Receive The Holy Spirit
Man has the intellectual capacity to design spaceships to take him to the moon and back, to invent the computer and to do other marvelous exploits in the physical, material realm. Yet during man's nearly 6,000 years on earth, he has proved that he cannot solve his problems with fellowmen.
Why has this been so? Because man's real problems are spiritual in nature and the natural man simply cannot solve spiritual problems. In producing the computer or in flying to the moon, he is dealing with physical matter which he can understand because of the human spirit within him. But he cannot solve problems with fellow humans because this involves knowledge and understanding of spiritual principles which he cannot comprehend without the addition of another spiritual element to his mind!
1. What was the apostle Paul inspired to write about man's understanding of the spiritual things of God? I Cor. 2:9-11. What must be added before a man can comprehend spiritually revealed knowledge? Verse 11, last part; verse 14.
COMMENT: Man was made to need another spirit--the Holy Spirit of God! Just as a human could not know the things of human knowledge except by the human spirit within him, so he cannot know the things of God--spiritual knowledge--except by the addition of the Spirit of God.
Just as surely as no animal brain--such as that of a cow, for example- -can comprehend or understand human affairs without the human spirit, so no human mind can have comprehension of spiritual truths on the divine plane without the Holy Spirit!
Even the greatest scientific and philosophical minds simply cannot come to know and understand SPIRITUAL truths with their natural minds. God's truth is "foolishness" to them. The natural man with his human spirit is limited to material knowledge.
Spiritual things cannot be seen with the eye, heard with the ear, felt with the hands. The human mind, which can receive knowledge only through the physical senses, can never really comprehend spiritual concepts and principles without the Holy Spirit of God. A man can come to know that which is spiritual only through God's Holy Spirit, which works with the human spirit in his mind. That is the only way the human mind can receive and comprehend the knowledge of and attain God's GREAT PURPOSE for man's existence!
2. Does God reveal there is duality in the creation of man? I Cor. 15:45-49. Must man be born again to enter the kingdom or family of God? John 3:3-8.
COMMENT: Mortal man was created incomplete. The complete creation of man is to be accomplished in two stages: 1) the physical phase, which was completed with the first man, Adam; and 2) the spiritual phase, which began with the Second Adam, Jesus Christ. And to accomplish the spiritual phase, man was made to need another Spirit--the Holy Spirit of God.
3. How does one receive the Holy Spirit? Acts 2:38; John 7:37-39.
COMMENT: Through Christ, the Second Adam, we can receive God's gift of His Holy Spirit. Upon repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, whose death paid the penalty for sin in our stead, we may be reconciled to God and receive the Holy Spirit of God, which is added to our human spirit.
4. Do we then become the begotten children of God? I Peter 1:3; Rom. 8:14-17.
COMMENT: The human spirit in man and the Holy Spirit of God join to make a begotten child of God, just as the male sperm cell and the female ovum or egg cell join to make a begotten human, but not yet developed or ready to be born as a human being.
God's Holy Spirit, when it combines with the human spirit in the human mind, does two things: 1) it begets the human with divine, eternal life to be later born as children of God , then composed wholly of spirit; 2) it imparts to the mind the ability to comprehend spiritual knowledge--to understand the things of God.
5. When will spirit-begotten Christians be born into God's spirit family? I Cor. 15:50-53; I Thess. 4:16-17.
COMMENT: The Spirit-begotten Christian now has, conditionally, the presence of eternal life within him (or her) through a portion of the Spirit from the Father. But this does not mean he is an immortal spirit being. He is not yet wholly composed of God's Spirit. He is now an "heir" of God (Rom. 8:16-17)--not yet an inheritor or a possessor, not yet "born again." But, if the Holy Spirit dwells in us, God will, at Christ's return to earth as King of kings, give us immortality by His Spirit that dwells in us (Rom. 8:11).
Now just as in human reproduction the impregnated embryo, which later becomes a fetus, is not yet born but must be nourished for a period of time through the human mother; so the begotten Christian is not yet born as a mature child of God. The divine life has merely been begotten. It must now grow!
Why We Must Grow Spiritually
Included in God's purpose for creating man is the development of righteous, spiritual character within him! Notice again what God said in Genesis 1:26: "Let us make man in our image...." The original Hebrew here indicates far more than merely the form and shape of God--His outward likeness. "Image" also refers to mind and character! God intended for man--to whom He gave the gift of thinking, reasoning mind--to ultimately have the very nature of GOD.
1. Are spirit-begotten Christians therefore admonished to grow spiritually? II Peter 3:18; I Peter
2:1-2. Who are we eventually to become like? Matt. 5:48; Eph. 4:15; I John 3:2, 9.
COMMENT: Just as the human body and brain gradually begin to form during the gestation period in human reproduction, the righteous and holy character of God must begin to form and grow once one is begotten by God's Spirit.
Obviously, we cannot become absolutely perfect in character until the resurrection when God will complete the process by giving each of us a new, perfect spirit body with its perfect--sinless (I John 3:2, 9)--nature that will be like Christ's and the Father's. But in the meantime, God wants us to grow in His spiritual character daily by obeying His commandments and overcoming and rooting sin out of our lives--growing toward that spiritual perfection!
Such perfect, holy character cannot be created by fiat. It must be developed and that requires time and experience. God gives us time in which to learn that only His way of life brings real peace, happiness, and a joyful, abundant life. We will have learned that sin causes only heartache, misery, suffering and death.
2. What is one important way we are to grow once spiritually begotten of God? Matt. 4:4; II Tim. 3:16-17.
COMMENT: We become spiritual "embryos" when, upon receipt of the Holy Spirit, we are begotten of God. And to grow spiritually, we must take in spiritual nourishment. Just as the embryo in a mother's womb must be nourished with life-giving food through the placenta, so we must be nourished by the Word of God. "... The words that I speak unto you," said Jesus, "they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). Those words are recorded in the Bible--and Jesus said we are to live by every word of God. We drink in these life-giving words from the Bible through reading, studying and meditating (thinking) on what we read.
Spiritual character development requires time and comes largely by experience--by putting the Word of God into practice in our daily lives.
One builds the righteous character of God as he comes to discern, through God's revelation in the Holy Bible, right from wrong--the true values from the false--truth from error, then chooses the right and rejects the wrong and, with the help of God's Holy Spirit, resists the wrong and DOES the right! Growing in spiritual knowledge and spiritual character is a gradual process that continues the rest of one's life.
3. Is prayer also essential to our spiritual growth and overcoming?
Matt. 6:5-15; Eph. 6:18.
COMMENT: In addition to Bible study, earnest prayer is absolutely necessary. We also absorb spiritual nourishment through personal, daily contact with God. When you study the Bible, God is talking to you. When you pray, you are talking to Him. You really get to know God in this manner, just as you become better acquainted with people by conversation.
4. When will we, if we are spirit-begotten Christians, become fully mature, fully grown children of God's divine family? I Thess. 4:16-17; Phil. 3:20-21; I John 3:2.
COMMENT: Finally, when resurrected from the dead or changed from mortal flesh to immortal spirit at Christ's return, the incredible human potential will have blossomed into reality. We will have been BORN mature children of God possessing the fullness of the very character of God!