Truth Made Practical

"As Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4)

We who pride ourselves on our orthodoxy have in recent years committed a costly blunder. Our blunder (or shall we frankly say our sin?) has been to neglect the doctrine of the Spirit to a point where we virtually deny Him His place in the Godhead.

This denial has not been by open doctrinal statement, for we have clung closely enough to the biblical position wherever our creedal pronouncements are concerned. Our formal creed is sound;  the breakdown is in our working creed.

This is not a trifling distinction. A doctrine has practical value only as far as it is prominent in our thoughts and makes a difference in our lives.

Truth consists not in correct doctrine, but in correct doctrine PLUS the inward enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Deity indwelling men! No man has experienced rightly the power of Christian belief until he has known this for himself as a living reality.

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The Holy Spirit: Present or Absent?

"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30)

In most Christian churches the Spirit is quite entirely overlooked. Whether He is present or absent makes no real difference to anyone. Brief reference is made to Him in the doxology and the benediction. Further than that He might as well not exist.

Our neglect of the doctrine of the blessed Third Person has had and is having serious consequences. For doctrine is dynamite. It must have emphasis sufficiently sharp to detonate it before its power is released.

The doctrine of the Spirit is buried dynamite. Its power awaits discovery and use by the Church. The power of the Spirit will not be given to any mincing assent to pneumatological truth. The Holy Spirit cares not at all whether we write into our creeds in the back of our hymnals: He awaits our emphasis.

The Holy Spirit loves us so much that when we insult Him, He is grieved; when we ignore Him, He is grieved; when we resist Him, He is grieved; and when we doubt Him, He is grieved.

~A. W. Tozer~