The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit.
The witness of the Spirit with our spirits
I. The respective offices of the two witnesses.
1. “The Spirit itself beareth witness.”
(1) The subject of the testimony is not that we have been awakened, that we have repented, that a number of moral changes have taken place in us, so that we may conclude that we are the children of God. Its direct and simple object is to assure us “that we are the children of God.”
(2) Of this the Spirit is the only competent witness. To this fact of our reconciliation to God, considered as a fact, our own spirits neither do nor can bear testimony. That the act of pardon takes place upon our believing in Christ; but this act of mercy is one which takes place in the mind of God. “The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” “For the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God.” He, therefore, alone can be cognizant of the fact of forgiveness and adoption, to whom that fact is made known by the testimony of the Spirit.
(3) How this testimony is borne may be difficult to describe, but it is that by which doubt is put away and the fact ascertained. For why else is a witness called in but to clear up some doubt? For what purpose do we bring forward witnesses but to come to the knowledge of some truth? Now, whatever be the method, the fact is communicated, and known, because communicated.
2. The witness of our own spirits. Why this? Certain it is that the Holy Spirit speaks with a voice by which the faithful soul cannot be deceived, yet there may be impressions not from Him, and which we may mistake for His sacred testimony. Against such delusion you must be carefully guarded. Nor are the means by which it may be detected difficult. Where the Spirit of God dwells He dwells as the author of regeneration. Of this change our own spirits must be conscious. If we love God and our neighbour, if we are spiritually minded, as having the fruits of the Spirit, then have we the witness of our own spirits to the fact that we have received the Spirit of God.
II. The errors connected with this doctrine into which men have sometimes fallen.
1. That there can be no certainty of our being now in a state of salvation. Well, if this blessing be not attainable, the state of good men under the New Testament dispensation is far inferior to the state of good men under the Old. “Enoch before his translation had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Now, what was there peculiar in the case of Enoch? See the filial confidence that Abraham had in God from the time that his faith was counted to him for righteousness. When David prays, “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation,” did he not recollect that joy in the salvation of God which he had previously experienced? We may say, also, that this notion is contrary to all the words of Christ and His apostles. When our Lord says, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest,” can such words be reconciled with the idea of our being in a state of uncertainty? Remember that that uncertainty implies this, “I am uncertain whether God be my friend or my enemy.” Now, if this be the only state into which religion brings us, with what truth can Christ be said to have given rest to the soul?
2. That there is a great danger of fanaticism in this, and that, therefore, it will be much more safe to proceed in the way of argument and inference. But upon this theory what are we to do with the text? There are certain fruits of the Spirit, it is said, by the existence of which in ourselves we are to infer that we are the children of God. What are these fruits? If you examine them you will find that several are such as must necessarily imply a previous persuasion of our being in the favour of God, communicated by God Himself (Gal_5:22-23). Love to God directly implies the knowledge of His love to us. So, too, as to peace. Can we have this before we know whether we are at peace with God? The fruits of the Spirit flow from the witness of the Spirit.
3. That this is the privilege only of some eminent Christians. But there is no authority for this in the Word of God. This blessing is as common a blessing as pardon; it is put on the same ground, and is offered in the same general manner.
4. That this isan assurance of final salvation. I find no authority for this in the book of God. We are called to live in the comfortable assurance of the Divine favour, and to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God; but this conveys to us no certain assurance of final salvation.
Conclusion:
1. This doctrine may well lead those of you to consider your own condition who feel that you areunder the Divine displeasure, that you are living carelessly, and neglecting thegreat salvation.
2. The subject applies itself to those whose conscience is burdened by the sense of guilt and sin. When once you get the faith that waits and pleads and prays it will not be long before God will hear your earnest prayer, and say unto you, “I am thy salvation.”
3. Let those who have received the Spirit of adoption recollect both their privileges and their duties. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, and of the blessings you profess to enjoy. (R. Watson.)
The witness of the Spirit
In the text itself there are two general parts considerable. First, the witnesses mentioned. Secondly, the thing itself, which they bear witness unto. The witnesses mentioned they are two. First, our own spirit. We begin with the former of these parts, viz., the witnesses themselves here mentioned, which are here expressed to be of two sorts. Our own spirit, and the Spirit of God with it. Each of these do bear witness to the truth of adoption in those who are true believers. First, our own spirit; that is, the spirit of the children of God considered by itself. This is one witness to them of their condition in grace, and of their relation to God as their Father. Our own spirit is not to be taken in a corrupt sense for our carnal spirit. This is sometimes too much our own, and so denominated, but such as is no competent judge or witness of such a business as this we now speak of. Nor, secondly, is it to be taken in a common sense, for our mere natural spirit, our soul in its physical consideration, for there is a witness (as we acknowledge) even in that of civil and natural actions. But it is to be taken in a more refined and spiritual sense. Our spirit, so far forth as sanctified and renewed by grace, sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ, and having His image stamped upon it, making up the regenerate part in us. This is our spirit in the sense of this scripture. Look, as this is the difference betwixt a man and other creatures, that he is able to reflect upon his actions, which another cannot; so this is the difference betwixt a Christian and other men, that he can reflect upon his own grace, which others are not able to do. The spirit of a regenerate person is a witness to him of his adoption. This is suitable and agreeable to other places of Scripture besides (2Co_1:12; 1Jn_3:21). “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself” (1Jn_5:10). “My conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,” etc. (Rom_9:1). For the better opening of this point unto us we must know that a man’s own spirit does witness to him his adoption, or state in grace, according to a threefold reflection. First, upon his primitive conversion, and the manner and carriage of that. Secondly, upon his habitual disposition, and the frame and temper of that. Thirdly, upon his general conversation, and the ordering and regulating of that. By reflecting upon each of these, in the right and due observation of them, does a man’s own private spirit and conscience witness to him that he is a child of God. The second is the Spirit of God, and more expressly the Spirit of adoption, which we find to be mentioned in the close of the preceding verse of this chapter. The Spirit itself, or the self-same Spirit. This bears witness of our adoption and state in grace. And it may be conceived to do so two manner of ways. We begin in order with the first of these testimonies, which is that which is distinct and immediate, wherein the Spirit of God does without the intercurrence or mediation of any discourse on our part, or argument on His, signify His love and goodwill to such persons as are partakers of it. This is the testimony which we are now to speak of. First, to speak of the nature of it; what or what manner of thing it is. Now for this it is nothing else but a gracious hint or intimation given to the soul by God, assuring our hearts and consciences of His favour and love towards us, and of our atonement and reconciliation with Him through the blood of His Son. “Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee,” “I am thy salvation,” “thou artMine,” and the like. It is not a violent ecstasy or rapture of soul beyond itself, as illuminatists and enthusiasts, and such kind of people as those are, are sometimes deluded withal, but a sober and judicious and composed frame of spirit, which lies not at all in the fancy, as the subject of it, but in the heart. To speak distinctly of it we may look upon it under a threefold property, or qualification. First, this manner of testimony of the Spirit is secret and inexpressible, a hidden mystery, and such as is easier felt than described; as a man that tastes honey sweet cannot make another to conceive the sweetness of it, therefore it is called the hidden manna (Rev_2:17). It is called unspeakable joy (1Pe_1:8; 2Co_12:4). Secondly, it is certain and infallible. This it is like the witness of a prince, which puts all presently out of controversy. Thirdly, this witness of the Spirit, it is moreover inconstant and various, Rara hora brevis mora (Bernard.)
. And is not always or at all times alike vouchsafed to those that receive it, and are partakers of it. Now the second thing here considerable of us is the discovery of it, whereby it may be known. This inquiry is very necessary for us in regard of the manifold mistakes and deceits which are in this particular. First, from theantecedents. In Eph_1:13 it is said, “After that ye believed, ye were sealed.” Sealing comes after believing, that so it may not be a seal to a blank. The Spirit’s witness of our salvation is consequent to His work of our conversion. And there are two reasons for it. First, because this witness of the Spirit is an actof special favour, therefore it is such as belongs only to those who are friends, and in a state of actual reconcilement unto Him. Secondly, because the judgment, and so also the witness of God, is according to truth. Never is a Spirit of consolation where it is not first a spirit of renovation. Secondly, we may take notice of it in its concomitants, and those things which do usually attend it.At first a reverend esteem of the ordinances. And then it is also accompanied with humility and meekness of spirit, and a holy care and fear of offending. And again, there is a holy boldness and confidence at the throne of grace which does accompany this testimony of the Spirit. “Seeing we have such hope, we use great freedom of speech” (2Co_3:12). Thirdly, for its consequences and effects. They are also various. Joy in the Holy Ghost; contempt of the world; comfortable thoughts even of death itself. From these and the like discoveries may we discern the testimony of the Spirit to be such as it is. But moreover, to make all clear, we must further know this much, that the Spirit of God bears witness to itself in its witnessing to us. As it is infallible in regard of the matter of its testimony, so it is convincing in regard of the evidence and manner of its proceeding. And it shows itself to be far different from all delusions and mistakes whatsoever. And it is a sufficient witness to itself, though there were no other besides; as the sun which discovers other things is also seen by the same light itself whereby it discovers them. The second is the conjunctive, or concurrent testimony. As the Spirit witnesses to us, so it witnesseth with us. And with us, not only by the way of concomitancy, but by way of assistance. Histestimony has an influence upon ours; that is, He helps us to witness to ourselves. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything to this purpose of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God (2Co_3:5). This is different from the former testimony of the Spirit of God in two regards. First, that in that He has no concurrence with us, neither are we, by way of activity, but merely passively any parties at all in it, but in this we are. Secondly, that in that He proceeds by way of simple assertion, but in this by way of argument and reason, clearing both the premises of the practical syllogism to us, and enabling us to infer the conclusion. Here we need His concurrence with us to help us out of those difficulties which are upon us. And this is that which through His grace and goodness we do receive from Him, as is here signified, while it is said that He bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. The second is the matter of this witness, or the thing itself witnessed unto. And that we have in those words, that we are the children of God. That there is such a thing as an assurance of our state in grace, and so of future salvation, here in this life. This it may be cleared upon these arguments which make for it, as first, from the description of faith itself in the highest notion and degree of it, which the Scripture does set forth to us, under terms of certainty and assurance, calling it the full assurance of faith (Heb_10:22); the full assurance of hope (Heb_6:11). Speaking of Abraham, it is said that he was fully persuaded (Rom_4:21). Secondly, from the exhortations which are given to Christians to this purpose. For trial and self-examination. “Examine yourselves, prove yourselves, know ye not your own selves,” etc. (2Co_13:5; 2Pe_1:10; Heb_6:11). Lastly, this may be confirmed unto us from the manifest absurdity and inconvenience which does follow from the contrary doctrine. (Thomas Horton, D.D.)
The witness of the Spirit
I. The high privilege of God’s people. There is a sense in which all are His children, for “we are all His offspring.” But all are not related to God as His children in the sense of the text. Certain Jews pretended that they were “the children of God.” Jesus said unto them, “If God were your Father, ye would love Me”; but they loved Him not. Consequently He spoke still more plainly to them, “Ye are of your father the devil,” etc. The same applies exactly to men in the present day. But let us observe what this high privilege denotes.
1. Distinguished honour. The Lord puts His name upon them. If this be our privilege we need envy none. The name of the ungodly, whatever rank they hold, shall be “blotted out.”
2. Peculiar affection. There is no feeling so congenial to the heart of a father as affection for his children,
3. Constant care.
4. The most liberal kindness, “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts,” etc.
II. The way by which this privilege is ascertained and enjoyed. Two witnesses come forward--
1. The testimony of conscience--“our spirit.” Have you, or have you not, a persuasion in your own breast that you are a child of God? “If our heart condemn us,” that is, if the verdict of conscience be clearly against us, “God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. But if our heart condemn us not,” if its verdict be impartially in our favour, “then have we confidence towards God.”
2. But, secondly, here is the testimony of the Spirit of God, and this is more particularly to be regarded; but when both agree then the case is beyond all reasonable doubt. Many a man, sinfully partial to himself, hath the witness of his own spirit that he is a Christian, while the Spirit of God witnesses no such thing. Let us, therefore, consider this witness.
This is given in two ways.
1. In the Scriptures. The Word of God describes the children of God, the mind compares itself with this, and so far as an agreement really exists an inference friendly to ourselves is fairly drawn.
2. But there is the Spirit’s witness by supernatural influence, or direct impressions on the mind. If Satan, that evil spirit “which now worketh in the children of disobedience,” has a pernicious and destructive influence, much more the Holy Spirit of God for saving purposes. The Spirit’s witness may be distinguished--
(1) By what precedes it. In vain does any one pretend to it unless he be first experimentally acquainted with--
(a) True repentance.
(b) Unfeigned faith.
(c) Sincere devotedness to God.
(2) By what attends it. A high estimation of God’s Word.
(3) By what follows it.
(a) Deep humility.
(b) Holy jealousy of self.
(c) Close walking with God.
(d) Holiness. (T. Kidd.)
The witness of the Spirit
I.The testimony. There must be a fact before there can be evidence. To be a child of God is a privilege marked--
1. By its greatness. It is a great privilege that commences in adoption, that is effectuated by regeneration, sustained by Divine nourishment, confirmed by Divine instruction, manifested by Divine resemblance, and witnessed by the Divine Spirit. Now, God has said, “If any man provide not for those of his own household, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.” We conclude that God, in proclaiming His own Fatherhood, will not be wanting towards the members of His own family.
(1) He has a home for them (Joh_14:2). Wherefore He is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath provided for them a city.
(2) He will provide for their pilgrimage and journey home.
(3) He will afford them the special tokens of His love. “I will not leave you orphans.”
2. By its distinguishing privilege. To be the children of God by adoption and grace is not a common privilege.
3. By its operative power. “He that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” The child of God longs to be like God.
4. By its evangelical influence. “Ye have received not the spirit of bondage.”
II. The witnesses. “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word he established” (Joh_8:18).
1. Our own spirit. Not that it has always done so, nor that our actual safety is always in proportion to the assurance of safety. We may be safer than our fears will permit us to think. But there are times when our own spirit delivers no faint or hesitating testimony. “Should I thus love God if He were not more to me than He is to others? Should I thus run to Him in my sorrows, feel this delight in prayer, love His house, His day, His Word, His ministers--choose His people?”
2. But our hearts are deceitful. We need a second witness to confirm the testimony of our own. The Spirit is a fellow-witness. How does the Spirit bear witness?
(1) By direct communication. But lest this should be thought to encourage a dreamy fanaticism--
(2) By the doctrines and promises of the written Word. The voice of the Spirit within agrees with the voice without--to the law and the testimony.
(3) By His effectual work as the Comforter and Sanctifier of the people of God, tempers, fruit.
III. To whom do these witnesses testify?
1. To ourselves for comfort. We are hard to satisfy. He thoroughly pleads our cause and argues it to us.
2. To the Church for communion.
3. To the world for usefulness. (P. Strutt.)
The witness of the Spirit
The sin of the world is a false confidence--that a man is a Christian when he is not. The fault of the Church is a false diffidence--whether a man be a Christian when he is. The two are perhaps more akin than they look. Their opposites, at all events--the true confidence, which is faith in Christ; and the true diffidence, which is distrust of self--are identical. But there often is the combination of a real confidence and a false diffidence. Now this text is one that has often tortured the mind of Christians. Instead of looking to other sources to ascertain whether they are Christians or not, and then thinking thus, That text asserts that all Christians have this witness, therefore certainly I have it in some shape or other; they say, I do not feel anything that corresponds with my idea of the witness of God’s Spirit, and therefore I doubt whether I am a Christian at all. Note--
I. Our cry “father” is the witness that we are sons. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit.” It is not that my spirit bears witness thatI am a child of God, and that the Spirit of God comes in with a separate evidence to say Amen; but that there is one testimony which has a conjoint origin; from the Spirit of God as true source, and from my own soul as recipient and co-operant in that testimony.
1. So far, then, as the form of the evidence goes, you are notto look for it in anything parted off from your own experience, but you are to try and find out whether there be a “still small voice,” no whirlwind, etc., but the voice of God taking the voice and tones of your own heart and saying to you, Thou art My child, inasmuch as through Me there rises, tremblingly but truly, in thine own soul the cry, Abba, Father.
2. Then with regard to the substance of it, “The Spirit itself,” by means of our cry, Abba, Father, “beareth witness with ourspirit that we are the children of God.” The substance of the conviction is not primarily directed to our relation or feelings to God, but to God’s feelings and relation to us. The two things seem to be the same, but they are not. Instead of being left painfully to search amongst the dust and rubbish of our own hearts, we are taught to sweep away all that crumbled, rotten surface, and to go down to the living rock that lies beneath it. There is all the difference in the world between searching for evidence of my sonship and seeking to get the conviction of God’s fatherhood. The one is an endless, profitless, self-tormenting task; the other is the light and glorious liberty of the children of God.
II. That cry is not simply ours, but it is the voice of God’s Spirit.
1. Our own convictions are ours because they are God’s. Our own spirits possess them, but our own spirits did not originate them. This passage with Gal_4:6 puts this truth very forcibly. In the one text the cry is regarded as the voice of the believing heart; and in the other the same cry is regarded as the voice of God’s Spirit. And these two things are both true; the one would want its foundation if it were not for the other; the cry of the Spirit is nothing for me unless it be appropriated by me. And the whole doctrine of my text is built on this one thought--without the Spirit of God in your heart you never can recognise God as your Father. There is no ascent of the human desires above their source.
2. But if this principle be true it does not apply only to this one single attitude of the believing soul, it comprehends the whole of a Christian’s life. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit” in every perception of God’s Word, in every revelation of His counsel, in every aspiration after Him, in every holy resolution, in every thrill and throb of love and desire. Each of these is mine, inasmuch as in my heart it is experienced” and transacted; but it is God’s, and therefore only has it come to be mine! And if it be objected that this opens a wide door to delusion, here is an outward guarantee. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God.” The test of the inward conviction is the outward life, and they that have the witness of the Spirit within them have the light of their life lit by the Spirit of God, whereby they may read the handwriting on the heart, and be sure that it is God’s and not their own!
III. This Divine witness in our spirits is subject to the ordinary influences which affect our spirits.
1. The notion often prevails that this Divine witness must needs be perfect, never flickering, never darkening. The passage before us gives us the opposite notion. The Divine Spirit, when it enters into the narrow room of the human spirit, condescends to submit itself to the ordinary laws and conditions which befall our own human nature. Christ came into the world Divine, but the humanity He wore modified the manifestation of the Divinity that dwelt in it. And not otherwise is the operation of God’s Holy Spirit when it comes to dwell in a human heart. There, too, working through man, it “is found in fashion as a man.” The witness of the Spirit, if it were yonder in heaven, would shine like a perpetual star; here in the heart on earth it burns like a flame, not always bright, wanting to be trimmed, and needing to be guarded from rude blasts. Else what does an apostle mean when he says, “Quench not the Spirit,” “Grieve not the Spirit”?
2. And the practical conclusion that comes from all this is just the simple advice, Do not wonder if that evidence vary in its clearness and force. Do not think that it cannot be genuine because it is changeful. There are heavenly lights too that wax and wane; they are lights, they are in the heavens though they change. You have no reason to be discouraged because you find that the witness of the Spirit changes. Watch it, and guard it, lest it do. Live in the contemplation of the person and the fact that it calls forth, that it may not, You will never “brighten your evidences” by polishing at them. To polish themirror ever so assiduously does not secure the image of the sun on its surface. The only way to do that is to carry the poor bit of glass out into the sunshine. It will shine then, never fear. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
The witness of the Spirit
It is the high and distinguishing privilege of true Christians that they are the children of God; but there is a wide difference between possessing a privilege and knowing that we possess it. A man may have in law a clear title to an estate without feeling sure in his own mind that he has such a title. He may possess a real interest in some very beneficial concern, and yet may be ignorant of his claim, or perhaps have considerable doubts as to the justice of his pretensions. The text discloses the way by which the true Christian may attain to a strong and lively hope of his adoption--namely, through the testimony of the Spirit. What, then, is this witness of the Spirit?
I. It is a privilege which the Spirit of God freely bestows; which He confers or withholds as He sees fit. Some may wait many years before they are favoured with it, and may afterwards lose it. Nor is the Spirit less free as to the degree of the testimony. To one He bears a weaker, to another a stronger witness.
II. It is a secret inward operation of the Holy Ghost “with our spirit.” Consequently it can be known only to the person to whom it is given. By his fruits others know him.
III. It perfectly agrees with the written Word of God; for the Spirit cannot contradict Himself--e.g., should a person pretend to have it whose life exhibited none of those marks with which Scripture distinguishes the children of God, it would be plain that he was mistaken in his pretensions. For could the Spirit witness to him a falsehood?
IV. It has nothing to do with sudden and violent impulses, new revelations, sensible impressions, etc. Let us not deny or overlook the real operations of the Spirit of God; but let us not blaspheme Him, nor bring them into contempt, by ascribing to His agency effects which are proofs of nothing but of error, weakness, or imposture.
V. Wherever the Spirit bears witness to the adoption of sons, there he has been first received as the Spirit of adoption (verse 15). (E. Cooper.)
The witness of the Spirit
Christ taught the doctrine of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and St. Paul taught the complemental doctrine of a direct personal witness of the same Spirit to the soul that had become renewed. The act of regeneration is succeeded by the act of confirmation; which is the Divine method in nature. Not only did God create the heavens and the earth, but He followed each act of creation with the assurance that it was “very good.” It is quite true that the works of nature are continually vindicating their own goodness, and it is not less true that spiritual sonship is its own witness in the presence of all men; yet the soul which has passed through the agonies of penitence and reconstruction needs just that word of tender assurance and comfort which is expressed in the doctrine of the witness of the Spirit.
I. This witness brings with it comfort. In all the great experiences of life we need a voice other than our own to complete the degree of satisfaction which begins in our own consciousness. In common affairs we may be strong enough without external encouragement; but when life is sharpened into a crisis we need something more than is possible to our unaided powers. There are times when we need to hear our own convictions pronounced by the voice of another. Let that second witness be greater than ourselves, and his testimony will bring with it proportionate comfort; let him be the wisest of men, and still the consolation is increased: let that witness be not a man, but God Himself, and at once we are filled with peace and joy unspeakable.
II. Still, the very Divineness of this comfort clothes the witness with the severity of inexorable discipline. Sonship has responsibilities as well as enjoyments. “Know ye not that ye are the temples of the Holy Ghost?” Will any man make the temple of the Lord a temple of idols? We are to walk in the Spirit; to mind the things of the Spirit; and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. Otherwise there can be no comfort! If there is sweetness in the mouth, it is the taste of stolen honey. The comfort is not a spiritual luxury. The apostolic doctrine is that the promises of God should move the heart towards more and more purity (2Co_7:1). God’s purpose as to character is growth. Let the sacred germ lie dormant in the heart, and the witness of the Spirit will decline in vividness and emphasis, and the germ itself will perish (Heb_6:4-6). Once interrupt the communion of the soul with the Father, and the soul may never be able to resume the fellowship: then (the apostle would say) “Pray without ceasing,” if you would enjoy the permanent witness of the Spirit. Thus the argument arising out of Divine comfort in the human soul points stead-lastly towards discipline (verses 5, 13).
III. Yet with all the comfort is there not an aspiration hardly distinguishable from discontent, and with all the discipline is there not a hope which makes it easy? The explanation is found in the fact that the present enjoyment of the Spirit is but an earnest of the coming fulness (verse 23). The Church by mistaking the “earnest” for the “fulness,” runs the risk of stating incomplete truths as final revelations. The “earnest” of the Spirit constitutes a lien upon the future service of the receiver; if the service be unperformed, the “earnest” will be withdrawn; whereas, if the service be lovingly rendered with the whole might of the heart, the measure of the gift will be filled up even to the sanctification of the “whole body, soul, and spirit.” What is delaying the outpouring of the fulness of the Spirit? There is, indeed, a still sterner inquiry, Is not the presence of the Holy Ghost in the Church less distinct to-day than in the apostolic age? Can modern piety enrich its history with such a passage as Act_2:1-4; Act_4:31? Is the Church baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire? Is it honourable to suggest that such manifestations were confined to the early Church? It was after those manifestations that the Apostle Paul described the measure of the Spirit already given as an “earnest,” and if only an earnest where is the fulness which there is not room enough to receive? We may be said to receive more and more of the sun as noontide approaches, and to receive a “double portion” of the spirit of every author whose writings we study with admiring affection. Now, why has not a Church eighteen hundred years old a fuller realisation of the witness of the Holy Ghost than had the Church of the first century? Has the Church accomplished all the purpose of God, and passed for ever the zenith of her light and beauty? How, then, are men to know that they enjoy the witness of the Spirit? Partly bythe anxiety with which they put the question, and partly, too, by the occasional comforts which suffuse the soul with inexplicable gladness, but mainly by the daily sacrifice of loving service, and by enrapturing expectation. (J. Parker, D.D.)
The witness of the Spirit
How much there is in this chapter as to the work of the Holy Spirit. He helps against sin (verse 2). He leads and guides (verse 14), He aids in prayer (verse 26). And (text) gives believers a happy sense of their acceptance. Not, indeed, by voice from heaven, nor by angelic messenger (Dan_9:23), rather by revealing the Saviour’s love and glory (Joh_15:26), and by bringing peace-giving words to remembrance (Joh_14:26-27). Let us now consider the great happiness of possessing this witness.
I. It comforts in trial. How comforting to remember that these are a Father’s dealings! (Heb_12:7; Joh_18:11).
II. It encourages to prayer. Let it fill the mind, and then we know we are welcome. What a difference does this make!
III. It restrains in temptation. If we have a happy consciousness of our adoption, we shall fear to offend. We shall fear to bring a cloud over our joy.
IV. It stirs up to active service. Joy makes one active.
V. It supports in the prospect of death. Under such circumstances the valley becomes illuminated. Death is then going to a Father--going to a proper home. (J. Lancaster, M.A.)
The witness of the Spirit
I.The witnesses. The text suggests that we are entering upon a calm judicial process, in which the verdict can be obtained only by the testimony of two witnesses of tried competency and proved faithfulness.
1. The importance of having the Holy Spirit as the chief witness will appear from the nature of the facts to be witnessed to--namely, that we are the children of God, etc. For on the authority of no mere man could I receive this testimony. Wise he might be, and holy; but the subject is beyond his province. Neither could I take the testimony of an angel. Note the requirements essential to the competency of our witness. The counsels of God’s will, the goings forth of His love and peace, must be naked and open to the witness with whom we have to do. He must know when the act of grace went forth, when the wandering spirit turned, and when the heart surrendered. These are things which must be known to the Holy Spirit, because of Him and through Him are all these effects wrought. Are the eyes opened? It is His to enlighten. Is the conscience awakened? It is His to reprove. Does the will yield? It is His to subdue. Is the heart at peace? It is His to seal.
2. The second witness is the spirit of the man himself--the responsive testimony of our own hearts echoing the silent utterances of the Holy Ghost, and giving us confidence toward God. This view of course supposes the witness of our own spirits to be of a derived and reflected kind. It is a witness to a witness--the interpreter of that testimony which is borne by the Spirit of God. Of themselves our own spirits can testify nothing.
II. In what language does the Spirit speak, and in what signs does the heart make answer? The joint witness is to be looked for in the inward peacearising from the discovery of certain tendencies and dispositions answerable to the state of sonship. And it is properly called a joint witness, because the same Spirit who forms these tendencies in us, also manifests their existence to us. We canonly know that we are children when the Spirit reveals the existence of those moral dispositions which prompt us to act and feel as children, and these we find only in the written Word. But this still makes the Spirit of God the chief witness, because until He shines upon the Word it is a sealed book to us. But when He opens our understanding we find that the entrance of God’s Word giveth light. And it is just the agreement between these two--the Scripture calling and the heart answering; the Spirit insisting on certain feelings, and our own spirits testifying that we have such feelings--that constitutes our double witness. “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to My Word, it is because there is no life in them.” But to what purpose does our text come in at the close of several of themost distinguishing marks of true grace which Scripture contains, if it be not to set the heart upon the inquiry whether, by the Secret illumination of the Spirit, these marks be discoverable in ourselves? Now it is manifest that if these marks be found in us we have the witness of the Word to our adoption; and what is the witness of the Word but the witness of the Spirit, who both indited the Word and gave us understanding to comprehend the truth? Conclusion: The text describes a real blessing, It is no visionary good. Do not let any difficulties connected either with its manifestation or its source affect your possession of it as a great spiritual reality. It is a witness, and a witness to a great fact. The heart’s peace, the soul’s comfort, life’s prospects, death’s fears, all hinge and turn upon the clearness of this twofold testimony. It brings with it heaven’s credentials; it is stamped with heaven’s seal; it leaves behind it heaven’s peace; it is the witness of the Spirit of God. (D. Moore, M.A.)
The witness of the Spirit
I. The general attainableness of the Spirit. The sense of adoption, so far from being heaven’s far-off prize held out to the highest saints, is a near, present good which babes in Christ may grasp, which is offered to the prodigal first returning from his wanderings and to the publican first humbled for his sins. This fact will appear in the exhortations to this assurance (Heb_6:11; Heb_10:22; 2Pe_1:10). To these add the passages holding out to the believer the promise of peace (Isa_26:3; Isa_32:17; Rom_5:1). Such a peace, it is manifest, could never be ours while doubt and misgiving hung over the great business and design of our existence. Peace in duty, in suffering, in our spiritual approaches, in the contemplation of the great future, not only is set forth in Scripture as attainable, but is commonly made to give forth an utterance as plain asa testimony addressed to the ear.
II. Must it be attained? Let us ask, What is necessary to salvation? Faith, of course. But faith in what? In something done for us, or in something done in us? In the sufficiency of Christ’s work, or in the sufficiency of our conscious interest in that work? The faith which justifies is an act of trust, exerted objectively upon the mediation of Christ, and justification is the instantaneous effect ensuing upon this act. But it may be long before we are made conscious of our new condition, or its resulting peace, e.g., a ship is labouring, and ill-piloted, on a dangerous coast. A spectator knows that if sheonce make a certain point, her danger is over. She does make this point, and is safe; but the crew do not know she is safe, and therefore they continue to be afraid where no fear is. Her deliverance takes place before the comfort of deliverance. And just so it will often be in our spiritual deliverance. It is not that a man has not faith, but he has not the comfort of faith. Faith, justification, peace, is the declared order of the Divine procedure. Between faith and justification there is no appreciable interval; but between justification and peace there may be a long and trying interval. And, further, to make our salvation depend upon any form of inward testimony, is to make the trust of the believer turn in part upon something within, rather than turning absolutely upon the finished work of Christ. And the difference to our spiritual safety, whether we exercise faith in Christ immediately, ormediately on some inward feeling which unites us to Christ, is as great as would be the difference to a drowning man whether he laid hold on a rock, or merely on a loose weed which was growing to the rock. We may have the faith of reliance when we cannot get the faith of assurance; and when through the weakness of the flesh we cannot lay hold on the witness that is within us, we may yet be saved by laying firm hold on the hope that is set before us.
III. How is it to be attained?
1. This witness is an impression of inward peace, the fruit of a certain comparison which the mind has been enabled by the Spirit to make between the statements of revelation and its own moral experience. But this done, the chief practical directions for gaining an inward assurance are that we cultivate a believing contemplation of gospel truth, and institute a frequent and close examination into the state of our own hearts.
2. And then there must be much of self-examination followed up by the repairing of all conscious deficiencies, and the renouncing of all discovered faults. (D. Moore, M.A.)
The witness of the Spirit
I. To whom is this witness given?
1. True religion is not a set of creeds, defined and believed just as a man may believe in the North Pole or the law of gravitation. The sphere of religion is not in the man’s head, but in the heart. Nor is it a matter of forms of worship--singing hymns or saying prayers or hearing sermons. These things may be gone through, and all the time the real man may be unmoved and asleep. It is precisely here that a great many people make a mistake. They are not satisfied with their religious life. That which they have is unreal, outside. So they either set to work to examine their creed, or else they change it. Or else they think the form of worship is at fault. And at last they are ready to give up all in despair.
2. The only religion that can satisfy is the work of the Spirit of God in our spirits. By all means see that your creed stands square with the Word of God, and seek the forms of worship that help you to get nearest to God. But be sure of this, that creeds however true, and forms of worship however solemn and impressive, can never give you the religious life. We must be born of the Spirit. The manner of this new creation may differ in a thousand ways. With some it may be gentle and gradual as the dawn of day; with others it may be as a day when the noise of battle rolled.
3. Although this life is begotten of the Spirit of God, yet is He to be willingly received and submitted to (verse 14). Now to such there is given the witness of the Spirit.
II. What this witness is.
1. There is much significance in the emphatic assurance with which St. Paul speaks. He bids us take it for granted that if we are the children of God this witness of the Spirit is ours. Children do not know what the estate is worth, but they do know that it is theirs, and whatever there is in it belongs to them. Think of a child saying, “I am going to see what I am heir to,” and spending all its time in prying into everything with a microscope to make sure that it is there. Since the realm of the religious life is in the spirit, do not let us be always analysing and defining and perplexing ourselves about all sorts of mysteries. There are some people who always begin to tell me their symptoms, and ask me what I think of them and what they ought to do. Well, forget that you have any constitution. Give up the luxury of a liver. Work hard at some outdoor work so that you have not time to think about yourself; and then when you get very hungry, eat; and when you have got very tired, sleep. There are spiritual dyspeptics, too, who are always talking about their symptoms, and who think they have not got any religion at all unless they are finding something to worry themselves and other people about. Come, let us be bold to say, “Well, whatever the witness of the Spirit is, if Jesus Christ is mine, this too is mine.” And yet, on the other hand, let us honour the Giver of the estate by seeking to make the most of it; finding out how rich and blest we are. Now there are some who think of the witness of the Spirit as a kind of revelation from heaven, or a thrill of rapture--something which lifts us up above other people and singles us out as the favourites of God. If anything could make a man a Pharisee it is surely that. It is the very root of that Pharisaism which the Lord denounced. The witness of the Spirit is not to our spirits that we are the children. It is with our spirits that God is our Father. He is to take of the things of Christ and manifest them unto us. There is in Jesus Christ a sight of our sin that humbles and shames us, yet there is a sight of love that overwhelms us. The Spirit puts us in possession of that love as our own; and in loving tenderness the Father bends over us so pitiful, so careful for us that all the heart cries, “Abba, Father.” A blessed consciousness is thus wrought within us, which has no room for pride, but only for self-forgetfulness, wonder, gratitude, and glad obedience.
III. This witness is no less Divine because it moves on the ordinary and natural lines of spiritual influence. There are men and women who help to create within us a new experience. Their influence is at once distinct yet indistinguishable. We cannot mark exactly the influence, how it came and how it wrought. Now it is in this quiet and natural way for the most part that the witness of the Spirit is given. The idea is of a blending of spiritual influence. The Gulf Stream may be taken as a parable of this. For some eight months of the year our seas ought to be frozen over so that no ship could approach our shores. Our islands should be a rough rude tract of country where only the hardiest forms of life could survive--a land of forest where wild furry beasts should roam, and where the deep snows should make agriculture almost impossible. What mystery is this which delivers us? Away in the distant southern world, in the fierce heat of the tropics starts the Gulf Stream. It gathers the warmth of the sun and sends it for thousands of miles across the seas to lave our shores. And thus the arctic winter is driven from us; and our ports are open all the year round; over us stretch the kindlier skies; about us blow the gentler winds; our fields are covered with grass, the valleys are thick with corn, But where is this Gulf Stream which does such wonders? Can you see it? No, we cannot see it, but it is there. The parable is a many-sided illustration of the truth. Of nature, of ourselves, we do dwell in a land of winter--frozen and well-nigh dead; without the energy to put forth any life of God. But lo, we know not how, but by the Holy Spirit of God there is breathed about us and within us the love of God, softening, transforming, bringing to us a new heaven and a new earth. And now do grow and flourish blessed things which before we knew not. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,” etc. (Mark Guy Pearse.)
The witness of the Spirit
I.There are many terms which describe our nature and condition when we are not the children of God. “The children of the world,” “children of the night,” “children of iniquity,” “children of the devil,” “children of wrath.”
II. Contrasted with all this there is the text “children of God,” they whose nature is derived from the parentage of heaven, whose character is formed by that nature, whose actions and prospects spring from that nature.
1. And this state is clearly set before us not as a thing that comes by nature, or by accident, or unawares. It is not that we are all the creatures of God; the pebbles are that. Nor is it that we are merely objects of the Divine benevolence; God is good to the worst man living. Nor merely that we are the offspring of God--those whose origin was from Him and who will always bear in them some characteristics of that origin, such as immortality, conscience, etc. The fallen angels have all that. “I know,” said the Lord in speaking of the Jews, “that ye are the seed of Abraham,” but then in the same breath He denied it. They were the offspring of Abraham, but they ceased to be his children, or they would have shown forth his nature. But God was “able of those stones to raise up children unto Abraham”; Godwas able to take those fallen Jews and restore them to the place that they had lost in the family of faith. And so with any unconverted man, any teacher who is teaching a pardon and a peace that he has never experienced; God is able out of the very stones to raise up children to God.
2. And this was the glory of our Saviour’s mission among men that to them that received Him He gave power to become the sons of God: and to be constituted the children of God always implies the double idea of adoption and regeneration, the restoration of the soul to the favour of God, the restoration of the name to its place in the family roll.
III. This grace, how shall we tell it, or who can tell it?
1. “Eye hath not seen,” etc. Then should they remain unknown? It is very certain that the eye cannot see when God forgives the soul. You may hearken as you will, but you will never hear it. And as to the heart imagining it, it passes in another world. Am I to say, then, if I cannot see it or hear it, etc., I cannot believe it? The apostle meets you at once. He says, “The things of a man knoweth no man, save the spirit of man that is in him.” A son was wandering disinherited in America. The father says to an uncle, “Will you be my executor?” “Yes, on condition that you restore the name of your eldest son.” “He is dead,” says the father. “He is not dead,” says the uncle. “Put in his name and I will be your executor.” The father puts in his name, and actually the boy is restored to his rights and titles of inheritance. He knows nothing about it. That mind of his father’s is as much an invisible world to him as is God’s to us. The only question is, Had his father any power of putting what was in his mind into the mind of his boy? No; because he did not know where his boy was, and the boy never got his inheritance, for the father again altered his will, thinking the boy was dead, and dead he was not. There is the simple ease supposed in 1Co_2:11. Just as the spirit of the father knew the acts of the father, although the Son did not, so doth the Spirit of God know the acts of God. But then the difference was this, that man’s spirit did not search all things; it could not tell where his son was. But the Spirit searcheth all things, not only the deep things of God, but the deep things of your heart and your ways. “Eye hath not seen,” etc., but God doth reveal them unto us by His Spirit.
2. A witness is simply one who has witnessed a transaction, and who bears witness of that transaction to another who did not witness it. How doth the Spirit bear witness? I do not know, any more than I know how the father held up his hand to write the name of his son. I do not know how that is done. I know that you and I can do it. I do not know how it was that one day when in my house they were anxiously inquiring whether a certain ship from America was nearing the shore, a telegram came, and we knew the ship was there a couple of hours before the telegram came from the ship itself. Those that were on the ship had no means of communicating it; but the people on shore had seen, and they could send the news of what they had seen right into the minds of people here in London, and produced within those minds all the change and all the impression that was wanted to be produced by that piece of intelligence. So it is the mission and office of the Holy Ghost, as the revealer of Christ and of the Father, to uncover the pardoning countenance of God, and to make that countenance shine upon His forgiven child. Conclusion: If you need the Holy Spirit to bear witness with you that you are the children of God, the world needs a witness, and that witness you can give only in your actions, in your conduct. The world will not believe your word, and it ought not to believe your word if that word is not supported by your conduct and your character. But if your conduct and character bear upon them the Divine stamp, then your word will not be an empty sound. When you have made that impression upon the hearts of men, you have gone far towards testifying that there is such a thing as being a child of God. To the Church you can testify your sonship in Christ by the one proof of your love to the brethren. No other proof will avail. And if the Spirit is really bearing witness with your spirit that you are the child of God you will love Him, and loving Him you will take delight in pleasing Him; and you will love all that are begotten of Him; you will love His cause, His kingdom, His glory, and the witness of the Spirit filling your soul with light from above will illuminate your whole conduct, and that conduct shall be that of a child of the light. (W. Arthur, M.A.)
The witness of the Spirit
I.The thing testified To--that we are the children of God. There is the same difference between
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, and
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as there is between child and son; the former applies to either sex, and is more tender, We are born of God, i.e., we are produced by Him. This does not refer to us as creatures, nor as rational creatures, but as regenerated; so that we are partakers of the Divine nature.
1. It expresses the relation in which we stand to God as the objects of His love and as loving Him. This filial spirit on our part includes--
(1) Confidence in His love to us.
(2) Reverence.
(3) Zeal for His glory.
(4) Devotion to His service.
2. It indicates the privileges arising from this relation. We are heirs of God, partakers of all the blessings which He has provided for His children.
II. The nature of the testimony. It is not involved in our filial feelings, but is--
1. Direct or immediate. The Spirit assures us just as He produces the assurance of the truth.
2. Mysterious, but not more so than the operations of the Spirit, nor indeed than the action of mind on matter or of one created spirit on other created spirits.
3. Self-evidencing, i.e., it reveals itself as the testimony of God. Just as the voice of God in the heavens, in conscience, in the law, in the gospel, reveals itself in His Word; so when the Spirit speaks to the soul it is known to be the Spirit.
4. Infallible, and produces assurance. This is not inconsistent with doubt and anxiety, because--
(1) This witnessing is intermittent, more or less.
(2) This voice of God may vary from the slightest, almost inaudible whisper, to the most clear and articulate enunciation.
5. Sanctifying. That is its nature. It produces that effect, just as fire burns, or light dispels darkness. It is never given where it is not true. And where it is true, where the soul is regenerated, then to banish doubt and fear and anxiety is to infuse new life and vigour. It is to give peace and call out graces. (C. Hodge, D.D.)
The witness of the Spirit
How many, not understanding what they spoke, have wrested this scripture to their great loss! How many have mistaken the voice of their own imagination for this witness, and presumed that they were the children of God while they were doing the works of the devil! These are the enthusiasts. Who, then, can be surprised if many reasonable men seeing the dreadful effects of this delusion should regard this witness as exclusively an extraordinary gift of theapostolic age? But we may steer a middle course, and keep a safe distance from enthusiasm without denying the privilege of God’s children.
I. The witness of the Spirit with our spirit.
1. The witness of our spirit.
(1) The foundation of this is laid in those scriptures which describe the marks of the children of God. Every man applying these marks to himself may know whether he is a child of God. If he know--
(a) “As many as are led by the Spirit of God” into all holy tempers and actions, “they are the sons of God.”
(b) I am thus “led by the Spirit of God”; he will easily conclude “therefore I am a son of God,” Agreeable to this are all those plain declarations of St, John in his First Epistle (1Jn_2:3; 1Jn_2:5; 1Jn_2:29; 1Jn_3:14; 1Jn_3:19; 1Jn_4:13; 1Jn_3:24).
(3) But how does it appear that we have these marks? I would reply, How does it appear to you that you are alive, and in ease, not in pain? Are you not immediately conscious of it? By the same consciousness you will know if your soul is alive to God; if you are saved from the pain of proud wrath and have the ease of a meek and quiet spirit.
2. The testimony of God’s Spirit is an inward impression on the soul whereby the Spirit of God directly witnesses with my spirit that I am a child of God; “that Jesus Christ hath loved me and given Himself for me; and that all my sins are blotted out, and I, even I, am reconciled to God.”
(1) That this testimony must needs be antecedent to the other appears from the fact that we must be holy of heart and life before we are conscious that we are so. But we must love God before we can be holy, and we cannot love Him till we know He loves us, which we cannot know till God’s love is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost.
(2) Not that the operation of the Holy Spirit is to be excluded even from the testimony of our own. He not only works in us every manner of good, but also shines upon His own work and clearly shows what He has wrought. Accordingly one great end of our receiving the Spirit is “that we may know the things which are freely given us of God.
(3) If it be inquired how the Spirit bears witness, such knowledge is too wonderful for us. “The wind bloweth where it listeth!” But the fact we know, viz., that the Spirit of God does give the believer such a testimony of His adoption, that while it is present to the soul, he can no more doubt the reality of his sonship than he can doubt of the shining of the sun while he stands in the full blaze of his beams.
II. How this joint testimony may be distinguished from--
1. The presumption of the natural mind. The Scriptures abound with marks whereby we may distinguish the one from the other; and whoever carefully attends to them will not put darkness for light.
(1) Repentance precedes this witness (Act_2:38; Act_3:19), but the natural mind is a stranger to this. The being born again--that mighty change from darkness to light, death to life, etc. (Eph_2:1; Eph_2:5-6), must also precede; but what knoweth he of this? It is a language he does not understand. He has always been a Christian, and knows no time when he had need of such a change.
(2) Humble joy in God accompanies it, and meekness, patience, gentleness, etc. But do these fruits attend the supposed testimony in the presumptuous man? The more confident he is of the favour of God the more does he exalt himself. It is also accompanied with the love which rejoices to obey (1Jn_5:3; Joh_14:21). But this is not the character of the presumptuous pretender to the love of God. But how may one who has the real witness distinguish it from presumption? How do you distinguish day from night? or the light of a glimmering taper from that of the noonday sun? In like manner there is an essential difference between spiritual light and darkness, and between the light wherewith the Sun of Righteousness shines upon our heart, and the glimmering light which arises from “sparks of our own kindling.” To require a more minute and philosophical account is to make a demand which can never be answered, or else the natural man would be able to discern the things of the Spirit of God.
2. The delusions of the devil. By the same fruits. That proud spirit cannot humble thee before God, or melt thy heart into filial love, or enable thee to put on meekness, etc. As surely, then, as holiness is of God and sin of the devil, so surely the witness thou hast in thyself is not of Satan but of God. (John Wesley, M.A.)
The witness of the Spirit
There are here--
I. Two persons.
1. The Spirit.
(1) He is God, and if so, equal to the Father and the Son. This is proved inasmuch as--
(a) The essential name of God is given Him (Isa_6:9; cf.Act_28:25).
(b) The Divine attributes--eternity (Gen_1:2); omnipresence (Psa_139:7); omniscience (1Co_2:10).
(c) The works of God--creation (Job_33:4); miracles (Isa_63:1
