Sorry it's late here and if I don't reply briefly, I may not get back for days.

My point about 'NT life' is that that was only possible through the death of Jesus Christ (and His resurrection)... making Pentecost possible.

If we imply that the Son was in the prophets in the same way as He is in us, what was the point of His coming? Why the Incarnation at all?


I can see that it was the same Spirit bearing down on the prophets as we have received, but, it cannot be that the same effect obtained in them, as the Son had not yet made that new and living way. This is what I'm getting at, while at the same time I acknowledge both they and we are saved by faith. Nevertheless, they never became sons, but we do, if we will receive Him.

I think it is difficult to understand the Holy Spirit with the human mind.
In the ot the saints operated in more of a defined existance or walk. They had the law the priesthood and atonement. It was almost like communism. The government took care of them.
There was not a whole lot to understand.
They saw things 'one dimensional.'

This is why you see Jesus saying "you have heard it said"......."but i say unto you......"
Now we have the Kingdom of God at hand, which is deeper than the law.
Jesus showed us we break the law with our mind.
Holiness is inward and outward.[2 dimensional]
The trinity [including the Holy Spirit] is not one dimensional.
So we will never be able to understand the Holy Spirit on a one dimensional level.

ex; How can Christ be in us and seated at the right hand of the father.[at the same time]

You may disagree with me but when i read heb.11;39-40,I see the entire purposes of God placed squarely in the lap of the last days saints,...us,you and me....."That they without us should not be made perfect"
This is mind boggling!!!!

Holy Spirit come. Habitate in us. Indwell us. Empower us. Help us to surrender all and take our place in the army of God. Having no thought for ourselves, but singleminded FOR YOUR PURPOSES.

AMEN

psalm1 said

Not wishing to sound too indignant... but has anything I've said, (or linked to), given any impression I believe in two Holy Spirits?

Just for the record, I do believe in the 'seven spirits of God' of Revelation, but I take your point. :-)


Personally, I don't think it's as simple as one looking back and one looking forward, because God gave us time. He could have avoided that altogether, and made us aware only of eternity, despite needing a Saviour-or-we-die, some other way conveying to us the consequence of rejecting the Son.

As I write, I see that even this - the difference between time and eternity - is a picture of the finite compared with the infinite, that we should be under no illusion about what Adam lost for himself and his wife and children, and what it feels like to get eternity back.

Romans 8:
2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.


Galatians 2:
19For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

It is a deficient Trinitarian theology that separates the Holy Spirit from the "Spirit of Christ." The natural tendency of Christian "religion" is to teach some theory of the Spirit's "supernatural influence" to assist in the Christian's ethical obedience in the context of a morality-based relationship with God. This is not the gospel!

In the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him (Christ)" (Rom. 8:9). By the indwelling presence of the Spirit of Christ we are "joined to the Lord in one spirit" (I Cor. 6:17) in a real spiritual union of the divine life dwelling in the Christian, where the life of the risen Lord Jesus can be manifested in character that is the "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22,23).

The Old Testament believers looked forward to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, but they did not "receive the promises" (Heb. 11:13). They responded to the graciousness of the Living God in trusting faith, and "lived" physically, socially, religiously in that old covenant relationship with God, but they did not "pass from death to life" (I John 3:14) spiritually in regeneration whereby the very presence and activity of the life of Jesus Christ became their life (Col. 3:4) in the Old Testament. It is the unique privilege of Christians within the **New Covenant** to participate in a spiritual union with the life of Jesus Christ, and to be "saved by His life" (Rom. 5:10) as His life is lived out through us.


Nowhere in Scripture are the Old Testament believers said to have "passed from death to life," to have been "regenerated," to have been "born again," or to have participated in the indwelling life of the risen Lord Jesus, throught the POWER of the Holy Spirit, who has sealed us until the day of redemption.

The Holy Spirit has always been active in the Old Testament and New. In the New Covenant, the Spirit of the life of the RISEN Christ indwells the believer.

This is/was the Mystery kept secret from the foundation of the world.....The RISEN CHRIST IN YOU ...(Colossians 1)our hope of Glory.

**1st Peter 1

Love in Christ
Katy-Did

Hi Katy, glad to see you back (just sent you a pm).

Maybe I overstated my case a little, in response to Dorcas. There is no way I would want to deny that the working of the Holy Spirit is different in New Testament times, or that what the Lord does in us, as a norm, is greater than His operation in the OT.

Although I wonder what 1Samuel 10:6-9 means if it isn't speaking of something akin to new birth?

[color=990000]6 And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and [b]shalt be turned into another man[/b]...

9 And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, [b]God gave him another heart[/b]: and all those signs came to pass that day.[/color]

............................................................

I'm not sure how Scripture explains about the difference between the Spirit of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Indeed I don't know if it does!

Maybe in spiritual matters, and especially in matters regarding the nature of God Himself, the exact relationship isn't meant to be understood by our limited human minds - even regenerate ones.

Which is probably the reason for recent debates about the Trinity.

For example, the "seven spirits of God" doesn't mean there are seven Gods, any more than the concept of the Trinity means there are three Gods - as all on this thread would surely agree.

But if not, what exactly [i]does[/i] it mean? Sometimes I wonder if its easier to say what God is not than what He [i]is[/i].

As He said to Moses, (slightly changed wording to emphasise this aspect of the meaning), "I just [i]AM[/i]!"

Love in Him

Jeannette

Jeannette,
1 Samuel 10 is about Saul being anointed as King of Israel.

The situation going on is not about the New Birth. Reading the verses before between and after the ones you placed here will show that the Prophets only prophesied when the Spirit of the Lord was UPON them.

When Saul was prophesying, the question was...is he a prophet too?

But this is not about being Born Again, has nothing to do with being Saved by GRACE through faith.

OT Saints were not baptized into the Body of the resurrected Christ. Until Jesus rose from the dead, OT Saints(those looking forward to the Cross) were in Abraham's Bosom..Luke..

When Jesus rose from the dead, He lead captivity captive and those Saints now are listed among those in Hebrews 12....the Spirits of Just men made perfect. Their Perfection IN CHRIST came on resurrection day.

If OT Saints were born again as we are today, no need would have been for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So many focus on the work of Jesus shedding His blood dying for our sin, and yet so few understand our life on the Resurrection side of the Cross, and the resurrection life of Christ in us. OT Saints did not have this available to them....they died without the promise of the indwelling life of the Risen Christ...**The Spirit of the Life of Christ that set them free from the law of sin and death***. We are justified by His Blood, and Saved by His RISEN life.

Even those who lived by faith looking forward to the Cross still were under LAW. Hebrews 10,( the shedding of blood of bulls and goats was a shaddow of things that were to come, as the chapter continues to say...Christ came. And the blood of bulls and goats could never make anyone OT [u]perfect[/u].

[u][b]We[/b][/u] have been *perfected forever* once and for all through the body of Christ.

Here is more of 1 Samuel 10: This chapter is not about salvation.

In the New Covenant, we are given a [u][b]New Heart[/b][/u], not [i]another heart[/i]. That New Heart is the very person of Christ in you ( New Heart, New Creation...behold I make all things NEW. We know Saul's heart was evil in the end. Not so with the New Heart given in the New Covenant.


1 Samuel 10:
6And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

7And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee.

8And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do.

9And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.

10And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.

11And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?

12And one of the same place answered and said, But who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?


Love in Christ
Katy-Did

PS:
One would have to say if those who prophesied when the Holy Spirit came UPON them (OT Saints) is referring to the New Birth, then only Prophets/Kings in the OT would be Born Again, and not ordinary people. Do you see a problem here with that idea.