Now let us go on to chapter seven. I am so happy that we have such a chapter as this in the Bible. Let us firstly read verse 10: “And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord.” What does this mean? Is this the Apostle Paul commanding or is it the Lord? The meaning is this: when I command, the Lord commands with me; the Lord commands in my commanding. Do you think that if Paul commanded by the exercise of his mind or emotion he could say, “Yet not I, but the Lord”? It must be that he commanded in the spirit. “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” He was one with the Lord in his spirit; so when he commanded in his spirit, he could say “yet not I, but the Lord.” When I command in my spirit, the Lord commands with me, for I am one spirit with the Lord.
Now let us read verse 12: “But to the rest speak I, not the Lord.” If I were there, I would say, “Brother Paul, if it is not the Lord that is speaking, you should not speak.” But Paul said clearly and definitely, “I speak, not the Lord.” Would you dare to say this? Would you dare to say, “I am going to speak something to you, not the Lord.” Paul makes it clear that the word he is about to speak is not spoken by the Lord, but by himself. But I would ask you, do you take the word which he goes on to speak as of Paul or as of the Lord? I believe you take that word as of the Lord, and I do too.
But let us go on to verse 25. “Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment.” Paul had no commandment of the Lord, yet he gave his opinion (“judgment” here means opinion) “as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.” He was saying in effect, “I do not have the commandment of the Lord, but I have an opinion as one who has obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. So within my opinion, there must be something of the Lord’s opinion. I have no commandment from the Lord, but I am one with the Lord; so whatever my opinion is must be the Lord’s opinion too.” If this one chapter was not in the Bible, and what we are saying here was something of our speaking, all Christianity would rise up and accuse us of heresy. They would say, “If you do not have the commandment of the Lord, you must wait till you have the inspiration.” This is the way of today’s Christianity. But here is a man who tells us clearly that he does not have the commandment of the Lord, yet he speaks. What kind of teaching is this?
Let us go on now to verse 40: “But she is happier if she so abide, after my opinion: and I think that I also have the Spirit of God” (this is the best rendering of this verse). This means that Paul not only had an opinion, but he also had the Spirit of God. But notice that he said, “I think I have the Spirit of God.” He did not say that he was certain he had the Spirit of God. If the Apostle Paul were here, I would check with him: “Paul, tell me, do you have the Spirit of God or not?” The Apostle Paul did prophesy in this chapter, and at the end of this long prophecy of forty verses he says, “This is my opinion, and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” Sometimes I would like to hear a brother in the meeting prophesy for fifteen minutes and at the conclusion say, “Brothers, this is my opinion, yet I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” That would not be like the Fundamentalists nor the Pentecostals of today’s Christianity. The Fundamentalists would say, “Now Pastor Smith has a word from the Lord for us.” The Pentecostals would say, “Yea, thus saith the Lord, O my people...” Paul did not speak like this. Too much assurance means that we are not in the Spirit. The more you could say like Paul, “This is my opinion, yet I think that I also have the Spirit of God,” the more spiritual you are. Suppose that I stand up to speak, and after speaking a brother asks whether or not I am in the Spirit. If I answer, “Yes, brother, I am in the Spirit,” be assured that I am not in the Spirit. But if I answer, “Brother, I dare not say that I am in the Spirit—I just feel that I must utter something; it may only be my opinion, but I think I have at least a little of the Spirit of God”; I tell you, if I could answer in this way, I am a real and spiritual prophet. What is involved here is the principle of incarnation. While Jesus was on this earth, He acted as a human being: He was so human, yet God was with Him, God was in Him, God was one with Him. The same principle of incarnation has been applied to us. Christ has been incarnated into all of us: He dwells in our spirit, and we are one spirit with Him. It is rather difficult for me to tell you whether it is only I that am speaking, or that when I am speaking it is also He speaking in me. I have no assurance whether I am speaking in the Spirit; yet as one who has obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful, I have confidence that He is one with me, so that when I speak, it may be that He speaks too. This is real spirituality.