| SPIRIT, ACCORDING
TO SCRIPTURE
Section
4 - The Power in God's Operations ( II )
iii)
The Divine Power as manifested in His invisible, intangible operations,
part 2
Its effect and power
among members of the body
We are sealed until the
day of deliverance
Scripture is clear concerning
our calling as believers. Under the evangel of the Circumcision, dispensing
of holy spirit was conditioned upon repentance and baptism in water. We,
on the other hand, are sealed with the holy spirit at the moment
when we believe the evangel of our salvation. There are no conditions to
be fulfilled, and no qualifications to be met - except that we are sinners
and totally undeserving of God's favour! 'For in grace, through faith,
are you saved, and this is not out of you; it is God's approach present'
(Eph.2:8). Hence, Scripture declares to us, of the body of Christ, our
believing the evangel is entirely God's work. We are now God's procured
property. This sealing holy spirit is God’s guarantee, God’s word on
it, that He will take delivery of us!
Eph.1:13,14
In Whom you also—
on hearing the word of truth,
the evangel of your salvation—
in Whom on believing also,
you are sealed with
the holy spirit of promise
(which is an earnest
of the enjoyment of our allotment,
to the deliverance of that
which
has been procured)
for the laud of His glory!
Eph.4:30 And
do not be causing sorrow to the holy spirit of God
by which you are sealedfor
the day of deliverance.
2Cor.1:22 Who
also seals us and is giving the earnest of the spirit in
our hearts
We are baptised, cleansed,
hallowed, justified
For the ecclesia which is
the body of Christ, there is only one baptism (Eph.4:4-6). Ceremony and
ritual, no matter how symbolic or how attractive they may seem to us, have
no part in our evangel of the Uncircumcision! We do not do anything to
become members of the body of Christ. God chooses us for belief.
He calls us to believe. He opens our minds so that we believe.
He
baptises us in holy spirit and seals us the moment we do believe!
All that Christ achieved for us as our Mediator is applied to us at that
moment! We are cleansed (cf.Tit.2:14; Eph.5:26), set apart (cf.Eph.2:1-7;
1Cor.1:2), and justified (cf.Rom.3:24; 5:1).
1Cor.12:13
For in one spirit also we all are baptised into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks,
whether slaves or free,
and all are made to imbibe
one spirit.
Tit.3:5 …according
to His mercy, He saves us,
through the bath of renascence
and renewal of holy spirit,
1Cor.6:11 And
some of you were these,
but you are bathed off,
but you are hallowed, but you were justified
in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God.
Rom.6:4-7 We…were
entombed together with Him through baptism into death,
that, even as Christ was
roused from among the dead through the glory of the Father,
thus we also should be walking
in newness of life.
For if we have become planted
together in the likeness of His death,
nevertheless we shall be
of the resurrection also, knowing this,
that our old humanity was
crucified together with Him,
that the body of Sin may
be nullified, for us by no means to be still slaving for Sin,
for one who dies has been
justified from Sin.
Col.2:10-13 And you
are complete in Him, Who is the Head of every sovereignty and authority,
in Whom you were circumcised
also
with a circumcision not made by hands,
in the stripping off of
the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ.
Being entombed together
with Him in baptism,
in Whom you were roused
together also through faith in the operation of God,
Who rouses Him from among
the dead,
you also being dead to the
offenses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
He vivifies us together
jointly
with Him, dealing graciously with all our offenses,
We become sons of God
God has a purpose for calling
us. Scripture reveals a number of facets of this purpose. One of the most
important relates to Christ Jesus. Holy spirit makes us sons of God, the
proof of which lies in our being led by that spirit in our walk in life.
We receive the spirit of sonship, the spirit of God's Son, and we rejoice
in calling God our Father! God is the Father of many sons of whom Christ
is the Firstborn!
Rom.8:28,29
…who are called according to the purpose that,
whom He foreknew, He designates
beforehand, also,
to be conformed to the
image of His Son,
for Him to be Firstborn
among many brethren.
Rom.8:14-16
For whoever are being led by God's spirit, these are sons of God.
For you did not get slavery's
spirit to fear again,
but you got the
spirit of sonship, in which we are crying, "Abba, Father!"
The spirit itself is testifying
together with our spirit that we are children of God.
Gal.4:6 Now,
seeing that you are sons,
God delegates the spirit
of His Son into our hearts, crying "Abba! Father!"
We become a home of the
spirit and a temple of God
For those of the Circumcision
evangel, holy spirit was dispensed upon repentance and baptism of believers.
Sometimes, however, another rite, a placing on of hands, was needed for
this dispensation (Act.8:14-18). But the presence of holy spirit is here
conditioned upon a continued worthy walk (Act.5:1-11; Heb.6:4-8; 10:26-31,
etc.). It is a temporary dispensation and may be withdrawn through
personal failure.
We, of the Uncircumcision,
on the other hand, have God's spirit making its home in us. It resides
permanently
in us as it is God's guarantee to us of salvation. He is not fickle-minded
and will not renege on His word! We will be vivified, made immortal and
incorruptible, because of this resident holy spirit. We are an holy
residence; a temple of the holy spirit; a temple of God.
1Cor.3:16,17
Are you not aware that you are a temple of God
and the spirit of God is
making its home in you?
If anyone is corrupting
the temple of God, God will be corrupting him,
for the temple of God is
holy, which you are.
2Cor.6:16 Now
what concurrence has a temple of God with idols?
For you are the temple
of the living God, according as God said,
that I will be making My
home and will be walking in them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.
Rom.8:9,10 Yet
you are not in flesh, but in spirit,
if so be that God's spirit
is making its home in you.
Now if anyone has not Christ's
spirit, this one is not His.
Now if Christ is in you,
the body, indeed, is dead
because of sin,
yet the spirit is life because
of righteousness.
Rom.8:11 Now
if the spirit of Him Who rouses Jesus from among the dead
is making its home in
you,
He Who rouses Christ Jesus
from among the dead
will also be vivifying your
mortal bodies
because of His spirit
making
its home in you.
2Tim.1:14 The
ideal thing committed to you, guard through the holy spirit
which is making its home
in us.
1Cor.6:19,20
Or are you not aware that your body is a temple of the holy spirit
in you,
which you have from God,
and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price.
By all means glorify God
in your body.
Eph.2:19-22
Consequently, then, no longer are you guests and sojourners,
but are fellow-citizens
of the saints and belong to God's family,
being built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets,
the capstone of the corner
being Christ Jesus Himself,
in Whom the entire building,
being connected together,
is growing into a holy temple
in the Lord:
in Whom you, also, are being
built together for God's dwelling place, in spirit.
We become members of the
one body
God has determined who will
be called and every one of these, under this evangel of the Uncircumcision,
becomes a member of the body of Christ. No one who has God's spirit can
be outside this body, the ecclesia, no matter where they are located, and
no matter if they still belong to some denomination or other. It is God
Who determines where to place each member, his function in the body, and
his service in the Lord. All are urged to be filled with spirit and be
in an attitude of rejoicing and thanksgiving.
1Cor.12:27 Now
you are the body of Christ, and members of a part,
1Cor.12:13,14
For in one spirit also we all are baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks,
whether slaves or free, and all are made to imbibe one spirit.
For the body also
is not one member, but many.
1Cor.12:18 Yet
now God placed the members,
each one of them, in the
body according as He wills.
Eph.5:18-21
And be not drunk with wine, in which is profligacy,
but be filled full with
spirit,
speaking to yourselves in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing music
in your hearts to the Lord,
giving thanks always for
all things,
in the name of our Lord,
Jesus Christ, to our God and Father,
being subject to one another
in the fear of Christ
We are conferred spiritual
understanding, the mind of Christ
We often take for granted
the best things in life - and complain about our problems and difficulties.
We fail to see that all these, the good and the 'bad' experiences, are
God's gracious gifts to us for our benefit and for our growth, personally
and corporately (Rom.8:28; 8:16; 2Cor.4:17; Phil.2:29). Through inspiration
He reveals to us our grand destiny, our justification and our glorification
(Rom.8:29-39).
1Cor.2:9,10
That which the eye did not perceive, and the ear did not hear,
and to which the heart of
man did not ascend--
whatever God makes ready
for those who are loving Him.
Yet to us God reveals
them through His spirit,
for the spirit is searching
all, even the depths of God.
1Cor.2:11-13
For is any of humanity acquainted with that which is human
except the spirit of
humanity which is in it?
Thus also, that which is
of God no one knows, except the spirit of God.
Now we obtained, not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God,
that we may be perceiving
that which is being graciously given to us by God,
which we are speaking also,
not with words taught by human wisdom,
but with those taught by
the spirit, matching spiritual blessings with spiritual words.
1Cor.2:14-16
Now the soulish man is not receiving those things
which are of the spirit
of God,
for they are stupidity to
him, and he is not able to know them,
seeing that they are spiritually
examined.
Now he who is spiritual
is, indeed, examining all, yet he is being examined by no one.
For who knew the mind of
the Lord? Who will be deducing from Him?
Yet we have the mind
of Christ.
Rom.8:9b
…Now if anyone has not Christ's spirit, this one is not His.
Phil.2:3-8 nothing
according with faction, nor yet according with vainglory—
but with humility, deeming
one another superior to one's self,
not each noting that which
is his own, but each that of others also.
For let this disposition
be in you, which is in Christ Jesus also,
Who, being inherently in
the form of God,
deems it not pillaging to
be equal with God,
nevertheless empties Himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming to be in the likeness
of humanity, and,
being found in fashion as
a human, He humbles Himself,
becoming obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
We are inspired and empowered
for Prayer and Service
We know that we should pray
for God's guidance in all situations. Often, however, we are confused about
what God actually intends for us to do is in a particular instance. It
is here that the spirit pleads for us in accord with God.
Rom.8:26,27
Now, similarly, the spirit also is aiding our infirmity,
for what we should be praying
for, to accord with what must be, we are not aware,
but the spirit itself
is pleading for us with inarticulate groanings.
Now He Who is searching
the hearts is aware what is the disposition of the spirit,
for in accord with God
is it pleading for the saints.
Through this spirit, God controls
the operations carried out by his ministers and his people, even preventing
them from carrying out their intentions, however good these may seem to
them, when these are not in harmony or not in time with His designs and
His intentions.
Act.16:6,7
Now they passed through Phrygia and the Galatian province,
being forbidden by the
holy spirit to speak the word in the province of Asia.
Yet, coming about Mysia,
they tried to go into Bithynia,
and the spirit of Jesus
does not let them.
When Paul had been given special
revelation in a vision, God sent him, through the agency of Satan, a physical
disability to keep him from developing self-pride over the privilege, to
remind him of what he was, and to correct his perspective.
2Cor.12:1-10
…that he was snatched away into paradise and hears ineffable declarations,
which it is not allowed a man to speak…. Wherefore also, lest
I should be lifted up by the transcendence of the revelations, there was
given to me a splinter in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, that he may
be buffeting me, lest I may be lifted up.
We have the gifts of the
spirit
In the Corinthian ecclesia,
a number of divisive problems had arisen through misunderstanding the gifts
of the spirit, based on ignorance of some basic premises. These had been
given for the purpose of developing the ecclesia, each one contributing
to its proper function and growth. Not keeping before their minds the fact
that these were gifts, or endowments, from God, the members had taken to
boasting and self-glory for possessing these, instead of appreciating the
Giver and thanking Him for what they had been endowed with and using them
for the purpose they were given. Often it is forgotten that even our very
acceptance of Jesus as Lord is initiated by holy spirit and not through
our own, independent, volition as we are vaunt to think!
1Cor.12:1-3
Now concerning the spiritual endowments,
brethren, I do not want
you to be ignorant.
You are aware that when
you were of the nations,
you were led away to the
voiceless idols, as ever you were led.
Wherefore I am making known
to you that
no one, speaking by God's
spirit, is saying, "Anathema is Jesus."
And no one is able to say
"Lord is Jesus" except by holy spirit.
1Cor.12:4-6
Now there are apportionments of graces, yet the same spirit,
and there are apportionments
of services, and the same Lord,
and there are apportionments
of operations, yet the same God
Who is operating all in
all.
1Cor.12:7-11
Now to each one is being given the manifestation of the spirit,
with a view to expedience.
For to one, indeed, through
the spirit, is being given the word of wisdom,
yet to another the word
of knowledge, according to the same spirit,
yet to another faith, by
the same spirit,
yet to another the graces
of healing, by the one spirit,
yet to another operations
of powerful deeds,
yet to another prophecy,
yet to another discrimination
of spirits,
yet to another species of
languages,
yet to another translation
of languages.
Now all these one and the
same spirit is operating,
apportioning to each his
own, according as He is intending.
It is so important to bear in
mind that there is but one body and that each member has been given the
privilege of contribution to the whole ecclesia in some way or other. With
the gift comes the responsibility to function for the edification of all
without distinction and without cause for pride. God decides the dispensation
of the needed gifts and these are not the exclusive privilege of an elite
few.
1Cor.12:12,13
For even as the body is one and has many members,
yet all the members of the
one body, being many, are one body,
thus also is the Christ.
For in one spirit also we
all are baptised into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks,
whether slaves or free,
and all are made to imbibe
one spirit.
1Cor.12:27 Now
you are the body of Christ, and members of a part,
whom also God, indeed, placed
in the ecclesia,
Some have claimed that 'speaking
in tongues' is the evidence that one has holy spirit, so that those who
do not have this gift cannot be Christians. Others say that all Christians
have the gift but that some fail to exercise it. Placing some relevant
passages in parallel demonstrates that such claims are clearly unscriptural
and should be discarded.
1Cor.12:28
1Cor.12:29,30
first, apostles,
Not all are apostles.
second, prophets,
Not all are prophets.
third, teachers,
Not all are teachers.
thereupon powers,
Not all have powers.
thereupon graces of healing,
Not all have the graces of healing.
supports,
pilotage,
species of languages.
Not all are speaking languages.
Not all are interpreting.
Rather than bicker over imagined
self-importance, members of the body of Christ should get down to brass
tacks and develop the quality that should override all these gifts. Scripture
declares that these gifts, though of the spirit, are nothing if love is
wanting. The fact is that most of these gifts, which the Corinthians exhibited
in their day, have become redundant since the completion of the New Testament
writings. This is the coming of 'maturity' of God's revelation. Everything
that we need to live a life pleasing to the Lord and for the glory of God
is already with us, recorded in Scripture. There is nothing more to add.
1Cor.12:31
Yet be zealous for the greater graces.
And still I am showing you
a path, suited to transcendence.
1Cor.13:8-11
Love is never lapsing:
yet, whether prophecies,
they will be discarded,
or languages, they will
cease,
or knowledge, it will be
discarded.
For out of an instalment
are we knowing, and out of an instalment are we prophesying.
Now whenever maturity may
be coming, that which is out of an instalment shall be discarded.
When I was a minor,
I spoke as a minor, I was
disposed as a minor, I took account of things as a minor.
Yet when I have become a
man, I have discarded that which is a minor's.
Paul lists the gifts that were
still dispensed through holy spirit at the time of his 'prison letters',
sometimes called his 'perfection epistles', were penned. By the time all
the writings were collated the positions of apostle and prophet also met
redundancy. What the ecclesia has for today, are the gifts of evangelist
to preach the evangel, pastor to care for the needs of the faithful, and
teacher to instruct and to develop the members towards a realisation of
what it is to be a son of God.
Eph.4:11-14
And the same One gives
these, indeed, as apostles,
yet these as prophets,
yet these as evangelists,
yet these as pastors and
teachers,
toward the
adjusting of the saints
for the work
of dispensing,
for the upbuilding
of the body of Christ,
unto the end that we should all attain
to the unity of the faith and of the realisation of the son of God,
to a mature man,
to the measure of the stature of the complement of the Christ,
that we may by no means still be minors,
surging hither and thither and being carried about
by every wind of teaching,
by human caprice,
by craftiness with a view to the systematising of the deception.
Eph.4:15,16
Now, being true, in love we should be making all grow into Him,
Who is the Head--Christ—
out of Whom the entire body,
being articulated together
and united through every assimilation of the supply,
in accord with the operation
in measure of each one's part,
is making for the growth
of the body, for the upbuilding of itself in love.
In the context
of the Kingdom Administration
The introductory phase of
the Day of the Lord is a period of ‘great tribulation’ and will be the
most traumatic time in the history of mankind (Mt.24:21,22). Scripture
also calls it ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’ wherein God’s chosen people,
Israel, will have to face the worst persecutions they have ever had to
encounter (Jer.30:7; Dan.12:1). But, those who have been selected will
be saved out of it (Mt.24:22). Jesus Christ promises the believers of that
time the inspiration of holy spirit in their defence before the courts,
both civil and religious, which try them.
Mk.13:11
And whenever they may be leading you off, to give you over,
do not worry beforehand
what you should be speaking, neither be meditating,
but whatsoever may be given
to you in that hour, this be speaking,
for it is not you who are
speaking, but the holy spirit.
Mt.10:17-20
Now take heed of men, for they will be giving you up to Sanhedrins,
and in their synagogues
will they be scourging you.
Now before governors and
kings also shall you be led on My account,
for a testimony to them
and to the nations.
Now, whenever they may be
giving you up,
you should not be worrying
about how or what you should be speaking,
for it shall be given you
in that hour what you should be speaking,
for not you are speaking,
but the spirit of your Father is speaking in you.
At the end of that period of
judgements, Christ, the Messiah of Israel, will return to set up the kingdom
of God on earth (Zech.1:3,4; Rev.19:11-16; 20:1-6). Then it will be that
God’s kingdom administration will be established (Mt.20:28) and His promised
blessings to His chosen nation implemented. The key factor in all this
is God's holy spirit, dispensed in the midst of the nation of Israel as
never before.
Joel.2:28-31
And it comes afterward, I shall pour out My spirit on all flesh;
and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy,
your elders shall dream
dreams, your chosen ones shall see visions.
And, moreover, on the servants
and on the maids in those days shall I pour out My spirit.
And I will give miracles
in the heavens above, and signs on the earth,
blood and fire and pillars
of smoke.
The sun shall be turned
to darkness, and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the
day of Yahweh, the great and fearful day.
Isa.32:15 till
emptied on us shall be the spirit from the height.
"Then the wilderness will
come to be for crop land,
and the crop land for wildwood
will be accounted.
Jer.31:31-34
Lo, days are coming, an affirmation of Yahweh,
And I have made with the
house of Israel And with the house of Judah
A NEW COVENANT,
Not like the covenant that
I made with their fathers,
In the day of My laying
hold on their hand, To bring them out of the land of Egypt,
In that they made void My
covenant, And I ruled over them—
an affirmation of Yahweh.
For this [is] the covenant
that I make, With the house of Israel, after those days,
An affirmation of Yahweh,
I have given My law in their
inward part, And on their heart I do write it,
And I have been to them
for Elohim, And they are to me for a people.
And they do not teach any
more Each his neighbour, and each his brother,
Saying, Know you Yahweh,
For they all know Me, from their least unto their greatest,
An affirmation of Yahweh;
For I pardon their iniquity,
And of their sin I make mention no more.
Ezek.37:5-14
Thus said the Lord Yahweh to these bones:
Lo, I am bringing into you
a spirit, and you have lived,
and I have given on you
sinews, and cause flesh to come up upon you,
and covered you over with
skin, and given in you a spirit, and you have lived,
and you have known that
I [am] Yahweh.'……
And I have prophesied as
He commanded me,
and the Spirit comes into
them, and they live,
and stand on their feet--a
very very great force.
And He said unto me,
`Son of man, these bones
are the whole house of Israel; ……
And you have known that
I [am] Yahweh, In My opening your graves,
And in My bringing you up
out of your graves, O My people.
And I have given My Spirit
in you, and you have lived,
And I have caused you to
rest on your land,
And you have known that
I Yahweh,
I have spoken, and I have
done [it], An affirmation of Yahweh.'
Nicodemus was a Pharisee and
‘a chief of the Jews’ (Jn.3:1). Jesus asked him how was it that he, ‘a
teacher of Israel’ (v10) could not make the scriptural connection when
He said that the people of Israel would have to be ‘begotten anew’ or,
as is most usually translated ‘born again’! The ‘You’ in the statement
‘You must be begotten anew’ is in the plural! This being ‘born again’ experience
is exclusively for the chosen nation.
Isa.66:8
Who has heard a thing as this? And who has seen things as these?
Will the land travail in
one day? Should a nation be born at one time?
For she travails. Moreover,
Zion is bearing her sons.
Ezek.36:26-28
And I have given to you a new heart,
And a new spirit
I give in your midst,
And I have turned aside
the heart of stone out of your flesh,
And I have given to you
a heart of flesh.
And My Spirit I give in
your midst,
And I have done this, so
that in My statutes you walk,
And My judgements you keep,
and have done them.
And you have dwelt in the
land that I have given to your fathers,
And you have been to Me
for a people,
And I--I am to you for Elohim.
Act.2:17,18
`And it shall be in the last days,' (God is saying)
`I shall be pouring out
from My spirit on all flesh,
And your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy,
And your youths visions
shall be seeing,
And your elders dreams shall
be dreaming,
And surely on My men slaves
and on My women slaves in those days
shall I be pouring out from
My spirit,' and they shall be prophesying.
Isa.44:3 For
I will pour water on the thirsty, and floods on the dry land.
I will pour My spirit
on your seed, and My blessing on your offspring.
Ezek.39:29 And
I hide not any more My face from them,
In that I have poured out
My spirit on the house of Israel,
An affirmation of the Lord
Yahweh!'
June 2001
Back to:
....Main
menu of articles
....Section
1 - Introduction
God Himself
....Section
2 - The Power of Life
....Section
3 - The Power in God's Operations
I
Proceed to:
....Section
5 - Metaphysical Beings I
....Section
6 - Metaphysical Beings II
....Section
7 - Conclusion
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