Here are three subjects that as topics in Gospel discussions are often sources of confusion. Yet given the basic importance of the relevant subject matter, Latter-day Saints ought to seek clarity in their understanding of the similarities and dissimilarities that exist among these three subjects.
The Holy Ghost
The Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead, is a male personage of spirit. Unlike the Father and His Son, He does not possess a tangible body of flesh and bones. In an explanation of John 14:23, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “the appearing of the Father and the Son, in that verse, is a personal appearance; and the idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man’s heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false. . . . The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us” (Doctrine and Covenants 130: 3 and 22).
He is responsible to testify to the truthfulness of all things pertaining to the Father, His Son, and their mission “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). He is likewise the testator who justifies or seals up God’s spirit children to exaltation by declaring valid the ordinances of salvation performed for them down through the gospel dispensations. In this role, he is called the Holy Spirit of Promise. “. . . All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, . . are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; . . .” (D&C 132:7).
The Gift of the Holy Ghost
While the Holy Ghost may affirmatively testify to an individual who is seeking to know the truth concerning the Lord’s Church and His restored gospel, the right of this individual to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost is only possible after the individual has received an efficacious confirmation following an efficacious baptism. Through the ordinance of confirmation, the gift of the Holy Ghost is bestowed by the laying on of hands. However, the actual companionship of the Holy Ghost may not be experienced immediately by those who are so confirmed. The baptism of fire, the confirmation, will cleanse an individual only of repented sins (2 Nephi 31:17). The Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, will not dwell in an unclean tabernacle. The Apostle Paul taught this truth to the Corinthians. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (I Cor. 3:16-17). It would also then be true to say that a confirmed member who has experienced the companionship of the Holy Ghost might temporarily lose that privilege during times of unfaithfulness.
Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are both “comforters.” “The other Comforter spoken of is a subject of great interest, and perhaps understood by few of this generation. After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of St. John, in the 14th chapter, from the 12th to the 27th verses” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 150). In this context, let us consider John 14:23 again: “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” As previously quoted, the Prophet taught that this verse refers to “a personal appearance.”
The Light of Christ
President Joseph F. Smith speaking in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on March 16, 1902 taught the following concerning the Light of Christ. “It is by the power of God that all things are made that have been made. It is by the power of Christ that all things are governed and kept in place that are governed and kept in place in the universe. It is the power which proceeds from the presence of the Son of God throughout all the works of his hands, that giveth light, energy, understanding, knowledge, and a degree of intelligence to all the children of men, strictly in accordance with the words in the Book of Job: ‘There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.’ It is this inspiration from God, proceeding throughout all his creations, that enlighteneth the children of men; and it is nothing more nor less than the spirit of Christ that enlighteneth the mind, that quickeneth the understanding, and that prompteth the children of men to do that which is good and eschew that which is evil; which quickens the conscience of man and gives him intelligence to judge between good and evil, light and darkness, right and wrong. . . .
The question is often asked, Is there any difference between the Spirit of the Lord and the Holy Ghost? The terms are frequently used synonymously. We often say the Spirit of God when we mean the Holy Ghost; we likewise say the Holy Ghost when we mean the Spirit of God. The Holy Ghost is a personage in the Godhead, and is not that which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. It is the Spirit of God which proceeds through Christ to the world, that enlightens every man that comes into the world, and that strives with the children of men, and will continue to strive with them, until it brings them to a knowledge of the truth and the possession of the greater light and testimony of the Holy Ghost. . . .” (Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 66-68).
Addressing this subject on another occasion, President Joseph F. Smith concluded: “The Holy Ghost as a personage of Spirit can no more be omnipresent in person than can the Father or the Son, but by his intelligence, his knowledge, his power and influence, over and through the laws of nature, he is and can be omnipresent throughout all the works of God.” Continuing, his son, Joseph Fielding Smith, writes, “Thus when it becomes necessary to speak to us, he is able to do so by acting through the other Spirit, that is through the Light of Christ” (Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, 40). Scriptural justification for this conclusion may be found in Moroni chapter 10. Here Moroni discusses the gifts of the spirit that come through the workings of the Holy Ghost and concludes that “all these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and they come unto every man severally, according as he will” (Moroni 10:17).
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