Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest
Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest
Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest
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ACTS OF THE APOSTLES<br />
CHAPTER V.<br />
IDENTITY OF THE TRINITY.<br />
3, 4 and 9 (also <strong>Romans</strong> 8:9). These Scriptures prove clearly the identity of the Holy Ghost, the<br />
Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the Father. In verse 3, Peter accuses Ananias of lying to the Holy<br />
Ghost. In verse 4, he accuses him of lying to God. In verse 9, he accuses him of tempting the Spirit<br />
of the Lord, i.e., of Christ. Hence we see that all these are used synonymously, proving their identity.<br />
<strong>Romans</strong> 8:9: “But you are not in carnality, but in the spirit, if the Spirit of God dwelleth<br />
in you. And if any one has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”<br />
In this verse we find the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ used synonymously, and both<br />
synonymous with the Holy Ghost. I have met much inquiry and know many people exceedingly<br />
puzzled and muddled along these lines of revealed truth, some having actually digressed into the<br />
tritheistic heresy, i.e., the doctrine of three Gods, because they too idly discriminate between the<br />
three persons of the one God, becoming somewhat oblivious to the fact that there is only one God,<br />
of whom the Father, Son and Spirit are three distinct persons, executive of the different departments<br />
in the gracious economy, and accommodatory to our finite apprehensions of the incomprehensible<br />
Divinity. I am editor in the morning, teacher in the afternoon, and preacher at night, day by day, in<br />
my industrial life; thus exhibiting three distinct characters and working on three separate lines.<br />
Therefore you see in me a human trinity. Yet I am only one man.<br />
ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA.<br />
1-11. In that country the summers are very hot [and this was June], superinducing very quick and<br />
rapid putrefaction, necessitating a speedy interment of the dead, especially in a vast multitude. They<br />
had no grave to dig, as they did not use them. The sepulchers were always ready for the deposition<br />
of the dead. From this history of the mournful fate of Ananias and Sapphira, we learn an exceedingly<br />
valuable and eminently profitable symbolic truth, pertinent to all ages; i.e., that if we do not radically<br />
and truly consecrate all to God, spiritual death will inevitably supervene.<br />
Horace, the celebrated Roman lyric poet, says:<br />
“Retribution, though with lame foot, will inevitably overtake the criminal.”<br />
Though the irrelevancy of the heathen poet, how significantly true! The Holy Spirit is omniscient,<br />
seeing every thought, feeling and motive of our being. Hence we can not deceive Him. Millions try<br />
it and fall dead [spiritually] like Ananias and Sapphira. Reader, profit by this awful warning. You<br />
can not deceive God. Now and evermore submit unreservedly, be loyal as an angel, your watchword<br />
ever ringing, “Thy will be done.”