158. A Supplement

Since the Holy Spirit is the subject of this chapter, it is very worthwhile to point out that nowhere in the Word of the Old Testament is the Holy Spirit mentioned. The "spirit of holiness" occurs in three passages, once in David (Psalms 51:11), and twice in Isaiah (Isaiah 63:10-11). The Holy Spirit is of course frequently mentioned in the Word of the New Testament, both in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles and their Epistles. The reason for this is that the Holy Spirit first came into existence when the Lord had come into the world. The Holy Spirit emanates from him on behalf of the Father. The Lord alone is holy (Revelation 15:4). This is why the angel Gabriel mentioned to Mother Mary "the Holy One that will be born from you" (Luke 1:35).

Now, it says, "The Holy Spirit was not yet in existence, because Jesus was not glorified yet" (John 7:39), and yet before that it says that the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth (Luke 1:41) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67), and also Simeon (Luke 2:25). The reason for this is that the spirit of Jehovah the Father filled them, and this is called "the Holy Spirit" because of the Lord, who was already in the world.

This is why no passage in the Word of the Old Testament says that the prophets spoke on behalf of the Holy Spirit; they spoke on behalf of Jehovah. It constantly says Jehovah spoke to me, the word of Jehovah came to me, Jehovah said, says Jehovah. So that no one will doubt the truth of this, I want to list the references in Jeremiah alone where these expressions occur:

Jeremiah 1:4, 7, , 19; , 9, 19, 22, 29, 31; 3:1, 6, 10, 12, 14, 16; 4:1, 3, 9, 17, 27; 5:11, 14, 18, 22, 29; 6:6, 9, 12, 15-16, 21-22; 7:1, 3, 11, 13, 19-21; 8:1, 3, 12-13; 9:3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 17, 22, 24-25; 10:1-2, 18; 11:1, 6, 9, 11, 17-18, 21-22; 12:14, 17; 13:1, 6, 9, , 25; 14:1, 10, 14-15; 15:1-3, 6, 11, 19-20; 16:1, 3, 5, 9, 14, 16; 17:5, 15, 19-21, 24; 18:1, 5-6, 11, 13; 19:1, 3, 6, 12, 15; 20:4; 21:1, 4, 7-8, 11-12; 22:2, 5-6, 11, 18, 24, 29-30; 23:2, 5, 7, 12, 15, 24, 29, 31, 38; 24:3, 5, 8; 25:1, 3, 7-9, 15, 27-29, 32; 26:1-2, 18; 27:1-2, 4, 8, 11, 16, 19, 21-22; 28:2, 12, 14, 16; 29:4, 8-9, 16, 19-21, 25, 30-32; , 8, 10-12, 17-18; 31:1-2, 7, 10, 15-17, 23, 27-28, ; 32:1, 6, 14-15, 25-26, 28, 30, 36, 42; 33:1-2, 4, 10, 12-13, 17, 19-20, 23, 25; 34:1-2, 4, 8, 12-13, 17, 22; 35:1, 13, 17-19; 36:1, 6, 27, 29-30; 37:6-7, 9; 38:2-3, 17; ; 40:1; 42:7, 9, 15, 18-19; 43:8, 10; 44:1-2, 7, 11, 24-26, 30; 45:2, 5; 46:1, 23, 25, 28; 47:2; 48:1, 8, 12, 30, 35, 38, 40, 43-44, 47; 49:2, 5-7, 12-13, 16, 18, 26, 28, 30, 32, 35, 37-39; 50:1, 4, 10, 18, 20-21, 30-31, 33, 35, 40; 51:25, 33, 36, 39, 52, 58.

These are just the passages in Jeremiah. It says the same thing in all the other prophets. It does not say that the Holy Spirit spoke; and it does not say that Jehovah spoke to them through the Holy Spirit.

561. Active Repentance Is Easy for People Who Have Done It a Few Times; Those Who Have Not Done It, However, Experience Tremendous Inner Resistance to It

Active repentance is examining ourselves, recognizing [and admitting to] our sins, confessing them before the Lord, and beginning a new life. This accords with the description of it under the preceding headings. People in the Protestant Christian world - by which I here mean all [Christians] who have separated from the Roman Catholic Church, and also people who belong to that church but have not practiced active repentance - experience tremendous inner resistance to such repentance, for various reasons. Some do not want to do it. Some are afraid. They are in the habit of not doing it, and this breeds first unwillingness, and then intellectual and rational support for not doing it, and in some cases, grief, dread, and terror of it.

[2] The primary reason for the tremendous resistance to active repentance among Protestant Christians is their belief that repentance and goodwill contribute nothing to their salvation. They believe that faith alone brings salvation; when faith is assigned to us, it comes with forgiveness of sins, justification, renewal, regeneration, sanctification, and eternal salvation, without our having to cooperate either actually on our own or even seemingly on our own. The teachers of their dogma call this cooperation of ours useless, and even a roadblock that is resistant and harmful to [our reception of] Christ's merit. Although the lay public is ignorant of the mysteries of this faith, its teaching has nevertheless been sown in them through just a few words: "Faith alone saves," and "Who among us can do anything good on our own?"

This has made repentance among Protestants like a nest of baby birds abandoned by parents who were caught and killed by a bird-catcher.

An additional cause of this resistance is that in spirit, so-called Reformed people are among spirits in the spiritual world who are no different than they are, who introduce these reactions into their thinking and steer them away from the first step of introspection and self-examination.