e
diversities of gifts, but the _same Spirit_. And there are differences of
administrations, but the _same Lord_. And there are diversities of
operations, but it is the _same God_ which worketh all in all." Here we
find God, and the Lord and the Spirit associated together in a relation of
equality that would be shocking to contemplate if the Spirit were a finite
being. We have a still more striking illustration of this in Matt. xxviii.
19, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the _Father_, and of the _Son_, and of the _Holy Ghost_." Who, that had
grasped the Bible conception of God the Father, would think for a moment
of coupling the name of the Holy Spirit with that of the Father in this
way if the Holy Spirit were a finite being, even the most exalted of
angelic beings? Another striking illustration is found in 2 Cor. xiii. 14,
"The grace of _the Lord Jesus Christ_, and the love of _God_, and the
communion of _the Holy Ghost_, be with you all. Amen." Can any one ponder
these words and catch anything like their real import without seeing
clearly that it would be impossible to couple the name of the Holy Spirit
with that of God the Father in the way in which it is coupled in this
verse unless the Holy Spirit were Himself a Divine Being?

V. _The Holy Spirit is called God._

The final and decisive proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit is found in
the fact that He is called God in the New Testament. We read in Acts v. 3,
4, "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to
the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it
remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine
own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast
not lied unto men but _unto God_." In the first part of this passage we
are told that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit. When this is further
explained, we are told it was not unto men but unto God that he had lied
in lying to the Holy Spirit, _i. e._, the Holy Spirit to whom he lied is
called God.

To sum it all up, by the ascription of all the distinctively Divine
attributes, and several distinctly Divine works, by referring statements
which in the Old Testament clearly name Jehovah, the Lord, or God as their
subject to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, by coupling the name of
the Holy Spirit with that of God in a way that would be impossible to
couple that of any finite being