The holy spirit as teacher

THE HOLY SPIRIT AS TEACHER
Edited by Glenn Pease
The Teaching of the Holy Ghost
by C. H. SPURGEON
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
Whatsoever I have said unto you."—John 14:26.
There are many choice gifts comprehended in the Covenant of Grace, but the first
and richest of them are these twain—the gift of Jesus Christ for us and the gift of
the Holy Ghost to us. The first of these I trust we are not likely to undervalue. We
delight to hear of that "unspeakable gift"—the Son of God, who bare our sine, and
carried our sorrows, and endured our punishment in his own body on the tree.
There is something so tangible in the cross, the nails, the vinegar, the spear, that we
are not able to forget the Master, especially when so often we enjoy the delightful
privilege of assembling round his table, and breaking bread in remembrance of him.
But the second great gift, by no means inferior to the first—the gift of the Holy
Spirit to us—is so spiritual and we are so carnal, is so mysterious and we are so
material, that we are very apt to forget its value, ay, and even to forget the gift
altogether. And yet, my brethren, let us ever remember that Christ on the cross is of
no value to us apart from the Holy Spirit in us. In vain that blood is flowing, unless
the finger of the Spirit applies the blood to our conscience; in vain is that garment of
righteousness wrought out, a garment without seam, woven from the top
throughout, unless the Holy Spirit wraps it around us, and arrays us in its costly
folds. The river of the water of life cannot quench our thirst till the Spirit presents
the goblet and lifts it to our lip. All the things that are in the paradise of God itself
could never be blissful to us so long as we are dead souls, and dead souls we are until
that heavenly wind comes from the four corners of the earth and breathes upon us
slain, that we may live. We do not hesitate to say, that we owe as much to God the
Holy Ghost as we do to God the Son. Indeed, it were a high sin and misdemeanor to
attempt to put one person of the Divine Trinity before another. Thou, O Father, art
the source of all grace, all love and mercy towards us. Thou, O Son, art the channel
of thy Father's mercy, and without thee thy Father's love could never flow to us.
And thou, O Spirit—thou art he who enables us to receive that divine virtue which
flows from the fountainhead, the Father, through Christ the channel, and by thy
means enters into our spirit, and there abides and brings forth its glorious fruit.

Magnify, then, the Spirit, ye who are partakers of it; "praise, laud, and love his
name always, for it is seemly so to do."
My work this morning is to set forth the work of the Holy Spirit, not as a Comforter,
or as a Quickener, or as a Sanctifier, but principally as a Teacher, although we shall
have to touch upon these other points in passing.
The Holy Ghost is the great Teacher of the Father's children. The Father begets us
by his own will through the word of truth. Jesus Christ takes us into union with
himself, so that we become in a second sense the children of God. Then God the
Holy Spirit breathes into us the "spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
Having given us that spirit of adoption, he trains us, becomes our great Educator,
cleanses away our ignorance, and reveals one truth after another, until at last we
comprehend with all saints what are the heights, and depths, and lengths, and
breadths, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and then the Spirit
introduces the educated ones to the general assembly and church of the firstborn
whose names are written in heaven.
Concerning this Teacher, these three things—first, what he teaches; secondly, his
methods of teaching; and thirdly, the nature and characteristics of that teaching.
I. First, then, WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES US. And here indeed we have
a wide field spread before us, for he teaches to God's people all that they do that is
acceptable to the Father, and all that they know that is profitable to themselves.
1. I say that he teaches them all that they do. Now, there are some things which you
and I can do naturally, when we are but children without any teaching. Who ever
taught a child to cry? It is natural to it. The first sign of its life is its shrill feeble cry
of pain. Ever afterwards you need never send it to school to teach it to utter the cry
of its grief, the well known expression of its little sorrows. Ah, my brethren, but you
and I as spiritual infants, had to be taught to cry; for we could not even cry of
ourselves, till we had received "the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abbe,
Father." There are cryings and groanings which cannot be uttered in words and
speech, simple as this language of the new nature seems to be. But even these
feeblest groanings, sighings, cryings, tears, are marks of education. We must be
taught to do this, or else we are not sufficient to do even these little things in and of
ourselves. Children, as we know, have to be taught to speak, and it is by degrees that
they-are able to pronounce first the shorter, and afterwards the longer words. We,
too, are taught to speak. We have none of us learned, as yet, the whole vocabulary of
Canaan. I trust we are able to say some of the words; but we shall never be able to
pronounce them all till we come into that land where we shall see Christ, and "shall
be like him; for we shall see him as he is." The sayings of the saints, when they are

good and true, are the teachings of the Spirit. Marked ye not that passage—"No
man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy Ghost?" He may say as much
in dead words, but the spirit's saying, the saying of the soul, he can never attain to,
except as he is taught by the Holy Ghost. Those first words which we ever used as
Christians—"God be merciful to me a sinner," were taught us by the Holy Spirit;
and that song which we shall sing before the throne—"Unto him that loved us, and
washed us from our sins in his own blood, to him be glory and dominion for ever
and ever," shall but be the ripe fruit of that same tree of knowledge of good and evil,
which the Holy Spirit hath planted in the soil of our hearts.
Further, as we are taught to cry, and taught to speak by the Holy Spirit, so are all
God's people taught to walk and act by Him. "It is not in man that walketh to direct
his steps." We may take the best heed to our life, but we shah stumble or go astray
unless he who first set us in the path shall guide us in it. "I taught Ephraim also to
go, taking them by their arms." "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he
leadeth me beside the still waters." To stray is natural; to keep the path of right is
spiritual. To err is human; to be holy is divine. To fall is the natural effect of evil; but
to stand is the glorious effect of the Holy Spirit working in us, both to will and to do
of his own good pleasure. There was never yet a heavenly thought, never yet a
hallowed deed, never yet a consecrated act acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, which
was not worked in us by the Holy Ghost. Thou hast worked all our works in us.
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
Now as it is with the simple deeds of the Christian, his crying, his speaking, his
walking, his acting-all these are teachings of the Holy Ghost—so is it with the higher
efforts of his nature. The preaching of the gospel, when it be done aright, is only
accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. That sermon which is based
upon human genius is worthless, that sermon which has been obtained through
human knowledge, and which has no other force in it than the force of logic or of
oratory, is spent in vain. God worketh not by such tools as these. He cleanseth not
spirits by the water from broken cisterns, neither doth he save souls by thoughts
which come from men's brains, apart from the divine influence which goeth with
them. We might have all the learning of the sages of Greece, nay, better still, all the
knowledge of the twelve apostles put together, and then we might have the tongue of
a seraph, and the eyes and heart of a Savior, but apart from the Spirit of the living
God, our preaching would yet be vain, and our hearers and ourselves would still
abide in our sins. To preach aright can only be accomplished of the Holy Spirit.
There may be a thing called preaching that is of human energy, but God's ministers
are taught of the Holy One; and when their word is blessed, either to saint or sinner,
the blessing cometh not of them, but of the Holy Ghost, and unto Him be all the

glory, for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
So is it with sacred song. Whose are the wings with which I mount towards the skies
in sacred harmony and joy? They are thy wings, O Holy Dove! Whose is the fire
with which my spirit flames at times of hallowed consecration? Thine is the flame, O
fiery Spirit! thine. Whose is the tongue of fire which rested on the apostolic lip?
Thine was that cleft tongue, thou Holy One of Israel! Whose is that dew which falls
upon the withered blade, and makes it smile and fire? Thine are those holy drops
thou Dew of God; thou aft that womb of the morning from whence these beauties of
holiness proceed. Thou hast worked an in us, and unto thee would we give well-
deserved thanks. So, then, all the doings of the Christian, both the little and the
major doings, are all the teachings of the Holy Ghost.
2. But now, farther; all that the believer truly know that is profitable to himself is
taught him by the Holy Spirit. We may learn very much from the Word of God
morally and mentally, but the Christian philosopher understands that there is a
distinction between soul and spirit; that the mere natural soul or intellect of man
may instruct itself well enough out of the Word of God, but that spiritual things are
only to be spiritually discerned, and that until that third, higher principle—the
spirit—is infused into us in regeneration, we have not even the capability or the
possibility of knowing spiritual things. Now it is this third, higher principle, of which
the apostle speaks when he speaks of "body, soul, and spirit." Mental philosophers
declare there is no such thing as the third part—spirit. They can find a body and a
soul, but no spirit. They are quite right—there is no such thing in natural men. That
third principle—the spirit—is an infusion of the Holy Ghost at regeneration, and is
not to be detected by mental philosophy; it is altogether a subtler thing; a thing too
rare, too heavenly, to be described by Dugald Stewart, or Reid, or Brown, or any of
those mighty men who could dissect the mind, but who could not understand the
spirit Now, the Spirit of God first gives us a spirit, and then afterwards educates
that spirit; and all that that spirit knows is taught it by the Holy Ghost. Perhaps the
first thing that we learn is sin: he reproves us of sin. No man knows the exceeding
sinfulness of sin, but by the Holy Ghost. You may punish a man, you may tell him of
the wrath of God, and of hen, but you cannot make him know what an evil and a
bitter thing sin is till the Holy Ghost hath taught it to him. 'Tis an awful lesson
indeed to learn, and when the Holy Spirit makes us sit down upon the stool of
penitence, and begins to drill this great truth into us, that sin is damnation in the
bud, that sin is hell in the germ: then when we begin to perceive it, we cry out, "Now
I know how vile I am, my soul abhorreth itself in dust and ashes." No man, I repeat

it, will ever know the sinfulness of sin by argument, by punishment, by moral
discipline, or by any means apart from the education of the Holy Ghost. It is a truth
beyond the reach of human intellect to know how base a thing sin is. The spirit
alone, engrafted and given by the Holy Spirit,—that spirit alone can learn the
lesson, and only the Holy Ghost can teach it.
The next lesson the Spirit teaches us, is the total ruin, depravity, and helplessness of
self. Men pretend to know this by nature, but they do not know it; they can only
speak the words of experience as parrots speak like men. But to know myself utterly
lost and ruined; to know myself so lost, "that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no
good thing," is a knowledge so distasteful, so hateful, so abominable to the carnal
intellect, that man would not learn it if he could, and if he hath learnt it, it is a clear
proof that God the Holy Spirit has made him willing to see the truth, and willing to
receive it. When we sometimes hear great preachers telling us that there is
something grand left in man yet, that when Adam fell he might have broken his little
finger, but did not ruin himself entirely, that man is a grand being, in fact a noble
creature and that we are all wrong in telling men they are depraved, and thundering
out the law of God at them—am I astonished that they should speak thus? Nay, my
brethren, it is the language of the carnal mind the whole world over, and in every
age. No wonder that a man is eloquent upon this point, every man needs to be
eloquent when he has to defend a lie. No wonder that glorious sentences have been
uttered, and flowery periods poured forth from a cornucopia of eloquence upon this
subject. A man need exhaust all logic and all rhetoric to defend a-falsehood; and it is
not a wonder that he seeks to do it, for man believes himself to be rich, and
increased in goods, and to have need of nothing, till the Holy Ghost teaches him that
he is naked, and poor, and miserable.
These lessons being learned, the Spirit proceeds to teach us further—the nature and
character of God. God is to be heard in every wind, and seen in every cloud, but not
all of God. God's goodness, and God's omnipotence, the world clearly manifesteth to
us in the works of creation, but where do I read of his grace, where do I read of his
mercy, or of his justice? There are lines which I cannot read in creation. Those must
have ears indeed who can hear the notes of mercy or of grace whispering in the
evening gale. No, brethren, these parts of God's attributes are only revealed to us in
this precious Book, and there they are so revealed that we cannot know them until
the Spirit opens our eyes to perceive them. To know the inflexibility of Divine
justice, and to see how God exacts punishment for every jot and little of sin, and yet
to know that that full-justice does not eclipse his equally full-mercy, but that the two

move around each other, without for a single instant coming into contact, or conflict,
or casting the slighest shallow one or the other; to see how God is just and yet the
justifier of the ungodly, and so to know God that my spirit loves his nature,
appreciates his attributes, and desires to be like him—this is a knowledge which
astronomy cannot teach, which all the researches of the sciences can never give to
us. We must be taught God, if we ever learn of him—we must be taught God, by
God the Holy Ghost. Oh that we may learn this lesson well, that we may be able to
sing of his faithfulness, of his covenant love, of his immutability, of his boundless
mercy, of his inflexible justice, that we may be able to talk to one another concerning
that incomprehensible One, and may see him even as a man seeth his friend; and
may come to walk with him as Enoch did all the days of our life I This, indeed, must
be an education given to us by the Holy Ghost.
But not to tarry on these points, though they are prolific of thought, let us observe
that the Holy Spirit specially teaches to us Jesus Christ. It is the Holy Ghost who
manifests the Savior to us in the glory of his person; the complex character of his
manhood and of his deity; it is he who tells us of the love of his heart, of the power of
his arm, of the clearness of his eye, the preciousness of his blood, and of the
prevalence of his plea. To know that Christ is my Redeemer, is to know more than
Plato could have taught me. To know that I am a member of his body, of his flesh
and of his bones; that my name is on his breast, and engraver on the palms of his
hands, is to know more than the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge could teach to
all their scholars, learn they never so well. Not at the feet of Gamaliel did Paul learn
to say-"He loved me, and gave himself for me." Not in the midst of the Rabbis, or at
the feet of the members of the Sanhedrim, did Paul learn to cry—"Those things
which I counted gain, I now count loss for Christ's sake." "God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." No, this must have been taught as
he himself confesseth—"not of flesh and blood, but of the Holy Ghost."
I need only hint that it is also the Spirit who teaches us our adoption. Indeed, an the
privileges of the new covenant, beginning from regeneration, running through
redemption, justification pardon, sanctification, adoption, preservation, continual
safety, even unto au abundant enhance into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ—all is the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and especially that last point, for
"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." He leads us into the truth of joys to come, carries our spirit upwards, and

gives us
"That inward calm within the breast,
The surest pledge of glorious rest,
Which for the Church of God remains,
The end of cares, the end of pains."
II. And now I come to the second point, which was this—THE METHODS BY
WHICH THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES GOD'S CHILDREN THESE PRECIOUS
THINGS.
Here we must remark that we know nothing of the precise way of operation, because
the Spirit is mysterious; we know not whence he cometh nor whither he goeth. But
still let us describe what we can perceive. And first, in teaching God's people, one of
the first things the Spirit does is to excite interest in their minds. I frequently find
that when men are being educated for the ministry, the hardest thing is to set them
going. They are like bats on the ground; if once a bat gets on the earth he cannot fly
until he creeps to the top of a stone and gets a little above the earth, and then he gets
wing and can fly well enough. So there are many who have not got their energies
aroused, they have talent but it is asleep, and we want a kind of railway-whistle to
blow in their ears to make them start up and rub away the film from their eyes so
that they may see. Now it is just so with men, when the Spirit of God begins to teach
them. He excites their interest in the things which he wishes them to learn he shows
them that these things here a personal bearing upon their soul's present and eternal
welfare. He so brings precious truth home, that what the man thought was utterly
indifferent yesterday, he now begins to esteem inestimably precious "Oh!" said he,
"theology I of what use can it be to me?" But now the knowledge of Christ and him
crucified has become to him the most desirable and excellent of all the sciences. The
Holy Spirit awakens his interest.
That done, he gives to the man a teachable spirit. There be men who will not learn.
They profess that they want to know, but you never found the right way of teaching
them. Teach them by little and little, and they easy—"Do you think I am a child?"
Tell them a great deal at once, and they say—"You have not the power to make me

comprehend!" will I have been competed sometimes to say to a man, when I have
been trying to make him understand, and he has said "I cannot understand you,"
"Well, sir, I am thankful it is not my duty to give you an understanding if you have
none." Now, the Holy Spirit makes a man willing to learn in any shape. The disciple
sits down at the feet of Christ; and let Christ speak as he may, and teach him as he
will, whether with the rod, or with a smile, he is quite willing to learn. Distasteful the
lessons are, but the regenerated pupil loves to learn best the very things he once
hated. Cutting to his pride the doctrines of the gospel each one of them may be, but
for this very reason he loves them; for he cries, "Lord, humble me; Lord, bring me
down; teach me those things that will make me cover my head with dust and ashes;
show me my nothingness; teach me my emptiness; reveal to me my filthiness." So
that the Holy Spirit thus proceeds with his work awaking interest, and enkindling a
teachable spirit. This done, the Holy Ghost in the next place sets truth in a clear
light, How bard it is sometimes to state a fact which you perfectly understand
yourself, in such a way that another man may see it. It is like the telescope; there are
many persons who are disappointed with a telescope, because whenever they walk
into an observatory and put their eye to the glass, expecting to see the rings of
Saturn, and the belts of Jupiter, they have said, "I can see nothing at all; a piece of
glass, and a grain or two of dust is all I can see!" "But," says the astronomer, when
he comes, "I can see Saturn in all her glory." Why cannot you? Because the focus
does not suit the stranger's eye. By a little skill, the focus can be altered so that the
observer may be able to see what he could not see before. So is it with language; it is
a sort of telescope by which I enable another to see my thoughts, but I cannot always
give him the right focus. Now the Holy Spirit always gives the right focus to every
truth. He sheds a light so strong and forcible upon the Word, that the spirit says.
"Now I see it, now I understand it." For even here, in this precious Book, there are
words which I have looked at a hundred times, but I could not understand them, till
at some favored hour, the key-word seemed as if it leaped up from the midst of the
verse and said to me, "Look at the verse in my light," and at once I perceived—not
always from a word in the verse itself, but sometimes in the context—I perceived the
meaning which I could not see before. This, too, is a part of the Spirit's training—to
steed a light upon truth. But the Spirit not only enlightens the truth, but he
enlightens the understanding. 'Tis marvellous, too, how the Holy Ghost does teach
men who seemed as if they never could learn. I would not wish to say anything
which my brother might be grieved at; but I do know some brethren, I won't say
they are here today, but they are not out of the place come brethren whose opinion I
would not take in anything worldly on any account. If h were anything to do with
pounds, shillings, and pence anything where human judgment was concerned, I
should not consult them; but those men have a deeper,. truer, and more
experimental knowledge of the Word of God, than many who preach it, because the
Holy Spirit never tried to teach them grammar, and never meant to. teach-them

business never wanted to teach them astronomy, but he has taught them the Word of
God, and they understand it. Other teachers have labored to beat the elements. of
science into them but without success, for they are as thick and addled in they
brains as they can well be; but the Holy Spirit teas taught them the Word of God,
and. they are clear enough there. I come in close contact with some young men.
When. we are taking our lessens for illustration out of the sciences, they seem to be
all profound, and when I ask them a question to see if they have understood; they
are lost; but, mark you, when we come to read: a chapter out of some old Puritanic
book—come to theology—those brethren give-me the smartest and sharpest answers
of the whole class. When we once some to deal with things experimental and
controversial, I find those men are able to double up their opponents, and vanquish
them at once, because they are deeply read in the Word of God. The Spirit has
taught them the things of Christ, but he has not taught them anything else. I have
perceived, also, that when the Spirit of God: has enlarged the understanding to
receive the Bible truth that understanding becomes more capable receiving other
truth. I heard, some time ago, from a brother minister, when we were comparing
notes, the story of a man who had been the dullest creature that was known. He was
not more than one grade above an idiot, but when he was converted to God, one of
the first things he wanted to do, was to read the Bible. They had a long, long teak to
teach him a verse, but he would learn it, he would master it. He stuck at it as hard as
ever he could, till he was able to read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God." That man was by-and-bye asked to
engage in prayer. At first he hardly put a sentence together. By-and-bye he arrived
at a considerable degree of fluency, because he would do it. He would not stand still,
he said, in the prayer-meeting, and not have a word to say for his Master. He began
to read his Bible much, and to pray with a great deal of profit and acceptableness to
those that heard, and after awhile, he actuary began to speak in the villages, and
became sometime after an honored and acceptable pastor of one of our Baptist
Churches. Had it not been for the Spirit of God first expanding the understanding to
receive religious truth, that understanding might have been cramped, and fettered,
and fast bolted to this very day, and the man might have been ever after an idiot,
and so have gone down to his grave, while now he stands up to tell to sinners round,
in burning language, the story of the cross of Christ. The Spirit teaches us by
enlightening the understanding.
Lest I weary you, let me hurry on through the other points. He teaches us also by
refreshing the memory. "He shall bring all things to your remembrance." He puts
all those old treasures into the ark of our soul, and when the time comes, he opens it,
and brings out these precious things in right good order, and shows them to us again

and again. He refreshes the memory, and when this is done, he does better, he
teaches us the Word, by making us feel its effect, and that, after all, is the best way
of learning. You may try to teach a child the meaning of the term "sweetness;" but
words will not avail, give him some honey and he win never forget it. You might seek
to tell him of the glorious mountains, and the Alps, that pierce the clouds and send
their snows peaks, like white-robed ambassadors up to the courts of heaven: take
him there, let him see them, and he will never forget them. You might seek to paint
to him the grandeur of the American continent, with its hills, and lakes, and rivers,
such as the world saw not before: let him go and view it, and he will know more of
the land than he could know by all your teaching, when he site at home. So the Holy
Spirit does not only tell us of Christ's love; he sheds it abroad in the heart. He does
not merely tell us of the sweetness of pardon; but he gives us a sense of no
condemnation, and then we know an about it, better than we could have done by
any teaching of words and thoughts. He takes us into the banqueting house and
waves the banner of love over us. He bids us visit the garden of nets, and makes us
lie among the lilies. He gives us that bundle of camphire, even our beloved, and bids
us place it all night betwixt our breasts. He takes us to the cross of Christ, and he
bids us put our finger into the print of the nails, and our hands into his side, and
tells us not come "faithless, but believing," and so in the highest and most effectual
manner he teacheth us to profit.
III. But now I shall come to my third point, although I feel so if I wished my subject
were somewhat less comprehensive, but indeed it is a fault which does not often
happen—to have too much rather than too little to speak of, except when we come
upon a topic where God is to be glorified, and here indeed our tongue must be like
the pen of a ready writer, when we speak of the things that we have made touching
the king.
I am now to speak to you about the CHARACTERISTICS AND NATURE OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT'S TEACHING. And first I would remark that the Holy Ghost
teaches sovereignty. He teaches whom he pleases. He takes the fool and makes him
know the wonders of the dying love of Christ, to bring aspiring wisdom low and
make the pride of man humble and abase itself. And as the Spirit teaches whom he
wills, so he teaches when he wills. He has his own hours of instruction, and he will
not be limited and bound by us. And then again he teaches as he wills—same by
affliction, some by. communion; some he teaches by the Word read, some by the
Word spoken, some by neither, but directly by his own agency. And so also the Holy
Spirit is a sovereign in that he teaches in whatever degree he pleases. He will make

one man learn much, while another comprehends but little. Some Christiana wear
their beards early—they come to a rapid and high degree of maturity, and that on a
sudden, while others creep but slowly to the goal, sad are very long in reaching it.
Some Christians in early years understand more than others whose hairs have
turned grey. The Holy Ghost is a sovereign. He doe not have all his pupils in one
class, and them all the same lesson by simultaneous instruction; but each man is in a
separate class, each man learning a separate lesson. Some beginning at the end of
the book, some at the beginning, and some in the middle—some learning one
doctrine and some another, some going backwards and some forwards. The Holy
Spirit teacheth sovereignly, and giveth to every man according as he wills, but then,
wherever he teaches at all, he teaches effectually. He never failed to make us learn
yet. No scholar was ever turned out of the Spirit's school incorrigible. He teaches all
his children, not some of them—"All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and
great shall be the peace of thy children,"—the last sentence being a proof that they
have been effectually taught. Never once did the Spirit bring home the truth to the
heart and yet that heart fail to receive it. He hath modes of touching the secret
springs of life, and putting the truth into the very core of the being. He casts his
healing mixtures into the fountain itself, and not into the streams. We instruct the
ear, and the ear is far removed from the heart; he teaches the heart itself, and
therefore his every word falleth upon good soil, and bringeth forth good and
abundant fruit—he teaches effectually. Dear brother, do you feel yourself to be a
great fool sometimes? Your great Schoolmaster will make a good scholar of you yet.
He will so teach you, that you shall be able to enter the kingdom of heaven knowing
as much as the brightest saints. Teaching thus sovereignly and effectually, I may
add, he teaches infallibly. We teach you errors through want of caution, sometimes
through over zeal, and again through the weakness of our own mind. In the greatest
preacher or teacher that ever lived there was some degree of error, and hence our
hearers should always bring what we say to the law and the testimony; but the Holy
Ghost never teaches error, if thou hast learned anything by the Spirit of God, it is
pure, unadulterated, undiluted truth. Put thyself daily under his teaching, and thou
shalt never learn a word amiss, nor a thought awry, but become infallibly taught,
well taught in the whole truth as it is in Jesus.
Further, where the Spirit thus teaches infallibly he teaches continually. Whom once
he teaches, he never leaves till he has completed their education. On, and on, and on,
however dull the scholar, however frail the memory, however vitiated the mind, he
still continues with his gracious work, till he has trained us up and made us "meet to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Nor does he leave us till he has
taught us completely; for as our text says, "He shall teach you all things." There is

not a truth so high that it shall not yet be mastered, nor a doctrine so hard that it
shall not yet be received. High up, high up, tower the heights of the hill of
knowledge, but there, when there, thy feet shall stand. Weary may be the way and
weak thy knees, but up thither thou shalt climb, and one day with thy forehead
bathed in the sunlight of heaven, thy soul shall stand and look down on tempests,
mists, and all earth's clouds and smoke, and see the Master face to face, and be like
him, and know him as he is. This is the joy of the Christian, that he shall be
completely taught, and that the Holy Spirit will never give him up till; he has taught
him all truth.
I fear, however, that this morning I weary you. Such a theme as this will not be likely
to be suitable to all minds. As I have already said, the spiritual mind alone receiveth
spiritual things, and the doctrine of the Spirit's agency will never be very interesting
to those who are entire strangers to it. I could not make another man understand
the force of an electric shock unless he has felt it. It would not be likely at all that he
would believe in those secret energies which move the world, unless he had some
means of testing for himself. And those of you that never felt the Spirit's energy, are
as much strangers to it as a stone would be. You are out of your element when you
hear of the Spirit. You know nothing of his divine power; you have never been
taught of him, and therefore how should you be careful to know what truths he
teaches?
I close, therefore, with this sorrowful reflection. Alas, alas, a thousand times alas,
that there should be so many who know not their danger, who feel not their load,
and in whose heart the light of the Holy Ghost hath never shone! Is it your case my
dear hearer, this morning? I do not ask you whether you have been ever educated in
the school of learning; that you may be, and you may have taken your degree and
been first-class in honors, but you may still be as the wild ass's colt that knows
nothing about these things. Religion, and the truth of it, is not to be learnt by the
head. Years of reading, hours of assiduous study, will never make a man a Christian.
"It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." Oh! art thou destitute
of the Spirit of the living God? For oh! I charge thee to remember this my hearer: if
in thy soul mysterious and supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit has never been
shed abroad, thou art an utter stranger to all the things of God. The promises are
not thine; heaven is not thine, thou art on thy road to the land of the dead, to the
region of the corpse, where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched. Oh
that the Spirit of God may rest upon you now! Bethink you, you are absolutely
dependent upon his influence. You are in God's hand today to be saved or to be lost

—not in your own hands, but in his. You are dead in sins; unless he quickens you,
you must remain so. The moth beneath your finger is not more absolutely at your
mercy than you are now at the mercy of God. Let him but will to leave you as you
are, and you are lost; but oh! if mercy speaks and says, "Let that man live," you are
saved. I would that you could feel the weight of this tremendous doctrine of
sovereignty. It is like the hammer of Thor, it may shake your heart however stout it
be, and make your rocky soul tremble to its base.
"Life, death, and hell, and worlds unknown,
Hang on his firm decree."
Your destiny hangs there now; and will you rebel against the God in whose hand
your sours eternal fate now rests? Will you lift the puny hand of your rebellion
against him who alone can quicken you—without whose gracious energy you are
dead, and must be destroyed? Will you go this day and sin against light and against
knowledge t Will you go to day and reject mercy which is proclaimed to you in
Christ Jesus? If so, no fool was ever so mad as you are, to reject him without whom
you are dead, and lost, and ruined. O that instead thereof there may be the sweet
whisper of the Spirit saying, "Obey the divine command, believe on Christ and live
I" Hear thou the voice of Jehovah, who cries, "This is the commandment, that ye
believe in Jesus Christ whom he hath sent?" Thus obedient, God saith within
himself, "I have set my love upon him, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on
high because he hath known my name;" and you shall yet live to sing in heaven of
that sovereignty which, when your soul trembled in the balances, decided for your
salvation, and gave you light and joy unspeakable. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
died on Calvary's cross, "and whosoever believeth on him shall be saved." "Unto
you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient the
stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a
stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." Believe that record truer cast down your
weapons; yield to the sovereignly of the Holy Ghost; and he shall assuredly prove to
you that, in that very yielding, there was a proof that he had loved you; for he made
you yield; he made you willing to bow before him in the day of his power. May the
Holy Spirit now rest on the word I have spoken, for Jesu's sake!"
HYLES, "The Holy Spirit teaches the deeper truths of the Word of God. I
Corinthians 2:9,10, "But as it is written, 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." He not only teaches us what He
said in the Book, but He teaches us what He meant when He said it. There are so
many handfuls of purpose that God has for us as we glean in the Word of God, but
this must be done under the leadership and tutorship of the Holy Spirit. There are
truths in the Word of God that the eye cannot see and that the ear cannot hear, but
He Who breathed the Book to us through holy men of old can sit beside us as we
study it, and He will teach us things not on the surface.
Another task was an illuminating and teaching ministry which enabled men to
understand that which God had revealed in the Scriptures. David, in the psalms,
seems to be especially sensitive to this ministry. Thus, when he prays that God would
“open his eyes” to behold wondrous things from God’s law (Psalm 119:18), I believe
he was praying for the teaching and illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The Teacher Spirit by Alexander Maclaren
'These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He
shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I
have said unto you.' -- JOHN xiv.25, 26.
I need not repeat what I have said in former sermons as to the wide sweep of that
word 'the Comforter,' beyond just reminding you that it means literally one who is
called to the side of another, primarily for the purpose of being his representative in
some legal process; and, more widely, for any purpose of help, encouragement, and
strength. That being so, 'Comforter,' in its modern sense of Consoler, is far too
narrow for the full force of the word, which means much rather 'Comforter,' in its
ancient and etymological sense of one who, in company with another, makes Him
strong and brave.
But the point to which I desire to turn attention now is this, that this comforting and
strengthening office of the divine Spirit is brought into immediate connection here
with the conception of Him as a Teacher. That is to say, the best strength that God,
by His Spirit, can give us is by our firm grasp and growing clearness of
understanding of the truths which are wrapped up in Jesus Christ. All power for
endurance, for service, is there, and when the Spirit of God teaches a man what God
reveals in Christ, He therein and thereby most fully discharges His office of

Strengthener.
Then note still further the other designation of this divine Teacher which is here
given: 'The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.' We might have expected, as indeed
we find in another context in this great final discourse, the 'Spirit of Truth' as
appropriate in connection with the office of teaching. But is there not a profound
lesson for us here in this, that, side by side with the thought of illumination, there
lies the thought of purity built upon consecration, which is the Scripture definition
of holiness? That suggests that there is an indissoluble connection between the real
knowledge of God's truth and practical holiness of life. That connection is of a
double sort. There is no holiness without such knowledge, and there is no such
knowledge without holiness.
There is no real knowledge of Christ and His truth without purity of heart. The man
who has no music in his soul can never be brought to understand the deep
harmonies of the great masters and magicians of sound. The man who has no eye for
beauty can never be brought to bow his spirit before some of those embodiments of
loveliness and sublimity which the painter's brush has cast upon the canvas. And the
man who has no longings after purity, nor has attained to any degree of moral
conformity with the divine image, is not in possession of the sense which is needed in
order that he should understand the 'deep things of God.'
The scholars in this school have to wash their hands before they go to school, and
come there with clean hands and clean hearts. Foulness and the love of it are bars to
all understanding of God's truth. And, on the other hand, the truest inducements,
motives, and powers for purity are found in that great word which is all 'according
to godliness,' and is meant much rather to make us good than to make us wise.
So, in this designation of the teaching Spirit as holy, there lie lessons for two classes
of people. All fanatical professions of possessing divine illumination, which are not
warranted and sealed by purity of life, are lies or self-delusion. And, on the other
hand, coldblooded intellectualism will never force the locks of the palace of divine
truth, but they that come there must have clean hands and a pure heart; and only
those who have the love and the longing for goodness will be wise scholars in
Christ's school. Your theology is nothing unless its distinct outcome is morality, and
you must be prepared to accept the painful, the punitive, the purifying influences of
that divine Spirit on your moral natures if you want to have His enlightening
influences shining on the 'truth as it is in Jesus.' 'If any man wills to do His will, he,'
and only he, 'shall know of the doctrine.' Knowledge and holiness are as inseparable
in divine things as light and heat.
And still further note that this great Teacher is 'sent by God' in Christ's name. That

pregnant phrase, 'In My name,' cannot be represented by any one form of
expression into which we may translate it, but covers a larger space. God in Christ's
name sends the Spirit. That is to say, in some deep sense God acts as Christ's
representative; just as Christ comes in the Father's name and acts as His
representative. And, again, God sends in Christ's name; that is, the historical
manifestation of Christ is the basis on which the sending of the Spirit is possible and
rests. The revelation had to be complete before He who came to unfold the meaning
of the revelation had material to work upon. The Spirit, which is sent in Christ's
name, has, for the basis of His mission, and the means by which He acts, the
recorded facts of Christ's life and death, these and none other.
And then note finally about this matter, the strong and unmistakable declaration
here, that that divine Spirit is a person: 'He shall teach you all things.' They tell us
that the doctrine of the Trinity is not in the New Testament. The word is not, but the
thing is. In this verse we have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit brought into such
close and indissoluble union as is only vindicated from the charge of blasphemy by
the belief in the divinity of each. Just as the Apostolic benediction, 'The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy
Spirit' necessarily involves the divinity of all who are thus invoked, so we stand here
in the presence of a truth which pierces into the deeps of Deity. That divine Spirit is
more than an influence. 'He shall teach,' and He can be grieved by evil and sin. I do
not enlarge upon these thoughts. My purpose is mainly to bring them out clearly
before you.
II. I pass in the second place to the consideration of the Lesson which this promised
Teacher gives.
Mark the words, 'He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.' Now as we have seen in the
exposition of the words 'in My name,' the whole subject-matter of the divine Spirit's
teaching is the life and work and death and person of Jesus Christ. 'He shall teach
you all things' is wider than 'He shall bring all things which I have said to you to
your remembrance.' But whilst that is so, the clear implication of the words before
us is that Christ is the lesson book, of which the divine Spirit is the Teacher. His
weapon, to take another metaphor, with which He plies men's hearts and minds and
wills, convincing the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, and leading
those who are convinced into deeper knowledge and larger wisdom, is the recorded
facts concerning the life and manifestation of Jesus Christ. The significance of this
lesson book, the history of our Lord, cannot be unfolded all at once. There is
something altogether unique in the incorruption and germinant power of all His
deeds and of all His words. This Carpenter of Nazareth has reached the heights
which the greatest thinkers and poets of the past have never reached, or only in little

snatches and fragments of their words. His words open out, generation after
generation, into undreamed-of wisdom, and there are found to be hived in them
stores of sweetness that were never suspected until the occasion came that drew
them forth. The world and the Church received Christ, as it were, in the dark; and,
as with some man receiving a precious gift as the morning was dawning, each fresh
moment revealed, as the light grew, new beauties and new preciousness in the thing
possessed. So Christ, in His infinite significance, fresh and new for all generations,
was given at first, and ever since the Church and the world have been learning the
meaning of the gift which they received. Christ's words are inexhaustible, and the
Spirit's teaching is to unveil more and more of the infinite significance that lies in
the apparently least significant of them.
Now, then, note that if this be our Lord's meaning here, Jesus Christ plainly
anticipated that, after His departure from earth, there should be a development of
Christian doctrine. We are often taunted with the fact, which is exaggerated for the
purpose of controversy, that a clear and full statement of the central truths which
orthodox Christianity holds, is found rather in the Apostolic epistles than in the
Master's words, and the shallow axiom is often quoted with great approbation:
'Jesus Christ is our Master, and not Paul.' I do not grant that the germs and the
central truths of the Gospel are not to be found in Christ's words, but I admit that
the full, articulate statement of them is to be found rather in the servant's letters,
and I say that that is exactly what Jesus Christ told us to expect, that after He was
gone, words that had been all obscure, and thoughts that had been only
fragmentarily intelligible, would come to be seen clearly, and would be discerned for
what they were. The earlier disciples had only a very partial grasp of Christ's
nature. They knew next to nothing of the great doctrine of sacrifice; they knew
nothing about His resurrection; they did not in the least understand that He was
going back to heaven; they had but glimmering conceptions of the spirituality or
universality of His Kingdom. Whilst they were listening to Him at that table they did
not believe in the atonement; but they dimly believed in the divinity of Jesus Christ;
they did not believe in His resurrection; they did not believe in His ascension; they
did not believe that He was founding a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom was to rule
over all the world till the end of time. None of these truths were in their mind. They
had all been in germ in His words. And after He was gone, there came over them a
breath of the teaching Spirit, and the unintelligible flashed up into significance. The
history of the Church is the proof of the truth of this promise, and if anybody says to
me, 'Where is the fulfilment of the promise of a Spirit that will bring all things to
your remembrance?' I say -- here in this Book! These four Gospels, these Apostolic
Epistles, show that the word which our Lord here speaks has been gloriously
fulfilled. Christ anticipated a development of doctrine, and it casts no slur or
suspicion on the truthfulness of the apostolic representation of the Christian truths,

that they are only sparsely and fragmentarily to be found in the records of Christ's
life,
Then there is another practical conclusion from the words before us, on which I
touch for a moment, and that is, that if Jesus Christ and the deep understanding of
Him be the true lesson of the divine, teaching Spirit, then real progress consists, not
in getting beyond Christ, but in getting more fully into Him. We hear a great deal in
these days about advanced thought and progressive Christianity. I hope I believe in
the continuous advance of Christian thought as joyfully as any man, but my notion
of it -- and I humbly venture to say Christ's notion of it -- is to get more and more
into His heart, and to find within Him, and not away from Him, 'all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge.' We leave all other great men behind. All other teachers'
words become feeble by age, as their persons become ghostly, wrapped in thickening
folds of oblivion; but the progress of the Church consists in absorbing more and
more of Christ, in understanding Him better, and becoming more and more
moulded by His influence. The Spirit's teaching brings out the ever fresh
significance of the ancient and perpetual revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
III. And now, lastly, note the Scholars.
Primarily, of course, these are the Apostolic group but the Apostles, in all these
discourses, stand as the representatives of the Church, and not as separated from it.
And whilst the teaching Spirit could 'bring to the remembrance' of those only who
first heard them 'the words that He said unto them,' that Spirit's teaching function
is not limited to those who listened to the Lord Jesus. The fire that was kindled on
Pentecost has not died down into grey ashes, nor the river that then broke forth
been sucked up by thirsty sands of successive generations, but the fire is still with us,
and the river still flows near our lips, and we, too, may be taught by that divine
Spirit. For this very Evangelist, in writing his Epistle, has at least two distinct
references to, and almost verbal quotations of, this promise, when he says,
addressing all his Asiatic brethren, 'Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and
know all things.' And again, 'The unction which ye have of Him abideth with you,
and ye need not that any man should teach you.'
So, then, Christian men and women, every believing soul has this divine Spirit for
His Teacher, and the humblest of us may, if we will, learn of Him and be led by Him
into profounder knowledge of that great Lord.
Oh! dear brethren, the belief in the actual presence with the Church of a Spirit that
teaches all faithful members thereof, is far too much hesitatingly held by the
common Christianity of this day. We ought to be the standing witnesses in the world
of the reality of a supernatural influence, and how can we be, if we do not believe it

ourselves, and never feel that we are under it?
But whilst a continuous inspiration from that self-same Spirit is the prerogative of
all believing souls, let us not forget that the early teaching is the standard by which
all such must be tried. As to the first disciples the office of the divine Spirit was to
bring before them the deep significance of their Master's life and words, so to us the
office of the teaching Spirit is to bring to our minds the deep significance of the
record by these earliest scholars of what they learned from Him. The authority of
the New Testament over our faith is based upon these words, and Paul's warning
applies especially to this generation, with its thoughts about a continuous inspiration
and outgrowing of the New Testament teaching: 'If a man think himself to be
spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the
commandments of the Lord.'
Now from all this take three counsels. Let this great promise fill us with shame.
Look at Christendom. Does it not contradict such words as these? Disputatious
sects, Christians scarcely agreed upon any one of the great central doctrines, seem a
strange fulfilment. The present condition of Christendom does not prove that Jesus
Christ did not send the Spirit, but it does prove that Christ's followers have been
wofully remiss and negligent in their acceptance and use of the Spirit. What slow
scholars we are! How little we have learnt! How we have let passion, prejudice,
human voices, the babble of men's tongues, anybody and everybody, take the office
of teaching us God's truth, instead of waiting before Him and letting His Spirit
teach us! It is the shame of us Christians that, with such a Teacher, we, 'when for the
time we ought to be teachers, have need that one teach us again which be the first
principles of the oracles of Christ!'
Let it fill us with desire and with diligence. Let it fill us with calm hope. They tell us
that Christianity is effete. Have we got all out of Jesus Christ that is in Him? Is the
process that has been going on for all these centuries to stop now? No! Depend upon
it that the new problems of this generation will find their solution where the old
problems of past generations have found theirs, and the old commandment of the
old Christ will be the new commandment of the new Christ.
Foolish men, both on the Christian and on the anti-Christian side, stand and point
to the western sky and say, 'The Sun is setting.' But there is a flush in the opposite
horizon in an hour, as at midsummer; and that which sank in the west rises fresh
and bright in the east for a new day. Jesus Christ is the Christ for all the ages and
for every soul, and the world will only learn more and more of His inexhaustible
fullness. So let us be ever quiet, patient, hopeful amidst the babble of tongues and
the surges of controversy, assured that all change will but make more plain the
inexhaustible significance of the infinite Christ, and that humble and obedient

hearts will ever possess the promised Teacher, nor ever cry in vain, 'Teach me to do
Thy will, for Thou art my God. Thy Spirit is good, lead me into the land of
uprightness.'
Candlish, James Stuart, 1835
SPIRIT AS A WITNESS AND TEACHER.
The agency of the Holy Spirit in originating and carrying on the
new life of Christian faith and love in the soul may be said to
include the whole of what He does in us for our salvation ; for
it includes the renewal and sanctification of the whole man, and
might be traced in detail through the various parts of our nature,
the mind, the conscience, the heart, the will. To attempt this,
however, would involve us in psychological discussions on
which Scripture, as it is written for practical rather than theoretical
ends, affords little direct light. There is, however, one special
aspect of the Spirit's work which it is practically important to
consider separately, and which has a distinct prominence given
it in the New Testament, His work on the mind, as a witness
and teacher. It was in this character especially that Jesus
promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples (John xiv. 26, xv. 26) ;
in the character of a witness He is appealed to by the apostles
(Acts v. 32 ; Heb. ii. 4) ; and His work in teaching and witnessing
is described as assuring the faith of believers (Rom. viii. 16 ;
1 Cor. ii. 4, 10-16 ; 1 John ii. 20, 27, v. 7—1 1). These and other
passages speak so emphatically of a witness or teaching of
the Spirit, as to lead us to inquire specially what this means,

and how it is realized. They describe the Spirit of God as
not merely working in us, but addressing Himself to us, and
communicating knowledge and certainty of the truth.
According to the usage of Scripture language, the words,
" teach," "testify," and the like, may be used of impersonal things
which by their existence or appearance convey knowledge to
men. So it is said, " The heavens declare the glory of God, and
the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth
speech, and night unto night teacheth knowledge" (Ps. xix. 1) ;
and again, the water and the blood bear witness as well as the
Spirit (1 John v. 8). In some of the passages above referred to,
the Holy Spirit may be said to testify simply in this way, the
fact of Jesus' disciples being endowed with spiritual gifts being
a proof of the divine authority and exaltation of Jesus. But it is
impossible fairly to apply this explanation to all those statements ;
some of them plainly have a different meaning. Where passages
from the Old Testament are quoted with the phrase, "the Holy
Spirit saith," "the Holy Spirit beareth witness" (Heb. iii. 7,
x. 15), the meaning is that the sacred writers having been
moved by the Holy Spirit, their teaching is that of the Spirit to
us. In the same sense Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit testifying,
through the utterances of Christian prophets, that bonds and
afflictions awaited him (Acts xx. 23). Now when we find such
expressions used ; we cannot doubt that Jesus' saying to His

disciples, that the Holy Spirit would teach them, and testify
along with them (John xv. 26, xvi. 13-15), meant that He would
communicate truth to them, and through them to others. This
promise includes the inspiration of the apostles and prophets
of the New Testament ; while in the light of other sayings we
can hardly doubt that it conveys also a promise of the teaching
of the Spirit to all who believe in Jesus. For John says to
Christians in general, " Ye have an anointing from the Holy One,
and ye know all things, . . . and his anointing teacheth you
concerning all things" (1 John ii. 20, 27). This plainly means
that this divine anointing, which is the Holy Spirit, teaches us
not merely by the fact of the effects which it produces, or by
the utterances of inspired men, but by a direct communication
to our souls. The same thing is taught by Paul, when he says
that " his speech and his preaching were in demonstration of
the Spirit and of power," that is, his gospel had been proved to
them by the Spirit and by power. This cannot refer to any
miraculous gifts of the Spirit ; for these would have formed a sign,
such as the Jews vainly sought : it can only mean, that the
Holy Spirit showed to the hearers the truth of the gospel. So
also, when he writes to the Thessalonians, that the gospel came
to them in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance
(1 Thess. i. 5), he must mean that the Holy Spirit enabled them
to see the gospel to be the word of God, and to embrace it as
such. This is in the fullest sense a testimony of the Spirit;

because the gospel comes to us as the word of God given by
His Spirit, and the same Spirit enables us to see that it is so.
This latter work is not an objective communication of truth
additional to what is contained in the gospel, but a subjective
opening of our minds to see it. God gives the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of him, that the eyes of our
understanding being enlightened, we may know what is the hope
of His calling (Eph. i. 17, 18). When the Holy Spirit thus works
in us along with the gospel, we have the testimony of the Spirit
in and with the word in our hearts, which gives us absolute
certainty that the gospel is the word of God.
In the same way the Spirit interprets the word to us, and
enables us to understand its true meaning ; and this in accord-
ance with the principles that are universally applicable in such
matters. In order to understand correctly any writing, we must
not only be acquainted with the language in which it is written,
and the things of which it treats, but also have something in us of
the spirit of the writer. Poetry, for instance, is unintelligible to
those who have nothing of the poetic spirit in them, and many
exquisite poems are not only unappreciated, but entirely mis-
understood, by those who are destitute of imaginative feeling.
So also one may read a work of philosophy, understanding the
meaning of all the words and sentences, and yet have no real
apprehension of the problems that are dealt with, so that the

whole treatise may seem to such a one unintelligible or foolish,
In like manner the expressions of religious feelings and experi-
ences by men like Augustine, Luther, Cromwell, or Bunyan, have
often seemed insane ravings or hypocritical pretences to critics,
acute enough in the judgment of worldly matters, but strangers
to such deep spiritual experience. The only way in which this
want of understanding can be remedied is the personal contact
of soul with soul. If we not merely read or hear the words of
poetry or philosophy, but have direct intercourse with a living
man in whom is the poetic or philosophic spirit, we may come to
have a feeling and insight into the meaning of these studies, such
as we had not before ; and many can look back to a time when
the understanding of poetry or of philosophy was first opened to
them in some such way. Only in all such cases what is done is
to awaken or call into exercise a faculty that already exists in
the soul ; in the revelation of spiritual truths there is needed a
power that can revive the faculty of spiritual discernment from
a state in which it is practically impotent. Hence, however useful
and helpful human aid may be, it must be the work of the Spirit
of God to enable us really to know the things that are freely
given to us by God.
This work of the Spirit is the foundation of the certainty of our
faith, as resting not merely on the testimony of men but on that
of God. Under His teaching we may have, not only a probable

opinion, but a full assurance in regard to the things that concern
our spiritual life and comfort. These are, the fact that God has
spoken and does speak to us, the meaning of the message He
addresses to us, and our personal interest in His promises. For
none of these do we need to depend either on the authority of
men, or on the inferences of reason, when we have the testimony
of the Spirit of God ; though both the experience of other men,
and the rational powers of our own minds, are useful as auxiliaries
and confirmations of our faith.
The Holy Spirit gives us infallible assurance that God has
spoken at sundry times and in divers manners by the prophets,
and in the last days by His Son ; and how great a thing is it to be
assured of that, so that we are not left to feel after Him in the
dark by the indirect discovery of His works, but have His voice
speaking personally to us ! His voice indeed carries its own
evidence with it ; for it is worthy of Himself, divine, so that He
challenges comparison with all counterfeits : " What is the chaff
to the wheat ? saith the Lord. Is not my word like as a fire, and
like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" (Jer. xxiii. 28,
29). But unless the Spirit, through whom the word is given, open
our ears to hear it, we cannot perceive this ; when He does so,
then we recognise the voice of God, and the saying of Jesus about
Himself as the true shepherd is fulfilled, " The sheep follow him,
for they know his voice, and a stranger they will not follow, for

they know not the voice of strangers." The majesty, and holiness,
and truthfulness, and tenderness, and grace, that shine in the
word of God, the power with which it awakens the conscience
and melts the heart, are demonstrations of its divine origin to
those who are enabled by the Holy Spirit to perceive them ; and
thus by the witness of the Spirit they are assured that God does
really speak to them.
But men have understood this word in so many different ways,
that it seems difficult or impossible to be sure about its meaning.
Hence we need a guide in the interpretation of it. Yet that is not
to be sought for outside, in the teaching of the learned, or of the
Church, but in the Holy Spirit enabling us to receive God's word
in meekness of wisdom, and understand its plain meaning in its
own light. Jesus promised that the Comforter would take of His
and show it to His disciples, and the apostles pray that their
converts may be enlightened by the Spirit to understand the truth.
There are indeed many things in the Bible about the meaning of
which competent and candid scholars doubt or differ, and prob-
ably will always do so ; but these are matters of subordinate
importance ; and when there are differences about the main drift
of its teaching, these arise from carelessness, or prejudice, or
presumption : and when the Holy Spirit frees the mind from the
warping influence of these, and enables us to read the word with
simplicity, docility, and diligence, its meaning, as to the great

essentials, is plain and certain to us.
But further, the believer receives the word of God as a personal
message of God to him, and testimony of God's goodwill to him
in Christ ; and in this aspect of it also the Holy Spirit gives us
assurance of its truth. The gospel is not indeed addressed to
each individual by name, as God's words have sometimes been to
the prophets ; but it is addressed to men in general, and testifies
to each one God's earnest desire that he should be saved from
sin, and the certainty of his being saved if he will but trust in
Jesus. Now if this were all, we should have a divine testimony to
the general truth of the gospel, but not to our personal interest in
it ; that we could only learn from our own reflection or examina-
tion of ourselves. That can give us some knowledge, but it can
never be absolutely certain. But along with the call of the gospel,
the Holy Spirit works in our hearts, moving and enabling us to
receive it in faith, and to enter into the enjoyment and apprecia-
tion of its blessings. When He thus enables us personally to
return to our God, and receive His free forgiveness and recon-
ciling love, even as the prodigal son returned to his father ; when
He leads us to know the peace and joy that come with such faith ;
when He gives us boldness to cry to God, " Our Father in
heaven," can we have any doubt that God is gracious to us, and
that we are reconciled to Him ? Have we not a witness of this in
our hearts, the witness not merely of our own consciousness or

conscience, but of the Spirit of God dwelling and working in us ?
" The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit
which is given to us." " The Spirit itself beareth witness with
our spirits that we are the children of God." " He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in him, . . . and the witness
is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son" (Rom. v. 5, viii. 16; 1 John v. 16).
It is to be observed that this function of the Holy Spirit as our
teacher and witness is not a thing distinct and apart from His
general work in renewing and sanctifying our souls. He enables
us to see the Scriptures to be the Word of God, to understand
their true meaning, and to be assured of God's goodwill to us,
and of our interest in His promises, no otherwise than by bringing
our minds and hearts into sympathy and harmony with God's
mind and heart as declared in His word : and that is just the
work wherein our sanctification consists. To revert to the analogy
before noticed, just as we come to understand and appreciate
poetry or philosophy more deeply and truly, the more we grow
in the poetic or philosophic spirit ; so it is in proportion as we
advance in Christian life in general, that we learn to perceive
more easily, more correctly, and more fully, the mind of God in
His word. Hence we find that enlightenment is promised in
Scripture to various spiritual graces. " To him that ordereth his
way aright will I show the salvation of God" (Ps. 1. 23). " Unto

the upright there ariseth light in the darkness " (Ps. cxii. 4).
" If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching"
(John vii. 17). "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God" (Matt. v. 8). "Every one that loveth knoweth God"
(1 John iv. 7). This is what secures this great truth of the
testimony of the Holy Spirit from the danger of being perverted
into an encouragement to fanaticism, by men mistaking the
suggestions of their own fancy, or interest, or wishes, for the
teaching of the Holy Spirit. If it is ever borne in mind, on the
one hand that the Spirit's testimony is in and with the Word, and
on the other hand that it is just a special aspect of the work of
sanctification as a whole ; these abuses of this doctrine may be
avoided, and it may be seen to be consistent with truth and
soberness, and in harmony with well-ascertained facts of our
experience.
Of the way in which the Holy Spirit as a teacher is a guide to
believers, in the details of practical life, and the steps they should
take in various circumstances, we have a remarkable illustration
in Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians, both in the advice he gives
to them, and in what he says about his own plans and proceedings.
They had asked his opinion on several questions of practical
conduct, about marriage, about meats offered to idols, about the
conduct of religious meetings, and the exercise of spiritual gifts ;
and he gives answers to these inquiries in successive sections of

his first epistle to them. In them all he carries the question of
detail in the first place up to some general principle, on which
the Word of God gives a clear and authoritative decision ; then
he indicates how the application of this may be modified by
circumstances, and how in some cases other principles come to
bear upon the question, so as to define the path of duty one way
or another ; then he refers to various alternative suppositions,
as to what might occur in actual life, and shows how
the general principles of Scripture determine the right course
variously in various circumstances. In each of these discussions
we see lofty and comprehensive principles laid down ; but then
these are not left in their generality, but at the same time are so
explained and applied to actual cases, that we have not mere vague
commonplaces, but distinct directions capable of being applied
and acted upon in practice. Now what has enabled Paul thus to
combine lofty principles with precise application, is his ample
acquaintance with Scripture, his clear apprehension of its real
meaning, and his thorough sympathy with its spirit, and honest
resolution to apply it fearlessly to varying circumstances. But
these are qualities that may be possessed by ordinary Christians,
without Paul's supernatural inspiration or rare intellectual gifts.
If the Word of God dwell in us richly, so that we can readily
perceive, when any practical question arises, what general prin-
ciple Scripture has given which covers it ; if we have a clear and
right apprehension of the meaning of that principle, and if we are

free from the tendency to apply it in a one-sided way, and are
resolved honestly to decide and act upon it, then we may see how it
plainly directs our path of duty : the Word of God is a lamp to our
feet and a light to our path ; but it is the Holy Spirit, quickening
and nourishing Christian life in us, that enables us to use it as such.
Still more strikingly do we see this guidance of the Spirit in
Paul's own conduct, as it comes out in these epistles. When he
wrote his first epistle, he had already given up a former intention of
going at once to them, from Ephesus, before the visit he had to
pay to the churches in Macedonia. He made this change because
he desired to make a longer stay with them (1 Cor. xvi. 5, 6) ; and
also, as he assures them in his later letter, to spare them and give
them time to reform the abuses for which he had blamed them,
so that he might not have to come to them with the sorrowful
duty of exercising discipline (2 Cor. i. 23-ii. 3). Thus we see
how in this matter of timing his journeys he was guided by high
Christian principle. The great opportunity, and at the same
time the dangers of the work at Ephesus, determined him to
remain there till Pentecost (1 Cor. xvi. 8, 9) ; but when he had
left that city, his anxiety about the Corinthian Church impelled
him to hurry on from Troas to Macedonia to meet Titus (2 Cor.
ii. 12, 13). Here we see him led, not so much by calm considera-
tion of duty, as by warm impulse of Christian love. Again, in the
arrangements he makes about the second mission of Titus to
Corinth with the delegates of the Macedonian churches, we see how

Paul was guided by the high principle of providing things honour-
able not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men (2 Cor.
viii. 6-21;. Throughout these proceedings he was evidently
guided by the general precepts of Scripture, to which he frequently
refers ; while we cannot but admire the clearness and practical
wisdom with which he sees the application of these general
precepts to the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed.
We seem to see in this how he was guided by the Spirit in his
Christian walk; and so, when he was accused of duplicity or
indecision in his proceedings, he asserts his disinterestedness
and straightforwardness, and declares that he has been enabled
in this to imitate the stedfastness of Christ Himself, because God
has anointed and sealed him and given the earnest of the Spirit
(2 Cor. i. 19-22); while at the same time he indicates that this is
not a privilege peculiar to him, but a blessing in which they and
all believers may share. " He who establisheth us with you unto
Christ is God."
GOD of love and power,
Behold us drawing near,
And choosing Thine appointed hour
To worship in Thy fear.
The very hour of old
Wherein Thy Spirit came

Upon the apostles of Thy fold,
Like cloven tongues of flame.
O gracious Lord, do Thou
That Holy Spirit send
To dwell with us and guide us now,
And teach us to the end.
From men below the skies,
And all the heavenly host.
To God the Father praise arise,
To Son and Holy Ghost
Taught of the Spirit by A. PINK
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My
name, He shall teach you all things" (John 14:26). Those words received their first
fulfillment in the men to whom they were immediately addressed-the Apostles were
so filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit that their proclamation of the Gospel was
without flaw, and their writings without error. Those original ambassadors of Christ
were so taught by the Third Person in the Trinity that what they delivered was the
very mind of God. The second fulfillment of the Savior's promise has been in those
men whom He called to preach His Gospel throughout the Christian era. No new
revelations have been made to them, but they were, and are, according to their
varied measure, and the particular work assigned to them, so enlightened by the
Spirit that the Truth of God has been faithfully preached by them. The third and
widest application of our Lord's words are unto the entire Household of Faith, and
it is in this sense we shall now consider them.
It is written, "And all Your children shall be taught of the LORD" (Isaiah 54:13 and
cf. John 6:45). This is one of the great distinguishing marks of the regenerate: all of
them are "taught of the LORD." There are multitudes of unregenerate religionists
who are taught, numbers of them well taught, in the letter of the Scriptures. They
are thoroughly versed in the historical facts and doctrines of Christianity; but their

instruction came only from human media-parents, Sunday School teachers, or
through reading religious books. Their intellectual knowledge of spiritual things is
considerable, sound, and clear; yet is it unaccompanied by any heavenly unction,
saving power, or transforming effects. In like manner, there are thousands of
preachers who abhor the errors of "Modernists" and who contend earnestly for the
Faith. They were taught in Bible Institutes, and theological schools, yet it is to be
feared that many of them are total strangers to a miracle of grace being wrought in
the heart. How it each of us to test ourselves rigidly at this point!
It is a common fact of observation-which anyone may test for himself-that a very
large percentage of those who constitute the membership of evangelical
denominations were first taken there in childhood by their parents. The great
majority in the Presbyterian churches today had a father or mother who was a
Presbyterian and who instructed the offspring in their beliefs. The same is true of
Baptists, the Methodists, and those who are in fellowship at the Brethren assemblies.
The present generation has been brought up to believe in the doctrines and religious
customs of their ancestors. Now we are far from saying that because a man who is a
Presbyterian today had parents and grandparents that were Presbyterians and who
taught him the Westminster Catechism, that therefore all the knowledge he
possesses of Divine things is but traditional and theoretical. No indeed. Yet we do say
that such a training in the letter of the Truth makes it more difficult, and calls for a
more careful self-examination, to ascertain whether or not he has been taught of the
Lord.
Though we do not believe that Grace runs in the blood, yet we are convinced that,
as a general rule, (having many individual exceptions), God does place His elect in
families where at least one of the parents loves and seeks to serve Him, and where
that elect soul will be nurtured in the fear and admonition of the Lord. At least
three-fourths of those Christians whom the writer has met and had opportunity to
question, had a praying and Scripture-reading father or mother. Yet, on the other
hand, we are obliged to acknowledge that three-fourths of the empty professors we
have encountered also had religious parents, who sent them to Sunday School and
sought to have them trained in their beliefs: and these now rest upon their
intellectual knowledge of the Truth, and mistake it for a saving experience of the
same. And it is this class which it is the hardest to reach: it is much more difficult to
persuade such to examine themselves as to whether or not they have been taught of
God, than it is those who make no profession at all.
Let it not be concluded from what has been pointed out that, where the Holy Spirit
teaches a soul, He dispenses with all human instrumentality. Not so. It is true the
Spirit is sovereign and therefore works where He pleases and when He pleases. It is
also a fact that He is Almighty, tied down to no means, and therefore works as He
pleases and how He pleases. Nevertheless, He frequently condescends to employ
means, and to use very feeble instruments. In fact, this seems to generally
characterize His operations: that He works through men and women, and
sometimes through little children. Yet, let it be said emphatically, that no preaching,
catechizing or reading produces any vital and spiritual results unless God the Spirit
is pleased to bless and apply the same unto the heart of the individual. Thus there

are many who have passed from death unto life and been brought to love the Truth
under the Spirit's application of a pious parent's or Sunday School teacher's
instruction-while there are some who never enjoyed such privileges yet have been
truly and deeply taught by God.
Tests for the Spirit's Teaching
From all that has been said above a very pertinent question arises, How may I know
whether or not my teaching has been by the Holy Spirit? The simple but sufficient
answer is, By the effects produced. First, that spiritual knowledge which the teaching
of the Holy Spirit imparts is an operative knowledge. It is not merely a piece of
information which adds to our mental store, but is a species of inspiration which
stirs the soul into action. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). The light which the Spirit
imparts reaches the heart. It warms the heart, and sets it on fire for God. It masters
the heart, and brings it into allegiance to God. It molds the heart, and stamps upon
it the image of God. Here, then, is a sure test: how far does the teaching you have
received, the knowledge of Divine things you possess, affect your heart?
Second, that knowledge which the teaching of the Spirit imparts is a soul-humbling
knowledge. "Knowledge puffs up" (1 Corinthians 8:1), that is a notional,
theoretical, intellectual knowledge which is merely received from men or books in a
natural way. But that spiritual knowledge which comes from God reveals to a man
his empty conceits, his ignorance and worthlessness, and abases him. The teaching
of the Spirit reveals our sinfulness and vileness, our lack of conformity to Christ, our
unholiness; and makes a man little in his own eyes. Among those born of women was
not a greater than John the Baptist: wondrous were the privileges granted him,
abundant the light he was favored with. What effect had it on him? "He it is, who
coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to
unloose" (John 1:27). Who was granted such an insight into heavenly things as Paul!
Did he herald himself as "The greatest Bible teacher of the age"? No. "Unto me,
who am less than the least of all saints" (Ephesians 3:8). Here, then, is a sure test:
how humble you?
Third, that knowledge which the teaching of the Holy Spirit imparts is a world-
despising knowledge. It makes a man have poor, low, mean thoughts of those things
which his unregenerate fellows (and which he himself, formerly) so highly esteem. It
opens his eyes to see the transitoriness and comparative worthlessness of earthly
honors, riches and fame. It makes him perceive that all under the sun is but vanity
and vexation of spirit. It brings him to realize that the world is a flatterer, a deceiver,
a liar, and a murderer which has fatally deceived the hearts of millions. Where the
Spirit reveals eternal things, temporal things are scorned. Those things which once
were gain to him, he now counts as loss; yes, as dross and dung (Philippians 3:4-9).
The teaching of the Spirit raises the heart high above this poor perishing world.
Here is a sure test: does your knowledge of spiritual things cause you to hold
temporal things with a light hand, and despise those baubles which others
Fourth, the knowledge which the teaching of the Spirit imparts is a transforming
knowledge. The light of God shows how far, far short we come of the standard Holy

Writ reveals, and stirs us unto holy endeavors to lay aside every hindering weight,
and run with patience the race set before us. The teaching of the Spirit causes us to
"deny ungodliness and worldly lusts," and to "live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in this present world" (Titus 2:12). "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as
by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18). Here, then, is a sure test: how far
does my knowledge of spiritual things influence my heart, govern my will, and
regulate my life? Does increasing light lead to a more tender conscience, more
Christlike character and conduct? If not, it is
The Spirit Applies Knowledge to the Heart
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My
name, He shall teach you all things" (John 14:26). How urgently we need a Divine
Teacher! A natural and notional knowledge of Divine things may be obtained
through men, but a spiritual and experimental knowledge of them can only be
communicated by God Himself. I may devote myself to the study of the Scriptures in
the same ways as I would to the study of some science or the mastering of a foreign
language. By diligent application, persevering effort, and consulting works of
reference (commentators, etc.), I may steadily acquire a comprehensive and
accurate acquaintance with the letter of God's Word, and become an able expositor
thereof. But I cannot obtain a heart-affecting, a heart-purifying, and a heart-
molding knowledge thereof. None but the Spirit of truth can write God's Law on my
heart, stamp God's image upon my soul, and sanctify me by the Truth.
Conscience informs me that I am a sinner; the preacher may convince me that
without Christ I am eternally lost; but neither the one nor the other is sufficient to
move me to receive Him as my Lord and Savior. One man may lead a horse to the
water, but no 10 men can make him drink when he is unwilling to do so. The Lord
Jesus Himself was "anointed to preach the Gospel" (Luke 4:18), and did so with a
zeal for God's glory and a compassion for souls such as none other ever had; yet He
had to say to His hearers, "You will not come to Me, that you might have life" (John
5:40). What a proof is that, that something more is required above and beyond the
outward presentation of the Truth. There must be the inward application of it to the
heart with Divine power if the will is to be moved. And that is what the teaching of
the Spirit consists of: it is an effectual communication of the Word which works
powerfully within the soul.
Why is it that so many professing Christians change their view so easily and
quickly? What is the reason there are so many thousands of unstable souls who are
"tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of
men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive" (Ephesians 4:14)?
Why is it that this year they sit under a man who preaches the Truth and claim to
believe and enjoy his messages; while next year they attend the ministry of a man of
error and heartily embrace his opinions? It must be because they were never taught
of the Spirit. "I know that, whatever God does, it shall be forever: nothing can be
put to it, nor anything taken from it" (Ecclesiastes 3:14). What the Spirit writes on
the heart remains: "The anointing which you have received of Him abides in you" (1
John 2:27), and neither man nor devil can efface it.

Why is it that so many professing Christians are unfruitful? Month after month,
year after year, they attend upon the means of grace, and yet remain unchanged.
Their store of religious information is greatly increased, their intellectual knowledge
of the Truth is much advanced, but their lives are not transformed. There is no
denying of self, taking up their cross, and following a despised Christ along the
narrow way of personal holiness. There is no humble self-abasement, no mourning
over indwelling sin, no mortification of the same. There is no deepening love for
Christ, evidenced by a running in the way of His commandments. Such people are
"ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy
3:7), that is that "knowledge" which is vital, experimental, affecting, and
transforming. They are not taught of the Spirit.
Why is it in times of temptation and death that so many despair? Because their
house is not built upon the Rock. Hence, as the Lord Jesus declared, "the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and
itself' (Matthew 7:27). It could not endure the testing: when trouble and trial,
temptation and tribulation came, its insecure foundation was exposed. And note the
particular character Christ there depicted: "Everyone that hears these sayings of
Mine, (His precepts in the much-despised "Sermon on the Mount") and does them
not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand" (v.
26). Men may go on in worldly courses, evil practices, sinful habits, trusting in a
head-knowledge of Christ to save them; but when they reach "the swelling of
Jordan" (Jeremiah 12:5) they will prove the insufficiency of it.
Ah, dear reader, a saving knowledge is not a knowledge of Divine things, but is a
Divinely-imparted knowledge. It not only has God for its Object, but God for its
Author. There must be not only a knowledge of spiritual things, but a spiritual
knowledge of the same. The light which we have of them must be answerable to the
things themselves: we must see them by their own light. As the things themselves are
spiritual, they must be imparted and opened to us by the Holy Spirit. Where there is
a knowledge of the Truth which has been wrought in the heart by the Spirit, there is
an experimental knowledge of the same, a sensible consciousness, a persuasive and
comforting perception of their reality, an assurance which nothing can shake. The
Truth then possesses a sweetness, a preciousness, which no inducement can cause
the soul to part with it.
What the Spirit Teaches
Now as to what it is which the Spirit teaches us, we have intimated, more or less, in
previous chapters. First, He reveals to the soul "the exceeding sinfulness of sin"
(Romans 7:13), so that it is filled with horror and anguish at its baseness, its
excuselessness, its turpitude. It is one thing to read of the excruciating pain which
the gout or gall stones will produce, but it is quite another thing for me to experience
the well-near unbearable suffering of the same. In like manner, it is one thing to
hear others talking of the Spirit convicting of sin, but it is quite another for Him to
teach me that I am a rebel against God, and give me a taste of His wrath burning in
my conscience. The difference is as great as looking at a painted fire, and being
thrust into a real one.
Second, the Spirit reveals to the soul the utter futility of all efforts to save itself. The

first effect of conviction in an awakened conscience is to attempt the rectification of
all that now appears wrong in the conduct. A diligent effort is put forth to make
amends for past offenses, painful penances are readily submitted to, and the
outward duties of religion are given earnest attendance. But by the teaching of the
Spirit the heart is drawn off from resting in works of righteousness which we have
done (Titus 3:5), and this, by His giving increasing light, so that the convicted soul
now perceives he is a mass of corruption within, that his very prayers are polluted
by selfish motives, and that unless God will save him, his
Third, the Spirit reveals to the soul the suitability and sufficiency of Christ to meet
its desperate needs. It is an important branch of the Spirit's teaching to open the
Gospel to those whom He has quickened, enlightened, and convicted-and to open
their understanding and affections to take in the precious contents of the Gospel.
"He shall glorify Me" said the Savior, "for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show
it unto you" (John 16:14). This is His prime function: to magnify Christ in the
esteem of "His own." The Spirit teaches the believer many things, but His supreme
subject is Christ: to emphasize His claims, to exalt His Person, to reveal His
perfections, to make Him superlatively attractive. Many things in Nature are very
beautiful, but when the sun shines upon them, we appreciate their splendor all the
more. Thus it is when we are enabled to 's teaching.
The Spirit continues to teach the regenerate throughout the remainder of their lives.
He gives them a fuller and deeper realization of their own native depravity,
convincing them that in the flesh there dwells no good thing, and gradually weaning
them from all expectation of improving the same. He reveals to them "the beauty of
holiness," and causes them to pant after and strive for an increasing measure of the
same. He teaches them the supreme importance of inward piety.
From God on the net
THE TEACHING
WORK OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT
IN BELIEVERS
THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES ALL THINGS.
The Holy Spirit guides the believer into all the truth.
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you
what is yet to come.
This promise was made in the first instance to the Apostles, but the Apostles
themselves applied it to all believers.
1 John 2:20, 27 [20] But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you
know the truth. [27] As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in
you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you
about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit -- just as it has taught
you, remain in him.

It is the privilege of each of us to be "taught of God." Each believer is independent
of human teachers -- "you need not that any man teach you." This does not mean, of
course, that we may not learn much from others who are taught of the Holy Spirit.
If John had thought that he would never have written this epistle to teach others.
The man who is most fully taught of God, is the very one who will be most ready to
listen to what God has taught others. Much less does it mean that when we are
taught of the Spirit we are independent of the Word of God. For the Word is the
very place to which the Spirit leads His pupils and the instrument through which He
instructs them.
Ephesians 6:17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God.
John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have
spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
Ephesians 5:18-19 [18] Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.
Instead, be filled with the Spirit. [19] Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and
admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
But while we may learn much from men we are not dependent upon them. We have
a Divine teacher, the Holy Spirit.
We shall never truly know the truth until we are taught by the Spirit. No amount of
mere human teaching, no matter who our teachers may be, will give us a correct
understanding of the truth; not even a diligent study of the Word either in the
English or original languages will give us a real understanding of the truth. We
must be taught by the Holy Spirit. And each of us may be so taught. The one who is
so taught will understand the truth of God better, even if he does not know a word
of Greek or Hebrew, better than one who knows Greek and Hebrew and all the
cognate languages, but is not taught by the Spirit.
The Spirit will guide the one He teaches into all the truth. Not in a day, nor in a
week, nor in a year, but step by step. There are two especial lines of the Spirit's
teaching mentioned. (a) "He shall declare unto you the things that are to come."
Many say we can know nothing of the future, that our thoughts on the subject are
guesswork. Anyone taught by the Spirit knows better. (b) "He shall glorify me (i.e.,
Christ), for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you." This is the Holy
Spirit's especial line with the believer as with the unbeliever, to declare unto them
the things of Christ and glorify Him.
Many fear to emphasize the truth about the Holy Spirit lest Christ be disparaged,
but no one magnifies Christ as the Holy Spirit does. We shall never understand
Christ nor see His glory until the Holy Spirit interprets Him to us. The mere
listening to sermons and lectures, the mere study of the Word even, will never give
you to see "the things of Christ." The Holy Spirit must show you, and His is willing
to do it. He is longing to do it. I suppose the Holy Spirit's most intense desire is to
reveal Jesus Christ to men. Let Him do it. Christ is so different when the Spirit

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