Why did God send us the Holy Spirit in the first place?
I answer this question by posting an article written by
Arthur Licursi which perfectly lays out the role of the Holy Spirit in this age
of grace, as compared to the role of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in the
Kingdom program. Also, Arthur clarifies how we interact with the Holy Spirit
today and what it means to be ‘filled with the Spirit’.
I encourage you to take the time to carefully read through
this well-written and highly informative article:
Paul exhorts the grace believers of this age to “be
filled with the Spirit.” This is because today the filling
with the Spirit is now a goal, an attainment, as
Paul here, by inspiration, sets before the church.
“Be filled with the Spirit” (Eph.
5:18); “be filled with the fruits of righteousness” (Phil. 1:11);
“be filled with the knowledge of His will” (Col. 1:9); “be
filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:19).
Yet, we know from the record of early Acts period concerning
the 120 of Jesus’ Messianic believers of Israel, that Jesus called His
disciples to gather on the day of Pentecost in the “upper room” waiting
to be “endued (Gk. enduo, be clothed) with
power from on high” and “the Spirit” came UPON
them. They were all “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts
2:4); and with that their souls immediately came fully influence
of “the Spirit.” Thus, they were supernaturally empowered to
boldly declare “the gospel of the kingdom” to the
nation Israel, just as Jesus had instructed them. Peter that day specifically
addressed “Ye men of Israel,” and “Ye men of
Judea,” all Jews gathered for the feast. He referred to “all
the prophets” (Act 3:21) who “spoke” of
that day and the signs that would announce the Messiah’s return to
restore the Davidic Kingdom on the earth (Act 2:16-17).
Of course, we also know that when Jesus came in the flesh, to
Israel (Matt 15:24), rather than receiving Jesus as Messiah, they crucified
Him. But now Peter was making a 2nd offer of Jesus declaring; if
Israel would “repent” God would “send
Jesus” again with the “times of refreshing.” (Act
3:19-21). But Israel rejected this 2nd offer of the King and His
Kingdom when they stoned to death “Stephen, (who was) full of faith
and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.” (Act
7:59). This because Stephen had declared to Israel’s leaders the nation’s
history and its record of consistently rejecting God, His prophets, Christ, and
now they rejected the Spirit speaking through Stephen.
Paul says, with that rejection Israel has “fallen” (Rom
11:10-11), and the promise of the Kingdom is set in abeyance “until
the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled” (Rom 11:25). God then did
something never prophesied, which “had
been kept secret since the world began.” Paul, was called and sent by
the risen Lord… “to the Gentiles” (Rom 11:13) in
order to lay the foundation (1Cor 3:10) and establish what
had been “hid from ages and generations” (Col 1:26). Paul
was given to reveal the Lords ‘mystery gospel’ that
concerns the Lord Jesus’ “Spirit of life” now
indwelling the members of “His body.”
This new pure grace relationship between God and the
believers today is based upon Christ resurrected “Spirit
of life” being dispensed to forever permanently
indwell and be “one” with the human spirit of every believer. Previously,
the Spirit’s presence had only been transient (cf. Psa 51:11). Paul’s new
gospel of pure grace is called “the gospel of
the grace of God” (Act 20:24). This new age of the Gentile “body
of Christ” is what Paul called “the dispensation of
the grace of God” (Eph 3:1-5).
Paul declared the grace of his “my gospel” for
all men as being the heretofore “secret” plan of God that
he calls “the mystery” (Gk. musterion,
meaning, a secret held to be revealed by God) of “Christ
in you” (Col 1:27).
“… to him that is of power to stablish you according to my (Paul’s) gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, (Rom 16:25)
Paul’s gospel included the revelations he
received concerning the meaning of the cross, as seen in his book of
Romans. By contrast, Peter at Pentecost knew nothing of the meaning of the
cross and death of Christ, he knew only that Jesus had been crucified and
risen. So Peter scolded Israel for killing “the Prince of life.” Peter
was doing what the Spirit-infilling empowered Him to do… to
boldly declare and reoffer the King and His kingdom to Israel. The
outcome again was Israel’s utter rejection of Christ and the message of
His “little flock” of Messianic believers, by stoning
Stephen to death (Acts 7:59).
The fact is that never anywhere in Paul’s thirteen epistles
to the Gentile “the body of Christ” does he say the
members of “the body of Christ” are automatically filled with
the Holy Spirit in the same way of those at Pentecost. For that was a one-time
experience for the specific mission Jesus had given to “the twelve” Apostles.
“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded
them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any
city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. (Matthew 10:5-6). The
kingdom that had been “at hand” in the gospels, was now
being offered in the early Acts period.
The fullness of the Spirit today is
distinctly different for “the body of Christ.” It’s
undeniably clear from the record that the Corinthians and Galatians believers,
for example, were not filled as Israel’s believers were on
the day of Pentecost, and neither are we today. Paul’s letters to these
churches contain much of rebuke and correction, as clear
evidence of their lack of the Spirit’s influence. No
believer today is wholly filled with the Spirit as at Pentecost.
Let me explain what we as believers today do enjoy - “the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2a) does fully indwell
our human spirit immediately upon our salvation (Col
1:25-27, 3:4b, Rom 8:9).
Paul says we as believers today, must now learn to
daily “yield our members to” and “walk” in
accord with Christ’s Spirit governing us (our soul) from within (cf.
Rom 6:13, Gal 5:16, 18, 26). Then our soul will be living in accord with
Him in our spirit. Paul as the one “Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom
11:13) for this age of pure grace also exhorts and
prays for believers to “be filled.” Obviously, none
of us has been “filled” in our soul’s expression of
Christ life within us.
So what exactly does Paul mean by saying “… be filled with the Spirit” here in Eph. 5:18b?
1. First, we need to understand that “Now the
Lord (Jesus) is that Spirit…” (2Cor 3:17). As last Adam, Jesus of
Nazareth died and rose to become “the life-giving Spirit” (1Cor
15:45b), enabling Himself, as the “Spirit of life,” to
then fill our spirit with His Spirit, such that we now
are “one spirit” with Him (1Cor 6:17). We’ve
been totally filled already with “the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus” since the day Christ as “that spirit” was
deposited into our human spirit. This occurred in the moment
we received Christ as Savior, when we were regenerated (cf. Rom 8:9, Titus
2:13). We thus became “one spirit” with Christ’s
Spirit in our spirit and… we are “complete in (union
with) Him” (Col 2:9-10).
2. Then we must understand that the
issue is this, we as humans also have a soul that
consist of our mind, emotion and will; our soul was
left untouched at our regeneration. Our soul faculties were Not automatically
filled with Christ. Thus, Paul says our “… though our
outward (body) man perish, yet the inward man (of
the soul) is renewed day by day. (2Cor 4:16).
3. Consider the whole verse; “be
not drunk with wine (spirits), wherein is excess; but be
filled with the Spirit; (Eph. 5:18). Noting the context of
this whole verse, Paul is using an analogous comparison between the effect
of “the Holy Spirit” and the ‘wine spirits.’ We
all know that ‘wine spirits’ can influence one’s mind,
emotion and will… superseding one’s natural state. So,
when Paul exhorts believers to be “be filled with the Spirit” and “be
filled with all the fulness of God” he is encouraging believers
to yield their mind, emotion and will to the “Spirit
of Christ” who is within them… so their souls will come
under the influence of Christ’s Spirit.
If we ‘yield to the Spirit’ we
are “walking” by the indwelling life and power
of Christ. Paul is saying we need to come under the
influence of Christ’s Spirit. This will affect our soul’s
expression by Christ’s life flowing from our spirit that
we would “be filled with the fruits of
righteousness” (Phil. 1:11); “filled with the
knowledge of His will” (Col. 1:9), so long as we… yield to Christ’s
Spirit within us.
We shouldn’t fail to first recognize the fact that while the
believers gathered in the upper room at Pentecost were all “filled with
the Spirit,” but grace believers of today’s “dispensation of
the grace of God,” have not all been filled
with the Spirit in the same way. Moreover, while it is distinctly
stated, again and again, that the Pentecostal believers were, baptized with the
Spirit, not once does Paul in his epistles teach that members
of “the body of Christ” are baptized with or in the
Spirit. Instead, he exhorts them to appropriate God’s grace by
faith so that they may be filled or
be under the influence of the Spirit... in their soul. Paul
here tells us of the “one baptism,” in effect today, a
new, dry, baptism.
The baptism for today is not “with the Spirit” but “by
one Spirt …into (Christ’s) one body.”
“For by one Spirit (not ‘in’ or ‘with’ the Spirit) are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Cor 12:13)
How then do we keep “under the influence” of the Spirit?
- Today
believers must learn to co-operate with the “Spirit of Christ”
within them.
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philip. 2:13)
- Know
the Truth - that we are free from the power of the Sin-Nature and cannot
be condemned. “… our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with
Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin
might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might
no longer be the slaves of sin (the Sin nature. 7 For when
a man dies, he is freed (loosed, delivered) from [the power of] sin. (Rom
6:6-7 (AMP)
Now Adopt the A New and Proper Mindset:
“For those who are (live) according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires SET their MINDS on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit SET their MINDS on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit. 6 Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].” (Romans 8:5-6 (AMP)
“But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God). 18 But if you are guided (led) by the Spirit, you are NOT subject to the Law. 25 If (since) we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]” (Galatians 5:25 (AMP)
Maintain an ‘Eternal View’
“Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting. (2 Corinthians 4:18 (AMP)
“we are citizens of the state (commonwealth, homeland) which is in heaven, and from it also we earnestly and patiently await [the coming of] the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 Who will transform and fashion anew the body of our humiliation to conform to and be like the body of His glory and majesty, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject everything to Himself.” (Philipp. 3:20-21 (AMP)
“Set your affection on things above, NOT on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2)
“FOR WE KNOW that if the tent (body) which is our earthly home is destroyed (dissolved), we have from God a building, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1 (AMP)
Stir Up the Gift Within
“Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:6-7 (KJV)
“Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. 7 And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 8 For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them]. 9 Practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me (Paul), and model your way of living on it, and the God of peace (of untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.” (Philippians 4:6-9 (AMP)
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