Fruit of the Spirit
> The Spirit of the Lord spake by me,
......... and his word was in my tongue. 2 Sam 23:2> AND there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: Isa 11:1
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
....... the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
....... the Spirit of counsel and might,
....... the Spirit of knowledge and
....... of the fear of the Lord; Isa 11:2
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord:and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: Isa 11:3> According to
......... the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt,
......... so my Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. Hag.2:5> This only would I learn of you,
.......... Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or
.......... (Received ye the Spirit) by the hearing OF FAITH? Galatians 3:2
It is important to establish that the concept of a Holy Spirit exists at both a Spiritual and a human level. The book of Jubilees defines a "spirit."
Let thy mercy, O Lord, be lifted up upon Thy people, and create in them an upright spirit, and let not the spirit of Beliar rule over them to accuse them before Thee, and to ensnare them Jubilee 1:20
from all the paths of righteousness, so that they may perish from before Thy face. But they are Thy people and Thy inheritance, which thou hast delivered with thy great power from the hands of the Egyptians:
create in them a clean heart and A holy spirit, and let them not be ensnared in
their sins from henceforth until eternity.' Jubilee 1: 21And the Lord said unto Moses: 'I know their contrariness and their thoughts and their stiffneckedness,
and they will not be obedient till they confess Jubilee 1: 22their own sin and the sin of their fathers.And their souls will cleave to Me and to all My commandments, and they will fulfil My Jubilee 1: 24
And after this they will turn to Me in all uprightness and with all (their) heart and with all (their) soul, and
I will circumcise the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin of the heart of their seed,
and I will create in them A holy spirit,
and I will cleanse them so that they shall not turn away from Me from that day unto eternity. Jubilee 1: 23
Col 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Col 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Col 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
commandments, and I will be their Father and they shall be My children. And they all shall be called children of the living God, and every angel and every spirit shall know, yea, they shall know that these are My children,and that I am their Father in uprightness and righteousness, and that Jubilee 1: 25
Those who were BEING saved by baptism were give A holy spirit and THEY were added to the Church of Christ
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn [Christ],
which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all,
and to the SpiritS of just men made perfect, Heb 12:23When Jesus Christ returned to the same glory He laid aside to become human,
He returned, as He promised, and is now Holy or pure Spirit. Remember that "Holy" is not the first name of a co-equal member of the God family. Rather, holy means something sacred, kept pure or to be ceremonially or morally pure. A pure or holy thing such as Spirit does not contain anything other than Spirit or it would not be Holy.
We are not aware that anyone has been named "Holy." In the same way, Spirit is not a second name and it is not a "person" separate from the human or Divine Being to whom it belongs.
Spirit is neuter and speaks of the "mental disposition" of the being's mind.
Paul demanded both body and spirit be pure because God put His Spirit into all humans. You cannot contaminate the flesh without contaminating the Spirit. Paul did not say that a person lives inside us.
All humans have God's Spirit in them along with their God-given breath. When this Spirit and breath leave, the body is dead and decays. However, Those who have the mind or Spirit of Christ formed in them have a holy spirit or a holy mental disposition rather than an unholy spirit or unholy mental disposition.
The body is not spirit, will decay and be resurrected as a new form. The purpose of the spirit is to direct the human body as it (the spirit) is instructed from God's Spirit through the Word.
Jesus Christ Promised to Return as Comforter
Lord Jesus Christ speaks to the power of the Rulership of God. He is Man and Spirit - Anointed. Only if Christ could keep His promise to come back to the church as full Deity in invisible, Spirit form indwelling the human mind would He prove His Deity.
Lord Jesus Christ promised:
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Jn 14:18
MY little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin,
.......... we have an advocate with the Father,
...........Jesus Christ the righteous: 1 John 2:1Parakletos (g3875) par-ak'-lay-tos; an intercessor, consoler: - advocate, comforter.
To those who obeyed, Christ would return so that both Father and Son would dwell within believers to the extent that they obey Him or keep His commandments. Christ as Holy Spirit guided the Apostles into all truth and caused them to remember what He had Personally taught them. The Apostles understood their task as middlemen: delivering the Word as it had been taught to them. Our task is to hear God speaking to us just as surely as a foreign nation hears our President through his ambassadors.
And Paul wrote in terms equivalent to the "singing" passages in Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 as well as the definition of the assembly or synagogue passage in Romans 15 where we are commanded to use "that which is written."
Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again
............ until Christ be formed in you,Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith,
............ and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
............ unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature
............ of the fulness of Christ:Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children,
............ tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,
............ by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness
............ whereby they lie in wait to deceive;But speaking the truth in love,
.............may grow up into him in all things,
............ which is the head, even Christ: Eph 4:15From whom the whole body fitly joined together and
............ compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
............ according to the effectual working in the measure of every part,
............ maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Eph 4:16This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord,
............ that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk,
............ in the vanity of their mind, Eph 4:17Having the understanding darkened,
............ being alienated from the life of God
............ through the ignorance that is in them,
............ because of the blindness of their heart: Eph 4:18Who being past feeling
............ have given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
............ to work all uncleanness with greediness. Eph 4:19But ye have not so learned Christ; Eph 4:20
If so be that ye have heard him,
............ and have been taught by him,
............ as the truth is in Jesus: Eph 4:21Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning
............ the former conversation the old man,
............ which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; Eph 4:23
And that ye put on the new man,
............ which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Eph 4:24Wherefore putting away lying,
............ speak every man truth with his neighbour:
............ for we are members one of another. Eph 4:25Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. Ph.1:11 (You see, O silly man, fruits plural is ok with God)
To have Christ formed in us is not to have the literal God of the universe inside our body. Rather, it means to have the "put to work" knowledge of Christ changing our lives to be more Christ like.
Peter wrote of the fruit of the Spirit:
2 Pet 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,Paul's almost unique meaning of worship is to "give heed to the Word of God." The church has no other mandate than to "train spirits" which is antithetical to "wrestling bodies" in what we call worship. Even the Lord's Supper shows forth or teaches the death of Christ.
2 Pet 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2 Pet 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2 Pet 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2 Pet 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2 Pet 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2 Pet 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound,
they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Pet 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off,
and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2 Pet 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren,
give diligence to make your calling and election sure:
for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
2 Pet 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly
into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
While Paul defined the ekklesia or assembly as speaking the psalm material one to another, it is clear that this is to replace the "getting drunk" singing of paganism. He instructs Timothy how to "give attendance to the public reading of the Word." Because it was the Spirit OF Christ in the prophets in OPPOSITION to the national religion,
And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Luke 1: 67
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, Luke 1: 68
And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; Luke 1: 69
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: Luke 1: 70How? Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1 Pet 1:11
That we should be
(1) saved from our enemies, and
(2) from the hand of all that hate us (Satan); Luke 1: 71
(3) To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and
(4) to remember his holy convenant; Luke 1: 72
The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, Luke 1: 73
(4) To give knowledge of salvation unto his people
(5) by the remission of their sins, Lu.1:77
Peter shows that the word of the prophets is vital to produce the fruit of the Spirit or Mind of Christ in our own spirits:
For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 2 Pe 1:17And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. 2Pe 1:18
We have also a more sure word of prophecy ;
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 2Pe 1:19For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2Pe 1:21
That Holy Spirit or Mind breathed on the prophets to fill them with His Word. That Spirit was (is) Jesus Christ:
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1 Peter1:11
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:21
BUT there were FALSE PROPHETS also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 Peter 2:1
And MANY shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the WAY OF TRUTH shall be evil spoken of. 2 Peter 2: 2
And through COVETOUSNESS shall they with FEIGNED words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their DAMNATION slumbereth not. 2 Peter 2: 3
John Recorded Jesus explaining the "two or more witnesses" when a voice spoke to them from heaven:
The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. Jn 12:29
Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Jn 12:30
When the voice came from the Father it was a voice from the Glory God laid aside to become the "Son" or the invisible Spirit's reach into the material world. It was not to teach anything about the nature of the Godhead. It was a supernatural sign to the apostles that the Spirit of Christ Who spoke in the prophets was now present to make the prophecies more certain.
If the prophetic Spirit, the fulfilling Spirit and the Abiding Spirit are three different "persons" it would prove nothing. I might predict something and God might fulfill it. However, that would not prove that I was inspired.
Peter was inspired to say that the way to have the True Day Star (not the astrologer's Venus) arise in our heart or spirit or mind was to listen in silence to the prophecies. They are our "Key to the kingdom" as they prove that Christ is God and that full Deity (all of it) dwelled in the body of Christ.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, Col.2:9
It is important to understand that the "inventors" of the word "trinity" did not think of the Holy Spirit as a separate person. According to Paul in 1 Cor 2 God's HOLY Spirit is equated to OUR Spirit and the Mind of Christ. The wordS of God as Father become Son as soon as God "thinks" or "speaks." Therefore, it is important to disabuse people of the notion that the Spirit OF Christ is going to operate outside of the WORDS of Christ which He defined as "Spirit."
The American Restoration Movement rejected the separated "spirit" as an agent of direct work on our spirits. John Calvin used to speak of God working outside of His Word says that people who think they hear Spirit outside of the Word are fanatic. He said that God always uses a supernatural means to affect faith: those supernatural means are the written word and the preachers sent to teach it.
Walter Scott, one of the brighter Restoration scholars wrote in the Christian Baptist, Feb 1827, and defines spirit as our holy Spirit or Mind
"Again--Some will say, What does the expression Holy Spirit mean? Well, in scripture it stands first for God the Holy Spirit, and secondly for the holy mind or spirit of a believer--for illustration, take Peter's words to Ananias, "Why has Satan tempted you to lie to the Holy Spirit; you have not lied to men, but to God," (the Holy Spirit.) And the Saviour says, How much more will your heavenly Father give a holy spirit (as it should be translated) to those that ask him. Again--Praying in a holy spirit. Again--Paul says he approved himself God's servant "by knowledge, by long sufferings, by kindness, by a holy spirit'" by a mind innocent of the love of gain, or commerce, or sensuality. (Note: these do not speak of four persons.)
"I shall now answer, from scripture, the following questions.--When do we know that we are born of the Spirit?"Now then the expression stands for both God the Holy Spirit,
and for a believer's spirit made holy by him.
I answer, when we know that our spirits are holy. But it will be asked again, when do we know this? I reply, when we behold our minds producing the fruits of a holy spirit. But what are the fruits of a holy spirit? Paul says they are joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance, against such there is no (written) law.
Scott understood from Galatians that Paul did not see a mortal battle between our body and God the Holy Spirit. Rather, he knew that the battle is between our body and our spirit. The only way to have the spirit win is to fill it with the Spirit or Mind of Christ. In Galatians where he speaks of fruits, the contrast is between our flesh and our spirit:
This I say then,
............Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not
............fulfil the lust of the flesh. Gal 5:16
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, therefore the faith which matters is based on God's Word. In this Word Paul identifies the Full Deity in Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit.
J. W. McGarvey 1Peter3-21.html
Perhaps some one is ready to object, just here, that it is rather a strange mode of speech, for a man to represent his own spirit as being a witness to himself. But this is not the only passage in which Paul speaks in this way. When speaking of the unbelief of Israel, in the ninth of Romans, he uses this language:
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart." Romans 9:1-2
In the Greek we have here the same verb as in our text, so that, more exactly translated, it would read,
"my conscience also bearing witness with me." Here are two witnesses,
himself in the aggregate testifying to the brethren, and his conscience,
which does not in every man agree with the spoken words, asserting within him the same thing.
We now have the subject sufficiently before us, to begin to feel the solid ground beneath our feet.
When the Holy Spirit testified to Paul what character God would adopt as a child, he could not doubt it;
and when he honestly inquired of his own spirit what his own character was, he could not doubt the answer that was given.When these two characters agree, to doubt that you are a child of God is to doubt either your own consciousness, or the words of the Holy Spirit.
Paul was not telling us to walk around inside the Holy Spirit as a person. Rather, we are to allow our Christ-influenced spirit to lead the human body or flesh away from anything which appeal to the human senses. The Lutheran Lenski wrote:
"Throughout the rest of the chapter 'spirit' and 'flesh' are contrasted, the new and the old nature. We see their antagonism... Rendal says that through out this section Paul has in mind 'spirit' and not 'Spirit'; Lightfoot says it in regard to v. 17...
"The analogy of Scripture shows that
............ we never use the Spirit as a means,
............ but we do so use our own 'spirit.'"So Paul here bids the Galatians to use in their walk and conversation what is spirit in its nature, i. e., the reborn, new man...
'Flesh' and the ''Holy Spirit' are not a contrast, but 'flesh' and 'spirit' are." Lenski, Commentary on Gal. 5:16.
God is not a polygamist:
To bring forth fruit to Christ is symbolized by children who are the result of a marriage:
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Ro.7:4
Our marriage is valid because the Bridegroom is here with us in mind or spirit. Him Who is raised is the same God Who laid aside His Glory or God-privileges to become human. To be married to Christ is to bring fruit from God. Christ is God as the Bride of the church. When we are married to Christ the fruit we bring forth is unto God Who is pure or holy Spirit.
To say that Christ is our Mediator or Husband does not mean that He stands with arms outstretched somewhere between heaven and earth. Rather, we have our access to God through the means of Lord Jesus Christ. Again, God became a human being so that we might have our God-man relationship through God as a man. When we have that relationship with God's visible manifestation of Himself in human terms, we have a relationship with God the same invisible and incomprehensible Spirit. They are not two.
In this highly symbolic language, we are married to Christ. If the Holy Spirit is separated from Christ as another person it would be unseemly to also bring forth fruit from both Son and Spirit Who, according to H. Leo Boles, is a close relative. If the Spirit is the Agent of Christ then this blasphemes God Who is Holy Spirit.
Christ is the Only Vine Supplying Fruit of the Spirit:
In another symbolic or parabolic picture, Jesus supplies Spirit power through the indwelling Word to the church:
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Jn 15:3
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. Jn.15:4
I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. Jn.15:5
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. Jn 15:6
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Jn 15:7
To a human mind who cannot understand pure or holy Spirit, Christ presents the Godhead as the (1) roots, (2) the vine which is a "pipeline" and (3) spirit of life which flows to to the "grapes" attached to the vine. Christ is not a grapevine. Christ is like a grapevine. This is a parable. The root, the vine and the sap are not three "persons" but one "branch" fulfilling different roles. We abide in the vine by being attached to it. Christ abides in the "grape" by being in vital connection with our human Spirit. If we soak up "food" not of the Vine we may rot.
Jesus said that His words are spirit and life (Jn 6:63). In the image of the vine, Christ supplie Spirit power only to those who are connected directly to Him. By retiring Father and Son to an easy chair and making this "the age of the Holy Spirit" who, is a junior member of the God family or clan, we cut ourselves off from Christ as we look for pagan-like magic from the African concept of "the little man in the big man."
The spirit which bears fruit is our mind connected to the Vine. The result is that the mind or spirit controls the human body and its appetites. Jesus said it (like it or not) that the "juice" which supplies spirit and life is the word which He spoke (Jn 6:63).
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Ro.8:2
This is the eternal battle between the worship of the creature (me) against the Creator. "Flesh" is the worship of the human senses rather than the God Who created them to make us fit to communicate and relate to Spirit.
In following verses Paul clearly shows the contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. This is a battle between our human appetites and our own spirit enlightened by Christ:
Our Flesh or human appetites worship flesh rather than the Creator:
Now the works of the flesh are manifest (visible), which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Gal 5:19
Our spirit or mind worships when it honors the Creator:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Gal 5:22
Conclusion:
The works of the flesh are the result of our yielding to or allowing the natural, God- given appetites to control the nature of the mind or spirit:
Example:
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: Ja 1:13
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Ja 1:14
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Ja 1:15
The way to defeat this is to allow our mind or spirit to be drawn toward the Mind or Spirit of Christ.
The Spirit Who produces Fruit is Christ Who is the Vine
We noted that Christ is formed in us as the Day Star (not Venus) rises in our heart when we connect the Spirit-breathed prophecies to the Spirit of Christ Who breathed His own life story into their own spirit or mind. When we see the risen Christ speaking words, as that same God or Old Testament Spirit, Christ's Spirit or Mind is formed in our Spirit or mind:
Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Pe 1:10
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1Pe 1:11
OR: They wondered what the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about, for he told them to write down the events which, since then, have happened to Christ: his suffering, and his great glory afterwards. And they wondered when and to whom all this would happen. 1Pe 1:11LIV
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have
.............preached the gospel unto you
............ with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven;
............ which things the angels desire to look into. 1Pe 1:12Who was SENT DOWN FROM HEAVEN?
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. Jn.6:38
who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God, Ph 2:6
but laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men. Ph 2:7LIVAnd Jesus Said:
For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. Jn 16:27
I came forth (To issue or come forth out of, escape) from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. Jn 16:28
His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Jn 16:29
Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jn 16:30
Under the image of WORD or SON Jesus spoke ONLY what He heard from the FATHER. Through WORDS Jesus the Holy Spirit delivered SPIRIT to those who will accept it like SONS:
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
Christ was WITH God because He WAS God. As "fathe" He sent the "Son" to Speak the WORDS OF LIFE:
Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ, Phil 2:5LIV
..........who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God, Phil 2:6
..........but laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men. Phil 2:7And he humbled himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal's death on a cross Phil 2:8
In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul said that this Holy Ghost is the Mind of Christ. The apostles who had the Mind of Christ directly and indirectly heard the Words of Christ and then reported the words through preaching..
The Gospel, contrary to lies, consists of the things reported beforehand and now delivered to us.
For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. 1Pe.4:6
The Holy Spirit Who Guided Paul into all Truth was Jesus Christ
When Jesus promised another Comforter it would be Himself in Spirit form (Jn 14:16-18). This same Spirit would guide the Apostles into all truth. What was the form of the Holy Spirit sent to guide them? In Acts 2:33 it was Jesus Christ Who had returned to the Glory and Majesty He laid aside to be a human. He received back the promise of the Holy Spirit form and He--Jesus Christ--"shed forth which ye now see and hear."
Therefore, when the promised Holy Spirit returned it was, as Jesus promised, the same Being who lived with the apostles. The form was not like a man. Rather, it was like a dove or more probably a pigeon which has always been a symbol of carrying a message which represents the mind of the sender.
When Paul was given a Divine memory and "guided into all truth" it was the invisible Jesus Christ speaking to him. Indeed, it would have proven futile if another, more competent, member of the "god family" came to do what He could not.
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Ac 9:5
At one level, when Paul preached with the Holy Spirit he preached what the Spirit of Christ revealed to them. At the same time, the Spirit of Jesus "guided him into all truth"--
Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, Ac 16:6
and when they had come to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; Ac 16:7NAS, NIV, RSV, LIV
This was not a "person" because Christ the Spirit lacks personhood or humanity. Rather, the mental disposition of Jesus Christ instructed and guided Paul into all truth as He had at his conversion.
As Galatians continues, those who have been baptized "into Christ" have crucified the effect of the body and this permits the mind to get in control and produce the fruit available through gospel power:
And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Gal 5:24
..........If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Gal 5:25To be Christ's and to be in Christ is to be guided by His Spirit. We live in the Spirit of Christ and we walk in the Spirit or mental disposition of Christ. The "one third slice of the god family" does not personally live in us.
Fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Word which is Spirit and Life (Jn 6:63)
To bring about the fruit of the spirit or mind is to deliberately "gird up" the mind or spirit. Our spirit must become holy by making a conscious decision to "crucify" the old man and be renewed "in the spirit of your mind." As the spirit or mental disposition of Christ is personified, our mind is spoken of as having loins. Those who follow Christ's plan will have a holy spirit or a holy mental disposition:
Wherefore (you) gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 1Pe 1:13
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 1Pe 1:14
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation (behavior, acts or fruit); 1Pe 1:15
..........Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1Pe 1:16
A holy spirit is a holy mind fortified and fashioned by the mind or Spirit of Christ. Again, the power of Christ would not be proven if the holiness which He taught had to be created by another "god of the age of the Holy Spirit person."
FORASMUCH then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 1Pe.4:1
..........That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 1Pe 4:2
To arm ourselves with the Mind of Christ is to have the Spirit of God (1Cor 2). This is the same Mind or Spirit which flows from our double-edged sword as the voice of the mind of Christ.
In our file on the Sword of the Spirit and in Who Swings It we saw that the sword is the mouth of the teacher who blows his own breath (spirit) out through his "double-edged sword" to do Christ's work.
In First Corinthians Two, Paul equates the Mind of Christ to the Spirit of God. This is because Christ is full Deity:
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, Col.2:9
Therefore, when we have the Mind of Christ in our mind or spirit, we have the Holy Spirit. This is not a tiny, helpless, idle "person" living in our person. Rather, it is a very provable, very manifest, obvious to all, holy spirit or mental disposition. Why is it self-evident? It is because all can see the fruit or fleshly manifestation of an inner spirit.
There could be no higher honor than to have the Mind or Spirit of Christ living in our mind or Spirit. When His Mind is in us we will bear fruit and this spirit or mental disposition will testify with our own human spirit that we are the children of God. No, being a Bible scholar does not mean that we have more "Holy Spirit Person" living in us.
Christ is the by or the means or the Vine Who is the "pipeline" from His full Deity to our mind, spirit, new man or inner mind to make our unholy spirit into a holy spirit.
Because Christ returned as Spirit, the fruit of our spirit is produced, not by a Savior who has a disconnected Spirit but by Jesus Christ Himself instilling His Spirit or Mind into our spirit or mind. The "pipeline" or the "supply line" is not a little Person living in the body. Rather, the Word which is spirit and life is supplied by Jesus Christ:
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. Ph.1:11 (You see, O silly man, fruits plural is ok with God)
This supply of Spirit power is through the gospel of Christ which was preached and confirmed by direct miracles of the Spirit of Christ working in the Apostles:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Ro.1:16
To look for magical power outside of the unaltered record of God's Word may be to deny the adequacy of the Words of Christ and therefore to deny Christ as Spirit Himself:
For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before
in the word of the truth of the gospel; Col 1:5
Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world;
and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you,
since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace (grace is similar to spirit) of God in truth: Col 1:6Earthly wisdom is unspiritual. Therefore, heavenly wisdom is spiritual but not a person.
Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. Ja 3:15
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. Ja 3:16
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Ja.3:17
..........And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Ja 3:18Christ, as God Incarnate, would pass on the same spirit He brought with Him. This was not a little "person" as a one-third God. Rather this "spirit" was the supernatural Mind of the invisible God Who is pure Spirit or Mind:
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; Is 11:2 and quick understanding, v3.
Fruit of the spirit which gives us a "holy spirit" is the result of discipline of the Lord:
If the "spirit" in you is causing you to do insane-looking and sound things it is not a Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Christ intends to "teach and admonish" or warn or discipline:
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. He 12:10
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. He 12:10
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. He 12:11
Therefore, the fruit of righteousness is not from a person called "righteousness." Rather, the fruit of righteousness is a spirit of holiness as we partake of His holiness.
Fruit of the Spirit is a result of personal application of the Spirit Word.
SIMON Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: 2Pe 1:1
Grace and peace (fruits) be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 2Pe 1:2
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 2Pe 1:3
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; 2Pe 1: 5Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2Pe 1:4
And to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; 2Pe 1: 6
And to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. 2Pe 1: 7For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Pe 1:8
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2Tim 3:15
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 2Tim3:17
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 2Ti.3:16
The Greek and or kai can be understood in a cumulative way. For instance, bread and jelly describes two things so that 1 + 1 = 2. However, on the desert we might say, "water and life." Here we mean water which is life.
Note that 2Pe 1:1 can be understood to include the person of God plus the person of Christ. This would make two persons. However, this is not cumulative: The Lord Jesus Christ is our God. Notice how this is translated in most versions:
Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 1Pe 1:1NIV
Servant and apostle does not speak of two people. In the same way, God and Savior does not speak of God as a person plus Jesus Christ as a person. Rather, Jesus Christ is both our God and our Savior.
Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 1Pe 1:1NKJV
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 1Pe 1:1NAS
Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 1Pe 1:1RSV
From: Simon Peter, a servant and missionary of Jesus Christ. To: All of you who have our kind of faith. The faith I speak of is the kind that Jesus Christ our God and Savior gives to us. How precious it is, and how just and good he is to give this same faith to each of us. 1Pe 1:1LIV
The Gifts of the Spirit are the Gifts of Christ because Christ is the Spirit.
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Eph 4:7
..........Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and (He) gave gifts unto men. Eph 4:8
..........(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? Eph 4:9He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) Eph 4:10NIV
To fill is Pleroo (g4137) to make replete i.e. (lit.) to cram (a net), level up (a hollow), or (fig.) to furnish (or imbue, diffuse, influence), satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task)
Christ, and not another person, is the ruler of the universe, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Furthermore, it is clear that the gift of Christ is the gifts which Christ gave. He gave the gifts of the Spirit because He returned as pure or Holy Spirit. He promised that He would dwell as Father-Son in those who obey Him. "In Him we live, move and have our being." And "Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in your midst."
If the Holy Spirit had to do the "clean up" work of organizing the "totally worthless thing" created by Father and Son then we blaspheme God totally. In the same way, if Christ had to send a god "competent for this dispensation" and if He did not supply all things necessary for life and godlessness then we may be in danger. Faith Matters which are based on human opinion and little upon the Word of God is not the faith which matters.
Kenneth Sublett