THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT
THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT
I shall be thankful if this paragraph — brief as it is — awakens interest and exercise in my Christian reader, and especially if the scriptures referred to are consulted and prayerfully considered. It is a great and precious fact that the Holy Spirit — one of the Persons in the [p. 20] ever-blessed Trinity — is now on earth, residing in the hearts of God’s children, and constituting their bodies His temple! Before such a thing could be, redemption had to be accomplished and Jesus glorified, John 7: 39. It is consequent upon the death, resurrection, and glorification of Jesus, that the Holy Spirit has come, and now dwells in all those who have believed in the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins, Acts 10: 43 - 45; it is they that believe on Him who receive the Spirit, John 7: 39; Acts 15: 7, 8; Galatians 3: 2, 14; Ephesians 1: 12 - 14. Because we are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father”, Galatians 4: 6; Romans 8: 15; He sheds God’s love abroad in our hearts, Romans 5: 5; He makes our bodies His temple, 1 Corinthians 6: 19; He abides with us for ever, sealing us unto the day of redemption, John 14: 16; Ephesians 4: 30. He testifies of Christ, John 15: 26; He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, John 16: 8 - 11; He makes intercession for us, Romans 8: 26; and He is the earnest of glory, 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22; 2 Corinthians 5: 5; Ephesians 1: 12 - 14.
Then, further, He forms all believers on earth into one body, 1 Corinthians 12: 12,13; for “there is one body, and one Spirit”, Ephesians 4: 4. The church is the body of Christ. “We are members of his body”, Ephesians 5: 30. Christ has been rejected from the earth and is no longer here personally, but His body is here to display in the power of the Spirit all His graces and moral perfections. It is evident that when this truth is apprehended it must operate powerfully to deliver Christians from sectarianism. Many sects and denominations have arisen, and every sect has its own membership distinct from the membership of every other sect. Thus divisions, so strongly condemned by the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 1: 10; 1 Corinthians 3: 4, are perpetuated in the church of God, and the true character of the church as the body of Christ is [p. 21] practically denied. Many Christians have felt this so deeply that they have been constrained to act upon the instructions given in 2 Timothy 2: 19 - 22, and separate themselves from all sectarian bodies, refusing to take any name or to assume any position but such as in Scripture are common to all the children of God. Gathered simply in the Lord’s name, they have found His presence with them, according to His word, Matthew 18: 20, and they have been greatly blessed as they have sought to continue “in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers”, Acts 2: 42.