The Teacher of the Church
W. R. Clark, M. A. John 14:25-26 These things have I spoken to you, being yet present with you.… I. OUR NEED OF SUCH A TEACHER. It is not enough to assume the necessity of the teaching of the Holy Ghost. All experience shows that an outward revelation of truth is inadequate. Our knowledge is always in advance of our inward conformity to it or our practical compliance with it. But even when men seem to receive and believe the truth, we must not always assume that they really understand it, or that they need no more light than it brings along with it in order to discern the fulness of its meaning. By nature man does not so easily apprehend spiritual truth. II. THE NATURE OF HIS TEACHING. 1. As a Teacher, His work is in reality a continuation of the prophetical office of Christ. Jesus is the great Teacher; but the Holy Ghost is His representative on earth during His personal absence from His Church on earth. Thus we are reminded that the substance of His teaching was not a new revelation, distinct from that which had been already afforded, but an extension, completion, and application of that which had been given by Jesus Christ as His own words clearly show. He was not to speak of Himself, because He was not the Saviour in the exact sense of that word. The Holy Ghost was further to bring all things to the remembrance of the disciples of Christ which He had spoken to them. The words of the Son of God contained the germ of all Christian truth. But His work was not to be a mere helping of the memory. 2. And this work of teaching is carried on now in the Church of Christ by the Holy Ghost as truly as it was in the days of the apostles. The Holy Ghost no longer teaches us in the same manner in which He taught those who waited for His advent. No "cloven tongues as of fire" rest upon us who preach, or upon you who hear. (1) He teaches us now by the Word which He inspired the apostles to write. (2) So also, He teaches by the instrumentality of the Christian ministry (Ephesians 4:8, 11, 12). (3) But the Holy Ghost also teaches us by inward illumination. He speaks to our hearts by His own personal influence, and casts the rays of His enlightening grace into the darkest recesses of our spirits. (4) And, ought we not to add, He gives us this teaching, whether with reference to things human or to things Divine, whether for our natural or our spiritual life, in answer to prayer. He is an infallible Teacher; and there is no other but He. He is an ever-present Teacher. III. Finally, let me notice TWO ERRORS LYING IN QUITE OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS, WHICH ARE COMMITTED WITH REFERENCE TO THE TEACHING OF THE HOLY GHOST. 1. The first is the error of those who profess to seek and receive the teaching of the Holy Ghost while they reject the means. 2. An error no less common, among you to whom I speak perhaps even more common, is the fault of those who forget the agency of the Holy Ghost in the use of the means of grace. (W. R. Clark, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. WEB: I have said these things to you, while still living with you.