BRIEF EXAMINATION OF VERSES QUOTED
This is a list of verses referred to by WD that have not been looked at in the main text of the Reply. It is not intended to be an exposition of the verses. It will be sufficient to show that the verses are quite capable of being understood in a way that is in harmony with the principles set out in this Reply. To give them a more detailed examination would only duplicate the work of others and would make this Reply unacceptably long. Any one desiring a more thorough treatment will find it in Edward Whittaker and Reg Carr, ‘Spirit’ in the New Testament;45 Aleck Crawford, The Spirit - A General Exposition of New Testament Usage; 46 and Graham Pearce, The Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit Gifts. 47
Luke 11:13 — “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
This was a promise to the immediate disciples of Jesus who already had experience of spirit gifts (9:1-2) and in the future would experience that greater outpouring of spirit gifts at Pentecost.
John writes, “This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us” (1 John 5:14). To ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit in these days is to ask amiss.
Luke 12:12 — “For the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.”
Fulfilled in the experience of the apostles, e.g. Acts 4:8-12, 19-20.
John 20:22 — “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit.”
This had to do with the forgiveness of sins (verse 23) and
relates either, (a) to an ability given to the disciples to recognise when men
had been forgiven48— something that would
have been very useful in the confusing days after the crucifixion; or, (b) to
an anticipation of Pentecost.
The disciples had other gifts of Holy Spirit before Pentecost, e. g. Matthew
10:8 which involved them being able to heal the sick. These gifts were temporary;
there is no evidence that they continued independently of the Pentecostal outpouring.
Romans 8:13-14 — “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. “
Galatians 5:16-18 — “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Spirit is here being used in contrast to flesh — the inward man (Romans 7:22) conceived by the word (1 Peter 1:23) and nourished by the word (1 Peter 2:2) in contrast to the old man of the flesh. We are led of the Spirit if we are led by the power of the Spirit given Word.
Romans 8:26-27 — “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
The one who does the “groaning” is the believer — “we ourselves groan within ourselves” (v. 23). The believers have the “firstfruits of the Spirit” (v. 23), which in the context is that which has been conceived and begotten “by the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:18). During our probation this is a mental and moral new creature. It is this “spirit” man — “the inward man” of 7:22 — who groans saying, O wretched man that I am...” (7:24). “He that searcheth the hearts” is Jesus (Revelation 2:23) and he intercedes for us when we find it difficult to put into words what we want to ask (verse 34; Hebrews 7:25). NB. Matt. 6:8 - what was true of the Father during the ministry of Jesus, became true of the Son after his resurrection.
Romans 14:17 — “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
The Romans were agitated over the question of meats offered to idols. When the kingdom for which they were supposedly looking is established they would not be concerned with meat and drink but with righteousness and peace and joy in that age that will be dominated by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:16 — “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”
Paul uses the figures of him being a priest, the Gentiles are
his offering; the Holy Spirit was the means whereby the gospel was preached
being attested by signs and wonders (v. 18-19).
1 Corinthians 2:14 — “But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
The fulness of God’s revelation had been made known to the Holy Spirit gifted brethren “by the Spirit” (v. 10). Only those minds that had been influenced by the “word of the cross” (1 Corinthians 1:18 RV) were in a position to evaluate the deeper revelation given to, and taught by, the apostles.
1 Corinthians 3:16 — “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
1 Corinthians 6:19 — “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
2 Corinthians 6:16 — “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. “
NB. “Ye [plural] are the temple [singular]. This is the Ecclesia in and through which the Father and the Son were active by means of the Holy Spirit gifts. Note that 2 Corinthians 6:16 contains a quote from Leviticus 26:11-12 which reads: “I will set my tabernacle [i.e. will dwell] among you... and I will walk among you...” 2 Corinthians 6:16 should therefore be rendered “I will dwell among them, and walk among them...” (Cf. Revelation 2:1).
1 Corinthians 6:11 — “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
This cannot mean that they were sanctified and justified by the Holy Spirit because men are sanctified by the Word of truth (John 17:17) and they are justified when they believe the word (Galatians 3:8). The Holy Spirit was given after men had believed and been baptised (Acts 2:38). However, it is quite right to argue that they were sanctified and justified when they believed the gospel which was preached “with the Holy Spirit” active in the preachers (1 Peter 1:12).
1 Corinthians 12:3 — “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit.”
This was the criteria by which those who claimed to be inspired should be judged — by the words they spoke. Thus John says, “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world (1 John 4:1). We today must use the same test when assessing the words of those who claim to have the Holy Spirit: “If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20).
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 —”Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”
The Holy Spirit gifts constituted the evidence that the believers
were doing God’s work, and they were the pledge of the greater blessings
of the Kingdom. Paul describes the gifts as “the powers of the world to
come” (Hebrews 6:4-5).
Ephesians 3:16 — “That he would grant you, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the
inner man...”
This is one of the most frequently quoted Scriptures to ‘prove’ that we need the Spirit in order to become spiritually strong. It is part of a prayer for the Ephesians in which the Apostle makes known his desire that those with the gifts of the Spirit in the ecclesia might minister faithfully to the needs of its members, so that they might have the inner man strengthened. The means of strengthening that which has been “born again by the word” is by them feeding on “the sincere milk of the word” (1 Peter 1:23; 2:2). In those days the Word was provided by spirit-gifted brethren. This must be the way to understand this Scripture because the result of them being strengthened was “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (verse 17) and we know that “faith cometh by hearing... the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
Ephesians 4:30-32 — “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
See 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 above. Refers to those gifts which had been given by the ascended Jesus (Ephesians 4:7). This is an appeal not to misuse the gifts.
Ephesians 5:18 — “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit...”
The parallel in Colossians gives the meaning — “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16). The Word was given by the Spirit.
Ephesians 6:18 — “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints...”
Either a reference to the ecclesia praying by the exercise of spirit gifts (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:13-16) or an exhortation to pray in harmony with revealed truth (1 John 5:6).
Philippians 1:19 — “For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ...”
Paul was in prison. He asks for the prayers of the Philippian believers and expresses his confidence in what Jesus would do by the Spirit — note especially Luke 12:12.
Philippians 2:12-13 — “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
The whole work of salvation is of God. He has graciously given
His Word. He arranges, angelically, the circumstances that determine when the
gospel seed is sown. But the means whereby He performs His good work in us is
the Word. As Paul wrote: “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing,
because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which
effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thessalonians
2:13).
1 Thessalonians 1:6 — “And ye became followers
of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy
of the Holy Spirit...”
The rejoicing of the Thessalonians was “of the Holy Spirit” because the gospel had been preached to them “with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven” (1 Peter 1:12) as it operated in the Apostle and his helpers. Our joy at becoming aware of the good news derives from the Word of God which was also given by Holy Spirit.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 — “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth...”
1 Peter 1:2 — “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”
In both cases the words in the Greek are, “in sanctification of spirit.” The spirit that is sanctified is the spirit, or mind, of the individual. Sanctification comes from accepting the gospel — “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17), or as the Thessalonians quotation has it, “belief of the truth”. In the good ground person this leads to “obedience” in the waters of baptism when the individual becomes the subject of the “sprinkling of the blood of Christ”.
2 Timothy 1:14 — “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in us.”
Timothy had Holy Spirit gifts (e. g. 1:6; 4:5) but he seems to have been a bit too timid. He was therefore exhorted by Paul to exercise his gifts in furtherance of the Truth.
1 John 3:24 — “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”
1 John 4:13 — “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”
The miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit witnessed to the fact
that they were indeed the children of God. Cf. Romans 8:16.
FOOTNOTES |
45 Testimony: Norwich, 1985. Order
on: |