Quote 946
What the Holy Spirit personally does, is to direct faith to the revealed knowledge of God, to explain and apply this revealed knowledge of God to the heart according to its particular need, and also to quicken in the soul a lively sense of truth; but along this individual way He does not impart an increase of content.
Abraham Kuyper
Principles of Sacred Theology, 3516.6K
Other Quotes from the Author & Topic
If God then withdraws Himself, if in the soul of men He bear no more witness to the truth of His Word, men can no longer believe, and no apologetics, however brilliant, will ever be able to restore the blessing of faith in the ScripturePrinciples of Sacred Theology, 366
The proclamation of new discoveries is not always a proof of devotion to the truth, it is sometimes a tribute to self-esteem.Sacred Theology, 577
The dominating principles [of the Reformation] was not, soteriologically, justification by faith, but in the widest sense cosmologically, the sovereignty of the Triune God over the whole cosmos, in all its spheres and kingdoms, visible and invisible.
the Holy Spirit, who gave the Scriptures, is Himself the perpetual author (auctor perpetuus) of all appropriations of their contents by and of all application to the individual. It is the Holy Spirit who, by illumination, enables the human consciousness to take up into itself the substance of the Scripture; in the course of ages leads our human consciousness to ever richer insights into its contentPrinciples of Sacred Theology, 402
With a perversity as pathetic as it is impoverishing, we have become preoccupied today with the extraordinary, sporadic, non-universal ministries of the Spirit to the neglect of the ordinary, general ones. Knowing God (The Love of God, 130)
Today the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's personal divinity is seldom given much attention. Books about him tend to gloss over who he is and concentrate almost entirely on what he does. This is a pity, because the works of the Holy Spirit cannot be understood unless his divine personhood is acknowledged.God Has Spoken (725)
The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them. Answers to Prayer (11)
And as the Christian knights were inspired to high exploits by crusade upon crusade undertaken against Islam, the sight of this glittering arsenal in the writings of Aristotle made the scholars of those days quickly cast aside the sling and stone and immediately arm themselves with the lances of Aristotle's categories and with the armor of his distinctions, and so to gain trophies for their Christian faith. At the outset they foresaw none of the danger this implied. As yet they perceived nothing of what was to come to light in Abelard, in the Nominalists, and presently in the Humanists. They did not surmise that the Greek-Roman tradition held a spirit peculiar to itself, and that when once called out from its grave this spirit would soon prove able to enlist once more the sympathies of thinking minds, and for a second time let loose against the Church the old enemy which had spoken in Celsus and Porphyry. They thought they were simply dealing with the armor of a buried hero, and that they had a perfect right to appropriate this armor to themselves.Sacred Theology, 655
Your flesh is a square peg, and the Spirit is a round hole. The two don't go together!
we read in Acts viii.29: "And the Spirit said unto Philip, GO near, and join thyself to this chariot." It does not say that this thought arose in him, but that a speaking took placePrinciples of Sacred Theology, 442
He is your friend who pushes you nearer to God.
Her position in the state is not assigned her by the permission of the government, but Jure divino. She has her own organization. She possesses her own office-bearers... the sovereignty of the state and the sovereignty of the church exist side by side, and they mutually limit each other.
A theologian who undervalues Logic, as being little necessary to him, simply disarms himself.Sacred Theology, 612
it does not follow that his studies are to have no other tendency than to confirm the confession of his Church, as if this were clothed with infallible authority. This was the fault committed by Scholasticism.Sacred Theology, 592
In so far as our nature is created after the image of God in original righteousness, this excellency could be lost and our nature become depraved; but not our creation after God's image so far as it pertains to its essence (quod ad substantiam).Sacred Theology, 507
Either Jesus' view of the Scripture is the true one, and then we should kneel in His presence; or Jesus' view of the Scripture is one enormous mistake, in which case the Rabbi of Nazareth can no longer be the absolute guide along the way of faith.Sacred Theology, 459
Very unjustly at the mention of miracles one thinks almost exclusively of those in the material domain, and almost without a thought passes by the spiritual miracles. This of course is absurd.Principles of Sacred Theology, 420
The truth of this mysticism lies naturally in the high estimate of the personal element in religion, and in preaching that not only every individual person must come to his God, but also, that God must reveal Himself to every individual, so that the secret walk with God may be found by every one for his own soul. As a fundamental principle of theology, on the other hand, this representation of the inner light (lumen internum) is of no use whatever, simply because it rests on fiction. If it were true, if the Lord our God did give to each one personally not merely a disposition, an emotion, a perception, but a real knowledge of God, then he who has been thus mystically inspired should be able to speak just like the prophets of old, and the witness of one should confirm the witness of another. Such, however, is not the case. You never receive from these mystics a clear communication of what has been revealed in this way to enrich our knowledge of God. For the most part they even avoid clear language, and hide themselves behind indefinite expressions of feeling and sounds without rational sensePrinciples of Sacred Theology, 350-351
The operation of the Spirit in believers, the communion of the Holy Ghost, is a great mystery. He works more on them than they feel and know; and they feel more than they can express in words; and they express more than any that have not received "the same spirit of faith" (2 Cor. 4:13) can understand. But this we know, that whenever the Spirit of Christ applies His grace and power to the heart of a sinner, there is something wrought that day which shall last to eternity. There is, by this finger of God, that impression made upon the soul and that mark left upon it that shall never wear out and that sin and Satan shall never be able to blot out again, but it shall remain and grow and be seen at the coming of Christ at the last day (Phil. 1:6).
The Holy Spirit is often moving in the consciences and affections of carnal creatures, counseling, rebuking, and exciting them, so that upon His suggestions, some warm affections are raised in them to that which is good, but presently all is quashed and comes to nothing and the Spirit driven away by the entertainment He finds. Again, you cannot know by the common gifts of the Spirit— illumination, conviction, restraining grace, and assistance to perform the external part of religious duties; these are gifts of the Spirit, but such as do not prove he hath the Spirit that hath them. These gifts are beamed from the Spirit of God and show that the kingdom of God is come nigh such an one, but they do not demonstrate that God is come into that soul and hath taken possession of it for His temple.
The Holy Spirit who is given to work grace in us, He is also given to witness grace unto us and to make us "know the things that are freely given to us of God" (1 Cor. 2:12). He is a free and sovereign agent indeed, and He works and witnesses in them in whom He worketh as He pleases. He giveth assurance of peace with God as much as He pleases and as soon, and no more and no sooner, than He pleases (1 Cor. 12:11).
But how shall I know the witness of the Spirit from a delusion? Answer: The Spirit of God always witnesses according to the word, as the echo answers the voice. Enthusiasts speak much of the Spirit, but they leave the word. That inspiration which is either without the word or against it is an imposture. The Spirit of God did indite the word (2 Peter 1:21). Now if the Spirit should witness otherwise than according to the word, the Spirit should be divided against itself; it should be a spirit of contradiction, witnessing one thing for a truth in the word and another thing different from it in a man's conscience.
If we desire the Spirit, we must wait in the way of duty, as the apostles waited many days before the Comforter came. We must also empty our souls of self-love and the love of the world and willingly entertain those crosses that bring our souls out of love with it. The children of Israel in the wilderness had not the manna till they had spent their onions and garlic; so this world must be out of request with us before we can be truly spiritual. Through grace, labor to see the excellency of spiritual things. How despicable then must all the glory of the world appear! These things, duly considered, will raise our desires more and more toward spiritual and heavenly objects.
If we cannot endure the Spirit going up and down with a candle and lantern to search our hearts, how can we abide the day of Christ's coming and stand when the Sun of Righteousness shall appear, for He is like refiner's fire and like fuller's soap? Justice, humility, repentance, though now they be but poor and low things with man, yet when the judge shall take the bench more visibly, how high will they be with God? Sincerity, though it be a silent grace at this time and dwells in obscurity, ere long, I hope, will carry the day and bear away the bell.
The Spirit exactly knows the heart of God to the creature, with all His counsels and purposes concerning Him: the Spirit searches all things, the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:10). And what are those deep things of God the apostle means but the counsels of love which lie deep in His heart, till the Spirit draws them forth and acquaints the creature with them, as appears by verse 9? And also He knows the whole frame of man's heart. It were strange if He that made the cabinet should not know every secret box in it.
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