THE INWARD MAN
J.R. The thought is to look at this expression, “the inward man” and get some idea of what it means. In Romans 7 it is, “I delight in the law of God according to the inward man”. Every believer has what is spoken of here as the inward man. We may enquire as to what that is, but it is true of every real believer anyway. No doubt it begins with being born anew, born of water and of the Spirit, which is the moral character of that birth, and born of the Spirit, which is the spiritual beginning in every believer. That happens before he is converted, before he believes the gospel, but after one believes, the inward man is to be recognised, identified in every one of us, and promoted. The desires that are according to the inward man have to be fed so that there is what is for the pleasure of God in every believer down here.
We get the inward man in 2 Corinthians 4 over against the outward man—the outward man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day. The inward man in Romans 7 is what is of God in the believer as over against propensities that belong to the believer as born of Adam’s fallen race; we have these propensities as long as we are here, but there is the inward man, and the inward man needs to be fed—the desires need to be gratified that belong to the inward man.
D.L.S. This inward man would not be limited to Christianity. It is something that always has been in those in whom God is working. A man like Job would illustrate it.
J.R. What you say is the truth. New birth is not peculiar to Christianity; it is true of believers who had faith all through the Old Testament and will be true of persons who come to light after the church goes, but the inward man would have special application in Christianity, would it not?
D.L.S. Yes, there is that in Christianity which would build up the inward man.
J.R. That is right. It is very important first of all for the believer to identify this inward man, that is, to identify certain desires, certain motives, that do not belong to Adam’s fallen race; they belong to what has been derived from the work of God and is of Christ in character. “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man”: in Psalm 40 the Lord says prophetically: “To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight, and thy law is within my heart”, v 8. Therefore the inward man has the character of what was in the Lord Himself in manhood. It is a very encouraging thing to be able to identify in one’s self what answers to the inward man.
R.S.R. In Romans 7 there is admixture. Would we seek not only to identify what is of the inward man but to promote it?
J.R. Yes, it has to be fed. We have the admixture as long as we are here. We never get entirely clear of the propensities that belong to Adam’s fallen race. We have all derived from Adam; from Satan came the poison of the serpent, and we all hath that character which has to be starved, and the inward man fed.
G.A.B. ls it a secret thing? The flesh advertises itself but the force of ‘inward’ here is something which is precious to the eye of God. It has no place in this world’s system.
J.R. That is right: it comes from the sovereign operation of God. There is nothing of the old in the inward man: it is entirely different. Born anew emphasises the different character, it is of another character altogether. Born of water and of Spirit calls attention to the moral character of that birth, and born of the Spirit refers to the fact that every believer is spiritual potentially because of this work of God. It is a question of how we feed this inward man, how we gratify the desires of the inward man. It has been likened to a cage in which there is a raven and a dove. The thing is to starve the raven and feed the dove, feed the inward man, gratify these desires, not the desires that belong to us and which we all have as of Adam’s fallen race.
G.A.B. The world becomes a wilderness to the believer because there is nothing in it to satisfy the inward man.
J.R. That is right.
W.M.G. In Genesis 8 we have the raven and the dove going out of the ark; the dove found no place for the sole of its foot, but the raven did not come back.
J.R. There was an affinity between the dove and Noah. It says that he “brought her to him into the ark”, v 9. There is an affinity between Noah and the dove which was not between Noah and the raven. “He sent out the raven”—it never returned, but the dove returned to him into the ark. The inward man is illustrated in the Old Testament in Psalm 119 in one hundred and seventy-six verses; I would commend brethren to read through it. You find different experiences—reproach, discipline, all that kind of thing—but the inward man shines through: “Oh how I love thy law!”, v 97. There is one verse in that Psalm I would like to call attention to: “Thy word is exceeding pure, and thy servant loveth it”, v 140. It is not the word as his duty or what ought to be done; the word is love—“thy servant loveth it”. The word which is exceeding pure would no doubt be some fresh impression of the manhood of Jesus; that is what feeds the inward man.
R.S.R. Romans 7 speaks of another law; that would be a foreign element. It says, “But I see another law in my members, warring in opposition to the law of my mind”. Is that how we view it?
J.R. Yes, it is always there. As long as we are here the other law, the other principle, is there ready to take over, ready to present itself and seek gratification, but that principle has to be starved and the inward man fed, and what feeds the inward man is impressions of the manhood of Jesus.
W.D. Is it what is morally in accord with God? Is not the great issue with God and man the moral side of things? So the work of God is the promotion of the moral side in the believer giving him discernment in regard to what is pleasing to God.
J.R. Yes, the conflict that is being worked out in the believer, the conflict between good and evil. The inward man represents the good: the other principle is evil really.
W.D. We have to come into accord with the cross.
J.R. Yes, that conflict was seen at the cross—the victory of what is moral and according to God. It is worked out in the universe: it is worked out in the believer’s soul history.
R.S.R. Do you think Amalek would have some bearing on what you are saying? “Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation!”, Exod 17: 16. Is that something akin?
J.R. I think so.
J.D.G. When God established Adam in innocence, did he know at that time only the law of God?
J.R. Yes, l suppose he did. He would be a perfect creature from God’s hands; he was able to name the animals, for instance. He was a remarkably intelligent man until the serpent put his poison in.
J.D.G. Yes, Satan spoiled what was there in innocence. Now good and evil, as you say, has to be worked out in the believer in a scene where initially evil had the ascendancy because of the fall. Humanity was spoiled, but God plans over that.
J.R. Exactly. First of all the believer needs to identify this inward man and then be exercised to promote and feed that work of God—a most important thing to come to. We will make no progress really until we do.
J.R.C. Once or twice in the last few days we have been exhorted in regard to saying ‘No’. I like your reference to that Psalm because it is an advance on that; he goes on to say, “and thy servant loveth it”. That is more than just saying ‘No’. It is something that you treasure more than other things.
J.R. I would think that that love is maintained by continuing to say ‘No’. Saying ‘no’ would be starving this other law, but loving God’s word would be feeding the inward man. We need to realise that there is with every believer the inward man which needs to be promoted, needs to be fed, and the other deprived. The inward man has certain desires, certain motives which come from God which are akin to the desires and motives of the Lord Jesus Himself as Man. It is a wonderful thing to identify that.
J.R.C. It is very confirming for us all, and especially for the young people, to find, at times it may be, that Christ becomes more precious to them than anything else. The assembly becomes more attractive to them, and the brethren, too, more lovable. These are things which they grow in and think about.
J.R. That is just the truth.
W.D. So in chapter 8 the Spirit is the power to say ‘Yes’ to what is good; it is like Genesis 24: “Wilt thou go with this man?”, v 58.
J.R. Yes: also the power to say ‘No’—“but if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live”, v 13. We need the Spirit to maintain the ‘No’, but the Spirit would feed us with Christ. He would promote this inward man and call attention to the Lord Jesus who is food for the believer. The Lord Jesus has become Man to be food for us. It is the manhood of Jesus we feed on. That is one of the reasons He is Man, to strengthen us and to promote this inward man with every one of us.
D.H.M. When Adam was placed in the garden, that area of privilege, he was told to till it and to guard it. I suppose the failure to guard it was how the serpent came in. The serpent is a beast of the field, not the garden.
J.R. That is right. He was more “crafty than any animal of the field”, Gen 3: 1. Paul speaks about “his craft”, 2 Cor 11: 3. He is ever crafty.
R.S.R. It speaks of captivity: “bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which exists in my members”, but the divine intent is that we should be at liberty and that would be in chapter 8.
J.D.G. He has to find a deliverer in this section. He is delighting “in the law of God according to the inward man”, but he needs a deliverer, he needs some Person to help him, one outside of himself, a deliverer.
J.R. That is right. It is really the eye set on Christ as a deliverer, and then the Spirit is the power for deliverance. “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord” involves the lordship of Christ. The Lord Jesus becomes his object, and the Spirit supports that and is the means of deliverance.
J.D.G. Looking to Christ brings out life, the eye fixed on Him; it is like Numbers 21, the brazen serpent, they looked intently, see note to v 9. But the power to maintain that is in the Spirit.
J.R. Yes. I was impressed by reading John 3. It says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up, that every one who believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”. Now, “every one who believes on him” I think, would be on Him where He is. We speak about looking at the Lord’s death; I know what is meant, but it is Him: “every one who believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”. It is coming into life by believing in Him, which would be looking on Him.
J.D.G. It is good to get the context of that scripture. It would involve Him as the One who is lifted up. Your thought is that it relates to Him where He is.
J.R. I think so. It is “believes on him”: “And no one has gone up into heaven, save he who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up”—that would refer, of course, to His crucifixion—“that every one who believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”. Some people have a cross round their neck. That is not the idea. It is believing on Him as He is, where He is, as the object of our faith.
J.D.G. John in his epistle certainly links the thought of the appropriation of eternal life with Christ where He is.
J.R. Exactly, and He is to be our object. It is only Christ, only the Lord Jesus in manhood who can satisfy the desires that the work of God produces. Take the eunuch who was in the desert (see Acts 8); there was a vacancy, a longing with the man. He could not tell you what it was, but only Christ could fill it, and that is the inward man. Only Christ can promote and satisfy the inward man; therefore the first thing is to identify the inward man and then be exercised to feed him, and the food is Christ, Christ as Man, the features of obedience, subjection. I thought this morning of a hymn that we do not have in the hymn book now—
We think of Thy devotion,
Thy blest obedience rare;
Thy holy, deep emotion,
Thy grief that none could share.
Thus to our hearts Thou speakest; ...
It is that kind of thing.
R.S.R. The “I myself” is emphatic. Is that related to the inward man?
J.R. Yes, the inward man is the real “I”, and, as you said earlier, the other becomes a foreign element; but it has to be worked out, and it is worked out by identifying the inward man.
D.L.S. Room is not left for the operations of the old man as Christ is made much of in the heart and life of the believer.
J.R. Exactly. That has been your experience?
D.L.S. Well, I would like to know more of it.
J.R. But that has been your experience, that has been the experience of older brethren here. Let us understand that we have all come this way. That would encourage others who are setting out on this way. We begin by identifying the inward man and by being exercised to promote and feed that feature. It becomes the “I myself”.
D.C. In verse 23 the concern is that through the law of sin in the members he is brought into captivity, but then in verse 25 it says, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself with the mind serve God’s law”. He puts himself into captivity there.
J.R. Exactly, “serve God’s law”. Liberty, I find, is a difficult subject to speak about because the believer finds liberty by coming into bondage. In chapter 6 it says, “For even as ye have yielded your members in bondage to uncleanness and to lawlessness unto lawlessness, so now yield your members in bondage to righteousness unto holiness”, v 19. It is by serving that we come into liberty, we come under authority.
D.C. You serve as a bondman.
J.R. That is the idea. Maybe the first scripture is for young believers, although for all of us, but the one in 2 Corinthians would be for all of us, maybe especially for those of us who are older. “Wherefore we faint not; but if indeed our outward man is consumed, yet the inward is renewed day by day”. The outward would be the weakening of the vessel by wear and tear especially by discipline which this chapter speaks about—persecution, suffering; the outward is fragile and becomes feeble, but the inward is renewed. If we see the inward man of Romans 7 in Psalm 119, I think we see the inward man according to Corinthians in Jacob. He passed through much discipline; it was personal up to chapter 35 of Genesis, but after that he was disciplined in his family. How many are disciplined in their families. He was at least twenty years without Joseph, and did he not feel that, did he not weep over Joseph? Then the brethren come back from their first visit without Simeon, and then they spoke of taking away Benjamin. How he felt all these things! Then he became feeble in body, and they told Joseph, “Behold, thy father is sick” (Gen 48: 1), but the inward man is renewed. He strengthened himself and sat upon his bed and blessed Joseph’s sons, and indeed blessed the whole family. It is an illustration of the outward perishing. Those of us who are older know something of the outward perishing, but the inward needs to be renewed, maintained in vigour, and that is what goes through, goes through into eternity.
R.S.R. Say more about how this renewal day by day takes place. Would it be occupation with Christ as our object and allowing the Spirit to magnify Him?
J.R. That is what I understand. There are remarkable statements in the earlier part of the chapter about the Lord Jesus. It speaks about “the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God” (v 4); it speaks about, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus Lord, and ourselves your bondmen for Jesus’ sake”; it speaks about “the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. Then it speaks about, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels”—I suppose earthen vessels could be likened to the outward man—and then it speaks about, “every way afflicted, but not straitened; seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up; persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying”—or ‘putting to death’—“of Jesus”. In this epistle Paul refers to intense suffering, persecution; he despaired of living (see chap 1: 8) - he is referring to what he had come through - but then he says, the outward man is perishing, “yet the inward is renewed day by day”.
R.T. I was wondering if it links with the scripture that says the good work that is begun in you will be completed, see Phil 1: 6. I was thinking especially of some who are older amongst us who are laid aside in much weakness, and yet we can think of the Spirit’s work, the completing going on.
J.R. Very good. Some become oblivious to all that is around, but if you speak about the Lord you get response, the inward man comes through; it is life. It is a fine thing to witness. Jacob must have been a very attractive man in his old age. He was not always commendable in his younger days, but in his latter days he was a greater man morally than Pharaoh. He went in and blessed Pharaoh. David is another one who would answer to this. David had a lot of discipline with his family. At the end of his life he said, “Although my house be not so before God”, 2 Sam 23: 5. He would have loved his house to be with God. It was discipline to his spirit. He must have been a very attractive man in his old age; we have the last words of David.
R.S.R. I was thinking of Jacob, “the God that shepherded me all my life long to this day”, Gen 48: 15. That would be like the renewal day by day.
J.R. Surely.
J.R.C. We can understand why discipline became a necessary feature in Jacob’s life in order to secure the divine end.
J.R. Exactly. David was disciplined, but he brought much of it on himself, and we have brought much on ourselves, but God uses it all in view of this inward man developing, being renewed day by day. How gracious God is! He can turn our failings into what is of value for Himself.
R.S.R. Jacob at one point says, “All these things are against me” (Gen 42: 36), but the truth is they were all working out to bring about a positive result and make him a worshipper.
J.R. He was a remarkable father. Only one of Abraham’s sons came into the testimony and only one of Isaac’s sons, but Jacob had all his family in the end, the result of much toil, many tears; he could not be comforted at one stage, but the inward man came through remarkably.
G.A.B. Could you say what you understand by the life of Jesus being manifested in our body, v 10.
J.R. “Always bearing about in the body the dying”—or ‘putting to death’—“of Jesus that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body”. The inward man would manifest the life of Jesus. If we feed on the manhood of Jesus, that kind of life would be manifested.
G.A.B. Does it refer to His pathway here or does it go further than that? One of the things that the apostles were told to do was to speak all the words of this life, see Acts 5: 20.
J.R. Exactly. He goes on to say, “for we who live are always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh”. Therefore it is the life of Jesus expressed here. It must involve the inward man the treasure in earthen vessels.
G.A.B. It is something that can be identified down here in the absence of Christ which is morally of the same nature, which Paul: or Saul as he was at the time, first came into touch with in Damascus. The Lord said, “Why dost thou persecute me”, Acts 9: 4.
J.R.C. That is why the eunuch—you have referred to him already—saw immediately the need for baptism, and then he went on his way rejoicing. That would be the life of Jesus here in another man.
J.R. That is right. He would go home, maybe the only believer there, but what would shine out in him would be the life of Jesus, in principle, in testimony.
J.R.C. All our young people here have been baptised, and maybe it takes a little time for the impact to come home to them of what it really meant.
J.R. I am sure that is right.
W.D. It is the inward man that goes into eternity, is it not?
J.R. Exactly, and only the inward man; nothing of the natural, nothing, of course, of the flesh, nothing that belongs to the man of Adam’s fallen race. It really involves new creation, only it is generation which involves life. It speaks about “our momentary and light affliction”; it is how Paul could view all these sufferings and experiences he went through. “For our momentary and light affliction works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory”. It is a way of discipline, a way in which God is pleased to promote this inward man, in our experience.
W.D. I was thinking of your reference to food. It is a very extensive subject in Scripture. There is a series of readings on the food that abides, JT vol 16. We have to appropriate the divine supplies and food in its various character so that for each change in circumstances this development is taking place.
J.R. Exactly. The manna would come into this. Deuteronomy 8 speaks about the manna. It says, “And thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or not. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with the manna, which thou hadst not known, and which thy fathers knew not; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by everything that goeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live”, vv 2, 3. That is the manna, every word that goes out of God’s mouth; a fresh impression of Christ, which is meant to sustain us day by day and promote this inward man.
W.D. There is the passover lamb, all entering into the moral side of things in the believer, helping him to appreciate Christ.
J.R. That is right, the food is always Christ, the manhood of Jesus. That is what is available to us in Jesus as Man. We feed on a Man, God expressed in a Man, and therefore we take on the features of that Man.
R.S.R. What would you say about “an eternal weight of glory”?
J.R. It is in contrast to the light affliction. It is momentary and light and works in surpassing measure an eternal weight; it is something substantial. The momentary and light affliction will pass; no matter what we go through, it will all pass. What remains is this weight of glory.
G.B. Jacob had his name changed to Israel. He was the supplanter, and he became a prince of God. Would that be the inner man coming through?
J.R. That is fine. What a lesson book Jacob is!
D.L.S. Could you remark on verse 18—the question of what we look at. It is not only food but “while we look” something is happening, building up is going on while we look at the things that are unseen.
J.R. What do you say about the things that are not seen?
D.L.S. It would embrace the sphere of things where Christ is exalted and where He has His way.
J.R. That is fine. In Ephesians we have “the inner man”. It is the inner man by himself, not the inward man in contrast to the flesh, nor the inward man in contrast to the outward man, but the inner man by himself. Rebecca illustrates this section. It speaks about, “to be strengthened with power by his Spirit”—the Father’s Spirit—“in the inner man”. It was the father Abraham who sent the servant to Rebecca, and she was strengthened with power by the servant’s presentation of Isaac. There is a response with Rebecca; it was the inner man with Rebecca that fully responded to what the Father’s Spirit, shall we say, brought in. She was in principle “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts”. Isaac was dwelling in her heart, and then” the breadth and length and depth and height” would be like the dominion of Isaac. Abraham gave all he had to Isaac, see Gen 24: 36; 25: 5. Rebecca illustrates this section here.
W.M.G. She said “I will go”. She was ready to go the full way, whatever it cost her too, leaving her own relatives.
J.R. Yes, not only did she say “I will go”, but it says, “And Rebecca arose, and her maids, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man. And the servant took Rebecca”, Gen 24: 61. The servant waited not only till she said “I will go” but until she moved. She arose and then the servant took her and brought her to Isaac. What, typically, the Father’s Spirit, what Abraham’s servant presented to Rebecca captivated her. Her name means ‘captivating’; it is like what is here. It is the Father’s Spirit strengthening with power in the inner man. What was in Rebecca responded fully. She is perfect; there is no failure with Rebecca in this chapter.
R.S.R. Is there a distinction then between the inward man we have been considering and the inner man in Ephesians?
J.R. All I would say is that the inward man in both scriptures is contrasted with something else, either the flesh or the outward, but here it is the inner man by itself in contrast to nothing else, just the inner man, and that is what goes through into eternity.
W.D. Rebecca was a type of the assembly. Do you think it might have a bearing towards what is collective? The other two scriptures would be intensely individual.
J.R. Quite so. Paul goes on to say, “in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height”. Would we all desire to be like Rebecca?
W.D. It takes the service of God out of the realm of orthodoxy, and there is something in the inner man being worked collectively in the affections of the saints.
J.R. That is right. The inner man is the same in you as in me, and the same in every believer. The inward man is of the same character in every one; therefore the inward man being fed would make for unity. The trouble is that sometimes other things come in, but this is the inner man by itself, which is a very fine consideration.
W.M.G. Has it not been said that being “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man” is something that we may experience in the service of God?
J.R. I would think so. But it says, “to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love”. It is the kind of persons we become. Of course, it would be liberated in the service of God, but what kind of persons are we? We do not just jump into the service of God; it is a question of what kind of persons we are every day of the week.
W.M.G. Characteristically. So this is an experience that we can have any day of the week, you mean; it does not necessarily have to be confined to the Lord’s day morning.
R.S.R. It shows the importance of the Spirit. It all flows from “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ...” and so on. Does it not show how invaluable the Spirit of God is for strengthening and power?
J.R. You can see it in Rebecca. Abraham’s servant brought the word, presented Isaac, and Rebecca was captivated. Isaac dwelt through faith in her heart until she reached him. Throughout the journey Isaac was dwelling through faith in her heart.
R.S.R. That is why she sprang off the camel.
J.R. Surely; she is fresh at the end of the journey.
E.W.J. Do you think that we need the Spirit? The normal setting is “that the Christ may dwell, through faith”, and things become expanded from there. Jesus said “He shall glorify me” (John 16: 14), and expansion comes in as Christ gets His place.
J.R. It means that we have an appreciation of Christ like the Father’s appreciation, the Father’s Spirit giving us to appreciate the Lord Jesus as the Father appreciates Him. The Father’s Spirit would have that in mind. Abraham’s servant presented Isaac, and Rebecca responded in the· same way as Abraham regarded Isaac. Abraham loved Isaac. He committed all he had to him. That was Abraham’s outlook on Isaac, while Abraham’s servant produced or brought out of Rebecca the same kind of affection.
R.S.R. We sang this morning,
We taste the same delight
(Hymn No 26).
The Father’s delight in Christ, of course, is infinite; yet our delight is in Him too.
J.R. It is really the fulfilment of John 17: “And I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”, v 26. That is Rebecca again, the love with which Abraham loved Isaac was in Rebecca, and Isaac was in Rebecca’s heart. It is fine to see it in Rebecca, but may we all be exercised that it is found with every one of us. It is not beyond our reach.
G.A.B. Does the veil that Rebecca took bear on what you are saying? There was no rival to Christ in her affections, and she contrasted him with no other, so she herself is to be for no other.
J.R. It is one of the types; Isaac only had Rebecca and Rebecca only had Isaac. There are a few types like that, Adam, for instance, and Isaac and Joseph and Boaz, as far as we know. Other ideas come in in other types but with this one Isaac only had Rebecca and Rebecca only had Isaac. It is a very fine thing to think of, and we want these affections in our hearts now.
W.D. I have had an exercise for some time lately that practically, after we give the Spirit His portion, we tend in our thoughts to dispense with Him. We seem to think that is the climax of His service, and we respond to Him in thanksgiving and worship, but we should not so regard it; we should think of the Spirit always with us right to the very end of the service.
J.R. Hymn 89 that we had this morning would help what you say:
O blessed Holy Spirit,
Thy power is with us now,
As we approach the Father
Before His face to bow.
—and so on.
We need the Spirit. It is through the Lord Jesus by one Spirit that we approach the Father, see Eph 2: 18.
W.D. The point is to think that way, not to say, We have reached a certain matter in regard to the Spirit and that is the end of it but we must carry it forward.
J.R. Surely, carry all forward; we carry everything forward, right to the conclusion of the meeting. “Through him” would involve that we carry with us appreciation of the Lord Jesus. “By one Spirit”, we carry with us appreciation of the Holy Spirit and thus we are presentable and pleasing to the Father.
J.T.B. Is this the normalcy of spiritual experience in the believer? The other two scriptures are somewhat different, involving contrast, but the inner man is the normalcy of spiritual experience, and becomes the vehicle and repository for the directive power of the Spirit so that Christ is dwelling through faith in our hearts.
J.R. It is ‘dwelling’ not ‘visiting’, “through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love, in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend”. I was thinking of the domain that Isaac had. Rebecca came into the appreciation of that.
D.G.C. The first we see of Rebecca is bearing the pitcher, and in type she engages herself in service to the Spirit. I was thinking about sowing to the Spirit; day by day, as we would sow to the Spirit there would be familiarity and the Spirit would strengthen us in this way.
J.R. Yes. She came to the well, she lived by the well. She found her resource in principle in the Spirit as a well, an inexhaustible supply.
D.S.Jr. I was interested in this expression, “rooted and founded in love”. It is something which is substantial as formed in the heart.
J.R. Very good; that is it. “Rooted” would be the idea of a tree and “founded” is the idea of a building; a foundation is very important. “In love”, it says. “And to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge”: we will never exhaust the love of the Christ; that would involve not only His love for us but all He has done in love, all His operations in love. There is plenty of room to expand in this area.
J.R.C. Would that involve, “I love my master, my wife, and my children”, Exod 21: 5?
J.R. Very good; it certainly would, “the love of the Christ”. We could never exhaust that it passes knowledge, but we know it, and respond to it.
EDINBURGH
17th June 1990
Key to initials
Edinburgh if not otherwise stated
G.Bailey; D.C.Brown; G.A.Brown; J.T.Brown; D.G.Coull, Aberdeen; J.R.Cumming; W.Dickson; J.D.Gray; W.M.Grosse; E.W.Johnstone; D.H.Marshall, J.Renton; R.S.Renton; D.Scougal, Jr; D.L.Stewart; R.Trotter
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