Chapter 7.12

God in Us

The Real Extra-biblical Revelation of the Spirit in our New Nature

Table of Topics

A) The Attributes of God Revealed through Our New Nature: “I am in you” (John 14:20)

B) The Moral Will of God Revealed through Our New Nature: “The law of his God is in his heart” (Ps 37:31)

B.1) The Word of God in Us Through the Spirit in Us

B.2) The Sufficiency of the Divine Revelation from the New Nature

B.3) The Relationship Between the New Nature and Scripture

B.4) Distinguishing the Revelation of the New Nature from Mysticism

C) Distinguishing the Divine Nature from the Demonic Nature

Extras & Endnotes

Table 7.12.A: The Revelation of the Spirit in Scripture vs. the Indwelling of the Spirit in Our New Nature

Table 7.12.B: The Indwelling of the Spirit in Our New Nature vs. the Inspiration of the Spirit Claimed in Mega Mysticism

Primary Points

• One of the most remarkable, and also overlooked means of divine revelation, is our New Nature provided by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
• God commands us to be perfect as He is perfect and to imitate Him because He lives inside of us.
• The New Nature is the whole Trinity living inside of us.
• The New Nature in us enables us to be like God in love and holiness, which is what we are commanded to be. Accordingly, we too are an incarnation of God.
• The very best revelation of God that others can receive is the one in us as we allow our New Nature to control us. Accordingly, we have probably learned more about God’s love for us through the New Nature of others than any other divine revelation.
• Like Scripture, the New Nature is equated with God Himself, and is sufficient to guide us in God’s will.
• The New Nature guides us by producing moral desires according to God’s will.
• The divine revelation provided by our New Nature will always be identical to the moral commands of Scripture.
• The guidance of the New Nature is distinguished from mega mysticism in that it occurs not through constant new divine “inspiration,” but more so through simply the provision of a God-like nature to live by.

A) The Attributes of God Revealed through Our New Nature: “I am in you” (John 14:20)

One of the most remarkable, and also overlooked, ^[1] means of divine revelation that God has provided in the New Covenant is our New Nature. Elsewhere, we have pointed out that the indwelling Holy Spirit gives us a unique ability to know God ^[2] and prove God. ^[3] Here we wish to discuss the fact that His indwelling also provides us with the ability to be God.

Certainly not in knowledge or power, but in virtue. We are, in fact, commanded to be like God in love and holiness. The King said, “Be [morally] perfect . . . as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48). ^[4] Likewise, the Apostle wrote, “Be imitators of God” (Eph 5:1). How could God possibly expect such a thing? Because He is revealing Himself inside of us. Accordingly, we suggest that the New Nature fits our definition of a source of divine revelation as God’s self-initiated and divinely authenticated disclosure of His works, ways, or will to His Creation for His glory.

Like Scripture, the authority of the New Nature as a means of divine revelation is founded on the fact that it is equated with God Himself. In John 14 Jesus taught that the time would come when the entire Godhead would live inside of us:

“If you love Me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate ^[5] to be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.

²¹ Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him. . . . If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home [monē: dwelling] with him. (John 14:15-21, 23) ^[6]

This would seem to be nothing less than the incarnation of God in believers. Even more so, while Christ could say the Father was in Him, we can claim that the entire Trinity lives in us. Jesus said, “the Spirit of truth . . . will be in you” (v. 17), that we would come to “realize” “I am in you” (v. 20), and that He and the “Father” “will come . . . make” their “home with” us. That is a full house!

While John had begun His Gospel by teaching that, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:14), here we learn that after Jesus left, He, the Spirit, and the Father would all come to dwell in us. Indeed, John records Jesus ending His very last teaching and prayer, “the final and all-decisive word of the Savior” ^[7] with: “I have made You [Father] known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them” (17:26).

The fact that God lives in us is repeated throughout the NT. The Apostle told the Roman Christians that having “the Spirit of Christ” was synonymous with having “Christ in you” (Rom 8:9-10). He told the Corinthians, “you yourselves are God’s temple and . . . God’s Spirit lives in you” (1 Cor 3:16; cf. 6:19; Eph 3:17) and that God, “put His Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor 1:22), the very control center of a human being. He simply told the Galatians, “Christ lives in me” (2:20) ^[8] and told the Colossians that, “Christ [is] in you” (1:27). This was “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints” (v. 26). ^[9]

Why would we doubt that the personal presence of Christ in us would be a revelation of Christ in us? While the Scriptures are the outward, external revelation of Christ, the Spirit within us is the internal revelation of Christ.

While the Scriptures above described this revelation as God in us, the Apostle elsewhere describes it as our New Nature, or “the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:23). We see that the New Nature is equated with God Himself, it already being “created to be like God.” ^[10] We have a complete Jesus in us. Our lack of practical perfection is not due to possessing only part of Christ through the Spirit, but due to the fact that we do not perfectly allow the New Nature of Jesus control us. But when we do, we can love God and people just like Jesus. Therefore, it is by living according to the New Nature that we can literally “be imitators of God” (Eph 5:1).

What then is a source of divine revelation of the attributes of God apart from Creation and Scripture? We are, by virtue of our new creation, when God in us is controlling us. Our love and holiness is a revelation of God’s love and holiness, and perhaps the most powerful revelation of these things available to human kind. Accordingly, the Apostle John writes, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us” (1 John 4:12). Likewise, Jesus said he would “continue to make [the Father] known [egnōrisa: “reveal”], the result for the disciples being “the love” that God the Father has for God the Son “may be in them and that I Myself may be in them” (17:26). The amazing implication here is that the very best revelation of God that others can receive is the one in us as we allow Christ to control us. Accordingly, one of our favorite NT scholars, John Stott, writes:

We are not to think of love only as constituting God’s eternal being and as historically manifested in the sending of his Son into the world. For God who is love and has loved still loves, and today his love is seen in and through our love. . . . It is significant that this is not the only occurrence in the Johanine literature of the phrase No-one has ever seen God. It comes also (in almost identical words) at the end of the Prologue to the Gospel (1:18). How then can he be known?

In the Prologue to the Gospel John continues that ‘God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known’ (cf. Col. 1:15). But here, to our astonishment and confusion, John goes on to say that if we love each other, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. That is, the unseen God, who once revealed himself in his Son, now reveals himself in his people if and when they love one another. ^[11]

 

This divine revelation of who God is comes through the operation of our New Nature which produces the fruits of the Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22-23) which are simply the foremost attributes of God. It is by virtue of the indwelling Sprit

It is interesting to think a moment about how we ourselves have come to a confidence that God loves us? Of course we have the revelation of this in Scripture, we have the experience of our regeneration, and perhaps the evidence of miraculous interventions in our life. But perhaps nothing teaches us the love of God more than experiencing it through flesh and blood people. Accordingly, we have probably learned more about God’s love for us through the New Nature of others than any other divine revelation. Which is one more reason why fellowship is so important to the Christian’s life. How better do we learn the grace and forgiveness of God then when someone personally treats us in this way. Remarkably, because we possess the New Nature, we can be God to others, revealing to them what He is like.

Pastoral Practices

• Far too many Christians are content to live with controlling emotions or thoughts that are not from the New Nature and therefore consistently live outside of God’s will. Things like anxiety, anger, and depression can become such habits that they are no longer even properly evaluated as sin. We need to teach our people that the “normal” Christian life is to be controlled by the Holy Spirit exhibiting His fruits. Such a conviction will hopefully help them to more readily recognize when the Spirit is not controlling them, become more discontent with living this way, and more consistently live in the Spirit.

B) The Moral Will of God Revealed through Our New Nature: “The law of his God is in his heart” (Ps 37:31)

B.1) The Word of God in Us Through the Spirit in Us

Above, we have demonstrated that because God lives in us, we can be a revelation of His divine moral attributes. However, in addition, the New Nature provides divine revelation to us of God’s will. When we allow Christ and the Spirit to control us through our New Nature, we are immediately and perfectly guided in the moral will of God. So much so that we put on Christ Himself (cf. Rom 13:14). Accordingly, the Apostle implies that the result of living according to the “new self” as commanded in Ephesians 4:23-24 will be obedience to the multiple commands regarding God’s will that follows throughout the rest of the epistle. It is not that the New Nature will simply provide empowerment to obey this instruction, but it will also provide a knowledge of, and desire to do these things.

Along these lines Augustine (354-430) wrote:

We maintain that God does not only create a person with a free will, and give teaching by which he is instructed how he ought to live. We say further that the human will is so divinely aided in the pursuit of righteousness, that a person receives the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit forms in his mind a delight in, and a love of, that supreme and unchangeable good which is God. ^[12]

The revelatory and guiding nature of the New Nature is graphically portrayed in another description of the old nature earlier in Ephesians. In chapter two, the Apostle had written that before we were regenerated, “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts” (Eph 2:3). Our point here is that if the sinful nature produced “cravings,” “desires,” and “thoughts,” then so does the New Nature.

It is because of our New Nature that “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Eph 2:10). When we allow the Holy Spirit to control our lives, “the new self [within us] created to be like God” (Eph 4:24) will dictate our thoughts and desires in accordance with God’s will.

So then, the Spirit Who lives within us through our New Nature instinctively knows when and how to love God and people in every circumstance of life that we encounter, thus fulfilling the “law of Christ” (Gal 6:2), the Great Commandments (Matt 22:36-40), and essentially God’s whole will for our life.

As we noted in a previous chapter:

Rather than minutely dictating direction for virtually every aspect of our life as a loving father would do for his little child, God now interacts with His people as empowered adults, indwelled with His Holy Spirit. This indwelling is manifested in our New Nature, which is, “the new [moral] self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:24), and in essence “pre-programmed” with the will of God because it is God. ^[13]

We believe the Apostle Paul was referring to the work of the New Nature in us when he wrote the Philippians:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,  ¹³for it is God Who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. ¹⁴Do everything without complaining or arguing, ¹⁵so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the Universe. (Phil 2:12-15; cf. Heb 13:20-21)

The Apostle is not suggesting that the Philippian Christians work out their justification which is salvation from the penalty of sin. They already possessed that (cf. 1:6). ^[14] What they were to work out is their salvation from the power of sin, or sanctification. God’s part in this is indwelling His people with the Holy Spirit which manifests Himself as our, “new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:24). As John MacArthur puts it, “Having presented the believer’s responsibility in sanctification in 2:12, the Apostle in verse 13 focused on God’s role in the believer’s sanctification.” ^[15] The question we are concerned with here is how would God work in the Philippian Christians to lead them to desire and do the purposes of God? The clearest biblical answer is through the workings of the New Nature that indwelled them. ^[16]

There are several things about this working of God’s Spirit that reflects the work of the New Nature. First, it is moral in nature. This is evidenced first by the fact that the results of this revelation working in us will be to “act according to His good purpose” (Phil 2:13). As we discuss elsewhere, the whole will of God is virtually all moral in nature, not amoral. ^[17] Therefore God’s “good purpose” will be something moral like being holy, rather than amoral like which major to choose in college. The moral nature of the revelation resulting from God working in us is illustrated by the results the Apostle immediately speaks of including obedience (v. 12), and more specifically, the absence of “complaining or arguing” (v. 13). This the Philippians would do as they yielded to the New Nature God had given them.

Another reason why we believe the Apostle is speaking specifically of the New Nature as the instrument by which “God . . . works in [us] to will and to act according to His good purpose,” is that he locates the source of this revelation inside of us, not coming from outside of us. Where else then would we locate God “in” us other than the indwelling of the Spirit in our New Nature?

Accordingly, we have written elsewhere:

The promise of such an inward revelation of God’s will was originally given to the Israelites when the Prophet Jeremiah wrote:

“The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt . . . “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. (Jer 31:31-33)

Likewise, the Prophet Ezekiel wrote:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws. (Ezek 36:26-27)

While the nation of Israel as a whole has not yet experienced the fulfillment of the promises in the New Covenant, the Church has. ^[18] By virtue of the indwelling Holy Spirit we not only have God’s “law” in Scripture as the Jews did, but He has also “put” it in our “minds” and written “it on” our “hearts.” This means more than just the earlier provision made to memorize written Scripture (cf. Deut 6:6-9), but suggests that we possess the moral “law of Christ” (Gal 6:2) in ourselves by virtue of our New Nature. God’s Word lives in us because God lives in us. ^[19]

King David had experienced this indwelling of the Spirit and said of the “righteous man”: “The law of his God is in his heart” (Ps 37:31). That is about as good of a description of the New Nature in us as you will find.

B.2) The Sufficiency of the Divine Revelation from the New Nature

The Scripture-like authority of the New Nature is not only found in that it is likewise equated with God Himself, but it is also similarly sufficient as a divine revelation of God’s will. If we conform our life to it we will, “be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:24).

We believe this sufficiency of the indwelling Spirit to provide divine revelation from God is also underscored when the Apostle explains to the Thessalonians, “Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other” (1 Thess 4:9). We suggest the Apostle is referring to the “teaching” of the Holy Spirit through the New Nature as he just reminded them in the previous sentence, “God . . . gives you His Holy Spirit” (v. 8). NT scholar John Stott comments here:

In what sense were they ‘God-taught’? Of course God had taught his people in the Old Testament to love their neighbor, and Jesus had given his disciples his ‘new command’ to ‘love one another’. But Paul’s reference seems to be to teaching given neither by the Father in the Old Testament, nor by the Son during his public ministry, but rather by the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts.

The prophets had promised that in the Messianic age all God’s people would receive the Spirit, be ‘taught by the Lord’ and know him (Is. 54:13; Je. 31:34) and in the New Testament it was believed that this promise had been fulfilled (Jn. 6:45). In consequence, strictly speaking, beyond the ‘anointing from the Holy One’ (probably a reference to the Holy Spirit) no human teachers are essential. (1 Jn. 2:20, 27; cf. Gal. 5:22) ^[20]

Essential to knowing and doing the moral commands of God.

We believe the Apostle John is saying the same thing when he writes:

[Y]ou have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth . . . As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in Him. (1 John 2:20, 27)

We would suggest that the “anointing of the Holy One” is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This indwelling is an important concept in the Apostle’s letter (cf. 3:24; 4:1-3, 6, 13; 5:13, 16). The Apostle, of course, is not saying that these Christians do not need teachers, as in verse 24 he says, “See that what you have heard [from the Apostles] from the beginning remains in you.”

However, he is certainly describing how sufficient the “anointing” of the Holy Spirit is regarding divine revelation for our life. Indeed, the divine revelation received through our New Nature, the Holy Spirit, “teaches [us] about all things” necessary for a God-pleasing life. This “teaching” of the New Nature particularly applies to the love and holiness that the Apostle emphasizes throughout the epistle and which the Gnostic teachers he is battling against denied the need for. ^[21] This, again, is what makes the revelation of the New Nature so sufficient, because the whole will of God is love and holiness.

Accordingly, Martin Luther (1483–1546) wrote in his treatise, Concerning the Letter and the Spirit:

[The Christian] lives in the Spirit as the law demands; indeed, he no longer needs any law to teach him, for he knows it now by heart. Everything the law demands has become his nature and essence through the Spirit. . . . [W]herever the Spirit of God exists, there is freedom, as St. Paul says [2 Cor 3:17]; there no teaching or law is needed; everything happens as it should happen.

It is just like the man who has healthy, good vision; he does not need anyone to teach him how he should see. His vision is unhindered, and he has more than any teaching could help him get or give to him. But if his vision is not healthy, he is no longer free, and there is not enough teaching to help and protect him. He will have to worry about every single glance and have a rule about it in order to see.

Thus it is St. Paul’s opinion, [I Timothy 1:9], that “the law is not laid down for the just:’ for the Spirit gives him everything that the law demands. Thus when he says, “God has made us preachers of the Spirit and not of the letter:’ he means that in the New Testament only grace and not law should be preached, so that men become truly godly through the Spirit. ^[22]

This is why so many Christians in the first 250 years of the Church could be so loving, holy, fruitful, and powerful even though they did not possess the NT Scriptures. The moral will of God was immediately known and empowered by the Holy Spirit living in them. Perhaps this is why God provided less NT Scripture than we would have expected or definitely would desire. There is about 350% more written revelation provided for the Old Covenant compared with the New. ^[23]

Of course, mega mysticism ^[24] claims that the more general moral revelation provided by the New Nature simply isn’t specific enough to be adequate. What they seem to be forgetting is the great ability that our Holy Spirit-renewed mind has in determining customized applications of the nature of Christ in all kinds of circumstances. We do not need new, divine, direct revelations of God’s will for our life, but rather, because God Himself lives in us we have been given the capability of knowing what to do in a given situation in order to please God. ^[25] In addition, mega mysticism’s preoccupation with seeking some kind of amoral divine will, can distract them from the glory and importance of the moral will of God which He has revealed. It may also reveal a misplaced definition of success in that mega mystics think it involves amoral issues, when from God’s perspective, it is moral ones.

B.3) The Relationship Between the New Nature and Scripture

We have already noted above several ways in which the attributes of the indwelling Spirit are the same as that of revealed Scripture. First, they are both equated with God and Christ. Secondly, the contents of the revelation provided by the indwelling Spirit is identical to the moral commands (i.e. directional revelation) of Scripture, as it is described as God’s law being put in our “mind” and “heart” (Jer 31:33). Everything that our New Nature will desire to do will always and only be precisely what Scripture tells us to do.

This apparent redundancy between what the Scriptures tell us to do and what the New Nature in us instinctively desires to do is not without purpose. As God has said, “A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deut 19:15; cf. Matt 18:16). Accordingly, the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22) produced by our New Nature, and the commands of Spirit-given Scripture authenticate one another as authoritative divine revelation from God. The objective revelation of Scripture authenticates the more subjective guidance of the New Nature, and the more direct revelation of the New Nature (being God in us) personalizes the more indirect revelation of Scripture.

Also, like Scripture and any other divine revelation, the New Nature is supernaturally authenticated as such. As we discuss thoroughly elsewhere, the miraculous virtue produced by the Spirit in us cannot be duplicated by either unbelievers or the devil and can only come from God, proving that the New Nature in us is God. ^[26]

While the moral content of Scripture and the New Nature are equal, other aspects are not. Scripture, for example, contains doctrinal revelation that the Spirit of God in us does not. While the New Nature will teach us love, it will not teach us about the substance and sequence of End Time events.

However, we would suggest that the mode of Scripture as a divine revelation is temporary, whereas our New Nature will be eternal. We have written elsewhere: “because the revelation of God for His glory will be so complete in the Eternal Kingdom, we would suggest that all current modes of divine revelation will cease operating, except our New Nature.” ^[27] Accordingly, the King said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate [the Holy Spirit] to be with you forever” (John 14:16). While we may not have the written pages of Scripture in Heaven, it would seem we will still be indwelled with the Holy Spirit, Who will continue to provide a revelation of God in and through us.

For a graphic comparison of the divine revelation of Scripture and the New Nature see Table 7.12.A under Extras & Endnotes.

Finally, the great sufficiency of the indwelling Spirit as a source of directional revelation of God’s moral will should be evident. Our New Nature is capable of working apart from any additional revelation at all. In other words, we do not need to read the commands concerning loving our neighbor in Scripture to know this is God’s will. Rather, love is a “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22) that lives in us, and we “naturally” recognize the need to love, are compelled to do so, and are able to do so when the Spirit is controlling us.

The abundance of such spiritual guidance should not be missed, and the question needs to be asked that if a person lived in “the fruit of the Spirit,” (Gal 5:22) with a knowledge of Scripture, how much more, and what other means of divine revelation would they need in order to live a life in complete obedience to God? Thus, the historical position of the Church has been that by virtue of God’s provision of the Scriptures and the New Nature, the need for additional divine revelation from God is virtually eliminated.

B.4) Distinguishing the Divine Revelation of the New Nature from Mysticism

It is important at this point to distinguish the divine revelation provided by the indwelling Spirit through our New Nature and the constant, extra-biblical, amoral revelations being claimed by mega mysticism. First, the New Nature does not communicate anything beyond Scripture. Mega mysticism, however, claims that the indwelling Spirit guides them in all sorts of extra-biblical revelation such as which godly Christian person to marry, which moral job to choose, even whether or not to go fishing, and a myriad of other commands one could not obtain from Scripture.

Secondly, the promptings of the New Nature can be thoroughly tested with the commands of Scripture, but the extrabiblical messages of the Spirit claimed by mega mysticism cannot.

Thirdly, while mega mysticism claims the revelation of the Spirit provides direction for various kinds of amoral issues, the revelation of the Spirit we are advocating through the New Nature is confined to moral guidance. We do not believe we normally need, nor does God grant, revelation for amoral extrabiblical decisions, but simply expects us to use Scripture, counsel, and reason to make wise moral decisions in such matters. ^[28]

Finally, the way in which the communication of the indwelling Spirit occurs is to be distinguished from mega mysticism as well. Proponents of this view claim continual private inspiration and an ongoing conversation with God in which he communicates with them through some sort of divine/human mental telepathy.

Here we wish to point out that the divine revelation provided by the New Nature is a Person, not mere inspirations, impressions and impulses telling us to do things beyond what Scripture says. God has given us a, “new self created to be like God” (Eph 4:24), not an oracle to whom we can ask amoral extrabiblical questions about our present and future decisions. The guidance of the indwelling Spirit that Scripture teaches occurs not so much through constant new divine “inspiration” that is “whispering” direction to us, but more so through simply the provision of a God-like nature to live by. The divine revelation we possess through the New Nature comes to us as an incarnation within us, not an inspiration from outside of us. This, again, was what God had promised in the New Covenant when He described spiritual regeneration as, “I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (Jer 31:33).

We know the answer to “What would Jesus do?,” not because we are having a continual conversation with God, but because by simply obeying the New Nature within us, we will think, act, and talk like Christ, because the New Nature is Christ. The Spirit’s primary ministry in our lives is not to provide us with new revelations, but a New Nature that instinctively knows what God’s will is. Living according to the New Nature is not described as a continual new revelation being communicated to us in some “still small voice” as the mystics put it. Rather, it is simply a matter of living according to the New Nature which automatically provides a knowledge of God’s will and a desire to do it. This is the real, ongoing, revelation of the Holy Spirit.

Accordingly, the Apostle describes it in Romans as “live according to . . . the Spirit” resulting in our “minds [being automatically] set on what the Spirit desires” (Rom 8:4-5). In Galatians, to “live by the Spirit” (5:16) is to be “led by the Spirit” (v. 18) and to “keep in step with the Spirit” (v. 25). But again, this leading is not through a continual divine “inspiration” of direction, but rather the production of the moral, “fruit of the Spirit” (v. 22) and the instinctive knowledge, desire, and nature of the New Nature in us to be loving, joyful, peaceful, good, faithful, and self-controlled. The New Nature spontaneously produces the “fruit of the Spirit” in the form of God-pleasing virtues, not extrabiblical insights and ideas. God has chosen to rule us from the inside by a nature, not mystically through “inspiration.”

And in living this way we fulfill God’s will for our life because, “the kingdom of God is not a matter of” extrabiblical decisions like what we should be “eating and drinking, [or what job to have or which Christian of the opposite gender to marry] but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men” (Rom 14:17-18).

For a graphic comparison of the divine revelation of the New Nature and that claimed by mega mysticism see Table 7.12.B under Extras & Endnotes.

While we might understandably desire the more physical and spectacular methods of divine revelation such as a “pillar of cloud” by day and a “pillar of fire” by night (Exod 13:21), by virtue of the indwelling Spirit, God’s New Covenant people are not in such great need of physical manifestations of guidance in order to know God’s will. Elsewhere, we have noted that this progression from the specific and spectacular direction under the Old Covenant represented a period of spiritual childhood, while with the indwelling of the Spirit under the New Covenant we have entered spiritual adulthood. ^[29] This is part of the difference between the dispensation of the Law and that of the Spirit. The OT saints without a new moral nature needed more written moral instruction, while the NT saints with such a nature know God’s will more instinctively. The Law told OT saints what to do in minute detail like a father would instruct little children. However, now that we have the Spirit we do not need such detailed guidance. Why? Not because the Spirit is revealing to us every decision we make, but because He has given us a New Nature that instinctively works in accordance with God’s moral will. ^[30]

C) Distinguishing the Divine Nature from the Demonic Nature

We have noted elsewhere in KOG that virtually every form of divine revelation has been counterfeited by the devil in order to deceive people. ^[31] The same is true of the New Nature. While the Holy Spirit works in us to bring about God-like qualities, the Apostle describes the devil as, “the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient,” resulting in “gratifying the cravings of [the] sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts” (Eph 2:2-3). Essentially, because the sinful nature is the devil’s nature, unregenerated humanity is a very clear revelation of who the devil is. When people hate, lie, boast, steal, kill, and destroy, their sinful nature is revealing the nature of satan.

Accordingly, Dr. MacArthur describes unbelievers with the sinful nature when he writes:

They share his [the devil’s] nature of sinfulness and exist in the same sphere of rebellion against God. They respond naturally to his leading and to the influence of his demons. They are on the same spiritual wavelength. ^[32]

In other words, while the Christian is possessed by the Holy Spirit to display the character of God, unregenerated humans, to various degrees, are all possessed by a sinful spirit which displays the character of satan.

Extras & Endnotes

Table 7.12.A: The Revelation of the Spirit in Scripture vs. the Indwelling of the Spirit in Our New Nature

	Scripture	New Nature
Divine authority	Equated with God	Equated with God (cf. 1 Cor 3:16)
Type of divine revelation	Directional and doctrinal revelation	Directional revelation (only moral commands), no doctrinal revelation
Means	External word	Internal moral desires
Nature	Objective	Personal
Duration	Temporary	Eternal

Table 7.12.B: The Indwelling of the Spirit in Our New Nature vs. the “Inspiration” of the Spirit Claimed in Mega Mysticism

	Mystical “inspiration”	New Nature
Divine authority	No authenticated authority whatsoever	Equated with God (cf. 1 Cor 3:16), and authenticated by Scripture
Kind of divine revelation	Amoral and extrabiblical like where to go to college	Moral and biblical like love someone
Means	Subjective mental impressions and impulses	Personal moral desires

A Devotion to Dad

Our Father in Heaven, we are so grateful for all the ways you reveal your will and ways to us, even apart from Scripture. Help us to recognize and celebrate your deeds in our lives as a personal revelation of Your character. Help us to obey the New Nature inside of us. Help us to be faithful with the spiritual gifts you have given us. And we commit to respecting and obeying the authorities you have placed in our life. All of this will ensure that we are perfectly in the center of Your will for us. Amen.

Gauging Your Grasp

1. Why do we suggest God expects us to be morally perfect as He is morally perfect?
2. What Scriptures would support our claim that the born again Christian is an incarnation of God?
3. Who is the New Nature within us?
4. What are some Scripture passages that would support our view that the New Nature reveals the attributes of God?
5. We claim that we have probably learned more about God’s love for us through the New Nature of others than any other divine revelation. Would you agree or disagree and why?
6. What are some Scripture passages that would support our view that the New Nature reveals the moral will of God?
7. In what ways is the New Nature similar to Scripture?
8. In what ways is the New Nature different from Scripture?
9. Practically speaking, how does the New Nature guide and lead us in the will of God?
10. How does Scripture authenticate the revelation produced by the New Nature?
11. In what ways is the guidance of the New Nature distinguished from mega mysticism?

Publications & Particulars

1. Remarkably, there are no thorough treatments of the New Nature in any systematic theology we have consulted. More than that, there is barely a mention of the New Nature in any of them. In the chapter “The Work of the Holy Spirit” Wayne Grudem hardly mentions the revelatory work of the Spirit in us. (Systematic Theology, [Zondervan, 2004], 634-49). Likewise is Millard Erickson’s chapter, “The Work of the Holy Spirit.” (Christian Theology, [Baker, 1998], 880-898. The same is true of Berkhof, Reymond, Lewis & Demarest, Hodge, and Calvin. ↑

2. For further discussion on the Spirit’s work to enable us to know God see section 8.B-C and 4.15-16. ↑

3. For further discussion of the Spirit’s work in enabling us to prove the spiritual superiority of Christianity see Book 5: Biblical Apologetics. ↑

4. On the use of perfection here, John MacArthur comments:

   Teleios (perfect) basically means to reach an intended end or a completion and is often translated “mature” (1 Cor. 2:6; 14:20; Eph. 4:13; etc.). But the meaning here is obviously that of perfection, because the heavenly Father is the standard. The “sons of [the] Father” (v. 45) are to be perfect, as [their] heavenly Father is perfect. That perfection is absolute perfection.

   That perfection is also utterly impossible in man’s own power. To those who wonder how Jesus can demand the impossible, He later says, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26). That which God demands, He provides the power to accomplish. (MacArthur’s New Testament Commentary, Electronic Edition STEP Files CD-ROM (Parsons Technology, 1997), Matt 5:48.

   For further discussion see section 8.6.C and attached endnote ↑

5. For arguments that “Advocate” is the correct translation of Paraclete here see section 14.13.B. ↑

6. In general, we are amazed at the lack of helpful commentary on this passage that is worthy of what it is saying. Same is true of John 17:26. Usually a mere one sentence summary like “Jesus says He will live in us” is all that is given.

   Unfortunately, some interpret Christ’s promise to be in us as merely positional, as belonging to Christ, rather than practically real, and Christ being in us. This would seem to be because of their interpretation of v. 20 where Jesus says, “on that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.” It is claimed that Jesus’ statement must be confined to what the disciples would know on the day of His resurrection before Pentecost, and therefore such commentators do not see this as a reference to the indwelling of God. (cf. Barnes, Morris, Carson, Ridderbos,).

   While modern consensus seems to point to the day of the resurrection as Christ’s meaning, NT scholar Edwin Blum in the Bible Knowledge Commentary writes: “On that day refers to the day of Pentecost when the outpoured Spirit gave evidence of Jesus’ Ascension to the Father.” (John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck eds. [SP Publications, NT, 1983; OT, 1985]).

   John Calvin extended that “day” even beyond Pentecost, commenting, “Some refer this to the day of Pentecost; but it rather denotes the uninterrupted course, as it were, of a single day, from the time when Christ exerted the power of his Spirit [at His resurrection] till the last resurrection.” (Commentaries, online at http://www.ccel.org).

   We do not believe that Christ’s reference was limited to what would occur on the day of His resurrection, and that the realization that occurred was more than a positional one of identification with Christ, but rather a real experiential one of being indwelled with Christ.

   Against the consensus modern view is the fact that immediately before this statement, Christ is promising the indwelling of the Spirit (vs. 16-17), which obviously was not fulfilled until Pentecost. In addition, it seems very unlikely that on the day of Christ’s resurrection that the disciples realized or even experienced that Christ was in them. Accordingly, the reference seems to include Pentecost and should not be confined to the day of the resurrection.

   This is strengthened by the fact that the Greek preposition translated “on [en]” in the NIV (even worse in NLT “When I am raised to life again”) can be translated “in,” as in “the place or space in which something is found . . . within the range of” (BADG). Accordingly, the more literal translations have it, “In [i.e. during] that day [ēmera]” (NASB, ESV). When we note that ēmera often has the meaning, “an extended period” (BADG) as Calvin understood it, and is translated as “time,” we can easily conclude that Jesus was not speaking of just one specific day. On the contrary, Jesus is telling His disciples that within a period of time He would come to them, they would see Him, and realize that they were in Him and that He was in them because they had experience this very thing. Only such an extended period of time does justice to all that Jesus promises here. ↑

7. Herman Ridderbos, The Gospel of John (Eerdmans, 1997), in loc. ↑

8. On Galatians 2:20, John Stott (The Message of Galatians [Intervarsity, 1968]) and John MacArthur (Commentary) are disappointing. While rightly pointing out that the indwelling of Christ is the basis for being positionally/legally exonerated from the law (i.e. justification), it seems so much more could be said about the practical/supernatural ramifications of Jesus living inside of us (i.e. regeneration).

   R. Alan Cole is a little better, commenting: “As in the old days the law had filled his horizon and dominated his thought-life, so now it is Christ.” (Galatians [Eerdmans, 1999], 125).

   Albert Barnes is the worst, implying that we cannot take Paul literally: “Of course this cannot be taken literally that Christ had a residence in the apostle, but it must mean that his grace resided in him; that his principles actuated him: and that he derived all his energy, and zeal, and life from his grace.” (Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament, Electronic Edition STEP Files CD-ROM (Findex.Com, 1999).

   Calvin is the best:

   This explains what he meant by “living to God.” He does not live by his own life, but is animated by the secret power of Christ; so that Christ may be said to live and grow in him; for, as the soul enlivens the body, so Christ imparts life to his members. It is a remarkable sentiment, that believers live out of themselves, that is, they live in Christ; which can only be accomplished by holding real and actual communication with him. Christ lives in us in two ways. The one life consists in governing us by his Spirit, and directing all our actions; the other, in making us partakers of his righteousness; so that, while we can do nothing of ourselves, we are accepted in the sight of God. The first relates to regeneration, the second to justification by free grace. This passage may be understood in the latter sense; but if it is thought better to apply it to both, I will cheerfully adopt that view. (Commentaries, in loc.

   Richard N. Longenecker is worth quoting as well:

   Crucifixion with Christ implies not only death to the jurisdiction of the Mosaic law (v. 19), but also death to the jurisdiction of one’s ego. . . . both the law and the human ego have ceased to be controlling factors for the direction of the Christian life. Instead, Paul insists, the focus of the believer’s attention is to be on the fact that “Christ lives in me” (Galatians (WBC) [Thomas Nelson, 1990], 92) ↑

9. Commenting on Galatians 2:20, Dr. Longenecker makes an important point:

   The expression “in me”, together with its converse “in Christ,” suggests what may be called “Christian mysticism.” Mysticism, of course, frequently conjures up ideas about the negation of personality, withdrawl from objective reality, ascetic contemplation, a searching out of pathways to perfection, and absorption into the divine—all of which is true for Eastern and Grecian forms of mysticism.

   The mysticism of the Bible, however, affirms the true personhood of the people . . . The mysticism of biblical religion is not some esoteric searching for a path to be followed that will result in union with the divine, but is always of the nature of a response to God’s grace wherein people who have been mercifully touched by God enter into communion with him without ever losing their own identities. (92-3.) ↑

10. The Apostle commands in Ephesians 4 “put on the new self, created [ktisthenta] to be like God.” Commentators agree that the Greek ktisthenta is to be understood as something that has already been completed, or “has been created.” (cf. Harold Hoehner, Ephesians [Baker, 2002], 610).

    However, Paul’s parallel statement in Colossians seems to imply the “new self” is in a continuing process of renewal:

    Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col 3:9-10)

    How do we reconcile these two passages? We believe the best way is to understand the Apostle is using “new self” in two different ways. In Ephesians, he uses it to refer to the perfect presence of God in us which is already, “created to be like God.” However, in Colossians, he is speaking of the Christian person as a whole, who requires “being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

    Accordingly, Paul says the Colossians “have [already] taken off your old self with its practices and have [already] put on the new self.” This is a completed action in the past at conversion when the Colossians were made a new creation (cf. 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15). As N.T. Wright comments here: “’Taking off the old humanity’ and ‘putting on the new humanity’ are aorist participles in the Greek, indicating actions that are unique and unrepeatable). However, the Colossians still needed to be “renewed in knowledge” so that their life may be transformed to more consistently live out the “new self” (cf. Rom 12:2).

    However, in Ephesians, the actions of taking off the old self and putting on the new self still need to be done. The Apostle writes:

    Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph 4:21-24)

    Here, the Apostle is commanding the Ephesian Christians to: “put off your old self, which is [still] being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self.” This same imperative language is reflected in all English translations we are aware of (cf. NASB, ESV, RSV, KJV, NLT, TMSG, NEB, JBP, JB, TEV, NET). Accordingly, these actions were still to be done. However, they were to understand that the “new self” they were to put on was already “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

    Accordingly, the Apostle is saying the same thing in both places, but in a different way. In both passages he is saying something decisive and life-altering has occurred. In Colossians he says they “have [already] taken off your old self with its practices and have [already] put on the new self.” In Ephesians, he says they already have a “new self created to be like God.” Both are true of every born again Christian through spiritual regeneration, and these things are accomplished only by the power of God because beforehand we are spiritually dead.

    On the other hand, there is growth to still be pursued. The regenerated Colossians still need to be “renewed in knowledge” and he tells the Ephesian Christians they still need to “put off your old self, which is [still] being corrupted by its deceitful desires [i.e. still exists in you]; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self.”

    While commentators argue that the actions in Ephesians are not imperatives (commands; e.g. O’Brien, Stott, Hoehner) O’Brien admits that “These infinitives have been taken as imperatives . . . Both infinitives and participles can sometimes function as imperatives, particularly in ethical codes (cf. Rom. 12:9-15). . . . the three infinitives also seem to have an implied imperatival force.” (326-7).

    Interpreting the imperatives to “put off your old self” (v. 22) and “put on the new self” (v. 24) as an act that the Ephesians have done has at least two other problems. First, everyone agrees that the action listed between these two “be made new in the attitude of your minds” (v. 23) is a continuing process that has not been completed. It is unlikely that Paul would switch back and forth in tenses, sharing first something that has happened, then something that is still to happen, and then something else that has already happened.

    Secondly, the alternative translation suggests the Ephesians did something in their power to get saved. Paul would be saying, “You were taught with regard to your former way of life [when you were not saved], that in order to get saved, you needed to “put off the old self” and “put on the new self.” If these are completed actions, then they are describing regeneration, something that the Ephesians did not do themselves.

    Accordingly, we believe NT scholar F. F. Bruce interprets it best when he writes of “the change from indicative to imperative as between Colossians and Ephesians”:

    The instruction [in Ephesians “to put off your old self”] took the same catechetical form as that which is evident in the companion letter to the Colossians: its ethical directives were expressed in terms of “putting off” and “putting on.” They were taught to “put off” their pagan way of life—that is to say, “the old man,” the person they formerly were.

    The same expression occurs in Col. 3:9, but with a difference. There the Colossian believers are reminded that they have put him off; here [in Ephesians] the readers are taught to put him off. This tension between the indicative and the imperative, between the “already” and the “not yet,” is common in the Pauline letters; it is summed up in the admonition: “Be what you are!”—Be in practice what the calling of God has made you. (The Epistles to the Colossians, To Philemon, and to the Ephesians (NICNT) [Eerdmans, 1984], 357-8).

    Charles Hodge agreed, interpreting Ephesians 4:22-24:

    This original principle of evil is not destroyed in regeneration, but is to be daily mortified, in the conflicts of a whole life. . . . As we are called to put off our corrupt nature as a ragged and filthy garment, so we are required to put on our new nature as a garment of light. (Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians, online at http://www.ccel.org) ↑

11. John Stott, The Letters of John (TNTC), rev. ed., (Eerdmans, 1988), 166-67. ↑

12. Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter, 5; online at http://www.ccel.org. ↑

13. Excerpt from section 7.6.C. ↑

14. Accordingly, Peter O’Brien writes regarding Philippians 2:13:

    The ‘good work’ that God commenced is that work of grace in the readers’ lives that began with their reception of the Gospel. . . The expression refers to the new creation that he had begun in them (Philippians (NIGTC) [Eerdmans, 1991], 64). ↑

15. MacArthur, loc. cit. While O’Brien seems to support our interpretation in the NIGTC, describing the working of God in terms of sanctification, his thoughts seem confusing as he defines the Apostle’s reference to salvation as “eternal salvation” suggesting justification (Philippians, 284-9). ↑

16. Of course, mega mystics use Phil 2:13 as a proof text to assume that the Apostle is speaking of extra-biblical mental impulses through which the Spirit directly provides divine “inspiration.” There is no reason to assume this, especially since, as we discuss elsewhere, there seems to be no biblical promise or precedent for such things to be a means of divine revelation. ↑

17. By amoral matters we do not mean immoral. Webster’s simply defines amoral as, “being neither moral or immoral; lying outside the sphere to which moral judgments apply” (Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, Frederick C. Mish, ed. [Merriam-Webster, 1986], 80). Amoral decisions concern things that are logically true or false, not morally right or wrong, and have no ethical ingredient. Amoral matters often include merely personal preferences such as choosing what flavor of ice cream we will have for dessert. Accordingly, the sources of amoral desires are primarily logical reasoning and personal preferences. Because sinning against God involves morality, you cannot sin in an amoral desire.

    For further discussion regarding the nature of God’s will see chapter 7.15. ↑

18. The fact that Christians have already inherited the spiritual promises of the OT is the whole point of the Epistle to the Hebrews. See F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, NICNT (Eerdmans, 1990) 189-90. ↑

19. Excerpt from section 7.6.C. ↑

20. John Stott, The Message of 1 & 2 Thessalonians [Intervarsity, 1994], 89. ↑

21. For further discussion on the proper interpretation of the “anointing” of the Spirit (cf. 1 John 2, 20, 27) see section 14.15.B. ↑

22. Martin Luther, “Concerning the Letter and the Spirit,” in Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, Timothy F. Lull ed. (Augsburg Fortress, 2005), 85. ↑

23. This percentage is based on the fact that there are 27, 570 verses in the OT and 7,956 in the NT. Dividing these we get: 3.465 ↑

24. Mega mysticism is the claim of frequent, extra-biblical, and confidently recognized divine revelation from God for personal guidance. It is believed that God desires to directly lead and guide us in amoral, extrabiblical matters on a rather continual basis through divinely inspired impressions, impulses, and desires derived apart from any other means such as Scripture, our New Nature, or reason. For further discussion see Book 14. ↑

25. For further discussion of the fact that God’s will for our life is essentially moral, and therefore completely known by Scripture and the New Nature, see section 7.15.B.2. ↑

26. For an introduction to the authenticating nature of the Spirit in us see section 5.1.A. ↑

27. Regarding the cessation of all current means of revelation see section 10.9.E ↑

28. For further discussion of a biblical view of decision making see chapter 7.15. ↑

29. For further discussion of the progression of spiritual maturity in the covenants and how it relates to divine revelation see section 7.3.E. ↑

30. Excerpt from section 7.12.B.4. ↑

31. For further discussion regarding the counterfeit nature of demonic revelation see chapter 10.6 and chapters 11.11-13. ↑

32. MacArthur, Commentary, Rom 5:12. ↑