ARTICLE 8

_I believe in the Holy Ghost_


The eighth article of the Creed declares belief in the third Divine
Person--the Holy Ghost.

The words "I believe," implied in every clause, are here repeated, to
mark the transition from the Second to the Third Person of the Trinity.

While this doctrine underlies all the teaching of the Old Testament
Scriptures, it was yet in a measure not understood or realised by the
Jews, and as Christ came to make known the Father, so to Him we owe also
the full revelation of the Holy Spirit. Prophets and Psalmists had
glimpses of the doctrine, but they lived in the twilight, and saw
through a glass darkly many truths now clearly made known.

While we speak freely of spiritual life, our conception of it is so
vague that we are apt to overlook, or to regard lightly, the work of the
Holy Spirit in redemption. The disciples of John, whom Paul met at
Ephesus, believed in Jesus and had been baptized, and yet they told the
Apostle that they had not so much as heard whether there was any Holy
Ghost.[165] John tells us that even while Jesus was on earth the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.[166]

That the Holy Ghost is a Person, and not, as some hold, a mere energy or