The life that the Spirit gives is not some abstract thing. In fact, it is not primarily some thing that he gives at all. The Spirit gives us his very self, that we might know and enjoy him and so enjoy his fellowship with the Father and the Son. The Puritan theologian Thomas Goodwin wrote that “not only God doth bless with all other good things, but above all by communicating himself and his own blessedness.” We saw earlier that many theologians have liked to compare God to a fountain, in that his very being is about pouring forth life and love. Another image theologians have liked to use of
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