Duncan Christian Reformed Church

The Indwelling Spirit

Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher (lover of wisdom) who lived in the 20th century. He grew up in a Christian atmosphere, but by the time he wrote what I'm about to quote, he'd become an atheist. An atheist is what Jesus calls “the world” (John 14:17). The world is everything that is against God, or against Christ, or that opposes strongly any notion that there even is a God we must come to deal with. Russell was very familiar with Jesus and what he says, and seemed to truly understand Jesus. He wrote: “The Christian principle, 'Love your enemies' is good... There is nothing to be said against it except that it is too difficult for most of us to practise sincerely” (Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy). Might he be right? After all, an enemy is literally someone who hates you. We all have people like that in our lives. They may not always be that way, but sometimes, under certain circumstances, they can be said to not only “not like us,” but actually hate us. Is it possible to love someone who hates us?

Dallas Willard, who quotes Russell in his own book, The Divine Conspiracy takes up a discussion on the possibilities of this kind of love. He quotes from the “love chapter” (1 Corinthians 13) where a description of love is given. Willard remarks: “People usually read this, and are taught to read it, as telling them to be patient, kind, free of jealousy, and so on – just as they read Jesus' Discourse as telling them to not call others fools, not look on a woman to lust, not swear, to go the second mile and so forth.” But is this what Jesus is saying? Is it what Paul meant to communicate? In fact, when you read what is actually there in the love chapter, we're not told to do these things. We're told that this is what love does, not us. What we are told to do is “pursue love” (1 Corinthians 14:1). It is when we catch up to this sort of love, that we will find ourselves actually doing it.

It is only through the Spirit indwelling us that we are able to love like this. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). What Jesus is getting at here is not more rules and regulations, so that if we just figure out what these are and do them, we've complete. What Jesus is after is a passionate relation-ship of love between us and him, and between the Father and us. Jesus tells us in John 13 what he commands. He gives a new command. The old command was to love others “as we love ourselves.” The new is to love in the same way that Jesus loved, a love that costs dearly (John 13:34-35). It is here when Jesus says that he's going to ask for help for us to do this. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16f). This Other will be with us, and will live inside of us. This is a replacement for the first Counselor, Jesus.

Who is it, though, who lives inside the believer? Jesus identifies him as “the Spirit of truth.” Then he promises that he won't leave us, that he will come to us (John 14:18). Then he says, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). The Spirit of truth will come. Jesus will come. The Father will come, and all three will dwell in the believer.

Picture it this way. The Sacred Three (as the Celtics like to portray him) has taken up residence in us who believe. The Father's attitude is quite this: “I want you to pay attention to my Son. Listen to what he says.” The Son, Jesus, is falling over himself making room for his Father, saying, “I don't want you to pay any attention to me. What matters is my Father's will.” And the Spirit comes and says, “I'm not the one you need to notice. What I want you to notice is Jesus.” These three are always yielding to each other, always making room for each other, always submitting to the other, always showing love for the other (I believe I got this insight from Neil Plantinga). What's going to happen if we open our hearts to this indwelling Spirit who has this sort of loving attitude? What will our lives look like when we yield to his influence? Will we not also make room for the others, even those who hate us, even the ones who don't like us?

Pastor Walt Vanderwerf