James 4:4-5 reveals that the Spirit within the believers longs unto envy for God against worldliness: “Adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever determines to be a friend of the world is constituted an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain: The Spirit who dwells in us longs to envy?” Here James uses marriage to illustrate our relationship with God. God is the Husband, and we are His counterpart. As God’s counterpart, we should love Him. If we love anything or anyone in place of Him, we become adulteresses. The indwelling Spirit whom God has put within us longs to keep us singly for Himself. Whenever we would not be solely for Him but would love the world, this indwelling Spirit will not only be offended but also envious. This is the correct understanding of what James means when he says that the Spirit who dwells in us longs to envy.
Just as a husband longs to envy over his wife, so the Spirit longs unto envy for God concerning us. For us to love anything worldly is to have another husband. Worldliness replaces God as our Husband. This indwelling Spirit always envies when He sees us loving something other than God. When we love the world or any material thing other than God, the indwelling Spirit envies. He longs to see us loving God absolutely. When a husband sees his wife loving someone else other than him, this husband longs to envy. God as the indwelling Spirit is our Husband and He longs to envy when He sees that we love something, someone, or some matter other than Him. This requires us to deal with whatever we love other than God. Therefore, the indwelling Spirit works within us to separate us from everything other than God and to keep us for God Himself. The Spirit works in this way that we may receive the unique dispensing of the Triune God into us for our transformation.
The indwelling Spirit is the sword for the believers to fight against their spiritual enemies, the power of darkness and the evil things. In Ephesians 6:17 Paul speaks of “the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.” The antecedent of the word “which” is Spirit, not sword. This indicates that the Spirit is the word of God, both of which are Christ (2 Cor. 3:17; Rev. 19:13). Among the six items of God’s armor, only the Spirit as the sword is the one for attacking the enemy. With this sword we cut the enemy to pieces.
The sword, the Spirit, and the word are one. The word is the Bible. But if this word is only printed letters, it is neither the Spirit nor the sword. The Greek word for “word” in Ephesians 6:17 is rhema, the instant word spoken at the moment by the Spirit in any situation. When the logos, the constant word in the Bible, becomes the instant rhema, this rhema will be the Spirit. This rhema which becomes the Spirit is the sword that cuts the enemy to pieces.
The Bible is the word of God. But apart from the Spirit, the Bible is merely dead letters to us. The Spirit makes the letters of the Bible the living word of God. Therefore, the Spirit is the word of God, and such a Spirit is a sword, a weapon, for us to fight the battle against God’s enemy to bring in His kingdom.
If we would enjoy the Spirit as the sword for fighting against the enemy, we must come to the word of the Bible, receiving the word by means of all prayer. By praying with the Scriptures in this way, the Spirit within us becomes the sword by which we slay all negative things.
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