With the Holy Spirit, there is a matter of degree in life. We cannot deny that the Holy Spirit is with the saints to the degree governed by each one's measure in life. If the degree of life is higher, the presence of the Holy Spirit is also higher; if the degree of the life is lower, the presence of the Holy Spirit is also lower. The measure and intensity of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and whether it is manifested or not, altogether depend on the degree of life. Of course, this has a lot to do with a person's actual condition before the Lord. It may be that your degree of life is quite deep and quite high, and you are quite experienced, but your present condition before the Lord is somewhat off, and your fellowship with the Lord is not very good, even somewhat weak. All these will affect the presence of the Holy Spirit. We can see this in Peter in Galatians 2 and Acts 15. Peter had the highest attainment in life among the brothers; however, in Galatians 2 we see Peter with some weakness. He had become weak. He had mixed up the gospel with the law and had confused the truth of the gospel. Hence in 2:9, it says, "James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars...." It mentions James first, then Cephas (who was Peter). It was quite evident that at that time Peter had fallen behind.

In Acts 15, the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem were discussing the problem of the Gentiles keeping the law. After much discussion, Peter stood up to speak a word. Then Barnabas and Paul stood up again to describe the miracles and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they were silent, James came forth to make the final judgment. This means that James was there being the leading authority. He allowed Peter to speak, and he let Barnabas and Paul testify; in the end, he stood up and said, "Men, brothers, listen to me." In this way, they made the decision and wrote and said that the Holy Spirit and they had made the decision. This is a situation which you cannot find in the world; it is neither democracy nor autocracy. What you have here is the Holy Spirit.

The presence of the Holy Spirit is according to the degree of life in a person. It is also according to the spiritual condition of a person before God at that time. This presence of the Holy Spirit is the authority for judgment in the Church. The degree of life in Peter was higher than that in James, yet at this time, Peter had a little weakness. Among them, James' condition before God was the most proper; hence, the leading authority and the final deciding authority fell on James. When they thus made the decision, they could say that this was made by the Holy Spirit and them together. This was not the opinion of all the people, nor one man's suggestion; it was the operation of the Holy Spirit. However, the operation of the Holy Spirit is according to the degree of life and man's condition before God.

Therefore, when a local church is raised up, naturally those who have a higher degree of life will become the leading ones there. These brothers cannot call a corporate conference whenever they encounter some business problems. If so, man's opinions will definitely come in, and the authority of the Holy Spirit will be sacrificed.

Suppose there are thirty brothers and sisters here, and only five or six are somewhat higher in life, whose condition before the Lord is somewhat more normal. The rest of the twenty or more are all newly saved, and their spiritual condition is very young; they do not even know what is spiritual and what is fleshly. If we were to ask everyone to express his opinion and to cast his vote, surely four-fifths of them would cast a fleshly vote and one fifth, a spiritual vote. The system of voting brings in man's flesh and cuts off the authority of the Holy Spirit. Hence, we can never adopt the system of voting. On the other hand, the Bible does not allow one leading brother to make decisions by himself either. In the Bible there is no autocracy; there is only the meeting together of the experienced, spiritual, and elderly ones.