The Gospel According to Paul # 17

In His Letter to the Galatians (continued)

The Power of Christ Within (continued)

Paul focuses his whole history as a  Christian and as a servant of God upon that one thing. "God has shined in my heart" (2 Corinthians 4:6). "It pleased God, Who separated me from my birth, to reveal His Son in me" (Galatians 1:15, 16). "The gospel which I preached was not of man", "but ... through revelation of Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:11,12). How did it come? Not only objectively and outwardly, but inwardly. "God has shined within". "Christ liveth in me". The most startling thing that ever happened to a man in the course of human history was that which happened to Saul of Tarsus on that noonday when he realized that Jesus of Nazareth, Who he though was done  with, dead and buried,was alive, alive, actually alive. Remember how very alive He was. And Paul says: "That One liveth - and not only in the glory - He liveth in me, in me!" A living Person, a living actual power within, yes a real power inside, is Christ.

The Intelligence of Christ Within

Furthermore, He is a real Intelligence, Who possesses the full knowledge of all that God wants, and, possessing that, dwelling within me, is the repository and vehicle of God's full will for my life. Full intelligence by Christ within! All the knowledge that Christ possesses is within, and if that is true, if Christ is within - The Apostle, of course, is speaking here not only about Christ within, but much about the Holy Spirit, to which we will come presently - if the indwelling Christ has His way, then that which He is becomes actual in the life of the child of God: the fact that He is a living Person, the fact that He is a mighty power, the fact that He is a full, Divine knowledge.

Christ Within: The Knowledge of the Will of God

We would like to have all understanding in our mind, all knowledge and intelligence in our reason. We have not got it, but we have another kind of intelligence, altogether different from that which is on the reason. We do not know how to explain and interpret it, but somehow we know. We can only say, "We know". We know what the Lord does not want where we are concerned. We find it impossible to be comfortable along any line that the Lord does not want, and we come to that position so often. We put it in different ways, but we have to say, "I know the Lord does not want me to do that, to go that way; it is as deep in me as anything. To do it would be to violate something that relates to my very life with God."

That is the negative side. And on the positive, if the Lord really wants something, we know it; in spite of everything, we know it. If only we will wait for that, it will be so sure. The trouble is that we cannot wait for the Lord; we get into such tangles over these problems of guidance. But when the Lord's time comes, there is no question about it at all: we know. How do we know? It is spiritual knowledge, it is spiritual intelligence. It is Christ dwelling within, in possession of all the mind of God.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 18)