in this and
the following verse between the testimony of the Holy Spirit and the
testimony of the believer to whom He has borne His witness, for we read in
the next verse, "And _ye also_ shall bear witness because ye have been
with Me from the beginning." So there are two witnesses, the Holy Spirit
bearing witness to the believer and the believer bearing witness to the
world.

The Holy Spirit is also spoken of as a teacher. We read in John xiv. 26,
"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." And in a similar way, we
read in John xvi. 12-14, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, _He
will guide_ you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but
whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things
to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show
it unto you." And in the Old Testament, Neh. ix. 20, "Thou gavest also Thy
good Spirit to instruct them." In all these passages it is perfectly clear
that the Holy Spirit is not a mere illumination that enables us to
apprehend the truth, but a Person who comes to us to teach us day by day
the truth of God. It is the privilege of the humblest believer in Jesus
Christ not merely to have his mind illumined to comprehend the truth of
God, but to have a Divine Teacher to daily teach him the truth he needs to
know (cf. 1 John ii. 20, 27). The Holy Spirit is also represented as the
Leader and Guide of the children of God. We read in Rom. viii. 14, "For as
many as are _led by the Spirit_ of God they are the sons of God." He is
not merely an influence that enables us to see the way that God would have
us go, nor merely a power that gives us strength to go that way, but a
Person who takes us by the hand and gently leads us on in the paths in
which God would have us walk.

The Holy Spirit is also represented as a Person who has authority to
command men in their service of Jesus Christ. We read of the Apostle Paul
and his companions in Acts xvi. 6, 7, "Now when they had gone throughout
Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were _forbidden of the Holy Ghost_
to preach the Word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to
go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not." Here it is a Person
who takes