THE UNITY OF THE FATHER AND THE SON THROUGH ONE SPIRIT.
By Wm. Covert
In studying the Scriptures which speak of the work and power of God through the Spirit, it should be understood that the Father and the Son are united as one in their work. When speaking of the Spirit of God and of the Spirit of Christ, it is quite helpful to know that but one Spirit is meant. Writing of this matter, the apostle said: “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” “And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body; . . . and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” 1 Cor. 12:4, 6, 13. Another feature of the same truth is stated thus: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Eph. 4:4-6. When Jesus spoke of this unity, he said: “I and my Father are one.” John 10:30. “I am in the Father, and the Father in me. The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doth the works.” John 14:10. The Son of God when in human flesh submitted himself so entirely into the Father’s keeping that he existed and acted wholly under the control of the Spirit of God. Also before Jesus came to our world as the Son of man, he acted in unison with the Father, and executed their united counsels. In considering this matter Paul speaks of “God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” Eph. 3:9. We are also told that God hath “spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.” Another apostle talks of how the graces of the Father and the Son blend together in one precious faith, “through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Continuing the same line of thought, he then asked that “grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.” 2 Peter 1:1, 2. The Father and the Son are one in love for man, one in their harmony of action in creating and in redeeming man. And altho the Son came to this world that he might live and die in our stead, yet he never separated from the eternal Spirit, but through it offered himself without spot to God. Heb. 9:12. Because of their inseparable relation, the beloved apostle could truly say: “He is anti-christ, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. . . . Let that [Spirit] therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that [Spirit] which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.” 1 John 2:22-24. These scriptures show that in receiving the Spirit of God the believer is united with both the Father and the Son. So closely are Christ and the Father joined in the one Spirit that the blood which Christ shed for our sins is declared to be God’s “own blood,” with which he purchased the church. Acts 20:28. It would seem that the union was so wonderful that the Father in some way shared fully with his Son in the great offering made for man’s redemption. Truly it is so, as stated by the apostle, that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” All nature, that is sustained and in touch with the eternal Spirit, gathered blackness and travailed in sorrow with its dying Lord. The sun refused to shine during the terrible hours of Jesus’ suffering on the cross (Luke 23:45); and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent (Matt. 27:51). But all this suffering, and the glorious results which are to follow, had been revealed many years before, by the Spirit of Christ which was in the prophets. 1 Peter 1:11. Yet the same apostle in another chapter says that in old time “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:21. Nevertheless, in these things no contradiction is found, for it is the same Spirit, whether revealed to us under the term Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, Unction Anointing, or other titles.