Search
In this message we shall cover more aspects of the second stage — the inner-life-working stage — of the Spirit’s work in the believers for the divine dispensing.
As the Spirit works in the believers, He searches and reveals to them all things concerning Christ — the depths of God. First Corinthians 2:10 says, “God has revealed them to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” The depths of God refer to the deep things of God, which are Christ in many aspects as our eternal portion, foreordained, prepared, and given to us freely by God. These have never arisen in man’s heart, but they are revealed to us in our spirit by God’s Spirit. Hence, we must be spiritual in order to partake of them. We need to live and move in our spirit that we may enjoy Christ as everything to us.
God reveals the deep and hidden things to us through the Spirit, for these things have not been seen by man’s eyes, heard by man’s ears, nor have they come up in man’s heart (1 Cor. 2:9). This means that man has no idea concerning them, no thought of them. They are altogether mysterious, hidden in God, and beyond human understanding. But God has revealed them to us through the Spirit, who searches all things, even the depths of God.
To have something revealed to us is different from being taught about that thing. To teach is related to our mind; to reveal, to our spirit. To realize the deep and hidden things God has prepared for us, our spirit is more necessary than our mind. When our entire being becomes one with God through loving Him in intimate fellowship, He shows us, in our spirit through His Spirit, all the secrets of Christ as our portion. This is to reveal the hidden things planned by His wisdom concerning Christ, things which have never come up in man’s heart.
First Corinthians 2:10 says that the Spirit searches all things. The life-giving Spirit is searching Christ as the depths of God. The Greek word rendered “searches” includes active research and implies accurate knowledge not in discovering but in exploring. The Spirit of God explores the depths of God concerning Christ and shows them to us in our spirit for our realization and participation. The life-giving Spirit is moving and searching within us. By this searching He imparts the riches of Christ into our being.
To know the depths of God is to know Christ in many aspects as our eternal portion. Christ is the center of God’s economy, the portion given to us by God for enjoyment, and the mysterious wisdom hidden in God. God’s wisdom in a mystery is Christ as the deep things of God. Christ, the all-inclusive and extensive One, is truly the depths of God.
If we would know Christ as the depths of God, we need to know that through incarnation God became a man named Jesus. Through His crucifixion the Lord Jesus terminated the old creation and released the divine life that it may be imparted into all who believe in Him. Now, in resurrection, He is the life-giving Spirit who indwells our spirit and who has become one spirit with us. We have a mingled spirit within us, our regenerated human spirit mingled with the divine Spirit. Now we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). These matters are unfathomable; they are immeasurably deep and profound.
If we consider the context of the whole book of 1 Corinthians, we shall have the assurance to interpret the deep things of God in 2:10 as referring to the all-inclusive Christ who, as the life-giving Spirit, indwells our spirit. After accomplishing redemption, this Christ has become the life-giving Spirit. As such, He is so available to us that we can be joined to Him as one spirit. Nothing can be deeper than this.
The Spirit teaches the believers spiritual words — the things of the Spirit of God — for spiritual communication. First Corinthians 2:13 says, “Which also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual things by spiritual things.” The Greek word rendered “communicating” literally means mixing or putting together, as interpreting or expounding. It is common in the Septuagint, found in verses such as Genesis 40:8; 41:12, 15. The thought here is to speak spiritual things by spiritual words. The stress is not on the person to whom the speaking is done but on the means by which the spiritual things are spoken. Paul spoke the spiritual things, which are the deep things of God concerning Christ, by the spiritual things, which are the spiritual words taught by the Spirit.
In 1 Corinthians 2:13 Paul says that he did not speak the spiritual things in words taught by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit. This means that he did not speak in the words of Greek philosophy or wisdom. Rather, he communicated spiritual things by spiritual words.
In 2:13 Paul uses the same term with two meanings. First, “spiritual things” refers to the spiritual things themselves, the deep things of God concerning Christ. Second, this expression refers to spiritual words. Spiritual things are designated and communicated by spiritual words. These spiritual words are spiritual things used to designate spiritual things. The speaking that is according to man’s wisdom is not spiritual. But the words taught by the Spirit of God are truly spiritual things. Thus, spiritual things are both the things given to us by God concerning Christ as our portion and also the words taught by the Spirit of God. Paul spoke spiritual things by spiritual things. He used spiritual words that are equal to the spiritual things themselves. Like Paul, we need to speak spiritual things by spiritual things. This we may do through the working of the Spirit, who teaches us spiritual words for spiritual communication.
As the Spirit works in the believers, He speaks also with them (1 Cor. 7:40). This means that when we speak, the Spirit speaks with us. For this we need to be one with the Triune God. If we are truly one with the indwelling Spirit, the Spirit will speak in our speaking.
The matter of the Spirit’s speaking with the believers is clearly seen in 1 Corinthians 7. Paul’s teaching in this chapter is very different from that of the prophets in the Old Testament. When the prophets spoke for God in Old Testament times, the word of the Lord came to them and enabled them to speak on God’s behalf. Often the prophets would say, “Thus saith the Lord.” The New Testament way of speaking for the Lord is very different. In 1 Corinthians 7 Paul never utters the words, “Thus saith the Lord.” The reason Paul does not use such an expression is that the apostles’ teaching in the New Testament is based on the principle of incarnation. According to this principle, God speaks in man’s speaking. With Paul in 1 Corinthians 7 we have an example of this principle of incarnation. Although Paul writes here that certain things he says are not the Lord’s word or commandment (v. 25), everything spoken by Paul in this chapter has nonetheless become part of the divine revelation in the New Testament. This is because Paul was a person absolutely one with God. Even when he says that he does not have a word from the Lord, the Lord speaks in his speaking. Because Paul was one with the Lord, when he spoke, the Lord spoke with him.
In verse 40 Paul says, “She is more blessed if she so remains, according to my opinion; but I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” In verse 10 the apostle says, “I charge, not I but the Lord.” In verse 12 he says, “I say, not the Lord.” In verse 25 he says, “I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give my opinion.” In verse 40 he says, “According to my opinion; but I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” All these words indicate the New Testament principle of incarnation, that is, God and man, man and God, becoming one. This differs drastically from the principle of Old Testament prophecy — speaking for God. In the Old Testament the word of Jehovah came to a prophet (Jer. 1:2; Ezek. 1:3), the prophet being simply the mouthpiece of God. But in the New Testament the Lord becomes one with His apostles and they become one with Him. Both speak together. His word becomes their word, and whatever they utter is His word. Hence, the apostle’s charge is the Lord’s charge (v. 10). What he says, though not by the Lord, still becomes a part of the divine revelation in the New Testament (v. 12). He is so one with the Lord that even when he gives his own opinion, not the commandment of the Lord (v. 25), he still thinks that he also has the Spirit of God. He does not claim definitely to have the Spirit of God, but he thinks that he also has the Spirit of God. This is the highest spirituality, a spirituality based on the principle of incarnation.
Another aspect of the Spirit’s work in the believers is His comforting them. Acts 9:31 says, “The church throughout the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it was multiplied.” This indicates that the church was suffering affliction through the persecutions, in which she feared the Lord and enjoyed the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit’s work in comforting us is a matter of the divine dispensing. We are comforted by the Spirit, and encouraged by Him, through His dispensing. The Triune God is dispensing Himself into us, and this dispensing is the Spirit’s comforting. Genuine comfort, therefore, involves the divine dispensing, the dispensing of the riches of the Triune God into our being.
The indwelling Spirit gives joy to the believers. Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” First Thessalonians 1:6 tells us that the believers “accepted the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit.” Because the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of joy, daily we should be joyful in the Lord.
Romans 15:13 says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.” Here we see that the Spirit empowers the believers to abound in hope in God.
The Spirit also gives love to the believers. Romans 15:30 speaks of the love of the Spirit, and Colossians 1:8 refers to the believers’ love in the Spirit. In these verses the Spirit is revealed as the source, the element, and the sphere of the believers’ love toward all the saints in Christ. According to our natural understanding, the matter of love is common. But according to the divine fact it is not common. Colossians 1:4 refers to the love which the saints in Colosse had unto all the saints; verse 8 reveals that their love to all the saints was the love in the Spirit. In ourselves we cannot have this kind of love. This love is in the Spirit. The Spirit is the source, the element, the very essence and sphere of such a love.
Our natural, human love is not universal. However, the Spirit works in us to give us a love for all the different members of the Lord’s Body. We love the brothers in the Lord from all cultures, races, and countries. This is not possible by our natural love, but there is this kind of love in the all-inclusive Spirit. He is the source, the element, and the sphere of this love. If we live in Him, He will give us the universal love that causes us to love all the saints.
Romans 5:5 says, “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” This verse reveals the work of the Spirit in pouring out God’s love in the hearts of the believers. Often in our Christian life we need encouragement and confirmation. As we pass through periods of suffering, we may have questions and doubts. Although doubts arise, we cannot deny that the love of God is within us. From the day we first called on the Lord Jesus, the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. This means that the Spirit confirms and assures us with the love of God. The indwelling Spirit assures us that God loves us. Therefore, although we may be afflicted, we cannot deny the presence of God’s love within us. Christ died for ungodly sinners such as we. Once we were enemies, but Christ shed His blood on the cross to reconcile us to God. What love is this! Through the work of the indwelling Spirit we realize afresh that God loves us and that His love has been poured out into our hearts.
The best way to be filled with the Holy Spirit is first to make a thorough confession of our sins, failures, and weaknesses. Then we should ponder God’s love, considering how much He loves us. If we do this, the Holy Spirit will pour out God’s love into our hearts, and we shall be filled with the Spirit.
Second Corinthians 4:13 indicates that the indwelling Spirit mingles with the believers in their faith: “Having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, therefore I spoke; we also believe, therefore also we speak.” The “same spirit” refers to the same spirit as set forth in the quotation from Psalm 116:10. Concerning the spirit in 2 Corinthians 4:13, Alford says, “Not distinctly the Holy Spirit, — but still not merely a human disposition: the indwelling Holy Spirit penetrates and characterizes the whole renewed man.” Vincent says, “Spirit of faith: not distinctly the Holy Spirit, nor, on the other hand, a human faculty or disposition, but blending both.” This means it is a mingling of the Holy Spirit with our human spirit. We must exercise such a spirit to believe and to speak, as the psalmist did, the things we have experienced of the Lord, especially His death and resurrection. Faith is in our spirit, which is mingled with the Holy Spirit, not in our mind. Doubts are in our mind. The “spirit” here indicates that it is by the mingled spirit that the apostles lived a crucified life in resurrection for carrying out their ministry.
If we would have the boldness to speak concerning Christ and of our experience of Christ in His death and resurrection, we need the spirit of faith. This means that in order to testify of what we have experienced of Christ, we need such a mingled spirit. As long as we have this mingled spirit, we shall have faith. Then we shall have the boldness to speak to others about our experience of Christ in His death and resurrection. As those who love the Lord Jesus, we need to practice being one spirit with Him. If we do this, we shall have the spirit of faith, for the indwelling Spirit will be mingled with our spirit in our faith.
