What is the release of the spirit? The release of the spirit means the release of the Holy Spirit. The Lord has entrusted the Holy Spirit to the church. His intention is for the church to be the innermost being out of which will flow rivers of living water of the Spirit (John 7:38). The church is the vessel of the Holy Spirit. We must realize what is the work of the church today. The church is the vessel of the Holy Spirit. God has not poured out His anointing oil indiscriminately on the whole world; He has poured it out on the church. The church now anoints men with this anointing oil. The meaning of the church being a vessel of the Holy Spirit is not that it is an instrument used by the Holy Spirit but that it is a vessel to contain the Holy Spirit. The church is a vessel, which means that the Holy Spirit is contained in the church. But how is God’s Spirit contained in the church? The part in us that contains God’s Spirit is simply our spirit. All Bible students acknowledge this. The type in the Old Testament is very clear. The dove sent out by Noah could not descend on the old creation; it could only descend on the new creation (Gen. 8:6-12). In our entire being, only the spirit is of the new creation. Hence, the Holy Spirit can only remain in our spirit. Exodus says that the holy anointing oil could not be poured on the flesh (30:31-32). No part of the flesh can contain the Holy Spirit; the spirit is the only place that can contain the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 36 says this in a more explicit way: “A new spirit will I put within you....And I will put my Spirit within you” (vv. 26-27). The “new spirit” is our spirit, while “my Spirit” is the Holy Spirit. If we do not have a new spirit within us, we cannot possibly have God’s Spirit. We must have a new spirit before we can have His Spirit.
The meaning of pushing out our spirit is to release the Holy Spirit together with our spirit. All Bible students know that in many instances in the Greek language it is hard to differentiate between the human spirit and the Holy Spirit. The word spirit is spoken of most frequently in chapter eight of Romans. Yet in Romans 8 it is hard to tell which occurrence of the word spirit refers to the human spirit and which refers to the Holy Spirit. In English there is a distinction of capitalization, but in Greek, there is no distinction of capitalization. Man’s spirit is already united to God’s Spirit. The more training we receive, the more released our spirit becomes. The Holy Spirit is released when our spirit is released because the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Hence, the release of the spirit does not refer just to the release of our spirit, but to the release of the Holy Spirit as well. The extent of the release of the Holy Spirit depends entirely on the release of our spirit. The Holy Spirit is limited by our spirit. When we speak to a brother or to an unbelieving sinner, our spirit determines the degree of the release of the Holy Spirit. The matter hinges on the vessel; there is no problem with the anointing oil.
Brothers, we should not be so foolish as to put all the responsibility on the Holy Spirit. Today the Lord has placed the responsibility on the church. Matthew 18:18 shows us the authority of the church. John 20:23 says nearly the same thing as Matthew 18. Both speak of the Lord forgiving the sins of those whom we forgive and retaining the sins of those whose sins we retain. How can this be? This is because we have received the Holy Spirit. The Lord did not say, “I have given you the Holy Spirit. When you recognize the Spirit’s forgiveness of someone, you should forgive him yourself as well. When you recognize the Spirit’s retaining of someone’s sins, you should retain his sins as well.” The Lord only told the church to acknowledge the Holy Spirit. After it has acknowledged the Holy Spirit, it can then forgive someone, and the Lord will forgive that one. It can retain someone’s sins, and the Lord will retain his sins. Today the authority of the Holy Spirit is at the disposal of the church. How great is the responsibility of the church! If God acted alone, it would not matter much whether or not the church failed a little. But God has entrusted everything to the church. The church cannot fail. If authority rested solely with the Holy Spirit, the success or failure of a minister would not be of much consequence. But the Holy Spirit has bound Himself to the minister. If the minister fails, the Holy Spirit has no way to go on. If God kept all authority in His hand, it would not matter much whether or not we stumbled or failed. But today God has not kept the work of the Holy Spirit in His hand; He has put this work in the hand of the ministers. When the spirit of a minister is released, God’s Spirit is released. If his spirit is not released, God’s Spirit is not released. God is willing and happy to entrust His authority to the ministers, giving them a free hand. Only the most foolish person will think that he can act hastily; only the foolish ones are nonchalant. We must remember that the problem today is with the ministers of the word. Whether or not the Holy Spirit can be released is in the hand of the ministers.