Those who have received the Spirit are not for that reason spiritual as here meant— “Ye that are spiritual.” All the Galatians had received the Spirit, as we know from chapter 3, where the apostle asks them the question in verse 2, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”
They were being enticed back to the law after having the Spirit, which they did not receive by the works of law. It was retrogression, thus seeking perfection in the flesh. But they had the Spirit, and the way that they received Him was by the hearing of faith. What had Paul preached in the regions of Galatia?
Was it not Christ crucified which he had “set forth amongst them?” The Holy Ghost can testify to nothing else, in giving liberty and a sense of sonship, and by this truth, namely, “Christ crucified,” preached amongst them and believed, they had received the Spirit, and knew that they were sons. Blessing was by the hearing of faith, as curse by the law.
Yet were they not for that reason all spiritual—at least we may say when he wrote to them. The power and source of spirituality they had by receiving the Spirit. But some needed restoration, and it was not anyone who was able to restore such, even though they might not as yet have been overtaken in a fault themselves; they were in a feeble state of soul, and had not wisdom nor strength to assist others who had sunk below feebleness into a fault.
The spiritual only had ability to help; the Spirit could work deliverance and restoration for others through them, fit instruments for His work, when others were not. How, then, comes this, when all had received the Spirit as believers at the first? It is from this; that there was another power in them besides the Spirit, and other influences brought to bear upon them than what were from Him, the “Spirit of truth,” who testified of Christ. “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other; in order that ye may not do the things that ye would.” (Chap. 5:17.)
It is plain that thus the flesh had hindered. They had not “walked in the Spirit,” and, because they had not, the lusts of the flesh had been fulfilled. At first they had run well, but they had been hindered through having turned back to the flesh by the law, and thus manifested the flesh, and not the Spirit, in their state and ways. Hence the apostle has to make the selection. The spiritual alone could help when the general state was low, and some had been overtaken in a fault. These (the spiritual) had walked in the Spirit. He ungrieved not only dwelt in them, as He had sealed them, but ruled them, and was listened to; and the flesh was not yielded to: this made all the difference in their state, and thus, in this state only, they could help others who wore needy, and lift up those who were fallen. This is our individual resource, and the resource of the church, when things are low and in confusion. The Holy Ghost, though often grieved and discarded, has not returned to (heaven (and what a mercy and comfort this is, and an unfailing power available to us!) leaving all to man's will and way.
Who, then, are the spiritual? I suppose that by their fruits we are to know them. Neither is this difficult, nor far to seek. The apostle had just before written, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law.” The law was on the side of the spiritual: though it had not made them to be so, yet it approved of them as such. The command to love God and our neighbor, given by the law, did not give the power to do it, and thus the law was weak through the flesh. The Spirit, working through faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, produces love by a new nature, which the law never gave. Now the moment that love is there, the law is fulfilled; for “love is the fulfilling of the law,” and we love God and our neighbor. Those who have the Spirit have this, and it is the bags of all. “We love him because he first loved us,” and “love worketh no ill to his neighbor.” The first three fruits mentioned are the individual state, and enjoyment of “the spiritual,” that which ought to continue in everyone without interruption. But it does not always, as we know. “Thou hast left thy first love,” as is said by the Lord. And here, in the Galatians, it had not continued, though they had started well, having received the Spirit.
The spiritual had gone on well, and the fruits had continued to be manifested in them. The power was with all, and they all ought to have gone on well, and might too. Alas, how often is this the case! We cannot guarantee spirituality always in any. Peter was spiritual on the day of Pentecost, as on many more occasions; but he was not “when certain came from James,” and he dissembled because of them, refusing to eat with the Gentile believers (as given in this same epistle), beloved Barnabas (that “good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith") being carried away also with their dissimulation. Paul, pre-eminently faithful, purposed in his own spirit to go to Jerusalem, and carried it out, though “the Spirit forbad him.” (Compare Acts 20:22; 21:422And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: (Acts 20:22)
4And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. (Acts 21:4).) If then these, so eminent as servants, and in whom the Spirit wrought so mightily, thus (through nature and associations, with even true zeal for the Lord's glory, as Paul) failed to be ruled by that Holy Guide who dwelt in them, how much more we in these last days of evil, sorrow, and weakness! Solemn truth, that to have the Spirit is not necessarily always to be spiritual!
The apostle would not write thus to his beloved Thessalonians: “Ye that are spiritual,” for such they all were, as manifested in their “work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.” With joy of the Holy Ghost,” their faith to Godward was spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything.” The fruits of the Spirit in them were manifest to all. They were walking in the Spirit, to the praise of the Lord, and so were all spiritual. Neither in such a state did anyone need restoration. It was not so with the Galatians as a whole; and thus he falls back for restoration upon those through whom the Spirit could work, those Christ could use, in whom His voice had been listened to, who bore the fruits of the Spirit instead of the works of the flesh.
Love was their state, and “He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” (1 John 4:13-1613Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:13‑16).) Joy and peace, too, were the fruits of the Spirit, and the experience of the spiritual. They rejoiced in Christ Jesus, and had no confidence in the flesh. (Phil. 3:33For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. (Philippians 3:3).) They had His joy fulfilled in themselves (John 17:1313And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. (John 17:13)), besides boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Horn. v. 11.) They had peace with God; and “the peace of God which passeth all understanding keeping their hearts and minds through Christ Jesus:” the “peace of Christ ruled in their hearts,” for they had Christ before them. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” Such were the spiritual personally; and, being such, they could be used, and they only, to bring others into the sphere in which they themselves lived and moved, or to bring back such as had fallen from it—to restore such.
Now the manner of this is shown next by what we may call the relative fruits of the Spirit, characteristic of the spiritual, those by which they are known, and the character of their operation towards others; for spirituality is ever active in lowly love for the blessing of others to God's glory.
Spirituality then is shown, first, in a passive form “long-suffering.” What more needed in helping saints, or in the Lord's service towards the world, as in the daily walk of the saint, than long-suffering? God is “long-suffering and gracious;” so are they who have and walk in the Spirit. Difficulties are many, and the opposition great—the contradiction—of sinners, the waywardness of saints, the enmity of Satan, and the working of the flesh. “Charity suffereth long, and is kind.” It must be patient endurance, the labor of love, and if the Spirit works in us it will be, for such are the spiritual. “The God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus.” As God is patient, and Christ also, so the spiritual are long-suffering and patient.
Next we have “gentleness.” This is relative too. The spiritual are very careful to be considerate, not of and for themselves, but of others. Is overbearing, or abruptness, of Christ? Is harshness of Christ? The gentleness of a nurse cherishing her children is that by which Paul illustrates his manner of caring for and helping on the saints. “To the weak he became as weak,” &c., and this to win. A stern or short way, which stuns or snubs, is not of the Spirit, but unspiritual.
“Goodness.” As long-suffering is not stoical, things endured because they cannot be avoided, so gentleness is not assumed as an exterior polish, the fruit of education, and because roughness would be considered bad manners. Beneath both, and that which acts by both, is goodness—a “good and honest heart.” There is a difference between a righteous man and a good man. The former is upright, strict, and scrupulous as to his obligations to others, but requires from them the same in return. He does his duty, but looks sharply after others that they do theirs. A good man will do much more, without expecting returns. A righteous man may be respected; a good man is loved. He is a truly philanthropic man in God's sense. For God's philanthropy has appeared to us in Christ. (Titus 3:44But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, (Titus 3:4).)
A good man is like God in this, and is called to be His imitator. So Eph. 5 exhorts us to be “followers of God as dear children, walking in love.” Such is the real thing at the bottom of the spiritual man's heart, and characterizing him; and this to all persons, evil and good, and in all circumstances, and thus he is “perfect, as his Father in heaven is perfect; who causeth his sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” This goodness of the spiritual flows out to all, irrespective of circumstances or claims. Being reviled, he can bless; being persecuted, he can suffer it; being defamed, he can entreat; and though he be not loved, yet can he still love.
Then comes “faith,” not for the soul's salvation, nor that by which they received the Spirit by believing the gospel of “Christ crucified,” but trust, or reckoning in God by which they live, as it is written, “The just shall live by faith;” and by this they stand. The spiritual man has been taught to cease from man, and to confide in God, who is above all circumstances. By this he is led to be active, or by it to be passive; standing still or going forward as this living precious faith connects him with God in everything. In their measure the spiritual walk in the path of Him who began and ended a perfect life of faith (Heb. 12:22Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)); and they look to Him as the only perfect one in it, though a great cloud of testifiers there had been from the beginning who had trod that path. To faith difficulties are unknown, or, if felt, do but give occasion for its exercise. God hath delivered, doth deliver, and faith says that He will still deliver—yea, from all and every evil work. This confidence in God is a lever to remove mountains, to lift up and restore fallen saints. So the “spiritual” reckon.
Yet is there no ostentation. It is not demonstrative in the way of human strength. If faith brings in God, it shuts out man, and thus can afford to take a low place in His presence, and in the presence of man too, shown in “meekness.” The “spiritual” have not only come to Christ, who gave them rest when laboring from a guilty conscience, but they have “learned of him who was meek and lowly in heart;” and this in the face of “the contradiction of sinners against himself.” He did not cry nor strive; neither must the “servant of the Lord” strive, but meekly instruct those who oppose themselves, that thus peradventure God may give them repentance. We know one who lost his characteristic meekness, and said in haste, “Ye rebels, shall we bring water for you out of the rock?” and by it lost a place in the promised land. In the spiritual love abides, and “doth not vaunt itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked.” How these moral traits, as fruits of the Spirit, seen and manifested in the “spiritual,” dovetail one into the other! The links are one inseparable chain produced by the Holy Ghost in those who “walk in the Spirit.”
This divine power works thus in man, and produces what man was a stranger to, and what the world had never witnessed till the Holy Ghost came down on the day of Pentecost, and made them all of one heart and one soul, leading them to meek and quiet testimony in the face of trial and persecution. Low thoughts of self the spiritual would have in the Lord's service towards others, seeking their profit in meekness, “in lowliness of mind, esteeming others better than themselves.” (Phil. 2) So, if any desired to oversee and look after the church (1 Tim. 3) “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.”
It is a good work to be occupied in the well-being of the saints; but there are qualifications needed, amongst which we find, “No striker but patient, not a brawler.” And why so? Because such will find in serving the saints that their patience is amazingly taxed, and, if not kept in the spirit of meekness, they soon become irritated, and striking or brawling is the result, when, instead of gaining any that may need restoration, they but make bad worse. So Titus 1:7,7For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; (Titus 1:7) “Not self-willed, not soon angry, no striker.” Such were the bishops (overseers) to be, and if not such, how could they “take care of the church of God?” If not such, they were not “spiritual,” and could not help nor restore any. The Spirit did not act in them, but the flesh.
Lastly, “temperance” is given as a fruit of the Spirit. The spiritual would not act rashly or hastily.
He that believeth shall not make haste.” They would be preserved from excess. They, as to the feelings and judgment, would keep the mind evenly poised and unbiased. The loins of the mind being girded up, they would be sober. So Titus gives us, as needed for an overseer, “sober, temperate.”
Thus the “spiritual,” having the mind unbiased by temperance, have not the judgment warped. “He that is spiritual judgeth all things,” and this by the word, as in 1 Cor. 14:37,37If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 14:37) “If any man think himself to be spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that we write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” And thus are we preserved from error by the word. A person might suppose himself to be spiritual because he had by the Spirit a great gift; but this did not follow at all as a consequence, as we see at Corinth: the moral fruits of the Spirit were lacking there, and this because they were not walking in the Spirit, but walking as men, and carnal. It was not Christ and all in relation to Him, but man and things in relation to him. They were not spiritual, but carnal. The thing lacking was God's love working in them, as we see in chapter 13. Tongues might be there, prophesying there, the understanding of all mysteries; and all knowledge, and even faith to remove mountains; yet all was nothing if love were not there. “Knowledge puffeth up; love buildeth up.”
They had forgotten God's ways in grace by His Spirit, forming them morally like Himself, like Christ, who walked according to God here; they were using the power and knowledge which they had received for their own aggrandizement; they were puffed up, and had lost the sense of what God required in the place where His grace had put them. Spirituality, then, is not knowledge intellectually held, but is primarily a thing of the heart and affections, the Spirit of God forming these according to Christ. The believer, by grace, having God to dwell in him, and he in God, manifests it in every way, as Christ walked and manifested God in grace to man. The new man is also “renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him.” (Col. 3:1010And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: (Colossians 3:10).) And the mind is renewed, “that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Rom. 12)
Thus does the Spirit of God work still, and by these fruits are the spiritual ever known. The Holy Spirit is still here thus to work: may it be ours to know His working, and leading, and transforming power, through occupying us with Christ, having all that opposes set aside in our hearts and minds; and this for our own joy and strength, and for the lifting up and blessing of the saints of God, to His praise, who only worketh thus to His glory!