of it, which is Jesus
Christ crucified. And they can do no other. For although the veil that was upon Moses's face he removed, as it is by the doctrine of the gospel, which sheweth us in all possible plainness what the drift and meaning of Moses was in all those types and ceremonies, yet until the gospel in the spirit and efficacy of it cometh home to their hearts, and taketh off 'the veil that is upon their hearts' also; that is, until their natural blindness and obstinacy be taken away, which cannot be, but is rather increased, by the law—'For although Moses be read, yet until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away,' 2 Cor. 3:14
—the Jews will unavoidably abide in their ignorance and bondage.
Now, in opposition to this darkness and obscurity of the law in all those respects, the apostle exalteth the gospel in this high and excellent privilege of it, that it is plain, and evident, and full of demonstration, and that the light of it is not terrifying and amazing, but sweet and comfortable. So that we may with much liberty and boldness of spirit look constantly upon the great and glorious things set before us in it, although it be no other but the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
[5.] And there is, moreover, such an efficacy and working power in this ministry of the gospel, as it will not suffer men to remain the same without alteration, as they did under Moses's ministry, though he was read daily, but it will 'change' them even 'into the image of Jesus Christ, and carry them on still in that image and likeness, from
one degree of glory to another,' after a most admirable and spiritual manner of working.
This special excellency and prerogative of the gospel is laid down in the two last verses of this chapter, which are the words upon which we shall more largely insist in the following discourse.
Verse 17. 'Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.'
'The Lord is that Spirit' that takes away the veil that is spoken of before.
He sets down what Christ is by what he doth; Christ is 'that Spirit,' because he gives the Spirit.
And then a sweet effect of the Spirit of Christ, 'Where the Spirit of Christ is, there is liberty.'
The Spirit here is not taken for the person of God, as if the Holy Ghost had said, 'The Lord is a Spirit,' and not a bodily thing, though that be a truth.
And as it is not meant naturally,* so not personally, 'Christ is that Spirit,' as if Christ were the Holy Ghost. That were a confusion of persons. Nor as restrained to the third person. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit. Neither, as some heretofore would have it, to shew that the Spirit is Jehovah, God. It is neither to shew that Christ is God, nor that the Spirit is God, nor that Christ is the Holy Ghost. But it is meant in regard of a special dispensation. 'The Lord is that Spirit;' that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of his church by marriage, office, &c., 'is that Spirit;' that is, he
(1.) Hath the Spirit in himself eminently; and (2.) Dispenseth and giveth the Spirit unto others; all receiving the Spirit from him as the common root and fountain of all spiritual
gifts.
First, He was 'that Spirit,' as having the Holy Ghost in himself as man. The Holy Ghost filled the human nature and made it spiritual.
The Spirit is all in all in the human nature of Christ; and whatsoever he doth, he doth, as it were, being full of the Spirit, in himself. He gives the Spirit as God, and receives it as man. So he both gives and receives. The Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son as God, but the Spirit sanctified Christ as man, as it did in the virgin's womb.
The Holy Ghost sanctified that blessed mass of his body. It sanctified him, and filled him with all graces and gifts; whereupon it is said, 'He received the Spirit without measure,' John 3:34; that is, in abundance. Christ hath the Spirit in himself in a more eminent excellent manner than all others; and it must needs be so for these reasons:
(1.) From the near union between the human nature and the divine.
They are one person. Therefore there is more Spirit in Christ than in all creatures put them together; than in all the angels, and all men, because the divine nature is nearer to Christ than it is to the angels or to any creature.
(2.) Christ hath the Spirit without measure, both in regard of extension and intension, as we say. He hath all graces in all degrees, even next to an infinite. All others have it in their measure and proportion.
(3.) The Spirit doth rest upon Christ invariably. In other men that have the Spirit, it ebbs and flows; it is sometimes more and sometimes less. There be spiritual desertions, not only in regard of comfort, but in regard of grace, though not totally. But the Spirit rests on Christ eternally in a full measure; and therefore you have it thus in Isa. 11:2, 'The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might,' &c.
(4.) By reason of his place or offices in relation to the church, as head, husband, king, priest, prophet, &c. The head is made by nature the seat of the more noble faculties, as of seeing, hearing, understanding, judging, and is furnished accordingly with greater plenty of spirits for the ruling and governing the whole body. So Christ is the Head of the church, and the government of all the world is laid upon him, and all excellencies are derived from him unto all his members, as from the root life is derived* unto all the branches.
And therefore he must needs have the Spirit in greatest abundance.
His fulness of the Spirit is as the fulness of the fountain; ours is but as the fulness of the cistern. He hath grace in the spring; we have it but in the conduit. His graces are primitive; ours derivative. We have nothing but what we have received. Therefore it is said, 'He hath the oil of gladness poured upon him above his fellows,' Ps. 45:7.
He hath his name from anointing, 'Christ.'† He was anointed; that is, separated and ordained to the office of mediatorship, by anointing, not properly,‡ that is, with any material oil, but with the Spirit. This was in regard of his human nature only, but it was above his fellows; that is, above all kings and priests, for they are his fellows in regard of titles. He was above them all, for all have their anointing from him. Therefore he is the King of kings, and the Prophet of prophets,
&c. Also above all his fellows. As we take his fellows for Christians, they are his fellows; 'I go to my God and your God,' &c., John 20:17.
He is the 'first-born' amongst them, and in all things he hath the preeminence.
(5.) He is to be as the pattern, we are to follow him. We are 'predestinated to be conformed to him,' Rom. 8:29, and to grow up to that fulness which is in him. And in this respect there is cause why he should have the Spirit and all the graces of it in greater abundance, that he might exceed all, even Christians of greatest growth and perfection. He is to be a pattern and example to all: to the strongest as well as to the weak. Even Paul himself, who was a leader to others, for the excellency of the grace of Christ that was in him, was yet a
follower of Christ. 'Be you followers of me, as I am of Christ,' 1 Cor.
4:16.
Quest. When did this fulness of the Spirit come upon Christ? When had he it?
Ans. 1. There was a fulness of the Spirit poured out upon Christ in the union of the human nature with the divine. Union and unction went together. There was anointing of the Spirit, together with the union of the Spirit.
Ans. 2. There was a more full manifestation of the Spirit in his baptism. When the Holy Ghost fell on him in the shape of a dove, then he received the Spirit. He was to enter into the ministry of the gospel. 'The Spirit of the Lord God was upon him,' because he had anointed him to preach good tidings unto the meek, &c., Isa. 61:1.
Ans. 3. But the fullest degree of declaration and manifestation of the Spirit upon Christ was after his resurrection; after he had satisfied fully for our salvation. Then the stop of his glory was taken away. For to work our salvation, there was a keeping back of the glory of Christ from his human nature, that he might be abased to suffer for us.
When he had fully suffered for us, that stay of his glory, his abasement, was taken away, and then nothing appeared but all glory and Spirit in Christ. All things were put under his feet, and he was set upon his throne as a glorious king. His priestly office appeared in his death, his prophetical office before his death. But then he appeared to be King and Lord of all in the resurrection. Thus we see how Christ is that Spirit; that is, he is full of the Spirit in regard of himself.
Secondly, He is 'that Spirit' in regard of his dispensations towards his church and children. 'The Lord is that Spirit;' that is, [1.] of all truths, and [2.] of all persons, to give life and quickening to them.
(1.) First, of truths. What is the scope of the whole Scriptures but Christ? from the first promise of the blessed seed, 'The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head,' Gen. 3:15, to the end of the
book. What is all the Scriptures without Christ? The law is a dead letter; yea, and so is the gospel too without Christ. He is 'that Spirit' which gives life unto all the Scriptures. Moses without Christ is but a shadow without a body, or a body without a soul. Take away Christ, what was the brazen serpent? What was the ark? What were the sacrifices? What is all? Is not Christ 'all in all' these? The kings, and priests, and prophets, they were types of Christ; all the promises they were made and fulfilled in Christ. The law ceremonial aimed at Christ; the law moral is to drive us to Christ. Christ is the Spirit of all.
And the Scripture without Christ it is but a mere dead thing; it is but a shell without a kernel, as it is to the Jews at this day.
(2.) Christ is 'that Spirit,' in regard of persons, quickening them. He is a universal principle of spiritual life, infusing it into all his church and children. Christ is always with his church from the beginning of the world, and will be to the end. It was no loss to the church that Christ in his bodily presence left it, for he left them 'the Comforter,' his Spirit, by which he wrought greater works after his ascension than he did before. He is 'anointed with the oil of gladness,' and grace 'above his fellows,' Ps. 45:7, but all was for his fellows.
Whatsoever he is, or hath, all is for his church and children. 'For us' he was born, 'for us' he was given. He is a King, a Priest, a Prophet for us. He died for us, he rose again for us.
And he doth all he doth towards the church, as he hath the Spirit, and by the Spirit. The Father is the first in the Trinity, 'from whom' all comes; and the Son, 'by whom' all things are; but the Holy Ghost is the immediate worker of all things, next the creature. All things are applied from God the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. What
Christ wrought, and what the Father in wisdom devised, was applied by the Spirit; and so the framing of us to be fit for such a glorious condition as we have by Christ, is also by the Spirit. And this is the reason why Christ giveth the Spirit to those to whom he purposeth to give faith or love, or to work any gracious work.
For where Christ saveth, he doth it not only by merit and satisfying the wrath of God for us, but also by sanctifying and effectual working in us, that he might be a perfect Saviour. Now the essential vigour and operative principle in all things, either wrought by or from the Father or the Son, is the Spirit. As in man there is his will from which he resolveth and purposeth, there is wisdom and understanding by which he proceedeth, and then there is a vigorous power in man by which he executeth and doth all. So is it in this working of God. The Father plotteth* and determineth of what is to be done; the Son,
'who is the wisdom of the Father,' 1 Cor. 1:24, dispenseth what the Father willeth; the Holy Spirit, the power of both, finisheth and worketh all upon us, and therefore he is called the 'power of the highest,' Luke 1:35.
Whatsoever works come from God to the creature in general, and are wrought in the world, as works of creation and providence, are immediately by the Holy Spirit nakedly considered, as the third person coming from the Father and the Son. And in those special works, wrought in his church and on his children, all things cometh from the Holy Ghost, but not simply considered as the third person, but as he is 'the Spirit of Christ;' that is, first sanctifying and filling the human nature of Christ, and then sanctifying and filling us.
Christ could not give the Holy Ghost immediately to us, we being in enmity with God, and separated from him through our sins; but he must first take it to himself, who having by his death and sufferings reconciled us to his Father, and purchased the Spirit for us, may now dispense and give forth his Spirit to us.
If we had stood in Adam, we should not have received grace so as now we do; fUse 1. Christ is the Spirit of the Scripturesor we should have received it from the first Adam but as from a man. Now we receive it not from mere man, but, which is much more, from the 'second Adam,' who is God-man. Nay, Adam himself received not his grace after so glorious a manner as we do, for he received it from the Spirit nakedly considered as the third person in the Trinity, and as all other creatures received their excellencies. But we receive it from the
Holy Spirit, which doth not only proceed from the Father and the Son, but cometh, as it were, through our own nature, which was marvellously united to God the Son, and made one with him, unto us, and worketh in us.
'The first Adam was a living soul, the last Adam was a quickening Spirit,' 1 Cor. 15:45. He quickened himself when he was dead, and he quickens all his members too. First, he receives the Spirit himself, and the same Spirit that filled and sanctified his human nature, the same Spirit sanctifieth his church, which he 'loves even as himself.'
As he loveth that his own human nature, which the Holy Ghost sanctified, so doth he love his own mystical body, his church, being mystically united to him, and sanctifieth it by the same Spirit.
Christ dispenseth his Spirit unto us, as head of his church, and this he doth in divers respects.
(1.) As he is God, by way of immediate influence. He poureth it out upon us as the prime and principal cause. And this he doth as God, not as man, for the manhood cannot work above itself, it cannot do the work of God, it cannot work grace or give the Spirit.
(2.) As he is man, considered as joined together with the Godhead, by way of merit and satisfaction. He procureth the Spirit to be given and poured out, which is done by the Father and the Son on all those who are beloved in the Son. So that the Spirit is given by Christ, with the Father, as Mediator, meritoriously. For he by suffering and satisfying procured the gift. Christ himself is the first gift, yea, the greatest that ever was given, the giving of Christ to die, to satisfy the wrath of God, and to obtain eternal life. Next to that main gift is the gift of the Spirit, in which is the seed of all gifts and graces; and this we have by his merit and mediatorship. Yet this we must likewise remember, that although Christ be said to give the Spirit, as he doth, yet the Holy Spirit giveth itself too. For there is such a unity in the Trinity of consent and nature, that though the Father and the Son send the