Have you the Spirit of Christ?

This question gives rise to some interesting thoughts; What is the “Spirit of Christ?”. How are we to understand it? Here “Spirit of Christ” is intended to convey the idea of the mind or thinking, or motive power, of Christ. The word “spirit”, in both Old and New Testaments, is derived from words whose root meaning is “wind” or “breath” or “to breathe”. Jesus, then, was the Word, Wind, Breath or Spirit of God, made flesh, so that he could say, “The words, or breathings, that I breathe, are not mine, but His that sent me”. He had to be about his Father’s business, to grow in stature and wisdom and to learn obedience by the things that he suffered. This developed in him the mind or thinking of the Spirit, or Word, of God, which enabled him to say, “It is my meat and drink to do my Father’s will”.

When, and if, by the same process of development, we reach that stage where it is indeed our whole desire to be pleasing to our Heavenly Father, then we can say that we have, in measure, the Spirit, or breathings, or words of Christ.

So Paul could say (Romans 8. 9), “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His”. That the “Spirit of Christ” is not a sort of baptismal gift presented to us at our baptism is evident, for Paul shows the possibility of not having it by his use of the words in the same verse, “If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you”. In writing to the ecclesias of Galatia he says (Ch. 3. 1), “0 foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the Truth”, for, he says, “Ye ob­serve days, months, and times and years. I am afraid of (or for) you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain” (v. 10, 11). But their case is not without hope for he says, “I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (v. 19).

These references, together with our own experiences, must help us to realize that the Spirit of Christ is something that must be formed in us and, moreover, must grow in us.

Before there can be a birth, there must have been a conception. In the matter which we are considering, we see this as the implanting in the mind of a seed by means of the Spirit-Word. After a period there emerges or is born, through the water of baptism, a new creature in Christ Jesus, “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1. 13) ; or, as James expresses it, “Of His own will begat He us with (or by) the Word of Truth” (James 1. 18).

If there is to be a strong and well developed adult, there must be a steady and consistent growth and development right from that birth. The material for this is provided in “The Word of Truth”, that is, “The sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2. 2). How this material is used is illustrated by Jesus in the parables, as in that of the Sower (Mark 4. 14-20). Those who receive the seed in stony places are those who make no effort to cultivate a spiritual mind (the mind of Christ), and so, when they are put to the test by or because of the Word, they fail and die. Those who receive the seed among thorns are those who appear to grow and be active, but mentally they are stagnant, the many cares, trials and attractions of this life are a deterrent, and they bring no fruit to perfection. The writer to the Hebrews spoke of this class when he said, “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of God: and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful (or has no experience) in the Word of Righteousness: for he is a babe” (Hebrews 5. 12-13). They who receive the seed into good ground are those who, passing through all the stages of fruit. Paul, in writing to the ecclesia at Corinth, said, “God was in Christ”, or Christ was the expression, the showing forth, of the mind or Spirit of God. AsJesus himself said, “The Father that dwelleth in me He doeth the works”. At an earlier stage in His development He said to Joseph and Mary, “You should have known that 1 would be about My Father’s business”. In Him was a fulfilment of the prophecy, -The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (Psalm 19. 9).

So we, who are begotten by the Spirit-Word and born into the family of God through the waters of baptism, must develop and grow, even as Jesus did. We must manifest a zeal for the things of God, who is now our “Father in Heaven”, and cultivate in ourselves that mind, or spirit, which will lead us at all times to be about our Father’s business.

So we can understand Paul’s words when he said, “If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Rom. 8. 9). He had just said, “We are not thinking in, or according to, the flesh, that is the fleshly mind, but according to the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you”. It would appear, therefore, that the “Spirit of God” and the “Spirit of Christ” are one spirit.

This becomes more evident from verse 11, where Paul says, “If the Spirit (or mind) of God that raised up Jesus dwell in us”, and Jesus was raised up because that mind or spirit dwelt in him, “God will also quicken our mortal bodies, by (or because of) that spirit that dwells in us”. Here the Apostle is using the terms “raised up” or “quicken” in the ultimate sense, just as he uses it in 1 Cor, 15, or as Jesus used it in John 6. 39-40.

We see, then, that our being raised up to everlasting life is consequent upon our hav­ing developed within ourselves—by trials endured, by temptations overcome, by faith built up, by labours of love—the spirit or mind that Jesus displayed. For as Peter tells us, “If these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be idle, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1. 8-11).