The Lord by His Spirit is everywhere present, and has power over all things and all life, in heaven and on earth. “In Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). All things are of God, and, because of His omnipotence and omniscience, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:14). “With God all things are possible” (Mt. 19:26). We cannot fully comprehend and appreciate the wonder of God’s ways and works, and while our powers and abilities are limited, we dishonour the Lord if we set restrictions on our acknowledgement of the potential power, ways and works of God. “So shall My word be that goeth forth . . . it shall accomplish that which I please” (Isa. 55:11).
The Creator’s first work on the earth of lifeless chaos was to dispel darkness: “Let there be light: and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). “I am the light of the world”, said the Lord Jesus (Jno. 8:12), and Christ has revealed the Father: ” . . this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God” (Jno. 17:3). And the Apostle Paul writing to Timothy says: “Our Saviour Jesus Christ . . . hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10).
It is folly for finite mortals to question or to dictate the mode of operation of the Divine Spirit; but we can affirm our understanding of God’s works and His relationship with man according to the light revealed in His Word, according to His dealings and communications with His servants and saints in the past. To assert that God may through His Spirit work in a manner not demonstrated in Scripture, and to formulate a doctrine on this mere human theory, is to presume on supposed knowledge beyond Divine revelation.
To Adam
The perfection of the work of the Divine Creator was realised in the creation of man, made in the image and after the likeness of Elohim. Man was
created a living creature with whom the Lord could communicate and from whom He could receive an intelligent response. How then did the Lord reveal His mind to man? “The Lord God commanded the man, saying. . .” (Gen. 2:16). On the evidence of Genesis 2:15 we may rightly assume that the angel of the Lord was physically in the presence and company of Adam, and that the command of verse 16 was spoken as man to man. This was certainly so with the confrontation after Adam’s sin, when Adam and Eve “heard the voice of the Lord God. . . in the garden . . . And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him. . .” (Gen. 3:8,9). And again, a little later, we read that “the Lord God said unto the woman . . . And . . . unto the serpent . . . And unto Adam He said. . .” (vv. 13,14,17). So it was with our first parents that the Lord’s communication, revelation and instruction came by word of mouth. By this means did Adam receive and learn the mind and will of God.
But there was something that Adam learned from within himself: man’s intrinsic state of sin, of nakedness, of shame, of fear and of alienation from his God and from the angel of the Lord (Gen. 3:7,10,11). This state, and this condition of sinfulness, is of the spirit of man, and is from within; it is not of the Lord, not of the Spirit of God. This is clear from 1 John 2:16: “For . . . the lust of the flesh . . . is not of the Father, but is of the world”. The Lord Jesus confirms this in his own teaching: “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts” (Mt. 15:19; see also Mt. 12:34,35). The heart of man is naturally and inherently wicked, knowing naturally only the things of the spirit of man, a point endorsed by the Apostle Paul writing to the believers in Corinth (1 Cor. 2:9-12). The spirit of man we know; and we know also that the “things of God” are not known to man apart from Divine revelation. In the light of Paul’s words, we ask, How do we receive the things of God? (1 Cor. 2:11). How do we receive the spirit which is of God? (v. 12).
To Abraham
Before we consider these words of Paul in some detail, let us ask and pursue the question, How were these things of God revealed and received by God’s servants in the past, in the Lord’s dealings with man subsequent to Adam? Having considered God’s communication with a sinner — Adam — let us follow the experience of a faithful man, Abram. In Hebrews 11:8 we read that Abram “was called”. How then was he called? Confirming the Genesis record of events, Stephen recounts in Acts 7:2, 3 that “the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham … and said unto him . . .” — a personal and physical presence of the angel of the Lord, speaking face to face with Abram, who, by contrast with Adam, responded with intelligent obedience to the spoken word (Gen. 12:1,8). Abraham did not respond to an inner voice. He was not the subject of some mystical experience (read Rom. 4:1-3). Abraham did not have a conviction of faith “as pertaining to the flesh”, according to “the spirit of man”. Instead, “the Lord said”, and Abraham “believed”. He was “fully persuaded”, and “he staggered not at the promise of God” (Rom. 4:20,21).
In contrast, we have the record that when the Spirit of God is present in or upon an individual there is unquestionable evidence of the Spirit (see Genesis 18:10 and 21:1). It is interesting to note that the Spirit is not mentioned in the record, but it is clear that it came upon Sarah through the work of an angel. The presence and work of the Spirit was not left to human conjecture and presumption; its work was, in due course of time, clearly evident for all to witness beyond doubt. As the result of her faith, that is, her trust in the spoken promise of the angel, Sarah received strength to conceive seed and to bear a child when past age (Heb. 11:11).
To Rahab and the Gibeonites
Like Abraham when he was resident in Ur of the Chaldees, Rahab was alien to “the things of God” until the Divinely guided exploits of Israel were noised abroad. As the Lord promised, there were “nations. . . who shall hear report of thee” (Deut. 2:25). So we read of the experience of Rahab in Joshua 2. Joshua sends two men to spy out the land of Canaan and they come to the house of Rahab who, recognizing that they were no ordinary wayfarers, communed with them and said: “I know that the Lord hath given you the land” (v. 9). How did she know? “We have heard how the Lord. . .” (v. 10). The news of Israel’s wonderful exploits had spread abroad, and Rahab heard and believed. Rahab further heard, believed and obeyed the words of the two spies: “And she said, According unto your words, so be it” (v. 21). Thus was Rahab a woman of faith on the principle that Paul explained to the Roman ecclesia: “Faith cometh by hearing . . .” (Rom. 10:17).
The development of faith is dependent upon the individual free-will manner in which the Word of God is received; it is dependent upon the attitude of mind responding to the Word of God. This means that there is a variety of reactions to the Word of God, as demonstrated in the contrasting manner of belief of the same information, of the same exploits of Israel, by the Gibeonites (See Josh. 9:3,4,9 and 24). The Gibeonites heard because they had been told that God had promised the land to Israel, and they believed what they heard, but not in faith; instead they feared and acted wilily. Both the Gibeonites and Rahab reacted of their own free will to knowledge of what God had said and done, the only outside influence being the news of Israel’s activities, which news they heard.
To Cornelius
Now let us turn to the New Testament, to the Christian era and the preaching of the apostles. In Acts 10 we have the record of the conversion of a Roman soldier, Cornelius, a man who feared the God of Israel (vv. 1,2). An angel in a vision directed Cornelius to the Apostle Peter, the angel saying, ” . . he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do” (v. 6). This direction given to Cornelius by the angel was the Lord’s response to the prayer of Cornelius (v. 30). Now Cornelius had a knowledge of God’s truth — knowledge derived from the preaching of God’s servants (vv. 36,37). The word preached and accepted by Cornelius had its due effect upon his life and character; he was “devout” and “feared God” (v. 2). But he was still in need of direction; his knowledge of God’s Word, and his devotion, gave him no inner voice, no experience of a call to obey Christ’s commands, despite the fact that he was a man of good works. The necessary spiritual instruction was given at God’s command, first through the angel advising of the visit of Peter: “When he cometh, (he) shall speak unto thee” (v. 32). So, “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word” (v. 44).
There are two important points to note here respecting the bestowal of the Holy Spirit. First, this was an unusual occurrence, because the circumstances were unique in the experience of the apostles. The Lord Jesus had commanded them to go “into all the world, and preach the gospel” (Mk. 16:15). But was Peter, a Jew, to preach the gospel to a Gentile? “Not so, Lord”, said Peter (Acts 10:14). But he had to learn the lesson of the vision from God, that he “should not call any man common or unclean” (v. 28).
The Lord taught him that what “God hath cleansed” he was not to call common (v. 15). Now God cleanses by His Word (Jno. 15:3), and this had been done in the character of Cornelius. “The word which God sent. . . that word. . . ye know” (Acts 10:36,37). “To him (Jesus) give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (v. 43). With his immediate followers sanctified by the Word spoken and believed, so the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father “for them also which shall believe on me through their word” (Jno. 17:20). Cornelius already knew the teaching of God, by the word preached. The Holy Spirit did not evoke in his mind an idea, a feeling or experience to which he should or did react. Instead Cornelius did respond to and act in obedience to the Lord’s requirements for salvation, at the spoken word and command of Peter, who “commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (v. 48).
The work of Philip
That the method and principle of God calling and sanctifying a people to Himself out of the world is by the Word preached through the agency of angels and of mortal servants is beautifully demonstrated in the work of Philip as recorded in Acts 8. We read (v. 29) that the Holy Spirit directed Philip to make contact with a eunuch of Ethiopia who, while journeying from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, read the prophecy of Isaiah. Philip introduced himself with a question: “Understandest thou what thou readest?” (v. 30). The Ethiopian did not understand. His reading of the Word of God and his worship of the Lord in Jerusalem had not yet furnished him with a complete enlightenment about God’s Truth; it had not provoked in him an experience of Christ.
The eunuch confessed his need to be taught and instructed: “How can! (understand), except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him” (v. 31). Philip did so, with the object of complying with the principle expounded by the Apostle Paul: “How shall they hear without a preacher? . . . faith cometh by hearing . . . the word of God” (Rom. 10:14,17). So Philip, from the Word as recorded by the prophet Isaiah, “preached unto him Jesus”, as did Aquila and Priscilla to Apollos in Achaia, “expound(ing) . . . the way of God more perfectly” (Acts 18:26-28).
Was the Holy Spirit present and active in the enlightenment and conversion of the eunuch? Very much so. Philip was an apostle chosen by the Lord and anointed with Holy Spirit power, which power he used (Acts 8:5-7). The Holy Spirit in the apostles brought the gospel to the people (Acts 8:5,6) and, subsequent to their freewill belief and obedience in baptism, the people received the Holy Spirit, by the laying on of the apostles’ hands (vv. 14-17). But nowhere in the record of the conversion of the eunuch is there any hint of the Holy Spirit directly influencing him from within. The fact that the eunuch expressed the need for “some man” to guide him in his reading and understanding of God’s Word is clear evidence that he had no inner experience or revelation of God’s Truth.
Opening the heart
This latter theory has been assumed in respect of Lydia, “which worshipped God, (and) heard us” (Acts 16:14), for Luke continues: “. . . whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul”. But we need to look closely to perceive what actually took place. In verse 13 we read that Lydia was a woman of prayer, and in verse 14 that she “worshipped God”. Paul visited the place of prayer and spoke to the women there. It was there that Lydia “heard” the preaching of Paul and that, subsequent to that hearing, the Lord “opened” her heart. The result of hearing the preaching, the spoken word of Paul, was that she welcomed, received and accepted the spoken word, the outcome being that she “attended unto the things which were spoken”; Lydia leaned towards, believed and obeyed the call of the gospel.
But let us analyse the words, “whose heart the Lord opened”. This phase of Lydia’s conversion was the work of the Lord, the work of the Holy Spirit. But how did the Spirit work? The Spirit-endowed apostle explains in his letter to Ephesus: “the mystery of Christ . . . is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:4,5). The prophets and apostles were anointed with the Holy Spirit to speak God’s Word; so Paul spoke to Lydia by the Holy Spirit, and the preaching of Paul was the work of the Lord, of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 3:6 we read: “that the Gentiles should be. . . partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel”. Lydia and all Gentiles called to salvation are called and converted by the preaching of the gospel, by the spoken or written Word opening the heart.
So it was in the work of the Lord Jesus as recorded in Luke 24:32. Two disciples who had met Jesus on the road to Emmaus confessed that he had opened to them the Scriptures. How was this opening achieved? “Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he (Jesus) expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (v. 27). And a little later, with the faithful eleven, Jesus “opened . . . their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures”; and further he said to them, “Thus it is written” (vv. 45,46). Similarly, on another occasion, Paul “reasoned . . . out of the scriptures, opening and alleging . . . that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed . . .” (Acts 17:2-4).
What is it that works upon and in the hearer who attends to the preaching of the gospel? It is “the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess. 2:13). The psalmist concurs with this: “The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Ps. 119:130). It is the written or spoken Word that opens the heart, that promotes understanding of Divine truths and that evokes obedience to the gospel.
Both the Lord Jesus (Mt. 7:24-26) and Moses (Deut. 18:18,19) declare clearly that God requires free-will decision and action by those hearing the Word ministered by His servants. Whosoever will, or will not, is the principle upon which God works with men by His Word. It is the Word of God, received through the ministration of God’s servants, to which we are required to give attention, and to no other influence, emotion, experience or power. Activity in human thought, in the absence of the Word of God, and without the knowledge and acceptance of the truth of the revealed will of God, is nothing more than the work of the carnal mind, the spirit of man, and the outcome of human thought, without the influence of the Word preached and heard.
Drawing men to God
The Lord Jesus comments lucidly upon the Father’s work in calling men to Him: “Except the Father . . . draw him. . .” (Jno. 6:44). Taken out of its Scriptural context, a false implication is attributed to these words when it is said that the Lord states that the Father draws men to Him by direct application and activity of His Spirit power upon and in the individual drawn. In Scripture there is always an immediate and particular context that confirms the teaching and spiritual interpretation of a passage, according to the tenor of revealed truth. We need, therefore, to look closely at the immediate context of John 6:44. It will then be seen that the general context is in confirmation of the exposition so far given.
In reply to the question of John 6:28 (“What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?”) the Lord Jesus replies: ” . . believe on him whom He hath sent” (v. 29). “Believe” — this work is a commandment of God for us to obey (1 Jno. 3:23), and Jesus shows that in giving this commandment the Lord looks for a response from man, of free will, of a believer’s own initiative: “he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (Jno. 6:35). The call of God to man is “whosoever”. So we read the Divine invitation: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come . . .” (Isa. 55:1); and then: “Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear. . .” (v. 3); and some of the last words of the Lord Jesus to John: “Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).
The woman at the well, receiving this very invitation from the Lord Jesus, perfectly illustrates the attitude and response required: “Sir, give me this water. . .” (Jno. 4:15). In the call and invitation of God there is no compelling persuasion to comply such as there was in the situation of the prophets, who were “holy men of God (who) spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21). The call of the gospel is one of invitation to obey the command (Mk. 16:16).
In John 6:45 we read: “They shall be all taught of God”; and, “Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me”. But how does the Lord teach? “God, who. . . spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son” (Heb. 1:1,2). “In time past”, then, God spoke through Moses: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them” (Deut. 5:1).
The Lord Jesus was taught, and he also preached and instructed, after the same manner, as John records in the words of the Lord: “The Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. . . whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak” (Jno. 12:49,50). The laws of God, and the glorious gospel of salvation, are only imparted by the Word, spoken and heard. The Lord Jesus said that the living bread that came down from heaven was his flesh (Jno. 6:51); and in verse 63 he continues the theme: “The flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life”. The Word of God, ministered by His servants, is the power of God unto salvation.
Being then drawn to the Father by the Word heard, believed and obeyed the man of faith is one with the Father and with the Son, and, keeping the words of God, evokes the love and fellowship of the Father and of the Son (Jno. 14:23). Thus John writes about the believer: “he . . . dwelleth in Him, and He in him”. How is this? “He that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him” (1 Jno. 3:24). And what is it that sanctifies the believer unto the love and fellowship of the Father? “I have given them Thy word”, said Jesus, and, “Thy word is truth”; it is the Truth that sanctifies (Jno. 17:14, 17).
How the Holy Spirit works
The Word of God is the work of the Holy Spirit and is given to man for the purpose of bringing man to salvation. So, as revealed in the Scriptures, God works upon the lives and characters of men and women by His Word administered through angels, prophets and apostles. This Divine mode of working was the experience of characters recorded for our learning. In no instance is it indicated that the Holy Spirit worked directly on the minds of those seeking and who were converted to God’s Truth, without the participation of angels or human ministers to speak the words of God.
Where the Holy Spirit did work directly upon an individual, free-will thought, word and action, was impossible. The effect of the Holy Spirit on an individual is to dictate, direct and govern the words and ways of men so used by the Lord. Balaam desired the rewards of divination, but he was completely subject to the will and power of the God of Israel. To the promise of reward and promotion from Balak, Balaam replied: “Have I now any power at all to say any thing? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak” (Num. 22:38). And in 24:2,3: “the spirit of God came upon him. And he took up his parable, and said. .”. The experience of the prophet Jeremiah was the same: “The Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth” (Jer. 1:9). Later, Jeremiah was wearied with contentions with rebellious Jews and thought to speak no more in God’s name. “But”, he said, “His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay” (Jer. 20:9).
The Word of God, the gospel, is irrepressible; it fulfils the Divine purpose for which it is sent, and so it is passed on from one generation to another. So the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: “The things that thou hast heard of me. . . the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). This practice was the Lord’s command to Israel: “These words, which I command thee this day . . . thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children” (Deut. 6:6,7). It is this teaching of the Word that is the Divine means of conversion and development of character. So we read in Psalm 19:7: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul . . . making wise the simple”; and Paul again to Timothy: “Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned . . . from a child thou hastknown the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. .. that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:14-17). Yes, the power of God unto salvation is the gospel, by the Word which communicates it.
Taught by the Spirit
We conclude with our promised comments on the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:9-13. The natural man — the carnal mind, the spirit of man — knows naturally, by the working of the flesh, only those things that pertain to this life. The “deep things of God”, “the mind of Christ”, “the wisdom of God”, can only be known, and are only revealed, by attending to the work of the Holy Spirit, by heeding the teaching of the gospel in the Scriptures of Truth. “God hath revealed (His Truth) unto us by His Spirit”, in the prophets and apostles, who thereby preached, taught, enlightened and opened our heart to the way of salvation. The purpose and plans that God has for man on earth are foreign to man’s intellect and ideals (1 Cor. 2:9). The truths of God are not made known by man’s innate faculties. By the exercise of his own powers man is void of knowledge and understanding of his Creator and of the purpose of creation, of redemption and of eternity. Man’s need of redemption, and the destiny of the human race, is only made known by the revelation that God makes by the Holy Spirit through the ministration of His servants.
The prophet Isaiah confirms that this impotence of man’s understanding has existed since Eden: “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him” (Isa. 64:4). The Apostle Paul quotes this prophecy, and then continues his reasoning: “God hath revealed (these things) unto us by His Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:10). In verse 13 he then affirms that the Holy Spirit teaches through the work of the inspired apostles: “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth”.
The apostle is, of course, consistent in exposition and reasoning when writing also to Rome and Ephesus. To the Romans he writes: “the revelation of the mystery. . . now is made manifest . . . by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God” (Rom. 16:25, 26); and to the brethren at Ephesus: “by revelation He made known unto me the mystery. . . whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. . . now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:3-5).
Knowledge of God and of His works is alien to man and does not arise or awaken from within, but is furnished from without, even by the Divinely inspired and controlled ministers of God speaking His Word by the Holy Spirit. Man, without God and without hope, learns and grows in understanding of the things of God by hearing and reading the Spirit-inspired message. By meditating on these holy truths, instead of remaining carnally minded we ourselves may become spiritually minded, one with the Father and with the Son. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith”.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One