Luke 2:40 “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.”
One of the main differences between the New and Old Testament saints is that the New Testament saints can grow in spirit. The reason New Testament saints can grow strong in spirit is because they are born-again, whereas the Old Testament saints were spiritually dead. Sadly however, because most New Testament believers have very limited knowledge in this area, other than being born-again in their spirits they never develop any further spiritually. In the passage of scripture quoted above we see that when our Lord Jesus walked on the earth that He became strong in His 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 forget that as a man, our Lord’s spirit had to grow and develop as well. The bible teaches us that in all things our Lord Jesus was made just like us (Hebrews 2:17), and that included His spirit. And so if our Lord Jesus had to grow strong in His spirit then we are no different and 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 9:22 “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 of scripture is the strength of his spirit, because as a direct result of his increased strength we see that he was able to confound the Jews by proving that Jesus is the Christ. At the time, when it was recorded that Saul had increased all the more in strength, he had just recently returned from Arabia where he had spent approximately three years receiving much of his revelation of the gospel from the Lord Jesus (Galatians 1:15-18). And so compared to when he was born-again three years before, Paul by this time had grown much stronger in his spirit. Every believer is born into the kingdom of God as a babe in Christ and that included Saul, for no-one is born-again spiritually mature, including every apostle listed in the New Testament. And so the apostle Paul also had to grow strong in spirit just as our Lord Jesus did, and 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 i.e. 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 (2 Corinthians 5:17). Nevertheless 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 in this passage is the growth of our spirits. In fact our spiritual growth is far more important than even our physical and mental development. And yet how many believers do you know of that make a conscious effort to grow strong in their spirit? The answer to that question is very few, and the reason for that is because very little is taught in the church about spiritual growth. And so we see that not many believers understand the importance of spiritual growth, but even if they do have some idea regarding its importance, because of the lack of teaching they do not understand how to grow strong in their spirits. Nevertheless just as it is possible for individuals to grow strong both physically and mentally, so it is also possible for believers to grow strong spiritually.
Michael E.B. Maher
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