IX
THE SPIRIT AND CHRISTIANS
It has been aptly and truthfully said that "no importance can be attached to a religion that is not begun, carried on and completed by the Spirit of God." That the Christian is led, guided and strengthened by the Spirit can not be denied by any Bible reader. To deny the fact that the Spirit dwells in us is to deny the Bible. But it is asserted with equal clearness in the Divine Word that God dwells in us. "And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (2 Cor. 6:16). This not only says that God will dwell in us, but that he walks in us. It is also clearly taught that Christ dwells in us. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love" (Eph. 3:17).
Now, if God, Christ and the Spirit dwell in us, is there any teaching that the Spirit dwells in us in a different sense from that in which the Father and the Son dwell in us? How, then, does the Father dwell in us? By referring to Lev. 26:12, from which Paul quoted, we find that God promised to be in communion with Israel, but there is nothing in the passage to show his personal indwelling in any one person. How does Christ dwell in us? The passage above quoted says, "Christ shall dwell in your hearts by faith;" more correctly rendered, "the faith" or the gospel. How does the Spirit dwell in us? In Gal. 3:2, Paul asks the Galatians: "Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of the faith?"—or the gospel. The above Scriptures clearly teach that when the words, thoughts and Spirit of God are controlling in our lives, God dwells in us; that when the gospel controls us, Christ dwells in us; that when we receive the gospel by the hearing of faith, the Spirit dwells in us.
Now, what reason has any man for declaring that the Spirit dwells in us in any other way, unless he can point to an explicit declaration of God's word defining and explaining that other way? This can not be done, for there is no such passage. "But," says one, "I do not have to depend upon the Word. I know it by my own consciousness." It is a principle as old as metaphysics that consciousness does not take cognizance of causes, but of effects. You may be conscious of an effect within you, but you can not be conscious of the cause that produced the effect. Suppose you are lying asleep on the ground; you are suddenly awakened by a severe pain in your lower limb; consciousness tells you that you are suffering pain, but it does not tell you what produced that pain. This must be decided by reason or faith. If you find a thorn in the grass where your limb was resting, reason says the thorn stuck you; if you find a bumblebee mashed in the grass, reason will say the insect stung you; or, if some one near you says a boy with a pin in his hand ran away from you, faith will say the boy stuck you. But in either case it was reason or faith that decided the cause of your pain. Now, when a man says, "I am conscious of the presence of the Holy Spirit within me," he simply means, "I am conscious of a feeling within me which I have been taught was caused by the Holy Spirit." If the man has been taught wrong, he assigns a wrong cause for the feeling. What is the feeling usually assigned for the presence of the Holy Spirit's personal indwelling? It is a feeling of joy, peace and love. But can not such feeling be excited by other causes? We know there are dozens of causes that will produce such feelings. In the absence of clear testimony, what right has any one to attribute such feeling to the personal presence of the Holy Spirit? A man is found murdered. The testimony shows that any one of a dozen men could have killed him. Is there an intelligent jury in the land that would convict any one of the men of being the murderer? What would you think of a jury that would render such a verdict?
"Well," says one, "what of the great numbers who pray for a 'Pentecostal revival'? Are they all wrong?" Not wrong in what they want, but wrong in what they call it. All that those people desire, is to be filled with a genuine revival of religious enthusiasm. Their mistake is in calling it a "Pentecostal shower." A Pentecostal shower would lead every preacher under its influence to say, with the apostle Peter, to inquiring sinners: "Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." This is what they are careful not to say. It is a clear evidence that the Spirit which guided Peter is not guiding them. I assert it to be a fact that everything that is claimed to be effected by a personal indwelling of the Spirit is as clearly accomplished by the Spirit acting through the word of God.
I do not wish to rest content with asserting that statement, but I wish to prove it. What are the things that might be accomplished by a direct personal indwelling of the Spirit in us?
1. He might give us faith.
But through the Word he does that. "So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17).
2. He might enable us to enjoy a new birth.