Luke 2:40 “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.”
In the previous section we saw that it is our spirits that are born again from the seed of God’s word. In this section we want to discuss the fact that our spirits can and should grow. In the natural, the body of man grows from a seed to the full-grown man. It is exactly the same in the spirit, for the spirit of one who is born again grows from being a seed to eventually attaining to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). The above quoted passage of scripture is speaking about our Lord Jesus Christ. In this passage the scripture plainly reveals to us that when He walked on the earth, our Lord Jesus became strong in spirit. In other words when Jesus was born into the earth as a baby, not only was He born physically weak, but He was also born spiritually weak. We all accept that our Lord’s physical body had to grow and develop from being a baby to becoming a mature adult, but we don’t realise that our Lord’s spirit also had to grow and become mature. The bible teaches us that in all things our Lord Jesus was made just like us (Hebrews 2:17), which included in His spirit. And so if our Lord Jesus had to grow strong in His spirit then we are no different. Clearly if we are going to walk as God our Father intended that we should walk, we too will have to grow strong in our spirits.
Acts 9:19-22 “Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. (20) Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. (21) Then all who heard were amazed, and said, "Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?" (22) But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.”
Scripture reveals to us that after he was born again, that Saul also grew strong in his spirit. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit reveals to us that Saul increased all the more in strength. The strength referred to in this passage is the strength of his spirit. In other words his spirit had become stronger. At the time, when it was recorded that Saul increased all the more in strength, he had recently come back from spending roughly three years in Arabia. You will recall that it was in Arabia that Paul received much of his revelation of the gospel from the Lord Jesus (Galatians 1:15-17). And so compared to when he was born again on the road to Damascus, Paul had by this time grown much stronger in his spirit. Every believer is born into the kingdom of God as a babe in Christ, which included Saul. No-one is born-again spiritually mature, including every apostle in the New Testament. And so, we see that the apostle Paul also had to grow strong in spirit, just as our Lord Jesus did. Clearly, if Paul and the other apostles had to grow strong in spirit then we are no different.
1 Peter 2:2 “as new-born babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above, when the Holy Spirit tells us to desire His word as new-born babes, it is because that is exactly what we are when we come into the kingdom; we are new-born babes. It is our spirits that are born again when we come into the kingdom of God, and it is our spirits that become new creations of God. But our spirits are reborn as infants, and they need to grow up just as any baby in the natural needs to grow up. For notice that the Holy Spirit tells us that the result of our partaking of His word is that we will grow thereby. The growth that He is referring to is the growth of our spirits. In fact our spiritual growth is far more important than even our physical and mental development. How many believers do you know of that make a conscious effort to grow strong in spirit? The answer to that question is very few. Why is that? The answer to that question is that very little is taught in the church about spiritual growth. And so not many believers understand its importance, and if they do have some idea regarding its importance, they do not understand how to grow strong in their spirits.
1 Corinthians 3:1-7 “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. (2) I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; (3) for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (4) For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal? (5) Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? (6) I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. (7) So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”
Christians are meant to grow from being babes in Christ to becoming spiritually mature believers. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul contrasts baby believers with mature believers. He calls the baby believer carnal and he calls the mature believer spiritual. He equates carnal believers with the men of this world, for he says that carnal believers behave like mere men. The spiritual believer on the other hand, will not behave like men but rather walk even as Christ walked (1 John 2:6). But notice that it is God who gives the increase. The increase that Paul is speaking about in this passage is the growth in our spirits. And so we see that spiritual growth is very important under the new covenant, for without it the believer will remain a babe in Christ and never walk in the fullness of maturity that God intended.
Michael E.B. Maher
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