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spirit. Man, with lhis spiril , knows
only physical things. It requires the
addition of another Spirit-God's
Holy Spi rit- to open the human mind
to comprehension ofspiri tual things ( I
Cor. 2:9-11 ).
The mind of lhe flesh- wilh which
you were born-is death- il pro–
duces death through sin; bul the
mind of the Spirit is life and peace
(see Romans 8:6).
Few grasp how great and a ll-pow–
erful God is- and how great His
kindness is in making it possible for
us to have His mind!
Now thal we understand that the
Holy Spiril imparts eterna! life and
spiritual characleristics of God, we
can better understand the nature and
attributes of the Spirit.
What lt Means to Be
Born of God
Only when one is born of God at the
resurrection does a person become
perfect (1John 3:9). Christ is the only
human being thus far born ofGod. He
is perfect. lf He, so to speak, lives His
life in us by means of the Holy Spirit
(that is the same as saying we a re to
live by every word ofGod, for Christ is
the Word personified-Christ is the
Bible in action) , we have at hand the
power of spi ritual self-control as we
yield to HisSpirit. We have lhecapac–
ity lo grow loward a perfecl character
likeGod!
Of course! lf we are God's chil–
dren, we are to grow up lo become
like Him. Thal is lrue of all offspring
in nature- they inheril the charac–
terístícs of thei r parents. lt is equally
true of Spirit as it is of matter.
Notice: "For the invisible lhings of
him from the creation ofthe world a re
clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even his eterna!
power a nd Godhead" (Rom. l :20).
The physical creation reveals the di–
vine attribule of God to reproduce us
in His image. Nalure reproduces–
lherefore il reveals thal God does.And
if He is our Falher, if we a re begotten
of Hís seed, lhe Holy Spi rit, we sha ll
become like Him. That is what the
world does nol know!
The Famlly
of God
Since there is a heavenly Father, and
we are His begotten children, then
The
PLAIN TRUTH April 1979
God must be a famíly! And the
Church of God must be composed of
the begotten family of God.
lt
is the
Holy Spirit t hat unites the Church.
Notice the family relationship in
Galatians 4:6: "God hath sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba," meaning "Father."
lt
is t he same Spirit by which we are
placed or immersed into the Church.
"For by one Spirit are we a ll bap–
tized into one body"- the Church (I
Cor. 12: 13).
In Hebrews 12:9, the Almighty is
called "the Father of spirits." We a re
ultimately, at the resurrect ion, lo be
composed of spirit- members of the
divine family (John 3:6).
~~
There is a reason why
people are spiritually
empty, dissatisfied.
People have been seeking
the wrong source of
power! The churches are
looking to material
substitutes, to
psychological panaceas.
' '
In the resurrection we will be
changed to spiritual bodies
(r
Cor.
15:44) imbued with the power of
God.
Notice how often in Scripture we
are declared to be heirs of the divine
nature----of immortal, incorruptible,
perfect, a ll-powerful spi rit possessing
the very mind of God. We are to be
full "partakers of the divine na tu re"
( 11 Pet. 1:4). But we may a lso re–
ceive a part of that power in this
life- now! The apostolic Church had
that power-so can we!
We Are Uke an
Egg
Whenever we become members of
God's begotten family, we receive a
portion-a seed or germ----of the Fa–
ther's Holy Spi rit. "On the Gentiles
a lso was poured out the gift of the
Holy Spirit" (Acts 10:45). This gift
is called a seed.
lt
is poured out from
the Father in heaven and, like physi–
cal li fe-giving germs or sperms,
unites wi th the human spirit in each
of our minds upon conversion. Each
human mind is like the nucleus of an
egg with which the Holy Spirit or
seed unites.
Justas the egg in a mother's womb
must be nourished with life-giving
food through the placenta, so we
must be nourished by the Word of
God.
" The words t hat 1 speak unto
you," said Jesus, " they a re spirit, and
they are life" (John 6:63). Those
words are the Bible. That is why man
must live by every word of God.
Just as the physical life-giving nu–
triments circulate in the mother's
uterus, so must the life of God circu–
late through our minds. We drink in
the life-giving words of God from the
Bible through reading and studying
and meditating. Then, just as the
physical poisons are carried through
the umbilicus by t he bloodstream
away from a fetus in the womb, so
must we a llow ou r sins to pass from
us by asking God for forgiveness
lhrough prayer, the shed blood of
Christ figura tively bearing our sins
away. But this is not a ll!
Not only must the words of God
ftow into our minds through Bible
sludy, but spirit must flow into our
minds.
Notice that each converted Chris–
tian receives a seed-<:omposed of
spi rit, not matter- which unites with
the human spirit in each repentant
human mind. T ha t is what begets us.
But that spiritua l germ must spiri–
tually grow like the fetus in a moth–
er's womb. Let "Christ be formed in
you," said Paul in Galatians 4: 19.
And we are to "grow up into him in
a ll things"- in spiritual mindedness
(Eph 4:15}.
How is that seed, now united with
our minds, going to grow?
By the addition of more Spirit- by
the "supply of t he Spirit of J esus
Christ" (Phil. 1: 19).
Added to the germ which proceeds
from the Father there must be a con–
tinua! supply of Spirit sent from Je–
sus Christ so that our minds grow
spirilually-till our minds become
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