Guidance of the born-again spirit
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 1 day ago
- 9 min read
Romans 2:14-15 “for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, (15) who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.”
We have seen thus far that the born-again spirit has full and complete understanding of God’s word, because of which the spirit of the believer is able to give godly counsel to the saint in every area of their lives. We have also seen that the spirit of the believer has the divine nature of God (i.e. the fruit of the spirit) and will therefore always counsel the saint to walk in love. It is for these reasons that under the New Covenant that the spirit of the believer is a safe guide, for our spirits can only give guidance in accordance with God’s word and in accordance with God’s nature. And so, as we will see in this section, under the New Covenant God admonishes the saints to follow the guidance of their spirits. Under the Old Covenant that was not the case however because the saints were spiritually dead, and so God never advised the saints to follow the guidance of their spirits. In fact time and again God warned the saints against following the dictates of their hearts because their hearts were evil (Jeremiah 7:24). Sadly there are a number of teachers in the church today who, because they do not understand that under the New Covenant our spirits are born-again, continue to quote the Old Testament to erroneously teach believers not to listen to their hearts. A favourite passage that they quote is, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). While this passage is completely true as far as the Old Testament saints were concerned, it is completely untrue as far as the New Testament saints are concerned, and should not therefore be applied to the New Testament saint. And so whereas the saints under the Old Covenant were warned against listening to their spirits, under the New Covenant the saints are encouraged to listen to their spirits. We have already looked at the above quoted passage of scripture to show that the New Testament saints have the word of God written in their spirits, but in this section I want to look at this passage from the guidance aspect that our spirits give us in this current dispensation. In this passage the apostle Paul teaches us that our spirits (along with our conscience) will accuse the saint when they choose to do wrong, or else they will agree with the saint when they choose to do that which is right. Paul teaches us that the way the spirit does that is by placing thoughts in our minds. And so the thoughts that would come into our minds would be in the form of God’s word being quoted to us by our spirits. In other words a scripture would come into our minds that would either support our contemplated course of action, or a scripture would come into our minds that would contradict our contemplated course of action. And so depending on the saint’s spiritual condition at the time, they will choose to either follow or ignore their spirit’s counsel.
Galatians 5:16-18 “I say then: Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (17) For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. (18) But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul once again confirms the truth to us that the New Testament saints are to be led by their spirits. The spirit that Paul is referring to in this passage is the born-again spirit and not the Holy Spirit, for it is the spirit of the born-again believer, and not the Holy Spirit, that lusts against their flesh. Nevertheless because our spirits are themselves being led by the Holy Spirit, ultimately we are being led by the Holy Spirit if we follow the guidance of our spirits. The apostle Paul teaches us in this passage that to walk in the spirit and to be led by the spirit are one and the same thing, for obviously one cannot walk in the spirit if one chooses not to follow the leading of their spirit. Something else that Paul teaches us in this passage is that those who walk in the spirit are not under the law. So what does that statement mean? In context Paul is comparing walking in love and the fruit of the spirit rather than walking in the flesh, and he goes on to say that there is no law against the fruit of the spirit. And so those who choose to walk in the spirit are therefore not subject to any law, whereas those who choose to walk in the flesh will obviously then transgress the law. In another passage of scripture the apostle Paul highlights the difference between the New and Old Covenants by telling us that our spirits know how to rightly divide the word of truth, and will therefore always walk in the spirit of the law and not the letter of the law (Romans 7:6). Our Lord Jesus demonstrated the difference between the spirit and the letter of the law on many different occasions when He walked on the earth. For example, there was the occasion when our Lord healed the man with the withered hand, on the Sabbath. Before our Lord healed the man He asked the congregation if it was lawful on the Sabbath to do good or evil, to save life or to kill. The congregation kept silent because they wanted to accuse Jesus of violating the Sabbath, because they were following the letter of the law which prohibited any form of work to be done on the Sabbath. Jesus on the other hand followed the spirit of the law, which allowed good works to be done on the Sabbath, and He thus healed the man’s hand (Mark 3:1-5). And so in the same manner the spirit of the born-again believer would also counsel the saint in accordance with the spirit of the law and not the letter of the law.
Romans 8:14-16 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (15) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." (16) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
We have already seen that when we follow the leading and guidance of our spirits that ultimately we are also being led by the Holy Spirit. And so in the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul confirms the truth to us that born-again believers are ultimately led by the Spirit of God. In this passage Paul gives us further insight into how the Holy Spirit leads the New Testament saint, for he teaches us that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are God’s children. And so in the same manner the Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirits in every area of our lives. We can therefore see very clearly from this passage that God guides the New Testament saints through their spirits. To have the witness in our spirit means that our spirits will either agree or disagree with our proposed course of action, depending on whether that choice falls in line with God’s will for our lives or not. And so clearly saints should never choose a course of action that makes them feel uncomfortable on the inside i.e. in their spirits, for that is a clear indication that the saint is making an incorrect choice in life.
1 John 5:10-11 “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. (11) And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle John confirms the same to truth to us that the apostle Paul teaches, i.e. that we know that we are children of God because we have the witness in ourselves. In this passage John teaches us that we know we have eternal life because we have the witness in ourselves. The witness in ourselves that John is referring to is the witness in our spirits. In other words the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits that because we are sons of God, we can be assured that we have eternal life. As I have already mentioned, the Holy Spirit does not only witness with our spirits about our salvation but also about every other area of our lives, and so saints need to learn to listen to their spirits and not make decisions in life unless they have the witness in their spirits to go ahead with that decision. And so we can see very clearly from these passages that under the New Covenant that God leads His saints through their spirits.
2 Corinthians 2:13 “I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I departed for Macedonia.”
Because the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits regarding God’s counsel, the spirit of the saint always knows what the leading of the Holy Spirit is for any given situation. The question is then asked how the saint can know with their understanding what the leading of their spirit is. One of the ways is whether their contemplated course of action produces peace in their spirits or not, for the scripture declares that the wisdom of God always follows the paths of peace (Proverbs 3:17). The apostle Paul learnt to follow the guidance of his spirit, and in the above quoted passage of scripture he gives us some insight into how he did that, for in this passage he tells us that because he had no rest in his spirit he recognised that he was outside of the will of God at that time and had to thus change course. And so we can see that if our contemplated course of action produces restlessness in our spirits that it is an indication that our spirit is not in agreement with that course of action, and we therefore need to consider other alternatives until that sense of rest and peace prevails in our spirits once again.
Romans 8:5-6 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Walking in the spirit is a deliberately chosen lifestyle. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul teaches us how to live in the spirit (i.e. walk in the spirit), when he tells us that those who walk in the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. In this passage Paul contrasts the two opposing mindsets that believers can have, i.e. they can either have a fleshly mindset or a spiritual mindset. The fleshly mindset is what scripture also calls a carnal mind, or natural thinking. In other words it is a mindset that thinks as this world thinks. The spiritual mindset is completely opposite to this world’s thinking however, for the scripture teaches us that as believers we are to look at the things which are not seen (2 Corinthians 4:18). In other words we live by faith, for faith is the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The world on the other hand look at the things which are seen i.e. their circumstances, and live according to that. Sadly many believers walk just as the world does. Nevertheless to set one’s mind on the things of the spirit, one has to set their minds on that which cannot be seen i.e. the word of God, and live according to that. And so, one who is spiritually minded will always be open and receptive to the leading of their spirit, whereas one who is carnally minded will more often than not ignore and reject the leading of their spirit. I want you to notice from this passage that the apostle Paul confirms to us that one of the results of a spiritual mindset is that it produces peace. And so we see that to be spiritually minded is a conscious and disciplined decision that the saint takes and puts into constant practice. The reason why our Lord Jesus walked in the spirit when He was on the earth was because He always set His mind on the things of the spirit, for He said that God’s word was His meditation all day long (Psalm 119:97).
Michael E.B. Maher
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