By Ronald E. Frye (Quest Vol 1, No 1, page 11)

It is easier to speak of God’s love than to exemplify it in our lives. It is easier to praise Christ in song than to glorify him in our conduct. It is easier to focus on those issues that tend to divide the body of Christ than on that which promotes understanding and healing in the spirit of Christ. Why? Could it be that we bring more of our human spirit to our worship than we are willing to acknowledge or even realize? It is a personal question – one that we need to search out and answer within ourselves rather than trying to explore the spirit of other believers in the body – the church of Christ.

Paul wrote that “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other.” (Gal. 5:17) The desires of the flesh and the spirit provide the combatants for the field of battle upon which a warfare is fought daily. There can be no peaceful co-existence between these two forces that seek to impel us. Each is diametrically opposed to the other. A secession of hostilities will never take place in this life. The Apostle Paul described the battle lines for us when he wrote: “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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Rom. 8:5-8)

Clearly the struggle is within us – within our private universe of thought and reason that determines our attitudes and our actions. The age in which we live tends to strengthen and fortify the desires of the flesh through endless waves of ungodly influences and attitudes. It is to be hoped, however, that within our Christian fellowship there may be found those influences that define and help strengthen the influence of the spirit of God and Christ upon us.

When we commune with God and Christ in prayer, we become receptive to their spirit which enables us to experience a transformation of our mental faculties. Reading, meditating upon and applying God’s word in our lives will all show evidence of the process of transformation. As the Apostle Paul says: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by renewing your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rom. 12:2)

Ron Frye was a former Circuit Overseer with Jehovah’s Witnesses and original Editorial Board Member of Quest

The English word “transformed” in the verse quoted just above translates the Greek word μεταμορφοῦσθε (metamorphoo) from which we derive “metamorphosis.” The Greek word combines “meta,” implying change, and “morphé ” which, in this case, lays stress on the inward change. ^l Significantly, the immediately preceding verb in this text, which is translated “conform,” is drawn from the Greek συνσχηματίζεσθε (suschématizo) which means “to fashion or shape like another, … has more especial reference to that which is transitory” and “could not be used of inward transformation.”2 It can therefore be appreciated that the spirit of the world and the spirit of God work in opposite directions. The spirit of the world – which caters to and nourishes sinful human nature – works from without, urging us to “conform to” or “be fashioned according to” its will, while the spirit of Christ works within – to and regenerate. The design of the former is to toss us about on the restless sea of human logic and “wisdom”; the latter anchors our minds to the divine will.

Even our study of the Bible must be tempered with the knowledge that it is God’s spirit within us that effects change and not just an understanding of what the written word teaches. We must avoid, at all cost, the mistake of the ancient Pharisees who diligently debated and digested the meaning and the application of the Torah but missed its purpose. These religious zealots possessed the Law or, rather, the Law possessed them. But they missed the whole significance and mission of it. That is why Jesus could say to them: “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life …. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.” (John 5:39,40,42

The religion of the Pharisees was a religion of externalism. Every action was governed by rabbinical thought and tradition. While it produced the outward appearance of religious austerity and holiness, it was nothing more than a pious perversion. Lacking the love of God in their hearts, the Pharisees’ worship was a matter of discipline and formality – a veneer by which they measured themselves and others.

What can be learned from this? The primary lesson must be that righteousness and salvation do not rest in a collection of sacred documents but in the person of Jesus Christ. It is his spirit within us that empowers us to walk in the spirit. The Holy Scriptures may provide a roadmap for life, but it is the spirit of Christ dwelling within us that urges us forward in our quest for true holiness. The Apostle Paul states: “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who lives in you.” (Rom. 8:9-11 NIV)

In order to have the mind of God, we must also have the mind of Christ. (1 Cor. 2:16) We need to know how he would act in a given situation to determine how we should act. His values must be our values. His attitude must be our attitude. In order to determine these things, we must know him. It is not sufficient just to know about him. We must understand his personality – his spirit.

The Lord Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount shows the difference between observing the letter of the Law and being governed by the spirit of it – having the mind of Christ. Whether the discourse was given at one time or is an edited collection of his sayings given at different times is of little importance here. In his sermon, Christ repeatedly contrasts what others have said with what he has to say. An example of this deals with the matter of homicide. He says: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool! ‘ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Matt. 5:21,22 NIV)

Here the Master quotes from the Decalogue – the most sacred portion of the Mosaic Law. (See Exodus 20:13) He was not rescinding the Law, thus abolishing it, but rather illuminating it. In the process he demonstrated that a mere outward conformity to a strict interpretation of the Law could never fulfill it. From God’s standpoint, to be angry with one’s brother was serious enough to bring one into the same local court that heard murder cases and from which court appeal could be made to the higher court – the Sanhedrin. Someone who verbalized his anger by calling his brother “Raca,” meaning “empty headed” (from the Syriac verb meaning “empty,” “vain”) was a candidate for the 72-member Sanhedrin over which the High Priest presided. And, finally, anyone who called his brother “fool” was in danger of everlasting punishment. We can only wonder at what impact these words had on the minds of the Lord’s disciples. Who among them had not at one time or another been angry with his fellow? Who among them had not at one time or another uttered some derogatory remark about a neighbor or acquaintance? In this way Jesus took the matter beyond the external application of the commandment by internalizing it and therefore hitting at the thought process – the wellspring from which good and bad actions flow. As Jesus said: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what makes a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean’.” (Matt. 15: 19,20 NIV)

What about ourselves? Have we ever been angry at a brother? Have we ever uttered a word of contempt about him? If we think we can harbor ill feelings towards our fellow Christian or fellow human and go about our business of worshipping God, we are sadly mistaken. After his remarks about the matter of murder, the Lord connected them with the following: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the alter. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matt. NV)

To come to Jerusalem and present a sacrificial gift at the altar attended by the Levitical priesthood was a most holy act. One could do so only when he was ceremonially cleansed and approved. Jesus was speaking to a people well acquainted with the stress placed upon ritualistic washing, baptizing and bathing of the body. It would be unthinkable to interrupt the sacred exercise of offering a gift at the altar by going off in the middle of it to attend to other matters. And yet that is what the Lord was telling them – what he is telling you and me to do. Do we therefore appreciate that our worship is not strictly a private matter between us and God? We cannot ignore our relationship with our brother and thus divide it from our worship of God; the two simply cannot be separated.

Do we discern the spirit of Christ in this? Do we understand what the head of the body is saying? It is to be hoped that we will. The great challenge presented to the body is the one presented to its earliest members: is our love of God and neighbor so consuming that it enables us to conquer the human ego? Are we willing to “go the mile” to gain our brother or risk rejection and humiliation in order to be at peace with all men? (Rom. 12:18) The human ego is a fortress that must be breached and conquered because, in its unsanctified state, it cannot submit to God’s law of love. Such a law can never be reduced to rules and regulations imposed on believers by some religious hierarchy. It cannot be extracted from us. It can only be surrendered to the spirit of Christ. Otherwise we will evolve into nothing more than latter-day Pharisees.

The Christian quest forever remains the search for the spirit of Christ within us. It will never be found elsewhere. It is not found in things we do religiously. It will not be found in fellowship unless we bring it to our fellowship. It will never be found in Bible reading unless we bring it to our reading. It will never be found in bearing witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ unless we bring it to it. It will never be found in our conduct unless it is the seat of our motivation. It cannot be learned. It must be experienced. We might compare it to love. Can anyone know what love is without being loved experiencing love? Love has transforming power. It produces fruitage consistent with itself. So, too, the spirit produces effects consistent with its source.

In Jesus’ day the Jewish community was an exclusive one. It existed within the Roman world but remained separate and aloof from it. Fraternizing (fellowshipping) with non-Jews was scorned and those few who did so were despised. Jewish tradition made it acceptable – even appropriate – to treat foreigners differently from Jews. The traditional maxim was: “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Addressing himself to this double standard Jesus said: “But I tell you; Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:44-48 NIV)

I was once associated with an exclusive religious group that routinely prayed for those members of their group undergoing some form of persecution. It was a common ingredient of community prayer. But in all the many years of my association with that group, I do not recall even one instance wherein a prayer was offered on behalf of the persecutors. It was much more than an oversight. It represented a mindset, a narrow view of matters, a focus on the group’s own. It was an unchristian attitude masquerading itself as the spirit of Christ. To love ourselves is easy but to love our neighbor is more difficult. To love an enemy – one who persecutes us or defames us – is nearly impossible; and yet that is what the Lord commands us to do! To do so requires a more noble spirit than the one we receive from our father Adam.

It may seem that to seek to gain that noble spirit that would enable us to love and pray for our enemies is an impossible quest. But is it? Surely our Lord would not command us to seek it if it were impossible to attain. What is required is God’s view of matters, and we can approach God’s view of matters if we have the mind of Christ. The disciple Stephen demonstrates for us how the spirit of Christ can exalt itself in the midst of human suffering. Jewish zealots, infuriated by his witness, seized him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him to death. The account tells us: “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord do not hold this sin against them. ‘ When he had said this he fell asleep. And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.” (Acts 7:59,60

Stephen was not blind to the fact that a terrible sin was being committed and that these persons were becoming blood-guilty. We have no reason to think that he did not experience the pain and shock of being put to death in this crude fashion. But even in the midst of his agony, he was able to rise above his human limitations. Stephen’s vision of heaven and the Son of God standing at the Father’s right hand enabled him to transcend the fear of death. With such a vision we, too, can conquer evil with the good. We must be able to separate the evil actions from the persons who commit them. Once an evil act has been committed it cannot be altered, but people can change. Saul stood by and approved of Stephen’s death. Later he became the Apostle Paul. Being able to distinguish people from their actions will help us to continue loving them. It is not wrong to hate the bad that men may do. However to continue loving the person whose conduct we hate is called “the love of benevolence.” His wicked conduct would never justify our returning evil for evil, but that would not prevent us from exposing the evil for what it is.

Paul wrote that our warfare is not against humans but against forces beyond the realm of man and earth. (Eph. 6:12) Our quest involves spiritual warfare. The weapons at our disposal are: ffuth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, God’s Word and prayer. (Eph. 6:13-18) It takes spiritual strength to fulfill the law of Christ. We must keep in mind that ungodly men and events are only pawns in the hands of wicked spirit forces. And what is the design of these wicked forces? It is to destroy our sonship with God and our brotherhood with Christ by getting us to think, speak and act in god-dishonoring ways – ways that deny the spirit of Christ. In all that we do we need to be mindful of the effect it has on our relationship with God, Christ and our brothers.

Events and circumstances have a way of testing our spirituality.

In our Christian fellowship there will arise situations that will test it. In our dealings with our neighbor and the world it will be tested. Our own attitudes may be the biggest test of all. Are we sectarian in our spirit? Do we tend to think less of people who may not agree with us on certain scriptural matters? Do we find ourselves critical of some whose lifestyle we do not approve of? We may justify our anger towards someone and think him unworthy of our affection. Most often the enemy is present within our own thinking process and not outside in the world. Learning to reflect on the head of the body, Jesus Christ, will help us keep matters in perspective. We need to continually ask ourselves: what would the Lord do? What would he say? How would he view this? In order to rightly answer these questions we need to know him – understand his heart and mind!

This is the great challenge facing believers. The Christian journey is a quest for the spirit of Christ. It is a quest that must consume us always. Only in this way can we be both the “salt” and the “light” that we are called to be. From the human standpoint it is an impossible quest, but from God’s standpoint it is possible with his spirit. We need to avoid distractions.

In our walk of faith we fellowship with other brothers and sisters to share our faith, hope and love. In our meditations we formulate views of God and life that we might call our belief system – our pattern of understanding of spiritual matters. This is necessary and right, but care must be taken that we keep our belief system in proper perspective. Others, even in our immediate fellowship, may not see certain things as we do. Others outside our fellowship may disagree greatly with our views on a number of important issues. How we react to these things will test our spirituality. Differences need not divide our love for one another unless we permit it to. In this respect we can be accepting even if we are not approving. There is a time and a place for discussions that come to grips with views we may feel inappropriate and do not square either with revealed truth or historical reality. When this happens we need to express ourselves kindly, respectfully and directly. We need to hold a good conscience in these matters but guard against setting ourselves up as judges. We are not responsible for what others believe, nor are we called upon to pass judgment on them. One is not saved by his theology. He is saved by his relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

It is not sufficient simply to know and discuss what the love of God and neighbor means. All of it is only theory until it is put into practice. Much oratory and writing has been done about these matters. This treatise is but one example of that. It is easy to expound about God’s love, but that does not mean that it is working in our lives. It can happen, and has happened, that talking about loving God and neighbor becomes a substitute for putting it into practice. Above all things we must put into practice the things we hear from him. He speaks to us through the Scriptures and in our very hearts. He will make his residence with us if we permit him in the sanctuary of our hearts and minds.

God’s spirit and the spirit of Christ are one and the same. There are not two spirits. Nor is God’s spirit and the spirit of Christ merely an active force. In the natural world there are a number of active forces such as wind and electricity. These invisible forces produce observable effects. Wind can drive a ship through the seas and electricity can energize a multitude of human creations. But these active forces are impersonal. They have no moral sense. The same electrical current that energizes your dishwasher can also electrocute you. The same wind that turns a windmill can also blow your house down and kill your children as it did with Job. (Job 1:18, 19) These blind, impersonal and unfeeling forces do not provide suitable illustrations for the function of the holy spirit. The holy spirit is God’s living presence within us – his essence. This divine essence has transforming power to cause us to both will and to act in accordance with the spirit of Christ: “Not in your own strength, for it is God who is all the will effectually at work in you energizing and creating in you the power and desire – both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.” (Philippians 2: 13 The Amplified New Testament)

Having the spirit of Christ does not leave us inactive. There must be a wedding or bonding of God’s spirit with our own spirit. The spirit of Christ impels us, but it does not compel us. That is, it is not irresistible. We can resist God’s spirit and frustrate its intent. The opposing natures of flesh and spirit will always result in a hostile struggle between the two. We must learn to distinguish between them and yield to God’s living presence – his very being within us. Only by so doing will we be empowered to do the divine will: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21 NIV) “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundations on the rock.” (Matthew

The “Rock” in the above verses represents a willing performance of those things we hear from the Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks to us through the Scriptures as well as his spirit in our hearts. He will make his dwelling within us to cause us both to will and to act. We need to broaden out in our affections. Our vision must include the heavenly scene envisioned by Stephen. We can be a neighbor to our fellow men only if we make ourselves a neighbor! This was beautifully illustrated for us by the Lord in his discussion of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:25-37) We, too, can “go and do likewise.’ It is not profoundly difficult to understand that we are called upon to “do to others what you would have them do to you” as this “sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7: 12) It is not that Christ’s ethical teachings are so difficult to understand that presents the problem. The problem rests in the fact that they are impossible to perform without the spirit of Christ. We must not only pray for that spirit, but we must be willing to yield to it – to allow it to dominate and overpower the human egos that stand in defiance of the divine will.

We need not be dismayed over the realization that we often fail to be what Christ would have us be. Trusting in Christ’s power to save us will prevent us from surrendering to the flaws in our character.

We will never be a willing servant of sin, even when we stumble; and we will always repudiate sin in our spirit. Our preoccupation our quest – will always be to please God and live as Christ would have us live in this world. If we do this we will have neither time nor interest to evaluate our brother’s progress in these matters. We will not be tempted to remove a “splinter from his eye”. As a family of believers we need to put up with others in love, always remembering that they must put up with us as well. The Father and the Son watch the measure with which we measure others. When we develop a judgmental attitude towards others, we unwittingly expose ourselves to a similar critical evaluation from them. (Matthew 7: 1,2)

There have been many religious leaders – past and present that have tried to create organizations, doctrinal schemes and practices which they have claimed are representative of the “narrow way that leads to life.” (Matthew 7:13, 14) Their ideas have promoted structured religious systems in which only the initiated are said to be worthy of salvation. Yet such actions are as futile as they are scripturally unsound. Only the person of the Christ stands forever as “the Way, The Truth, and the Life.” (John 14:6) As the ancient Israelites had to look to the image of the serpent in the wilderness in order to be healed, so must we look to the resurrected Christ for spiritual healing. The focus must always be on him.

All that we do in a religious way must be done in relation to Christ. If we fellowship with other members of the body of Christ with his mind and spirit, we will both benefit others and be benefited ourselves. If we approach our study of God’s written Word with Christ in view, we will benefit from that as well. If we bear witness to Christ by manifesting his spirit, then, and then only, will we fulfill the commission to be both “salt” and “light” in this age. If, in the love of God, we prove ourselves true neighbors to our fellow men by loving them as we love ourselves, then we will have fulfilled the essence of the Law.

Understandably the Christian quest remains open-ended. A spiritual battle won does not mean the war has been won, nor does a defeat in a contest mean that the war has been lost. We can find solace in Paul’s evaluation of his own situation as outlined in Romans chapter 7. Having to carry about the deadened human ego and its practices does not mean that we stand condemned by God. To the contrary, we have been redeemed from that condemnation! It is this knowledge that ought to move us forward with confidence. There can be no greater challenge – no grander quest: “Therefore there is no condemnation – adjudging guilty of wrong – for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being], has freed me from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8: 1,2 Amplified Bible)