The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

“Wherever Christianity has become a living power, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit has uniformly been regarded, equally with the atonement and justification by faith, as the article of the standing or falling church…” George Smeaton

The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit formed the capstone of George Smeaton’s teaching. Handling his subject under three divisions, Smeaton treats first the testimony to the Holy Spirit as it is progressively revealed in Scripture. Secondly, he gives detailed attention to six subjects: the personality and procession of the Holy Spirit; the work of the Spirit in the anointing of Christ; the work of the Spirit in connection with revelation and inspiration; the Spirit’s regenerating work in the individual; on the Spirit of holiness; and the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. Finally, there is a historical survey of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit from the Apostlic age.

Though considered by his colleague, James Macgregor, to possess ‘the best constituted theological intellect in Christendom’, Smeaton’s lucid style and earnest spiritual convictions make him valuable to all Christian readers.

Filled with the Spirit at Pentecost, he writes, ‘the timid became bold, the selfish self-denied, the arrogant humble’, and he characterizes as ‘mischievous and misleading’ the opinion that the church, having received the Paraclete, is no longer warranted to pray for effusions of transforming power today.

About the Author

George Smeaton (1814–1889) was born in Berwickshire in the south of Scotland, and later studied at the University of Edinburgh. Smeaton is best known for Christ’s Doctrine of the Atonement and The Apostle’s Doctrine of the Atonement published in 1868 and 1870 respectively, and his Cunningham Lectures which were published as The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in 1882, a work which B. B. Warfield considered to be one of the best books on the subject ever published.