It is the same with a church building. As it is being constructed, all
stages and features of it share one goal: the worship of God. The same
goes for everything else—for example, horticulture and farming. It is also
the same with management and business: the goal itself leads to the
equipment and preparations necessary to meet that goal.
5. The Lord takes these actions on his own initiative on behalf of the 153
Father, not the other way around.The reference to “taking actions” in this
opening sentence means the same thing as “sending the Holy Spirit,”
since the processes listed above—reforming, regenerating, renewing,
bringing to life, sanctifying, justifying, [purifying] from evils, and forgiv-
ing sins—which are attributed these days to the Holy Spirit as a God by
himself, are actually processes carried out by the Lord.
As for the point that these processes are carried out by the Lord on
behalf of the Father and not the other way around, I will first support
this from the Word and then illustrate it with parallels.
Support from the Word occurs in the following passages:
When the Comforter comes, whom I am going to send from the
Father—the Spirit of Truth that goes out from the Father—he will tes-
tify about me. (John 15 : 26 )If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I do go
away, I will send him to you.(John 16 : 7 )The Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, will not speak to you on his own;
he will take from what is mineand make it known to you. All things
whatever that the Father has are mine.This is why I said that he will
take from what is mineand make it known to you. (John 16 : 13 , 14 , 15 )The Holy Spirit was not yet in existence, because Jesus was not glori-
fied yet. (John 7 : 39 )Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
(John 20 : 22 )Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it,so that the Father is glori-
fied in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I myself will do it.
(John 14 : 13 , 14 )[ 2 ] From these passages it is perfectly obvious that the Lord “sends
the Holy Spirit,” that is, carries out those processes that are ascribed
nowadays to the Holy Spirit as a God by himself. The Lord said that he
was going to send the Holy Spirit from the Father; he was going to send
§153 the holy spirit & divine action 213