Walking in the Spirit

Driving home from a Bible study the other night, a fog had settled in as I navigated my way through the back country roads around 9:30 at night. Without oncoming traffic, I shifted my lights from low to high beam and marveled at how the beam of light resembled a knife slicing through layers of white smoky cloud. It was a warm visual reminder to me of what we had just been discussing among the brethren – and that is that when we walk in the Spirit, we navigate our way without sin.

As is often the case, a lively discussion ensued among us, as we debated what exactly “walking in the Spirit” means. Although each of us expressed the idea differently, we were all pretty much in agreement that “walking in the Spirit” means obeying His voice (whether expressed in the Word or directly through the Holy Spirit in us).

“…in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” – Romans 8:4

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” – Galatians 5:16-17

Not unlike the high beams through the fog, our discussion brought clarity to me that true born-again believers will not dismiss sin casually or accept it lightly.

“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.” – 1 John 3:8-9

Not that we are saved through our obedience, but that it is a sign and reminder to us that the Spirit is alive within us and as God’s children, we will indeed respond out of love for our Father, His Son, and the Spirit who tells us these things.

“My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” – Proverbs 3:11-12

“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. .” – Hebrews 12:7-10

What a privilege to be disciplined by Him! What a travesty if we do not heed His reproof!

Incidentally, according to the on-line Encyclopedia Britannica, the word “travesty” means: “the treatment of a noble and dignified subject in an inappropriately trivial manner.” I was merely double-checking my use of the word to see if it fit, and it appears all the more a propos to me.

We can, of course, choose in our flesh to ignore the Spirit, but His sheep who recognize His voice cannot do so for long – otherwise they will be miserable. Those who are truly His will be neither content nor satisfied if they continually choose to not walk in (obey) Him.

“Do not quench the Spirit.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

I do not believe that His Spirit ever leaves a New Testament believer, but I do believe that we can choose to not walk in (obey) Him and thereby not be continually filled with Him.

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,” - Ephesians 5:18

This affirms to me that obedience to Him, aka “walking in the Spirit,” is absolutely vital (in the true “life-giving” sense of the word “vital”) to our ongoing sanctification. I have read testimony on non-Reformed blogs to the contrary – suggesting that obedience is not required (unto salvation)– essentially making little of the exhortation of the Spirit in Scripture to the fulfillment of the flesh, while holding onto the ticket of salvation as their way into heaven.

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” - Galatians 5:19-25

These aren’t idle words to be taken any less lightly than the rest of Scripture. Scripture says we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves of God. Although sons and daughters of the Most High, the Ancient of Days, and the great I Am, we are nonetheless purchased – at the highest of prices by the most precious of beings. We are no longer our own, but His and are therefore – once bought – required to be obedient, the way a slave is. If we as His slaves forsake that requirement, woe unto us!

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” – Romans 6:22

We are not saved by our obedience, but true believers will either obey, be miserable, or be called home. When the Spirit stirs the hearts of those who are His, they cannot resist for long.

“Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” – 1 John 3:24

Holy Spirit-led understanding

In response to a post at my blog, Jonathan asked a good question that I’d like to pose of readers here.

In part, I wrote the following on my blog:

“While I have maintained a habit of reading my Bible daily, I confess that I have gained so much valuable insight through other teachers via blogs and books that I lean perhaps too heavily on the latter. This was somewhat illustrated to me in a simple conversation between Jesus and Peter, taken from John 21, verses 20-24.

“Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them – the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, ‘Lord, who among us will betray you?’ Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?’”

“Jesus replied, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow me.’ So the rumor spread among the community of believers that that disciple wouldn’t die. But that isn’t what Jesus said at all. He only said, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?’”

“When I read this, it struck me that this rumor spreading among the community taken directly from the words of Jesus – “if I want him to remain alive until I return” – is not unlike some interpretations today. I read the banter back and forth taken from this or that interpretation and weigh carefully what is said, but still... I wonder.

How much of my own interpretation is coming not from my own diligent study of God’s breathed Word but from the words of men? Do I lean too much on the opinions of others rather than doing the hard work of putting my nose to the grindstone and doing some serious word studies? The truth is, I enjoy having others do the hard work for me, and while there can be blessing and wisdom gained from their efforts, I am depriving myself of vital nourishment and understanding necessary for life.

“I won’t stop reading other books, of course, because I believe God has given wisdom to others regarding proper interpretation, and it was, in fact, from men that I gleaned the importance of receiving instruction directly from God’s own Word. But this illustration of how easily interpretation can be swayed, even when the words seem to be plainly understood, well, the impression rests upon me to seek not only first but primarily understanding from God’s Word through Holy Spirit revelation.

“That latter is a tricky one, since I know several men who all claim to be led by the Spirit, yet they wouldn’t agree on interpretation. Some are dispensational. Some are Reformed. Others adhere to covenant theology. Some among all these are premillenial; others are post- or amillenial. And even if you find those of the same ilk, they’ll invariably disagree on something – paedobaptism or adult only? It’s very hard to understand what is proper interpretation when minds greater than my own may be all Spirit-led individuals who don’t agree.

“Nonetheless, I must read further what Scripture itself says on this matter and look to God’s Spirit to lead where I must go. I must trust God first in the matter of my own understanding and be careful to discern where I may be wont to read into text rather than draw from it. There is much counsel in Scripture regarding waiting on the Lord and patience, so I must put these into practice continually as I dwell on His Word.”

To which, Jonathan posed the questions: “Now the question is, why does God allow such divergent views in the body? Could God have a reason for it?”

I also wonder - How do we know who is (and what interpretation is) and who isn't Spirit-led, when all profess Christ? I don't know the answer. How can we possibly know (unless what they say blatently contradicts Scripture)?

And you, dear reader, what are your thoughts on this?

OT Saints and the Holy Spirit

When I came to faith as a born again believer, I didn’t have a particular hermeneutic to which I adhered – at least not any of which I was aware. If you said “hermeneutic” to me then, I probably would have responded “gesundheit.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean that those who are unaware of hermeneutics don’t necessarily have one, but many folks read Scripture without adhering to one hermeneutic in particular because they’re taught so many variants among them. I myself couldn’t have pointed to any singular hermeneutic in my early days of belief. In fact, with respect to prophetic texts and Israel, I wouldn’t have had a clue what I believed then - at least not with any basis to which I could point in Scripture.

I had been raised going to church regularly until my youth, and after that point off and on until I left high school. I certainly didn’t read Scripture then, and I didn’t really step back into a church until God made me aware of my own lack and need for a Savior about eight years ago.

Around that time, I studied alongside my then 12-year-old son in preparation for his bar mitzvah under the tutelage of a messianic Jew. So I read some Scriptures with him from a messianic Jewish perspective, which of course holds a distinctive place for Israel separate from the church – not unlike dispensationalism.

The nation of Israel in modern times being a reality since my birth, it wasn’t difficult to see in the Jews a separate people unto themselves and unto God – except that national Israel is far from being a godly people and Scripture itself contains verses regarding all those of faith being Abraham’s descendants – both Jew and Gentile.

The church I attended from about 1999 on was Calvary Chapel – a non-denominational organization with a strong music program. It is man-centered, although I wasn’t aware of it at the time, having never heard anything other than a man-centered gospel until about 18 months ago - and not attending a Reformed church until nine months ago.

Reformed theology grabbed me quite out of the blue, and it was a great relief to me as I had been struggling to maintain righteousness on my own for quite some time. Feeling like a failure and hypocrite as a Christian, I was slowly drifting from God. I thought – wrongly – that it all depended on me, my faith, and my actions (works).

After embracing the doctrines of grace, I am continually surprised and delighted by what should be obvious truths in light of God’s absolute sovereignty and immutability. Here are two of those truths:

1. Daniel’s comment to the August 22, 2007 post here at Bluecollar titled “I Found This Comment on Another Blog…,” in which Daniel wrote:

“How did the old testament saints have their sins atoned? By the blood of bulls and goats, or the blood of Christ?”

Daniel rightly pointed out that OT saints were saved in exactly the same way we all are: by grace through faith in Christ - one by looking forward and the other by looking back.

Even though their understanding of the incarnation was veiled, the channel through which God saved OT saints was faith in their Redeemer.

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
- John 8:56

“For I know that my Redeemer lives.”
- Job 19:25a

“For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, 'Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me,'”
- Hebrews 10:4,5

“Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.”
- 1 Peter 1:10-11

2. And I learned just last night in a Bible study that the Holy Spirit was present in all OT believers. Being totally depraved, they would not have been able to be believers without the work of the Holy Spirit.

How it’s all continuing to come together as parts of the same puzzle! Not separate plans. Not separate peoples. Not separate faiths.

“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”
- 1 Corinthians 12:13

“There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call -- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
-Ephesians 4:4-6

My previous understanding was that the Holy Spirit wasn’t given to OT saints, unless for special times. But they had to have the Holy Spirit to begin with or they would never have come to faith.

That said, the universal outpouring of gifts on believers for different purposes of ministry was not seen until NT days, fulfilling the prophecy of Joel, as explained by Peter in Acts:

“But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, … And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'”
- Acts 2:17, 21

As was earlier desired by Moses:

“Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!"” – Numbers 11:29b

The Holy Spirit was present in OT saints who would, without Him, have been unable to believe.

So we are all saved in exactly the same way –
by grace through faith in Christ and Christ alone
by the work of the Holy Spirit
to the glory of God the Father.

I’m not sure if I had a hermeneutic when I first came to faith, but I’m quite sure I’m on my way to one now.