What is Christian spirituality?

Now the manner of this is shown next by what we may call the relative fruits of the Spirit, characteristic of the spiritual, those by which they are known, and the character of their operation towards others; for spirituality is ever active in lowly love for the blessing of others to God's glory.

(Vv. 14, 15). Thus we learn that the wisdom of God is made known by revelation and communicated to others by inspiration. Now we learn that the reception of the truth is also by the Spirit of God. The natural man cannot receive the things of God; they are foolishness to him; they can only be spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual discerns all things. We do well to remember that it is the “spiritual”, not simply he that has the Spirit, that discerns all things. A man must, indeed, have the Spirit to be spiritual; but being spiritual implies a condition in which a man is under the control of the Spirit. Such discern all things, yet they themselves are not discerned of any. The spiritual man can discern the motives that govern the world, though the world cannot discern the motives and principles that govern the spiritual man.

In verse 14 the Apostle speaks of the natural man, in verse 15 of the spiritual man, and in 1 Corinthians 3 of the carnal, or fleshly, man. The natural man is the unconverted man, without the Spirit; the carnal man is the believer, having the Spirit, but walking like the natural man; the spiritual man is the believer walking in the Spirit.

It has often been pointed out that in this and the preceding chapters, the apostle distinguishes three classes. First, there is the "natural" man, that is, man as born into this world, man in his unconverted state and condition; and it is of him Paul says that he "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (Chap. 2:14.) Next, there is the "spiritual" man, one, that is, who is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, because the Spirit of God dwells in him (Rom. 8:9), and one who is also walking in the Spirit (see Gal. 5:16, 25), controlled by the Holy Spirit in his life and conduct. Lastly, there are the carnal (3:1-4), those who, though really Christians, "walk as men," that is, are governed, not by the indwelling Spirit, but by human principles and motives, in fact, by the flesh. Hence the apostle says, "For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" Alas! that it should be possible for us, the children of God, to be so characterized. And as a warning, it should ever be remembered that when we are not walking in the Spirit, the flesh will assuredly assert its power and be manifested. It is on this account Paul elsewhere writes, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Gal. 5:16.)

Lastly (4) we read of the natural (psychikos) man, the fleshly (sarkinos), and the spiritual man (pneumatikos). All three are mentioned in 1 Cor. 2:14-3 1. These are different states or conditions, in one of which every person on earth must be classed. The natural man (psychikos) describes a person without spiritual life, animated only by his created soul. The fleshly one (sarkinos) is one born of God, but without the indwelling presence of the Holy Ghost. So in Rom. 7, in delighting in the law of God after the inward man, he finds he has no power to do what is right. So he says, "I am fleshly" (not carnal, which would be sarkikos) "sold under sin." Again the apostle, addressing the Corinthians, who, though really richly endowed with all spiritual gifts, were not walking in the energy of the Holy Ghost, tells them he writes to them as unto fleshly (not carnal); i.e. as to those who were quickened, yet were without the energising power of the Spirit, for they were not using it. They were not really fleshly, but he addresses them as such. But the spiritual man is one in whom the Spirit is, and who is guided and energised by Him. Every true Christian then is spiritual as to his condition, though he may be walking like a fleshly person, and be even carnal in his ways.

It is not now merely sending out a law to shew what man ought to be, but it is eternal life given, in the true knowledge of the Father and Son, and this in the power of the Holy Ghost. Therefore the affections of the heart are of the Spirit, and are filled with the Spirit, and they have their play in all true Christian affection. Being brought into such a place, all our ways, the condition of our soul and our conduct of course are looked for to be conformed to that of which Christ Himself is the perfect expression. It is not merely that there is a certain rule of conduct, as in the law, but it is Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith; so that our thoughts, and feelings, and affections should flow from that source through the Holy Ghost. That is what is meant by being "filled with the Spirit." We all have the Spirit, but we are not all "filled with the Spirit." He is the one source of everything where the heart is filled with Him.

We have to do with reality. Christianity has its realisation in us in a conformity of nature to God, with which God cannot dispense, and without which we cannot enjoy or be in communion with Him. He Himself gives it. How indeed can we be born of God, unless God acts to communicate life to us? We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. But it is the Spirit who is its source and its strength. If any one has not the Spirit of Christ, if the energy of this spiritual life which was manifested in Him, which is by the power of the Spirit, is not in us, we are not of Him, we have no part in Christ, for it is thus that one participates in Him. But if Christ is in us, the energy of this spiritual life is in Him who is our life, and the body is reckoned dead; for if it have a will as being alive, it is nothing but sin. The Spirit is life, the Spirit by whom Christ actively lived; Christ in Spirit in us is life — the source of thought, action, judgment, everything that constitutes the man, speaking morally, in order that there may be righteousness; for that is the only practical righteousness possible, the flesh cannot produce any. We live only as having Christ as our life; for righteousness is in Him, and in Him only, before God. Elsewhere there is nothing but sin. Therefore to live is Christ. There is no other life; everything else is death.

Communion with God is a real thing, in which He pours into the soul, in a greater or less degree, the deep joy of His presence - of that favour and perfect love in which He communicates with the soul, revealing Himself - and gives, by His presence, the happiness of a relationship, in which no breach is suspected, nor thought of, in which the soul lives. It is more than faith, though founded on it; other than the certainty of salvation, though the crown and seal and realisation of this. The abstract certainty, the consoling certainty, that my Father loves me, and will not, nay, cannot, do otherwise, is another thing from happy intercourse with this love, with no consciousness of anything else, or of anything in the way of that enjoyment. The certainty of love in God constitutes the bitterness of the sense of the loss of the enjoyment of it, for I speak only of saints here. The Spirit's seal to the truth assures of God's love; and Christ, if we fail, intercedes for us. But the Holy Ghost being the spring of the enjoyment of it in the heart is another thing. The one - the foundation, it is true, of all - assures that God is for us: the other is God in us, filling the heart with joy, with communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, the Lord defines the character of worship. It must be "in spirit and in truth." "Now to worship 'in spirit' is to worship according to the true nature of God, and in the power of that communion which the Spirit of God gives. Spiritual worship is thus in contrast with the forms and ceremonies, and all the religiousness of which the flesh is capable. To worship God 'in truth' is to worship Him according to the revelation which He has given of Himself. The Samaritans worshipped God neither in spirit nor in truth. The Jews worshipped God in truth, so far as this can be said of a revelation which was imperfect; but they worshipped Him in no respect in spirit. Now to worship God, both are needful. He is to be worshipped according to the true revelation of Himself (that is, 'in truth'), and according to His nature (that is, 'in spirit')."

Thus, in Christianity all is vital. There is a work of God in the heart and worship by the Spirit. It has a living Christ for its object, and utterly refuses the flesh. The corrupting movement, within the Christian circle, would set aside all that is vital while retaining the form of Christianity. It would substitute the profession of Christianity, by subscribing to creeds, and submitting to forms, for the true circumcision of the heart. It would establish an outward form of worship by means of buildings, music, vestments and ritual, in place of worship by the Spirit of God. Instead of having no confidence in the flesh, it would make every possible appeal to the flesh. It would end, as the apostle foretells in another epistle, in the corrupt Christendom of our day "having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." The Philippians were solemnly warned to beware of this corruption in its inception. We are warned to "turn away" from the corruption in its full development. (2 Tim. G: 5).

The Father seeks worshippers — precious thought! But He seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. This implies that the inner man is engaged under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and that His truth is known and controlling the soul. This is in direct contrast with mere forms, which require neither God's truth nor His spirit, and can never satisfy His heart.