The Mission of the Spirit

Esus also declared in these discourses the nature of the mission of the Spirit. First, His mission to the disciples: And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth: Whom the world cannot recewe; for tt beholdeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be m you. Here are two great statements. First, that the mission of the Spirit is to abide with the people of God. The children of God have no need to pray that the Spirit may be given to them: that He may be with you for ever. Then the Master proceeds to lay emphasis upon the method in which He will abide: He abideth with you, and shall be in you. The Spirit abides with the Church, by taking up His abode in the individual. He is no longer a transient Guest, but the indwelling life of the believer; and He creates and maintains, in spite of all apparent breaking up, the one cath-

2 John ‘xiv. :16,. 17.

olic Church of Christ. His work with regard to the believer is revealed: He shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you. — He shall bear witness of Me.t — He shall guide you into - all the truth.* — He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. — He shall glorify Me.*

Secondly, His mission to the world: And He, when He 1s come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:* of sin, as having a new centre — of sin, because they believe not on Me; of righteousness, as having a new possibility — I go to the Father; and of judgment, as being accomplished — the prince of this world hath been judged. This is considered more fully in a subsequent chapter.®

*John xiv. 26. ?John xv. 26. *John xvi. 13, 14. *John xvi. 8-11. 5° Chapter xiv.