The Spirit Man

Last updated: September 2020

On the third day of a fast, the Lord opened my spiritual understanding of Hebrews 11:1, my signature verse, to see that faith is indeed evidence! Faith is the "substance" or essence (in some translations "assurance") of "things hoped for" - is faith derived from hope cf. Colossians 1: 4-5? It is also evidence of unseen truths and realities (2 Corinthians 4:18; Ephesians 6: 12; 1 Peter 1: 7-8) e.g. evidence of an afterlife that so many believe in. The fact that you have faith is the evidence that these things, though unseen, are real!  True faith (the kind that endures testing and persecution) must therefore be something supernatural, outside of ourselves, that we cannot conjure up or produce on our own (Romans 5: 7; Mark 13: 11; Ephesians 2: 8). Faith does indeed come by hearing, but by hearing the words of God (Romans 10: 17), which are spirit and life (John 6:63; 2 Timothy 3: 16; Hebrews 4: 12), and the ability to hear i.e. to perceive God's word as intended and heed it is supernatural (Matthew 13: 10-16, Isaiah 6: 8-10; John 5: 38; 2 Peter 1: 20-21; 1 Corinthians  2: 10-14). It is important to note that the things which are unseen alluded to in 2 Corinthians 4:18 pertain to spiritual things which, according to 1 Corinthians 1: 14, are spiritually discerned and cannot be known or received by the natural man. They are unseen precisely because they cannot be detected by our physical senses such as sight etc. They have to be discerned or revealed spiritually e.g. by the spirit of God or, in the case of the kingdom of darkness, by evil (familiar) spirits through their knowledge or familiarity with man (Job 1:6-12, Job 2: 1-6, 1 Peter 5: 8-9), oppression of man (covenant/agreement-based? e.g. the temptations & passion of Jesus, Job, Paul see 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10 and the church see James 1: 1-4; 1 Peter 1: 5-7; Revelation 2: 10), or possession of man (covenant/agreement-based - this can be overt or covert i.e. by default see Acts 16: 16-18; Luke 8: 26-39 cf. Matthew 8: 28-34 & Mark 5: 1-19; Luke 11: 14-26).

I recall a strange experience several years ago. I know a woman who after kissing a "Christian" man, could suddenly visualize women's sexual organs without even trying to, even though she was not interested in women that way. She had never experienced anything like it before and can only infer that it was "something" connected to him which, thankfully, could not take possession of her because of the Holy Spirit living in her, who is more powerful (1 John 4: 4; 1 Corinthians 6: 19; Luke 11: 21-22). To use an analogy, which is easier for squatters to inhabit, a vacant house or an occupied house? Or imagine both are occupied, but one is an ordinary house and the other is the (presidential) white house. Which is easier to enter? Now think of your body as a house. Is your body vacant or occupied? If occupied, by whom? The stronger the occupant, the harder it is to take possession (bear in mind Satan's kingdom is not divided and so demons/evil/unclean spirits are more likely to share possession than cast each other out (Luke 11: 15-18), unless of course the purpose is to deceive (Matthew 24: 24; 2 Thessalonians 2: 8-12; Revelation 13: 13-14 & 16: 13-14).

Giving your life to Jesus when you get saved is just the start. What must follow this, but often sadly does not, is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit endows us with spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12), which are for the edification of the body of Christ i.e. the church (1 Corinthians 14: 12; Ephesians 4: 11-12). Some would argue that these gifts are without repentance i.e. once God gives them, he does not take them back but for me the jury is still out on this. On the other hand, the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5: 22-25) requires a continuous yielding or submission to the Holy Spirit. This is why oftentimes Christians, including myself, behave like the carnal or unsaved man (1 Corinthians 3: 1-3; Hebrews 5: 12) when we give way to the desires of the flesh i.e. our old sin nature, and why we are repeatedly urged in the Bible to crucify the flesh and to "walk after" or submit to the Spirit (Galatians 5: 24-25; Romans 8: 7-8). Without the Holy Spirit's help, we cannot live the Christian life victoriously (Luke 11: 13). Jesus himself instructed his disciples to first wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower them (Acts 1: 4-8).

So how is the Holy Spirit different from other spirit guides (John 16: 13-15)? Well, for a start he is good but then other spirit guides can appear to be good, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11: 14-15). He is the Spirit of truth and with him there is no falsehood or deception; he will not lead you to "cut corners". He never contradicts  what is written in the (unadulterated) Holy Bible (2 Peter 1: 20-21; 2 Timothy 3: 16). He is jealous (Exodus 20: 5 & 34: 14; James 4: 4-5; 2 Corinthians 11: 2-4) in the sense that being holy (the clue is in the name) he does not tolerate sin and will not share us with another spirit (unlike demons who will happily share you with one another). If you're not living a holy life (or seriously trying to), then your spirit guide or muse is probably not the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 12: 14). Perhaps the key difference is that the Holy Spirit is not a control freak, and will never override the free will God has given us (2 Corinthians 3: 17; Joshua 24: 15). He is gentle and grieved by our sin/disobedience (Ephesians 4: 30; 1 Thessalonians 5: 19; Matthew 13: 31; Hebrews 6: 4-6), and is more likely to leave than to impose his will on you (Psalm 51: 11-12; Judges 13: 24-35 & 16: 20; 1 Samuel 16: 14: the evil spirit described here as "from God" i.e. sent or allowed by God, shows us who's really in charge cf. 2 Thessalonians 2: 11). The relationship with the Holy Spirit can be better described as a collaboration; he is not the controlling, possessive type and even when he's with you, you still have a choice whether or not to do his will (2 Corinthians 3: 17; for those of you religious folks who will quote Acts 16: 6-7, my response would be when you are totally yielded to the Holy Spirit like the apostles, which few of us are, his will becomes paramount).

“Sin shall no longer have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace” (Romans 6: 14 cf. Psalm 119: 133). Nevertheless, if you keep doing what you don't want to do, you are no longer in control, sin is (Romans 7: 19-21; 2 Peter 2: 19; Galatians 5: 17). Through Jesus' atonement for our sins (grace), the law is fulfilled and sin is rendered powerless or “condemned” (Ezekiel 18: 20; 1 Corinthians 15: 56-57; Romans 8: 3). God does for us and in us what we cannot do for and by ourselves. This does not abolish the law but rather fulfils it because the whole purpose of the law is to deter sin. Therefore grace is not a means of righteousness apart from the law, which is a common misinterpretation of Romans 3: 21. Grace becomes another way of fulfilling God's righteous requirements (law) through which sin and, therefore, Satan has no power (Hebrews 2: 14; Romans 6: 23).  This is the promise of God to Abraham that through faith the Gentiles (non-Jews) can become children of God (Galatians 3: 22 & v.26) and receive the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3: 13-14); and, crucially, this is also the new covenant that Scripture prophesied God would make with Israel in Jeremiah 31: 31-34 !

Interestingly, this "new" covenant is the fulfillment of the covenant that God made with Abraham centuries before the covenant with Israel mediated by Moses (referred to as "law" in Romans 6: 14, "law of works" in Romans 3: 27, "law of sin and death" in Romans 8: 2), that in Abraham's seed (Israel/Jesus) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 22: 15-18; Hebrews 2: 16; Galatians 3: 8 & v.17). How is the new covenant ratified or approved? Through the blood of Jesus, the lamb of God (Matthew 26: 28; Hebrews 9: 13-22; Leviticus 17:11; John 1: 29; Isaiah 59: 20; Galatians 3: 13; Ephesians 1: 7; Romans 3: 23-31). How is it fulfilled? Through the Holy Spirit (Romans 8: 4; Isaiah 59: 21). And so we see that the just shall indeed live by faith (Habakkuk 2: 4; Romans 1: 17). We shall keep God's law (Matthew 22: 37-40), not in our own strength, but by the sanctification (enabling power) of the Holy Spirit, depending on God's word to sustain us (Matthew 4: 4; Deuteronomy 8: 3; Genesis 18: 17-19; James 2: 17-26). Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ has reconciled both schools of thought, the "pro-law" and "anti-law" camps, for it is the hostility or division created by the law that Jesus has abolished, not the law itself (Matthew 5: 17-18; Ephesians 2: 11-18; Colossians 3: 9-11)!

Such is the kindness of God that he lovingly convicts us in our area of weakness. To ascetics such as Martin Luther, He shows himself as the God of grace and to those who view grace as a licence to sin and believe "anything goes", He shows himself as the God of law and order. I speak from personal experience: I was a perfectionist, something I now recognize to be a stronghold associated with my country of origin. I was pretty self-righteous and fell into temptation. However, in accepting his judgment and turning to God for help and comfort, (Hebrews 12: 5-6; Psalm 119: 71, 75-76), He forgave and restored me (Psalm 32:5; Psalm 23: 3), and even gave me his Holy Spirit (how marvellous!). Whichever way we are so inclined, we will find Him when we seek Him with all our heart (Jeremiah 29: 13).

Growing up, I was taught right from Sunday school that we are all made in the image of God (Genesis 1: 26-27 & 2: 7). Until recently, I have never questioned this. Yet, how can this be, when there is so much variation among people and so much evil perpetrated by mankind? After all, isn’t God good? And if we are made in God’s image, why do we eventually all die (John 10: 34-36 cf. Psalm 82: 6-7)? Isn’t God immortal? Well, I had thought that the mere fact of the extraordinary commonality of human anatomy and physiology, despite external differences, was proof that we have a common Creator, and so too was this thing common to humans called a “conscience”. I also knew from my Bible knowledge that sin (the knowledge of good and evil) and death entered the world as a result of the Fall (Genesis 3). However, while reading my bible study guide (12 April 2018), I saw for the first time something in Genesis 5 that I had not noticed before: God created the first of mankind (Adam and Eve) in His likeness (Genesis 5: 1), who were indeed created as immortal beings but through sin became mortal and, subsequently, Adam and his descendants begot their offspring in their own likeness, after their own image, not God’s (Genesis 5: 3)!

“And the LORD said, ‘My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; his days shall be a hundred and twenty years’” (Genesis 6:3). God is a spirit (John 4: 24; Hebrews 12: 9) and people are spirits in a human body (1 Corinthians 2: 11). So we see that there are different types of spirits (1 Corinthians 2: 12; 1 John 4: 1-3; Luke 10: 20; 1 Kings 22: 1-35). It is only when we partake of the new nature, what Jesus called being “born again”, that is, born of the Spirit of God i.e. the Holy Spirit, that we become, as God intended in the beginning, children of God made in His image (John 3: 3-6). Thus, the co-existing divinity and humanity of Jesus is not such a mystery. Jesus is God the Spirit inhabiting a human body, unrestricted by sin (John 1: 32-34; John 3: 34). Therefore the pre-incarnate Jesus (John 17: 5) must have been a spirit, like God and the angels are spirits (John 4: 24; Hebrews 1: 13-14), but what of the resurrected Jesus (Luke 24: 36-43; John 20: 24-29; Revelation 1: 13-16; see https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/jesus-body/; accessed Feb 13, 2020)?

Even more amazing is that Jesus is the “firstborn” of the sons (children) of God! There are a number of Scripture verses that indicate this e.g. Matthew 17: 5; Colossians 1: 15-18; Ephesians 3:14-15; Romans 8: 14-23. As children of God, born of the Holy Spirit, we are destined to be like Jesus (Romans 8: 29-30) and, through the cross i.e. suffering, to partake of his resurrection glory (1 Corinthians 15: 42-54; Romans 8: 11 & 17-18; Luke 9: 23 & 14: 27; Acts 14: 22; Philippians 1: 29; 1 Peter 2: 21; Hebrews 2: 10, 5: 8-9, 12: 2-9 cf. Proverbs 3: 11-12; Revelation 3: 19-21).