Spirit: the domain and dominion of spirit - Chambers, Oswald

Chapter XVII –  Spirit: the domain and dominion of spirit
                       Process of the Trinity
N.B. “the entire province of life , both in its lowest forms
or stages And in its highest, is the province of spirit.”

1. An instructive parallel (1 Corinthians 2:114)

2. What the bible says about the godhead ( john 4:24)

The essential nature of god the father, god the son and god the holy ghost will (exodus 3:14; john 10:1718; 16:811) love (1 john 4:8; revelation 1:5; Romans 5:5) light (1 john 1:5; john 8:12; john 16:13)

The spirit is the first power we practically experience but the last power we come to understand. The working of the spirit of god is much easier to experience than to try and understand, the reason being that we form our ideas out of things we have seen and handled and touched; but when we come to think about the godhead and the spirit, language is strained to its limit, and all we can do is to use pictures to try and convey our ideas. Yet in spite of the difficulty, it is very necessary that we should think as christians as well as live as christians. It is not sufficient to experience the reality of the spirit of god within us and his wonderful work; we have to bring our brains into line with our experience so that we can think and understand along christian lines. It is because so few do think along christian lines that it is easy for wrong teaching and wrong thinking to come in, especially in connection with the spirit.

1. An instructive parallel

(1 Corinthians 2:1114)

In these verses the apostle paul is referring to the basis of how to think. The way we understand the things of a man, he says, is by the spirit of man; and the way we understand the things of god is by the spirit of god; that just as the spirit of man knows the things of a man, so the spirit of god alone knows the things of god. This is the first principle that the apostle Paul lays down, and we must see that we grasp and clearly understand it. The next step is clear, viz. , that we cannot expound the things of god unless we have the spirit of god. There is an analogy, Paul says: as there is a law in the natural world whereby we reason and think and argue about natural things, so there is a law in the spiritual world; but the law which runs through the natural world is not the same as in the spiritual world. We can only discern the spiritual world by the spirit of god, not by our own spirit; and if we have not received the spirit of god we shall never discern spiritual things or understand them; we shall move continually in a dark world, and come slowly to the conclusion that the new testament language is very exaggerated. But when we have received the spirit of god, we begin to know the things that are freely given to us of god, and to compare spiritual things with spiritual, not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth, but which the holy ghost teacheth. The apostle paul here is at the very heart of things as he always is, because he is not only inspired by the spirit of god in the way inspiration is gener- ally understood, but he is moved by the holy ghost in a special manner to expound the basis of christian doctrine.

The things of god cannot be expounded by the spirit of man, but only by the spirit of god. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). For example, take the attitude of the master in Israel to Jesus christ. Nicodemus believed that the germ of life was in him and in all men like him; but our lord brought before him this truth which Paul is expounding, viz. , that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that i said unto thee, ye must be born again.

Let us get this fundamental distinction clearly in our minds: we cannot penetrate the things of god and understand them by our intelligence: the only way we can understand the things of god is by the spirit of god. Every christian unquestionably is mentally agnostic; that is, all we know about god we have accepted by revelation, we did not find it out for ourselves. We did not worry it out by thinking. Or work it out by reasoning. We did not say, because so and so is true in the natural world, therefore it must be true in the spiritual world. We cannot find out god in that way. Jesus said, if you would know my doctrine, i. E. , my logic, my reasoning and my 200 biblical psychology 8 chapter xvii spirit: the domain and dominion of spirit process of the trinity n. B. T he entire province of life , both in its lowest forms or stages and in its highest, is the province of spirit.

Thinking, first do my will, believe in me, commit yourself to me, obey me; then you will know whether my doctrine is of god, or whether i speak of myself (see john 7:17). There is a great deal of teaching abroad to-day which says that we have the spirit of god in us and all that is needed is for it to be developed; if people are placed into the right conditions, the spirit in them will develop and grow and in that way they will come to understand god. This is contrary to all that Jesus christ taught, and contrary to the new testament all through. We have to come to the stage of realising that we are paupers in our own spirit; we have no power to grasp god, we cannot begin to under- stand him. If ever we are going to understand god, we must receive his spirit, then he will begin to expound to us the things of god. We understand the things of the world by our natural intelligence, and we understand the things of god by the spirit which is of god.

2. What the bible says about the godhead

God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. ( john 4:24)

Jesus Christ is not implying that i must worship god sincerely; in spirit does not refer to my spirit, i. E. To human sincerity, but to the spirit of god. I must have the same spirit in me before i can worship god. God is a spirit.

What is spirit? Instantly we find insuperable barriers to thought. Did you ever try for one minute to think of god? We cannot think of a being who had no beginning and who has no end; consequently men without the spirit of god make a god out of ideas of their own. It is a great moment in our lives when we realise we must be agnostic about god, that we cannot get hold of him. Then comes the revelation that Jesus christ will give to us the holy spirit, who will lift us into a new domain and enable us to understand all that he reveals, and to live the life god wants us to live.

The essential nature of god the father, god the son, and god the holy ghost: will (exodus 3:14; john 10:1718; 16:811) love (1 john 4:8; revelation 1:5; Romans 5:5) light (1 john 1:5; john 8:12; 16:13)

The first thing to notice is that what is true of god the father is true also of god the son and of god the holy ghost, because they are one. The main characteristics which are the same in the father and in the son and in the holy ghost are will, love and light. The point to emphasise is that the essential nature of one person of the trinity is the essential nature of the other persons of the trin- ity. If we understand god the holy ghost, we shall understand god the son and god the father (see Matthew 11:27): therefore the first thing for us to do is to receive the holy ghost (see luke 11:13).

The essential nature of god the father is spirit. In order to show the difficulty of putting this into words, ask yourself how much room does thinking take up? Why, no room at all because thought is of the nature of spirit. It is by means of our spirit that we understand the things with which we come in contact. God is a spirit, therefore if we are going to understand god, we must have the spirit of god. Mans spirit takes up no room and the spirit of god takes up no room, they work and inter work. My spirit has no power in itself to lay hold of god; but when the spirit of god comes into my spirit, he energises my spirit, then the rest depends upon me. If i do not obey the spirit of god and bring into the light the wrong things he reveals and let him deal with them, i shall grieve him, and may grieve him away. And god said unto Moses, i am that i am: and he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, i am hath sent me unto you (exodus 3:14). The first fundamental characteristic of god the father, or god almighty, is that of pure free will. There is no such thing as pure free will in man; god almighty is the only being who has the power of pure free will. By his will he created what his breath sustains.

The bible revelation is that the essential nature of god is this power of free will. What is the characteristic of god the son? I lay down my life, that i might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but i lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and i have power to take it again. This commandment have i received of my father ( john 10:1718). No man has the power to lay down his life in the way Jesus christ is referring to. Remember, Jesus christ is god incarnate, and the fundamental characteristic of god the father is the fundamental characteristic of god the son. Our lord says, in effect, i lay down my life because i choose to lay it down, and i take it again because i choose to. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgement ( john 16:8). The subject of human free will is nearly always either overstated or understated. There is a pre- determination in mans spirit which makes him will along certain lines; but no man has the power to make an act of pure free will. When the spirit of god comes into a man, he brings his own generating will power and causes him to will with god, and we have the amazing revelation that the saints free choices are the pre-determinations of god. That is a most wonderful thing in christian psychology, viz. , that a saint chooses exactly what god pre-determined he should choose. If you have never received the spirit of god this will be one of the things which is foolishness to you: but if you have received the spirit and are obeying him, you find he brings your spirit into complete harmony with god and the sound of your goings and the sound of gods goings are one and the same. New theology, christian science and theosophy all teach that god created the being called his son in order to realise himself. They say, in fact, that the term son of god means not only our lord Jesus christ, but the whole creation of man. God is all, and the creation of man was in order to help god to realise himself. The practical outcome of this line of thinking is to make men say, it is absurd to talk about sin and the fall; sin is merely a defect, and to talk about the need of an atonement is nonsense. The bible nowhere says that god created the world in order to realise himself. The bible reveals that god was abso- lutely self-sufficient, and that the manifestation of the son of god was for another purpose altogether, viz. , for the solution of the gigantic problem caused by sin. The marvel of the creation of man is that he is made of the earth, earthy. God allowed the enemy to work on this creation of man in a way he cannot work on any other creation, but ultimately god is going to overthrow the rule of his enemy by a being a little lower than the angels, viz. , man. When god came into this order of things, he did not come as an angel, he came as a man, he took upon him our human nature. This is the marvel of the incarnation. We know nothing about god the father saving as Jesus christ has revealed him. Philip saith unto him, lord, shew us the father.

. . . Jesus saith unto him, have i been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the father. The characteristics of god almighty are mirrored for us in Jesus christ; there- fore if we want to know what god is like, we must study Jesus christ. The first fundamental characteristic of the mighty nature of god is will; consequently when gods spirit comes into our spirit, we can will to do what god wants us to do. For it is god which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). Will is not a faculty. We talk of a person having a weak will, or a strong will; that is misleading. Will means the whole nature active, and when we are energised by the spirit of god, we are enabled to do what we could not do before; that is, we are able to obey god. The next great fundamental characteristic of god the father is love. God is love (1 john 4:8). The bible does not say that god is loving, but that god is love. The phrase the loving kindness of god is frequently used, but when the nature of god is revealed, the bible does not say god is a loving being, it says, god is love. The same characteristic is revealed in god the son, viz. , love, and instantly the kind of love is shown: he loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood (revelation 1:5): not a love that overlooks sin, but a love the essential nature of which is that it delivers from sin. . . . The love of god is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost which is given unto us (Romans 5:5). This does not mean that when we receive the holy spirit he enables us to have the capacity for loving god, but that he sheds abroad in our hearts the love of god, a much more fundamental and mar- vellous thing. It is pathetic the number of people who are piously trying to make their poor human hearts love god! The holy spirit sheds abroad in my heart, not the power to love god, but the very nature of god; and the nature of god coming into me makes me part of gods consciousness, not god part of my consciousness. I am unconscious of god because i have been taken up into his consciousness. Paul puts it in Galatians 2:20 (a verse with which we are perfectly familiar, but which none of us will ever fathom, no matter how long we live, or how much we experience of gods grace): i am crucified with Christ: nevertheless i live; yet not i, but christ liveth in me. Again in galatians 1:1516, Paul refers to the receiving of the very nature of Jesus christ: when it pleased god, who separated me from my mothers womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his son in me. This is the true idea of a saint. A saint is not a human being who is trying to be good, trying by effort and prayer and longing and obedience to attain as many saintly characteristics as possible; a saint is a being who has been re-created. If any man is in christ, he is a new creation (rv mg).

We have to be solemnly careful that we do not travesty and belittle the work of god and the atonement of the lord Jesus christ. If we belittle it in the tiniest degree, although we may do it in ignorance, we shall surely suffer. The first thing which will make us belittle the atonement is getting out of sympathy with god into sympathy with human beings, because when we do this we begin to drag down the tremendous revelation that the essential nature of god is will and love and light, and that it is these characteristics which are imparted to us by the holy ghost. We have not these characteristics naturally. By nature our hearts are darkened away from god; we have no power to generate will within ourselves; we have no power to love god when we like, and our hearts are darkened.

Again, the essential nature of god the father is light. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that god is light, and in him is no darkness at all (1 john 1:5). There is no variableness in god, no shadow that is

Cast by turning (RV). We are told that where there is light and substance, there must be shadow; but there is no shadow in god, none whatever. What does Jesus christ say of himself ? I am the light of the world ( john 8:12): no shadow in Jesus christ. And of the holy spirit, Jesus said, howbeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come ( john 16:13). Active will, pervading love showing itself as light in god the father; active will, pervading love showing itself as light in the lord Jesus christ; all- pervading energy and will and all-pervading love showing itself as light in the holy ghost. These are the fundamental characteristics of the godhead. To revise, god is love. No man who is wide- awake naturally ever believes that unless he has received the spirit of god, it is foolishness to him. In the sermon on the mount Jesus christ says, in effect, that when as his disciples we have been initiated into the kind of life he lives, we are based on the knowl- edge that god is our heavenly father and that he is love. Then there comes the wonderful working out of this knowledge in our lives, it is not that we wont worry, but that we have come to the place where we cannot worry, because the holy spirit has shed abroad the love of god in our hearts, and we find that we can never think of anything our heavenly father will for- get. Although great clouds and perplexities may come, as they did in the case of job, and of the apostle Paul, and in the case of every saint, yet they never touch the secret place of the most high. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. The spirit of god has so centred us in god and everything is so rightly adjusted that we do not fear. We cannot give ourselves the holy spirit; the holy spirit is god almightys gift if we will sim- ply become poor enough to ask for him. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:13). But when the holy spirit has come in, there is something we can do and god cannot do, we can obey him. If we do not obey him, we shall grieve him. And grieve not the holy spirit of god (Ephesians 4:30). Over and over again we need to be reminded of pauls counsel, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is god which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Thank god, it is gloriously and majestically true that the holy spirit can work in us the very nature of Jesus christ if we will obey him, until in and through our mortal flesh may be manifested works which will make men glorify our father in heaven, and take knowledge of us that we have been with jesus.

Light is the most marvellous description of clear, beautiful moral character from gods standpoint. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus christ his son cleanseth us from all sin (1 john 1:7). If we walk in the light . . . What light? . . . As god is in the light! What light? I am the light of the world! What light? The light of the holy spirit! And this is the condemnation, said Jesus, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil ( john 3:19). Darkness is my own point of view, my prejudices and precon- ceived determinations; if the spirit of god agrees with these, well and good; if not, i shall go my own way.

The weaning that goes on when a soul is being taken out of walking in the light of its own convictions into walking in the light of god is a time of peril. When a child is being weaned, it is fractious, and when god is trying to wean us from our own ways of looking at things in order to bring us into the full light of the holy spirit, we are fractious too. If we persist in sticking to our own convictions, we shall end in darkness; but if we walk in the light, as god is in the light, recognising and relying on the holy spirit, we shall be brought into a complete under- standing of gods way and we shall have fellowship one with another i. E. , with all those who are walking in the same light. Then comes this wonderful thingwe shall have a purity of life in gods sight that is too pure for us to begin to understand; and the blood of jesus christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.

Anything less than that i say it measuring every word anything less than that would be blasphemous. If god can- not cleanse us from all sin and make us holy and without blame in his sight, then Jesus christ has totally misled us, and the atonement is not what it claims to be. Oh, if we would only get into the way of bringing our limitations before god and telling him he cannot do these things, we should begin to see the awful wickedness of unbelief, and why our lord was so vigorous against it, and why the apostle john places fearfulness and unbelief at the head of all the most awful sins (see revelation 21:8). When the holy spirit comes in, unbelief is turned out and the energy of god is put into us, and we are enabled to will and to do of his good pleasure. When the holy spirit comes in he sheds abroad the love of god in our hearts, so that we are able to show our fellows the same love that god has shown to us. When the holy spirit comes in he makes us as light, and our righteousness will exceed the righteousness of the most moral upright natural man because the supernatural has been made natural in us.