SPIRIT, WILL HE LEAVE OR STAY? GENESIS 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life-(his spirit); and man became a living soul. COMMENTARY: God breath into the nostrils of man. Gods Spirit enter the body of man and gave man a part of His Spirit, and that spirit formed a living soul in the body created from dust. Now how, this fleshly mortal body treats this spirit which is holy, and will one day return to God who gave it; will determine the final state of the soul which is immortal. Here is a name given to the Creator, Jehovah. Where the word LORD is printed in capital letters in our English Bibles, in the original Hebrew manuscripts it is Yahweh, translated from Hebrew to Greek is Yehovah, translated from the Greek to English is Jehovah. Jehovah is that name of God, which denotes that He alone has His being of Himself, self existing, Supreme,and that He gives being to all creatures and things. Further notice is taken of plants and herbs, because they were made and appointed to be food for man. The earth did not bring fort its fruits of itself: this was done by Almighty power. Thus grace in the soul grows not of itself in natures soil, but is the work of God. Rain also is the gift of God; it came not till the Lord God caused it. Though God works by means, yet when He pleases, He can do His own work without them; and though we must not tempt God in the neglect of means, we must trust God, both in the use and in the want of means. Someway or another, God will water the plants of His own planting. Divine grace comes down like the dew, and waters the church without noise. Man was made of the small dust, such as is on the surface of the earth. The soul was not made of the earth, as the body: pity then that it should cleave to the earth, and mind earthly things. To God we must shortly give an account, how we have used these souls, and if it be found that we have lost them, though it were to gain the world, we are undone, condemned for ever! Fools despise their own souls, by caring for their bodies before their souls. ROMANS 8:10 and 11 {10} And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. COMMENTARY: And if Christ be in you. This is the criterion by which you may judge of the state of grace in which ye stand. If Christ dwell in your hearts by faith, the body is dead because of sin, the members of your body no more perform the work of sin, than the body of a dead man does the functions of natural life. The apostle means, that although, because of sin, the life of man is forfeited, and the sentence, dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return, must be fulfilled on every human being, until the judgment of the great day, yet, their souls being quickened by the indwelling spirit is now the Spirit of Christ, which enables them to live a life of righteousness, they receive a full assurance that their bodies, which are now condemned to death because of sin, shall be raised again to a life of immortal glory as a spiritual body. {11} But 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 (give life) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. COMMENTARY: But if the Spirit. This Verse confirms the sense given to the preceding. He who here receives the grace and Spirit of Christ, and continues to live under its influence a life of obedience to the Divine will, shall have a resurrection to eternal life, and the resurrection of Christ shall be the pattern after which they shall be raised. HEBREWS 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of (to separate the) soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow (LUKE 24:39), and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. COMMENTARY: For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. When the body of flesh dies it returns to the dust of the earth by decomposition, but the soul lives on as in a state of sleep and the spirit of man immediately returns to God who gave it. The Word of God is what divides the soul and spirit, calling the spirit home and making the determination of the judgment on the soul for eternity, by discerning the thoughts and the intentions of the body and soul before death, whether Good or Bad. Did the soul listen and obey the spirit that God gave to the man, so that the soul should keep the flesh in subjection, obedient unto death. This is the discerning of thoughts and intents of the heart for life everlasting united again with the spirit, or eternal damnation of the soul. PHILIPPIANS 1:23 and 24 {23} For I am in a strait (affliction) betwixt (among) two, having a desire to depart (death, the spirit leave the body), and to be with Christ; which is far better: COMMENTARY: For I am in a strait. In the Greek sunecomai, meaning=I am held together. To hold together, to hem together as in LUKE 8:45. I am hemmed in on both sides. Betwixt the two. From the two sides. Pressure to live on, pressure to die and be with Christ. {24} Nevertheless to abide (stay) in the flesh is more needful for you. COMMENTARY: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh. To continue in the body, not always, but a little longer, is more needful for you, for their comfort, edification, and instruction, their further profiting: and increase in faith, and the joy of it. A good will towards you compels me to abide in the body. I choose to remain in the flesh, and this I think is very necessary for you, so that upon the whole, the argument for living longer on consideration of glorifying Christ, and of being more useful to the good of souls, by proper communication with Him, has inclined me to live than die, though the latter was better for Paul, and more to his personal advantage, and thus, like a brave and good man, he prefers a public good to a private one. 2 CORINTHIANS 5:8 We are confident (know as a fact), I say, and (we are) willing rather to be absent from the body (death), and to (we will) be present with the Lord. COMMENTARY: We are confident. We are of good courage, notwithstanding our many difficulties, because we have this earnest of the Spirit, and the unfailing testimony of God. And notwithstanding this, we are willing rather to be absent from the body, we certainly prefer a state of glory to a state of suffering, and the enjoyment of the happy vision to even the anticipation of it by faith and hope, but, as Christians, we cannot desire to die before our time. Spirit means breath in GENESIS 2:7, and in 2 THESSALONIANS 2:8, does it mean this every time it is used in the Bible? POWER OVER UNCLEAN BREATH-(SPIRIT): MATTHEW 10:1 And when He had called unto Him His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. COMMENTARY: Twelve disciples. Our Lord seems to have had the twelve patriarchs, heads of the congregation of Israel, in view, in His choosing twelve disciples. That He had the plan of the ancient Jewish Church in His eye is sufficiently evident from MATTHEW 19:28, and from LUKE 10:1, LUKE 22:30, JOHN 17:1 and REV. 21:12 thru.14. He gave them power against unclean spirits. Here we find the first call to the Christian ministry, and the end proposed by the commission given. To call persons to the ministry belongs only to Him who can give them power to cast out unclean spirits. He whose ministry is not accompanied with healing to diseased souls, was never called of God. But let it be observed, that, though the spiritual gifts requisite for the ministry must be supplied by God Himself, yet this does not preclude the importance of human learning. No man can have his mind too well cultivated, to whom a dispensation of the Gospel is committed. The influence of the Spirit of God was no more designed to render human learning useless, than that learning should be considered as superseding the necessity of Divine inspiration. BREATH REFRESHED: 2 CORINTHIANS 7:13 Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all. COMMENTARY: Before God: therefore we were comforted. But in our consolation, we did the more abundantly rejoice for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all. The apostle was not disappointed concerning them, which he signified to Titus; and he could with joy declare the confidence he had in them for the time to come. Here see the duties of a pastor and of his flock; the latter must lighten the troubles of the pastoral office, by respect an obedience; the former make a due return by his care of them, an cherish the flock by testimonies of satisfaction, joy, and tenderness. 1 PETER 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: COMMENTARY: Though Christians cannot always be exactly of the same mind, yet the should have compassion one of another, and love as brethren. If any one desires to live comfortably on earth, or to possess eternal life in heaven, they must bridle their tongue from wicked, abusive, or deceitfu words. They must forsake and keep far from evil actions, do all the good that they can, and seek peace with all mankind. For God, all-wise and every where present, watches over the righteous, and takes care of them. None could or should harm those who copied the example of Christ, who is the example of perfect goodness, and did good to others as well as His followers. TROUBLE IN BREATH, AS WITH ASTHMA: JOHN 13:21 When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. COMMENTARY: When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, Most certainly I tell you that one of you will betray me. When Jesus had thus said. Having spoken of the mission of His disciples by Him, of their reception among men, and the notice that would be taken of it by Him: Jesus was troubled in spirit, in His soul, which shows Him to be truly and really a man, and to have an human soul, which some have denied, and that to be of like passions with ours, only without sin. He was troubled, not at what He had said, but at what He was about to say concerning the betrayer, and that not so much on His own account, because of the danger, the sorrows, and sufferings He should be exposed to, as on account of the horrible blackness of the crime, and the vengeance that would fall upon the criminal, and being thus inwardly distressed at this affair, He testified and said : Jesus spake out openly and plainly, what He had before secretly intimated, and that with the greatest certainty: verily, verily, I say unto you; it is truth, it may be believed, however unexpected and strange it may seem to be: that one of you shall betray me, In the Greek paradwsei me, meaning=Deliver me up into the hands of the chief priests and elders, in order to be put to death. Our Lord had often spoken of His own sufferings and death, without such trouble of spirit as He now discovered when He spake of Judas. The sin of Christians are the grief of Christ. We are not to confine our attention to Judas. The prophecy of His treachery may apply to all who partake of Gods mercies, and meet them with ingratitude. See the infidel, who only looks at the Scriptures with a desire to do away with their authority and destroy their influence; the hypocrite, who professes to believe the Scriptures, but will not govern himself by them; and the apostate, who turns aside from Christ for a thing of naught. Thus mankind, supported by Gods providence, after eating bread with Him, lift up the heel against Him! Judas went out as one weary of Jesus and His apostles. Those whose deeds are evil, love darkness rather than light. JOHN 11:33 thru.38 {33} When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, {34} And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto Him, Lord, come and see. {35} JESUS WEPT. {36} Then said the Jews, Behold how He loved him! {37} And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? {38} Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. COMMENTARY: Jesus Christ has tender sympathy with these afflicted friends, sympathy and compassion appearing by the troubles of His Spirit. In all the afflictions of believers He is afflicted. His concern for them was shown by His kind inquiry after the body of His deceased friend. Jesus being found in fashion as a man, He acts in the way and manner of the sons of men. It was shown by His tears. He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Tears of compassion are the tears of Christ. But Christ never approved that sensibility of which many are proud, while they make sign of weeping at mere tales of distress, but are hardened to real woes. Jesus sets us an example to withdraw from scenes of giddy mirth, that we may comfort the afflicted. And we have not a High Priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. But we have that High Priest who lived as we live, who walk by every affliction in life, one who knows our every need, our heart desires. It is a good step toward raising a soul to spiritual life, when the stone is taken away, when prejudices are removed, and gotten over, and a way is made for the His word to enter the heart. If we take Christs at His word, and rely on His power and faithfulness, we shall see the glory of God, and be happy in the sight of Him. Our Lord Jesus has taught us by His own example, to call God Father, in prayer, and to draw nigh to Him as children to a father, with humble reverence, yet with holy boldness. He openly made this address to God, with uplifted eyes an loud voice, that they might be convinced the Father had sent Him as His beloved Son into the world. He could have raised Lazarus by the silent exertion of His power and will, and the unseen working of the Spirit of life; but Jesus did it by a loud call. This was a figure of the gospe call, by which dead souls are brought out of the grave of sin: and of the sound of the archangels trumpet at the last day, with which all that sleep in the dust shall be awakened, and summoned before the great tribunal. The grave of sin and this world, is no place for those who Christ has quickened; they must come forth. Lazarus was thoroughly revived, and returned not only to life, but to health. The sinner cannot quicken his own soul, but he is to use the means of grace; the believer cannot sanctify himself, but he is to lay aside every yoke, weigh and hinderance. We cannot convert our relatives and friends, but we should instruct, warn, and invite them. JOHN 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. COMMENTARY: Jesus knew His purpose as the Son of God in His life as son of man. He eagerly left His glory in paradise and came in the likeness of man to pay the price for the sins of all the world. This Verse should have been translated: Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: Of course i shouldnt. This is the very cause that I came unto this hour. A MEEK AND QUITE BREATH, SPIRIT: 1 PETER 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. COMMENTARY: But in the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God very precious. Let it not be that adorning of pride and vainity of the outward appearance. The hidden man of the heart. In the Greek language o kruptov thv kardiav anqrwpov. This phrase is of the same importance with that of Apostle Paul in ROMANS 8:22, o esw anqrwpov, meaning=The inner man, that is, the soul, with the whole system of affections and passions. Every part of the Scripture treats man as a compound being: the body is the outward or visible man, and the soul, the inward, hidden, or invisible man. PSALM 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. COMMENTARY: In our Souls we desire truth from our spirit, but we the soul sometimes give in to the flesh and ignore the the truth with our minds and hearts. Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. ROMANS 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. COMMENTARY: A true follower of Christ. A person that is called a Christian not because they say they believe, but one that not only believes, but one who also is obedient to the very will of God and Jesus Christ, who actually performs the duties that Christ has outline for the ones He calls His servants. These are the ones who are the true Jews, those that are members of His Spiritual Body, His Church, those who keep His Commandments in their hearts and actions. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly. Who has an internal work of grace upon his soul: who has not only an outward name, but an inward nature; not the law of God in the hand, but in the heart; not an external righteousness only, but internal holiness; and who is not a mere outward court worshipper, but a worshipper of God in Spirit and in truth. The Jews have a saying themselves, that whosoever denies idolatry, ydwhy arqn, is called a Jew: so that, according to them, this is a name that is not confined to themselves, but belongs to all such who truly fear and worship God; and they say, in the same place, that Pharaohs daughter was called tydwhy, meaning=A Jewess, because she denied idolatry, and went down to wash herself from the idols of her fathers house. And that faith does not depend upon circumcision, but upon the heart: he that believes not as he should, circumcision does not make him a Jew; and he that believes as he ought, he indeed is a Jew, though he is not circumcised. And circumcision is that of the heart, which God requires, and He Himself promises to give DEUT. 10:16, DEUT. 30:6 and JEREMIAH 4:4). blh tlm ayh taz, this is the circumcision of the heart; the very phrase the apostle uses here. 2 CORINTHIANS 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. COMMENTARY: For which cause we faint not. Since our afflictions are overruled for the good of others, and the glory of God, we as servants of the Lord, are not discouraged by them. Our spirits do not sink under the weight of them, and we do not give out from the work of the ministry because of them, but we go on cheerfully, rejoicing therein: and the more so, since though our outward man perish, our outward circumstances of life are very mean and despicable, and we are oftentimes in a very distressed condition through hunger, thirst, nakedness, and want of the common necessaries of life, our bodies are almost worn out with fatigue, labour, and sorrow, our earthly tabernacles are tottering, and just ready to fall in pieces. Yet the inward man is renewed day by day, that is, continually; it answers to the internal hidden man of the heart, the new man is in a prosperous condition, our souls are in good health, because the work of God is comfortably carried on in us, and we have a sweet and repeated experiences of the love of God as we are growing in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ: and, like the palm tree, the more weight is hung upon it, the more it thrives; and, like the children of Israel while in bondage in Egypt, the more they were afflicted the more they grew. THEY THOUGHT THEY HAD SEEN A BREATH, A VAPOR OF AIR: LUKE 24:37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. COMMENTARY: But they were terrified and affrighted. At the sight of Him, and at His sudden appearance among them, without being heard, or seen before, and the doors shut and bolted; they could not tell how to account for it, that it should be Jesus Himself risen from the dead in His own body, though they had been just speaking of His resurrection, and had had a confirmation of it from the disciples that went to Emmaus And supposed that they had seen a spirit. Maybe they thought, that what they saw was a phantom, or apparition, or a spirit, that had assumed, and appeared in, the shape of Jesus, and was not He Himself. But if there be no such thing as a disembodied spirit, would not our Lord have shown them their error? Instead of this, He confirms them in their opinion, by saying, A spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have Verse 39, therefore He says, handle me and see me. They may have imagined that it was the soul only of our blessed Lord which they saw, but they were soon fully convinced of the identity of His person, and the reality of His resurrection, for: (1) They saw His body. (2) They heard Him speak. (3} They handled Him. (4) They saw Him eat a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb, which they gave Him. In these things it was impossible for them to have been deceived. FATHER INTO THY HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT: CUPPED IN THE HANDS OF GOD FOR THREE DAYS: LUKE 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost. COMMENTARY: The word Ghost is not in the Original Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament, nor the Greek Manuscripts for the New Testament. The Hebrew words gava meaning to breathe out, and nephesh meaning=breath in jeopardy life. THE BREATH OF LIFE. The Greek words ek meaning=Origin heavenly, and ekpneo meaning=To expire. ekpsucho meaning=To expire. pneumatikos meaning=Non-carnal, spiritual, a spirit. pneo meaning=To breathe hard. Breeze blow. These words for the word ghost as used in LUKE 23:46, in the Hebrew and Greek languages has the meaning as the New Testament word Spirit. From the Greek word pneo meaning=To breathe hard. pneuma meaning=Breath, a breeze, a spirit, a demon, an angel, or divine God. The Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit. psuche meaning=Spirit. The Scriptures tell us that when the spirit leaves the body it returns to God who gave it. Also this Scripture: PSALM 16:10 and 11, For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. In this Psalm of David is the prophecy that God will not leave the soul of Jesus, His Son, in Hell, the grave. That God will resurrect the Soul of Jesus and reunite His soul and Spirit forming His Spiritual body to set on the right hand of God. We see that Jesus commened His Spirit to God, and according to scriptures, the Spirit immediately returns to God upon departing from the body, and the soul is referred to as sleeping in the grave until the resurrection, but Christ was only in the grave until the third day, then He was resurrected. So it was His Spirit He commended to God and not His soul, as He hung on the cross. He gave up the Spirit, and His body died. SPIRIT CAN REFER TO MATERIAL THINGS ALSO, SUCH AS WIND: JOHN 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. COMMENTARY: The Spirit breatheth where he will; and thou hearest his voice, but thou knowest not whence he cometh, and whither he goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. The wind bloweth. Though the manner in which this new birth is effected by the Divine Spirit, be incomprehensible to us, yet we must not, on this ground, suppose it to be impossible. The wind blows in a variety of directions, we hear its sound, perceive its operation in the motion of the trees, and feel it on ourselves, but we cannot discern the air itself; we only know that it exists by the effects which it produces: so is every one who is born of the Spirit: the effects of being reborn of the Spirit are as discernible and as sensible as those of the wind, but the Spirit itself we cannot see, nut we can see and feel the effects of this. But he who is born of God knows that he is thus born: the Spirit itself, the grand agent in this new birth, beareth witness with his spirit, that he is born of God, ROMANS 8:16, for, he that believeth hath the witness in himself, 1 JOHN 4:13, 1 JOHN 5:10 and GALATIANS 4:6. And so does this Spirit work in and by him that others, though they see not the principle, can easily discern the change produced; for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, 1 JOHN 5:4. Wind: In the Greek, pneuma. Primarily denote the wind also breath; then especially the spirit, like the wind, is invisible, immaterial and powerful. Spirit or wind is a word picture for the non-material part of man and the essence of God. SPIRIT CAN REFER TO THE SUM OF ALL CHARCTER QUALITIES: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR: 2 TIMOTHY 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. COMMENTARY: For God didnt give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. God hath not given us the spirit of fear. Here is an allusion to the giving of the law on mount Sinai. This was communicated with such terrible majesty as to engender fear in all the Israelites: even Moses, on the occasion, did exceedingly fear and tremble. The Gospel was ushered in, in a much milder manner, and every thing was placed on a level with the human intellect, and within reach of every human spirit. Nothing was terrific, nothing forbidding, but all was inviting. The very spirit and genius of it was a spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind. PATIENCE OF SPIRIT VS. HAUGHTINESS OF SPIRIT: ECCL. 7:8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. COMMENTARY: Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. If the thing is good, other ways the end of it is worse, as the end of wickedness and wicked men, whose beginning is sweet, but the end bitter, so are the ways of death PROVERBS 5:4 and PROVERBS 16:25, and so the end of carnal professors and apostates, who begin in the Spirit, and end in the flesh GALATIANS 3:3 and 2 PETER 2:20 and 21, but the end of good things, and of good men, is better than the beginning; as the end of Job was, both with respect to things temporal and spiritual JOB 8:7 and JOB 42:12, see also PSALM 37:37, MATTHEW 10:22 and LUKE 16:25, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit of God, and is of great use in the Christian’s life, and especially in bearing afflictions, and tends to make people more humble, meek, and quiet, and such as these are highly esteemed of God, on them He looks, with them He dwells, and to them He gives more grace, but when such who are proud, and elated with themselves, their riches or righteousness, are abominable to Him. MEEK AND QUIET SPIRIT: 1 PETER 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. COMMENTARY: This is the regenarated soul in the likeness (behaviour) of the Spirit of Jesus. Refreshed by their own spirit which is of God. SPIRIT OF GENTLENESS: 1 COR. 4:21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? COMMENTARY: Shall I come to you with the rod of correction, or in the spirit of love with meekness , patience with you. This is concerning the born again Christian, wash in the blood of the lamb who has transgress against the word of God. If He comes with the rod of correction, the chastement from the Lord God, will you that have transgress receive that rod with repentance? FERVENT IN SPIRIT: ACTS 18:25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. COMMENTARY: This man was instructed in the way of the Lord. He was initiated, in the way, the doctrine, of Jesus as the Christ. Being fervent in the spirit. Being full of zeal to propagate the truth of God, he taught diligently, accurately, the things of Christ as far as he could know them through the ministry of John the Baptist: for it appears he knew nothing more of Christ than what John preached. This man Apollo knew the baptism of John, but he knew nothing farther of Jesus Christ than that baptism taught, but, as far as he knew, he taught accurately. Aquila and Priscilla were acquainted with the whole doctrine of the Gospel: the doctrine of Christ dying for our sins, and rising again for our justification, and in this they instructed Apollo, and this was more accurate information than what he had before received, through the medium of Johns ministry which was of the law, and not of grace. Now he understood the true Baptism of the Gospel, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the fire to purify sin by the washing of blood of Jesus Christ which burns out all impurities. THE SPIRIT IS WILLING: MATTHEW 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. COMMENTARY: That ye enter not into temptation. If you cannot endure a little fatigue when there is no suffering, how will you do when the temptation, the great trial of your fidelity and courage, cometh? Watch, that you be not taken unawares, and pray, that when it comes you may be enabled to bear it. The spirit-is willing, but the flesh is weak. Your inclinations are good, and you are truly sincere, but your good purposes will be overpowered by your timidity. You wish to continue steadfast in your adherence to your Master, but your fears may lead you to desert Him. Again I remind you: 2 TIM. 1:7 and 8, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; STAND FAST IN ONE SPIRIT (OF ONE MIND, ACCORD, PURPOSE): PHILIPPIANS 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; COMMENTARY: Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that, whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News; The word conversation as it is used here, not only means ones speech, but also ones behaviour, actions. This pretains more to Good works, the fruit you bear in Christ Jesus. Let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel. The Apostle Paul considers the Church at Philippi as a free or imperial city, which possesses great honours, dignities, and privileges, and he exhorts them to act worthy of or suitably to those honours and privileges. This is the idea that is expressed by the Greek word politeuesqe, meaning=To act according to the nature of your political situation, the citizenship and privileges which you possess in consequence of your being free inhabitants of Christs imperial city, the Church. The apostle resumes the same metaphor PHILIPPIANS 3:20: In the Greek tongue hmwn-to politeuma en ouranoiv uparcei, meaning=For our citizenship is in heaven, but in this last Verse he puts heaven in the place of the Church, and this is all right, for he, who is not a member of the Church, the Body of Christ on earth, can have no right to the kingdom of heaven, and he who does not walk worthy of the Gospel of Christ cannot be counted worthy to enter through the gates into the city of the eternal King. Whether I come and see you. Leaving the matter still in doubt as to them, whether he, Apostle Paul should again visit them. In one spirit. Being all of one mind under the influence of the Holy Ghost (Spirit). Striving together, in the Greek sunaqlountev, meaning=Wrestling together, not in contention with each other, but in union against the enemies of the Gospel faith, the doctrine of Christ crucified, and freedom from all Mosaic rites and ceremonies and of all man made laws or rules pertaining to the Church, as well as from sin and perdition, through His passion and sacrifice. HIS SPIRIT STIRRED (MOTIVATED) WITHIN: ACTS 17:16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city (was) wholly given to idolatry. COMMENTARY: Our region is so full of deities that you may more frequently meet with a god than a man. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens. That is, for Silas and Timotheus: his spirit was stirred in him, not only his soul was troubled and his heart was grieved, but he was exasperated and provoked to the last degree: his heart was hot within him, and he had a burning fire in his bones, and was weary with forbearing, and could not stay, his zeal wanted to vent, and he gave in to it: when he saw the city was wholly given to idolatry, or full of idols. Athens was full of temples; and they had double the feasts of other people, and the Athenians far exceeded others in the worship of the gods, and to take care about religion. They had an altar for Mercy, another for Shame, another for Fame, and another for Desire, and they expressed more religion to the gods than others did: they had an altar dedicated to twelve gods, and because they would be sure of all, they erected one to an unknown god. In short, they had so many of them, that one jestingly said to them, our country is so full of deities, that one may more easily find a god than find a man: so that with all their learning and wisdom they knew not God 1 COR. 1:21. IN THE SPIRIT (CHARACTER, MANNER) OF ELIJAH: LUKE 1:17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. COMMENTARY: Turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, meaning=To show compassion, to regain love for the future of the descendants of Israel. And the disobedient to obedience to God by faith. He shall go before Him, Jesus Christ, in the spirit and power of Elijah, he shall resemble Elijah in his retired and austere manner of life, and even his manner of dress, and in his zeal for the truth, rebuking even princes for their crimes. Compare 1 KINGS 21:17 thru.24, with MATTHEW 14:4. It was on these accounts that the Prophet Malachi, MALACHI 4:6, had likened John to this prophet. Read also ISAIAH 59:3 and MALACHI 4:5 and 6. To turn the hearts of the fathers. Gross ignorance had taken place in the hearts of the Jewish people and they needed a Divine instructer: John is announced as such, by this preaching and manner of his life, all classes among the people should be taught the nature of their several places, and the duties respectively incumbent upon them, look at LUKE 3:10. In these things the greatness of John, mentioned in LUKE 1:15, is pointed out. Nothing is truly great but what is so in the sight of God. Johns greatness arose: (1) From the plenitude of Gods Spirit which dwelt in him. (2) From his continual self-denial, and taking up his cross. (3) From his ardent zeal to make Christ known. (4) From his fidelity and courage in rebuking vice. (5) From the reformation which he was the instrument of effecting among the people, reviving among them the spirit of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the spirit of faith, and preparing their hearts to receive the Lord Jesus. To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children. By a very expressive figure of speech, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the rest of the patriarchs, are represented here as having their hearts alienated from the Jews, their children, because of their unbelief and disobedience; but that the Baptist should so far succeed in converting them to the Lord their God, that these holy men should again look upon them with delight, and acknowledge them for their children. The disobedient. Or unbelieving, the persons who would no longer credit the predictions of the prophets, relative to the manifestation of the Messiah. Unbelief and disobedience are so intimately connected, that the same word in the sacred writings often serves for both. SPIRIT CAN REFER TO INTELLIGENT CONSCIOUS BEING APART FROM THE PHYSICAL BODY: LUKE 24:39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. COMMENTARY: See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesnt have flesh and bones, as you see that I have. The Lord Jesus appear as God had resurrected Him, as He had resurrected Lazarus, to show proof of the resurrection, so His disciples would believe. Only Jesus would never suffer death again. This is not His Spiritual, His heavenly body of glory. His heavenly body is decribed in the Book of REV. GOD IS A SPIRIT: JOHN 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. COMMENTARY: God is a Spirit. This is one of the first, the greatest, the most sublime, and necessary truths in the make-up of nature! There is a God, the cause of all things, the fountain of all perfection, without parts or dimensions, for He is ETERNAL, filling the heavens and the earth, pervading, governing, and upholding all things: for He is an infinite SPIRIT! God can be pleased only with that which resembles Himself: therefore He must hate sin and sinfulness, and can take delight in those only who are made partakers of His own Divine nature. As all creatures were made by Him, so all owe Him obedience and reverence, but, to be acceptable to Him, the worship must be of a spiritual nature, it must spring from the heart, through the influence of the Holy Spirit: and it must be in truth, not only in sincerity, but performed according to that Divine revelation which He has given men of Himself. A man worships God in spirit, when, under the influence of the Holy Ghost (Spirit), he brings all his affections, appetites, and desires to the throne of God, and he worships Him in truth, when every purpose and passion of his heart, and when every act of his religious worship, is guided and regulated by the Word of God. The enlightened part of mankind, knows that true righteousness is an upright heart, and believe that God can only be worshipped in holiness of SPIRIT. JESUS COMMITTED HIS SPIRIT INTO THE HANDS OF GOD: LUKE 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A HE, NOT AN IT: JOHN 16:12 thru.14 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. ANGELS ARE SPIRITS: HEBREWS 1:13 and 14 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? DEMONS ARE SPIRITS: LUKE 4:33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, And in the synagogue there was a man. That is, in the synagogue at Capernaum, as Christ was there teaching, on one of the sabbath days before mentioned, there was a certain man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil : who was possessed with the devil, who is by nature and practice unclean; and was filled with the spirit of the devil, with a spirit of divination, and was acted by him, to impose upon the people. The devil influenced his mind as an enthusiast, as well as possessed his body: and this was on the sabbath day, whereas the Jews said, that Satan and the evil demon flee on the sabbath day to the mountains of darkness, and do not appear all the sabbath day, because that day is holy, and they are unclean, but in the evening of the sabbath they prepare themselves, and meet the children of men, and hurt them. And cried out with a loud voice. This goes to show that when men think themselves armoured against the devil, his demons, he may not be as fully armoured as he thinks himself, and if not, that is when men are the more easily influence by them. Even in the places of worship is the devil active, where ever God has His ministers, so does Satan trying to rob Gods Children of their blessings. EPHESIANS 6:11 thru.17 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ABOVE ALL, TAKING THE SHIELD OF FAITH, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: MAN HAS A SPIRIT: ACTS 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. COMMENTARY: And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God. In this Verse in the Original Greek Manuscriptes the word God is not found there. It is not genuine, and should not be inserted here: the whole sentence literally reads thus: And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, that being who Stephen saw standing in heaven ready to receive him. Here is a most manifest proof that prayer is offered through Jesus Christ, and that in the most solemn circumstances in which it could be offered, when a man was taking his last breathes. This is, properly speaking, one of the highest acts of worship which can be offered to God. and, if Stephen had not conceived Jesus Christ to be GOD, could he have committed his soul into his hands? We may farther observe that this place affords a full proof of the immateriality of the soul, for he could not have commended his spirit to Christ, if he had believed that he had no spirit, or, in other words, that his body and soul were both going to the same grave, the fleshly body to decay and the soul to sleep, but his spirit to return to God from whence it came. Allowing this most eminent saint to have had a correct notion of theology, and that, being full of the Holy Spirit, as he was at this time, he could make no mistake in matters of such vast weight and importance, then these two points are satisfactorily stated in this Verse: (1) That Jesus Christ is GOD, for Stephen died praying to Him. (2) That the soul and spirit of man is immaterial, for Stephen, in dying, commends his departing spirit into the hand of Christ. Mans soul is created in spiritual image of God, not mans physical image. For God is a Spirit. I hope that this study has helped someone with a spiritual understanding between the human body, the for ever living soul, and the eternal spirit which came from God. When God created and formed man, He made man as a three part being, after Himself as in the trinity, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. And in the name of these three, I pray that this may be benifitcial to all who reads. A-MEN
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 15:27:28 +0000
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