(2005 edition, 3rd revision)
© Copyright Steven Ring 1994 - 1999 all rights reserved.
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Mr. Steven R. Ring B.Sc.
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Various versions of the bible are referenced by mnemonics in the text. Prior copyright rights are gratefully acknowledged as follows:
[NIV] New International Version, as follows: Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission.
[NASB] New American Standard Bible, as follows: Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 Used by permission.
[AV] Authorised Version, rights owned by the British Crown, Crown patentee.
[RSV] The Revised Standard Version, Copyright 1946, 1952 and 1971 National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. As follows: Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[THE MESSAGE] Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996. Used by permission of the NavPress Publishing Group.
One of the seven mysteries referred to in scripture is the mystery of man. This is our Creator's perspective of our make-up; God's word about those who have sinned and fallen from their original state. Some who have been redeemed by Christ and all who will participate in a resurrection in the future. On this subject there seems to be much confusion, both in the teaching of the churches and in the available Christian literature. I believe it is an area of neglect, possibly owing to a traditional preoccupation with other major biblical themes. However the confusion about man's identity has occurred, it is not without penalty or loss. Confusion about what a Christian really is, reduces the effectiveness of individual Christians and confuses the message of the gospel that we preach. It afflicts individual believers by removing from them a clear understanding of their faith. They are unsure what happened to them during their own conversion and therefore have difficulty explaining their experience to others. They do not clearly understand what makes them different from unbelievers or how their heavenly Father wants to communicate with them. They are exposed to a sneering world, quick to undermine anyone who confronts them with the possibility of a living God. No wonder many believers feel insecure and are unable to counteract the attacks of unbelievers, or to share their faith with outsiders. Confusion about what it really means to be a Christian also greatly weakens the proclamation of the gospel, both inside and outside the church context. In such circumstances it is very difficult for the hearers of the gospel to understand precisely what is expected of them. What is inescapable for individual Christians who suffer from this confusion is a vulnerability to the world's ideas and philosophies and an inability to go onto the spiritual offensive. This book has been written to promote a self-awareness amongst believers of who the scriptures say they really are and to open the scriptural paradox that is, the mystery of man.
Steven Ring, 16. February 1999
God has a great deal to say about the identity, inner workings and worth of the human personality that He has created in His own likeness. This book presents and applies the biblical mystery of the person, nature and transformations of man. It discusses how this mystery underpins some major biblical events and themes, for example;
The creation.
The fall of man.
Physical death.
Judgment.
Our eternal destinies in heaven or hell.
The linkages between the mystery of man and some other biblical mysteries will be explored, especially the links between the mystery of man and the mystery of the gospel. Practical implications stemming from the mystery of man will be explored for the unconverted and for those who believe in Jesus. Practical issues connected with the Christian life will be discussed including;
Preaching the gospel.
Conversion to Christ.
Teaching.
Sanctification.
Prayer.
Prophecy.
Fellowship.
Receiving guidance.
Resisting temptation.
The fundamentals of our hope in Christ.
The scriptures trace the human personality as it has changed since the creation. They also predict future changes in the human form. In this book I have attempted to track the nature of man as the scriptures show it changing, from ancient history through to the distant future. Major crises occur that alter man's personality and destiny. When mankind was created by God, both the man and the woman possessed a human spirit, a soul, a heart and a body. The first crisis that changed mankind was when the first man and woman sinned. The scriptures teach that at that moment, the human spirit died and since then, spiritual death has spread to all mankind. The second crisis occurs to some people who through their faith and God's grace become converted to Jesus Christ. Through their faith in Christ, He creates in them a new living spirit and comes Personally to dwell within them. The third crisis that affects all people is physical death. The fourth crisis that will affect all men will be the gift of a new immortal body at the resurrection. Thereafter, at the judgment, God will look at our response to His grace in Christ and His verdict will decide the eternal destiny of every human being.
Just how significant is the mystery of man? How much of scriptural 'sky' is touched by it? The scriptures provide evidence for events in three different spheres;
Different places in space, that is in the spatial domain.
Different ages or times, that is in the temporal domain.
Different places in the heavenly realms, that is the spiritual domain.
Mankind exists within defined limits in all three spheres; spatial, temporal and spiritual. Jesus has already carried His own manhood into the Godhead. In addition, mankind will eventually affect all the earth, much of time and all of heaven and hell. This range of influence is unique amongst all God's creatures. I will explain these things in a little more detail.
In the temporal sphere, man has not always existed. God created man at a particular time. God has had plans for some men and women ever since He created the world, (Revelation 17 v 8). God created mankind both to be physically mortal but inwardly immortal. God gave the original man and the woman a mortal physical body and two immortal facets of inner personality; a soul and a spirit. All mankind will exist in some form for ever, because physical death does not annihilate the soul. All mankind will be raised bodily at the resurrection, and will then be physically immortal. Some will live eternally with God being saved by God's grace. Others who have refused that grace during their lives will live in eternal torment in hell.
In the spatial sphere, man has been given the earth upon which to dwell and have dominion. However the presence of mankind will outlive the present earth and will extend to the new earth that God will create.
In the spiritual sphere, Jesus Christ exists within the Godhead as God and as a resurrected man. All those people who believe in Jesus and receive Him as their Saviour are already with Him there in their spirits. Believers who are alive on earth physically, are with Christ in spirit. Whilst believers who have already died physically, remain with Christ in spirit. Unbelievers are those who reject the grace of Jesus Christ. After their death, they will share the pain and torment of hell with the devil and all his angels.
There are two main formats used in this book. Earlier parts contain scriptural studies that address the key elements of the mystery of man. Later parts contain detailed discussions about the practical applications of the scriptural teachings presented in the earlier studies.
Early parts of this book present a foundation of scriptural studies. Each of these studies consists of two elements.
Multiple scriptures that shed light on the same subject from different angles.
Brief comments that highlight the main conclusions drawn from the scriptures.
Some care has been taken to quote scriptures together that are related, not only in their texts, but also in their contexts. The scripture quotations are not intended to be exhaustive on any given subject. Rather they have been chosen because they clearly express the teaching of scripture as a whole.
As the book develops the format changes. Later in the book, more detailed practical discussions expand on the themes of the earlier scripture studies. These explore the practical implications of the scriptural messages about man and how these interact with key aspects of other mysteries found in scripture.
Figure 1. Man as created.
This section will present the biblical teaching about the kind of creature man was when he was created. The teaching presented will emphasise the messages about the nature of man in the first three chapters of the book of Genesis. The ground covered will be limited to three areas treated by these early chapters;
The outward appearance of man.
The basics of the inner nature of man.
The early relationship between man and his Creator.
These latter two subjects will be explored in more detail as the book progresses. Many important aspects of man's inner nature and the relationship with the Creator are manifested much more clearly as the bible speaks about the later changes in man. The biblical model of man's inner make-up at creation is as shown in figure 1. Many of the parts of this model and the distinctions between them will become clearer as this book progresses.
The Genesis account makes some interesting statements about the outward appearance of man God made:
"Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;.... And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.""[NASB](3) Genesis 1 v 26 - 27
And:
"[the Son] being the radiance of God's glory, representing the reality of God" Hebrews 1 v 3. (My paraphrase from the interlinear translation, see [2].)
In terms of physical appearances only, the man was created to look like the 'likeness of God'. From Hebrews 1 v 3 and other scriptures the 'likeness of God' mentioned in Genesis 1 v 26 refers to Christ, (e.g. 1 Corinthians 15 v 42 - 50, 2 Corinthians 4 v 6, Romans 5 v 14). From these scriptures we understand that man was created by Christ to look like Christ.
The following two scriptures from Genesis show that mankind was created mortal. This scriptural teaching is directly contrary to the commonly held belief that our physical mortality was a result of sin. Instead, as I will show later on, we were created both spiritually immortal and physically mortal and mankind's deliberate sin resulted in spiritual rather than physical death for all men and women.
"And out of the ground the Lord made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." [RSV](4) Genesis 2 v 9 'Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" ...he [God] placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.' [RSV](4) Genesis 3 v 22, 24b
Even at first, man was physically mortal. Man's original mortality follows from the tree of life the Lord planted in the middle of the garden, the tree of immortality, (Genesis 3 v 22). Since if man was already immortal, there would be no need for a tree yielding immortality. Incredibly the man and the woman chose not to eat from it, even though they had opportunity and were free to do so, (Genesis 2 v 16 - 17 & 3 v 22). As an aside, it is worth pointing out three facts. There is a way to the tree of life mentioned in Genesis 3 v 24. This way is precisely what Jesus referred to in John 14 v 4 - 6 when He said "I am the way.." Jesus is the way to eternal life today. It is also the origin of an early name for the gospel, 'the Way' (Acts 9 v 2). Secondly, there is a sword guarding the way to the tree of life. The word of Christ is the 'sword that turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life,' because Jesus said "I am ... the truth... " (John 14 v 6, Revelation 1 v 16, 2 v 16, 19 v 15, 21). Thirdly there is a tree of life, and Jesus said "I am ... the life" (John 14 v 6). Jesus says the same thing elsewhere;
"I am he bread of life. .. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever." [RSV](4) Excerpts from John 6 v 48 - 58.
Thus, Jesus referred to and developed the three themes of Genesis 3 v 22 - 24 in His teaching because He is the way, the truth and the life. Adam had the opportunity to eat from the tree of life and live forever. Even now, because of Christ's work on the cross, we have the choice to believe in Christ and live forever.
In the creation of the man's physical attributes, the Lord created a diminutive image of Himself. Mankind was created with a mortal physical body but offered the choice of taking physical immortality freely as a gift by eating the fruit of the tree of life. The tree of life produced its miraculous fruit every month, each month a different kind of fruit, (Rev 22 v 2). It was also growing right in the centre of the garden, and with all that varied fruit, its splendour would have been impossible to miss. And yet man hesitated, and chose not to eat the fruit of the tree of life allowing room for disaster.
Man was not only created with a body. The man and the woman originally had another dimension to their existence, the spiritual dimension. The Genesis account contains important references to this spiritual dimension. Later in the book the spiritual dimension of man will be greatly expanded upon, as many more scriptures are presented on this vital issue.
"Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" [NASB](3) Genesis 2 v 7 "...Thus says the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him:..." [RSV](4) Zechariah 12 v 1 "So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life giving spirit." [NASB](3) 1 Corinthians 15 v 45. Here Paul directly associates the original life of Adam's spirit within his soul to the spiritual life that Christ gives to many people.
God created man as a composite being. Originally mankind was a partly spiritual and partly physical being. Man's being consisted of a personal spirit breathed from God and encapsulated within a soul, making it a living soul. The living soul was itself encapsulated within a physical vessel of flesh that God made from the dust of the earth. The term 'living soul' means that the human soul was originally activated and animated by a personal spirit. It was the presence of a personal spirit that made the human soul alive.
The original spirituality of the man and the woman are displayed in their unique relationships with their Creator. The Genesis passages contain some evidence of this early relationship. This evidence provides information about the original state of man.
'And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "you may freely eat of every tree in the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die"' [RSV](4) Genesis 2 v 16, 17 'And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?". And he said, "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself."' [NASB](3) Genesis 3 v 8 - 10
These verses speak about the fellowship God had with the man and the woman. Every day, in the cool of the day, God would walk in the garden. God spoke with the man and his wife audibly, but it is unclear whether they saw God or not. Fellowship between God and the man and woman occurred every day. Firstly this follows because Adam recognised the sound that God made as he walked in the garden. Secondly the scriptures state that God walked in the garden at a specific time of day, 'the cool of the day.'
God showed respect for the dignity of man by expecting them to behave responsibly in their environment. In a command to the man, God clearly set out that there were trees that were beneficial and one specific tree that had deadly fruit. Here, there is clear evidence that God's motivation for the command was primarily the welfare of man, since without this command, man would have been unaware of a lethal threat.
Clearly, God spent a great deal of time with the man and the woman and was expressing His love for them every day. This love was clearly mutual, since the man and the woman would normally rise to meet God as soon as they heard the sound of God in the garden, (this follows from God's disappointed statement, "Where are you?"). This is initial evidence that Man had a living personal spirit at creation. This follows because God is Spirit; (John 4 v 24). Therefore close fellowship between God and man would not have been possible unless the man and the woman also had living personal spirits at that time.
'Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.' [NASB](3) Genesis 2 v 18
God saw that the man was in need of an intimate companion. God and the man related together spiritually but the Lord also wanted to meet the physical needs of the man. This is further evidence of God's delight in man and of the love He feels toward His creation.
'And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.' [NASB](3) Genesis 2 v 25
The man and his wife were content and at peace because they knew God and they knew He loved them just as they were. When the man and woman sinned by eating the deadly fruit, their spirits died just as God had warned the man in His earlier command. It was because of the knowledge they gained from the forbidden fruit, that they knew they were naked and felt shame and guilt. Because their spirits had died, the security of their relationship with God was shattered, and they were afraid of God. Their profound insecurity led them to be anxious about their appearance, they no longer felt acceptable to God.
The relationship between God and man was loving and very close. There is clear evidence in the Genesis account of daily fellowship between God and the man and of God's delight in His creatures. The close fellowship between God and man before the fall is further evidence that man possessed a spiritual nature at that time. However, there is a much clearer proof from the scripture that man originally had a personal spirit. This proof concerns the scriptures about how their personal spirits died when they disobeyed God's command.
Figure 2. Fallen man
We now explore the great tragedy of an event that marred all mankind. When Adam sinned, he destroyed part of himself and marred the perfection of the entire creation. But how did Adam's action come to affect the whole of mankind? The answer is simply that Adam's destruction of his own spirit meant that all his descendents would also lack a spirit. This is the origin of our complete spiritual incapacity. In the natural, we cannot sense anything spiritual, we cannot think spiritually, and therefore we cannot even conceive of any reality other than physical reality. How more lost could we possibly be?
First we will look at the transformation that sin caused in man, beginning with the Genesis account. Following this, the treatment will be expanded to include teaching from the rest of scripture. Thirdly we shall explore the detail of the fallen state of man and how this fallen state affects many aspects of human existence and experience. When the man and woman sinned their being changed. This change was the death of their personal spirits. A situation that is illustrated in the revised model shown in figure 2. The fallen state is the condition of the majority of mankind today. Everyone is born into the fallen state without exception, for we all inherit the fallen condition of our natural parents.
The tragedy of Adam's sin caused a transformation in his being. That transformation was the death of his spirit. Let us examine the evidence for this change in the Genesis account of the creation.
"Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" [NASB](3) Genesis 2 v 7 and 1 Corinthians 15 v 45 (In the Genesis passage, this was said of the man before he sinned) 'And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "you may freely eat of every tree in the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die"' [RSV](4) Genesis 2 v 16, 17 (This was also said of the man before he sinned) ".....In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return." [RSV](4) Genesis 3 v 19 (This was said of the man after he sinned)
Man's disobedience to God's command led to his immediate spiritual death. Since God did not inflict spiritual death on Adam during the confrontation recorded in Genesis 3, so it is implied that Adam's spiritual death was self-inflicted through his disobedience, (a conclusion shared by the Apostle Paul, see Romans 5 v 12). We have already established from the scriptures that man was created physically mortal. Yet it is self-evident that Adam and Eve remained physically alive after God confronted him inspite of God's warning about the lethal consequences of disobedience in Genesis 2 v 17. Therefore God cannot have been speaking about physical death in Genesis 2 v 17 as many believe. It must be concluded that God was warning Adam about the death of his personal spirit. When Adam and his wife sinned, their living souls died because the living spirits they had in their souls died. They became dead souls. As a result, all their descendants, all of us, are also born with dead souls. Notice the contrast between the Genesis 3 v 19 quotation, where God pointedly declares "you are dust, and to dust you shall return" and the other declaration made before the fall, in Ch. 2 v 7 where man was more than merely the dust God had used to form his body, he was also declared by his Creator to be a "living soul."
The knowledge of good and evil, (or as Eve said, a kind of natural 'wisdom', see Genesis 3 v 6) was acquired in exchange for the death of our human spirit. This natural wisdom of good and evil is still with us. It manifests itself as the internal monster of legalism that presumes to tell God what is right and wrong, and allows us to form religious values to suit ourselves. Much is taught by the apostles about the distinction between natural and spiritual wisdom. This apostolic distinction will be explored later on.
Legalism did not begin with the law that God gave to Moses, it began when man ate the forbidden fruit. Today, many false teachers, false religions and even perversions of Christianity teach that life can be gained by obeying certain rules of conduct. This is not so, simply because no legal system has the means to give new life to our dead spirits, (see Galatians 3 v 21 where Paul says this very clearly). All legalistic systems can do is affect our outward behaviour. Outward morality cannot cure the lack of an inner personal spirit, because morals cannot bring spiritual life. At the fall, man ceased to be a composite being. His spirit died, leaving a mere shadow of his original form. This was the first transformation of man, from a composite spiritual and physical being to a merely physical one with a dead or empty soul.
'Jesus answered him, "Truly truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."' [RSV](4) John 3 v 3. 'Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."' [RSV](4) John 3 v 5 - 6.
Jesus teaches Nicodemus clearly about the need for people to be born again or regenerated spiritually by God's Spirit before they can see the kingdom of God. There would be no need to be born anew if fallen man was alive spiritually. Jesus reinforces His point about spiritual life by saying that flesh can only give birth to flesh. This statement means at least two things.
First, that mankind is now merely flesh with no spirit, agreeing with Genesis 3 v 19.
Second that man cannot affect spiritual rebirth, only the Holy Spirit can do this.
After emphasising this teaching to Nicodemus, Jesus says the same thing again in a different way later on, leaving no doubt in my mind:
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life." [NIV](9) John 6 v 63
Using the imagery of the Genesis account of our creation, Jesus' Word becomes the breath that turns us into 'living souls', (Genesis 2 v 7).
That fallen man is dead spiritually is the crux of man's plight. Christ's loving purpose in coming to earth was to pay the price in His own blood to offer us new spiritual life as well as many other blessings. Jesus is therefore the only person who can save us. No-one else, and nothing else can give us spiritual life.
We have looked at Jesus' direct statements about the natural state of man, now we can check it further to see how the teaching was foundational to other teachings. In His teaching about unclean spirits, Jesus says;
"When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes he finds it empty, swept and in put in order. Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So shall it be also with this evil generation." [RSV](4) Matthew 12 v 43 - 45
Again from the Matthew passage Jesus says that the natural state of man's soul is devoid of a personal spirit. Jesus says this figuratively, calling man's soul an 'empty house'. Also from this passage, man's soul is a roomy place of dwelling and repose for spirits. More than one spirit can dwell there at once. The positive significance of this fact will become obvious later when we deal with the way the Holy Spirit dwells with the regenerated personal spirit within a believer's soul.
Let us take a look at a number of scriptures that speak about the reality of spiritual death that occurred soon after creation and from there spread to all mankind, (remember, spiritual rather than physical death is being spoken of in these passages, since man was already destined to die physically, even before they sinned):
"Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned" [RSV](4) Romans 5 v 12 "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that that one died for all, and therefore all died." [NIV](9) 2 Corinthians 5 v 14 "But God who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)" [RSV](4) Ephesians 2 v 4 - 5 "And you who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses." [RSV](4) Colossians 2 v 13 "..he saved us, ... by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit" [RSV](4) Titus 3 v 5 [The Greek word translated 'regeneration' means to be born again]
Paul says the truth repeatedly, from Adam we have all inherited spiritual death. This means that no-one has ever been born spiritually alive. The death that God warned Adam about was certainly spiritual and clearly transmitted to all of us, his descendants. These passages also speak of the way Christ brings spiritual life for us. These matters will be expanded upon later when we speak about the next transformation of man.
The sin of our first ancestor has passed spiritual death down to all of us. This is the plight of all mankind today. There is nothing we can do about this by ourselves. We cannot repair the damage. We are also infected with a knowledge of good and evil that is individual in character and detached from any absolutes. This trait leads us to form temporal legal structures in society and theologies in religion that attempt to satisfy our individual desires for justice and respectability. However they attempt to do so apart from God. The ultimate failure of these systems to bring improvement in human nature is evidence for the lack of any true godliness in human society and of man's desparate need for God's help.
After concentrating on the evidence for a change in mankind caused by sin, we now turn to look more closely at the fallen state of man. The scriptures contain important insights into this state of man that help us to understand God's plans for our rescue.
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." [RSV](4) Deuteronomy 6 v 4, 5 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" And (Jesus) said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength." [RSV](4) Matthew 22 v 36, 37; Mark 12 v 30 With my context note in brackets.
Fallen man has a heart, a soul, a mind and strength (i.e. a body), but as expected, no spirit is mentioned. The law was therefore powerless to save, because it did not address the key issue of spiritual life. Nor is this argument made only from silence in scripture! The scripture actually says:
"Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, ... " [NIV] Galatians 3 v 21 - 22a
Those who keep the law honour God, but keeping the law is not able to save anyone because it cannot make us alive again spiritually. This is a most important point. In our present form there is nothing we can do to regenerate ourselves spiritually. Only God can do this work of new creation within us.
"The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." [RSV](4) Genesis 6 v 5 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander." [RSV](4) Matthew 15 v 19
The heart is capable of natural thought and imagination and so encompasses the faculty of the natural mind. Thus the post fall make-up of man reduces to a soul, a heart and a body.
"With my whole heart I seek thee; let me not wander from thy commandments." [RSV](4) Psalm 119 v 10
The heart also has within it the faculties of will, determination and orientation.
In the bible, the idea of heart seems to encompass the mind, (functions of natural understanding, thinking and imagining) and the directive aspects of personality (the will, the orientation, the determination). There is obviously some scope for confusion here. In western culture and in normal English usage, the concept of a person's heart conjures notions of affection and is in any case has a rather vague definition. The biblical meaning of 'heart' is quite different and specific. The biblical meanings defined here will be used and intended throughout this book.
We have also begun to discover the truth about the depravity and weakness of the heart and the soul without a personal spirit. The heart and soul are depraved because they are dead to the spiritual virtue of God. We are weak because we are unable to mend the spiritual damage done to ourselves.
Continuing to look at the fallen state of man, we now turn to the lack of a personal spirit. In what significant ways does our natural lack of a personal spirit disable us?
"..also he has put eternity into man's mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." [RSV](4) Ecclesiastes 3 v 11 "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot; and those that are in the flesh cannot please God." [RSV](4) Romans 8 v 7, 8 "The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 2 v 14
With a dead spirit, the mind cannot comprehend spiritual truth, and is not able to sense it when it hears it, sees it or reads it. The natural mind cannot test out spiritual truth, or obey it. On the other hand, the natural mind can understand natural impulses and promptings. It is constantly bombarded by the physical senses, but it cannot sense anything spiritual. Therefore, the natural mind can only respond to physical stimuli. For this reason the natural mind is absorbed with gratifying the natural demands of the body. Thus, as Paul concluded, with a dead spirit it is impossible to please God; (Romans 8 v 8).
"Go, and say to this people: 'Hear and hear, but do not understand; see and see, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." [RSV](4) Isaiah 6 v 9 - 10 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" [RSV](4) Matthew 6 v 22 - 23 "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God." [RSV](4) 2 Corinthians 4 v 3 - 4
There are spiritual senses, faculties of hearing, seeing and comprehension that can exist only when a personal spirit is present. The personal spirit enables the interpretation of what is heard, and the perception of what is seen in the light of spiritual realities. By way of contrast, our physical senses and natural minds allow us to perceive and interpret our environment only in the light of physical realities. The spiritual senses and spiritual cognitive faculties are missing where there is no spirit within. As Jesus put it, there is only darkness and emptiness within. Just as in physical death the physical senses fail, so after spiritual death at the fall, man could no longer sense or comprehend spiritual things.
From the narrative of Jesus' life we can see these facts demonstrated clearly. Take for example, Jesus' healing of the demoniac described in Mark 5:
"They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when he had come out of the boat, there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who lived among the tombs; and no one could bind him any more, even with a chain; for he had often been bound with fetters and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the fetters he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out, and bruising himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshipped him; and crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me." For he had said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "My name is Legion; for we are many." And he begged him eagerly not to send them out of the country." [RSV](4) Mark 5 v 1-10 "Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid." [RSV](4) Luke 8 v 35
The man Legion was an 'empty house' before he was possessed by demons, but look at the effect those unclean spirits had on his personality! Both his mind and body were greatly influenced:
His mind was deranged.
His speech was out of his control.
He would not wear clothes.
He was in anguish and pain, (he bruised himself to ease the more severe internal pain he was feeling).
The unclean spirits drove him around the countryside so that he became very strong. He was not in control of his own movements.
In contrast, as soon as Jesus expelled the unclean spirits, Legion sits at the feet of Jesus, in his right mind. His speech was his own again, he was clothed and he was no longer in pain.
Here can be seen the profound effects of a person's spiritual state on their overall well being and behaviour. This specific example demonstrates the significance of the missing spirit within the human personality through the negative aspects of demon possession.
It is sobering to note two facts.
Firstly, that the unclean spirits inside the demoniac enabled him to recognize the spiritual reality of Jesus' identity, whilst those in the crowd could not recognize Him because they lacked any kind of spirit. Inside them was only darkness and emptiness.
Secondly, that there are only a few other occasions in the new testament before the resurrection, where it is recorded that people recognized Jesus' true identity in such a definite way. (See the confessions of Peter recorded in Matthew 16 v 16 and Martha recorded in John 11 v 27.)
These facts again point to the absence of any kind of spirit in most people. Peter and Martha are two early examples of people who believed in Jesus. Their spiritual awareness was due to the spiritual life that Jesus had given them when they believed in Him.
In summary then, at the fall, men and women lost their God-given human spirits, leaving 'empty houses' swept and clean but with no spiritual life in them whatsoever. They became dead souls through their sin.
The residue, (one might even say debris) of the human form after the fall consists of the following parts;
Firstly of an immortal soul, where we feel emotion and where motivation for our actions comes.
Secondly a heart, where we exercise natural understanding, will and determination.
Thirdly we have a body to exercise physical ability.
Note that consistent meanings, of the words 'soul' and 'heart' can be clearly deduced from the way they are used and their semantic contexts in scripture. The precision and consistency of these biblical usages and meanings contrast and conflict with the vagueness of contemporary English usages and the similarly vague English dictionary definitions of these words. The reason for this is simple, man has no clear idea of his own constitution. Since words are expressions of our ideas, there can be no clear words and distinctions where there are no clear ideas.
In this spiritually void state, mankind is vulnerable to spiritual invasion and occupation by evil spirits. Also, without a living spirit, man is also incapable of understanding spiritual truth, let alone relating to God, (since God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth, John 4 v 24). This total spiritual incapacity means that there is nothing to prevent the decay of what remains of the human form after the death of the personal spirit. Moral decay quickly sets in through the passions of the unchecked sinful nature. As Jesus once so succinctly put it, we are the utterly lost creatures that he came to save, (Luke 19 v 10).
Figure 3. Converted man
The central message from God in the scripture concerns the good news of His salvation. This good news is a message about righteousness and new spiritual life from God. God gives us righteousness and new spiritual life when we believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. Through a living relationship with Jesus we have new spiritual life and immortality with Him. Jesus paid with His own lifeblood to purchase our salvation which He freely offers to all mankind. The good news of God's salvation is also known as the gospel. The gospel is itself another biblical mystery of great importance, since it is the message from God that brings salvation, (see "Cautionary Words" in the introduction). Salvation concerns the Way that God has made for mankind to be reconciled with Himself through righteousness and a new spiritual birth. The basic gospel message of salvation is summarized here because a full treatment of this mystery is outside the present scope. I have written a separate book entitled, 'The Mystery of the Gospel'(11) that explores this truth in more detail. The reason for including a summary of the gospel here, is to explore how the sad nature of fallen man is addressed by the power of God's salvation.
Man is completely helpless apart from God's salvation. Since the fall, natural man has no spirit and is therefore blinded to spiritual truth and incapable of relating to God. Worse still, man's preoccupation with the desires of the body has led, not only to individual sins but to complete lifestyles that are hostile toward God. These are the hard facts about life without Christ. They are what makes Jesus and His message of salvation the best news there is. Due to His holiness and righteousness, God will not permit our rebellion to last indefinitely. His patience and love persist to allow some time for His salvation to take effect amongst mankind. However He has limited both the length of our lives, and the overall period of His grace by fixing a Day when He will judge the world. All people who face this judgment will be condemned to an eternal torment in hell, for there is no-one righteous in his sight, all have sinned. There is therefore a short and uncertain time within which we can be saved. This time is measured from now to the end of a person's life or the Judgment Day, whichever is sooner. This short and uncertain time is the only time we have to be saved. It is therefore urgent upon us to pay attention today, to heed the call God to turn away from our sins today, and to seek His salvation today. Jesus is our only hope, and He is only a prayer away.
God's salvation accomplishes what no amount of human effort can ever achieve. In summary;
God takes away the just punishment for our rebellion and sin through the blood atonement of His Son, Jesus Christ on the cross.
God justifies His people in His own sight by covering them with the blood of Christ's sacrifice. (God demonstrated his approval of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf by raising Him from death after three days.)
God imparts into His people a new living personal spirit. That is to say, God creates a new spirit within us.
To demonstrate His amazing grace, his tender mercy and the power of His salvation, God Himself comes to dwell within each one of His people. His Presence makes it possible for them to live godly lives in relationship with Him, essentially, they exhibit His character in increasing measure.
In addition, Christ has prepared an eternal home for His people and He will return again personally to take them there.
We certainly cannot achieve these things by observing laws that define good behaviour. It makes no difference if these laws are from God, (that is the law of Moses), or from our own conscience, or from anywhere else. We are completely helpless to accomplish our own salvation.
We cannot achieve our own salvation, only God can do this. This salvation cost God very dearly. He bought it with the life blood of His only Son, Jesus, on the cross. In Jesus' torture and death we can see two things. The greatness and reality of God's love for man and the just punishment for our sin, God taking that just punishment on Himself. The cross contradicts all our thoughts of self-righteousness. That Jesus deliberately consented to His trial and crucifixion means that there was no other way to rescue us from our sins. If there had been any another way, Jesus would not have needed to die on a cross. If we persist in our pretence of self-righteousness, we make God out to be a liar. Worse still we reject Jesus' love when He offered Himself to be punished for our sins. Jesus was God's Son, he committed no sin and lived His life wholly in submission to God His Father. For this reason, He alone was worthy and able to offer himself for punishment in the place of sinners. His act of sacrifice for us means that the just penalty for our sins has been paid by Him in full. The Father demonstrated beyond doubt that Jesus' sacrifice for us was acceptable to Him when He raised Christ from the dead after three days. In this loving way, Jesus removes the threat of punishment from His people, and clothes them with His own righteousness in God's sight.
But His love does not end there. God's people, like everyone else, have inherited the same spiritual death as Adam suffered at the fall. However, out of His great love, God now gives them a new living personal spirit. Yet even with this, His loving kindness is not finished! He comes to live with our new spirits, right beside our new spirits, telling us Personally that we are his children! God not only makes His people immortal and forgives them, but adopts them as his children! Oh the greatness of the mercy and love and generosity of our God! Yet there is even more to come! For if God did not spare His only Son but gave Him up for us, is there anything that He would not give us? What we can see about our future inheritance described in scripture is breathtaking, but the scriptures say that what we can see is only a glimpse. There are more wonderful surprises, not as yet revealed, that await us!
In summary then, the blessings of God's salvation are:
Justification in God's sight and new spiritual life right now.
Spiritual adoption as God's children right now.
All of God living within us right now.
Immortality now.
Powerful new bodies and inconceivably more to come later.
The conversion experience is different for each convert. The time involved can vary from a few minutes to many years. However despite these variations, there are several essential elements involved in conversion. The order of these elements also varies, but all must occur sometime during conversion.
First there is a call from God, (see John 6 v 44 & 65), prompting an emotional response from the soul to Jesus and toward the message of salvation through Him. This stirring of the soul produces heart and mind conviction of the holiness, love and integrity of God and of the grievous eternal penalty awaiting us for our sins. The soul urges us to seek peace with God and the heart responds.
Secondly it becomes a decision of the whole person, (the mind together with the stirring emotions in the soul due to the call of God) to implement the commands of Jesus. (These are set out in the Introduction, principally we must turn and believe in Jesus.)
Fourthly, after we have obeyed the commands of Christ we can ask Jesus to fill us with the Holy Spirit with complete confidence and faith. He has clearly promised to fill us with His Holy Spirit and He will not fail to keep His promise! (See Luke 11 v 11 - 13 and John 14 v 15 - 17.) God will seal the salvation of new believers by creating within them a new personal spirit and by giving them the gift of his Holy Spirit, (that is, the gift of Himself). God will live within them and they will start a lifelong, (and after that eternal) journey united with God.
In summary, conversion is no small, baseless or purely intellectual reorientation. It is the violent death of all our hopes that we can save ourselves or justify ourselves to a holy God and it is the vibrant new reality of spiritual life, living in faith and dependence on Jesus to save us and to justify us. It begins with the reality and vividness of God's call, experienced first by the soul and afterward by the mind. It consists of God's part and that of the convert also. Neither part can be avoided, and if either is absent, conversion cannot be effective.
There are three reliable ways you can tell whether you are being saved. If you are;
Continuing with Christ, (John 8 v 31).
Getting to know God more and more, (Colossians 1 v 10).
Producing the fruit (not the gifts) of the Holy Spirit, (2 Peter 1 v 5 - 8, 1 John 3 v 14 - 15).
Then you are being saved.
To make spiritual progress, it is vital to understand our precise condition. The scripture contains these tests firstly so that we can understand the truth about ourselves. God's work of salvation in our lives is an act of His grace. It is therefore imperative that the greatest caution be used when applying such tests to others. If we are saved by God's grace, then we have nothing to boast about, no authority to judge and every reason to show the unsaved and those seeking salvation the love of Christ. Even when applying the lens of scripture to our own lives, great care should be taken. It is important to be sober in our judgement of ourselves, (Romans 12 v 3).
If you know Jesus then you are being saved. By 'knowing him', I do not mean to know about him, rather I mean that a relationship exists with Him. If you cannot say that you know him, then something has gone badly wrong. But what does it mean to know Him, since He is invisible?
If you have just been converted, you have had your first powerful encounter with Jesus Christ, (and no conversion can occur unless such a meeting takes place! John 14 v 6). He will continue to stir your soul and captivate your mind, as you continue to come to Him. And after a while you will begin to recognise His voice and to know Him better. The scriptures emphatically teach that a continuing vibrant relationship with Christ is essential for salvation. For example:
'Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free"' [RSV](4) John 8 v 31 - 32. "As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." [RSV](4) Colossians 2 v 6 - 7.
Therefore, according to the teaching of Jesus and his Apostles, to continue with Christ in this way is reliable confirmation of the genuine working of God. For the individual believer, the fundamental source of assurance of salvation comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit stirs our emotions to follow Jesus when it is not so easy. It is He that captivates our minds with the glory of Jesus. It is He that convicts us of the truth of God's word. It is He that tells us we are God's children, and it is through living by the Holy Spirit that we are freed from our slavery to sin.
Continuing with Christ leads to a progressive spiritual development toward a closer resemblance to Jesus Himself. I cannot emphasize this enough: Since believers participate in Jesus' Spirit they become more and more like Him in character. The English bible's usages of the terms 'salvation' and 'sanctification' mean precisely this process rather than any distinct event like conversion or baptism. Progressive spiritual development involves manifesting more of Jesus' character, this is the nature of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Progressive spiritual development has nothing whatever to do with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Instead, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are various ways that God empowers us to accomplish His work, they have no direct affect on our character or personality. The fruit of the Holy Spirit will be covered in sections entitled 'God living Inside' and 'Streams of Life'.
Figure 3a. The outward flow of spiritual life from a believer
For Christian believers, the primary contact and communion with God is between their newly created personal spirit and the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit present within them. (According to the scripture, all three persons of the Godhead dwell within, John 14 vv 15 - 17, 22 - 24; Romans 8 vv 14 - 16, 26 - 27, 1 Corinthians 2 vv 10 - 13.) In the converted person this is a continual communion and affects every facet of the personality, from deep inner motivations through to visible behaviours and speech. God gives spiritual wisdom and understanding directly to the personal spirit He has newly created within us. (Compare the name 'Counsellor' given to the Holy Spirit in John 14 v 16.) The Holy Spirit motivates and comforts the soul. (Compare the name 'Comforter' given to the Holy Spirit as used in other English translations of John 14 v 16). The Holy Spirit prompts the heart to thought, gives purpose and direction to the heart, and motivates us to outward action. As the Lord described it, there is a continual outward flow from believers. Rivers of spiritual life flow from the inner sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, (e.g. John 8 v 37 - 39; Zechariah 4 v 6, 12; 1 Thessalonians 5 v 19 and Ezekiel 47). I shall return to this important subject again later on.
We now progress to search the scriptures about the gift of new spiritual life and about the general renewal of human personality that accompanies it.
"I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them; and they shall be my people and I will be their God." [RSV](4) Ezekiel 11 v 19, 20
Conversion includes the infusion of a new living spirit and an undivided and renewed heart. These are parts of conversion, the second transformation of man.
"I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances." [RSV](4) Ezekiel 36 v 25 - 27
Ezekiel prophesies from God that a new living spirit and a new living heart of flesh will be given to God's people during the current Messianic or church age. He goes on to prophesy that God would also place his own Personal Spirit within the renewed hearts of his people. In the old testament as well as in the new, (e.g. Galatians 5 v 16 NASB[3]) we see that achieving true godliness in God's sight depends on the inner working of His Spirit. These subjects are covered in more detail in a following section entitled 'God living Inside'.
"Thus says the Lord God to these bones: behold I will cause spirit to enter you, and you shall live... and you shall know that I am the Lord" [RSV](4) Ezekiel 37 v 5, 6b "But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness." [RSV](4) Romans 8 v 10 "And you being dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to this worldly age, according to the ruler having authority over the air, of the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience; among whom also we all conducted ourselves then, in the lusts of our own flesh, carrying out the wishes of our flesh and of our own understanding. We were by nature, children of wrath like everyone else. But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love for us, even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive with Christ, (by grace you have been saved)..." Ephesians 2 v 1 - 5 (paraphrased from the Marshall Greek text(2))
Conversion involves the human spirit coming alive from the dead! Even though our physical bodies are yet unregenerate and perishable, God regenerates our inner nature and we are born again spiritually. Notice that there is no room for confusing the indwelling of the Holy Spirit with the gift of a new personal spirit as some people are prone to do. There really are two distinct spirits dwelling together. In Romans 8 v 10 and even more clearly in 8 v 16 Paul makes a clear distinction between the Holy Spirit and believer's own spirit. In one sentence, Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit and our personal spirit dwelling together;
"But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness."
And a little later Paul says,
"it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God," [RSV] (4) Romans 8 v 11 & v 16
These are not isolated statements by a single witness. Jesus Himself said;
"Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'" [RSV](4) John 3 v 6
Salvation depends on God creating our new spirit, and this new birth cannot be achieved by natural means, only by the Holy Spirit. For this reason, we who have a personal spirit really are God's children, as Paul said above and as John also points out;
"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!" [NIV] 1 John 3 v 1
Jesus in the passage from John 3 is emphasizing the great gulf separating what can be achieved by natural means from what must be achieved by the Holy Spirit. Jesus emphasizes this point by saying that flesh can only give birth to flesh. That is to say: the natural state of man has no spirit as was discussed earlier. Natural men and women can only reproduce more spiritually dead people.
"Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come." [RSV](4) 2 Corinthians 5 v 17 "May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our lord Jesus Christ" [RSV](4) 1 Thessalonians 5 v 23
Conversion eventually affects the whole personality to the extent of a complete renewal of every part. It does not all happen immediately. The Holy Spirit works in us a process of sanctification. Nevertheless, Paul confirms that as a result of our conversion, (the second transformation), we are a new creation. We become a distinctly new creature, not the same as the mankind God originally created nor the same as the creature man became after he sinned. This distinction is due the cohabitation of the Holy Spirit with our newly regenerated personal spirit. See also Galatians 6 v 11 & 15 - 16 and Colossians 2 v 11 - 13 and 3 v 3. Originally, man had a living personal spirit, but God did not live within him. After they sinned, the man's and woman's spirits died.
A new creation means a permanent change. The Holy Spirit has come to stay and come to dwell within us forever. This is no passing anointing, fleeting blessing or fading glory. Conversion is the birth of a radically new being, a new creature. Jesus became the first fruits of God's new work of creation when He rose from the dead. At that time, His body was the first of a completely new kind previously unknown in heaven or earth. A new kind after the New Heaven and New Earth that God will create in the future. Now we who believe in Jesus have new personal spirits after this same new kind, and we too, will eventually receive new bodies of the same kind as Christ's resurrection body at the resurrection. (See 1 Corinthians 15.)
We have seen that the scriptures, (both in the old and the new testaments) bear witness to this new spiritual life and to a complete 'personality renewal.' Similarly they bear witness that God will indwell His people.
As soon as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, He began nothing short of a new era for mankind. In John's gospel, Jesus' first recorded action after his resurrection was to hasten to fill his disciples with the Holy Spirit, (John 20 v 2). For the first time ever, the dwelling place of God could be within ordinary men and women. The Holy Spirit lives beside the regenerated human spirit, within the soul of a believer, (from the Greek word 'parakletos' meaning 'called to one's side'; used in this connection by the apostle John reporting Jesus' words in John 14 v 16). Another way of understanding the transformation believers undergo is to say that Christ has been creating new creatures ever since His resurrection. Believers therefore participate in the resurrection of Christ now but only in their inner selves. Before they met Jesus, they had no spiritual life inside. When they met Jesus, He gave them new spiritual life inside. Those who believe in Jesus therefore live in the expectation of receiving a transformed body when Christ returns. Believers will be given a body like Christ's resurrection body at that time, (2 Corinthians 5 v 17 and Colossians 3 v 1 - 4).
Stepping back in time, to a time before Christ's resurrection, Jesus spoke these words to His disciples:
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you... He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered him, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." [RSV](4) John 14 v 15 - 17 & 21 - 23
Notice how Jesus explains that the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit because it neither sees Him or knows Him. This is the result of the spiritual deadness of all mankind that has already been asserted. In contrast, Jesus refers to His disciples as knowing the Holy Spirit. The spiritual life of the disciples was already a reality through their encounter with Jesus. Jesus goes on to say that later on, after His resurrection, the Holy Spirit would dwell within them. One of the disciples wonders how God could manifest Himself only to individuals without it being an event that the whole world would see. Jesus explains that both the Father and He will manifest Themselves by dwelling only within individuals who keep Christ's word.
"But to as many as received him [i.e. Jesus], to those believing in his name, he has given them the right to become children of God, whose birth was not determined by blood ancestry nor by natural desires nor by the will of a man but by God."[Vines & RSV](1, 2,4) John 1 v 12 - 13 (My paraphrase based on the Interlinear translation).
In coming to live within the soul of a believer, the Spirit manifests or makes God known and makes it feasible for the believer to live in fellowship with Him. Such fellowship is impossible unless the believer is given a living personal spirit from God. John explains that Jesus makes it possible for us to become God's children through a new birth. Now God is Spirit, so John is saying that the Holy Spirit will give birth to new personal spirits inside those who receive Jesus and believe in His name. Remember also from the previous passage that the Holy Spirit was with the disciples at the time Jesus spoke before His resurrection and would be in them after His resurrection. This proximity of the Holy Spirit is the manner of fellowship believers enjoyed before the resurrection. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the enhanced fellowship believers have enjoyed ever since.
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would be in us forever. This also is radically new. Believers who believed and completed their lives before the resurrection sometimes had great anointing from the Holy Spirit, but the anointing they had was short lived. Never before had God dwelt within His people in this way. Space does not permit even a short list of instances of the temporary nature of the anointing that righteous men received before the time of Jesus. The one thing these anointings had in common was that they were variable and transient. Like Moses' shining face when he came down from the Presence of God on Sinai, the glory faded. Like Elijah who could transfer the anointing he had from God with his cloak to Elisha. Like Saul from whom the Spirit departed. Now Jesus was saying something wonderfully different; the Holy Spirit will be in us forever. The burning shekinah glory (from the Hebrew sakan; to dwell[8]) of God's immediate Presence will burn in our souls forever!
Jesus says in the passage from John 14 that all three Persons of the Godhead will dwell within the soul of a believer. He makes clear statements about Himself, His Father and the Holy Spirit all coming to make house within us.
The Holy Spirit is not given by men. He cannot be a inherited from our fathers. He cannot be gained by natural means. He is not imparted by the will of man. He is imparted into a believer's soul only when Jesus Himself prays to the Father on our behalf. Jesus will pray to God on our behalf if we ask whilst loving God. We express true love for God by keeping the commands of Jesus which are; to repent by believing in Jesus and to be baptized into Jesus, (Matthew 4 v 17, John 6 v 28 - 29, Matthew 21 v 28 - 32, Romans 6 v 1 - 4). In the contexts of these scriptures, repentance is an active word. It means to perceive that your past deeds and beliefs have been wrong in God's sight and to reform your behaviour and beliefs according to the will of God. To believe is also an active word, to believe in Jesus means to be convinced of His trustworthiness and to rely upon him for your salvation. To be baptized into Jesus is described by Paul as being baptized into his death, (total immersion) and to emerge to live Christ's resurrection life with him.[1]
'Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Lo, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is within you." [RSV](4) Luke 17 v 20 - 21
Jesus, by these words, defines the nature of the kingdom of God. The proclamation of the Kingdom of God was the main theme of Jesus' earthly ministry. The coming of the kingdom of God means the surrender of our souls as the dwelling place of God by His Spirit; our own regenerated spirits sharing house with Him in the inner realm of our souls. This is surely the most awesome teaching of scripture; yet it is true for all believers in Christ.
"..I became a minister.. to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. To them God wished to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory; whom we announce warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ." Colossians 1 v 25b - 28 (my paraphrase from [2] and [4])
The awesome mystery of every believer's inheritance is to share their souls with Christ, we literally inherit God from God. This became a reality for the first time in the period immediately following the resurrection, when Jesus' disciples experienced it. Sharing our souls with Christ now, is in hope of sharing the nature of His glorious resurrection body later. Paul announced to believers that Christ dwelt in their souls. He saw this announcement as one of the main purposes of his own ministry. He saw Christ's presence as a fact and understood the glory and the awesome significance of it. Elsewhere Paul says even more clearly;
"Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, ..." [NIV](9) 1 Corinthians 6 v 19
This statement is probably the clearest and most emphatic in the New Testament declaring that the Holy Spirit dwells within those who belong to Jesus. In fact Paul strengthens these words even further in Romans 8, and John says the same thing in a different way;
"And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." [NIV](9) Romans 8 v 9b "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." [NIV](9) 1 John 5 v 11 - 12
These three scriptures clearly state that those of us who belong in Jesus have the Holy Spirit within them. This means, just as Paul says, we are God's temple in exactly the same way that the temple in Jerusalem was once God's temple where His Presence dwelt. We are, each one of us, God's tabernacle, His sanctuary. This does not mean that we are perfect, we most certainly are not. However, Jesus' blood atones for our sins, allowing the perfect One to dwell within, (again a parallel with the way the Jerusalem temple was purified by the blood of sacrifices).
Paul warned the saints about the presence of Christ and of Christ's purpose to sanctify His people and bring them to maturity in Himself. His words are as true today as the day he wrote them.
"I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John [the Baptist]; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.." [RSV](4) (Luke 7 v 28) "For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us." [RSV](4) 2 Corinthians 4 v 7
The kingdom of God, that Jesus spoke so much about, consists of the presence and reign of God within us. God himself is the treasure in our clay pot. After we believed and were born from above, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit come to dwell within us. (Notice how Jesus contrasts those who are 'born of women' in the natural way, with all those who are in the kingdom of God, that is, those who have been 'born of God.') Along with new spiritual birth, the Godhead literally lives within those who obey the commands of Jesus. God in His grace and love has now placed his people into a more elevated state than the first man and more elevated than believers whose earthly lives ended before the resurrection of Jesus. Notice the significance of Paul's words, 'For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.' Paul directly quotes Genesis 1 v 3 to say that what God has done for us by coming to dwell within us, is a new creative act. We are part of a second created order begun when God raised Jesus from the dead creating for Him a new body bearing the likeness of His earthly body. Christ became the first fruit of the new creation. Paul mentions this idea in several other places, for example; Galatians 6 v 15, 1 Corinthians 15 v 20 - 23 and 2 Corinthians 5 v 17 from the same context as our quote above, reinforcing this as a correct understanding of Paul's statements.
The scriptures have spoken, and God has spoken for Himself and what man would ever dare claim such wonderful things otherwise! God declares Himself as dwelling in every believer in Jesus Christ right now. This is also an experiential fact, they say you can only testify to something, if you have experienced it for yourself. Well it is true for me. I testify that God came to dwell in me since I believed in Jesus. I experience the reality of His Presence every day. In the past when I have neglected my salvation, He has called me back. I have many failings, but He is slowly changing me. I lack strength, and He strengthens me. I lack understanding, and He teaches me. But most of all, I experience His love for me and I experience His Spirit expressing that love to me. I am no different to other believers who also hope in Christ - God dwells in them also. I am no greater than the most recent convert, God has saved them, just as He saved me. This is the grace of God! His word is clear, teaching us to renounce our old ways and seek His grace whilst there is still time. His love is offered to all men. All who seek God will find Him in Jesus Christ. God's favourite word is "Come," (Isaiah 1 v 18 - 19; Matthew 11 v 28 - 29; Revelation 22 v 17) He is not afraid of your questions; He is not afraid to reveal Himself to those who admit their guilt and believe in Jesus for their justification.
In this section we will explore a common area of confusion amongst believers: What exactly demonstrates the validity God's work in anyone's life? Some would say good works, others say spiritual gifts and still others would say faithfulness to one tradition or another. The scriptures have important things to say on this subject that help to focus our attention on the reality of our relationship with our Lord.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me you evildoers.'.. " [RSV](4) Matthew 7 v 21 - 23
The people that Jesus refers to here must be using the power of the Holy Spirit since they were expelling demons, and Jesus said elsewhere that the power of God was required to achieve this, (Matthew 12 v 24 - 28). Therefore, there must be a way of using the power of the Holy Spirit without Him dwelling in the soul. From Jesus' words, it must also be possible for an unbeliever to invoke the power of the Holy Spirit using the name of Jesus.
Jesus' warning seems to be quite clear. The exercise of spiritual gifts and evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit in a person's life both say nothing about their spiritual state. They may be converted, they may not be. Nothing in what Jesus said implies that it is generally wrong to exercise spiritual gifts. What He says is that it is wrong to exercise spiritual gifts unless we are living in fellowship with Him and acting in obedience to His direction.
Jesus predicts that many people will be shocked and surprised when they meet Him in judgment. This is a clear warning to find out what God's will is, and to be found obedient to it. Jesus has left these words for our benefit, He takes no pleasure in the demise of anyone.
It is surprisingly easy to find practical examples that match this teaching of Jesus throughout the scripture. For example:
Balaam's donkey saw an angelic vision and exercised the gift of speaking in an unfamiliar language, Numbers 22 v 28.
The Pharisee's disciples would cast out demons, Matthew 12 v 27 but sometimes things did not go according to plan, Acts 19 v 13 - 16!
Caiaphas, the high priest who tried the Son of God in a law court, who was an enemy of God and of Christ was used to bring a prophecy, John 11 v 49 - 53.
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;.. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.... To one is given the utterance of wisdom,.... knowledge,... to another faith,.... gifts of healing,... mighty works,.. prophecy,... discernment,... kinds of tongues,... interpretation of tongues" [RSV] (4) 1 Corinthians 12 v 4 - 10 (Excerpts)
Despite their potential for abuse by outsiders, the gifts of the Spirit are given to us to benefit our fellow believers. Spiritual gifts are given for the common good, they are not important otherwise as Paul so eloquently argues a little later in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
It has been demonstrated above that as soon as Jesus had risen from the dead, there started a new era because the Holy Spirit came to dwell permanently inside believer's souls for the first time ever. This is the most important anointing of the Holy Spirit, since the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is essential for conversion. Someone who does not possess the Holy Spirit in this way does not belong to Christ at all and is by no means converted, (Romans 8 v 9, 1 John 5 v 12).
As I have asserted, there is no guarantee that those who exercise the powers of the Holy Spirit are human, let alone believers! However, this operational kind of anointing by the Holy Spirit is intended for the use and benefit of believers and for the extension of God's kingdom. These are the only purposes of these gifts. Once this age is wound up by the Lord Jesus, they will disappear because they will no longer be needed, as Paul explains;
"... but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. ... " [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 13 v 10.
Thus, it is good to employ spiritual gifts for the benefit of others whilst keeping the significance of our ministries in perspective. Whatever gifts we have and use, we are not inferior or superior to our fellow believers who use gifts or who do not. If our gifts are employed in the service of our brothers and sisters in Christ or in the service of those seeking to enter Christ's kingdom, this is good. We follow Christ's own example when we employ the gifts God gives in this way.
"Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. Snake's children! how can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil" [RSV](2,4) Matthew 12 v 33 - 35
Jesus provides a different test of true virtue. Rather than relying on manifestations of the Spirit's power, the test is the type of fruit a person produces. If a person produces evil fruit, that person is evil. Conversely, if a person produces good fruit then that person is good. Jesus emphasizes speech as a fruit in this passage, because our speech accurately reveals the truth about our inner selves. Good fruit is described by Paul:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self-control; against such there is no law. Now those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts" [RSV](2,4) Galatians 5 v 22 - 24
Good fruit is nothing other than the personality of Jesus Himself; Jesus manifesting His inner presence. This is why Paul uses the singular, 'fruit' rather than the plural - because he is talking about having Jesus!
Using the gifts of the Spirit as guided by the love of God is the way to go. Echoing Jesus' earlier words about the evils of using spiritual gifts without such direction, Paul says;
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 13 v 1 - 3
Emphasizing the connection between showing God's love and knowing God, the apostle John says;
"Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God for God is love." [RSV](4) 1 John 4 v 7 - 8
The fruit of the Spirit is the Personality of Jesus. The list in Galatians chapter 5; love, joy, peace, patience etc. describe Jesus' Personality. It is one personality and one fruit, to be expected in its entirety from the life of anyone who is converted, that is to say someone who possesses the Holy Spirit. It is God's intention that we should participate in the divine nature, (Romans 8 v 29, 2 Peter 1 v 4).
The fruit of the Spirit is of primary and eternal importance, its presence or absence declaring loudly someone's true spiritual state, (that is, whether God is dwelling inside or not). The primary importance and eternal nature of the fruit of the Spirit contrasts with the secondary and temporal importance of the gifts, or manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit; as according to the 1 Corinthians 13 quotation, these manifestations will pass away when Jesus comes, (actually they will become redundant).
Knowing God means possessing His Spirit in our souls. Possessing His Spirit in our souls is manifested by the fruit of the Spirit in our emotional lives. His Spirit provokes our soul to feel as God feels. The fruit of the Spirit has many attributes, but they are all either emotional or motivational attributes. The fruit of the Spirit is indivisible, it amounts to the Personality of God; having God's Spirit we have His Personality, His way of thinking, His love and so on. This is why it is one fruit, you either have the Spirit dwelling within or you do not. Without these Divine emotions and motivations behind what we do, the most extreme acts of self sacrifice and the most dramatic manifestations of the Spirit's power count for nought in God's sight and they do not benefit us either. Indeed without the fruit of the Spirit, the Spirit is not in residence, and if the Spirit is not in residence there is no salvation. That the fruit of the Spirit is emotional or motivational will necessarily mean that the fruit of the Spirit will lead us to actions prompted by God. James says that unless our actions are prompted by the Spirit, there can be no reality in our faith;
"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead." [RSV] James 2 v 26.
The way that the Holy Spirit interacts with a believer is an uncertain area to many and an issue that has fostered much division over recent years. It is important to distinguish between the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit. If the good fruit is there, then the gifts will surely follow and God's blessing will follow their use; but if the gifts are present without the fruit then no lasting good can come of their use. Our souls are the place where God touches our lives directly and constantly with His Holy Spirit and more will be said about this later.
Whenever the soul is mentioned in scripture as a distinct facet of personality there is a clear emphasis on the emotions. Also the soul is often mentioned in connection with the spirit, hinting that the soul is close to the spirit within the personality, (especially Hebrews 4 v 12 quoted below). We now explore the close connection between the soul and the spirit in more detail.
"My soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks thee." [RSV](4) Isaiah 26 v 9 "Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing through the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." [RSV](4) Hebrews 4 v 11,12
In a believer, the soul and the spirit are closely tied parts of the personality, so much so, that when the word of God comes from the inner sanctuary of the spirit it cuts right through the soul into the heart, where it judges our thoughts and intentions. This cutting of the soul produces at different times love, joy, peace, earnestness, zeal and conviction of sin, (i.e. the fruit of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5 v 22, 2 Peter 1 v 5 - 7 and 1 Corinthians 13 v 4 - 10). If we allow them to, these soul emotions motivate our heart. Generally they are the source of all godly motivation, see figures 3 and 3a.
"When the cares of the heart are many, thy consolations cheer my soul"(4) Psalm 94 v 19
The heart of a believer may be anxious due to pressure from external circumstances, but God supplies his grace from within, through our souls. At other times, God can stir our souls in connection with something that is about to happen. For example;
'And they went to a place called Gethsem'any and he (Jesus) said to his disciples, "sit here, while I pray." And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch."' [RSV](4) Mark 14 v 32 - 34
As Jesus says in this passage, the soul can have emotions prompted by the Holy Spirit that are predictive or prophetic in nature. In this example, Jesus' anguish of soul anticipated his imminent sufferings. This anguish of soul led Him to immediate action, He began to pray.
What has been demonstrated is that our personal spirit and the Holy Spirit dwelling inside our souls produce feelings and emotions from God that can motivate or comfort our hearts.
Turning now to the outer nature, the body. What is the nature and status of the body once someone has been converted to Christ?
"I have been crucified [literally- co-crucified(2)] with Christ and I live no more, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loving me, gave himself up on my behalf." (Author's paraphrase from [2]) Galatians 2 v 20
In this scripture Paul says that during his own conversion his old inner nature died. He also says that his new life in Christ is being lived out within the old fleshy body he had before he was converted. So, like Paul, we are stuck with our old bodies for a time. Paul does make an interesting comment though, he says that the life was living in the flesh, he was living by faith in Jesus who had given up His body on Paul's behalf. I read this to mean that Paul lived out his natural life believing that Jesus' sacrifice on his behalf meant that he would eventually be given a new supernatural one. In other words Paul believed that Christ had bought him physical immortality on the cross.
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us." [RSV](4) 2 Corinthians 4 v 7 "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day." [RSV](4) 2 Corinthians 4 v 16 "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" [RSV](4) Romans 7 v 24b ".. but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies." (Author's paraphrase from [2]) Romans 8 v 23 (This is the same as the RSV rendering except that the RSV has 'as sons' after 'our adoption'. The 'as sons' clause does not appear in the Greek text.)
Here is a serious dilemma for converts to Christ. Inwardly they are eternal beings with Christ, physically confined for a while to a perishable and bothersome body. We shall explore the inner conflict caused by the demands of the flesh opposing the demands of the Spirit of God in a following section entitled "Inner Conflict".
We have already discovered that believers are new creatures inside as a result of conversion. Now also we see that we have only the first fruits, or 'first installment' of God's new creation and that one day He will also redeem our bodies to complete the harvest! Our natural bodies are like the tent tabernacle that the Israelites carried through the desert. Once the permanent temple building had been constructed with stone, the tent was discarded and the inner glory was transferred into the permanent structure. In the same way, we who have believed in Christ will be transferred into a new spiritual or supernatural body, itself full of power and glory, (1 Corinthians 15 v 42 - 44).
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 6 v 19 - 20 "bodily training is profitable for a little while, but godliness is profitable in everything, holding promise for the present life and the one to come." 1 Timothy 4 v 8 (My paraphrase of the Greek text based on [2].)
For believers, the inner life is of transcendent importance compared to the life of the natural body because our inner life is already immortal and eternal. Therefore the well-being of our inner life and our spiritual progress is our top priority. Nevertheless we are called to glorify God in our bodies, and to treat them with the respect due to God's house, (just as the Israelites were to respect the original tent that contained the holy objects, the place where God would appear and speak to Moses). Our bodies are literally God's property, and though we inhabit them along with God, they do not belong to us, but to Him.
"But we considered ourselves sentenced to death in order that we might not trust in ourselves, but rely on God who raises the dead." 2 Corinthians 1 v 9 (My paraphrase of the Greek text based on [2].)
A godly detachment from self-reliance is appropriate when we are under physical pressure or persecution. We can rely on God, who shares our bodies to protect us physically, or should our physical bodies die, to raise us to life in new spiritual bodies, whichever is His will. Paul understood that inwardly, he was an immortal creature and therefore that he would have to part with his own mortal body; eventually it would have to be replaced!
"Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live out the remaining time in the flesh no longer in human lust but in the will of God." 1 Peter 4 v 1 - 2 (My paraphrase of the Greek text based on [2].)
We do not deliberately injure ourselves. However, God uses physical suffering to bring about holiness in our lives. Suffering that God sends our way weakens the power of natural lust, it weakens the hold our natural bodies have over us.
In summary then. Our outer natures are temporary shelters, tents we share with the Living God until he builds us a more permanent dwelling place to share with Him. For these reasons we should respect them and care for them as God's property, but the security and well-being of our bodies are of secondary importance compared to the security and well-being of our inner selves which we will keep unto eternity.
The soul is a source of our emotion. Feelings felt by the soul are capable of strongly motivating the heart, (e.g. 1 Samuel 1 v 10, Mark 14 v 44, John 11 v 33). These emotions from the soul are separate and generally opposed to emotions and feelings originating from the body, (Romans 7 v 15 - 23). Peter sees the passions aroused by the body as hostile and potentially fatal to the soul because the body and soul compete to motivate the heart, (1 Peter 2 v 11). This competition to motivate the heart is the origin of the 'two souled' nature ('two-souled' is from the Greek word, 'dipsuchos' used in James 1 v 8). The idea of a 'two souled' nature is spoken about often elsewhere in the scriptures, (e.g. Ezekiel 11v 19, Luke 9 v 62, James 1 v 6 - 8). These scriptures describe a heart with two sources of motivation, hence two souls. A person with a divided heart in the Ezekiel passage is a person who worships God, but who also worships idols in secret. In the passage from Luke, it is the person who wants to follow Christ but also longs for his family. In the passage from James, it is the person who has a false view of God, who wants God's wisdom but at the same time doubts His grace and generosity. A compass needle is motivated by the Earth's magnetic field to align North - South and this fact can be used to aid reliable navigation around the globe; however if another magnetic field is brought near, the compass needle will fluctuate away from North - South and give a false reading. In the same way, all these scriptures describe a vacillation of the heart due to two conflicting sources of motivation: a fluctuating heart orientation owing to a 'two souled' nature.
"I can will what is right, but I cannot do it...... For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members." [RSV](4) Romans 7 v 18 & 22
Paul clearly identifies the inner conflict that believers constantly experience between the godly motivations flowing out from the inmost self, (see figure 3a) and those originating from the demands and natural instincts of the body. Here are some scriptures offering us advice about how to deal with this inner conflict.
"Beloved I beseech you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh that wage war against your soul" [RSV](4) 1 Peter 2 v 11 "To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.. for if you live according to the flesh you will die, .." [RSV](4) Romans 8 v 6 & 13a "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. .... For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life." [NASB](3) Galatians 5 v 16 - 17 & 6 v 8
Here Paul clearly states the practical means whereby the personality of believers can be transformed into the godly character of Christ. By walking in the Spirit and setting the mind on what the Spirit says we are promised that we will be free from our slavery to our natural desires. This promise is of critical importance. It is the means that we can use to escape the death grip of the old life. Christ died so that we can have freedom from sin, (2 Corinthians 3 v 17 - 18 & 5 v 15, Romans 8 v 2 - 3). As it says in these verses, nothing else, including observing the law of Moses, can salvage us and give us this freedom. This is the grace of God continuing after conversion. Like that great Wesleyan hymn, God's grace not only saves us, it also leads us home; we walk there by the Spirit!
To summarize, if the heart and the soul attend to the passions of the body, to gratify its demands, the whole personality will gradually be destroyed. On the other hand, if the heart and soul give attention to the Holy Spirit (who dwells alongside the newly created spirit within the soul of a converted person) then the whole inner personality will be nourished and preserved unto eternal life and peace.
How can believers give attention to the Holy Spirit and benefit from God's life in their souls? How can they be filled with God's grace? How can they make progress towards sanctification make progress in their inner conflict with sin? What do the scripture teach about these things?
"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with all your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, being subject to one another in the fear of Christ." Ephesians 5 v 18 - 20 (My paraphrase of the Greek text based on [2] and [4].)
This is one sentence with a command and five verbs. The five verbs explain how to obey the command. The command is to be filled by the Spirit. And the verbs are to speak and sing scriptures, to give thanks, to be subject to one another and to fear Christ. These actions turn on the tap in our souls and allow the Holy Spirit's grace to flood out from His sanctuary. It is interesting that when Paul says to be "subject to one another in the fear of Christ", he refers to our relationships with others in the church in the same context of being individually filled by the Spirit. This points to the purpose of all these streams of life; they are to refresh and bring God's life to others as well as to ourselves. This is what Paul speaks about as a "participation in the Spirit" in Philippians 2 v 1.
"And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you, .. For everyone who asks receives, .. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" [RSV](4) Luke 11 v 5 - 13 (excerpts)
Here we are given a picture of a hungry child asking his father for food. Jesus says that our heavenly Father will react similarly to any normal earthly father, He will satisfy our hunger for His Holy Spirit. The words shown are only a tiny fragment of a passage in which Jesus emphasizes very strongly the willingness of our heavenly Father to give us the Holy Spirit and the spiritual nourishment provided by the Holy Spirit.
""If any man is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and let him keep drinking. He who believes in me as the scripture said, 'From his inmost being shall flow rivers of living water.'" But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."(3) John 7 v 37b - 39 The Lord is most likely referring to Ezekiel's vision of rivers pouring out from the sanctuary, Ezekiel 47 v 1 - 12. The Ezekiel 47 passage does not contain the exact words spoken by Jesus, however it does convey exactly the same meanings that Jesus refers to, especially when this passage from Ezekiel 47 is read with others in the same book that refer to God making a new covenant with His people and placing His Spirit within them, (Ezekiel 36 v 26 - 27). These Ezekiel passages taken together do clearly predict a time when God's sanctuary would be within His people, a time when He would dwell within them and pour His living water into them. Though I am confident that Jesus is referring to Ezekiel's prophecies in John 7, I could not find literature references that support this connection, most assume that Jesus is quoting directly from some other source, (for example, see 10 in the references).
Jesus says "If any man is thirsty,.." Now thirst implies that you know you need water. Therefore the life of the Holy Spirit is conditional, it relies on knowing we need Him and doing something about it. It relies on us realizing we cannot live our Christian lives without the Spirit. We must know that we lack if we are to keep coming back to Christ for more and more.
Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit who would be a fountain of life in the souls of those believing in Him after His resurrection. He was saying that we must keep coming to him to satisfy our thirst. If we keep coming and keep drinking, He says we will speak, and work and His life will be seen and heard flowing from our lives. There will be rivers of life flowing out of our inmost being.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." [RSV](4) Matthew 5 v 6
Here Jesus extends the idea of hunger and thirst to righteousness. It is imperative that we know we lack righteousness if we are to hunger and thirst after it, (see also 1 John 1 v 8). He says that only when we realize that we cannot overcome our own sin, can we be sanctified, (see also Colossians 2 v 20 - 23, Ephesians 2 v 8 - 9). He also promises that those who hunger and thirst, (those who acknowledge their lack) will be completely satisfied by His work of sanctification.(5)
These words of Jesus from Matthew's gospel are a promise and a great encouragement for those wanting to see the blessings of God's Spirit in their personalities and lives. Jesus refers to 'hunger' and 'thirst' in the quotation. In this scripture, I believe Jesus is referring figuratively to spiritual food and drink, where food is symbolic of the Word and the water is symbolic of the Spirit. In other scriptures, John speaks about "grace and truth" referring to the same combination of the Word and the Spirit coming from Jesus, (John 1 v 14). Returning again to the Matthew 5 passage and following this line of thought, Jesus says that anyone who hungers to understand the Word and thirsts after God's Spirit will be satisfied with God's righteousness. Jesus' words about being blessed imply that the hunger and thirst are themselves provoked by the Holy Spirit. The hunger and thirst for righteousness are not natural or normal to the unsaved. On the contrary, they are supernatural and paranormal. For unsaved people it is normal for them to believe themselves to be righteous already, they are "righteous in their own sight", (Proverbs 16 v 2). Thus, anyone who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness is experiencing the very touch of God's Spirit, who will make certain that this promise of Christ never fails! They will be satisfied with God's righteousness through feeding on the word of God and being filled with the power of the Spirit.
"But when the king came to look at the guests, he saw there was a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen." [RSV](4) Matthew 22 v 11 - 14 "Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy. He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."[4] Revelation 3 v 4 - 6 '"Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure" -- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.' [RSV](4) Revelation 19 v 6b - 8
Continuing with Christ is not an optional extra, but essential to salvation. Certainly, our sanctification is by grace because we are given the righteous deeds that God has created for us to do and He has empowered us beforehand to accomplish them, (Ephesians 2 v 10). These are not just any good works that we can imagine. These are specific works that God has created us individually to accomplish by the power of the Holy Spirit. But we still must do those deeds! These deeds will become our wedding garments at the wedding feast of the Lamb. It is sobering to realize that Jesus warns that some names will have to be blotted out of the book of life. Jesus does not make empty threats, to do so would be to deceive, and Jesus would never do that. These are people who have truly believed in Christ and been saved by grace, (else their names would never have been in the book of life in the first place) but they are not saved at last but are tormented in hell because they have disobeyed Christ after their conversion. These are condemned not for sins of commission, but for sins of omission and neglect. Be warned, the scriptures clearly state that it is possible to believe in vain! As Paul said;
"As God's fellow-workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain." [NIV](9) 2 Corinthians 6 v 1
Paul was anxious that none should believe in vain, stating that God has provided all the grace we need for our salvation. Nevertheless, Paul would not have said these words if it was impossible to 'receive God's grace in vain.' Let us therefore 'make ourselves ready' to bless our Saviour at the great wedding feast. He has died and risen again to make a people for himself. Let us honour him with our whole lives! More has been written about this subject by Pawson, in his helpful book entitled, "The Road To Hell."[7]
"But it is the spirit of a man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. It is not the old that are wise, nor the aged that understand what is right." [RSV](4) (from Elihu's speech) Job 32 v 8 - 9 '[Jesus] said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."' [RSV](4) Matthew 16 v 16 - 17
These two scriptures clearly identify a spiritual kind of knowledge and understanding that are revealed by God and not normally present in man. It is profitable to explore the contrasting nature of these two types of knowledge and understanding as revealed in scripture. The first scripture from Job also introduces the role of the personal spirit to comprehend spiritual matters.
"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." [RSV](4) John 4 v 23 - 24
The 'truth' spoken of in this scripture is of a spiritual type, revealed by the Holy Spirit and Personified in Christ. Furthermore, this revelation of Christ must occur, for worship must be from the personal spirit to be acceptable in God's sight.
"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance... And [the crowd] were amazed and wondered, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each one of us in his own native language... telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." [RSV](4) Acts 2 v 4 - 11 (Excerpts)
The disciples could not have learnt the fifteen different earthly languages they used at Pentecost to proclaim God's mighty works to the people. Although this knowledge was of earthly languages, it was imparted to the apostles by the Holy Spirit.
'But, as it has been written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him," God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.... The natural man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 2 v 9 - 14
This is a comprehensive statement from the apostle Paul about spiritual knowledge and understanding. Spiritual knowledge and understanding is revealed directly from God's Spirit to the spirit of a converted person. Spiritual knowledge and understanding can also be recognized and apprehended by a converted person even if it is revealed by the Lord in an indirect or unexpected way. Furthermore, these revelations are not limited to just heavenly or earthly things, because the Holy Spirit searches everywhere, even to the depths of God Himself. It is quite common for converted people, having no prior knowledge of a situation or thing, to experience the Holy Spirit imparting understanding directly to their spirit.
The nature of a converted person's spirit enables them to understand and comprehend wisdom, (i.e. to exercise spiritual understanding). Amongst other abilities, this allows believers to discern the will of God and to appreciate and worship Him acceptably.
Our spiritual wisdom and understanding also depends on our will. This relationship was spoken of by Jesus;
"About the middle of the feast Jesus went up to the temple and taught. The Jews marvelled at it, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?" So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me; if any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.."" [RSV](4) John 7 v 14 - 17 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" [NASB](3) Proverbs 9 v 10
Jesus demonstrated the effectiveness of spiritually revealed wisdom and gave away one of its secrets. It is necessary to submit our own will to God's before we can receive spiritual wisdom and understanding. The abundance of a man's or a woman's wisdom is therefore limited by their will. It depends whether their will is aligned with God's will or not. What we will is therefore an important way that we can consciously affect our spiritual growth and effectiveness.
In summary then, conversion to Christ means:
A radical change in the whole inner personality due to the gift of a new personal spirit.
A radical change in a person's conscious way of life due to the indwelling of God and the continual personal renewal, prompting and direction that He brings.
In a progressive manner, the believer's spirit is nourished and the soul is motivated by the Holy Spirit as the believer learns to trust and rely on the Saviour. Also in a progressive manner, the mind takes a more learning and humble role in the personality than it does before conversion, learning to listen to God to understand both spiritual truth and other things. For a Christian there is an added dimension to learning, learning by revelation with a mind renewed by the Holy Spirit and a new spiritual understanding with a living personal spirit. The extent of our spiritual understanding and wisdom depends on the extent to which our will is to do God's will.
This subject has already been touched upon earlier in this book. In the early chapters, I explained from the scriptures:
That mankind was created mortal, not immortal as many believe. Physical death was inevitable for the first people that God created and also for all of us, their descendants.
That the kind of death the man and woman experienced soon after their creation was spiritual, not physical.
The consequences of these two simple truths are fundamental for Christian teaching. They focus our thoughts and attention on Jesus Christ as the only source of new spiritual life. They give us a Christ-centred theology where Christ is the only Way to immortality.
Having explored the weightier matter of spiritual death due to the sin of our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, we are left with the problem of physical death. I say problem, because modern Christianity has fundamental difficulties accommodating the idea of physical death. Because of a faulty traditional theology, physical death is seen as the result of sin, and therefore, physical death is a rather embarrassing idea for Christians to deal with. (For example, Romans 5 v 12 is traditionally and incorrectly taken to refer to physical, rather than spiritual death. The NIV compact study bible note relating to this verse, confirms the traditional point of view.) Furthermore, this traditional idea of physical death adds implicit insult to the injury of bereaved loved ones. On the other hand, from the same faulty traditional theology, we are taught that the work of Christ is to return us from our current mortal state to some imagined initial state of physical immortality. Given all this, our one hundred percent physical mortality rate is difficult to reconcile to the finished work of Christ to bring life and immortality to light through the gospel, (2 Timothy 1 v 10). The traditional solution to this artificial dilemma is to say that the work of Christ to make us immortal will be completed later, during the resurrection. The traditional theology goes on to draw far-fetched and scripturally unsupported conclusions based on the idea that Adam's physical death was due to his sin. For example, one traditional view is that Adam's sin caused a fundamental change in the entire created universe. The newly created universe is seen by the traditionalists as perfect and not subject to decay of any kind. Then suddenly, as soon as Adam ate the forbidden fruit, we are told that the whole universe from the smallest animals and plants through to the starry heavens changed and started to decay and begin a journey towards death. Unfortunately for tradition, the very scripture quoted to support this idea, declares that God deliberately created the universe already subject to physical decay!
"I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the creation has been groaning in travail together until now; ..." [RSV] Romans 8 v 18 - 22
This marvellous statement says that the universe is lagging behind a new creation that God has already started within His children and that, one day, the universe will catch up! It certainly does not say that we will eventually recover the original physical immortality of the universe. In any case, I have already elaborated a more complete rationale showing and proving that Adam was created physically mortal and therefore proving that the traditional theology surrounding physical death is fundamentally flawed.
Physical death is not the result of sin, neither our sins nor the sins of our forefathers. Physical death is sad, but it is completely normal and inevitable given the nature of the present creation. Since everything in the present creation changes, everything grows than fades and decays over time, energy spreads out and dissipates and so on.
If our traditional ideas about death are flawed, how did physical death really fit into the thinking of Jesus and His early followers? Before exploring the answers to this question in greater detail it is good to provide a brief summary and to mention the related scriptures.
Jesus taught those who followed him and who believed in Him:
that physical death would not damage their inner lives in any way, (Matthew 10 v 28).
that their physical death would not be the end, not even a long pause in their lives. Instead, physical death is part of an uninterrupted continuum of life, (Matthew 16 v 28, Mark 9 v 1, John 8 v 51, John 11 v 24 - 27).
that their inner lives, that is, their personalities, living consciousness, thinking, expression, communication and feelings would continue within some mysterious but glorious form despite their physical death, (Matthew 17 v 3, Luke 16 v 19 - 31, John 8 v 56).
Concerning the resurrection: (Brief answers about the resurrection are only included here for completeness, since this subject is covered in the next chapter.)
that physical death is an enemy, and Christ will destroy it when He comes again. Death will one day be a thing of the past, (1 Corinthians 15 v 26)
that during His return, they would receive new immortal bodies like His own resurrection body.
Now we can look at the scriptures in a little more detail to discover a truly Christian approach to physical death.
Jesus is continually interacting with those that follow Him. However, Jesus warns us that by continuing to proclaim the new things He tells us, we risk physical assault.
He says;
"What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both body and soul in hell." [NIV] Matthew 10 v 27 - 28
The two statements in verse 28 reinforce two points about physical death:
That physical death is not the end of life for believers, our souls and the spiritual life within them continue. (New spiritual life is given to us by Jesus when we were converted.)
That the soul cannot be harmed by physical attack, even if we are killed.
The words of Jesus also refer to something else outside the scope of this chapter called the 'second death.' The second death is much worse than physical death, see Revelation 20 v 11 - 15. As Jesus says, the second death really is a one-way ticket.
There are other scriptures which demonstrate that physical death is not the end. Surprisingly, some scriptures on this subject have been held up as proof that the bible is wrong! The following passage has often been misunderstood by believers and has also been held up to scorn by unbelievers. Here are some words of Jesus about His second coming;
"For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." [NIV] Matthew 16 v 27 - 28
To me, this scripture means that some people listening to Jesus who did not believe in Him, tasted death when they died physically long ago. Others who did believe in Him, did not cease to live when they died physically and will not taste death before His return. Simply, everyone who ever lived, who has believed in Jesus is still very much alive even if they have died physically. To underline the veracity of this remarkable interpretation we have Jesus' own confirmation. Jesus comforts His friend Martha whose brother Lazarus had died physically four days earlier;
'Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" [NIV] John 11 v 25 - 26
What Martha initially confessed, most Christians believe today. Martha's statement is the traditional 'churchianity' view of the afterlife. Most Christians today understand things in exactly the terms she used. Martha believed that her brother's life had ended and would miraculously resume at the resurrection. This is exactly the traditional belief about physical death and the immediate afterlife. The traditional view, is that there is no immediate afterlife, instead, the afterlife is deferred. But Jesus' was saying something quite different to Martha, can you see it? Notice Jesus' question to Martha at the end of this saying. Jesus asks her whether or not she believes something He has just told her. There would be no reason for Jesus to ask Martha whether she believed, if what Jesus had said merely confirmed Martha's words. Therefore, what Jesus said to Martha, was different. In fact, in the first part of verse 26, Jesus contradicted Martha's understanding about the immediate afterlife of her brother; He said that His followers will never die. This is so important to Christ's teaching about physical death, that I am going to repeat it again; Jesus says that those who follow him will never die. Jesus says exactly this, elsewhere:
"I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." [NIV] John 8 v 51
Also, in the earlier passage from Matthew 16, we saw that believers would not even taste death, let alone experience any kind of end. Those believers listening to Jesus about 2000 years ago are still alive, they are around us in the world and interacting with each other and with Christ. They never died, even though they died physically long ago. Conversely, those unbelievers who were listening to Jesus about 2000 years ago were already spiritually dead because they did not believe in Jesus. These people also died physically long ago. However, these people are not around, they are not interacting with anyone. The soul's of unbelievers will rise again with new bodies at the resurrection on the last day, just as Martha mentioned. However, in the meantime those who do not believe in Jesus are out of everything, their souls are tasting what death is really like.
So, since physical death is not the end for Jesus' followers, how will our experience of life continue? Three real and two fictional people will now be introduced who can help us to understand something about the continuum of life through physical death for those who believe in Jesus.
Should you think this is still somewhat far-fetched, what other possible explanation can there be for a number of long-physically-dead believers mentioned in the New Testament record, some of whom were seen alive, all were thinking, feeling, talking and experiencing an ongoing life? I am talking about Abraham, Moses and Elijah. These three believers are mentioned in the following terms;
Abraham, then about 2000 years old, was happily watching and listening to Jesus, according to Jesus' own word in John 8 v 56,
Moses, then about 1400 years old and Elijah at a mere 900 years of age both appear and talk with Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration, (see Luke 9 v 28 - 36, Mark 9 v 2 ff., Matthew 17 v 3 ff.). The two of them discussed with Jesus how He was going to die in Jerusalem, (see Luke 9 v 31). In addition to Christ, three of His disciples witnessed Moses and Elijah alive, and heard parts of their conversation with Jesus.
We can conclude from these accounts that believers continue to experience a significant quality of life after their physical death and before resurrection day. As well as these real people, we also have the two fictional people that Jesus used to illustrate the afterlife in His parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16 v 19 - 31. This parable reinforces the fact that believers continue to enjoy life after death and introduces two further interesting details about the immediate afterlife:
There is comfort and fellowship for believers, and
There is agony for unbelievers after physical death, (Luke 16 v 23 - 24 & 25)
There is a clear separation between the believing and unbelieving dead, (Luke 16 v 26).
In Philippians 1 v 20 ff. Paul contemplates his own physical death, (at the hands of Nero Caesar). Paul definitely expected to be with Christ immediately following his physical death;
"I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;" [NIV] Philippians 1 v 23
The exact form of man during the immediate afterlife is not very clear to me at present. However, we have discovered that life goes on - and this seems to me to be of some significance to our expectation as believers.
Next we can 'pass-on' to explore the coverage of the resurrection, the next transformation of the human form in the afterlife!
Figure 4. Resurrected man
Many wonder about the resurrection and how it will happen. In this section we shall look at the scriptural prophecies that reveal something about the resurrection.
"Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits" [NASB](3) Isaiah 26 v 19 "Arise, shine for our light has come. And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you" [NASB](3) Isaiah 60 v 1
Believing people have an open ended epoch of existence. They will rise from death their earthly form transformed by the glory of the Lord. Isaiah paints a beautiful word picture of dew droplets sparkling on the grass in the morning sun to illustrate the glory of the resurrection of God's people.
"And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living." [RSV](4) Matthew 22 v 31 - 32 & Mark 12 v 26 - 27 & Luke 20 v 37 - 38 [Notice how literally the Lord interprets the scripture, drawing His message from the tense of the words in the passage.] "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" John 11 v 25 - 26 (Author's paraphrase based on [2]) "If therefore you were co-raised with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; think about those things above, not about things on earth. For you have all died, and your lives have been hidden with Christ in God; whenever Christ who is your life is manifested, then all of you will also be manifested in glory." Colossians 3 v 1 - 4 (Author's paraphrase based on [2])
There is a resurrection where the physical body is replaced by a powerful spiritual body, meanwhile, between death and bodily resurrection there is a continuity of life in Jesus for believers. Our inner lives, are hidden in Christ with God, right now and forever. This is why Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life." When He returns, so will we because we are even now hidden in Him.
When Jesus spoke the words recorded above, we gather from the tense of His words that believers from old covenant days were already enjoying continuity of life with God. It is helpful to grasp the way God refers to time and the timing of events in the bible. To God, all the physical dimensions of space and time are open, like we would open a map. He sees the end and the beginning of everything together. Significantly this means that the future already exists to God and the past has not vanished or been forgotten either. There are many statements by the Lord Jesus spoken from this divine perspective of the universe, for example his use of the Divine Name to convey His own pre-existence to the Pharisees, a meaning they clearly understood, given their reaction, (John 8 v 51 - 59). For the moment we, His people, are paradoxical beings, our spirits and souls and hearts already have eternal life and live in His presence, whilst our bodies are time locked and wearing out. However, as soon as we put off our bodies and die physically, we will not be limited to the present any longer and we will share God's eternity view of time. Jesus makes it plain in the quotation from John 11 that believers can expect continuity of life with Him through the event of their physical death. See the assurance Jesus Christ gives to the believing thief being crucified with Him from His own eternal viewpoint, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise."' Luke 23 v 43
The resurrected form of believers will be very different to our present physical form. We will be recognizable and physically able, but fundamentally our bodies will be changed. We will be changed to enable us to live in a different environment. There are a few scriptures that refer to this future state of man, and these give some faint glimpses of our future.
"So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body." [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 15 v 42 - 44 "..flesh and blood cannot inherit eternal life, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality." [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 15 v 50 - 53 "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, eternal in the heavens. Here indeed we groan and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed (i.e. killed), but that we would be further clothed (i.e. given a spiritual body), so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." [RSV](4) 2 Corinthians 5 v 1 - 4 (with my comments in parentheses).
The sons of the resurrection will be given glorious and powerful spiritual bodies at the instant of their resurrection. These new bodies will be immortal, able to support our inner life indefinitely. These new spiritual bodies will be capable of powerful deeds and will be brilliant in appearance, radiant and magnificent.
"But Jesus answered them, 'You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.'"(4) Matthew 22 v 29 - 30 & Mark 12 v 24 - 25 "but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection." [RSV](4) Luke 20 v 35 - 36
Those resurrected will not have, or need, the equipment for reproduction because they will be immortal, having the same form as the angels. Obviously there will be a significant change to the form of man after the resurrection, since primary and presumably secondary sexual characteristics will be absent.
It is not only that the form of believers will be different after the resurrection, but that they will need to be. Jesus announces in these texts that there will be a resurrection age, where those who are accounted worthy will have a different form. Presumably this new form will be necessary so that people can function in the resurrection age, much as our present form was created for us to function in this present age. This statement of Jesus is intriguing to say the least. It causes me to pause with wonder at the truth we do not know.
"But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep" [NASB](3) 1 Corinthians 15 v 20 "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him just as he is" [NASB](3) 1 John 3 v 2 "..the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself." [RSV](4) Philippians 3 v 20 - 21 "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God... because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.. we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." [RSV](4) excerpts from Romans 8 v 19 - 25 "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren" [RSV](4) Romans 8 v 29
The form of the sons of the resurrection has been partially revealed, because these scriptures clearly indicate that our resurrection bodies will be similar in nature and ability to the resurrection body of Jesus described by witnesses in the New Testament.
John says that we shall see him as he is and Paul says that our new bodies will be like His. These scriptures, (and others) also speak about the happiness of our spiritual position in heaven. For instance we shall see God as he is, whilst seraphim may not look at God, (Isaiah 6 v 2) nor would the Lord permit old covenant believers like Moses to look upon his face during his earthly lifetime. However those accounted worthy of the resurrection age shall continually look upon his wondrous face, (John 17 v 24).
The bible also speaks about the events that will surround the resurrection of believers. Some of these are presented here because they provide some evidence about the form of man at that time.
"But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up [the Greek word is literally 'seized'] together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord." [RSV](4) 1 Thessalonians 4 v 13 - 17
The resurrection of believers will be in two consecutive stages, first those who have fallen asleep, then those who are alive at His coming.
Again the scriptures say that those who have died physically before Christ's return will return with Him, already having a resurrection body like Christ's. Christ is returning to earth specifically to collect, (the Greek word means literally to seize!) those of His people who are still living on earth then, and to unite them with the rest of His people and with Himself.
The post resurrection lives of all believers will be led in the presence of God Himself, we will always be with our Lord.
"For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw- each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 3 v 11 - 15
Only the outer life of the physical body is replaced. The whole inner person is transferred into the permanence of new spiritual body. The saying, 'You can't take it with you' is not true. Clearly we will take some of our works with us, those that survive the fire, but these are likely to be the only luggage we carry into glory besides our inner selves. This statement if Paul does have important implications. There are certain good works that we do that will stay with us for eternity, like clothing we shall wear them for the glory of God.
As Paul so beautifully put it, "death will be swallowed up in victory." The rescue and transformation of man will be accomplished at the resurrection for those who believe in Jesus. We will never again face death or bereavement or sadness or pain. Instead we will enjoy the best possible company for all ages; Christ together with all our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is not very clear what we shall do, but it is certain that whatever Christ does, we will participate in it and share it with our fellow believers because we shall be with Him wherever He is. I therefore strongly suspect that we will be very active!
All the scriptural mysteries are helpful and important for the spiritual understanding of the whole word of God. The person and nature of man are no exception. Here is a list of some of the most important issues where this mystery is helpful:
It is crucial to differentiate the roles of man and God in salvation.
It is important for believers to comprehend their spiritual lives, their weaknesses and how God desires to work through them.
It is important for understanding the way the Lord provides guidance.
It is foundational to the growth of spiritual fellowship with God and with other believers.
It is vital to comprehend the Christian hope.
There has been much debate on this issue since the reformation, resulting in a broad polarisation of opinion toward two opposing views. One extreme viewpoint states that those who are to be saved are called according to the foreknowledge of God and that as a result, those 'chosen' cannot long resist salvation and once saved, are incapable of falling from grace. The other extreme view is that anyone can be saved who freely chooses to accept and confess Jesus as Lord, (with some diversity of opinion about what this 'acceptance' entails).
The mystery of man would indicate that both views are fall short of truth because as we have seen:
No one can regenerate their own dead spirit without God, and
God has persistently given man free choices and allowed him to make up his own mind.
What we are left with is that a miraculous co-operation between God and man must occur to make salvation effective. On the one hand man cannot force the hand of God. (Though God loves man and is willing to save, He will not be forced by presumption or bought for 'favours'.) And on the other, God does not choose to force His will on man. It is possible and historically precedented for man to reject a genuine call of God like Judas Iscariot did. As it is possible and historically precedented for man to presume upon the grace of God in error like king Saul did, (1 Samuel 13) or to try unsuccessfully to buy His grace like Simon of Samaria did, (Acts 8 v 14 - 24).
In essence then, salvation becomes effective only through the co-operation of the will of man with the grace and working of God.
These facts have some interesting implications for evangelism. We sow the good seed of the gospel, but that alone is not enough. Often people who respond are encouraged to say a prayer of commitment, which (hopefully) means that they want to be saved, but in addition there must be the working of God to regenerate their personal spirit and in the ongoing renewal of their inner self through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise they cannot be converted, (Titus 3 v 5 - 8, Romans 8 v 9). As believers, we can lay hands on those who are seeking (e.g. Acts 19 v 1-7) and/or pray for their conversion but no man can do God's part, and we must not pretend otherwise. The seeker should be prayed for, taught and encouraged (in other words discipled) over time to see whether conversion will occur.
Those who respond to the gospel, but who are not immediately converted must be told the truth. They must be told about God's part in their conversion. They must understand their need for the working of God in their conversion and encouraged to continue to seek God besides their ongoing willingness to be saved. The usual practice of telling people that they are converted merely if they have made a 'decision for Christ' is not consistent with the scriptures that clearly witness to God's essential role in conversion, (e.g. Matthew 7 v 22 - 23, John 1 v 12 - 13, 3 v 5 - 8 & 6 v 44, Ephesians 2 v 8 etc.). Telling those in whom God is working by His Spirit that such a work of God should happen will only confirm their joy and lead them to glorify God. Verbal confirmation that God's working is necessary whilst God is obviously working in some, will encourage others who are still seeking such a work to continue to do so. Misinforming people at this early stage can lead earnest seekers into much confusion, difficulty and frustration, especially if they are then expected to witness to something that has not happened in a hostile situation. Misinforming people in whom God is working powerfully that their 'decision' is solely responsible for their joy will not help them to appreciate God's grace. God is not glorified by half truths. It is worth noting that the Twelve were discipled and taught by no less than Jesus himself for three years before eleven of them were converted and that the apostle Paul laboured and persisted until he saw Christ being formed in people before he was happy with their progress, (Galatians 4 v 19). Even if we could teach and preach as well as Jesus and Paul did, (!) we should not expect to see many instantaneous conversions. It therefore behoves the church to obey the actual commands in the great commission, (Matthew 28 v 18 - 20) which are;
To disciple seekers and to seek God in prayer for His working in the lives of His disciples.
To baptise disciples into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
To teach disciples Christ's commands and show them how to observe them by example, (this is the essence of discipling).
God is not interested in our sordid notions of bureaucratic tidiness that lie behind much of the 'sign on the dotted line' style of evangelism. Instead He is interested to see His people demonstrating His own love and truth to those who are entering His kingdom. The great commission at the end of the gospel of Matthew contains a command to the church to disciple the nations, this obviously involves preaching the gospel but it also includes an obligation upon the church to nurture seekers afterward. The nurturing part is vital for those who are seeking; Telling them they are converted when they are not will, at best, hinder them.
A spiritual understanding of the mystery of man is useful in the areas of spiritual self-defence and to understand the operation of the Holy Spirit around us through works prompted by the Holy Spirit. A believer is capable of staggering spiritual works and manifestations of the power of God whilst at the same time being very vulnerable to spiritual attack through the workings of the flesh, the old nature. There are many examples of this unlikely combination in scripture, for an extreme instance, Elijah who within hours of praying and seeing fire come down on mount Carmel succumbed to fear and ran away from Jezebel! First we shall look at the self defence situation and then progress onto the offensive to talk about works prompted by the Holy Spirit.
All believers are spiritually vulnerable, despite the will to follow the Lord. The 'passions of the flesh that wage war against the soul' remain, (1 Peter 2 v 11) as was outlined in some detail earlier in the section 'inner conflict'. First a word about passions. These are not only the more obvious expressions of lust or greed, but also the 'cares of the world', fears, doubts and insecurity. These latter three all have an insidious and devastating effect on the soul. Whether obvious or hidden, socially acceptable or not, such passions are equally effective at cutting off the outward flow of blessing and grace from the Holy Spirit dwelling within the soul, because they unsettle and distract our hearts from our repose in the Lord. In fact, it is possible to recognize these destructive passions because they destroy the peaceful assurance that Christ has placed in our hearts, 'let the peace of Christ rule in your heart'! (Colossians 3 v 15.) These are hazards of our own making. If we sin by indulging our passions it is because we want to, there can be no compulsion from any source outside ourselves whatever. This was certainly the teaching of the Lord and at least two of his apostles. For example;
Jesus in Matthew 1 v 10 - 15 speaks about a man being defiled by what comes out of his heart.
James in James 1 v 13 - 15 speaks about sin being the result of one's own desire.
And finally Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10 v 13 speaks about God protecting believers from compulsion to sin.
The scriptures place responsibility for sin with the sinner. Restoration and remedy are not possible if this responsibility is not acknowledged, (c.f. 1 John 1 v 8, 10). There are various erroneous teachings about, that one way or another, try to deceive sinners that the responsibility for their sin lies outside themselves. One of these false teachings is the so called 'Deliverance ministry'. This popular obsession is discussed further in the appendices.
We are weak in the area of passions originating from the body and from the ego, and in many other ways. We are finite in every way in our ability to survive under adversity or temptation. Our weakness and vulnerability are in some ways very useful to us because they teach us to rely on One who is stronger. In fact, an awareness of weakness is essential for a continuing experience of the power of God. It teaches us our true limitations, (biblical humility), so that we willingly and expectantly give room to the working of the power of God, (biblical meekness). The principle of turning our weaknesses to advantage through dependence on God works when making a difficult choice, resisting temptation, or when facing physical adversity or impossible difficulties. It is my experience that the longer I know the Lord, the more difficult circumstances can sometimes be, the more helpless I am and the more reliant I am on his ability. This is not an isolated experience;
'but [Jesus] said to me "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.' [RSV](4) 2 Corinthians 12 v 9 ff.
So that consciousness of weakness coupled with faith in Christ is a means of self defence and contentment with helplessness can be used with prayer to know the power of God.
Our strength as believers starts with an understanding of, and contentment with our limitations. As can be readily proved the hard way, it is not possible to achieve anything spiritually without it first being initiated and then sustained by God. It is an even greater waste if, in trying to prove the worth of our own ideas, we fail to hear what God is really asking us to do. God is not impressed by our grandiose ideas any more than he was impressed by Naaman, the Syrian general's idea of how he could be healed of leprosy! (2 Kings 5 v 8 ff.) As believers we are strong, only as much as we are prepared to listen to God, and do what he says and do it when, where and how he says so. In most situations, if we believe we can achieve something ourselves, we will fail to listen and therefore we fail to achieve anything of lasting value. We must not fail to imitate Jesus' sense of timing and the right approach in every situation, see John 12 v 49 - 50. A perception of our own weakness is therefore absolutely essential. The Lord has supplied us with the scripture which is our vital starting point and infallible general guide along the way, but very often the Lord wants to supply us with specific additional information about something he specifically wants us to do at a particular time. Notice from the 2 Corinthians scripture above that Paul says the Lord spoke to him. The Lord will often use scripture coupled with prophetic gifting to impart specific guidance, but this is not the only way that specific guidance comes.
For example, from the life of Jesus: His brothers encouraged him to go up straight away to attend the start of a certain festival in Jerusalem and to work spectacular miracles in public places so that the people would recognize His greatness, (John 7). Jesus rebuked his brothers with these words, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil. Go to the feast yourselves; I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come." Jesus had very specific intentions for his visit to Jerusalem. He intended to;
Go up unobtrusively, (so that people would not know where he came from, see John 7 v 11, 27 - 28 and 41 - 42)
Teach the people in the temple, (this is what Jesus was referring to when he said about testifying to the world that it's deeds where evil).
Begin teaching at the middle of the feast, and to teach through to his proclamation at the end.
We can conclude that the Lord still has very specific timing and intentions for our service to him, and therefore we need to find out what these are if we are to serve him acceptably. This kind of specific guidance is made available by God partly through the prophetic gifting of our fellow believers and partly from the Holy Spirit within, (e.g. Romans 12 v 2). Here the mystery of man can offer some further insight and help us to have a realistic expectation of the means God normally uses to communicate his specific will to us.
Paul said something very significant about the gift of prophecy in 1 Corinthians 13 v 8 - 13. He said it was imperfect, and partial. He likened it to the way a child would partially understand something, or how the polished but uneven surface of a metal mirror used in the first century might reflect an imperfect image of a face. He was referring to 'our prophecy', the prophetic gift he himself experienced in the early church. He was not referring to the old testament scriptures or the kind of prophecy contained in them, but to something quite different. The case for a distinction between the prophetic gift of the old and new covenants is now discussed.
The distinction between the kind of prophecy voiced by the old covenant prophets up to the ministry of John the Baptist and the kind of prophecy exercised in the church is highlighted by important differences of expectation associated with the two types of prophecy. In particular, Paul discusses the imperfection, distortion and fragmentation of church prophecy in the quotation from 1 Corinthians 13 v 8 - 13. These properties of church prophecy contrast with the weight given by the Apostles to the prophecies of old testament scripture, which were not interpreted by the prophets, but rather spoken as dictated (or voiced directly) by the Holy Spirit, (2 Peter 1 v 19 - 21 and 2 Timothy 3 v 16). Old covenant prophecies were expected to be accurate and testable, as stated and required in the Law, (Deuteronomy 18 v 22). The distinction between old covenant and new covenant prophecy arises because Paul does not apply the same rigorous old covenant approach to the gift of prophecy exercised in the church.
It has already been established that post resurrection believers, beginning with the Twelve were different to those of earlier times. Those who believed earlier, believed genuinely, and they are counted righteous by grace through their faith. They were given regenerated human spirits by God just as we have who believe in Jesus, but they did not receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in the same way as we do. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit pioneered by Jesus is the substance behind Jesus' main message; that the kingdom of God had arrived. This is why Jesus said that the least in the kingdom of God would be greater than even the greatest prophets, who had prophesied up to and including John the Baptist, (Matthew 11 v 11 and Luke 7 v 28). John the Baptist himself said that he could only baptize in water, contrasting his own ministry with Jesus', which is to baptize His disciples with the Holy Spirit, (Mark 1 v 7 - 8). These old testament prophets prophesied verbatim from God, messages given to them by the Holy Spirit, (2 Peter 2 v 21) which incidentally is one reason why we can rely on the accuracy of the scriptures. With new testament believers it is different.
There is evidence from the New Testament that the older style of prophetic gift persisted and was being practised by Christians. There are at least two recorded references in the New Testament to an individual prophet who lived in Jerusalem called Agabus reporting verbatim messages he had received from God. Firstly in Acts 11 v 28 he received a message about a famine that would afflict the whole Roman world. A famine that Luke confirms happened later during the reign of Claudius Caesar. Secondly in Acts 21 v 10, Agabus receives a message about Paul's future troubles during a visit he made to the church at Caesarea. Interestingly on this second occasion Agabus uses the words; 'Thus says the Holy Spirit,' a phrase similar to that used in the old testament days by the earlier prophets when they delivered the messages that God had given them. This same kind of prophetic gift was the substance of John's Revelation. John received and repeated the words of the ascended Jesus without interpreting them. In the first part of his book, he too uses the phrase 'the Spirit says to the churches.' For these reasons it seems certain that the older style of prophetic gifting is still available to Christians today through the same Holy Spirit. With this older prophetic gift, the old rules apply. Several messages must be verified before the older gift can be recognised. Someone claims such a gift if they say 'thus says the Lord.' If the prediction does not occur, the person who claimed the gift must retract the claim and avoid misleading the people of God in future, (Deuteronomy 18 v 22).
Returning again to the new testament kind of prophecy. All of Jesus' disciples are prophets to some extent because, '..the spirit of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy' Revelation 19 v 10. This second kind of prophetic gifting is therefore more common. In this second type of prophetic gift the prophetic messages still come, however they take a different route. They start from within, when our own spirits hear the Holy Spirit expressing the word of God. From our spirits they pass through the soul (the seat of emotion) out to the heart (the seat of will and comprehension) and finally out of our mouths. When a prophecy comes by this route, we have no choice but to interpret what God has said to us as best we can. Just as Paul said in the 1 Corinthians 13 quotation, such messages suffer in transmission and are delivered imperfect and often incomplete, but nevertheless this is our kind of prophecy, the prophecy we should expect to contribute and value from others in all our churches. As a result of Paul's words, I believe it is unrealistic to expect precision or completeness in any prophetic utterance from a single believer practising this second kind of prophecy. What then is the purpose of this new kind of prophecy? And if it is less accurate, how is it better than the older kind? Then there is also the problem of guidance. How can individuals, let alone whole churches be guided by corrupted and incomplete prophetic messages?
The scriptures contain some practical answers to these valid questions about guidance. In church, the exercise of prophetic gifts should be encouraged from many believers in the same meeting, (1 Corinthians 14 v 31). Prophecies contributed by several believers must be weighed together over a period of time (from one meeting out to a few weeks at most) by those who serve as overseers in a church, (1 Corinthians 14 v 29). The Lord usually has important things to say to even in the smallest church that wants to hear His voice, and His messages should be clearly discernible as coherent threads in a number of prophetic contributions. Paul said;
"If, therefore, the whole church assembles and..... all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so, falling on his face he will worship God and declare that God is really among you." [RSV](4) excerpts from 1 Corinthians 14 v 23 - 25.
Prophecy is at its most valuable and powerful when practised by all believers present. The Lord is deliberately giving His choicest blessings to the best group rather than the best solo prophetic performers! This is one of the strengths of church prophecy compared to the old testament style of prophecy; the whole community of God is intended to participate. As Moses said;
" ... I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!" [NIV](9) Numbers 11 v 29
God inspired this prayer of Moses and has answered it amongst us, in our time.
For many practical purposes God has given the various prophetic gifts to His church as a means of communicating specific aspects of His will that lie safely inside the general teachings of the scriptures. As well as prophecy itself, these prophetic gifts also include revelations and visions and utterances of knowledge and teaching, (1 Corinthians 14 v 6). In His wisdom, the way He wants to share His will with a prophetic assembly has the desirable side effect of stirring up the souls of individuals with the message before it is even voiced. Better still, all the believers in the group are mutually encouraged for any action that might be appropriate, (1 Corinthians 14 v 31). Jesus said;
"..I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prove stronger than it." [NIV and NIV margin](9) Matthew 16 v 18.
The word Jesus used for church in this passage was a word used to describe a body of people assembled with common purpose, a kind of executive team. Jesus' other neglected teachings about the importance of serving each other, further reinforce His intention to emphasize the co-operation of believers and their participation in the work of God undertaken by the church, (Matthew 23 v 11 - 12, Luke 22 v 24 - 27). Such work being initiated by the Holy Spirit through prophetic gifts of various kinds exercised by the whole church, (e.g. 1 Corinthians 14 v 26). What I am saying is that the scriptures themselves advocate these kinds of direct prophetic revelation as part of the normal Christian experience without compromising the supremacy of scriptural truth. If these direct forms of revelation are denied, then the validity of scripture is also being denied, rather than upheld.
I am not saying that prophecies, (even supported by many people) override the tenets of scripture; God forbid! If prophecies arise in church that seem to contravene any teaching of scripture or which are controversial they should immediately be challenged by those who exercise oversight. If, after careful thought the message is found to contradict scriptural truth, then the message should be gently rejected, preferably without rejecting the messenger. However, within the tenets of the scripture there is great freedom. There are all kinds of seemingly beneficial actions and enterprises that can be undertaken by the church and by individuals. For example; in the Hebrews 11 passage, the lives of many people of God are summarized. There are many spiritual achievements mentioned, each carried out by faith and within the teachings of scripture as they stood at the time. But how would it be if Abraham, ignoring God's prophetic voice telling him to move out of Harran decided instead to work out his salvation by building a replica of Noah's Ark? Would Abraham have pleased God by telling Him that Canaan was a silly idea because there was nothing about it in His bible? No, we cannot deny the prophetic voice of God, or use the scripture as an excuse for disobedience as the Pharisees did. For an example of a man who heard and obeyed God's prophetic voice we need not look any further than Abraham to see a man who was willing to obey the voice of God in his life no matter what. I am certain that the Lord still desires and deserves to be served by such as he.
By definition believers receive guidance for their daily lives directly from the Holy Spirit within. Since Paul said, all who are led by the Spirit of God are God's sons, (Romans 8 v 14) we must conclude that all God's children are led by the Spirit. These prophetic messages would be partial and incomplete if we tried to interpret them and voice them, however this need not prevent the individual from acting exactly as the Spirit intends, (Proverbs 16 v 9). Our actions are not motivated directly by our minds but by our souls, where what we feel with our soul prompts us to action. (A difficult idea in an age of rationalism.) If we belong to Christ, we have the Holy Spirit inside our souls, beside our own spirit so that the Holy Spirit can prompt us to certain actions without us being consciously aware of the source of the prompting. It is possible to recognize these spiritual promptings as they occur, but it is more common to do so much later when the significance and timing of the resulting action becomes clearer. This manner in which our Lord prompts us to action is at the same time powerful and gentle. In the context of speaking about the way the Father reveals things to us, Jesus said;
"Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." [RSV](4) Matthew 11 v 28 - 29
Jesus referred to the then common practice of placing a young, inexperienced ox in a yoke together with an older, more experienced animal. This was done so that the younger one was guided and physically assisted by the older. He applied this figure to the manner of his guidance and empowering of believer's souls. His Spirit and our spirit can be harnessed together within our souls. The Holy Spirit both guides and assists us with His power - so our souls can be pulled along behind. Let us then humble ourselves and do as He says!
The process of guidance through the Holy Spirit is not always as clear-cut as the statements above might suggest. As developed in earlier chapters, there are two influences on the soul of a believer, the flesh and the spirit, and these are usually conflicting. The problem comes when we get confused about the source of a prompting. Sometimes it can be very difficult to tell, especially when it is not a clear matter of biblical teaching. In these cases and especially when there is also much at stake, (such as a decision about a job or whether to get married and so on), it is critical to pray, committing these decisions to God asking Him to uphold the correct decision and reveal His will. Next, it is vital to wait for God. Waiting on God is not usually a passive thing, it involves constant inquiry and searching in a variety of ways. Active searching and inquiry can take a number of forms. For example, if the Lord does intend two people to marry, then a delay or a short separation will not jeopardise that relationship; if the Lord has given a certain job then asking for fair terms of employment will not jeopardise the post. Generally you can expect the Lord's will to be extremely robust. If you genuinely want to know and obey His will and have committed your way to Him, he will permit you to prove his will, like he permitted Jonah to test his patience to an extent. Although like Jonah, it is also important to obey the will of God after it becomes obvious! Jonah does not seem to be a very heroic figure in the scripture, but it is easy to forget that the simple outcome of his obedience was the salvation of tens of thousands of people in Nineveh. (And how many others are there who have used by God to win that many souls?) Conversely, you can expect something that is not of God to be extremely fragile and non-persistent in the face of such earnest inquiry. There are many helpful examples of the robust nature of God's will from scripture, for instance the situation of Abraham's servant when he went to find a wife for Isaac, (Genesis 24). Also the defeat of Midian by Gideon, (Judges 7) and water poured on the sacrifice during the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on mount Carmel, (1 Kings 18, especially v 33 - 35).
Apart from the robustness of the will of God, another sign of correct guidance can sometimes be the unexpected and unforeseen nature of changing circumstances. Paul exclaimed that God's paths were beyond tracing out; and elsewhere that no one can foresee what God has for those that love Him; Romans 11 v 33 & 1 Corinthians 2 v 9. The Lord does not always reveal what he is doing until it is done. It is His glory to conceal some matters, often for our delight and joy. Better than the best human fathers, our heavenly Father knows how to give good gifts to his children.
Conversely, trying to start, or continuing with anything that is not the express will of God is futile, for;
"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep." [RSV](4) Psalm 127 v 1 - 2
If our service to God is consistently vexatious and if the soul is not really behind the work, then it may be time to consider whether the Lord's calling is to persevere or whether it would not be better to take time out and away from service, to pray things through and to seek fresh guidance and encouragement from the Lord.
Another difficult problem we can face about our guidance from the Lord is when we have to wait for God's timing with something that we want very much or need urgently. My flesh, for example, screams with impatience and frustration in such situations. The danger is that in wanting to get out of such a situation or in wanting to get on with things, we insist on doing something desperate that lands us in big trouble. It is important to hold out, and hold on until God works, there is no other way. When it comes to resisting the demands of the flesh, there are few more demanding tests of our Holy Spirit given self-control than the command to stand still or to wait. For example, witness Moses' spiritual leadership and self control when God told him and the people of Israel to stand still on the shores of the Red Sea with Pharaoh bearing down on them with his whole army in Exodus 14 v 13 - 14. By way of counter example, king Saul lost his kingship because he would not wait for God's prophet Samuel to come and seek the favour of the Lord in battle, 1 Samuel 13 vv 2 - 14. Often the waiting situation is characterized by feelings of helplessness and a reality that there is nothing that can be done. It is precisely when this point of helplessness is reached and recognized before God, that God's power will be manifested.
One of the most fruitful entr‚es into effective prayer by a group is the exercise of many prophetic gifts. One of the principles of prayer is that we should ask according to 'his will', that is to say;
"And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him." [RSV](4) 1 John 5 v 14 - 15
After learning about his will through revelation and from scripture or through some other prophetic gifts, group prayer becomes much clearer, more focused, effective and exciting.
It is however of primary importance to employ the zeal the Holy Spirit gives, for carrying out His will (whatever it is) and not allow it to be wasted on anything else. We must therefore be flexible enough to take the course of action the Lord wants. We must also be disciplined enough to avoid being distracted from God's will by reverting to habitual, traditional or familiar forms of behaviour. Habitual or familiar forms of group behaviour can be a real problem that can afflict any kind of church. These venerable behaviours are established by a carnal desire to impress by displaying false piety. They are concerned with how things look and to conceal the sign that says "The glory hath departed" written over the door. If our natural instincts fail to steer us away from obedience to God's word by other means, they usually succeed by distracting us with an inappropriate song or something else, based on what we did last week! Mary, the mother of Jesus had a brief but profoundly wise word to say to those who would serve Jesus, "Do whatever he tells you." John 2 v 5.
Prayer in heavenly language is a much misunderstood phenomenon. It is made clearer by the teachings about the nature of man in the scripture. It can either be;
An audible way that our spirit expresses itself to the Holy Spirit without the interference of the heart, (mind), c.f. 1 Corinthians 14 v 14 - 16 or
It is the Holy Spirit praying and interceding with God on our behalf, Romans 8 v 26.
It is therefore the least sophisticated but most direct way that we can relate to our Father. Paul talks about the gift implicitly as not involving mental effort, (1 Corinthians 14 v 14, 19). This communication certainly does encourage our spirits and is itself to be encouraged, especially in our private prayers. And when someone having the gift of interpretation is present in church, the use of tongues with interpretation is one example of the excellent co-operation of the whole body of Christ in the delivery of a prophetic message, (1 Corinthians 14 v 27 - 28).
To some extent, outright abuse as well as misunderstanding have led to the gift of tongues becoming discredited. This is at least partly due to the abuse of the gift of tongues as a necessary and sufficient proof of baptism in the Holy Spirit. According to the scripture, the gift of tongues as well as other gifts, can be counterfeited or feigned, (c.f. 1 Corinthians 13 v 1). For this reason I do not believe speaking in tongues should ever be used as proof of baptism in the Holy Spirit as some try to infer from the book of Acts, (c.f. Acts 10 v 44 - 47). Abuse of the gift of tongues in this way overemphasizes its importance and leads to it being practised in a shallow and immodest way. Paul suggests that better proofs of the gift of the Holy Spirit are the signs of Christ's love in a believer's life, (1 Corinthians 13 v 4 - 8a). Please refer to the section entitled 'One Fruit and Many Gifts of the Holy Spirit' elsewhere in this book for an in-depth discussion on this issue.
The mystery of man has something to say about fellowship. It is possible for believers to have a unique kind of fellowship, not found in the outside world. There is the possibility of true spiritual fellowship. I believe that spiritual fellowship is one of the factors that transforms a collection of individual believers into an effective church.
It is not possible to have spiritual fellowship unless we can recognize spiritual life in each other and start to relate to each other at that level. If we fail to share spiritually then we suffer great spiritual loss as individuals. If a church does not have a critical mass of believers who are relating together spiritually, then that church cannot function, and its very life is in jeopardy.
Being receptive to other Christians is the first necessary part of relating spiritually. Unfortunately, the sophistication of modern life in developed countries has made this more difficult to put into practice. The worldly habit of what I call 'projection' is a key example of an attitude that severely limits one's capacity to be open and receptive to other believers. Instead of being receptive to other Christians, we can project an impression (or stereotype) of that person and relate to the stereotype instead of the real person. For example someone might say (or think), "You must be feeling.." or to our 'religious maniac' stereotype we might say, "..of course, someone like you would say that" or to a leader or 'superior person stereotype' we might say "you can't possibly be having the problems that ordinary people have" Worse still, we often form these working assumptions or impressions based solely on outward appearances. In Paul's prelude to his statements about believers being a new creation in 2 Corinthians 5 v 14 - 16 he says;
"..one has died for all; therefore all have died.. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view.." [RSV](4) Excerpts from 2 Corinthians 5 v 14 - 16
Our outward appearances are deceptive because our outer natures no longer bear any resemblance to the new creature God is making inside. Therefore we cannot know each other based only on dead outward appearances, instead our inner lives must relate to each other, i.e. our spirits must touch if we are to share spiritual fellowship. How many times have you been spoken to in church, and afterward you feel that no contact actually occurred? It is time to relate to each other as the new creatures that we are, not in the manner of the creatures that we all once were.
Sharing spiritual experience, or giving something away to fellow believers that God has given you is the second necessary part of relating spiritually. Some have many difficulties sharing of themselves with other believers. Some project a false self image for other people to see and hear. Others maintain that our spirit and our spiritual lives are private and not for sharing. These pretences must be overcome by those practising them if they are to contribute anything of lasting value to the church. It is precisely the things that God gives you, that understanding, that vision, that burden of prayer, that concern for a needy person, that hunger for God's word, that thirst for his Spirit. It is precisely these things that matter to your fellow believers. It is precisely these Divinely inspired things that that have ignited and fuelled great revivals and great movements of God in the Christian churches down the centuries. Spread the flames!
True spiritual fellowship promotes and underpins spiritual unity. The happy state of 'being one in mind and spirit' spoken of throughout the New Testament, (e.g. 1 Corinthians 1 v 10) is only possible where spiritual fellowship exists in practice.
Therefore true spiritual fellowship involves giving and receiving at a spiritual level. Spiritual fellowship is a powerful means of God's grace in any church, tending to build both strong and deep links between believers. Over such strong bridges between believers, all sorts of other beneficial traffic can flow, but the basis and ongoing integrity of these bridges depend on the continual flow of shared spiritual experience.
At the end of the thirteenth chapter of first Corinthians, the apostle Paul names three virtues that last for ever; faith, hope and love. I have been a Christian for some decades now and I have heard many messages and read many Christian books. Of these three virtues I have heard countless messages and read many books on faith and love, but I am hard pressed to remember having heard many messages on hope or to have read more than a few books that speak about our hope as Christians. To my mind, this present day silence on hope is remarkable and a little disturbing.
There are many hopes, however the hope I am talking about is the Christian hope. In other words our convictions about what it means to be a Christian now and in the future. This book contains a discussion of many elements of the Christian hope. For example;
That we are new creatures inside, and that our old inner selves died with Christ on the cross.
That we have the Godhead living in our souls.
The hope we have that the Lord will complete our redemption by redeeming our bodies to be like His glorious body.
That we are in Jesus' company for eternity.
The reason that a silence on hope disturbs me is that hope is essential before we can begin to exercise faith. The Christian hope is an ingredient of the gospel, for without it there can be no saving faith, (Romans 8 v 24, Colossians 1 v 23, Ephesians 4 v 4). It is essential to have hope so that we can be bold in our Christian lives and it is essential to have hope so that we can experience the love of God. Hope is also an important focus for our lives as believers, it helps us to keep our changing circumstances in perspective and to live godly lives in a corrupting environment, (2 Corinthians 4 v 17 - 18, 1 John 3 v 2 - 3, 1 Peter 1 v 13 - 16, 2 Peter 3 v 11 - 14).
It is essential to have hope so that we can exercise faith because,
"..faith is the reality of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen." Hebrews 11 v 1 (Author's paraphrase based on [2])
How can there be any 'reality of things hoped for' if we do not know what we hope? According to the scriptures, if we have no clear convictions about what it means to be a Christian we cannot see the reality of those convictions in our lives. This is also common sense; if we do not know what we want, we shall not be surprised if we do not get it! Paul places the hope of salvation as the helmet in his word picture about the body armour we are to wear as God's people. This is because hope is something understood in the mind that protects our thinking from the craftiness of the devil, (1 Thessalonians 5 v 8, Ephesians 5 verses 11 and 17)
It is essential to have hope so that we can use boldness in our Christian lives, since it is only because,
"..we have such a hope we use much boldness." 2 Corinthians 3 v 12 (Author's paraphrase based on [2])
Hope is a clear understanding of our 'new creature' identity and the authority given to us by God for carrying out his will. A policeman who steps in front of a moving car and raises is hand, does so because he has clear ideas of who he is and of the authority he possesses to direct traffic. Based on these clear convictions, the policeman acts boldly, trusting in the authority he has been given. It is the same for us. When we have a clear understanding of who we are and of the authority that has been given to us by God, we can also act with great boldness in the difficult or dangerous circumstances that come our way in our Christian lives. The devil does not like hope. If he can confuse our convictions about our salvation then he can make a hopeless Christian and thereby remove a serious threat to his kingdom. Without hope we cannot act with boldness, instead we fall back into fear and desert our Commander in the face of the enemy. The book of Hebrews is full of encouragements for us to seize the hope that God has given us; God has promised us salvation on oath, Hebrews 6 v 13 -19 and He is faithful, Hebrews 10 v 23.
It is essential to have hope so that we can experience the love of God. For without hope there can be no faith as I have already said, but without faith there is nothing else! One of the great convictions of the Christian hope is that God dwells in us. If we do not have this conviction we are without hope and we cannot benefit from this wonderful truth. Paul prayed;
"that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,..." [RSV](2) Ephesians 3 v 17
And that faith is based on hope given to us by the word of the Lord. If we do not benefit from God's presence in us, it is either because we do not know of the fact, or we do not want to know the fact, or that we do not accept His word. By benefiting from God's presence I mean exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit as was discussed earlier. To quote more of Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3 v 17;
"and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." [RSV](2) Ephesians 3 v 17 - 19
I would like to end this section on hope, on a practical and positive note, and address some comfort and encouragement to those who truly believe, but do not really know that God lives in them. The first thing to say is that it is a fact, according to the scriptures, (see above) God does dwell in believers. This has been thoroughly proven from the scriptures in previous sections. We can therefore accept this in faith, trusting in the fidelity of God. The second thing to say is that in addition to faith, a little patience is also required, for;
"Through Him also we have obtained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast of the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but also we boast in afflictions, knowing that affliction works patience, and patience works proof, and proof works hope; and hope does not let us down, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit He has given us." Romans 5 v 2 - 5 my paraphrase from the literal translation in [2].
If we walk obediently, following Christ in an evil world, then we will be afflicted as a direct result of our obedience. However we can use these afflictions to exercise our patient belief in God, because if we are patient in affliction God will prove to us that he is really there! (e.g. Matthew 10 v 17 - 20, 1 Peter 5 v 10) Having therefore proof that he is really there inside, we can have hope based on a fact that has been demonstrated to us by God. So we can see that hope becomes more than mental ascent to a fact from the scriptures. It becomes a fact that we have proved in practice. Hope is the result of earnestness and persistence;
"And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realising the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." [RSV](4) Hebrews 6 v 11 - 12
Presently, there is a great debate and division amongst many different churches about the rights and wrongs of the roles women might exercise in Christian service. In particular the historical exclusion of women from leadership roles has been vigorously contended by two increasingly polarized camps. In what follows I discuss several scriptures that teach about the distinction between and roles of men and women. My position on this issue is summarized as follows:
I believe because the scripture teaches, that men and women believers are of equal status in the church, (Galatians 3 v 27 - 29). I believe that clear distinctions between the roles of men and women are taught in scripture. I believe women were highly thought of by the Lord Jesus and that He encouraged them to participate in His mission in key roles.
I believe that women may not instruct or have hierarchical authority over men or women either in the home or in the church.
I believe that men may not instruct or have hierarchical authority over men or women either in the home or in the church.
I find both male chauvinism and feminism abhorrent and devoid of scriptural support.
I believe that women believers have been undervalued and discouraged by the negative attitude shown by many Christian men and that they have been dissuaded and prevented from fulfilling their key and unique roles in the body of Christ.
I believe this is a very serious issue and that it is being handled extremely badly in many churches, resulting in grievous harm and loss to the church as a whole.
'Then God said, "let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.' [RSV](4) Genesis 1 v 26 - 27 "Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God." [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 11 v 11 - 12
The scriptures in the first chapter of Genesis relating to the creation of the man and woman are seminal to the rest of scriptural teaching about the roles of men and women; and as such they are a good place to start. The Genesis 1 v 27 scripture is discussed by Paul in the 1 Corinthians 11 passage that we will return to in more detail presently. In this Genesis quotation it clearly states that only the man, Adam, was created in God's image. The statement 'in the image of God he created HIM; male and female he created THEM', gives this meaning. If the HIM was also a THEM, then the meaning would be that they were both created to look the same, both being created in the same image. But there is a HIM in the passage and so we must conclude that whilst the man was created after the image of God, the man and the women were created to look different. That men and women do look different is of course a physiological fact; Men and women are physically and visibly distinguished by a number of secondary as well as primary sexual characteristics. They are also invisibly different genetically. Two conclusions can be drawn from this Genesis passage:
The man and the women were deliberately created to be different.
They were created for a common purpose, that of dominating the earth and everything in it.
The Lord was deliberately building in a necessity for unity and co-operation between the sexes if they were to be able to carry out this dominion of the whole earth. Now, a common purpose shared by the different sexes, implies two complementary roles must be envisaged for each of the sexes. Having established that two complementary roles exist we must look further into the scripture to discover how the roles differ and how they relate. First we shall investigate how the roles of men and women believers differ and then we shall investigate how the scriptures teach men and women to relate together in their different roles.
'The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, "You may freely eat of every tree in the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."' [RSV](4) Genesis 2 v 15 - 18 'So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man."' [RSV](4) Genesis 2 v 21 - 23 'As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. What! Did the word of God originate with you, or are you the only ones it has reached?' [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 14 v 33b - 36 'Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet woman will be saved by the birth of the child, if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.' [RSV](4) 1 Timothy 2 v 11 - 15
The fact that Adam was formed before Eve, and that Eve was not yet made when God commanded Adam about the fruits of the garden, means that Adam must have taught his wife about what God had said. This must be so because Eve was not made when the command was given to Adam and we know that Eve was aware of God's command later on when she spoke with the serpent, (see Genesis 3 v 2). Thus, it is a precedent in the created order that men should take care to teach their wives. This is precisely the point that Paul is making from the Genesis account in 1 Timothy 2 v 11 - 15 quoted above.
What Paul asserts in the 1 Timothy passage is that although Eve did learn about God's command from her husband, Eve sinned because she failed to submit to her husband's teaching. He says that it was this failure to submit to her husband's teaching that led her into sin. Meanwhile Adam sinned knowing full well what God had said to him. Paul points out this fact when he says that Adam was not deceived, (in fact he deliberately disobeyed God). However, despite Adam's direct revelation of God's command, he still disobeyed. Therefore Adam sinned because he failed to submit to God.
The original precedent that men should teach their wives was established by Paul from God's created order in Genesis. This precedent was reinforced by Paul for the church era also. From both passages out of Paul's letters it is clear that men are expected to teach their wives in the home and that their wives are expected to take their husband's teaching seriously and voluntarily submit to it. Paul's statements about women not speaking in church should not be taken out of their context in the 1 Corinthians passage. In this passage, Paul contrasts his notion of women speaking with them being subordinate. Therefore the kind of speaking that Paul is referring to puts the women in authority over the men. This implies that Paul is actually prohibiting women from standing in authority over the men; a meaning which accords with his other statements in the 1 Timothy passage. Paul seems to be pointing to one way that the women in that particular church were standing in authority over the men possibly by instructing them, since to instruct is to stand in authority over others. However this is not the only way that a woman can exercise improper authority over men. The principle to be concluded from these texts is that a woman is not permitted to stand in authority over men. The feminist movement is devoted to the contrary notion that women should have the right and the opportunity to exercise authority over men; however, this ideology is in direct conflict with scriptural teaching and therefore I believe it has no place in the church.
The scriptures just quoted teach women to be submissive, they do not teach the men to subjugate the women. The difference is very important. Submission implies willing consent, subjugation does not. If the women willingly submit to their husbands then co-operation between the sexes results and God adds His blessing. Interestingly, this puts women in the driving seat - because for a woman to be submissive requires her willing consent! However, if the men subjugate the women then conflict between the sexes is the only result. The attitude of some men to subdue women is what I understand as male chauvinism. This attitude is as contrary to scriptural teaching as feminism is, and likewise I believe it has no place in the church of Christ.
So that the full economy of the created order is correctly represented, in 1 Timothy 2 v 15 Paul refers to God's statement in Genesis 3 v 15, where the Lord curses Satan saying that Eve's offspring would crush his head, and that Satan would bruise the heal of Eve's offspring. Eve's single offspring referred to in Genesis 3 and 1 Timothy is Jesus Christ. Paul points out how important Eve's role was in God's plan; that from her would spring the Christ who would crush Satan and bring salvation to Eve and everyone else. Looking at Mary's later role as the natural mother of Jesus Christ, she willingly submitted herself to the word of God from the Angel, (Luke 1 v 38). Like Eve, Mary had the choice, but unlike Eve, Mary chose to submit and through her godly and voluntary submission she became the one to bear the Saviour.
Also colouring the issue of whether a women should have authority over men is Christ's prohibition of all hierarchical authority within the churches, (see Matthew 23 v 8 - 13). This means that neither men nor women may insist on the obedience of other believers, whether men or women. If being able to insist on the obedience of others is understood as the root meaning of 'having authority', there is simply no basis in Jesus' teaching for one believer to be in such a powerful position over another believer, quite the reverse. Christ has taught us to act with humility toward one another and to serve each other as He enables us, (Matthew 23 v 11 - 12). I have explored this theme at much greater length in two other books; "The Mystery of the Church" and "The Mystery of the Gospel" This means that the scriptures which prohibit women from having authority over men must be understood in the wider context of a prohibition of authoritarianism in the other three possible scenarios, that is to say;
Believing women are prohibited from having authority over other believing women
Believing men are prohibited from having authority over other believing men
Believing men are prohibited from having authority over other believing women
Another problem in human society is that important and key roles are seen as the sole prerogative of society's leaders. Also, society desires to give such roles only to its leaders. These common human attitudes seek to marginalise those who serve and have a servant attitude, as ones who carry out functions of little individual importance or status. God's economy is very different. Because of His own submissive attitude, Jesus gives vital roles and invests talents in submissive people and promotes their status by making others dependent on them. For an example, take a look at John 4 v 7 - 42 and for an explanation see 1 Corinthians 12 v 18 - 26. One noteworthy example of the Father's attitude to women is the birth of Christ to Mary. Because Mary was a humble and submissive person, she found favour with God who counted her worthy to bear His Son. Her humility and willing consent to the will of God was vital for the well-being of the Lord Jesus and so, consequently, she was vital to God's plan for the salvation the whole world.
There are at least two ways that the two human attitudes towards important and key roles can cause havoc in the church situation. These attitudes afflict the ministries of both men and women, but in particular, I think they have distorted the roles and ministries of women in the church. Firstly, those women who serve in various important ways and who are given gifts by God to carry out their ministry can be marginalized and ignored by the rest in the church, solely because they are not recognized as leaders, (e.g. Luke 24 v 9 - 11). This discouragement can lead to the loss of that ministry in the church, not to mention the grief and frustration felt by the individuals themselves. Secondly, those men and women who start out by serving and are given gifts by God to carry out their ministry may be given a leadership role by the church and cease to perform their vital ministry because of the new responsibility they have been given. However a leadership position is acquired, if it deprives the church of a gifted ministry, then may be that appointment should never have been made in the first place! We must not make the world's mistake of confusing important roles with leadership roles.
The scriptures encourage women to teach young people of both sexes under the age of about twelve, (Titus 2 v 3 - 5 and compare 2 Timothy 1 v 5 with 3 v 15). But there is nothing in scripture which would prevent men from carrying out the same ministry. Concerning other gifts and ministries inspired by the Holy Spirit, I am not aware of any restrictions that particularly apply to men or women so long as the they do not exercise improper authority over others. As has been explained, the principle of mutual voluntary submission exists to promote efficient co-operation between believing men and women in the joint work of serving Christ.
The church will function effectively in God's grace only insofar as it works inside God's economy as He has set out in scripture. If the church fails to do so concerning the roles of men and women, it will thwart itself by discouraging many gifted ministers and leaders of both sexes.
"'I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God."' [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 11 v 2 - 3. "Have the same mind as Christ Jesus, who, though he remained in the form of God, did not prize equality with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God highly exalted him and gave him the name which is above every name, so at the name of Jesus every knee should bend in heaven, in the earth and under the earth, and every tongue should acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2 v 5 - 11 (Author's paraphrase based on [1] and [2]) "... being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Saviour. As the church is subject to Christ, So let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This is a great mystery, and I take it to mean Christ and the church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." [RSV](2,4) Ephesians 5 v 21 - 33
From these scriptures, I suggest that a 'head' is someone submitted to voluntarily of one's own free will. A 'head' is not one who exercises power regardless of consent nor is a 'head' necessarily a source of such authority. Thus; Christ is the head of every man who is saved by Him and consents to submit to Him as Saviour; A husband is the head of a woman who has willingly submitted to him in marriage; and God is the head of Christ who willingly became God's slave for our sakes.
Headship is conferred on a person by the one who willingly submits to that person. It speaks of one side of a co-operative relationship, the other side of which is devotion, honouring and love.
Headship says nothing about status. From the Philippians passage, (Philippians 2 v 6 and elsewhere) it is clear that Christ is of equal status with the Father and the Holy Spirit and that he remained so during His incarnation. And yet, Christ made God the Father His Head by submitting to Him voluntarily. In the same way, men and women are of equal status before God, and yet the wife makes her husband her head by submitting to him. In the same way also, children have the same status before God as their parents do. On the subject of parents and children, even Christ made Mary and Joseph His head by submitting to them whilst he was a child. Now Christ was certainly greater than both of His earthly parents, but this did not prevent Him from making them His head for a season, (Luke 2 v 51). In this example from Christ's early life we see headship working against the 'status flow.' I conclude from this practical example that headship and submission have nothing whatever to do with the status of the people involved. Headship and willing submission have to do with the roles God wants us to fulfil at different times in our lives, they have nothing to do with our status.
Giving exaltation does not always say anything about the status of the people involved either. From Philippians 2 v 6, Christ is of equal status with God and always has been. Therefore if God the Father highly exalted Jesus, He could not have elevated Jesus' status any more than it was already. Instead, what God the Father's exaltation of Christ did do was to cause Christ's status to be recognized in heaven, on earth and under the earth. In headship, I believe we have a unique kind of reciprocal relationship involving submission on the one hand and recognition on the other. Submission to another makes them your 'head' and and their open recognition of your value and importance brings you exaltation. Now in the Ephesians passage we see Paul applying this relationship to Christ and the Church and to husbands and wives:
Where this relationship is applied to husbands and wives, the willing submission of the wife gives headship to the husband and the love of the husband includes giving her recognition as one of equal status with him.
Where this relationship is applied to Christ and the Church we are beginning to touch the great mystery of the Church, (Ephesians 5 v 32). The willing submission of the Church to Christ gives headship to Christ and the love of Christ for His Church includes His exultation of the Church to be one with Him.
So called 'Deliverance Ministry' is very popular at this time in the churches of western nations and possibly elsewhere. The case for these ministries can easily be made based on the miracles of Jesus and the Apostles. Deliverance from demon possession is a sign to be expected from believers according to Mark, (16 v 17). If this ministry is applied to unbelievers who are genuinely demon possessed then that is right and good and frankly wonderful! But I have noticed that it is often applied to believers in all manner of ways. Trying to deliver believers from 'demons' has no precedent in scripture, on the contrary, the scriptures oppose this idea.
"Then a blind and dumb demoniac was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw. .. But when the Pharisees heard it they said, "It is only by Be-el'zebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons." Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand; and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? .. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or the age to come."" [RSV](2,4) Matthew 12 v 22 - 32 (Excerpts.)
Those who belong to Christ have the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, saying or inferring that any believer is demon possessed is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, and leads to many other evils. Believers are victimized if a 'deliverance' approach is used and the result is spiritually crippling. I will now explain the reasons for this.
The basic issue corrupted by the deliverance ministry approach is accountability for sin. Deliverance ministry people teach that believers can be compelled into sin by spiritual forces or demonic possession, and that exorcism will solve this problem. True repentance and forgiveness involve admission of our responsibility for our own sin. This admission is critical to repentance and forgiveness. However deliverance ministry teachings have the direct effect of misleading believers that they are not necessarily responsible for their own sins, thereby cutting them off from true repentance. If believers do not repent they cannot be forgiven and restored to fellowship with God, (1 John 1 v 8 - 9). The distortion of this truth about our responsibility before God for our own sins, is therefore a source of serious error. According to deliverance ministry teaching, our sins are the due to the devil's activity within us. We are not really in control. The apostle James was in no doubt who is really in control when he said;
"..but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." [RSV](2,4) James 1 v 14, & compare Genesis 3 v 6
And the apostle Paul said;
"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." [RSV](2,4) 1 Corinthians 10 v 13
The phrase 'common to man' might also be translated 'of human origin'. It is of course attractive to the human soul to be able to sin and shrug off the responsibility for it. This is an attitude to sin that our first forefather had. When asked about his sin, he tried to shift the responsibility for his sin away from himself, firstly to the woman and then back to God, (Genesis 3 v 12). By way of historical irony; in the days of the reformation in the early 16th century, men believed that they could sin and avoid their responsibility as long as they purchased an 'indulgence' from the 'church' first. However disconcerting, the truth remains that we are entirely responsible for our own sin. We shall have to give account for our sins, even if we persist in saying it was the devil and not ourselves. It is much better to admit the truth and to ask God to forgive us for Jesus' sake, because Jesus has carried our sins away through His death on the cross. Sins do not go away unless Christ takes them away.
Clearly, the possibility that we can be compelled to sin by a demon or anything else outside ourselves should be put to the test of scripture. Firstly, it is not possible for a believer to be possessed by a demon, for what fellowship has the Spirit of God with such a thing! (Psalm 5 v 4, Romans 8 v 9b and 2 Corinthians 6 v 14 - 18.) I have already presented the scriptures that say the Holy Spirit lives in the soul of a believer alongside our own regenerated spirits. It is therefore unthinkable that the Holy Spirit would dwell in the same place as demon. It is not only unthinkable, it is also contrary to specific scriptural teaching, for;
"We know that everyone begotten of God does not sin, but the one begotten of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him." [RSV](2,4) 1 John 5 v 18
As is hinted by this passage from 1 John 5 v 18, it is however possible for believers to give Satan a foothold by their own sin, (Ephesians 4 v 27). By 'foothold' is meant that a believer is trapped, rendered temporarily ineffective and is likely to experience the discipline of God until he or she repents, (Ephesians 4 v 27 and 2 Timothy 2 v 24 - 26). The remedy for the latter situation is to confess our sins to God, who promises and forgive His people and to restore them to grace, (1 John 1 v 9). So in summary, a believer cannot be possessed by a demon and compelled to commit sin. Rather if a believer willingly sins and refuses to repent, then that believer is rendered ineffective and to some extent unprotected giving opportunity to the devil to attack, but only from without. The devil cannot destroy or even touch the inner life of a believer since we have been translated out of Satan's principality into the kingdom of God. It therefore behoves us not to sin, and if we do sin to confess it to God who is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, (1 John 1 v 9).
It is very important not to presume that because a believer is experiencing pressure and suffering that they must necessarily have sinned. It is true that those who sin and who refuse to repent are vulnerable and likely to be attacked by the devil but we should not infer someone is an unrepentant sinner because they are suffering! Jesus said that in the world we would have tribulation and the apostles add that we will also experience affliction as a price of an obedient walk with Christ, (John 16 v 33 and Romans 5 v 3). It is therefore not the case that our suffering means we have sinned, quite the opposite!
It is possible for unbelievers to be possessed by a demon, but this is neither usual nor inevitable. In cases of demonic possession of unbelievers there is a definite scriptural case, and Christ-given authority for their expulsion, especially when these tortured souls are seeking to enter the kingdom of God, (e.g. Mark 16 v 16 ff.).
To summarize these two erroneous teachings;
That a believer can be excused responsibility for sin on the basis that it was done under the Devil's compulsion or through demonic possession or influence.
That a believer can be possessed or oppressed by a demon and require deliverance.
What can be seen from these two errors taken together is that they encourage and reinforce each another. The first one removes any hope of repentance whilst the second removes any notion that God may be disciplining one of His own beloved children. Since at some point, God disciplines every son and daughter he loves and accepts, (Proverbs 3 v 11 - 12) this error is a great evil, pernicious and deadly.
"Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words"; Vine, W. E., Publ. MacDonald ISBN 0-917006-03-8
"The RSV Interlinear Greek - English New Testament"; Marshall, Rev. A, Copyright 1958 Samuel Bagster and Sons Ltd. Publ. Samuel Bagster ISBN 85150 105 2.
"New American Standard Bible" Ref. Edn. Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1973
"The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version" Publ. Collins 1971
"The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse" Johnson, D. W., VanVonderen, J., Bethany House, 1991, ISBN 1-55661-160-9 page 124 referenced in section entitled, 'Streams of life'.
"The pilgrim's progress: from this world to that which is to come." Bunyan, J. (ed. Rhona Pipe) Hodder and Stoughton, 1988, ISBN 0 340 38171 X, page 103 (- From the discourse between Talkative and Faithful).
"The Road to Hell", Pawson, J. D. Hodder and Stoughton, 1992, ISBN 0 340 53964 X, pages 103 - 107
"Vine's expository dictionary of biblical words" Copyright 1985 Publ. Nelson ISBN 0-8407-7559-8
"The Holy Bible, New International Version." Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
"The Lion Handbook to the Bible" Copyright 1973 Lion Publishing. ISBN 0 85648 010 X Page 541. Referenced in section entitled, 'Streams of life' concerning John 7 v 38.
"The Mystery of the Gospel" Ring, S. R. Copyright 1994, 1995. Unpublished book. Referenced in the section entitled, 'Converted Man', 'The Message of Salvation'.
"The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse" Johnson, D. W., VanVonderen, J., Bethany House, 1991, ISBN 1-55661-160-9 An excellent review of the conflict faced by those who hold to the teachings of Jesus in our own times.