The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit Summary: Torrey's 22 Chapters
Holy SpiritTheologyChristian Life
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit is R. A. Torrey's fullest book on the Holy Spirit. It runs twenty-two chapters. The first five answer the question who the Spirit is: a Person, a Divine Person, distinct from the Father and the Son, and revealed in some twenty-five names. The rest take up what He does: in creation, in convicting the world, in the new birth, in the believer's daily life, in prayer and service, in the baptism with the Holy Spirit, in the prophets and apostles who wrote the Bible, and in Jesus Christ Himself.
Torrey writes as a Bible teacher. Nearly every point is a verse, quoted and explained, followed by a story from his own preaching. Below is what each chapter says, with a link to read it free. For the man himself, see Who Was R. A. Torrey?
Chapter I: The Personality of the Holy Spirit
Read chapter I. Torrey begins here because, he says, much error about the Spirit's work comes from not first knowing the Spirit Himself. If He is only a power, we will try to get hold of it and use it. If He is a Person, He will get hold of us and use us. He then gives four lines of proof: the Bible ascribes knowledge, will, mind and love to the Spirit; it ascribes acts only a person can do, such as searching, speaking, crying out, praying, teaching and commanding; it gives Him the office of "another Comforter" to take Christ's place; and it says He can be grieved, lied to and blasphemed. Read the full case in Is the Holy Spirit a Person?
The whole purpose of this chapter (God help me to say it reverently) is to introduce you to my Friend, the Holy Spirit.
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, chapter I
Chapter II: The Deity of the Holy Spirit
Read chapter II. Five proofs. The Spirit has the four Divine attributes: eternity, omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence. He does Divine works: creation, giving life, and authoring prophecy. Old Testament words spoken by Jehovah are credited to the Holy Spirit in the New, as with Isaiah 6 and Acts 28. His name is joined with the Father's and the Son's in the baptismal formula and the benediction. And in Acts 5 Peter tells Ananias that lying to the Holy Ghost was lying to God.
Chapters III and IV: Distinct and Subordinate
Read chapter III and chapter IV. At the baptism of Jesus, the Son is in the water, the Father speaks from heaven, and the Spirit descends like a dove. Torrey concludes that the three are distinct Persons who speak to and act upon one another. Chapter IV adds that the Spirit, though fully Divine, is in His present work sent by the Father and the Son, speaks what He hears, and glorifies Christ rather than Himself.
Chapter V: The Names of the Holy Spirit
Read chapter V. This is the longest chapter, a study of twenty-five names. "The Spirit" means breath and wind, and Torrey draws out how the Spirit, like the wind, is sovereign, invisible, mysterious, indispensable, life-giving and irresistible. Then come the Spirit of God, of Christ, of Jesus, of holiness, of burning, of truth, of life, of grace and supplication, of glory, and more. He ends with the Comforter, the Greek Parakleetos, One called alongside to help. Here he tells of pacing the deck of a steamer in a storm, far from his family, and finding he was not alone after all.
I am not alone; by my side as I walk this deck in the loneliness and the storm walks the Holy Spirit
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, chapter V
Chapters VI to IX: Creation, Conviction, Witness, New Birth
Chapter VI shows the Spirit at work in the material universe: creating it, keeping living things in being, and bringing order out of chaos in Genesis 1. Chapter VII takes John 16:8-11. The Spirit convicts the world of sin, and the sin He presses is unbelief in Jesus Christ; of righteousness, because Christ went to the Father; and of judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged. Torrey admits that no worker can produce this conviction, and tells of men who were brought under it in his Chicago church.
Chapter VIII says the Spirit bears witness to Christ. An inquirer may stare at a plain verse in darkness until the Spirit testifies and he suddenly says, "I see it." Chapter IX defines regeneration as the giving of spiritual life and a new nature to those dead in sin. The Word is the seed; the Spirit makes it live.
Education and culture are not enough. You must be born again.
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, chapter IX
Chapters X to XV: The Spirit in the Believer
Chapter X is about the well of John 4:14. The one indwelt by the Spirit is satisfied and loses his taste for the world's pleasures. Chapter XI sets Romans 7 beside Romans 8. The defeated life of Romans 7 is life under law; freedom from indwelling sin comes by "the law of the Spirit of life," and the Spirit works through the Word we feed on.
Chapter XII walks through Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3: Christ dwelling deep in our hearts, rooted and grounded in love, knowing a love that passes knowledge, filled unto all the fullness of God. Chapter XIII is on the fruit of the Spirit. Torrey says no "ethical culture" can make the flesh bear it.
All real beauty of character, all real Christlikeness in us, is the Holy Spirit's work; it is His fruit; He produces it; He bears it, not we.
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, chapter XIII
Chapter XIV teaches that a true Christian life is personally conducted by the Spirit, and that He never leads against the Bible. Torrey's example is a married man who claimed the Spirit was leading him toward another woman. Chapter XV is on Romans 8:15-16, the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
Chapters XVI to XIX: Teaching, Prayer, Calling, the Body
Chapter XVI presents the Spirit as Teacher. He brings Christ's words to mind, guides into all the truth, reveals the deep things of God, interprets His own Book, and gives power to pass the truth on. This needs to be fresh every time we open the Bible.
We must daily be taught by the Spirit to understand the Word.
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, chapter XVI
Chapter XVII covers praying, giving thanks and worshipping in the Spirit. Chapter XVIII uses Acts 13 to show the Spirit calling and sending workers, and gives five steps for receiving guidance from James 1:5-7: admit we lack wisdom, be willing to do God's will, ask, expect, and follow step by step. Chapter XIX says the Spirit will raise the believer's body, and even now can quicken it and heal it.
Chapter XX: The Baptism With the Holy Spirit
Read chapter XX. The second-longest chapter, and the heart of Torrey's practical teaching. The baptism with the Spirit is a definite experience, distinct from regeneration, given chiefly for testimony and service. Its gifts differ, but there is always power. It is for every believer, and there are seven steps to receive it. Torrey also tells how he himself received it, and of a July afternoon in 1894 when D. L. Moody led a group of students up a hillside at Northfield to pray. We cover this chapter in full in The Baptism With the Holy Spirit: What R. A. Torrey Taught.
I would rather go through my whole life and never have one touch of ecstasy but have power to witness for Christ and win others for Christ and thus to save them, than to have raptures 365 days in the year but no power to stem the awful tide of sin…
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, chapter XX
Chapters XXI and XXII: Prophets, Apostles and Christ
Chapter XXI argues that the Spirit's work in the prophets and apostles differs in kind from His work in teachers today. He revealed truth men could not discover, carried the writers along, and taught the words as well as the thoughts, so that their writings are the Word of God. Chapter XXII closes with Jesus. He was begotten of the Spirit, offered Himself through the eternal Spirit, was anointed, led and taught by the Spirit, worked miracles by Him, and was raised by Him. Torrey draws three lessons: Christ's full humanity, our own complete dependence on the Spirit, and the privilege now open to us.
Jesus Christ Himself is the one perfect manifestation in history of the complete work of the Holy Spirit in man.
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, chapter XXII
Where to go next
The book is long but easy to read in pieces. Many readers start with chapters I, II, V and XX. If you want more on the subject, see our guide to the best books on the Holy Spirit in TheWay Library, or browse the Holy Spirit topic page. To begin now, open The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit and read chapter I.