Let us consider the truth of the indwelling of the Spirit, which is one of the characteristics of the Spirit’s presence and work during the present Church age. In this indwelling of the Spirit lies all the possibility for practical sanctification.

There is a passage in the Old Testament that is beautifully typical of this sanctification by the Spirit’s indwelling:"This shall be a continual burnt offering … at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory" (Exod. 29:42,43). We know that the cloud or Shekinah, the visible emblem of the presence of God, led the children of Israel through the desert, and after the tabernacle was erected, it descended and filled the sanctuary. The tabernacle was sanctified, set apart for the service of God, by this glory. Everything that was inconsistent with that glory was put out, and the whole house was ordered according to the requirements of the holiness of God. Thus the believer, as temple of the Holy Spirit, is sanctified by that presence. He is marked out as belonging to God, and everything inconsistent with His holy will should find no place in the heart or life.

We shall look at four features that characterize the indwelling of the Spirit:(1) The permanency of it, (2) the enlightenment of it, (3) the liberty of it, and (4) the refreshment of it.

The Permanency of the Indwelling

"I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever:even the Spirit of truth" (John 14:16,17). We note in this verse the permanence of the indwelling:"He [shall] abide with you forever." All is stability and permanence in the present era, for all is based upon a finished redemption and Christ taking His place on high. The law must be set aside, for it was "weak through the flesh." Its ceremonies were but shadows of good things to come. Man in the flesh was under trial in the sense that he had not been judicially pronounced worthless.

But when Christ died, He not only provided a perfect atonement, but by His death, sentence was pronounced upon the whole human race. Sin in the flesh was condemned; our old man was crucified with Him, and its worthlessness declared. Now, "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). I do not touch the fact of the presence of the old nature, and the deeds of the body to be mortified; but there is a new man who has eternal life. Everything here is of God, and the Spirit will have no occasion to leave for there are no conditions upon which He remains, save the fact of accomplished redemption.

Did you ever think of the awful dishonor done not only to the Spirit of God but to Christ by the denial of the perpetuity of this abiding? If the Spirit could leave after having taken up His abode in us, it would involve a denial of the work of Christ. His work would have ceased to avail before God. It would drag Christ from His throne in glory if the Spirit could depart from a believer.

It cannot be too clearly stated that this indwelling is not because of anything in us, either at the beginning, or at any stage of the Christian life. From first to last, the Spirit dwells with us because of the unchanging value of the work of Christ. Cease forever to dishonor the value of that work by doubting the presence of this Holy Person.

What holy ground we are upon here! If Solomon could ask the wondering question, "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" when His visible glory filled the temple (2 Chr. 5:14; 6:18), what shall we say when the living God in the person of the Holy Spirit comes to abide in us? My brethren, I am persuaded we little realize what this means. If we did, what lowliness would mark us; what abhorrence of sin, what quickness in the fear of the Lord and the detection of the most subtle forms of evil, what reverence! Who can describe the sanctifying effect of simply a deep realization of the stupendous fact. I can but speak of it, and pray that all of us may know practically what the consciousness of this abiding would bring.

The Enlightenment of the Indwelling

"When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of [or from] Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you" (John 16:13,14). This scripture teaches us the character of this indwelling of the Spirit, how He operates. Notice particularly that He works by the truth. He guides into all truth, even as our Lord prayed, "Sanctify them through Thy truth:Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17). Spiritual intelligence is the very cornerstone of piety. The Word of God_the Scripture of the Old and New Testaments_is the vehicle of the Holy Spirit, the instrument which He uses. The spiritual condition of a person may largely be gauged by his estimation of the Word of God. If that be neglected, or thought lightly of, no matter how ecstatic the feelings, how deep apparently the piety, there is not much true work of the Spirit of God. What a fulness there is in the Word of God! Let us not be slothful in making it our own, under the guiding energy of the Spirit of truth.

The Liberty of the Indwelling

"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2). Here we have the emancipating power of the indwelling Spirit. The sixth and seventh chapters of Romans develop the truth that emancipates. The cross is the end of me judicially:"Our old man is crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. 6:6). Thus we are dead to sin in the death of Christ, and are to reckon ourselves so, and alive unto God in Christ Jesus. God has put the stamp of death upon me as part of the old creation so that faith can now say, "I am crucified with Christ:nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20). But this death puts me out of the reach of law, not only as that which condemns, but as a rule for man in the flesh.

In the seventh chapter we find that so long as the soul seeking holiness turns to the law, it finds the bonds of sin drawn tighter, for "the strength of sin is the law" (1 Cor. 15:56). The law cannot afford help; sin, by the commandment, becomes exceeding sinful, but there can come no help from the knowledge of this. The two natures are recognized, and two laws, but still no deliverance. Thus, "Oh, wretched man that I am!" is the bitter cry.

But in the beginning of the eighth chapter we see the way of escape, that the life in Christ Jesus is a life of liberty. Instead of the law we have the Spirit, and all through this chapter the Spirit is prominent. Thus we have deliverance by the Spirit. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17).

The Refreshment of the Indwelling

"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:13,14). In this interview with the woman of Samaria, our Lord used the water as a type of the Spirit, as that which ministers life and refreshing. "We have been made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:13). In referring to the well of Samaria the Lord stated, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." On every fountain of man’s digging we may write these words. No matter where man turns for refreshment, he fails to find that which can truly quench thirst. Pleasure, reputation, power, wealth_whatever the heart of man craves_can never satisfy. As in the Book of Ecclesiastes, those who have most diligently drawn water out of these wells have been constrained to confess, "Vanity of vanities." Let us as Christians take note of this and refuse that which does not satisfy even the world.

You remember that shortly after Israel’s emancipation from Egypt, when scarcely had the echoes of the song of triumph died out, they had to face the question of thirst. There was no water in the desert; so they murmured and began to learn something of the trials by the way. At Rephidim the rock was smitten and the waters flowed out (Exod 17). We are told in the New Testament that typically, "That Rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:4). Christ, smitten of God for our sins, sent forth the Holy Spirit for our refreshment. The Rock smitten insures safety and the abundant supply for all our needs in the wilderness through the Holy Spirit.

To the woman of Samaria, seeking satisfaction in the pleasures of sin and the world, the Lord promised not only the gift of a draught of water, but a well springing up evermore. As in new birth we have the bestowal of life by the Spirit, so here we have Him dwelling in us, maintaining and developing the life.

In Psa. 110 it is said of our Lord, "Thou hast the dew of Thy youth." His vigor and freshness are perennial, eternal. To Ephesus it was said, "Thou hast left thy first love" (Rev. 2:4). They had lost the freshness that marked the early stages of the divine life in the soul. Of how many, beloved brethren, must this be said! No outward fall has marred their testimony; they are above reproach, and in many ways commendably zealous; but there is no "dew." Truth has taken clear form, doctrines can be distinctly stated, a keen scent for error is present; but Oh, where is that freshness which ever marked our adorable Lord?

As in Isaac’s day the Philistines choked the wells which his father Abraham had dug, so now formalism chokes the upspringing of the Spirit, and we lose the refreshment the blessed Spirit of God would ever give. The Spirit is in us, just as the water is in the wells, but the stones prevent our getting at it for practical uses. There is nothing for us but to return to the first love, to dig again, to open up again the channels for the welling up of the Spirit. God does not give His Spirit by measure, and if we are straitened, it is in ourselves.

Thus we have looked at four features which characterize the indwelling of the Spirit:(1) The permanency of it_"He shall abide with you forever"; (2) the enlightenment of it_"He shall guide you into all truth"; (3) the liberty of it_"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death"; and (4) "the refreshment of it_"A well of water springing up unto everlasting life." Surely, with such abounding fulness, our sanctification should be deep and full and complete.

(From The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.)

Let us briefly consider a few of the New Testament references to the believer being filled with the Spirit. There are at least three effects of this filling:we have filling for service, filling for joy and praise, and filling for testimony.

Filling for Service

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness" (Luke 4:1). It is not ordinarily remembered that our blessed Lord was filled with the Spirit for service, just as His people are to be. The life of our blessed Lord was of perfect dependence; He did not use His divine prerogatives directly, but did all by the Spirit of God who filled Him. Thus we read how "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, Who went about doing good" (Acts 10:38). Thus our blessed Lord was filled with the Spirit for service.

We find in Stephen another example of one filled with the Spirit for service:"Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business . . . and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 6:3,5). At the close of his brief career, we are again told that Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost. While the stones were crushing the life out of his body, "He, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55). Thus we find linked together in Stephen the lowliest service and the highest glories. He was filled with the Spirit for attending to the needs of the widows, and he was full of the Spirit as he gazed upon Jesus in glory. Well do we know it was all one in the eyes of our blessed Master who said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (Matt. 25:40).

Filling for Joy and Praise

"And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 13:52). The connection here is of much interest. The disciples, after faithfully preaching the gospel at Antioch, had been expelled from the city. This is what the servant of Christ may expect, according to his Master’s word. But what was the effect of this persecution upon the minds of these devoted servants? Were they depressed and discouraged? No! "They were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost."

The word "filled" in the preceding reference expresses the thought of a habitual state, but capable of particular manifestation as occasion required. The same is seen in the following scripture:"Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Eph. 5:18,19). Without question we have here a warning against actual drunkenness; but I am sure you will agree with me that far more than that is suggested. Wine is that which exhilarates the natural man. It is a stimulant. It is also a type of joy. Here then we are warned against mere earthly joy, anything that merely exhilarates the natural man. How often is there the mere exhilaration of nature in the professed worship of God. How often is feeling, excitement, or fleshly energy made to take the place of the Holy Spirit. It seems that this is the intent of the passage. They were to sing and make melody in their hearts to the Lord. Filled with the Spirit there would be neither room nor need for the empty frivolities of nature; the joy of the Lord would eclipse it all.

Filling for Testimony

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4). The promised time had come and the Spirit had been poured out. His presence was visible and audible, though more yet, it was personal and abiding. It is significant that the form in which the Spirit appeared in coming upon the disciples and upon our Lord was entirely different. Upon Him He came as a dove; upon the disciples, as a tongue of fire upon each one. The reason is simple and beautiful.

The dove in Scripture is the bird of sacrifice. In the burnt offering particularly it was used. Further it was the bird of love and of sorrow. Our blessed Lord was taking His place publicly as the sacrifice. He was, we may say, at His baptism offering Himself to God. What more fitting than that the eternal Spirit through whom that offering was to be exhibited, should come upon Him in the form which set forth the sacrifice, the love which led Him to it, and the sorrow over the sins of men which made it necessary.

With the disciples it was different. The service to which they were called was chiefly testimony, and so, most fittingly, the Spirit of truth came upon them as a tongue. The fire speaks of the holiness of God in judgment, and you will remember the Spirit’s work in conviction included judgment (John 16:8,11). But the beautiful part of it is that if men bow now to the judgment of God and accept His salvation, they will be saved from judgment to come.

Thus this filling with the Spirit was directly connected with the testimony which they all began immediately to give in the various languages of those who were assembled. The wonder of it was that untutored men, heretofore ignorant of the languages, should be able to declare in them "the wonderful works of God."

Later on, when the apostles faced much opposition to the preaching of the gospel, they prayed, "Lord . . . grant unto Thy servants that with all boldness they may speak Thy Word. . . . And when they had prayed . . . they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:29,31). Notice that they did not pray to be filled with the Spirit; they prayed that they might speak the word of God with all boldness. We never find the disciples waiting for an enduement of the Spirit after Pentecost. They had the Spirit; He dwelt in them; they were full of the Spirit, so to speak, and needed but to realize the necessity constantly for the power of God. Then, as the occasion arose, the Spirit took possession of them and used them as the instruments of His mighty energy.

What It Means to Be Filled with the Spirit

God fills everything; He is omnipresent. So is the Holy Spirit. When we speak of Christ filling all things, we think simply that His glory, honor, and power are to be everywhere manifest. Thus, when we speak of being filled with the Holy Spirit, we simply mean that He has complete, entire control of our whole being. He occupies the entire man.

The Holy Spirit has taken up His abode with us forever, not only as a guest, but as sovereign ruler and guide. And yet, with what divine tenderness and gentleness does He dwell in us! He allows us to treat Him as a guest_yes, as we would treat no other guest. He permits us to thrust Him out of the way, perhaps, or at any rate, to exclude Him from the everyday part of our lives. However, a sense of the blessedness of His presence, of His help where we have yielded up to Him, and above all, His own power working through these means and making us realize our helplessness, compel us at last, step by step, to give Him His place in all things. Thus He fills us. May we give place to the Spirit, allowing Him to be ungrieved, unchecked in his complete administration of our entire life.

(From The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.)

When we consider the teaching of Scripture that the believer in Christ is sealed by the Spirit, it is well to notice first of all that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself was thus sealed:"Labor . . . for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for Him hath God the Father sealed" (John 6:27). This is the chapter in which Jesus speaks of Himself as the "Bread of God," "the Living Bread," and "the True Bread from heaven." This life-giving Bread came forth and was presented to men, as sealed by the Father, that they might eat and live forever. The sealing of the Son of Man was the Father owning Him as His well-beloved One, and declaring His delight in Him.

I heard an illustration recently that is relevant. Often today we find bread offered for sale with the maker’s name, or some trade name, either put upon it by a label or literally baked into it. The bread is sealed with the name of the baker. He practically says, "This bread is good. I put my name upon it, for I stand back of it in every particular." So has God the Father sealed the Bread from heaven. He acknowledged and approved His blessed Son in everything.

It is wonderful to learn from Scripture that the same Spirit who sealed the Saviour seals all who are saved by Him. In Eph. 1:13 the apostle addresses those who "trusted in Christ … in Whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." In J. N. Darby’s version it is even clearer:"In whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed." How soul-assuring is this! Sealing is not a question of experience. It is a precious fact to be accepted on the authority of the Word of God. When you believed the gospel, dear saved one, you were sealed by the Spirit. God the Father put His stamp upon you, so to speak. He did this by giving you the Spirit to dwell in you_He who dwells in us is the seal.

In the same Epistle we read:"Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). Does it say, "Sealed as long as you are faithful?" No, indeed, for if so, who could be sure of it from one day to another? Does it say, "Lest you grieve Him away?" No, not that either, for He is come to abide with and in us. We are sealed till "the day of redemption," that is, the day of Christ’s return when the redemption of our bodies will take place. Until that blessed consummation He never leaves the believer, neither in life nor in death.

I love to think of Him keeping guard over the very bodies of those who sleep in Jesus. The holy dead are not alone. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Psa. 116:15). He never loses sight of one of them, and when the Lord returns He will give them resurrection life and escort them to the meeting place in the air.

But we must not overlook the admonition, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit." How may we grieve Him? By disobeying the Word. By indulging in any of the things mentioned in the preceding verses. Falsehood of the lips, dishonest practices, corrupt speech, bitterness, anger, clamor, railing, and malice_all these grieve the Spirit and hinder His ministry of grace in the life of the believer. To walk in the Spirit is to walk as before God, in lowliness and meekness, in purity and self-judgment, obeying the written Word, and thus doing His will from the heart. He who so walks does not grieve this holy, heavenly Guest, who has sealed us until the day of our triumph over death, when our descending Lord shall change our bodies of humiliation, making them like the body of His glory.

(From The Mission of the Holy Spirit.)

"In the power of one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body . . . and have all been given to drink of one Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:13 JND). On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit took up 120 individual believers in Christ and baptized them into one body, thus forming the Church of the new dispensation. By this act He established the believers into Christ, making them one body with their glorified Head and linking them one with another in a union as close as members in the human body. The baptism of the Spirit is therefore collective. It is not something to be sought or prayed for, nor tarried for, since the body has already been formed.

In the four Gospels and the first chapter of Acts the baptism of the Spirit was yet future. In Acts 2 the promise was fulfilled. In 1 Cor. 12:13 we have the only reference to the Spirit’s baptism after Acts 11. It is a doctrinal statement to be believed, not an exhortation to seek after an experience.

Four times, as related in the Acts, special supernatural manifestations accompanied the reception of the Spirit as various companies were incorporated into the body of Christ. In chapter 2 all were Jews. In chapter 8 the same blessing came upon regenerated Samaritans, adding them to the body of Christ. In chapter 10 the nucleus of Gentiles was baptized into the same body. And in chapter 19 a remnant of John’s disciples were brought in. There was a special miraculous endowment in each instance to confirm the souls of the saints and to make known the truth that all distinctions were done away in Christ, and that there is but "one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling" (Eph. 4:4).

What grace on God’s part to give this fourfold testimony in the beginning! But what folly for Christians now to expect a duplication of these initiatory manifestations. The body is formed; all believers have their part in it. And as each individual is born of the Spirit, he or she receives Him as the indwelling Guest and is thus brought into the good of the Spirit’s baptism.

If some scriptures seem to indicate that the baptism of the Spirit is a blessing to be received subsequent to conversion, it is well to examine them carefully, noting the context, and asking, "Was this spoken before or after Pentecost?" The difference is immense, for a new dispensation began when the Holy Spirit descended to indwell the believer.

Let me mention several such passages and seek to help you to place them. Jesus said, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him" (Luke 11:13). Many take this as their authority for seeking the gift of the Spirit by prayer. But this was spoken by our Saviour before the cross. The Father gave the Spirit at Pentecost; He does not now wait for us to ask Him to do so again, for the wondrous gift once given abides in the Church and indwells every believer, having baptized all into one body, as we have seen.

What of the words, "He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (John 14:17)? Does it not imply that some are only born of the Spirit, and others indwelt? When did Jesus so speak_before or after Pentecost? Before! In this passage the Lord contrasts the two dispensations. The Spirit was with believers before the cross; He is in them now. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Rom. 8:9).

But did not our Lord command His disciples to tarry till endued with power from on high? He did, and He particularly indicated where they were to tarry_"in Jerusalem." No other place would do, for there the Spirit came, just as the Son came to Bethlehem.

A gentleman said to me recently, "I have just come from a great tarrying meeting. Hundreds have been tarrying for many days at San Jose, California, waiting for the Holy Ghost." I asked, "What authority did you have for that?" He replied, "Why, Jesus said, ‘Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.’ " "Well, my friend," I inquired, "are you not confounding locations and time? You are over 10,000 miles too far away and over 1,800 years too late."

The disciples were commanded to tarry at Jerusalem, and as they waited there, like a rushing, mighty wind He came, sent from the Father and the Son to form the body of Christ, and to endue with power the waiting disciples that they might bear testimony concerning the risen Christ to those of many nations and languages gathered at Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Pentecost.

Let me not be misunderstood. I am not insinuating that it is a vain thing for any believer or company of believers to wait on God for power to overcome the enemy or to preach the gospel or to serve the Lord in any other way. It is always well to be thus before Him. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isa. 40:31). This is true in all dispensations. But we wait, not for Him to send the Spirit, for He is already here, and by His baptism we have all been joined to the body. We need, however, to wait on God to show us any hindrance in our lives that may be restraining His working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. As we judge ourselves, and learn from our past failures to walk humbly and in self-distrust, we make room for the Holy Spirit to fill us with divine power, and to use us for the glory of God and the blessing of a needy world.

To tarry for the baptism of the Spirit is to evidence ignorance of God’s dispensational ways. Remember, the only place where the baptism is mentioned in the Epistles of the New Testament is this one verse, 1 Cor. 12:13; and here it is distinctly spoken of as a past event. All who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ have been brought into the good and blessing of that baptism.

(From The Mission of the Holy Spirit.)

Before beginning our discussion of the seventh commandment, let us review the principles laid down in the introduction to this series concerning the role of the Ten Commandments in the life of the Christian. We who have put our trust in the finished work of Christ for salvation "are not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:15). This means not only that we do not strive to be saved by the deeds of the law (Rom. 3:20), but also that we who are saved do not try to use the law as a means of achieving holiness or perfection. If the focus of our Christian lives is the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount or any other set of rules or commandments, we will fail to achieve God’s standard of holiness for two reasons:(1) There is no power for right living to be found in sets of rules (Rom. 7:8-11), and (2) all such sets of rules_even though derived from Scripture itself_fall far short in showing the way to the absolute sinless perfection that is found in Christ. The Christian’s rule of life_that which should be our all-consuming desire_is to "win Christ"(Phil.3:8);to "know Him and the power of His resurrection" (3:10); to "follow after" Christ and "press toward the mark" (3:12,14); "to walk, even as He walked" (1 John 2:6); to set our "affection on things above" (Col. 3:2); to be "followers [or imitators] of God" (Eph. 5:1). When we have Christ as our object, and are walking according to the Spirit, "the righteousness of the law [will] be fulfilled in us" (Rom. 8:4), The standard of holiness that is found in Christ Himself is much, much higher than the law. The best one could possibly do whose rule of life is the Ten Commandments is to keep from violating these commandments. But if Christ is our life, if "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made [us]free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2), then not only will the righteousness of the law be fulfilled in us (8:4), but we will manifest the fruit of the Spirit_"love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal. 5:22,23)_as well, which go far beyond the deeds of the law.

Thus, the power and motivation for living a holy life comes from having our eyes of faith, our hearts, our minds fixed on Christ who lived here on earth as our pattern and example (Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Pet. 2:21-23), died as our substitute (1 Pet. 3:18), was raised as our justifier (Rom. 4:25), lives now in heaven as our merciful high priest (Heb. 4:14-16), and is coming for us as our bridegroom (Matt. 25:6; Rev. 19:7,8). However, the basic principles and instructions for that holy life are found in the Scriptures, including the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and the many precepts found in the New Testament Epistles. It would be folly to think that one could become a great composer simply by listening to recordings of works by other great composers and not ever learning how to read music or the basic principles of melody, harmony, rhythm, and dynamics. Just so, it would be folly for a believer to think that he could live a holy life simply by trying to think about God and meditate upon the person and work of Christ while remaining totally ignorant of the instruction for right behavior and holy living given in God’s Word.

The more we become aware of God’s instructions for us through our study of the Scriptures, the more easily the indwelling Holy Spirit can witness to our spirits as to areas in our lives that are not yet conformed to the image of Christ. Therefore, the purpose of this series of articles is to help increase the awareness of our readers of the instruction given in the Word concerning various areas of behavior toward God and toward our fellow man. Many of these instructions fit into the outline provided by the so-called "Ten Commandments" (Deut. 4:13). Thus, in these articles we are following the basic outline provided by the Ten Commandments and then bringing in additional scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments that build upon, amplify, and illustrate the basic theme.

The seventh commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exod. 20:14), like the others, seems very simple and straightforward on the surface, but is found, when other scriptures are brought in, to have many ramifications. This commandment basically is directed toward those who are living with or behaving toward one of the opposite sex as if they were married, when that is not so. If this is the case with one who is married to another, it is termed "adultery." The term "fornication" is more commonly used in Scripture if it involves those who are not married; also "fornication" is often used in the New Testament as a more general term that includes both married and unmarried persons who commit sexual sin.

Warnings against adultery or fornication are frequent in the New Testament:

"Be not deceived:neither fornicators, . . . nor adulterers, . . . shall inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9,10).

"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body" (1 Cor. 6:18).

"To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband" (1 Cor. 7:2).

"But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints" (Eph. 5:3).

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth:fornication, uncleanness, . . ." (Col. 3:5).

"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication" (1 Thess. 4:3).

"Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but [fornicators] and adulterers God will judge" (Heb. 13:4).

For additional examples, see Acts 15:20,29; 21:25; Rom. 13:9; 1 Cor. 5; 1 Cor. 10:8; 2 Cor. 12:21; Gal. 5:19; Jas. 2:11.

Under the Old Testament law, the punishment for committing adultery was death:"The man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, … the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. And the man that lieth with his father’s wife, . . . both of them shall surely be put to death" (Lev. 20:10-12).

While the death sentence was not always carried out for cases of adultery, King Solomon pointed out the particular reproach connected with this sin:"Men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry. . . . But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding; he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and a dishonor shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away" (Prov. 6:30-33).

In the New Testament, for the believer in Christ, the death penalty for adultery is replaced by discipline carried out upon the sinner by the members of the local assembly of believers. In 1 Cor. 5 we read of a man in the assembly of believers at Corinth who was committing fornication with his father’s wife. The assembly was enjoined by the apostle Paul "to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus," or in other words, "Put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (1 Cor. 5:5,13). The purpose and goal of such disciplinary action was to help the sinner realize how much he had been dishonoring God and behaving like an unbeliever and thus, it was hoped, result in his restoration of communion with the Lord and thence his restoration to the assembly. In the case of the man of Corinth, such restoration did occur, praise God, as we find recorded in chapters 2 and 7 of 2 Corinthians.

In the present day and age, when a great many moral values are being discarded as out of date, it is common among some people to experiment with sex. The public has been hoodwinked by television, movies, magazines, newspapers, and novels into believing that premarital sexual experimentation is the normal thing to do_and thus, by implication, the right thing to do. It has become such a common thing that even young believers in Christ are sometimes surprised to find that the Bible forbids it. And even if some are able to resist the pressures and temptations to engage in sexual activity within casual relationships and friendships, they may not be prepared to resist the additional temptations present while "going steady" or while preparing for marriage during an engagement period. It may even be argued by some, "What harm can it do? We are planning to get married anyway." In addition to the many scriptures already referred to forbidding fornication, we note in Deut. 22:13-21 that it was expected of young women that they should enter into the marriage relationship as virgins. (And we can be sure that the intent of Scripture is that the young men should enter into marriage as virgins as well.)

Mary could never have been chosen as the mother of the Messiah if she had been influenced by the thinking that characterizes the world today_and is influencing many Christians as well_that if two people are in love or engaged to be married, then any degree of physical demonstration of their love is acceptable. God honored Mary’s purity and He will honor all young men and women who wish to please Him by remaining virgins until marriage by helping them to achieve truly happy marriages.

As a further scriptural evidence against premarital sexual activity, consider the apostle Paul’s words to the church at Corinth:"I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. 11:2). Marriage is a type of the union between Christ and His Church (Eph. 5). This "Church age" is actually the Church’s engagement period; the marriage ceremony will not take place until after Christ comes to raise up the Church to Himself in the "rapture" (1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 19:7). Just as the Church is to be presented as a chaste virgin to Christ, our Bridegroom, so it is beautiful and pleasing to God when a Christian couple enters into marriage as virgins.

This topic will be continued, Lord willing, in the next couple of issues with a consideration of committing adultery in one’s heart, divorce, homosexuality, and, on a more positive note, elements of a happy marriage.