Life Under Grace: A Spiritual Life

The spiritual life (spirituality) of the believer is the focus of this age of grace. The life under grace functioned and operated through living and walking by the Spirit and not after the flesh (Romans 8:4, 12-13; Gal. 5:16, 18, 25). Thus, spirituality is of utmost importance in the believer’s life under grace. The believer under grace could never attained true victory in his Christian life by the ability of the flesh. It is truly of utter impossibility to live a true Christian life apart from leading and help of the Spirit of God.

So the key of Life under grace is spirituality. And the first step to spirituality is having the Spirit of God and a new nature (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10).

“He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man” (I Cor. 2:15).

The truly spiritual man is so far above the wisest man of this world, yes, so far above the mass of Christians with whom he comes into contact, that he can understand them, but they can never quite understand him.

Scriptural Meaning of Spirituality

What is meant by such terms as “he that is spiritual” (I Cor. 2:15) and “ye which are spiritual” (Gal. 6:1) in the Scriptures? What is true spirituality in the Bible sense of the word?

In proceeding to answer this question we must first observe that true spirituality does not consist merely in the domination of a man’s life by his spirit, rather than by his soul or his body, for with the entrance of sin man’s whole being was “alienated from the life of God” (Eph. 4:17-19) and he became, spirit, soul and body, a fallen creature. Moreover, as we have seen, man’s perverted soul now, rather than being the seat of simple self-consciousness, became that of self-importance, self-interest, and self-exalting. And this had a devastating effect upon his spirit, setting the whole inner man at enmity against God (Rom. 8:7; Col. 1:21).

An examination of the Bible usage of the word “spirit” will soon disprove the notion that the quality of spirit is in itself necessarily good. Again and again we read in the Scriptures of “unclean” and “evil” spirits (Mark 1:23; Luke 7:21, etc.). In I Peter 3:19, 20 we read of “spirits in prison,” who were cast there for their disobedience to God in the days of Noah. Satan himself is, as we know, “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2) and believers are explicitly warned that their warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12). Indeed, the fact that we are called upon to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of “the flesh and spirit“ (II Cor. 7:1), and that some do seek to be “holy both in body and in spirit” (I Cor. 7:34) indicates clearly that man’s spirit did not remain undefiled in the fall.

Hence it is not enough that our lives be dominated by our spirits. The whole man, spirit, soul and body, must be dominated by the Spirit of God.

That Scriptural spirituality has to do with the work of the Spirit of God in the believer, is clear from I Corinthians 2:11, where the Apostle Paul points out that just as no one could understand “the things of a man” if it were not for “the spirit of man which is in him,” so no one can understand “the things of God” except by “the Spirit of God.”

FORMS OF PSEUDO-SPIRITUALITY (what spirituality is not)

In addition to sincere, though vain, attempts by the unsaved to improve the old nature, there are various forms of pseudo-spirituality which many, even among God’s people, have mistaken for the real thing, supposing that they show a working of the Spirit of God within.

Pure emotionalism is taken for spirituality – Natural emotional reactions to touching stories, impassioned appeals or beautiful sacred music is thought to be the working of the Spirit within, and those who react readily to these things are thought to be quite spiritual.

Solemnity is taken for spirituality – They feel that true believers should be always grave and so they go about with bowed head, a long face and a generally sober bearing or, perhaps, try to affect deeper spirituality by so doing, while others—who do not know them well—remark on their piety.

Cheerfulness for spirituality – Look upon those who are quickest to shout “praise the Lord,” or who seem always happy, as being most spiritual.

Ceremonialism is confused with spirituality – Observing a “sacrament,” gazing at a “sacred” picture or statue, kneeling at an altar; such things may be, and often are, mistaken for spirituality.

Superstition, which plays so largely upon the imagination – A young man seeks to determine the Lord’s will for his life by flipping his Bible open and letting his finger alight at random upon some passage which is supposed to indicate the leading of the Lord. A housewife seeks guidance for the day by taking a promise at random from a “promise box”—a promise which may not at all apply to her and which she will have to “spiritualize” in some way to make it fit. Another says: “I talked with the Lord about it and He said….” Often the most unscriptural practices or courses of action are justified in this way. When people tell us this we generally inquire further into the matter.

Spiritual Gifts is confused with spirituality.

Let us not be misunderstood. We do not say that emotional reactions or sincere solemnity or cheerfulness are wrong. We simply say that they should not be confused with true spirituality. The unsaved can experience similar emotional reactions to those which are felt by the saved. The unsaved too may be cheerful or grave. Certainly ceremonialism and superstition have a large place among the unsaved. Yet the unsaved, whatever their emotional experiences, however solemn or cheerful, however given over to ceremonialism or superstition, are far from spiritual.

A True Spiritual Life

A true spiritual life is the manifestation of the Spirit in and through the one whom He fills.

True spirituality does not consist in what one does not do; it is rather what one does.
It is not suppression; it is expression.
It is not holding in self; it is living out Christ.
It is not a “Thou shall not”; it is “Thou shalt.”
Spirituality is not gained by struggling; it is to be claimed.
It is not imitation of a heavenly character; it is the impartation of God’s power which alone can realize the ideal.

That Scriptural spirituality has to do with the work of the Spirit of God in the believer.

Spiritual men in the Bible are:

Those who possess “the Spirit which is of God” (I Cor. 2:12)
Those who appreciate and respond to “the things of the Spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:14)
Those who are “led by the Spirit of God” (Rom. 8:14) and thus
Those who are “filled with Spirit” (Eph. 5:18)
Those who bear “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22).
Those who are “spiritually minded” (Rom. 8:6)
Those who could bear “spiritual meat” (I Cor. 3:1)
Those who have “spiritual understanding” (Col. 1:9)

THE NEED OF A NEW NATURE

What man needs first of all, to live a life under grace is to become truly spiritual, a new nature, and begotten of the Spirit of God. Our Lord put it very plainly when He said to Nicodemus:

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).

In this passage again the term flesh cannot refer merely to the physical body, for at birth a spirit and a soul, as well as a body, are brought forth. Thus the flesh here refers to the fallen Adamic nature. The apostle refers to the old nature as it operates in the whole man.

Similarly, the spirit which is born of the Spirit, here, cannot be man’s own spirit, for we have already seen that the whole natural man, body, soul and spirit, is “born of the flesh,” and the very point of this passage in John 3 is that therefore men need to be born, or begotten, again—this time “of the Spirit,” i.e., the Spirit of God (Vv. 6-8).

To demonstrate the need of regeneration; God chooses this outstanding character, Nicodimus: a ruler of the Jews, highly intellectual, rigidly moral, profoundly religious and utterly sincere in his inquiry concerning Christ. But this does not, nor did it ever, save a man. Thus, the Lord replies that what he needs—what any man needs—is a new life. Regardless of all his intellect, morality and religion, he must be born again—of God (John 1:13).

We would emphasize the fact that in the nature of the case men born of Adam must be born or begotten again to be saved. A new and different life must be imparted and begun to live a life under grace.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor. 15:22)
Alienated from the life of God (Eph. 4:18)
By nature the children of wrath (Eph. 2:3)
That flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50)
It is a sinful flesh (Romans 8:3)
I am carnal, sold under sin (Romans 8:14)
In the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh (Eph. 2:3)
“corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Eph. 4:22)
“not subject to the law of God, NEITHER INDEED CAN BE” (Rom. 8:7).
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8:8)
In my flesh, dwelleth no good thing (Romans 7:18)
“the flesh lusteth against the Spirit” (Gal. 5:17)
that it seeks “occasion” to do wrong (Gal. 5:13)
“the works of the flesh” are all bad (Gal. 5:19-21).

The Flesh Cannot Be Improved

No amount of striving can improve the old Adamic nature. It is sinful in itself. It cannot be improved. It cannot be changed. “That which is born [begotten] of the flesh is flesh,” (John 3:6) and it is as impossible to improve the “old man” in the believer as it was to make him acceptable to God in the first place.

God does not undertake to improve the old nature or to pacify the “old man.” Never once is the believer instructed to try to do anything with him or to make anything of him, but always to reckon him dead, and so “put him off.”

No matter how intellectual or cultured or religious, “the flesh” is still that which has been generated by a fallen begetter and therefore cannot please God. The “old man” may be outwardly moral and upright and, indeed, quite religious. He may faithfully observe fasts and feasts and holy days. He may strive to keep his body under control, disciplining himself by participation in ascetic practices in “a voluntary humility,” while actually he is all the more displeasing to God because he is “puffed up by his fleshly mind,” supposing that he is making something of himself (Col. 2:18-23), for the simple reason that all these efforts merely represent an attempt by the flesh to improve himself.

Little wonder that we read not only that “he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption” (Gal. 6:8) but that even “to be carnally minded is death…. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:6,7). “So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8). This is important to remember!

Hence, “that which is born of the flesh” a new and different nature must be imparted; an entirely new life, begotten of the Spirit of God, so that God Himself may have control. This new life is separate and distinct from that which was generated at natural birth.

A Newness of Life in Christ

Thus, upon salvation, Spiritual life does have a beginning for every believer. And the life which the believer receives is Christ’s life—eternal life (1 John 3:10-13; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:4). It is the actual impartation of spiritual life to the sinner. It is a literal birth of a spiritual life by the Spirit of God (John 1:13; 3:5-6). It is an impartation of Christ’s nature in the believer (2 Pet. 1:4; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). Thus the believer became a new creature in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

By virtue of this new birth, the believer is now capable to a spiritual walk, mind, affection, judgment, and conduct in this life under grace.

This new birth is the spiritual counterpart of natural birth. We do not speak of a new-born infant’s “past.” As an individual it has no past. It has barely begun to open its eyes and look about, unable even to focus its vision upon any particular object. Thus the new birth speaks simply of the beginning of a new life.

Evangelist Rodgie Quirante

The Workman’s Treasure Study Series