operation of the
Spirit in the conversion of sinners:

1. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep mine ordinances, and
do them" (Ezek. 36:26, 27). This passage has been much relied upon to
prove the theory of an abstract operation of the Spirit upon the sinner
in conversion. Its failure to support the theory is evidenced by the
following facts:

(1) The Lord was not talking about the conversion of a sinner, but the
renewal of Israel as a people.

(2) The passage says nothing about the work of the Holy Spirit.

(3) There is nothing mentioned in the passage that could not have been
accomplished by ordinary means.

(4) The very point to be proven is assumed.

2. "But their minds were hardened: for until this very day at the
reading of the old covenant the same veil remaineth, it not being
revealed to them that it is done away in Christ. But unto this day,
whensoever Moses is read, a veil lieth upon their heart. But whensoever
_it shall turn to the Lord_, the veil is taken away" (2 Cor. 3:14-16).
Just what is found here to prove a direct operation of the Spirit would
be difficult to say. The apostle is speaking of the Jews reading the
Scriptures with a veil which blinds them. The veil was undoubtedly a
false interpretation, which prevented their _seeing Christ_ in their
Scriptures. If they had not this wrong interpretation, they would see
Christ and their Scriptures would _be plain._ As it was, they were dark
and mysterious. The apostle tells what will remove the veil: "_When they
shall turn to the Lord_," the veil shall be _taken away_. There is
nothing in the whole passage that even hints at an immediate operation
of the Spirit.

3. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God afore prepared that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). There
is nothing here to even hint at a direct operation. It says the
Ephesians were created in Christ Jesus (not in the Holy Spirit) unto
good works. If the reader wishes to learn by what means they were so
created, let him turn to chapter 1, verse 13, and he will obtain the
information: "In whom ye also, _having heard_ the word of the truth,
_the gospel_ of your salvation,--in whom, _having also believed_, ye
were sealed with the