The title of this message is “A Life of Meeting by Speaking by the Spirit of Faith.” Have you ever heard of such a title before? “The spirit of faith” is a term in 2 Corinthians 4:13 that is very difficult to understand. Because it is so difficult to understand, the Chinese Union Version Bible did not translate it properly. This version rendered the first part of the verse as, “But we all have faith.” The word “spirit” is omitted. The proper translation should be, “And having the same spirit of faith.”
In the Recovery Version, there is a footnote for the phrase “the spirit of faith.” In this footnote, I quoted commentaries from two authorities in the Greek language, Alford and Vincent. Alford said, “Not distinctly the Holy Spirit,—but still not merely a human disposition: the indwelling Holy Spirit penetrates and characterizes the whole renewed man.” Vincent’s interpretation of Greek words mainly followed that of Alford. His words are, “Spirit of faith: not distinctly the Holy Spirit, nor, on the other hand, a human faculty or disposition, but blending both.” In the two passages above, due to the lack of light, they both used the term “disposition.” This term describes the inward conditions of man, including the human spirit. The Bible scholars at that time did not have a thorough understanding of the human spirit. It was not until the beginning of this century that the matter of the human spirit was properly understood. People like Mrs. Jesse Penn-Lewis spoke much about the human spirit. We received much help sixty years ago from them. After further study during the past few decades we became even clearer about the matter of the human spirit.
The spirit of faith mentioned in 2 Corinthians 4:13 is a mingling of the Holy Spirit with our human spirit. We must be like the psalmist who exercised his spirit to believe and to speak the things which he experienced concerning the Lord, especially those things concerning His death and resurrection. From the context of this verse, we know that here Paul was talking about his experience concerning the Lord’s death and resurrection. He said that we who live are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the resurrection life of the Lord might be manifested in our mortal flesh. He also said that the death of the Lord operates in us, in order that His resurrection life may be dispensed to others through us (vv. 11-12). Paul spoke all these things in the spirit of faith.
Faith is not in our mind; it is in our spirit, which is mingled with the Holy Spirit. Doubts are in our mind. The “spirit” here indicates that it is by the mingled spirit that the apostles live a crucified life in resurrection for carrying out their ministry.
Some have asked me what it is to release our spirit. Often I would use an illustration. The best way to describe the release of the spirit is to look at a man when he is angry. When a man becomes angry, he cannot help but open his mouth. Once the mouth is opened, the temper is released; the spirit of temper is released through the mouth. In lighting a fire in a stove, if you close the lid on top and lock up the vent underneath, the fire will not burn, but if you open up all the openings the fire will be kindled right away.
Satan knows about this principle much more than we do. In the matter of speaking in the meeting, we have all been made dumb by Satan. We can talk without ceasing at other places, but when we come to the meeting we become silent. We may still be talking when we walk up the stairs to the meeting hall, but once we sit in our seats we become quiet. Who has sealed your mouth? This is all due to the tactics of Satan. Some say that we have to be proper and quiet when we come to worship God, but actually this is the way of degraded Christianity. Unnoticeably we have been deceived by Satan. The Bible tells us, “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled in spirit” (Eph. 5:18). To be drunk with wine is to have the body filled with wine, but to be filled in our regenerated spirit is to be filled with Christ and with the Triune God. The filling of the body results in dissipation, but the filling with Christ and with the Triune God results in “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:19).
When we come to the meetings, we should neither be as the pastor who does all the speaking, nor should we be the pew members who do not speak at all. Our meeting is a life of meeting by speaking, not with the spirit of temper, but with the spirit of faith. Faith is not in our mind; it is in our spirit. Second Corinthians 5:7 says, “We walk by faith, not by appearance.” Our walk today is not by the outward circumstances, but by faith. Faith does not depend on the circumstances around us. Hence, to speak by faith is to speak independent of the outward circumstances. Paul was not downtrodden or disappointed when he met with difficulties, but he could still say, “Rejoice in the Lord!” (Phil. 4:4). Verse one of Hymns, #717 says,
O let us rejoice in the Lord evermore,
Though all things around us be trying,
Though floods of affliction like sea billows roar,
It’s better to sing than be sighing.
These are words of faith. They are not spoken according to circumstances. That is why faith is not in your mind. It is not in your discernment. Faith is in your spirit. In the meetings every one of us, whether a brother or a sister, whether young or old, can all speak by this spirit of faith. We can all speak by the spirit which is inwardly filled by the Triune God.