Holy Spirit: February 2006
Table of Contents
“I Have All and Abound”
A poor man I — no man can say,
For riches vast do I possess;
The worldling’s riches fly away:
Mine better are than all of his.
I have a Father high above,
The great, eternal, living God,
He watches us with tender love,
His sons and daughters bought with blood.
I have a Saviour, God’s dear Son,
To cleanse my sin, His life He gave,
His work is far beyond man’s ken:
His work’s complete, He all can save.
I have God’s Spirit me to teach;
He lives within my heart always,
Reveals God’s truth, brings me new birth,
His voice I’d hear and e’er obey.
I have a compass in God’s Word,
A guide to heaven’s eternal day;
A lamp for e’en the darkest road,
To keep my feet, nor let me stray.
Inheritance I also have,
Reserved in heaven, its earnest here;
Lord, with such treasures, who on earth
With my rich gifts can e’er compare?
Translated from the Chinese
“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
The Holy Spirit
When Jesus was on earth, God was present among men in the Person of the Son. Now God is present on earth in the Person of the Holy Spirit, dwelling both in the church collectively and in the individual believer. He, the Holy Spirit, unites the body of Christ to its glorified Head in heaven.
The Holy Spirit communicates the things of God to the child of God and gives to each child the understanding of God’s thoughts and heart. Each member of the body receives gifts from the ascended Christ, and these gifts display the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
The communication of new life by the Spirit through the Word gives to the believer the desire to live according to the will of God; the Word of God gives to him the understanding of that will, and the Holy Spirit of God, dwelling in him, gives the power to live an obedient life — a life not under the bondage of sin.
The Holy Spirit directs and manages the affairs of each believer and leads into a unity of spirit and action among all believers, thus producing, when given His place, a spirit of oneness and peace.
The Spirit produces worship, anoints for understanding, seals that which is God’s, and is the earnest to the believer of all that has been promised to him in Christ.
The Word and Spirit
One of the greatest errors is the practical separation of the written Word of God from the teaching of the Spirit of God. Because it is such a common and serious mistake, it demands our constant care and watchfulness. Man’s confidence in himself to deal with the truth has resulted in a lack of dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit, and thus the last days are characterized by “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Tim. 3:5). No doubt man does have natural ability in understanding natural things, but “the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11). We are entirely dependent on the Spirit of God, whether to know, to discern or to communicate “the things of God.”
Satan always seeks to set aside the present work of God on the earth. When it was a question of owning the only true God, he brought in idolatry. Now that the Holy Spirit has come down to bear witness to Christ and His finished work, the competence of man is asserted in the things of God. The great characteristic of Christianity is the coming down of the Holy Spirit to abide with us forever, and this Satan seeks practically to set aside. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit may be held in some measure, but His present work is so little regarded that He is both grieved and quenched. Because He is not better known personally and privately, His power is not known corporately and publicly.
Harmony With the Word
Some, however, have gone to the other extreme and pretended to have the guidance of the Spirit apart from the Word. As a result, they have fallen into the most extravagant folly and error. Scripture enjoins that we have an ear to hear what God says in His Word in conscious dependence on the guidance of His Spirit. To separate the Word and the Spirit is fatal to a true understanding of the mind of God, for the two are joined together all through Scripture.
In the very beginning of the Word of God we have God speaking and the Spirit moving. The Word of the Lord by Moses and the prophets was both written and spoken by the Spirit, for “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21). When some came back from the captivity, they were to act on God’s Word “as it is written,” while the prophet assured them that God’s Spirit remained among them (Hag. 2:5).
When the Holy Spirit came down after our Lord’s resurrection, the believers were “all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). Finally, we have the perfect example in our blessed Master, who, always led by the Spirit, contended for the authority of the written Word. He on whom the Spirit came down like a dove constantly put his enemies to silence by saying, “It is written.”
Speaking of Christ
May we not overlook a third truth given to us with all this, namely, that the Word and the Spirit always speak of Christ. When the Lord Jesus told of the future coming down of the Holy Spirit, He could say of Him, “He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak . . . for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 16:1314). Those in Acts who were filled with the Spirit not only “spake the word of God with boldness,” but also gave “witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 4:33). Stephen too, under the power of the Spirit of God, used Scripture in a large way in addressing his hearers, but then he was so taken up with Christ that He saw Him standing at God’s right hand. Surely the Spirit, the Word, and the One of whom they speak is a threefold cord that cannot easily be broken.
What do we learn from all this? We learn that the written Word, having been given by the power of the Spirit, needs the Spirit to bring it home to our hearts. Also, when the Spirit acts by the Word in us, it will be connected with the ministry of Christ and will produce in us conduct according to Him. If the intellect is allowed to work on the Word of God without the Spirit, we may be puffed up with knowledge. This will lead to a low walk while we profess to hold the highest doctrines. But if we are occupied with the Word in the power of the Spirit, we will have a care for all that the Word teaches. There will be consistency in every path in which we are called to walk. We will seek to honor God in our personal walk, in our family life, and in our assembly relationships. When a believer is not consistent as to general conduct, it may often be traced to the practical separation of the Word of God and the Spirit of God. May we be found reading the Scriptures, pondering them in prayer and dependence on the Holy Spirit, and learning from them more of Christ!
H. H. Snell, adapted from “The Word
and Spirit,” The Christian Friend
The Comforter
We might very naturally draw from the word “Comforter” that the term was in relation to sorrow, that it intimated a person who would console us in the midst of the distresses of this lower world. And, indeed, the Holy Spirit does console us and comfort us. But this is only a very small part of the functions conveyed by this word. It is One who is identified with our interests, one who undertakes all our cause, one who engages to see us through our difficulties, one who in every way becomes both our representative and the great personal agent who transacts all our business for us. It is One who is absolutely and infinitely competent to undertake for us whatever He could do in our favor, whatever was or might be the limit of our need, whatever our want in any difficulty, whatever the exigencies of God’s grace for the blessing of our souls. Such the Holy Spirit is now, and how blessed it is to have such a One.
Adapted from W. Kelly
To Worship in Spirit
Christ has borne away our sin, cleansed us from all defilement, and made us fit for the presence of God, and in order that we may enjoy this blessed reality, He has gained for us, at the same time, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Not only do we, when being born again, receive a new nature, which is holy and capable of sentiments suitable to the position in which grace has placed us before God, but we receive the Holy Spirit, who shows and reveals and communicates to us divine things and who inspires sentiments such as they should awaken. We are strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man, in order that, being rooted and grounded in love, Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, and that we may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:1619).
The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us (Rom. 5:5). He takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us, and all that the Father has is Christ’s (John 16:15; 17:10). That which eye has not seen, which ear has not heard, which came not into the heart of man — the things which God has prepared for him whom He loves — God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:910).
The Holy Spirit is “the unction” which we receive of God, by which “we know the things that are freely given to us of God” (1 Cor. 2:12) — by which we “know all things” (1 John 2:20). He is the seal which God has put upon us unto the day of redemption; God has set His appropriating mark for that day of glory on those who believe. The Holy Spirit is also “the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.” He gives us the full assurance of the efficacy of the work of Christ. He imparts to us the knowledge of the position in which we are placed, as cleansed by the blood of the Saviour, and therefore without spot in the sight of God. By the Holy Spirit, the love of God, whence all these accomplished blessings have flowed, is shed abroad in our hearts. He is the originator in us of all the thoughts and all the affections which respond to this love.
But He does more — He is more than all this for us. “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17). This is not merely an imagination, a feeling; it is a fact. The same Spirit, whose fullness is in Christ, abides in us, and we are united to Christ as members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones (Eph. 5:30). By one Spirit we have all been baptized, that we might be one body (1 Cor. 12:13). Not only is He the power, the link, of this union, but He gives us the consciousness of it. “At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20).
The Holy Spirit, then, gives us, first of all, the assurance of our redemption. Where the Spirit is, there is liberty; He reveals to us the glory of Christ as presented in the Scriptures, as He once did to Stephen, who, full of the Holy Spirit, beheld the glory of God and the Son of Man at the right hand of God. Moreover, He gives us the consciousness of our union with Christ on high. We know that we are quickened together with Him, raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ. Besides all this, He sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts — the spring and fountain of joy to ourselves, of pity towards this poor world, and of love to all the family of God.
Another truth of minor importance, but very precious in its place, depends upon this presence of the Holy Spirit: We are of the same body and thus “members one of another” (Rom. 12:5). If Christ is the Head of the body, each Christian is a member of it and consequently is united by the Holy Spirit, who forms the bond of the whole in every other member.
The same Spirit dwells in each Christian; his body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). And believers being quickened and united together, they, as a whole, are also His temple (1 Cor. 3:16). God dwells there by His Spirit in a manner less palpable but far more excellent than in the temple of Jerusalem.
True Christian Worship
Now it is in their position, according to this glorious revelation of God, and by the Spirit which He has given, in order that we might enjoy all the blessed privileges which are ours, that true Christian worship is offered to God.
Knowing what God is, and what He is for us—beholding Him, without a veil, according to the perfection of His love and of His holiness — rendered capable of abiding in the light, as He Himself is in the light — the objects of that love which spared not His well-beloved Son, that we might be made partakers of it — and having received His Spirit, in order that we might comprehend this love and thus be enabled to adore Him according to the desires and affections of His heart toward us, we render Him worship responsive to the revelation which He has made of Himself in that mystery of love into which the angels desire to look and by which He will make known, in the ages to come, the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
But there remains yet another element of our intelligent service — the character of “the Father.” God must be worshipped in “spirit and in truth,” for He is a Spirit, but it is as “the Father” that He “seeketh such to worship Him.”
To worship “in spirit” is to worship according to the true nature of God and in the power of that communion which the Spirit of God gives. Spiritual worship is thus in contrast with the forms and ceremonies and all the religiousness of which the flesh is capable.
J. N. Darby, from Collected Writings,
Vol. 7, pp. 97100
The Anointing, Seal, Earnest and Quickening of the Spirit
In 2 Corinthians 1:2122, the Spirit of God is brought before us under three striking figures. “Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” The Apostle is setting forth the settled place of blessing into which God has introduced every believer in Jesus. We are no longer in Adam, exposed to death and condemnation, but in Christ, and in Him we find every purposed blessing made everlastingly good. But so abounding is the grace of our God that over and above all this, He has given us the Holy Spirit as the anointing, the seal and the earnest. He dwells within us.
The Anointing
The Lord Jesus received the Spirit in this way when walking as a man on earth, as we read, “Thy holy child [servant] Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed.” “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 4:27; 10:38). This was an expression of divine delight and complacency in Him personally. The Father saw in Him perfect dependence and faultless obedience; the Spirit was sent upon Him in token of His full approval and complete satisfaction. He was the true meal offering, “anointed with oil” (Lev. 2:4). Believers are anointed with the Holy Spirit on an entirely different principle. It is not because of what God sees in us, but because of what His eye sees and what His heart has found in the risen and exalted Christ.
One grand result of the anointing is that we have fellowship with the mind of God. The Holy Spirit introduces us into the circle of the thoughts of God, as revealed in His Word. It is not enough that we should be born again: The Spirit must be possessed before any advance can be made in the things of God. Hence when the beloved Apostle warned the babes against the many antichrists that were even then abroad in the world, he refers them to two things as safeguards. (1) Apostolic teaching: “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning” (1 John 2:24). (2) The anointing: “The unction which ye have received of Him abideth in you” (1 John 2:27). Souls who avail themselves thus and abide in the circle of the Spirit’s instruction are preserved from all the many efforts of the enemy. Our hearts are then in the enjoyment of what the Spirit imparts and thus are in a position to reject the devil’s counterfeit. There may not be ability to expose the error that is presented, but it is known to be not the truth, and that is sufficient for the simple soul.
The Seal
“Now He which stablisheth us . . . who hath also sealed us.” The Lord Jesus could say of Himself, “Him hath God the Father sealed” (John 6:27). The same is true of all who believe, through His death and resurrection. Sealing follows faith. This is quite plain in Ephesians 1:13. “In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” It was the seal of faith. It is faith in Christ’s work which is sealed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Believers are thus marked out as belonging to God. Our connection with the world has been broken; the fetters which once Satan bound upon us have been severed, and we are now the possession of our God. Do all our hearts respond to this? Are we yielded up, body and soul and spirit, to Him for His service and glory? Let each one of us own more thoroughly His gracious claims and surrender ourselves entirely to Him.
What immense comfort that this Divine Seal will never be removed from any, even the feeblest believer. Many fear that the Holy Spirit will really be withdrawn, because of their faulty ways and walk. Not so. God gave me His Holy Spirit well knowing what I should turn out to be, and He gave Him, not because of what He saw in me, but because of what He saw in Christ. This will never change. But a careful holy walk is, nevertheless, due from us. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).
The Earnest
“The earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” This is in view of the future inheritance. God intends to give everything in heaven and in earth to His beloved Son. The usurper may hold at present part of His dominions, but divine power will shortly wrest them from him and give them over to the Lord Jesus. He will share this universal inheritance with us, such is the purpose of His heart. But it cannot be given to us yet. There are purposes yet to be accomplished and enemies to be put down. The Spirit of God dwells therefore within us as the earnest (or pledge) of all that is to come. He is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession (Eph. 1:14; 2 Cor. 5:5).
Quickening
The quickening work of the Holy Spirit in the soul in producing new life towards God, where once sin and death reigned, is unfolded very simply in John 3. Nicodemus came to the Lord by night. He had been outwardly convinced by the miracles which the Lord was performing, as were many others in Jerusalem at that time (John 2:23). He opened by saying, “Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him.” The Lord met him instantly with the solemn statement, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
How deeply humbling! We learn here the solemn fact that man in his natural condition cannot perceive or understand the things of God. Privileges or advantages make no real difference. Nicodemus had many. He was a Jew of high position as a teacher among his fellows, acquainted with the letter of scripture, and, we have no reason to doubt, moral and religious. What fairer specimen of humanity can be supposed!
All must learn sooner or later that man’s nature is altogether antagonistic to God — altogether bad and corrupt before Him. It is not only that men have done bad things, but the very nature is bad beyond repair. Few accept this. If they did but bow to it, they would be thankful to be objects of God’s sovereign grace and love. A man must be born again, or he can never see or enter the kingdom of God.
Born of Water and Born of the Spirit
But how is this brought about! Nicodemus could not tell, nor can many in this day, but the Lord Jesus explains. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit.” Here we have it in a few words. It is the direct work of the Spirit of God, acting by means of the Word of God upon the soul.
The water is a symbol of the Word of God, which the Jewish teacher should have understood from such Old Testament passages as Ezekiel 36:25 and Psalm 119:9. Christians have the thought confirmed in Ephesians 5:26 and John 15:3. The Spirit of God brings the Word to bear upon the soul, convincing it of sin and revealing the Saviour dead and risen. To this the soul believingly bows, and thus a positive new life and nature is imparted. As we read in 1 Peter 1, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”
This is not peculiar to Christianity. Ever since sin came into the world, men have been thus graciously wrought upon by the Holy Spirit. What is peculiar to this period is the Spirit’s indwelling, but His quickening operation in the soul is true at all times, irrespective of dispensational differences. But the life was not made known in its full and heavenly character until the only begotten Son came forth from the Father into the world.
Adapted from W. W. Fereday
Understanding and Communicating Spiritual Things
The Holy Spirit is the one by whom the apostles received spiritual things, were able to communicate them, and by whom, thereupon, others were able to discern them (1 Cor. 2:12,15). It is the same Spirit whom the apostles received in order to know the things of God and by whom others have discerned them — that is, the apostolic gift of revelation and of communication, and the gift of spiritual understanding in the simple believer.
J. N. Darby
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit was “sent down from heaven,” and, blessed be God, He is here still and will abide with us forever. “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles” (1 Cor. 12:13). This was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It was the formation of “one body” on earth, of which Christ is the Head in heaven. Wondrous work! Who but a divine person could be sufficient to unite all believers on earth to Christ the Head in heaven and to one another in “one body”? It was done by the coming of the Holy Spirit. Precious mystery of divine grace and power and wisdom!
If the Holy Spirit Himself is here and in us, and He gives not the Spirit by measure, how could we ask for a further measure of the Spirit? Impossible that an intelligent God-fearing soul could do so! And if the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the formation on earth of all believers into one body, how could we ask for a fresh baptism of the Spirit? Could the “one body” be formed by “one Spirit” over and over again? Far be the thought! This was the Pentecostal blessing, and it was when the body was formed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Things New and Old, Vol. 25, p. 161
The Temple of the Holy Spirit
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:1920).
The doctrine that the body is for Christ decided another question, to which the depraved habits of the Corinthians gave rise. All fornication is forbidden. To us, with our present Christian habits of mind, it is a thing of course — to pagans this was new, but the doctrine exalts every subject. Our bodies are the members of Christ. Another truth connected with this is of great importance: If (by union according to the flesh) two were one body, he who is united to the Lord is one spirit. The Spirit whose fullness is in Christ is the same Spirit who dwells in me and unites me to Him. Our bodies are His temples. What a mighty truth when we think of it!
Two Motives for Holiness
Moreover, we are not our own but were bought with a price — the blood of Christ offered for us. Therefore we ought to glorify God in our bodies, which are His — powerful and universal motive, governing the whole conduct without exception. Our true liberty is to belong to God. All that is for oneself is stolen from the rights of Him who has bought us for His own. All that a slave was, or gained, was the property of his master; he was not the owner of himself. Thus it was with the Christian. Outside that, he is the wretched slave of sin and of Satan — selfishness his rule and eternal banishment from the source of love his end. Horrible thought! In Christ we are the special objects and the vessels of that love. We have here two mighty motives for holiness: the value of Christ’s blood, at which we are purchased, and the fact that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit.
J. N. Darby, Synopsis, Vol. 4, pp. 193194
Praying to the Spirit
The Holy Spirit has come, in person, on earth in the church; He is present in person; He is someone who can be grieved. He is present in two ways — in the individual and in the church: “Ye are the temple of God, and . . . the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” (1 Cor. 3:16). “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 6:19). He is, Himself, the gift of God, sent by the Son, sent by the Father. Therefore, while He is God, we do not find that prayer is addressed to Him: not that all praise be not due to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but because He is always looked upon as on earth, as the Son was there, and He does not glorify Himself, but He glorifies the Father and the Son, and He is the source of all prayer and praise to the Father who gave Him and to the Son who is glorified.
J. N. Darby
The Unity of the Spirit
The “unity of the Spirit” is one of the most wonderful expressions in the Word of God. In Ephesians 4:3 (JND) we read, “Using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.” It brings before us the amazing truth that God can take lost sinners from every race, nation, culture and language and bring them together in the church of God. At the same time He indwells them by His Spirit and gives them the power to walk together in oneness of mind. Thus we may say that the unity of the Spirit is that unity into which the Spirit of God seeks to lead all believers, according to the truth of God as revealed in His Word.
This does not mean that all believers will necessarily be at the same level of spiritual maturity, for Scripture recognizes that there will be children, young men and fathers in the family of God. Also, we are told in Philippians 3:16 that “whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing,” and that “if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you” (vs. 15). God counts on believers’ being subject to the Spirit’s leading so that each will grow in the truth and be able to walk together with others in the body of Christ.
The major hindrance to this, and God’s antidote for it, is found in Ephesians 4:2 — “With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.” The flesh is still in every one of us, and pride is perhaps the worst manifestation of the flesh. If its activity is not recognized and dealt with before God, it will lead to strife and a wish to have my own way instead of the unity of the Spirit. Differences in personality, upbringing, outlook and lifestyle will all tend to keep us from walking in that unity. Our desire to have our own way will tend to make us force our views on others, whether it concerns doctrine or practice.
The remedy for this is to walk in lowliness and meekness, recognizing that there is a unity of the Spirit in which we can still walk. If we recognize the tendency of our hearts to force its own way on others, then we will realize how easily we may fail to walk in that unity into which we have been called. The Spirit of God is here on earth, indwelling every true believer individually and also dwelling among believers collectively as the house of God. If all are subject to Him and are willing to forbear with others, what a difference it would make!
We are told to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. What a beautiful vessel—“all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering” — in which to deposit such a treasure — “the unity of the Spirit.” In the moral history of Christendom, pride has broken that vessel. But Paul shows what the unity of the Spirit is, which we cannot destroy. We may break the vessel and expose the treasure, but we cannot break the treasure.
Adapted from J. G. Bellett
In the Flesh and in the Spirit
Romans 8 is the climax of a very important series of instruction. We were once in Adam (Rom. 5) and were then lying under death and condemnation. We were once under the bondage of sin (Rom. 6) as truly as Israel of old was under the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt. We (or at least Jewish believers) were once under the law with all its solemn consequences for our souls (Rom. 7).
But from all this we have been delivered. We have passed out of our old position by death, and we are now before God in the risen Christ. This Romans 8 brings before us fully. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (vs. 1). “In Christ” describes our new position before God, through grace. We have in Him a life which death cannot touch and which is beyond all condemnation. We have all the advantages of His risen position. All that is His in virtue of His accomplished work is ours also. The same divine favor and love which rest upon Him rest upon us also who are in Him. Marvelous place to be brought into!
As “in Christ” expresses our new standing before God, “in the Spirit” characterizes us now as men walking below. The Book of Romans does not regard us as in heavenly places, as Ephesians, but as those who are set free to walk to the glory of God on earth. “In the flesh” characterized our former state. The flesh was the source of all our thoughts and actions. Flesh is antagonistic to God and they that are in it cannot please Him. The mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. The sure result of following its course is death, as the apostle speaks, “For to be carnally minded [or the mind of the flesh] is death. . . . If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die” (vss. 6,13).
We are not in the flesh now (Rom. 7:5; 8:9), though the flesh is still in us. It is no longer a controlling power; it does not characterize our lives as it once did. Faith treats it as a condemned thing and allows it no place. If it acts, it leads us from the Lord into some bypath of sin and sorrow. We are not now debtors to it, to live according to it. “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Rom. 8:9). The Holy Spirit is God’s great gift to every believer, and it is the Spirit, in contrast to the flesh, who now gives character to all our walk and ways. He gives us the happy knowledge that Christ is in us — as He Himself said, “At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20) —He forms all our thoughts and desires, teaches us how to pray, enables us to bring forth fruit for God, strengthens us for all our conflicts with the enemy, and sustains our hearts along the road by His gracious ministry of Christ to us. He is our Leader, and by His power we are enabled to mortify the deeds of the body.
It is one thing to know and accept it as doctrine, quite another to walk in the power of it. Every Christian lives in the Spirit or he would not be a Christian, but every Christian does not necessarily walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). And we should not forget, too, that it is perfectly possible for a true believer to sow to the flesh and not to the Spirit.
“The mind of the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6 JND). The secret, therefore, of a peaceful walk is to follow the gracious leading of the Divine Indweller. If flesh is habitually judged and mortified, and the Spirit of God allowed His true place, our souls thrive and grow. Things that would disturb and cause bitter sorrow do not intrude themselves then. The Spirit has not to be occupying us with ourselves and our state, but is free to lead us on to a fuller knowledge of Christ, which is His delight.
Adapted from W. W. Fereday
The Spirit of God on Earth
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17).
We know that every action of God is done in trinity, whether creation, redemption, resurrection or judgment. The scriptural order is — God the Father, the One who originates the purposes; God the Son, the One who carries them out; and God the Holy Spirit, the power by which they are fulfilled. This was true long before God in His triune character was fully known by man. More than this, it was the Spirit of God who acted from time to time on various individuals in the Old Testament, whether to give out the mind of God orally or to write the inspired Word. However, at no time prior to the day of Pentecost was the Spirit of God present on earth in an abiding way. Thus the dispensation of grace is unique, for it is characterized by the presence of the Spirit of God in this world. That Spirit indwells every true believer individually, and He also dwells collectively among believers as the house of God. This is a wonderful truth, for such a thing never occurred prior to the church period, nor will it occur again in God’s dealings with man on the earth. The implications of this are important for every believer to realize.
In the Old Testament man was given instructions from God as to his walk, whether directly from God’s speaking to man, or through His Word via prophets and other men of God. These instructions, particularly in the law, covered almost every aspect of life. In most cases, however, those who received these instructions had to carry them out without understanding the reasons for them. For the most part there was no room for personal exercise or consideration of God’s mind in a specific matter — strict obedience was all that was required. It is true that men like Abraham, Moses and David (to name a few) rose above the day in which they lived and walked closer to the Lord, so that the Spirit of God could say in Psalm 103:7, “He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel.” But most men did not know God in an intimate way.
When the Lord Jesus came to earth, He not only revealed the heart of God, but He revealed God in trinity for the first time. He spoke openly of His Father, and He also talked about the Spirit of God. Some of this was anticipatory, but the knowledge of the Father and the action of the Spirit of God were mentioned many times. Later in His ministry He foretold of the coming down of the Holy Spirit, that “He may abide with you forever” (John 14:16). No longer would the Spirit come upon a prophet or other man of God, only to give him a message and then leave again. No, the Spirit would abide with believers forever.
On the day of Pentecost, we know that the Spirit came down, not only indwelling each true believer, but also baptizing them into one body (1 Cor. 12:13) and dwelling among them collectively as the house of God (1 Cor. 3:16). The wonderful truth is that the Spirit will remain resident in this world until the Lord comes! As long as He is here, He is the One who “restrains now until He be gone” (2 Thess. 2:7 JND). The Spirit of God in this world restrains the evil that otherwise would engulf this world in open sin, but when the Lord comes and takes His church home, then the Spirit of God will no longer be here in an abiding way. It is true that He will continue to work, for every time new life is imparted to a soul, it is the Spirit of God’s work. If souls are saved during the tribulation period through hearing the gospel of the kingdom, it will be by the Spirit’s using the Word (John 3:5). But He will not be present in a permanent way as He is during this period of God’s grace.
The Spirit’s presence here on earth has tremendous implications for us, both positively and negatively. As someone has remarked, this precious truth is at once our greatest potential strength but also our greatest potential weakness. As we have seen, the Old Testament was characterized by minute instructions, but which often had to be carried out without intelligence as to the reasons for those instructions. The New Testament is a book of principles, written for willing hearts, and these principles must be applied in fellowship with the Lord. They must be interpreted by and carried out in the power of the Spirit of God.
When the believer walks with the Lord, the Spirit of God is free to bring Christ before him, to interpret the Word of God, and to give the needed guidance in every situation. Thus principles can be applied in various situations, where the Spirit of God can lead according to all the circumstances of the case. In Christianity we do not make rules, but we make decisions. The believer needs more than right principles—He needs God Himself. He does not go by precedents but rather lives in direct dependence on the Lord, guided by the Word of God.
On the other hand, if the believer gets away from the Lord, the Spirit in him is grieved (Eph. 4:30) and must occupy him with his sin until he deals with it in repentance and confession. In such a case he cannot go to the Lord for guidance, and the Spirit does not interpret the Word for him in the same way. Thus the believer finds out that he cannot attempt to get the mind of the Lord in a situation without bringing his state of soul into the picture. If he refuses to judge his sin, he finds himself floundering without guidance and without joy in his soul. In one sense he is weaker than the Old Testament saint who could at least follow God’s instructions.
May we appreciate more the position of nearness and blessing into which the grace of God has brought us and delight to walk with the Lord in the power of an ungrieved Spirit. In this way we will have constant joy in our souls and will easily find that, as to questions in our lives, the Lord’s words will be true of us: “I will guide thee with Mine eye” (Psa. 32:8).
W. J. Prost