26 20. The Witness of The Spirits
20. The Witness of The Spirits
INTRODUCTION The subject of this lesson is suggested in Romans 8:16 : "The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God." It is so often called "the witness of the Spirit," but it is evident that our text calls for two spirits, testifying jointly to the fact that we are God’s children. The Holy Spirit. This is God’s Spirit, the only Spirit that can reveal unto us God’s mind, or God’s will. "Even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God." (1 Corinthians 2:11.) The question, then, in verse 16 of this chapter, "For who hath known the mind of the Lord?" is answered here. God’s Spirit can reveal his mind, his will, to us. It is our only way of knowing. The human spirit. What other human spirit can know your heart? No other human spirit may know it. Others may come to believe that you are a good man, that your heart is right, but only your spirit that dwells in you can know your heart. "For who among men knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man, which is in him?" (1 Corinthians 2:11.) only the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God. So these are the two spirits that bear witness with each other that one is a child of God. It is not the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the human spirit, but with the human spirit. The two testify jointly to the fact that one is a child of God.
HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TESTIFIES
People have been taught that God’s Spirit in some mysterious, miraculous way comes into the heart, changes the heart, gives remission of sins, and testifies to man’s spirit that he is a child of God. This is not true. God’s Spirit testifies with words—testifies in a sensible, tangible way.
Examples of the Holy Spirit testifying, or witnessing. A quotation from Jeremiah. Paul says: "The Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us." (Hebrews 10:15.) Begin with verse I and read on to verse 15 of Hebrews 10 : The "first" testament, or covenant, had to be removed before the establishment of the "second." (Verse 9.) Then verse 15 connects the testimony of the Spirit to this proposition. "And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us." But where and when did the Holy Spirit do this? Read on and get the answer: "For after he hath said." But what did he say? "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws on their heart, and upon their mind also will I write them; then saith he, And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." The Holy Spirit said this in testifying that a new covenant would be established; that the law of this new covenant would be written on the heart instead of tables of stone, as in the case of the old; and that absolute remission would be given instead of temporary remission, as with the old covenant. But when did the Spirit so testify? Read Jeremiah 31:31-34. Paul quoted the exact words of this passage and said it was the Holy Spirit testifying to what he was teaching. But why call it "the witness of the Holy Spirit"? Nearly every chapter and paragraph of the book of Jeremiah begins with: "Now the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying." (Chapter 1:4.) Chapter 31 begins with: "Saith Jehovah." Verse 10: of that chapter says: "Hear the word of Jehovah, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off." That is one peculiarity of the new covenant—it includes all the nations. And verse 31, from which paragraph Paul quotes, begins: "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. But why call God’s word through Jeremiah the "testimony" or "witness of the Holy Spirit"? Hear Nehemiah 9:20. "Yet many years didst thou bear with them, and testifiedst against them by thy Spirit through thy prophets." God was doing this very thing through Jeremiah. It was God’s Spirit in Jeremiah testifying against Israel and promising the new covenant. Note that Nehemiah 9:20 : says: "Thou gayest also thy good Spirit to instruct them." This Spirit did the instructing through the inspired prophets, and the instruction is found in what they taught. So in quoting an Old Testament prophet on a subject, Paul calls it the "testimony" or "witness of the Spirit." A quotation from Psalms. Reading Hebrews 3:7-11, you will find a quotation of Psalms 95:7-11. Be certain to read this, then turn and read the quotation as found in Psalms. But Paul begins the quotation by saying: "Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith." Why call the quotation the saying of the Holy Spirit? This is simple. David wrote that Psalm, but in 2 Samuel 23:2 we find David saying: "The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, and his word was upon my tongue." Hence, the New Testament writers, in quoting David, oftentimes called it the "sayings of the Holy Spirit," the "witness or testimony of the Holy Spirit." An example in the New Testament. The second and third chapters of Revelation contain seven short letters written to seven local congregations in Asia. Each letter closes with these words: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches."
Other examples could be given, but these are sufficient for this lesson.
THE SPIRIT’S MESSAGE TO US The word committed to the apostles. Christ committed "the word of reconciliation" unto the apostles. (2 Corinthians 5:19-20 : The apostles are Christ’s ambassadors, or spokesmen. Christ gave to these apostles the word that God had given to him. (John 17:14.) The message of the Holy Spirit. The word, or message, was given to the apostles by the Holy Spirit. (1 Pet. l: 12.) The apostles were not to begin preaching the new covenant until the Spirit came to guide them. Read Luke 24:48-49. The Spirit should guide them into all the truth—teach them all things man needs to know about his salvation. Read John 14:26; John 16:13-14. The apostles began this preaching, as Jesus had instructed them, when the Spirit came. Read Acts 2:1-4; also verses 14-41. Christ said that when the Spirit came he would convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of the judgment to come. (See John 16:7-11.) Did not the Holy Spirit do this very thing on Pentecost? But how did he do it? Was it not through the preaching of an apostle, who spoke as the Spirit moved him? The same thing was done by the Spirit in Acts 24:25, and Felix trembled under the testimony. In this case Paul was the preacher. It was the Spirit in Paul doing the preaching. Paul himself said: "Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words. (1 Corinthians 2:13.) The Holy Spirit gave the apostles not only the thoughts God wanted expressed, but the very words in which to express them. (Matthew 10:19-20 :
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to tell what Christ commands men to do to be saved. He must tell it in a way or in words that men can understand.
It is the work of the human spirit to receive or reject these things. The human spirit must have a consciousness of having received and done what the Holy Spirit says. The gospel of Christ is God’s power to save. (Romans 1:16.) In it God has revealed his will to us. All that it says is the testimony of the Holy Spirit, for this gospel, Peter says, was preached by them "by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven." (1 Peter 1:12.)
THE TWO SPIRITS TESTIFYING The Holy Spirit says we must hear Christ in all things. Read Acts 3:22-23. Peter, speaking by the Holy Spirit, is quoting what the Holy Spirit said through Moses. And in Matthew 17:5 God reaffirms the fact that we must hear Christ. Can your spirit now testify with God’s Spirit that you are willing to hear Christ in all things? If so, your spirit bears witness with the Holy Spirit to that extent. An example of the human spirit testifying. Acts 10:33 states that Cornelius and those with him were assembled to hear all things commanded of God. The Holy Spirit testifies that we must believe with all of our heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The human spirit answers when it believes. The two spirits thus testify in Acts 8:35-39. The eunuch had asked to be baptized. The Holy Spirit in Philip said that he could be baptized if he believed with all of his heart. The eunuch said: "1 believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." (King James Version.) Do the two spirits not agree here and testify with each other that the eunuch is a fit subject for baptism? The Holy Spirit testifies that we must repent or perish. (Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38; Acts 17:20. Is it not the Holy Spirit through Christ and the apostles testifying to the necessity of repentance? The human spirit answers: I have repented and turned from all error and sin. Every one baptized in the days of the apostles could say this, for only penitent believers were baptized. The Holy Spirit testifies that we must be baptized for the remission of sins. (Acts 2:38; Mark 16:15-16.) Have you answered the Holy Spirit by being baptized? If so, the two spirits bear witness with each other that your sins are blotted out—that you are a child of God.
Paul declares that he knows he is in Christ, because he was baptized into him. (Romans 6:3-5; Romans 6:17-18.) The Holy Spirit, through Ananias, told Paul to arise and be baptized and wash away his sins. Did his own human spirit not know that he had done this? Did not the two bear witness with each other that he was a child of God? Did not the Holy Spirit, in verses 17, 18, tell the Roman brethren that when they obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine, they were then made free from sin? Did they not know they had done this? Did not the two spirits thus bear witness with each other that they were God’s children? The Holy Spirit tells us what to do. The human spirit does the thing commanded. This completes the testimony. And thus it is that the two spirits bear witness with each other. In the same way the two spirits bear witness with each other that we are faithful. The Holy Spirit gives us God’s will as to how to live the Christian life. He tells us just how to feel and act toward all and what to do to make our calling and election sure. (2 Peter 1:5-11; Acts 2:41-42.) Paul exhorts us "by patience in well-doing" to "seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life." (Romans 2:7.) He also admonishes us to be rich in good works and to lay up in store "a good foundation against the time to come" that we may lay hold on eternal life. (1 Timothy 6:18-19.) We are also told that this is salvation by grace, and that the grace that saves comes through teaching. "For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing [teaching] us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." (Titus 2:11-13.) Paul further exhorts that we continue in the faith, rooted and grounded, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. (Colossians 1:23.) Space forbids more. The point is, the Holy Spirit testifies concerning how to live the Christian life—not forsaking our assembling together (Hebrews 10:25); to give of our means to support the gospel (1 Corinthians 16:1-2); to live the life of prayer and consecration; to bridle our tongue; to visit the widows and fatherless in their affliction and keep ourselves unspotted from the world. (See James 1:26-27.) Do we not know whether we are trying to live this way? At the very best, we will have imperfections, but be faithful, and He will take care of your imperfections from his own perfect life and through his blood. As a final word, the Bible says: "These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life."(1 John 5:13.) In 2 Corinthians 13:5 we are commanded to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. This is done by going to the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the Bible and seeing what it says for us to do, then examining our own hearts as to whether we have done it and are living as the Spirit directs
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Thus "the Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God."