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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
February, 1934
life’s journey— in God’s way or in our own way, in human power or in divine power. “ Be filled with the Spirit,” is God’s gracious offer to live in His power. V ic t o r y Now The command is in the present tense: “ Be ye being filled with the Spirit,” and the meaning may be fairly stated thus: “ Live your life in the fullness o f the Holy Spirit.” That is, Paul is not referring primarily to some great emotional experience or to some special power that fits a man to preach a great sermon or to go forth to win many to Christ. This whole passage emphasizes the fact that Paul is speaking of ordinary Christians meeting every day temptations. He has just said, “ Be not drunk with wine” ; the command, “ Be filled with the Spirit,” is just as definite and plain. This command has a real reference, therefore, to every Christian. But it suggests also that some may not be living that way, and there is a definite crisis in the life when a Christian learns what this means, and does his part in re sponding to the command. The expression, “ Be filled with the Spirit,” is parallel with the expression, “ Walk after the Spirit,” and the practical effect in the life will be the manifestation o f the ninefold “ fruit of the Spirit.” “ The fruit o f the Spirit is love” ; then follow what we may think o f as four pairs o f twins, indicating what will be the result in a life that bears the fruit o f love— the love o f God that is shed abroad in the heart through the Holy Spirit (Rom . 5 : 5 ) : joy and peace, long-suffering and kindness, faithfulness and good ness, meekness and self-control. God’s commentary on Galatians 5 :22, 23, is the thirteenth chapter o f First Corinthians. That chapter tells how love behaves, and how a Christian behaves when he is walking in the Spirit. A Christian bearing the fruit o f the Spirit is not look ing within to decide whether he is meek or faithful. But he can know when the joy o f the Lord and the peace that passes understanding are not there; he can know when he does not suffer long, with kindness undimmed; he knows when he is not faithful to God and to man and at the same time merciful and generous (as the word “ goodness” sig nifies) ; he can know when he is proud and giving way to his human desires. This is God’s standard. It is like ness to Christ. How is it possible for the Christian man, and how far is it possible ? T h e B a s is o f V ic t o r y First of all, the man must be born of the Spirit of God. And to be born o f the Spirit he must be convicted as a lost sinner and know that Christ died in his place on the cross. The Son of man was lifted up in order that whosoever believes might have eternal life (John 3 :15 ). There would be no eternal life had not Christ paid the death penalty for our sin. I f men preach a life of victory or a spiritual experience which is not rooted and grounded in the blood o f Christ and in justification, that life is on a false foundation. Salvation by works has ever been Satan’s plan o f salvation. And every teaching that does not show men that they are lost sinners, condemned and under the penalty o f sin, is not the gospel. To tell a man to do something instead o f telling him to believe some thing, and to receive something that God has done, is to
preach salvation by works, and to bring the man into bondage or into a false hope. When a man sees himself as a lost sinner and takes Christ as his personal Saviour, his sins are forgiven; he is justified (that is, he stands before God as though he had never sinned) ; he is born o f the Spirit; he has the witness o f the Spirit, bringing assurance o f sonship (Rom. 8 :16 ; Gal. 4 :6 ) ; he is bap tized by the Spirit into one body, the body o f Christ (1 Cor. 12:13) ; and the Holy Spirit dwells within him (Rom. 8 :9; 1 Cor. 3 :16; 6 :19) . He is now to walk in the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, bearing the fruit o f the Spirit. The relation between the new birth— that great crisis when a man passes from death to life, from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God— and the daily living in the power o f the Holy Spirit is set forth in a striking way in Colossians 2 :6 and Galatians 5 :25 (R .V .). In one verse, the truth is given in terms o f the work of the Lord Jesus: “ As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.”- In the other, the same truth is stated in terms o f the work o f the Holy Spirit: “ If we live by the Spirit [that is, if we have been born o f the Spirit and have eternal life], by the Spirit let us also walk,” that is, live our daily lives. W a l k i n g i n V ic t o r y But suppose a Christian is not living that way. Some say he needs to have a second work o f grace, or that he needs to be baptized by the Spirit. There are many earnest Christians who are accomplishing great things in the name o f the Lord who teach that every Christian needs this “ baptism,” as an experience necessarily subsequent to the new birth. But if this were true, we might expect the Epistles to be full o f exhortations to Christians to be bap tized by the Spirit, or to enter into the second work of grace. W,e find no exhortation o f that kind: yet many of those early Christians were in great spiritual need, just as Christians are today. On the other hand, the one passage that directly mentions the baptism o f the Spirit distinctly says that all Christians' have been baptized by or in the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13, R .V .); But these Christians are emphasizing a much-needed truth when they insist that many Christians do need something they do not have— something different from growing in grace and in the knowledge o f the Lord. They need a crisis. I f we believe that all Christians are baptized in the Spirit, and need no new crisis, and yet our lives are dead and ineffective, are we not in greater error than those who make a mistake on the scriptural doctrine, and yet show the fruit of love and zeal in their life and service ? If a Christian is convicted that he is not walking in the Spirit, he needs to make a decision. Christians are plainly commanded to yield (surrender) their lives to Christ (Rom , 6 :13 ), to present (surrender) their bodies a living sacrifice (Rom . 12:1). These injunctions suggest that a Christian may not be yielded to Christ, although each o f these commands, like the command, “ Be filled with the Spirit,” has an application to all Christians, meaning “ live your life in yieldedness to Christ.” No man can take Christ as Saviour without taking Him as Lord. No one can believe for salvation, and decide to hold something back from Christ. When a Christian remembers the occa- [Continued on page 47]
It is the Jj)ok that Saves; It is the Qaze that Sanctifies. — A . J. G ordon .
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