Question 101:
(a) How does the Spirit bear witness with our spirit? (Rom. 8:16).
(b) Where does it (my spirit) get its witness? (1 John 5:10).
To whom do these bear witness?
K. C.
Answer: (a) “The Holy Spirit (acting in us in life) has produced the affections, the consciousness of being a child of God, so He does not separate Himself from this, but, by His powerful presence, He bears witness Himself that we are children. We have this testimony in our hearts in our relationship with God; but the Holy Spirit Himself, as distinct from us, bears His testimony to us in whom He dwells. The true freed Christian knows that his heart recognizes God as Father, but he knows also that the Holy Spirit Himself bears testimony to him. That which is founded in the Word is realized and verified in the heart.”
(J. N. Darby, Synopsis).
(b) 1 John 5:10. The believer gets his assurance from the Word of God; he knows no greater testimony (vs. 9); he rests on it and has the confidence of it in testimony in his heart.
(c) In the above passages, the witness is in and to his own soul.