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"TO US THERE IS ONE GOD."
VOL. XIII. JUNE 1 & 15, 1892. NOS. 11 & 12.
"TO US THERE IS ONE GOD."
1 COR. 8:5,6.
----------
"Hear, O Israel! Jehovah our God is one--Jehovah."--
Deut. 6:4.
The word "god" signifies mighty one, but
not always the all-mighty one. It is used as
the translation of each of four Hebrew words--
--el, elah, elohim and adonai--all, in the common
version of the Bible, signifying the mighty,
or great. It is a general name, often and
properly applied to our heavenly Father, as well
as to our Lord Jesus, to angels and to men.
In Deut. 10:17elohim--a mighty or great
one--is used in referring to Jehovah the almighty God, as well as to other gods. "Jehovah
is a God of gods."
In Gen. 32:24,30and in Judges 13:21,22 an angel is called god--elohim.
In Jer. 16:13earthly heathen kings and governors
are called gods--elohim.
In Exodus 7:1Moses is called a god--elohim.
In Exodus 21:6; 22:8,9,28, the word elohim is evidently used to refer to the Judges
of Israel appointed by Moses, because they were
mighty ones, or persons in authority; and the
translators of the common version have rendered
the word "judges" except in the last instance,
when they rendered it "gods." They
were corrected by those who arranged the
marginal readings; but remember, it is this
same word--elohim.
In Exodus 12:12the princes of Egypt are
referred to as gods--elohim. See margin.
In Psa. 82the distinction of beings referred
to by the word god is very marked--"God
[elohim] standeth in the congregation of the mighty [el]: he judgeth among the gods [elohim]." Here the first word god evidently refers
to Jehovah, the Almighty One, while the
others refer to other mighty ones--the Church,
the sons of God, of whom Jesus is the head or
chief, and of whom it is written (verse 6), "I
have said, Ye are gods [elohim]; and all of you
are children of the Most High [el yon, the
highest God]."
But, says Paul, "Though there be [many] that
are called gods (as there be gods many and
lords many), to us there is but one God, the
Father." (1 Cor. 8:5,6.) The Father is the
mighty one over all other mighty ones--the
One God over all. None others are mighty or
great, save as they receive their greatness, as well
as their existence, from him. And it is to this
one fact that the attention of Israel is called
in the above words of Moses--"Hear, O Israel!
Jehovah our God is one--Jehovah."
The word Jehovah is not a general name,
like the word god, but a proper name, the
distinctive personal name of the Almighty Father,
and is never applied to any other being.
The name Jehovah, like other proper names,
should not be translated. In our common version
of the Old Testament its distinctiveness
as a name is lost by being generally translated
LORD. Some erroneously suppose that the name
Jehovah applies also to Christ. We therefore
[R1410 : page 164] cite a few of the many scriptures to prove that
this name belongs exclusively to the great First
Cause of all things. "I am Jehovah; this is
my name, and my glory will I not give to another."
(Isa. 42:8). "I appeared unto Abraham,
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name
El Shaddai [God Almighty], but by my name
Jehovah was I not known unto them." (Exod. 6:3.)
"That men may know that thou, whose
name alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over
all the earth."--Psa. 83:18.
Jehovah is frequently declared to be the Savior
of men because he was the Author of the
plan of salvation, our Lord Jesus being the savior
in a secondary sense, as the instrumentality
through whom the plan of Jehovah was executed.
David makes the distinction between
Jehovah and our Lord Jesus very marked in
[R1411 : page 164] Psa. 110:1--"The Lord [Jehovah] said unto
my Lord [adon, master--Christ] sit thou at my
right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool."
Our Lord Jesus and Peter call attention
very forcibly to this scripture and to the distinction
made.--Luke 20:41-44; Acts 2:34-36.
While the Scriptures are so very clear concerning
the distinct individuality and exact
relationship of Jehovah and our Lord Jesus, it
seems marvelous that the idea of a triune God
--three Gods in one, and at the same time one
God in three--should ever have gained prominence
and general acceptance. But the fact
that it has been so generally accepted only goes
to show how soundly the Church slept while the
enemy bound her in the chains of error. We
believe in Jehovah and in Jesus and in the Holy
Spirit, and fully accept the fact that our Lord
Jesus is a god--a mighty one--though we cannot
accept the unscriptural and unreasonable
theory that he is his own father and creator,
and must reject as unscriptural the teaching
that there are either three gods in one person
or one god in three persons. The doctrine of
the Trinity had its beginning in the third century,
and has a very close resemblance to
the heathen doctrines prevalent at that time,
particularly Hindooism. The only text in the
Scriptures which was ever claimed to affirm that
the Father, Son and Spirit are one god is a
portion of 1 John 5:7,8, which reads: "For
there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one; and there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit and the water
and the blood: and these three agree in one."
We state an undisputed and indisputable fact
when we say, that this is the only text favorable
to the Trinitarian view, and that the words
above in italics are spurious, and were introduced
here by Trinitarians in the fifth century,
because there was no scriptural statement to
support their theory, which was then becoming
popular. Trinitarians themselves admit this,
and in all recent translations the spurious
words are omitted. See the Emphatic Diaglott,
Young's Translation, the Revised Version, the
American Bible Union Translation and the Improved
Version. The latter says:--
"This text concerning the heavenly witnesses
is not contained in any Greek manuscript
which was written earlier than the fifth century.
It is not cited by any of the Greek ecclesiastical
writers; nor by any of the early Latin
fathers, even when the subjects upon which
they treat would naturally have led them to
appeal to its authority: it is therefore evidently spurious."
It will be observed that the sense is complete
without the interpolated words italicized above,
and the teaching in perfect harmony with the
context, which would not be the case were the
interpolated words admitted. The inspired
Apostle is showing that "the Son of God
is he that came by water and blood" to be the
Redeemer of mankind; that is, he came by
baptism into water, the symbol of his full consecration
even unto death, and also by blood,
the actual fulfilling of his consecration vow,
even unto death, the shedding of his blood.
He came, "not by water only [not by consecration
only], but by water and blood"--both
the typical and the literal baptism into death.
"And it is the Spirit that beareth witness,
because the Spirit is truth." (1 John 5:6.) The
Spirit of God bore witness after the water baptism
that this was his well beloved Son in
whom he was well pleased. (Matt. 3:17.) And
again, after his baptism into death, the Spirit
bore witness to his still being the well beloved
Son, in raising him from death and highly exalting
[R1411 : page 165] him to the right hand of power. Thus,
as verses 7 and 8assert, There are three that
bear witness that this Jesus is the Son of God--
the Spirit, the water and the blood. The testimony
of the Spirit at his consecration and
symbolic baptism in water, and again at his
resurrection, marks our Lord Jesus as indeed the
Son of God.
Touching the rise of the Trinitarian view,
Abbott and Conant's Religious Dictionary, page 944, says:--
"It was not until the beginning of the fourth
century that the Trinitarian view began to be
elaborated and formulated into a doctrine and
an endeavor made to reconcile it with the belief of the Church in ONE GOD." "Out of the attempt to solve this problem sprang the doctrine of the Trinity." Trinity "is a very marked
feature in Hindooism, and is discernible in Persian,
Egyptian, Roman, Japanese, Indian and
the most ancient Grecian mythologies."
In Lange's Critical Commentary, in reference
to this spurious passage, we read: "Said words
are wanting in all the Greek Codices; also in
the Codex Sinaiticus [the oldest known MS.],
and in all the ancient versions, including the Latin, as late as the 8th century; and since that
time they are found in three variations. Notwithstanding
the Trinitarian controversies, they
are not referred to by a single Greek father, or by any of the old Latin church fathers."
This passage is pronounced an interpolation
by such authorities as Sir Isaac Newton, Benson,
Clarke, Horne, Griesbach, Tischendorf
and Alford.
In Hudson's Greek and English Concordance we read: "The words are found in no Greek
MSS. before the 15th or 16th century, and in
no early version." Says Alford, "unless pure
caprice is to be followed in the criticism of
the sacred text, there is not a shadow of reason for supposing them genuine." Tischendorf says,
"That this spurious addition should continue
to be published as a part of the epistle, I regard
as an impiety." T. B. Woolsey inquires: "Do
not truth and honesty require that such a passage
should be struck out of our English Bibles
--a passage which Luther would not express in
his translation, and which did not creep into
the German Bible until nearly fifty years after
his death?"
Dr. Adam Clarke, the learned Methodist
commentator, in his notes on this passage, says:
"It is likely this verse is not genuine. It is
wanting in every MS. of this epistle written before
the invention of printing, one excepted--
Codex Montfortii, in Trinity College, Dublin.
The others which omit this verse amount to
one hundred and twelve. It is wanting in both
the Syriac, all the Arabic, Ethiopic, Coptic,
Sahidic, Armenian, Slavonian, etc.; in a word,
in all the ancient versions but the Vulgate; and
even of this version many of the most ancient
and correct MSS. have it not. It is wanting,
also, in all the ancient Greek fathers; and in
most even of the Latin."
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, endeavored
to support the doctrine of the Trinity,
because he supposed this text to be genuine:
yet in one of his sermons from this text,
he quoted the words of Servetus--"I scruple
using the words 'trinity' and 'persons,' because
I do not find those terms in the Bible"--
and added, "I would insist only on the direct
words unexplained, as they lie in the text."
He labored hard to prove the doctrine of the
Trinity, because he believed this spurious passage
was genuine, the information regarding the
ancient manuscripts of the Bible being recent.
For instance, at the time of the preparation of
our King James' or Common Version, the translators
had the advantage of but eight Greek
MSS., and none of them of earlier date than
the tenth century. Now, however, there are
about seven hundred MSS., some of which, especially
the Sinaitic MS. and the Vatican MS.
No. 1209, are very old, reaching back to the
third century.
[R1410 : page 165]
Like some other doctrines received by Protestants
through Papacy, this one is accepted
and fully endorsed, though its educated adherents
are aware that not a text of Scripture can
be adduced in its support. Nay, more: any one
who will not affirm this unscriptural doctrine
as his faith is declared by the articles of the
Evangelical Alliance to be non-orthodox--a
heretic.
However, it behooves us as truth seekers to
deal honestly with ourselves and with our Father's
Word, which is able to make us truly
[R1410 : page 166] wise. Therefore, ignoring the traditions and
creeds of uninspired men and corrupt systems,
let us hold fast the form of sound words received
from our Lord and the Apostles.--
2 Tim. 1:13.
Let us inquire of these standards of the true
Church what is truth on this subject. Paul answers
clearly and forcibly--There is "one God
and Father of all." (Eph. 4:6.) And again
he says, "There be gods many and lords many,
but to us there is but one God, the Father, out
of whom are all things, and we of him; and
one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all
things, and we through him." (1 Cor. 8:5,6.)
We believe this exactly: All things are of our
Father--he is the first cause of all things; and
all things are by our Lord Jesus. He, "the beginning of the creation of God" (Rev. 3:14),
has been the agent of Jehovah in all that has
since been done--"Without him was not anything
made that was made."--John 1:3.
Jesus' testimony is the same. His claim was
that he was a son, an obedient son, who did not
do his own will, but the will of his Father who
sent him--"Not my will but thine be done."
Again, Jesus said, "The Son can do nothing of
himself"--"The Father that dwelleth in me,
he doeth the works." (John 5:19; 14:10.)
True, he also said, "I and my Father are
one;" but he shows in what sense they are one
by his prayer that just so his disciples all might
be one. (John 10:30; 17:11.) This desirable
oneness is that which results from having
the same mind or spirit, a oneness or harmony
of heart, plan and action.
Many dishonor the Master, though they think
they honor him, when they contradict his direct
teachings, affirming that the Father and the Son
are one and the same being and equal in all respects.
No, says Jesus, "My Father is greater
than I." (John 14:28.) And he also says that
God is not only his Father, but ours:--"I
ascend to my Father and your Father, to my
God and your God." (John 20:17.) A better
translation of Phil. 2:6, given in the
Emphatic Diaglott, settles the question of the
Father's supremacy, in harmony with other
scriptures, such as 1 Cor. 15:28and John 14:28.
It reads thus: "Who, though being in a
form of God, yet did not meditate a usurpation,
to be like God." See also quotations
from other translators in Diaglott foot note,
all giving the same sense. The idea here is the
very opposite of equality, as conveyed in the
King James translation. Jesus did not claim
equality, nor aspire to a usurpation of God's
authority. That was Satan's claim and effort,
who said, "I will exalt my throne above the
stars of God....I will be like the Most
High."--Isa. 14:12-14.
Jesus said: "Ye call me Lord and Master,
and ye say well, for so I am;" but "call no
man on earth Father, for one is your Father,
which is in heaven." (John 13:13; Matt. 23:9.)
Peter and Paul convey the same thought,
saying, "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ hath begotten us." (1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 3:9-11;
Gal. 1:3,4; Rom. 16:25-27.) How
clear and harmonious are these words of our
standards; and we could quote much more in
perfect harmony.
Briefly stated, then, we find the Scriptures to
teach that there is but one Eternal God and
Father--who is "from everlasting to everlasting"
(Psa. 90:2; Rom. 16:26,27)--and that
the one who was the beginning of his creation,
since called Jesus, though inferior to the Father,
was superior to all other and subsequent
creatures, in whose creation he was the active
agent of Jehovah. When a redeemer was needed
for mankind, in harmony with the Father's
wish, but not of compulsion, the chief and first-created
Son of God was, by divine power (the
philosophy of which is beyond our full comprehension)
transferred to a lower plane of existence
--the human: he was born and grew to mature
and perfect manhood. Hence his life principle
was not derived from the human channel,
and was not that which was forfeited by the sin
of Adam.
He was a fully developed, perfect man, according
to the Law, at the age of thirty years, when
he immediately consecrated himself as a man
to the Father's will, offering himself a living
sacrifice on our behalf at baptism. The sacrifice
was accepted, and he was filled with the
holy Spirit of the Father. (Matt. 3:16,17.)
The power of God came upon him there. (Acts 10:38.)
[R1410 : page 167] This power of God in him was that
to which he continually referred. It was the
same power that was afterward manifested
through Peter, Paul and others, though in our
Lord's case it was more marked, because he,
being a perfect man, could receive the spirit
without measure, whereas all imperfect members
of his Church can have only a measure
of the spirit.--John 3:34; 1 Cor. 12:7.
When Jesus' sacrificial ministry was over,
ending at the cross, he had finished his work--
his work as a man. When he arose he was no
longer a human being, but a "new creature" perfected. Since his resurrection, Jesus has
been a partaker of the divine nature, the same
nature as the Father. This present highly exalted
condition of our Lord was given him as
a reward of obedience to the Father's will.
(See Phil. 2:8,9.) This scripture implies that
his present glory is greater than the glory he
possessed before becoming a man: otherwise it
would not have been an exaltation. Now, having
the divine, immortal nature, he cannot die.
And being thus highly exalted, all power in
heaven and in earth is now given unto him
(Matt. 28:18), so that he is able to save to the
uttermost, to save completely--to awaken from
death and restore to full perfection.
How straightforward and simple is the Scriptural
statement compared with human traditions.
For instance, in what a jumble of contradictions
do they find themselves, who say
that Jesus and the Father are one person. This
would involve the idea that our Lord Jesus
acted the hypocrite, and only pretended to address
the Father in heaven, when he himself
was the same Father on earth. Such must conclude,
too, since we read that God tempteth
not, neither is tempted of any, that the temptation
of the devil (Matt. 4) was only a farce.
So with the death of Jesus: The Father is and
always has been immortal, and hence cannot
die, and if Jesus was the Father, then he must
have only pretended to die. Then all the statements
of Jesus and the prophets and apostles
relative to Jesus' death and resurrection are
false, and they were false witnesses in testifying
that God raised Jesus from the dead, if he did
not really die.
If they admit that Jesus really died, they take
the other horn of the dilemma; for, believing that
their three Gods are one in person, when Jesus
died they must all three have died. If they all
died, who raised them to life? This, too, would
conflict with the statement of Paul (1 Thes. 1:10)
that the Father raised up Jesus from death;
for if the Father and Son are the same being,
then the Father was dead when the Son was
dead.
Shall we thus contradict the Apostles and
Prophets and Jesus himself, and ignore reason
and common sense, in order to hold to a
dogma handed down to us from the dark ages
by a corrupt, apostate church? Nay; "To the
law and the testimony; if they speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no
light in them." (Isa. 8:20.) We thus see that
the Father and the Son are two separate and
distinct persons, though one in mind, purpose,
aim, etc., the Son having submitted fully to
the Father's will and plan in all things.
THE HOLY SPIRIT.
----------
We next inquire, What saith the Scriptures
with regard to the holy Spirit? The nominal
churches, Papal and Protestant, affirm that the
holy Spirit is a distinct person, and they also
say that these three persons are at the same
time one person--"a great mystery." Yes,
truly it is a mystery, such as is characteristic of
Babylon's confusion. But to those who turn
away from the traditions of men to the Word
of God, all is clear and plain.
We suggest that whatever definition of the
term "holy Spirit" will meet all known conditions,
and harmonize all passages of Scripture
bearing thereon, may be understood to be the
true meaning of the term. We will first give
what we conceive to be such a definition, and
then examine the Scriptures bearing on the subject
which might be supposed by some to conflict
with the views we shall present.
We understand the Scriptures to teach, in the
manner just suggested, that the holy Spirit is
not a distinct person, but that it is the divine will, influence or power, exercised everywhere
and for any purpose, at the divine pleasure.
God exercises his spirit or energy in a variety
[R1410 : page 168] of ways, using various agencies, and accomplishing
various results.
Whatever God does through agencies is as
truly his work as though he were the direct
actor, since all those agencies are of his creation;
just as a contractor for a building is said
to build a house, though he may never have
lifted a tool toward it. He does it with his
materials and through his agents. Thus, when
we read that Jehovah God created the heavens
and the earth (Gen. 2:4), we are not to suppose
that he personally handled them. He used
various agencies--"He spake, and it was done
[He gave his orders, and they were promptly
executed]; he commanded, and it stood fast."
(Psa. 33:6-9.) It did not spring instantly to
order; for we read that time was used in creation
--six days, or periods of time.
We are told plainly that all things are of the
Father--by his energy or spirit; yet that energy
was exercised through his Son. The Son of
God, afterward called Jesus, was used in the
creation of the world. (John 1:3; Heb. 1:8-12.)
And when we turn to Genesis, we find
it stated that the power which created was God's
Spirit--"The Spirit of God brooded over the
face of the waters." (Gen. 1:2.) Hence the
only reasonable inference is that it was the
spirit, energy or will of Jehovah, active through
his Son--or the plan of God, executed by the
Son.
Another way in which God's Spirit was exercised
was through the prophets. They "spoke
as they were moved by the holy Spirit"--by
the will or energy of Jehovah. (2 Pet. 1:21.)
That is, God used them to express his mind,
though his mind, his spirit, his thoughts, were
not in them; for though they expressed it they
could not understand his mind. (1 Pet. 1:12.)
God's spirit acted upon, but not in them. In
that servant age (Heb. 3:5; Gal. 4:4-7), the
faithful servant carried the Lord's message as
it was laid upon him; but the sons of God, during
this Gospel age, are brought into fellowship
with their Father and made acquainted with his
plans. Thus they are not merely acted upon
mechanically by God's spirit or energy, but
they partake of, or imbibe, his mind or spirit
through his revelation of his plans to them,
which they can receive in proportion as they
submit their own wills and plans to his. And
having his mind, they become co-workers together
with him in carrying out his plans.
"The servant," though faithful, "knoweth not
what his Lord doeth," but the confidential son is made acquainted with the plans and partakes
of the Father's spirit and interest in his work.
The masculine pronoun he is often and properly
applied to the holy Spirit, because God,
whose spirit it is, is represented as masculine,
indicative of strength. It is called the holy Spirit, because God is holy, and because there are
other spirits (powers, influences), somewhat similar
in operation, which are evil. God is true
and righteous, hence the spirit of God is called
the "Spirit of truth." It is thus contrasted
with the "spirit of error," and the influence
which error exerts. (1 John 4:6.) Satan is recognized
as the chief or prince of evil, during
the present time, and his influence or spirit is
exercised in his servants, in much the same way
that the spirit of God works in his children.
This is "the spirit which now worketh in the
children of disobedience."--Eph. 2:2.
The number seven is often used to represent
perfection or completeness, and so we read
of the seven spirits of God. (Rev. 1:4; 3:1.)
And in like manner we read of seven wicked spirits. (Matt. 12:45.) The spirit or influence
of evil proceedeth from the "father of lies;"
and the spirit or influence of truth proceedeth
from the heavenly Father.--John 15:26.
Man is to some extent independent of either
of these influences. He has a mind or spirit of his own (1 Cor. 2:11), but he is so constituted
as to be subject to influence from without,
either good or evil. In the present time God
permits evil to triumph to some extent, for
the testing and development of the "body of
Christ," and also for the discipline of mankind
in general. Now, the spirit of evil often transforms
itself into an angel of light (truth), and
what wonder if he puts forward the children of
disobedience, in whom the spirit of error works,
and palms them off as saints? (2 Cor. 11:14,15.)
What wonder if, under the guise of greater
honor to our Lord, he succeeds in deceiving many
into unscriptural doctrines, thus beclouding the
[R1410 : page 169] mind and covering many glorious truths? During
this age, when justified believers fully surrender
their human minds to God to be moulded
and fashioned after the divine mind, under
the guidance and influence of the Spirit of
truth, they are brought to the divine standpoint
of purpose, will and aim, and thus to this extent
of mental conformity they become partakers
of the divine nature, which nature they
will receive in its fulness when they have obediently
followed the Spirit's guidance, even unto
death.
Thus the consecrated are transformed (made
new creatures) by the renewing of their minds
by the holy Spirit of God. Thus we are changed
from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.
(Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18.) This is termed
the begetting of the spirit: that is, it is the beginning
of the divine life. Such are therefore
reckoned as sons of God on the divine plane.
In surrendering the mind, the whole being is
surrendered, since the mind or will is the controlling
power.
Those who resign themselves to God are "led
of God," "taught of God," and can "serve
the Lord in newness of spirit." They will have
a "spirit of meekness," and the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, can give unto
them the "spirit of wisdom and revelation" in the knowledge of him, the eyes of their
understanding being enlightened; that they
may know what is the hope of his calling, and
what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints.--Eph. 1:17,18.
By contrast, too, we can see that as Satan is
the adversary of God and his saints, and his
plans to usward, his spirit, mind, energy, influence,
would be exercised to oppose the Church.
He does not oppose openly, but under guise of
the Spirit of God. As the "spirit of fear" he
attacks many, and if they follow him, they
never make progress, but become unfruitful in
the knowledge and love of God. The spirit of fear says, It is a great mistake to think that
Christ died for all, and it is presumption to believe
that all will eventually be released from
bondage to death. The same spirit of fear says,
Your own sins are not forgiven; you are still
a miserable sinner. Thus does the spirit of
"error," "fear" and "bondage" give the lie
to the statements of the Spirit of truth, which
says that Christ gave his life a ransom for all, to be testified in due time (2 Tim. 2:6); that
all that are in their graves shall hear the voice
of the Son of man and come forth (John 5:28);
and that there is now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh but after the Spirit.--Rom. 8:1.
As the spirit or mind of God leads to peace,
joy and faith in his promises, the spirit of error
leads to faith in unpromised things, joy in
earthly pleasures, and peace in slumber. As we
read (Rom. 11:8), it is a "spirit of slumber," and alas! how many have been deluded into this
condition. Because the influence of the spirit
of error is exerted in this subtle way, it is
called a "seducing spirit; and the Apostle assures
us that "The spirit [of truth] speaketh
expressly, that in the latter times some shall
depart from the [true] faith, giving heed to seducing spirits." (1 Tim. 4:1.) To what extent
Satan has succeeded in seducing God's children,
and supplanting truth with error, all must judge
by noting the testimonies of the Word of truth.
The spirit of the world is another name for
the "seducing spirit," the world being largely
under the control of the spirit of the prince of
this world. His spirit or influence works in
and largely controls the children of this world.
And the spirit or influence of the world is one
of the mighty levers wherewith the prince of
this world opposes the spirit of truth.
Alas! how great an influence, and how strong,
is exercised by these evil spirits or influences--
the spirit of Satan, the spirit of the world under
his control, the "spirit of Antichrist"
(John 4:3), the spirit of bondage, of fear, of
pride, of error and of sin. Hence the injunction
that we test, try and prove the spirits, not by
their claims and outward appearances merely,
but by the Word of God. "Beloved, believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether
they be of God"--and know "the spirit of truth" from "the spirit of error."--1 John 4:1,6.
Those having the mind or spirit of God are
said to be heavenly or spiritually minded. The
spiritually minded are so transformed, so entirely
different from what they were in their former
[R1410 : page 170] earthly minded condition, that they are called
"new creatures." However, the new mental
creation or transformed mind is still identified
with the human body--the body of its humiliation.
But when the earthly house is dissolved,
sacrificed, dead with Christ, we shall have a
building of God--a new house--a glorious body,
in harmony with, and fit for, the indwelling of
the new mind. (2 Cor. 5:1.) As in Jesus' case,
so in ours, the new body will be received in the
resurrection--not by all, but by those now
mentally or spiritually begotten of the spirit of
truth. The resurrection is the birth of this new
creation. Jesus was the first thus born. (Rev. 1:5.
--Diaglott.) Thus we reach the perfect
spiritual condition, and become spiritual beings,
fully changed into the glorious likeness of
our Lord (Rom. 6:5), who is now "the express
image of the Father's person." (Heb. 1:3.)
Such things as pertain to the heavenly condition,
and can be seen only by the eye of faith
through God's Word, are called spiritual things.
Now we are prepared to understand Paul's
teaching in 1 Cor. 2:9-16: "Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man (the natural man), the things
which God hath prepared for them that love
him. But God hath revealed them unto us by
his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God." That is, having
the mind or spirit of God, that new mind
prompts us to search into the deep things of
God, to study that we may know and do his
will as obedient sons. Having the mind or
spirit of our Father, we will take heed to his
Word and plans, that we may work in harmony
with him. "For what man knoweth the things
[mind, will, plans] of a man, save the spirit
[mind] of man which is in him? Even so, the
things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit
of God."--1 Cor. 2:11.
"Now we have received the spirit [or mind]
of God, that we might know the things that
are freely given to us of God." But "the
natural man receiveth not the things of the
spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him,
neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned." They are understood
only by those who have the spirit or mind of
God, the spirit of his plan, and the spirit of the
truth. These are more and more filled with
the spirit of the truth and the spirit of obedience
to it, not by comparing spiritual things
with natural things, as the natural man does, but
by "comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
(1 Cor. 2:13.) "He that is spiritual judgeth
all things [he is able to understand and properly
estimate both human and spiritual things],
yet he himself is judged of no man." No natural
man can understand or rightly judge of the
motives which prompt the spiritually minded
"new creature" to willingly sacrifice things
valuable to the natural man. Hence we are
counted as fools by the worldly minded (1 Cor. 4:10),
by those who have "the spirit of the
world."
This mind or spirit of Christ is the same as
the spirit of God, for Christ sacrificed his own
spirit (will), and was filled with the spirit of
God--"For even Christ pleased not himself."
--Rom. 15:3.
Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto
you, they are spirit and they are life." That
is, they express the mind or spirit of God, in
giving heed to which is life. It is for this
cause that Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures."
We are not merely to read them as a duty, but
to search them diligently as a privilege, to the
intent that we may know the spirit or mind of
God. If we would be filled with the spirit of
God we must drink deeply of the fountain of
truth--his Word. Our earthen vessels are very
imperfect and leaky, and it is easy to let the
spiritual things slip (Heb. 2:1), in which case
the spirit of the world, which is all around us,
quickly rushes in to fill the vacuum. Therefore
it behooves us to live very close to the
fountain of truth, the Word of God, lest the
spirit of God be quenched, and we be filled
with the spirit of the world. But if constantly
filled from the fountain of truth, we will not receive
the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God. And it is thus that we may
know the things which God has in reservation
for us--even the deep things of God. Thus we
see that what the natural man could not know, we,
receiving the mind, influence, or spirit of God,
may know. (1 Cor. 2:12.) Therefore, "Let
the same mind be in you which was also in
Christ Jesus," for "if any man have not the
[R1410 : page 171] spirit of Christ he is none of his."--Rom. 8:9.
The holy spirit or mind should not be confounded
with the fruits of the spirit or the gifts of the spirit, though its possession always yields
the peaceable fruits of patience, meekness, love,
etc. In the beginning of this age its possession
was often accompanied, not only by fruit,
but also by miraculous gifts of teaching, tongues,
miracles, etc. (1 Cor. 12); but these, as well as
their necessity, have largely passed away, as the
Apostle foretold they would, the gift of teaching
still remaining because still needful to
"the body."
Believing that the foregoing is a consistent
and correct statement of the Bible teaching on
this subject, which the Scriptures quoted, we
think, prove, we proceed to examine the texts
generally supposed to conflict with this understanding.
It should be borne in mind, however,
that the translators of the Scriptures from
Greek into English were Trinitarians, and naturally
translated as much in harmony with their
belief as they could.
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.
----------
(a) "Quench not the spirit." (1 Thes. 5:19.)
To quench signifies to extinguish, as to extinguish
a fire or light. The Greek word from
which it is translated occurs eight times in the
New Testament, and in every other text it refers
to quenching fire or light. Carry this
thought with you and observe that by reason
of having God's holy mind or spirit we are
called "the light of the world" (Matt. 5:14);
but if we should be seduced into worldliness by
the spirit of the world, our light would be
quenched, or extinguished. "If the light that
is in thee become darkness [be extinguished],
how great is that darkness!"--Matt. 6:23.
(b) "Grieve not the holy spirit of God, whereby
ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."
(Eph. 4:30.) To seal is to mark or designate.
The children of this world may be distinguished
by certain marks, and so may the children of
God, the new creatures in Christ. The mark
of the one class is the spirit (mind, disposition,
will) of the world; in the other class the seal
or mark is the spirit (mind, disposition, will)
of God. From the moment of true consecration
to God, the evidence, marks or sealing
may be seen in words, thoughts and actions.
These marks grow more and more distinct daily,
if we keep growing in grace, knowledge
and love. In other words, the spirit (mind) of
God becomes our mind or spirit in proportion
as we give up our own human will or spirit, and
submit in all things to the will or spirit of God.
Thus we are to let or permit the same mind to
be in us that was also in Christ Jesus our Lord
--a mind to do only the Father's will. Hence,
our new mind or spirit is holy or God-directed.
In this text the Apostle urges that we do
nothing which will be a violation of our covenant,
and thus a grief to the holy spirit or
mind of God in us, or in other words, which
would wound our conscience as new creatures
in Christ. "Grieve not the holy Spirit [mind]
of God [in you], whereby ye are sealed."
(c) The spirit of truth--"shall not speak of
himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, he shall
speak, and he will show you things to come."
(John 16:13.) The disciples, as Jews and natural
men, had been looking at things from an
earthly standpoint, expecting a human deliverance
and a human kingdom. Jesus had talked
of the kingdom, but not until now had he explained
that he must die, and must leave them
to go into a far country to receive the kingdom
and to return. (Luke 19:12.) Comforting them,
he assures them of another who would lead them
and teach them--a Comforter that the Father
would send in his name, or as his representative
for the time. They must not get the idea that
the coming comforter is to be another Messiah,
or a different teacher; hence he says, "He
shall not speak of himself;" that is, he shall
not teach independently and out of harmony
with my teaching, "but whatsoever he shall
hear, that shall he speak." That is, the same
things which I have taught, which you have
been hearing, he will elaborate and teach more
fully--"He shall glorify me, for he shall receive
of mine and shall show it unto you."
"All things that the Father hath are mine [his
plans and my plans are all one]; therefore said
I that he shall take of mine, and shall show it
unto you." The new teacher will not turn
your minds from me to himself; but all the
[R1410 : page 172] teachings of the coming Comforter will be in
harmony with my teachings, and to show you
more fully that I am the Messiah. Neither
need you doubt the truth of the Comforter's
teachings, for it is the Spirit of Truth, and proceeds
from the Father. (John 15:26.) This
Spirit of Truth will be my messenger to communicate
to you my doctrines, and will show
you things to come.
Even so it has been: the Spirit of Truth has
been showing to the Church during this age
more and more of the coming glory and glorious
work of Christ and the depth of the riches
of God's plans to be fulfilled in him. Thus
Christ has been glorified in the Church.
Jehovah is the author of truth, and all the truth
which has reached and guided the Church during
this age has therefore proceeded from him,
from whom cometh every good and perfect gift.
He has sent it through channels long since prepared
--through the prophetic and typical teachings
of the past, opened up to us through the
inspired words of Jesus and the apostles. Thus
has God's spirit, the spirit of the truth, led us
day by day and shown us "things to come."
(d) "But the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things, and bring all
things to your remembrance whatsoever I have
said unto you." (John 14:26.) "Ghost" is but
another and bad translation of pneuma, generally
rendered "spirit."
The fact that the Father sends the holy Spirit
shows that it is under his authority and control,
just as your powers are under your control. (See
1 Cor. 14:31.) Only those who have followed
in the footsteps of Jesus, sacrificing the human
will and receiving the mind or spirit of God,
can understand the import of these words of
Jesus. To the natural man, an explanation of
this text is impossible; but he who has the
mind of Christ realizes that it is a comfort indeed. No matter how painful the crucifying of
the flesh may be, we have learned to view it all
from God's standpoint, and to esteem present
affliction as light, compared with the glory that
shall be revealed in us. Thus the holy spirit
shall be in you; your spirit or will having been
transformed, made new, is now holy. Produced
by the truth, it is the spirit of the truth
and may be lost only through your receiving a
spirit of error, a spirit of slumber, or the "spirit
of the world," any of which, if received, will
quench and drive out the holy spirit of truth
from the heart.
The mind of Christ, or the new spirit, leads
us to search the Scriptures, God's storehouse of
truth. Thus the spirit of truth works in us. It
also enables us to comprehend God's Word;
for the more we can get to see from God's
standpoint the more reasonable to us does his
Word become, that we through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures might have hope, while
enduring present afflictions.--Rom. 8:26; 15:4.
(e) "And they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:4.)
In this case, not only were the disciples filled
with the Spirit or mind of God, which was God
working in them, but God by his Spirit also
acted upon them, conferring special "gifts," for
a special purpose.
It must seem absurd to every one to talk
about a person being in several hundred persons,
but many feel compelled to say so, because
of their unscriptural theory. In thinking of it,
every intelligent person has to think of the
power or influence of God in those men, no
matter how stoutly they say that it is a person who
is diffused into a number of persons. We cannot
too carefully discriminate between the
Spirit of God and these miraculous "gifts"
by which those acceptable to God were at first marked out. These "gifts" were for the establishment
of the Church, and were different in different
members; but they were not to be compared
with "the fruits of the Spirit"--joy, peace, faith,
patience, love, etc. To have the latter proved
adoption, but not so the gifts, for though a
man had gifts of tongues and of miracles, he
might be but a sounding brass and a tinkling
cymbal. The holy Spirit has abode in the
members of the Church throughout the Gospel
age, as was promised, though many of the
"gifts," being no longer needful, have passed
away, as the Apostle predicted.--1 Cor. 13:8-11.
(f) "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath
Satan filled thine heart, to lie to the Holy Spirit
[R1410 : page 173] and to keep back part of the price of the land?"
(Acts 5:3.) Satan had filled Ananias' heart with
his spirit of covetousness. God had filled Peter
with his spirit, and one of the gifts of God's
spirit, conferred upon Peter, was the gift of
"discerning of spirits." (1 Cor. 12:10.) In
verse 3, the lying is said to be unto the Holy
Ghost (spirit or mind of God), and in verse 5,
it is said to be unto God. The idea is the same,
and thus we have the term Holy Ghost or Holy
Spirit defined to be the mind of God, whether
in the Father or in his representatives and
agents--as in this instance in Peter.
(g) "Then Peter said unto her [Sapphira],
How is it ye have agreed together to tempt
the Spirit of the Lord?" (Acts 5:9.) As with
Ananias, so with his wife, their lying was
reckoned to be not to Peter and the Church as
men, but to God, whose agent and representative,
through the Spirit, Peter was.
(h) "But whosoever speaketh against the
holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither
in this world, neither in the world to come."
(Matt. 12:32.) Read the context: Jesus had
just exercised the power of God by casting out
a devil. The Pharisees saw the miracle and
could not deny it; but, to turn aside its force,
they said it was performed by the power of the
devil and not by God's power. But in answer,
Jesus claims that he cast out devils by the Spirit
[influence or power] of God. Then he upbraids
them for being so malicious--a generation
of vipers, so set on the traditions of their
church that their eyes were blinded against the
simplest kind of reasoning. It was so plainly
evident that the power which opposed and cast
out evil must be good, that they were inexcusable
in ascribing it to Satan. They might and
would be freely forgiven for supposing him, as
a man, an impostor, and hence for blaspheming
him; but they were wholly inexcusable for that
gross prejudice which would ascribe such a
good deed to the power of Satan. This, their
sin, would not be among those forgiven. It
must be punished; it will neither be forgiven in
this present life, nor in the next, the Millennial
age; it indicates more than Adamic depravity,
and must have stripes.
(i) "The spirit said unto Philip, Go near,
and join thyself to this chariot." (Acts 8:29.)
We fail to see in this anything demanding another
God. We think the influence or spirit
of God could indicate this to Philip in a variety
of ways. In what way he was influenced
is not stated and is immaterial to us.
(j) "The Spirit said and unto him, Behold,
three men seek thee." (Acts 10:19.) We would
make the same criticism of this as of the
former objection. It is immaterial how the
power or spirit of God addressed to Peter this
information. Possibly it came as an inspired
thought into his mind, or possibly he was guided
by three men's voices and the three visions,
and accepted these as evidences of the mind or
will of God as to his going.
(k) "The Holy Ghost said, separate me
Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I
have called them." (Acts 13:2.) We are not
told in what manner the holy Spirit said or indicated
the setting apart specially of these two.
It is very probable, however, that they were
"called" and "set apart" by the holy Spirit
in much the same manner that all true ministers
of God are now called and set apart. All
the fully consecrated--begotten--children of
God are called to preach, each according to
his ability. The Spirit says to us all, "Why
stand ye idle?...go ye also into the vineyard."
But, where special ability and opportunity to
teach or expound God's Word is possessed by
any of the consecrated, that special ability and
opportunity should be recognized as a special
call to the more public work of the ministry--
the talents possessed emphasizing the general
call of the holy Spirit.
In speaking of his call to the ministry (Gal. 1:1),
Paul mentions his authority of the Father
and Son, but ignores the holy Spirit entirely;
which would be inexcusable if the holy Spirit
were a person, and, in fact, the person actually
appointing him. But it is entirely consistent
when we regard the holy Spirit as the holy influence
from the Father or the Son, or from
both conjointly, as their purposes are one.
Gal. 1:1reads, "Paul, an apostle, not of men,
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God
the Father, who raised him from the dead."
(l) "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost
and to us," etc. (Acts 15:28.) The decisions
reached in the matter under consideration
[R1410 : page 174] seemed to be the judgment of the Church, and
in harmony with God's will and plan.
James, the chief speaker at the council, gives
the clue to how God's will or mind was then
ascertained; and we find it the same method
which we use to-day. He argues from Peter's
statement of God's leadings in the matter of
Cornelius, and from an unfulfilled prophecy
which he quotes. The conclusion drawn from
these, he and all the Church accepted as the holy
Spirit's teaching. Examine Acts 15:13-18.
(m) "And were forbidden of the Holy Ghost
to preach the Word in Asia." (Acts 16:6.)
Like the others, this text in no way indicates
that the holy Spirit is a person. As to how
God's power or influence was exercised to direct
their course away from Asia we know not, but
possibly by unfavorable circumstances, or by a
vision. No matter how, the lesson is that God
was guiding the apostles. An illustration of
one of the Spirit's ways of leading them is
given in the context, verse 9. "A vision appeared
to Paul in the night. There stood a
man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying,
'Come over into Macedonia, and help us;' and
after he had seen the vision, immediately they
endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called them for to
preach the gospel unto them." All these various
dealings teach us that the methods by
which God taught and led in those days were
not very different from those he now uses.
(n) "Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth
in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions
abide me." (Acts 20:23.) Nothing here indicates
personality. As an illustration of the
agencies by which the holy power of God informed
Paul of the bonds awaiting him at
Jerusalem, see Acts 21:10-14.
(o) "The flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of
God." (Acts 20:28.) Paul, addressing the
Church, not the world, says, "The manifestation
of the Spirit is given to every man [in
Christ] to profit withal"--"GOD hath set some
in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets,
thirdly teachers," etc.--"and there are
diversities of operations, but it is the same GOD
which worketh all in all." (1 Cor. 12:6,7,28.)
This explains how God through his holy Spirit
sets men apart to various offices which he
deems needful to the Church. It contradicts
the thought of the holy Spirit being another
person, and shows that God did the work by
his Spirit. These elders of the Church had consecrated
themselves to the Lord's service, and
were chosen because of special fitness and talents,
by their brethren (in whom also was the
holy Spirit, the will of God), to be overseers of
the flock. And though called to office through
human instrumentality, they accepted the service
as of God's direction and appointment.
(p) "God hath revealed them unto us by
his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God." "Which things
also we speak, not in the words which man's
wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost
teacheth." (1 Cor. 2:10,13. Read the context.)
This, as we have already shown, proves that
the holy Spirit or mind of God in us, as his
children, enables us to comprehend his plan,
etc., even the deep things of God, by coming
into full harmony with him through his Word.
We have also noticed the context (verse 12),
where Paul, in explaining the subject, tries
to make it plain by comparing "the Spirit
which is of [from] God," in us, with "the
spirit of the world," which influences "the natural
man." It is clear that the spirit of the
world is not a person, but a worldly mind.
The spirit or mind of God in his children is
no more a person than is the spirit of the world
with which it is here contrasted.
(q) "But the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness
unto him: neither can he know them,
for they are spiritually discerned." (Verse 14.)
This is a forcible statement of what we have
already seen. A man who is filled with the
worldly spirit is unprepared to see the "deep" and
glorious things of God--the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him. This is
a close test if applied. Have you the Spirit of
God? Have you been taught by it (through
the Word) any "deep things" which the natural,
worldly man cannot appreciate?
Alas! how often have we felt the force of
this distinction between natural and spiritual
[R1410 : page 175] as we have talked with some of the professed
teachers of to-day, many of whom are blind
leaders of the blind, when they confessed and
sometimes boasted of their ignorance of "the
things which God hath prepared for them that
love him." Thereby they proclaim that they
have not the mind of God, do not know his
plans, and cannot have much of his Spirit, the
Spirit of the Truth, when they have not much
of the truth from which that Spirit flows. The
test here given of our possession of the Spirit
is our ability to discern and appreciate the deep
things of God which are hidden from the worldly
--"God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit."
INEXPRESSIBLE GROANINGS.
----------
(r) "The Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered,
and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth the
mind of the Spirit."--Rom. 8:26,27.
How much this expression of our Father's
loving care has been misunderstood by his
children! Who that has been taught that the
holy Spirit is a person, and, as the catechisms
state it, "equal in power" with the Father, has
wondered why it could not utter groanings.
Many a Christian brother has endeavored to
make up for this supposed weakness or inability
of the holy Spirit to express itself, by redoubling
his own groanings. But it would be
equally strange if it be understood to mean
that the holy Spirit, as the influence or power
of the Almighty Jehovah, is unable to express
itself. We know that in past ages this influence
found abundant expression by words and
deeds of the prophets. We know that in this
age all the apostles attest its power over
them. What can it mean, then--"The Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered?" The mistake is in
supposing that it is God's Spirit which supplicates.
It is the spirit of the saints which supplicates
and often cannot express itself.
Let us look at the text with its connections, and
the ground for our conclusion will be evident.
Paul had just been speaking of sin-burdened
humanity groaning in its fetters. He assures
us that it shall be given liberty from this
bondage when the Church is selected from the
world, and when as sons of God the great Deliverer
whom Jehovah raises up to bless all the
families of the earth is manifested in power.
(Verses 19-21.) He then passes from the groanings of the world to the present condition of
the Church, in which we groan: "Ourselves also,
which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even
we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption."
--Verse 23.
Our renewed, transformed mind or spirit,
once worldly, is now holy and spiritual, but
our bodies are still human, and have the Adamic
imperfections. Hence we, as new creatures,
are burdened by the flesh, and groan for the
promised deliverance into Christ's likeness.
Paul explains how we may, by faith, reckon the
earthly body dead, and think of ourselves as
new creatures perfected, and thus realize ourselves
saved now--"Saved by hope." (Verse 24.)
Then, having seen how we may view ourselves,
he tells us how the matter is viewed from God's
standpoint--God reckons us "new" and "holy"
--"spiritual" beings--and he recognizes as
ours only those deeds of the flesh to which our
minds consent. God knows when your holy
spirit (new mind) is willing and your flesh weak.
As the receiving of the new mind brought us
into a new relationship to God, and into new
hopes, so "likewise the spirit [our new holy
mind] also helpeth [maketh up for] our [bodily]
infirmities. For we know not [even] what
we should pray for as we ought [much less are
we always able to do as we would like]; but the
spirit itself [our holy mind] maketh intercession
[for us--omitted in old MSS.] with groanings
which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the hearts [God] knoweth what is the mind
[Greek, phronema--inclination] of the [our]
spirit; because he [it] maketh intercession for
the saints according to the will of God." It is
God's will that the heart-desires of his children
be accepted, in both prayer and service,
notwithstanding the imperfections of their
vessels.
O, how comforting is this thought! How
often you have experienced it. You were perhaps
overtaken in a fault, entrapped by some
weakness of the human nature, and, almost disheartened,
[R1410 : page 176] you went to your Father in prayer.
You had no words for utterance, but you groaned
in spirit to God--"being burdened." God heard
you and blessed you, answering your unuttered
prayer and giving strength. Paul's conclusion
is ours: we have every cause for rejoicing.
What shall we say then? God is for us, evidently,
and disposed to accept our heart-intentions
rather than our imperfect prayers and
deeds. "If God be for us, who can be against
us?"--Verse 31.
(s) "The Spirit itself beareth witness with
our spirit that we are the children of God."--
Rom. 8:16.
Nothing in this text teaches that the holy
Spirit is a person, but the contrary: it indicates
that as each man has a spirit or mind, so God
has a spirit. Read this text in the light of
1 Cor. 2:11,12, and it will be seen that it does
not teach of a personal holy Spirit.
THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
----------
On few subjects have Christians in general
felt more disturbed than on this. Not knowing
what the witness of the spirit is, they know
not surely whether they have it or not. And
some, more full of assurance than of knowledge,
claim that they have it, and refer to their own
changeable feelings as evidence. The Calvinist,
repudiating the idea of positive knowledge
of sonship, sings,
"'Tis a point I long to know--
Oft it causes anxious thought:
Do I love the Lord or no?
Am I his, or am I not?"
This comes from a misapprehension of the
doctrine of Election. Other Christians, equally
misunderstanding the subject, claim that when
they feel good these feelings are the witness of
sonship. Because the Scriptures say, "Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is
stayed on thee," they judge of their sonship
solely by their peace, and often by their prosperity.
They lose sight of the words of Jesus
--"In the world ye shall have tribulation, but
in me ye shall have peace."
When things move smoothly they feel good, and consider this the witness of the Spirit.
But when they look at the heathen and at the
worldly, and see that many of them apparently
have peace of mind too, their supposed witness
proves insufficient. Then the dark hour comes,
and they say, How easy a matter to be deceived,
and they sing--
"Where is the peace I once enjoyed,
When first I found the Lord?"
They are in torment lest they have grieved
the Spirit--for "fear hath torment." This is all
because of the unscriptural view taken of the
Spirit and its dealings and witnessings. Let
us take the Bible view of the witness of the
Spirit (mind) of God with our spirit (mind),
and the song of God's children shall be--
"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent Word."
As we would know of a man's mind or spirit
by his words and dealings, so we are to know
of God's mind or spirit by his words and dealings.
God's Word is, that whosoever cometh
unto him by Jesus (consecrates himself) is accepted.
(Heb. 7:25.) Then, the first question
to ask yourself is, Did I ever, during the acceptable
time, fully consecrate myself--my life,
time, talents, influence, my all--to God? If
you can candidly answer before God--Yes, I
gave myself wholly to him, then be assured,
on the authority, not of your feelings, but of
God's Word, which, unlike your feelings, is
unchangeable, that you then and there instantly
became a child of God--a probationary
member of the true Church, a branch of the
true vine. (John 15:1.) This is a witness that
you have joined the true Church, which is
Christ's body: it is a witness given to your
mind or spirit, by the testimony of God's spirit
through his Word.
Whether or not you are abiding in him now,
depends on whether you have grown as a branch,
and are bearing fruit: "Every branch in me
that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every
branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth [pruneth]
it, that it may bring forth more fruit."
Here is stated the rule in our Father's family
--chastisements, pruning, taking away of dross,
and a development of fruit-bearing qualities.
If you lack these indications of parental care
and personal growth in grace you lack one evidence
or witness that you are a child. "Whom
[R1410 : page 177] the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth. If ye be without
chastisement, then are ye bastards and not
sons." (Heb. 12:8.) Afflictions and troubles
come upon the world as well as upon the Lord's
saints, but they are not marks of sonship except
to those fully consecrated to his service.
Nor is the pruning and chastising in the divine
family always the same. As with earthly children,
so with God's children: to some, a look
of disapproval, to others, a word of rebuke, is
an all-sufficient reproof, while others must be
scourged repeatedly. An earthly parent rejoices
most in the child so obedient and submissive
that a look or word is sufficient to prune off
evil; and so does our Father in heaven. Such
are those who judge themselves, and who therefore
need less of the chastising of the Lord.
(1 Cor. 11:31.) To be of this class requires
a full consecration; and these are the overcomers
deemed worthy of being joint-heirs
with Jesus Christ their Lord, whose footsteps
they thus follow. To this obedient, watchful
class the Lord says, "I will guide thee with
mine eye." Those who can be guided only by
the scourge are not the overcoming class, destined
to be the Lord's bride.
The chastening, however, is not always suffering
for our faults, but with the saints it is
often the suffering which strict adherence to
their covenant of sacrifice involves. Even so
our Lord was chastened for our transgressions,
not his own, because he bore the sins of many.
And so we must suffer as joint-sacrifices with
him.
Here is one testimony of the Spirit, then--
that every true child or branch needs and will
have continual pruning. Are you being pruned?
If so, that is an evidence of your being a
branch; in this pruning the Spirit of truth bears
witness with your spirit that you are God's child.
Again the Spirit witnesseth that "whosoever
is born [begotten] of God sinneth not." (1 John 5:18.)
Such may be overtaken in a fault, may
err in judgment, may be overpowered by the old
nature not yet under control, but will never
wilfully transgress God's will. Now can your
mind answer that you delight to do God's will
and would not willingly violate or in any way
oppose it, but would rather have his will done,
his plan carried out, even though it should
dash your former hopes and break every tender
tie? If so, the witness of your spirit or mind
agrees with the spirit of truth, indicating that
you are a child of God, acceptable to him.
The witness of the Spirit is, that the true
branches of the vine, like the vine Christ Jesus,
are not of the world--"If ye were of the
world, the world would love his own; but because
ye are not of the world, therefore the
world hateth you." "Yea, and all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
(2 Tim. 3:12.) Does your mind testify
that it is thus in your experience? If so,
then the Spirit of God again witnesseth with
your spirit that you are his child. Remember
that the world spoken of by Jesus included all
worldly-minded ones, all in whom the spirit of the world has a footing. In Jesus' day, this was
true of the nominal Jewish Church. In fact,
all of his persecution came from professors of
religion. Marvel not if you should have a
similar experience. It was the chief religionists
of his day that called Jesus Beelzebub, a
prince of devils; and he tells us, "If they have
called the master of the house Beelzebub, how
much more shall they call them of his household."
(Matt. 10:25.) If Jesus had joined
hands with them he would not have had "hatred"
and "persecution." Even had he kept
quiet and let their hypocrisies, shams, long
prayers and false teachings alone, he would
have been let alone and would not have suffered.
So it is with us: it is from a similar class that
the truth and those who have the spirit of the
truth, and who let their light shine, now incur
hatred and persecution. If we have this witness
it is another testimony of the Spirit that
we are overcoming the spirit of the world--
therefore the worldly-spirited hate us.
The Spirit witnesseth that whosoever is
ashamed of Jesus and his words, of him shall
he be ashamed. (Mark 8:38.) Does your spirit
witness that you are one whom he here promises
to confess? If so, rejoice: this is another
good witness of the Spirit that your present
standing is that of a child and heir.
The Spirit witnesseth that "Whosoever is
[R1410 : page 178] born [begotten] of God overcometh the world:
and this is the victory that overcometh the
world, even our faith." (1 John 5:4.) Is this
your experience? To be an overcomer signifies
that you are not in harmony with the spirit
--the aims, hopes and ambitions--of the world.
Have you this witness that you are overcoming
the world? Wait a moment--you are not to
overcome the world by flattery, nor by joining
in its follies, nor are you to overcome the
world by teaching a Sunday class, or joining a
sectarian church; no, but by your faith. To
be an overcomer, you must walk by faith, not
by sight. Looking not at things that are seen
--popularity, worldly show, numbers, denominational
greatness, etc., but looking at the
things which are not seen--the spiritual and
eternal things.--2 Cor. 4:18.
Again, the Spirit witnesseth that if you are
a child of God, you will not be ignorant of
his Word, and will not only be in the light
as to present truth, but will know something
about "things to come." The maturing
child will grow in grace, knowledge and love,
adding daily the graces of the Spirit--faith,
virtue, knowledge, charity, etc. And surely
"If these things be in you and abound, they
make you that ye shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. But he that lacketh these things is
blind and cannot see afar off....For if ye do
these things ye shall never fall; for so an entrance
shall be ministered unto you abundantly,
into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Pet. 1:5-11. Compare
John 16:12-15.) Ask yourself whether
you have this witness of growth, and the sort
of fruit mentioned. Remember, too, that you
cannot grow in love faster than you grow in
knowledge; and you cannot grow in favor except
by complying with God's instructions.
This instruction, this knowledge, is found in
his Word. Hence we are exhorted to "search
the Scriptures," that we may be thoroughly
furnished unto every good work.--2 Tim. 3:17.
These are the witnesses of the Spirit by which
we may know just how we stand. You may be
a young sprout in the vine; then, of course,
God does not expect ripe fruit instantly; but
there should be budding at once, and soon the
fruits. And if you are a developed and advanced
Christian, every testimony of the Spirit above
cited should witness with your spirit. If in
any of these testimonies of the Spirit you find
yourself lacking, give diligence, give earnest
heed, that you may possess every experience
described. Then you will no longer sing--
"'Tis a point I long to know," etc.,
but will know, and be rooted and grounded,
built up and established in the faith. In this
divinely arranged way, we escape from fear and
from what Bunyan called "Doubting Castle,"
for our trust rests securely on God's promises.
"When darkness seems to vail his face,
You'll rest in his unchanging grace;
His oath, his covenant and his blood
Supporting 'neath the whelming flood."
JUSTIFIED AND SANCTIFIED BY THE SPIRIT.
----------
"But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified,
but ye are justified, in the name of our Lord
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.--
1 Cor. 6:11.
Sanctification means a setting apart or separating.
Those who are sanctified, set apart,
fully consecrated to God, must first be justified or cleansed from Adamic sin by accepting in
faith the testimony of God, that "Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures." Being
then justified by faith, we have peace with God,
and can approach him and begin to do works
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The evidence
which we have of our justification and
sanctification is the testimony of the spirit of
truth in the Word, and the "seal" and "witness"
in ourselves--our transformed mind.
The power which enables us to live up to our
consecration vows is the Spirit or mind of our
God of which we receive. The Spirit of truth
received by the study and obedience of our
Father's words gives the needed strength for
the overcoming of the human nature and the
spirit of the world.
To this agree other scriptures. Paul prayed:
"The very God of peace sanctify you wholly." Peter says: Ye are "elect [chosen], through
sanctification [setting apart] of the Spirit, unto
obedience." Again, that the sanctifying
[R1410 : page 179] power or spirit in us is the spirit of truth is
shown by Paul's statement, that Christ sanctifies
and cleanses the Church by the Word. (Eph. 5:26.)
Our Lord Jesus prayed: "Sanctify
them through thy truth: thy Word is truth."
(John 17:17.) So, then, these scriptures taken
together teach, as the foregoing, that our sanctification
is accomplished by the spirit of truth
freely imparted to the consecrated followers of
the Redeemer through the Word of God, which
he has provided for this purpose.
All thus sanctified are reckoned new creatures in Christ, and are addressed as "them
that are sanctified in Christ." (1 Cor. 1:2.)
That it is by reason of our sanctification of
spirit that we are one with Christ, is shown by
the statement: "Both he that sanctifieth and
they who are sanctified are all of one, for which
cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." (Heb. 2:11.) Thus it is that we are "washed,
sanctified, justified, in the name of our Lord
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God"--the
spirit of the truth, communicated to us through
his Word.
THE SPIRIT WILL REPROVE THE WORLD.
----------
"When he ['the Spirit of truth'] is come
he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgement."--John 16:8-11.
Many gather from this text that the holy
Spirit operates in sinners for their reformation.
This is not the right view. The spirit of God
is not in the children of this world. Theirs is
"the spirit of the world." The "spirit of the
world," or "the carnal mind, is enmity against
God." The Spirit or mind of God is in believers
only. Hence, wherever we find it, it is
a seal or mark of sonship--"By whom also
ye were sealed after that ye had believed the
gospel of your salvation." (Eph. 1:13.) "If
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
none of his." The Spirit of God, by means of
its fruits, and its witness through the Word, is
the evidence of our begetting to the family of
God; it is "the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Rom. 8:15.) It must be
evident to all, then, that the Spirit in us is not
the spirit which is in the worldly, and that the
Spirit of God is in no sense in the worldly.
In what sense, we inquire, does the Spirit of
truth, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ,
reprove the world? We reply that this spirit
in the true Church is the light of the world.
It is the light which shines from the true
Christian, which reproves or condemns and opposes
the darkness of this world. Jesus, when
anointed by the Spirit of God, declared, "I am
the light of the world." And again, "As long
as I am in the world, I am the light of the
world." (John 8:12; 9:5.) Addressing his
Church of this age, sanctified by the same holy
Spirit, he says, "Ye are the light of the world.
...Let your light shine before men." (Matt. 5:14-16.)
Paul, addressing the same body of Christ, says, "Ye were at one time darkness,
but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children
of light." (Eph. 5:8; 1 Thes. 5:5.) "For
God [the spirit of God, the spirit of truth]
...hath shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God." (2 Cor. 4:6.)
Thus we see that it is the light of
God's truth, his spirit or mind shining in our
hearts, which shines out upon the world; and
we are to "do all things without murmurings
and disputings, that ye may be blameless and
harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in
the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world,
holding forth the word of life."--Phil. 2:15.
It is, thus, not directly, but by a reflex light,
through those who possess it, that the Spirit
operates upon (but not in) the world; for the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, neither can he know them. (1 Cor. 2:14.)
The Apostle thus explains the reproving of the
world by the Spirit in the saints, saying,
"Walk as children of light...and have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them....All things that
are reproved are made manifest [shown to be
wrong] by the light." (Eph. 5:8-13.) The
light of God's truth, which is the expression
of his mind or spirit, as it shines through a
sanctified life, is the holy Spirit reproving
the darkness of the world, showing those
who see it, what is sin, and what is righteousness, from which they will reason of a coming
judgment, when righteousness will receive some
[R1410 : page 180] reward and sin some punishment. Thus a godly
life is always a reproof to the ungodly, even
where no word of reproof may be possible, or
proper. The spirit in you reproves them; for
if sanctified ye are "living epistles known and
read of all men."
The true Church has always been a light in
the world; but, as with its Head, the light has
shined in the darkness; and though the darkness
recognizes the reproof of its presence, it
comprehends it not. Therefore they have always
persecuted the light-bringers, because
they knew not our Father, nor our Lord, nor
his body. (John 16:3.) It has always been a
part of the Church's mission to let the truth shine
through it to reprove evil. And this reproof
has always been chiefly to nominal systems and
nominal professors, as were our Lord's reproofs.
But "if the light that is in thee be [become]
darkness, how great is that darkness!"--both
to the individual soul in whom the light has
gone out, and to the world from whom the light
is thus obscured. Satan achieves no greater
triumph than when he seduces a soul which was
once enlightened and sanctified by the truth;
and the influence of such a one for evil is more
than doubled. "Let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall."
BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
----------
A common error among God's children today,
arising also from an improper conception
of the holy Spirit, is the supposed necessity for
frequent baptisms of the Spirit. We are told,
"Be ye filled with the Spirit;" and we would
urge the necessity of constantly receiving supplies
of grace to help our infirmities. We all
need constantly to go to the fountain to replenish,
because our "earthen vessels" are
very defective and the spirit of Christ easily
slips out, being under constant pressure from
the spirit of the world. But to be filled with
the Spirit is something totally different from
the baptism of the Spirit.
So far as we are informed, there have been
but three baptisms of the Spirit in all: first,
Jesus was so baptized: second, the disciples at
Pentecost were similarly baptized; third, Cornelius
and his family were so baptized. These
three baptisms were in reality but one, as already
shown from the Levitical type. The
holy anointing oil was poured upon the head
and ran down over the body of the typical
priest; and so the spirit of anointing given to
our Head, Jesus, descended on the Church at
Pentecost, and has since been running down
over and anointing all that are members of his
body. In the three cases mentioned above,
then, it was an outward manifestation which
witnessed specially that God recognized the
baptized as his. To convince the natural man,
this acceptance was accompanied by various
"gifts." (1 Cor. 14:22.) To them these
gifts were the evidences of the possession of
the Spirit and of acceptance with God.
The spirit or mind of God is now received
without the gifts and without outward manifestation,
those manifestations and gifts being
now recorded in the Word of God, and not
(or with few exceptions) in the persons and
deeds of his children. Paul testified that he
might have gifts, or be acted upon by the Spirit,
and yet be almost destitute of the spirit of love
and sacrifice itself--and thus be but a "tinkling
cymbal." (1 Cor. 13:1.) Thus we see
that the gifts were not a mark of special favor
toward those exercised by them. What we
may have of the "witness" of the Spirit is a
far better criterion of our spiritual condition
than if possessed of the mountain-moving,
tongue-speaking and miracle-working power,
without the internal witness of harmony with
God's Word.
Since Cornelius, there have been no such
baptisms or outward manifestations of God's
favor; but instead, the inward, unseen witness
of the Spirit of Truth with our spirit, that we
are children and heirs of God.
Nor should we wonder at this: the Church
was like two rooms, hitherto unopened--locked
up. The one room represents the Jewish believers
in Jesus; the other the Gentile believers.
Both were to be henceforth thrown open
and used. There must be an opening and
demonstration, after which the doors, standing
open, needed not a further re-opening. Peter
unlocked or opened both of these doors. At
Pentecost he did the opening work to the Jews
[R1410 : page 181] who had believed. (Acts 2:14-41.) And
when, about three and one-half years after, it
became God's due time to receive Gentile believers
into the same privileges of sonship,
Peter was again used to open that door--being
sent to Cornelius, the first Gentile convert.
(Acts 10.) Thus he used the "keys of the
kingdom of heaven" (the Church), and opened
the way, as Jesus had foretold. (Matt. 16:19.)
Keys represent power and authority.
He needed more than one, because hitherto
Jews and Gentiles had been recognized as totally
distinct, and the Gentiles were not fellow-heirs,
and of the same body.
If the acceptance of Jewish-born believers
was indicated once for all at Pentecost, why
should God repeat it to others now? If the
acceptance of Gentile-born believers was clearly
shown in Cornelius' case, why should a repetition
be asked? There is nothing in the
Scriptures to indicate that these baptisms were
ever repeated.
Some now meet and pray for a Pentecostal
baptism of the holy Spirit. They look back
to that with special longings, thinking that it
was something not now possessed by the saints,
whereas the things not now possessed are merely
the gifts of the Spirit. This is wrong--it is
looking from the standpoint of the natural
mind. It is looking at the things that are seen,
and not at the things unseen and eternal, for a
basis of faith. When just coming out of the
fleshly into the spiritual dispensation, it was
very necessary to have something which the
natural man might recognize to mark the new
era. The gifts were in the Church, not to convince
the saints of their acceptance with God,
but to convince others of the divine authority
of Christianity. (See 1 Cor. 14:22.) The
witness of the Spirit was for the saints.
The Church in general had the gifts, but
they did not all receive those gifts at Pentecost,
nor by a baptism of the Spirit. The eleven
apostles, with Paul, the Lord's choice for the
place of Judas, possessed the special power of
communicating those gifts by laying on of
hands (Compare Acts 8:13,14,17-19); but
those who received the gifts from their hands
could not re-communicate them to others.
Though entirely out of harmony with God's
Word to pray for another baptism of the holy
Spirit, it is right to pray to be kept filled with
the holy Spirit. The Father in heaven is more
willing to give the Spirit to those that ask him
than earthly parents are to give good gifts to
their children. (Luke 11:13.) When we
ask for anything, it implies that we want it;
and if wholly consecrated we should want to
receive the holy Spirit in the way God wishes
to give it. We pray for daily food, and properly,
but we must do more than pray. God
puts within our reach the needful means of procuring
the food, and thus the food comes from
him from whom cometh every good gift. When
we pray for the Spirit, and desire to "be filled
with the Spirit," it is well. God has already
provided all the means necessary to the fulfilment
of our request. The "Spirit of truth"
will give the very filling we desire, but we must
partake of, must eat the feast, or we will not
be filled. He who will not eat of a full table
will be empty and starve, as truly as though
there were no food. The asking of a blessing
on food will not fill us; we must eat it; so
the possession of a Bible and a petition for spiritual
food will not do: we must eat the Word
of God if we would derive his spirit from it.
The Spirit of truth speaks to us through the
Word, and by obedience to the Word we shall
be filled with the Spirit. Our Lord said, "The
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit
and they are life." (John 6:63.) And of
those who are filled with the Spirit it is true as
spoken by the prophet, "Thy words were
found and I did eat them." (Jer. 15:16.) It
is useless, then, for us to pray, Lord, Lord, give
us the Spirit, if we neglect the Word of truth
from which that Spirit is supplied. It is for
this reason that many who meet often and pray
much for the holy Spirit are still but "babes
in Christ;" and many seek the outward signs
as proof of relationship, instead of the inward
witness through the Word of truth.
As we have just seen, it is because we have
something to do if we would be filled with the
Spirit, as surely as we have something to do if
we would have natural food, that the Apostle
addresses us--"Be ye filled with the Spirit"
[R1410 : page 182] (Eph. 5:18), indicating that it rests entirely
with us, since the doors were opened wide at
Pentecost and at Cornelius' house.
"He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
and with fire." (Matt. 3:10-12.) These words
were spoken to the Jews as a nation, and our Lord
was the one who would do the baptizing. As
many of that nation as received him were baptized
of the holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the
remainder were afterward baptized with fire--
trouble. The time of trouble which finally, in
A.D. 70, destroyed their national existence
was the fiery baptism foretold by the Prophets,
and here by John. The three verses here connected
(10-12) refer to the same fire. The
unfruitful tree cast into the fire and the chaff
burned represent those of that nation who
"knew not the time of their visitation."
[R1411 : page 182]
I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT UPON ALL FLESH.
----------
There is a remarkable prophecy in Joel (2:28-32,)
which clearly distinguishes between
the present age in which the possession of
God's spirit is by the few, and the Millennial
age in which the truth will be generally diffused
among men, and its spirit generally accepted
by men. The prophecy is stated in a manner
likely to be misunderstood, in that the
blessing upon the many is mentioned first, and
the blessing upon the little flock, which comes
first, is mentioned last. Even so, many of
God's testimonies are so arranged and stated
as not to be clearly seen until fully due--as
meat in due season to the household of faith.
Joel says [transposing his words to the order
of their fulfilment]: "In those days I will
pour out my spirit upon my servants and upon
my handmaids: And it shall come to pass
after those days, that I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh." (Joel 2:29,28.) Peter at
Pentecost referred to this prophecy (Acts 2:16-21),
saying, "This [outpouring of the spirit
of God which you see--upon his servants and
handmaids] is that which was spoken by the
prophet Joel." All that Joel had prophesied
was not fulfilled before their eyes, but what
they saw was all foretold by Joel in that
prophecy, and more too. Joel foretold the
blessing of Pentecost upon the servants and
handmaids, and also the blessing of all flesh in
the "great day of the Lord," the Millennial
day; and he also foretold the day of trouble
preceding that Millennial day of blessing, referring
to it under the symbolic statement of
"wonders in the heavens above and signs in
the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor
of smoke," etc.
The coming of the spirit upon all flesh (i.e., in general, upon all mankind) in the next age
will be in much the same manner that it comes
now to the special servants of God. Then, as
now, it will be the spirit of truth, and cannot
be received without the recipients first coming
to a knowledge of at least the first principles of
THE TRUTH, and being consecrated to God's
service.
There will be no difference between the
spirit received by the Church in this Gospel
age and by the human family in general in the
next age: it is the same spirit; and, as we
have just seen, it will be received in the same
way, from the same source (God), and through
the same channel--his Word of truth. But
[R1412 : page 182] the sealing and witnessing of the Spirit of God
then to the converted world will be very different from the sealing and witness which it now
gives to the Church. Some may not at once
see how the same spirit could in the same way
testify, witness and seal differently in the two
ages, but we trust we shall be able to make this
abundantly clear.
Note clearly the dissimilarity of the two
ages. In the Gospel age evil predominates,
Satan rules, gross darkness covers the people,
and the god of this world takes advantage in
thousands of ways of the weakness of fallen
men, misrepresents the truth and clothes error
in the garb of truth. In the Millennial age
evil will be restrained, Christ will rule and
bless and the light of truth shall penetrate
every dark corner. Mankind will be helped
out of the weakness of the fall, and right and
truth on every subject shall triumph.
All this, God saw beforehand; and he saw
that the trial or testing of any who possess and
who would be led by his Spirit would be seven-fold
as severe in this Gospel age as in the Millennial
age. Yet he designed to have it so, in
[R1412 : page 183] order that thus he might select the "little
flock" of peculiarly zealous ones for the work
of blessing others, as well as for illustrations of
the exceeding riches of his favor toward those
willing to serve him at the cost of self-sacrifice.
God knew beforehand that whosoever would
live godly in this present world [age]--whoever
would receive the Spirit of the truth and
be led of it--would suffer persecution and present
loss; that whoever would have and obey
the leadings of his holy Spirit, among those
having the opposing "spirit of the world,"
would do it only at the cost of self-sacrifice.
And God had a perfect right to promise such
sacrificers, of whom our Lord Jesus is the head
and exemplar, a special "prize," a "high calling,"
exceeding great and precious, and a
change from the human to the divine nature if
he chose; and he did choose to do this very
thing. "This is the promise which he hath
promised us." The promises to be like Christ
our Lord, and to live with him, and to reign
with him, and to be his joint-heirs, are not
made to all who will receive the holy Spirit of
the truth, but to those who suffer for righteousness
sake, who hazard and lay down their lives
for the truth, who suffer with Christ and become
dead with him, filling up that which is
behind of the afflictions of Christ in the earnest
desire to serve his body, which is the Church.
Just so surely as the "sufferings of Christ"
are completely filled up and end with this age,
and the glories to follow enter with the next
age, just so surely it will be impossible for those
who in the next age have the spirit of truth to
suffer and sacrifice themselves in obeying it.
Consequently they could never have the witness
of the Spirit that they are joint-heirs with
Christ, nor that they shall be made new creatures,
partakers of the divine nature.
The Spirit's testimony is that they for whom
those exceeding great things were prepared of
the Father were sacrificers, who through much
opposition, tribulation and gainsaying should
be recognized as "overcomers," members of
"the body of Christ."
But those who receive the Spirit of the truth
in the Millennial age will have in it a witness
also. It will witness to them their acceptance
with God through faith in Christ their Redeemer.
And it will witness then almost the
reverse of what it now witnesses, so far as tribulation
is concerned. He who then suffers
tribulation will have it as a witness of wrong
doing and of the King's displeasure; while he
who flourishes well in his affairs will have that
as a witness of his well doing and of the King's
good pleasure toward him, as it is written:
"In his day [the Millennial Day] the righteous
shall flourish," and the evil doers shall be cut
off; and again, "He shall visit tribulation and
anguish upon every soul of man that doeth
evil, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile."
(Psa. 72:7; Rom. 2:9.) And under that
blessing the well doers will progress toward
human perfection. Be it remembered, MAN is
an earthly image of God, and hence the spirit
or mind of a perfect man would be in harmony
with God's spirit or mind. Especially will this
be the case with restored men, who, during the
fall and rising again, will have well learned to
rely upon and obey implicitly the divine
Spirit's leadings, and thus be led by the Spirit
of the truth.
The opening work for the world may furnish
some marked evidence of divine acceptance, as
at Pentecost a special manifestation of divine
acceptance was given; but not necessarily so.
The Word of truth and its witness may be all
that will be given; and if so, it will be quite
sufficient evidence for faith.
The Spirit of truth would be, to them, a spirit
of begetting also, begetting again as human
sons of God; for such was Adam before he
sinned, since whose fall all his posterity are
counted as cut off, dead, except as brought
back to perfection through redemption and
restitution. And though begotten by the Spirit
of truth, such must prove themselves worthy of
being restored to full sonship (born), until the
end of that age, when, being made complete
through Christ, they can be presented to the
Father as sons.--1 Cor. 15:24.
* * *
As we thus bring the light of one scripture
to bear upon another we see how God brushes
away the mists of traditional error, revealing
his own glorious character, and making us better
[R1412 : page 184] acquainted with himself and with his dear
Son, through whom he accomplished our redemption.
With a clear understanding of the
distinct personality of each comes a clearer
understanding of much more truth. We are
able to appreciate more intelligently what both
our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus have
done for us, and to give to each the honor due.
And as we observe the beautiful harmony of
parental and filial affection, and study it in all
its workings as revealed in the great plan of
God, we have a theme for our praise and imitation
throughout eternity.
"Hear, O Israel! Jehovah our God is one--
Jehovah. And thou shall love the Lord thy
God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy might;" for he is worthy.
Study his character, behold his glory--of wisdom,
love and power--and when you fully apprehend
him, and recognize him as the fountain
of every virtue and of every blessing, no
creature in heaven or in earth will be able to
take his first and rightful place in your heart's
affections.
Even our blessed Lord Jesus is no rival with
Jehovah for that first, chief place. He himself
said, "My Father is greater than I," and his
highest ambition was to honor him at any cost
to himself; at the cost of abasement and humiliation
even unto death. And yet the Father
hath so highly honored him as to place him at
his own right hand of power and glory, and
bid all his creatures honor the Son, even as
they honor the Father. And being in character
and glory the express image of the Father, and
so intimately associated with all his plans, the
love of our hearts that goes out toward one
naturally falls upon both, and the only distinction
we can see or feel in our love toward them
is that the one is the eternal fountain and the
other the perennial stream of unalloyed goodness
and glory and blessing.
But before leaving this important subject let
us pursue it a little further, and consider what
the Apostle Paul meant by
THE SPIRIT OF A SOUND MIND--
a spirit so necessary both to a clear understanding
and to obedience of the truth; and may
God grant that through the careful and prayerful
study of this whole subject his children may
be more and more filled with his holy Spirit
and adorned with its precious fruits. The
Apostle says: "For God hath not given us
the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and
of a sound mind."--2 Tim. 1:7.
The word spirit is here used in the sense of
mental disposition. Thus we sometimes speak
of a bad spirit, meaning an evil disposition; or
of a good, true spirit, meaning a pure, noble
and amiable disposition. So the Apostle here
refers to the disposition of a sound mind.
A sound mind is a mind in a sound, healthy
condition, and in full possession of all its faculties.
Its perceptive faculties gather up various
data and store them away in memory's garner;
and its reasoning faculties arrange and
compare them, and thus arrive at conclusions
that otherwise could not be gained. However,
if the mind is not in a sound, healthy condition,
reason will not act properly. It will receive
memory's store of facts, and, by misapplying
and misappropriating them, arrive at erroneous
conclusions. If the mind is disturbed
by undue fear and dread, or by superstition or
prejudice, or hate, or revenge, or undue ambition,
or pride, or self-conceit, or avarice, or any
depraved passion, reason will be so influenced
by such dispositions as to render its conclusions,
or judgment, untrustworthy. The mind is sound
only when in the full possession of all its faculties,
and when it is entirely free, in the use of
those faculties, from prejudice or bias in any direction.
Those among men who are freest from
prejudice in the use of reason we sometimes,
and very properly, speak of as cool-headed, while
those of the opposite disposition are called
hot-headed.
Strictly speaking, there is not a perfectly
sound mind in the world. The mind could not
be perfectly sound unless the body were so.
Both mind and body are sadly bruised by the
fall; and in the fallen race we see all shades and
grades of mental as well as physical derangement.
Mark the varieties of physical derangement:
Here is one with a deranged stomach--
a dyspeptic; and that derangement affects the
whole body to a greater or less extent. Another
is afflicted with an improper action of the
[R1413 : page 185] heart; and the whole body is therefore in trouble.
The same is true if the lungs do not fill
their appointed office, or if the liver will not do
its duty, or if the nervous system be unstrung.
In such cases the mind is always more or less unfavorably
affected. If the body is burning with
fever, or racked with pain, or agitated by an excited
nervous system, or oppressed by the distresses
of a dyspeptic stomach, or excited by a
palpitating heart, or enfeebled by inactive and
diseased lungs, the mind is correspondingly
weak and diseased: it is unsound, fettered in
the use of its powers, and unable fully to govern
and rightly use them.
The curse of sin and its penalty has laid its
heavy hand on the entire man--mind and body.
If one member of the body suffer, the whole
body, and no less the mind, suffers with it.
And in addition to those sufferings of the mind
which come directly from physical disabilities
are many others which come from its own derangement,
from the undue cultivation of its inferior
instincts and the dwarfing of its nobler
faculties through sin and the necessities of painful
toil--the labor and sweat of face which are
parts of sin's penalty. Truly, as the prophet expresses
it, There is none perfect (sound, either
in mind or body), no, not one. (Psa. 14:3.)
All are covered with wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores--both mentally and physically,
though there are various degrees of unsoundness.
Oh! says one, I do not see that the world is
so much out of gear mentally. Men are considerably
out of sorts physically, greatly out of
order morally, but it seems to me that mentally
they are pretty straight. What evidence is
there of such general mental derangement?
Well, let us see. If we go into an insane
asylum we find people who are so far unbalanced
mentally as to be incapable of managing their
own affairs, and often in danger of damaging
the interests of others as well, because unable
to exercise even moderate judgment. But we
all know that we have neighbors on every side
whose judgments, as well as our own, are very
imperfect. And not infrequently many give
evidence of inability to manage their own affairs
creditably, who are a great annoyance in
attempting to manage the affairs of others.
Through self-conceit they are gossips and busybodies
in other men's matters, though incapable
of managing their own. This is one evidence
of an unsound mind--a measure of
insanity.
What business man will not admit that, over
and over again, when he has used his very best
judgment, he has actually done the wrong
thing when he should have known better?
The large number of failures in business, and
ill-successes generally, attest that the majority
of people are very unsound in judgment. And
likewise the numbers of badly raised families,
of mismatches in matrimony, of ungoverned
tempers, and of miserly, or extravagant, or
foolish habits, etc., etc., all bear witness to
the same fact. The great trouble in every case
is an unsound mind. And no one knows better
than the man who has precipitated financial
disaster, or who has made a bad mistake in
choosing a wife, or the woman who accepted a
worthless man for a husband, that bad judgment,
unsoundness of mind, was the cause of
the trouble. And so avarice, selfishness, and
other bad habits are evidences of mental as
well as of moral and physical unbalance.
Sometimes a man has average soundness of
mind on most subjects, but is greatly astray on
some one. He can reason intelligently on
other subjects, but on this one he cannot: he
reasons absurdly and draws false conclusions.
There are some subjects on which so many are
astray that mankind in general do not regard
the wrong course as wrong, and are ready to
pronounce those unbalanced who do not run
with them to the same excesses.
Suppose a man down on the river bank with
a long rake, raking up old corks, and sticks,
and rubbish out of the water, and having them
at considerable expense carted off and stored
in a barn somewhere. You see him day after
day toiling away to no reasonable purpose, and
you say, the man is insane. Why do you think
so? Because he is spending his time and effort
at that which, when looked at from a reasonable
standpoint, is foolish. Now while all are
not so bad as the illustration, there is a disposition
of the same kind running through the
whole race with reference to some subjects:
[R1413 : page 186] for instance, that of accumulating money.
That is an evidence of an unsound mind, but
the popular opinion does not so regard it.
There are thousands of men who have plenty
of money, more than they know what to do
with. It gives them great care and anxiety to
take care of it, and great labor and weariness
in one way or another to accumulate it. And
yet, notwithstanding their superabundance,
they will lie, and cheat, and steal, and defraud
their best friends, to get more--only to add
greater burdens to their already heavy load,
and to heap upon themselves the calumnies and
hatred of those whom they have defrauded.
What is the natural inference? The man who
acts so has an unsound mind. But it is on a
popular subject; and others of similar disposition,
though not always so successful, say, That
is a great man; his aim is the grand acme of
life; go on, become a ten times ten-millionaire
(unless I should succeed in out-witting you).
How should a really sound mind regard such
proceedings? How does God view it, as he
looks down upon men cheating and fighting
and stealing from one another to get money, or
wheat, or corn, into a "corner" from other
men, and then guarding it, and keeping it, and
fighting for it, as if it were very life itself.
He sees it as the result of an unsound mind,
as the mental and moral unbalance brought
about through sin. If the mind were well balanced
its energies would be divided between
accumulating and using; and good and noble
uses would be thought out whereby he and his
fellow-men might receive some real advantage.
But the common practice of all the world is to
lay it up for posterity, and posterity receives it
with mean ingratitude and generally uses it to
its own injury.--Psa. 49:10,13.
Another subject upon which the masses of
men are unsound of mind, but which is not
popularly so regarded, is the reckless propagation
of the race without due regard to means
of support, or health, or the Lord's special
service to which some have consecrated their
all, and often regardless of the barest necessities
of life, overburdening wives whom they
profess to love, and covenanted to support and
defend, with weights of care which they are
mentally and physically unable to endure, and
from which they often gladly find refuge in the
silent tomb; while the mentally and physically
diseased offspring, which she was thus unfitted
to rear, and which the father is incapable of
supporting, are left to add their burden of misery,
and mental and moral and physical depravity,
to the world's long moan of distress
and sorrow.
True, the command was given, increase and
multiply and fill the earth, but human fatherhood
should be after the likeness of the divine
fatherhood, which provides for every son--"If
a son, then an heir." If a sound mind were in
control, a man would not incur the responsibilities
of a husband, or of fatherhood to a numerous
family, with known inability to produce a
healthy offspring, or to provide for them the
necessities of life until able to do for themselves.
The unsoundness of mind thus displayed
has raised the wail of distress from thousands
of homes, and nipped in the bud the tender
plants of love and peace; and the struggle for
bare existence has driven out every element of
harmony and right-mindedness.
If the spirit of a sound mind were in control
here, love and harmony would prevail to a
vastly greater extent, and a healthy, happy and
welcomed offspring would rise up to bless a
mother's training hand of care, to honor a
father's kindly providence, and to walk in their
honorable footprints.
Is it not true, too, that such as have consecrated
all to the Lord's service have little
enough to give at best without tying their
hands with more than indispensable earthly
burdens and cares? Is it not, rather, the mission
and privilege of such to feed and clothe,
spiritually, God's little ones?
But there are many other evidences of unsoundness
of mind not so general among men,
and yet very numerous in one form or another.
For instance, one is a miser: he clutches a
penny with almost a death grip; he would bargain
and contend with a poorer man to induce
him to undersell his little stock of goods on
which he depends for the support of his family;
he would deprive his own family of the necessary
comforts of life, which he and they know
[R1413 : page 187] he is able to supply, but will not, and thus introduce
an element of discord into what might
be a happy and prosperous home. Hugging
his hoarded dollars he goes to his grave, and
his children gather to quarrel over them and to
hate his very memory. O, what a mistake!
Another man is a spendthrift: self-gratification
he will have, in every possible direction,
regardless of consequences for the future. This
is better than the miserly extreme, yet it is
founded on the same mean principle of selfishness,
regardless of the interests of others, and
even of self-interest beyond the present moment.
Neither of these extremes of unsoundness
is realized by those thus afflicted. The
miser congratulates himself that he is not a
spendthrift, and the spendthrift that he is not
a miser, and neither ever dreams that he has
gone to the opposite extreme.
O, that all the world might be blessed with a
sound mind! What a renovation it would
[R1414 : page 187] make! What a transformation of all things!
This is just what men will have when the great
restitution work is all complete.
But, notice that the Apostle in the above
text speaks of the saints as now having the spirit of a sound mind. They are not actually sound,
either in mind or body; they have mental and
physical and moral weaknesses like other men;
but they have received from God the spirit, the disposition, of a sound mind, which, under
God's direction, is able to a very great extent
to correct, control and direct the whole man.
To have a sound mind, then, is the thing to be
desired above all others, and all who realize
their unsound condition should apply at once
to the great Physician, who says, "Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest." And those who have
come to this great Physician can testify to his
power; for lo, under the magic of his healing
touch, old things--the old disposition of fear
and superstition, and evil inclinations, and
weakness, and imbecility--have passed away,
and all things have become new. The spirit
of love and of a sound mind has taken its place,
giving increasing power to govern the whole
being as we grow up toward the stature of the
fulness of Christ--complete in him.
In line with these suggestions is the Apostle's
advice, that those who have received the
new mind--the spirit of a sound mind--we are
not to know after the flesh, as men, but according
to their real spirit or intention--as
God knows or recognizes them. (2 Cor. 5:16.)
And the Apostle Peter declares (1 Pet. 4:6)
that "For this purpose the gospel is preached
to them that are dead [those reckoned dead to sin, but alive toward God and righteousness]:
that they might be judged of God in spirit
[according to their real motives and intentions],
although judged by men merely according to
[the outward deeds] the flesh." (The Greek
text supports this rendering, while the common
version shrouds this text in mystery.)
In coming to our Lord, his first requirement
is, that we submit our minds entirely to his
control, setting aside our ideas and plans entirely,
to be guided henceforth by his sound
mind. And only those thus consecrated to the
doing of his will have the spirit, or disposition, of a sound mind.
As soon as this spirit of a sound mind comes
in, it begins at once, under the divine guidance,
to set the whole man in order. And it begins
in the right place: it commands the will to
assert its power and hold its commanding place
over body and mind; it puts reason at the
helm with the divine Word as its guide book;
it searches the heart with the lamp of divine
truth lighted by the Holy Spirit, to see what
form the malady of sin has taken; and then,
looking to the divine healer by faith and the
energy of resistance, the transforming work begins
and progresses, bringing the mind into a
more and more sound and healthy condition,
notwithstanding the infirmities of the body
may tend in an opposite direction. Thus the
children of God are "transformed, by the renewing of their minds." And it is only these
who have the transformed mind, who can know
or prove what is the holy and perfect will of God.
Sometimes the children of God get cold and
listless and almost cease to aspire to and seek
this soundness of mind, but let such remember
that this is the lukewarm condition of which
the Master declares his abhorrence. (Rev. 3:16.)
Let the consecrated ones who look for
[R1414 : page 188] the reward of our high calling remember that
ceaseless vigilance and earnest striving against
the dispositions of the old unsound mind, and
a constant submission to the divine will in the
smallest affairs of every-day life, are the most
thorough proofs of our faithfulness to God. It
is all-important that while we endeavor to
serve the Lord faithfully by bearing the good
tidings of his truth to others, we should not
fail in this most important work of self-discipline
and self-culture under the divine direction.
The every-day life of faithful saints will preach
a sermon to all who know them, which their
lips could never speak. And if it does not so
do; if avarice, or penuriousness, or pride, or
selfishness, or bad tempers, or slovenly habits
in conversation still continue, our lips had best
keep silence regarding godly matters, except
before God in our closets. There we may
speak freely, and ask largely for fresh supplies
of grace to help us overcome the dispositions
of the old unsound mind, that our daily life
may speak a volume to our Redeemer's praise.
Our children, our neighbors, our friends, and
all who know us as exponents of divine truth,
are looking for its fruits in our daily life, and
judging of it accordingly, whether they tell us
so or not. Let us endeavor to let our light
shine in this way. We should never be too
busy to let those about us see that our mind is
under control of the divine mind--to let them
see what carefulness the spirit of a sound mind
hath wrought in us.
As the divine mind takes the control of our
minds, it cultivates the nobler qualities; it
nourishes them with divine truth and bids them
expand and take possession of the man; it
subdues the lower propensities and appoints
their definite and proper place in the service of
the new higher nature. It also lifts the mind
out of the narrow sphere of self, and sets the
man to work in the Lord's benevolent service
of blessing others; it shows him the divine
plan and tells him he may have a share in it--
not only in its benefits, but also in its great
work as a co-laborer together with God. Thus
the saint approaches the divine likeness and
enjoys communion and fellowship with God.
Well, says one, while we criticise some who
spend their lives in gathering dollars, and
others who spend it otherwise, they also criticise
us, and say that we are unsound in mind,
"peculiar," because our view of life is turned
so much from the ordinary channel. What
shall we say to this?
We cannot help that: we once thought much
as they do, but now have received the mind of
Christ. We cannot expect any but those governed
by the same heaven-directed view of
matters to agree with us, or to commend our
mind and course. The only way we could
please all the insane people in an asylum would
be to agree with their ideas and do as they do.
And just so, the only way we can please the
unsound world is to agree with their erroneous
ideas and do as they do; but when we receive
our ideas from God's Word, and recognize the
world's ideas as contrary to that Word, then
we know, on God's authority, that we have the
spirit, the disposition, of a sound mind, though
we are constantly reminded of the unsoundness
of our natural mind by the effort which it costs
us to keep it in subjection to the divine ruling.
Often, the children of God are no better than
average men of the world; and sometimes they
are more imperfect naturally than many of the
world. Among them, as natural men and women,
there are all sorts of imperfections, but
when the spirit of a sound mind, under God's
direction, takes hold of them, it transforms
and beautifies them in deed and in truth.
And, dearly beloved, if this transforming work
is not going on within us, we are either dead
or dying branches that must sooner or later be
severed from the vine. "Every branch in me
that beareth not fruit [fruit of the spirit] he
taketh away."--John 15:2.
We must then let the transforming work go
on within our own hearts, while we do all in
our power to inspire and cultivate the same
spirit in others. God hath not given to us the
spirit of fear and superstitious dread of him,
but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. And when we have discarded our own unsound
mind, and taken God's mind as expressed in
his Word, we know that we have the disposition
of a sound mind, no matter how other
men regard it.
