True spirituality relates to the Holy Spirit. Someone is spiritual when the Holy Spirit indwells him. The Holy Spirit indwells believers, truly converted or saved people only. He doesn’t indwell unbelievers, so unbelievers are not spiritual. The Holy Spirit in His holy nature does not indwell the unrighteous. Every believer is spiritual because every believer possesses the Holy Spirit. The essence of a believer is spirituality. He is spiritual. A crucial verse for this is Romans 8:9:
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Those in the flesh are not saved and those in the Spirit are saved. Someone with the Spirit of Christ is one of God’s, which fits with 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
If your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, then you are bought with a price, and you are God’s. This is a spiritual person. This is who Paul calls someone ‘living in the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:25).
On a practical level, however, the believer may not be spiritual. He is spiritual in essence without being spiritual in practice. This explains why Paul wrote in Galatians 6:1:
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
An implication of what Paul writes in Galatians 6:1 in light of what he writes in Romans 8:9 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 is that believers who are practically spiritual are the ones who are qualified to fulfill Paul’s command. A parallel to this could be what the Lord Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount about getting the beam out of your eye before you judge the mote in your brother’s eye (Matthew 7:3-5). Out of the brethren whom Paul addresses, believers, he calls only on the spiritual ones to restore someone overtaken in a fault. Believers live in the Spirit, but they also need to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25), which they will do characteristically (Romans 8:1,4), since all believers are “led by the Spirit” (Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:18).
Every believer is spiritual in position, spiritual in essence, but who are the believers who are spiritual in practice? These are those who are filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) or walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:18). Believers are commanded to be filled with the Spirit and walk in the Spirit because they might not be. Their positions of being in the Spirit and having the Spirit indwelling them are the indicatives, and their practice of submitting to the Holy Spirit and walking in the Spirit are imperatives.
Being filled with the Spirit is being controlled by the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit is obeying the Holy Spirit. Both of these are obeying the Word of God, sometimes by applying the principles of the Word of God. They are never obedience to a voice in the head or an impression or an emotion conjured by some external source. They are obedience to the Holy Spirit, who is working through scripture (Ephesians 6:17, Colossians 3:16).
What is not being controlled by the Spirit or walking in the Spirit? It is sinning. Someone is not becoming more spiritual because of a feeling he has that indicates to him or her that he or she is “more spiritual.” No. Someone is more spiritual is more obedient to the Holy Spirit either by doing what the Holy Spirit says to do through scripture or by not doing what the Holy Spirit says not to do through the Word of God.
Someone is not spiritual or more spiritual because the “Christian” rock or country or new age music gives him a “spiritual feeling.” That’s actually the deceit of the flesh. It’s just the opposite of spirituality, but the flesh. Because the contemporary, worldly “church” is “nicer,” which makes someone feel better or more positive, that doesn’t mean it is spiritual either. Spirituality is not judged by feelings at all. Those are lies to give someone the impression of spirituality that is some kind of spiritual deceit.
The person who keeps drinking his alcohol, listening to his rock music, chumming around with ungodly and unbelieving friends, and using foul language is not spiritual. That is not the Holy Spirit. Just because a feeling or impression tells him differently, that doesn’t mean it is true. It isn’t true. That is a counterfeit to the actual Holy Spirit in the realm of deceit.
As an example, let’s say there is a young person who is rebellious and disobedient to his or her parents. He or she is disrespectful and dishonoring to his or her parents. This is disobeying one of a number of God’s commands in scripture. The Holy Spirit wrote against this in the Word of God. This is not a spiritual person at least in practice. A truly spiritual person in essence or in position will not continue perpetually disrespecting or dishonoring his parents. Someone who does this manifests that he or she is not spiritual, that is, not saved.
Many modern evangelical churches support the dishonor and disrespect of parents. They encourage their millennial members to participate in this, camouflaging this rebellion and lust by the feelings they provide or choreograph. They even attempt to accredit the rebellion and lust with a mixture of secular psychology, like it is a form of revelation from God. It isn’t. It is false teaching in the nature of what Paul calls, doctrines of demons. It contradicts scripture. Like Peter writes in 2 Peter 2:3, they make merchandise of these young millennials with feigned words. They say the things that they want to hear, and then the good feelings are labeled as “spirituality.” If it is spiritual, it is the kind that Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 11:4, “another spirit.” It isn’t the Holy Spirit, but a demonic spirit, carrying them along in their lust.
You aren’t a Christian if you continue thinking you are more spiritual while you are sinning. Sin vexes the true believer. He might sin, but he can’t continue in sin without that vexation. The Holy Spirit reproves him of sin. He won’t be able to continue living with that reproof without doing something about it. Whatever spirituality he is being sold or pawned or pushed is a false spirituality that either has to do with his own desires or with something demonic. It’s the worst position to be in, thinking that he’s doing fine because of a feeling, but actually being deceived by the feeling to remain in a dangerous and destructive condition.
A believer has the ability not to sin, because of the Holy Spirit. The unbeliever does not have ability not to sin. He might not sin as much as he possibly can, but he does not have the power within him to hold him back from sinning, which is why he keeps sinning. This is why Paul says in 1 John 3:9 about the believer:
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
“He cannot sin” is continuous sin, sin as a lifestyle. “His seed” is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit remains in him and that’s why he doesn’t sin continuously. If someone lives for a decade in sin without repentance, he should examine himself whether he be in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).
Sin and spirituality do not coexist. If it is sin, it is not the Spirit. If it is the Spirit, it is not sin. Someone under the control of the Holy Spirit will be holy as He is holy. He has the power within him to stop sinning, so he will not sin as a lifestyle. If you think you’re saved, and you’ve been living in sin without repentance for years, you should consider that you are not a saved person.
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