For It is Not Ye that Speak, But the Spirit of Your Father Which Speaketh in You

by Charles Hodge

I. Christ’s address to his messengers, as, applied to ministers at present.

1. They are to go, not as the apostles at first, solely to the Jews, but into all the world; not to this or that nation only.

2. They are to preach.

3. They are to do all the good they can.

4. They are to rely on their work for their support.

5. They are to go with the consciousness of a divine mission.

6. They are to be wise and harmless.

7. They are to speak as the organs of the Holy Ghost.

8. They must expect persecution, and be prepared to bear it.

9. They may be assured of divine protection.

10. The test of discipleship and the conditions of salvation for teacher and taught are confession and devotion.

11. God will bless those who bless them.

II. The special topic for consideration is the 2Oth verse. Ministers are to speak as the organs of the Holy Ghost.

It is a sound principle of interpretation that a comprehensive declaration or promise is to be understood in different senses, or with various degrees of latitude, according to the class of persons to whom it is applied. The same declaration may be a promise of inspiration, to the apostles, of spiritual knowledge and ability to teach, to ministers, and of spiritual illumination, to believers.

1. The sense in which the apostles were the organs of the Holy Ghost. 1st. They received their knowledge by his suggestion and revelation. 2d. They spoke in words which he taught. Therefore they were to speak without premeditation.

2. The sense in which ministers are the organs of the Holy Ghost. 1st. They are to speak only what is contained in the word of God, which is the record of the teachings of the Holy Ghost; not human wisdom, not human speculations about divine things. The matter of their preaching must be what the Spirit has revealed. 2d. The manner or form, the mode of presentation, must be spiritual; that is, not metaphysical, or rhetorical, but scriptural. 3d. Hence, negatively, they are not to seek either the matter or the manner of their preaching from themselves, but by diligent study of the word of God; acting as the organs of the Spirit in communicating his messages to men. The command not to premeditate includes,

(a) prohibition of self–reliance, and,

(b) a command to rely on the Spirit. 4th. Hence, also, they are to seek and cherish the indwelling of the Spirit, for his teaching is both external by the word, and internal by his grace. 5th. Hence, further, they must not only seek the indwelling of the Spirit as a teacher, but as a sanctifier. To be the organ of the Holy Ghost as the efficient and successful agent in communicating this truth, we must be full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.

III. There are three things then, brethren, included in being the organs of the Spirit, which constitute the three great elements of a successful ministry.

1. Derive the matter of your preaching from the word.

2. Let the form or manner of exhibition be scriptural, i.e., that which is taught by the Spirit.

3. Be yourselves full of the Holy Ghost. This last is the most important. 1st. Because it secures the others. 2d. Because the others without it must be comparatively ineffectual. 3d. Because it is the ordinance of God to make the living the channels of life. This is proved from Scripture and from experience. No false fire or fictitious zeal can supply the place of the Spirit. The holiness which flows from the presence of the Spirit gives,

(a) Assurance of zeal.

(b) Wisdom and skill.

(c) Benevolence and love.

(d) Forbearance and perseverance.

(e) Peculiar power over the heart and consciences of men.