THE SPIRIT IN THE BELIEVER
[p. 415] THE SPIRIT IN THE BELIEVER
This chapter comes in as a kind of supplement to this epistle. In the previous chapters the apostle had gone over the ground that he had purposed. Here he maintains the same ground, that is, that the Spirit is set against the flesh. There are few truths less understood by christians than what hangs on the presence of the Spirit. This latter, although not the foundation of christianity, is the great characteristic of christianity, and nothing is owned of God save as it is of the Spirit. We accept the fact of His presence here, but often fail to apprehend what hangs upon the fact. The cross has judicially ended the flesh for God’s glory, and the Spirit excludes it practically, so that the eye of God should not rest upon the flesh at all, but upon that which is the fruit of the Spirit.
Here in this chapter the apostle goes farther as to christian state than he does in other parts of the epistle. You get eternal life touched, and also new creation. (See verses 8, 15.)
I recapitulate the subjects we had on previous occasions, and then touch on what the presence of the Spirit involves, and what He will lead us into. In chapter 3 we get the light of the gospel, that is, the revelation of God’s purpose. We are all sons of God “by faith in Christ Jesus”. In the light of God’s purpose we are such. Then in chapter 4 we get the power which has come forth to effectuate the purpose of God, that is, the Spirit of His Son, and at the end of the chapter we get the testimony by which we are spiritually formed — “Jerusalem above”, the light of a glorified Christ. It is the testimony by which we are formed, and if we are so, we shall not be strangers when we get to heaven.
[p. 416] Chapter 5 shows us the great principles of christian conduct, liberty and the Spirit. Liberty realised in deliverance from principles such as sin and the world, in order that we may be free to serve one another, and then the Spirit is the power of walk. The flesh and the Spirit are mutually exclusive. The glory of each respectively is, adultery and love. Then in chapter 6 we get important principles. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked”. God always stands to moral principles, and is never diverted from them. What a man sows he reaps; this is true in the world and true to christians. He who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap life eternal. It is the setting of the Spirit against the flesh all through. If you want to prove the power of the Spirit you must exclude the flesh.
Now I want to speak for a moment of the power of the Spirit. In Old Testament times the power of the Spirit was here, but was not exactly set against the flesh. I will explain what I mean: I look at flesh in two lights; first, as the principle of evil and corruption in man; secondly, as mere natural force. And in this latter sense in Old Testament times the Spirit helped the flesh. Samson is an illustration of this. “The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him”. In Old Testament times the flesh was being tested, and consequently it was not yet the day of the Spirit. Flesh is evil; and flesh is natural power. This latter is of no avail for God, because it is at the disposal of an evil will. The principle which rules the natural power is not to be trusted. When the Lord was here the Spirit abode upon Him. That was new. He had come on occasions upon David and others, but the Spirit descended and abode upon Christ, and He was thereby marked out as the One “who baptises with the Holy Spirit” and this baptism took place at Pentecost. But the oil was on the [p. 417] blood, the witness that the flesh was condemned, so that the Spirit was now given to dwell in the believer.
The Spirit has come down here to entirely exclude the flesh. Stephen in Acts 7 set forward that the flesh under every dealing of God had been proved perverse, as witnessed in breaking of law, persecution of prophets, killing of Christ, and resistance of the Spirit. Every testimony from God was rejected, and the flesh was condemned in the cross, and the Spirit of God came down to give effect to this practically in the believer. The work of God in us cannot now be carried out in natural power. The Spirit is here to exclude the flesh entirely. The Spirit does not energise man’s natural power, but is here to be the one sole power to the saints.
Now another point in this chapter is this, that the great office of the Spirit is to carry those in whom He dwells up to the source from which He came. There is a great distinction drawn in Scripture between Christ and the Spirit. Christ came to an unbelieving world. He inherited a recognised name on earth — Son of man — Son of God. He was presented to men “after the flesh”. In the sermon on the mount, the principle is of association with Him in His recognised place on the earth. Now the Spirit did not come after the flesh, but came when Christ is no longer known after the flesh. The Spirit did not become incarnate nor come to an unbelieving world, “whom the world cannot receive”. The Spirit came to carry those who had believed to the source from which He came — the Father.
Christ was the supreme object to the hearts of the disciples, and the Spirit came to conduct their hearts where He was glorified. “He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you”. The Spirit continues with us — this is characteristic of His being here. He came when Jesus was glorified to make good what the Lord had said, “I ... know my sheep,
[p. 418] and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father”.
The sphere of eternal life is not down here, it is where Christ is. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”. Where can you find the Father and the sent One? They are not here, they are in heaven, and the Spirit conducts you to them. Eternal life is the divine Persons known; not as They were in eternity, but in the place They have taken in grace. Eternal life is within the reach of faith. Which are you going to lay yourself out for; eternal life or corruption? If you live to consider yourself, you will reap corruption, but if you sow to the Spirit you will reap eternal life. This is akin to John 4, where we have the well of water springing up to eternal life. I do not ask you, ‘Have you the well of water?’ but I ask, ‘Does it spring up, or is it choked?’ If it springs up you will be led in spirit outside the whole course of things here. Your interests will be all outside of this scene. There is unbroken rest alone where the Father and the Son are. If I am carried to that scene I am fitted to come into this scene where there is no rest. Eternal life is to know the Father and the sent One. The scene of rest to the believer is where the Father and the Son are and where God’s purpose is enjoyed and the power is displayed by which He has given effect to it.
Now another point. (See verses 12 - 15.) In this passage I see an intimate connection between flesh and the world, and flesh can take a religious character. It can adopt a garb or uniform to gain a religious character in the presence of man, but this does not avail with God. The apostle could say, the world had died a shameful death (been crucified) in his eye, and so, too, the apostle had died a shameful death to it. The world had crucified the Lord of glory. It is the flesh that would maintain a religious [p. 419] character before the world; the Spirit will not support any one in this attempt.
Then we have in verse 15, “For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision; but new creation”. Nothing will meet the state of things down here but the character of God — new creation. In times gone by, circumcision might have availed a Jew in the presence of a gentile world, but now in an evil world that has rejected Christ, the testimony is of Christ Jesus. It is a Man of another order. New creation is the new man, the character of it is after God, in righteousness and holiness of truth (Ephesians 4: 24). The character of God came out in Christ; you get it presented in Matthew 5: your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Now it is loving your enemies. This is the character of God. The new man is “after God”, and this is the only way in which evil can really be met. All this depends upon the work of the Spirit in the believer. The apostle speaks in the epistle to Titus of the renewing of the Holy Spirit. That is what the Spirit effectuates in you; having received the Spirit we get the truth of new creation, and it is after the character of God. The apostle adds, “as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them”. How many of us are prepared to accept the exclusion of the flesh, that God has set it aside in all that it is, and not only in its corrupt state? I have nothing else for God, nor for service save the Spirit. He is the only power by which there can be produced what is “after God”. All must be “after God” now. It is the character of God in the christians, as we get in 1 John 3 — righteousness and love. But to this end we must be formed in it, and this is as we know God as He has come out in Christ. The testimony is not beyond the measure of what we are, and the Spirit is ever [p. 420] bent upon carrying forward the work of grace in the believer.
I commend Matthew 5 to you. Righteousness according to God, so that they might bear the character of their Father which is in heaven, that they might come out manifestly in His character. It is very important for our souls to lay hold of what hangs upon the presence of the Spirit here. Christ is no longer after the flesh, and the Spirit is here to exclude all that is of the flesh in the believer.