THE OPERATIONS OF THE SPIRIT.
By Elder J. O. Corliss
THE bestowal of the Spirit upon man is to bring him in touch with heavenly influences, and so make him an ambassador of heaven—a representative of its divine government. This could not be without his having the counsel of God, and being clothed with the authority of his government. There was no other way for the accomplishment of this but for man to be in direct communication with God. This is accomplished by receiving constant supplies of divine power, which are the credentials of his authority. The glory of any government is the attitude maintained toward it by its subjects, especially by those who represent it in another land. The government of heaven being wholly spiritual, its representatives must also be spiritual in order to properly represent its reign; otherwise they might well be considered imposters. This seems to be the idea set forth by the great apostle. “I give you to understand,” he says, “that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed; and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” 1 Cor. 12: 3. The reason for this is plain to be seen. The Spirit is the representative of Christ, and if that Spirit dwells in a person, and through him speaks of Christ, it could not be possible to curse him, whose Spirit it is; for that would be a house divided against itself. Again, it would be impossible for a person, by the power of his carnal mind, which is the mind of Satan, to say that Christ is Lord; for then he would give the lie to the mind he possessed, and so antagonize the one who ruled in him, and whom his very acts testified was his Lord. This again would divide the house, to its total overthrow. The mind of Satan does not acknowledge Christ as Lord; hence when one does testify to that, it is because he has received the mind of Christ, and that can never be obtained except through the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ is not, however, confined to one form of operation. Its manifestations are various, but always for the profit of the church. While the gifts may be diverse from one another, and their methods of ministering different, it is the same Lord operating in them all, through the power of his own Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit and their uses are dwelt upon at length in 1 Cor. 12. Commencing with verse 8 we read: “To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles [Gr. dunamis, power]; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” Again in verse 28 we read: “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles [power], then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” It will be noticed that this last quotation simply shows the special work which the various gifts, before mentioned, will accomplish. It will be further noticed that this work, to be done by special endowment, is the thing that God set in the church, to become a part of its very life. To deprive the church of any part of this, is to take away so much of its power of life. With all these gone, the church may exist in name and form, but without vitality. The Spirit of God is the source of all life in the church, and when that has its abiding place in the church, its operations must be seen and felt there, as described in the chapter under consideration. These gifts are not to be exercised, however, according to the desire of the members of the church. God bestows and operates them as he wills, that he may be glorified thereby rather than those through whom they operate. One might suppose his natural qualifications would specially adapt him to become the channel of certain spiritual manifestations. When this is the case, that person would be the last choice of the Lord for such a work; for God does not see as man does. He looks at the heart, while man looks at outward appearances; and the very fact that one should judge himself worthy of certain special supernatural endowments would prove that his heart was lifted up with pride in his own accomplishments. Right in this connection there is another point worthy of consideration. It will be noticed that in the enumeration of the gifts, there are some of what would now be considered natural acquirements, classed with, and in fact made a part of, the miraculous endowments of the Spirit. Here the working of miracles and the gifts of healing are placed in the same list with administrative and executive ability. These are all considered as gifts of the Spirit, which are necessary to the church. And so they are. Christ is the embodiment of all wisdom and knowledge. Everything is in him. No one can have anything that he did not receive, not even a desire to do right. 1 Cor. 4: 7. So while men do not always acknowledge the source of what they have, it is nevertheless true that everything comes from Him.