The time for glorying only in the Lord, and in that authority, and in that only, which had been formed by the Holy Spirit had now fully come; and therefore the fact that the Lord had given Paul authority in the Church, was shown by witnesses to the presence of the Spirit with him. The signs of an Apostle were wrought by him. His authority stood approved by this, that he could “do nothing against the truth, but for the truth”; and because the power used by him was used “to edification, and not to destruction” (2 Cor. 13:5-10). He claims no authority, save what was thus verified by the presence of the Spirit with him, and used by him for the furtherance of the truth, and the profit of the Church. For the Holy Spirit had been publicly avouched to be sovereign in the Church, as the Son had been proclaimed Head to the Church. The gifts of the Spirit may be among us in various measures of strength; but the Holy Spirit in us is the title of all present worship and service. Whatever worship is now to be had in the temples of God, it is to be in the Spirit; for “we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit.”
And the Apostle, speaking of worship, says, “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord (that is, no man can call Jesus, Lord, or say, Lord Jesus), but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 12:2). So whatever service is now to be rendered in the Church is with this limitation, “according to the ability which God giveth”; it is by this rule, “the manifestation of the Spirit.” Paul might lay hands on Timothy, and Titus might appoint elders; but the presence of the Spirit was in measure according to the authority and service. Timothy was left in Ephesus; but the charge entrusted to him there, was according to the gifts bestowed upon him (1 Tim. 1:18; 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6). To assume any ministry beyond this measure, is to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think (Rom. 12:3). And as every individual saint has title through the indwelling Spirit to “prove all things” (with this condition doubtless, that he “hold fast that which is good”); so the congregations of the saints, or the temples of God, as spiritual, are to judge also (1 Cor. 14:29); and if the resources of the flesh, the name, the human advantages, or earthly distinctions of men be gloried in and trusted, the temple is defiled. And the temple of God at Corinth was thus defiled (1 Cor. 3:16-23). Some had rested in Paul, some in Cephas, some in Apollos. But this was carnal. This was walking as men, and not in the presence and sufficiency of the Spirit, Whose temple they were. They became untrue to the Spirit Who dwelt in them.