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What Does “Led By or Of the Spirit” Mean?

If you are a professing Christian, you have heard such a sentence as, “I was led by the Spirit.”  I’ve heard it in the form of a question, “Are you led of the Spirit of God?”  It can be put in the negative, “He isn’t led of the Spirit,” very often speaking of a believer, implying that some believers are led of the Spirit and others are not.

“Led by the Spirit” or “led of the Spirit” are both in the New Testament, each one time.
Romans 8:14, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Galatians 5:18, But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
The Greek words behind “led by” and “led of” are the same.  “By the Spirit” and “of the Spirit” both translate one Greek word, pneumati.  Even though the English translates them differently, they are the identical Greek words in both places.
The Greek word translated “led” is the same in both verses (ago), except in Romans 8:14 it is third person plural and in Galatians 5:18 it is second person plural.  In Romans 8:14, those led are spoken about and in Galatians 5:18, they are spoken to.  This does not change the meaning of “led.”
If the language is in scripture, which it is, the language of the above two verses is not intended to be vague, amorphous, or malleable in quality.  It has a meaning and isn’t an instrument to be used in whatever way convenient.  It isn’t to mean whatever someone wants it to mean.  So what does it mean?
I very often hear “led of” or “led by” the Spirit to be the Holy Spirit speaking to someone directly.  The Holy Spirit informs someone of what he is to do, where he is to go, or how he is to operate.  This is separate from scripture.  This is a common understanding of this phraseology today.  Someone can just make “led by the Spirit” something equivalent to the Holy Spirit telling someone something.
If the Holy Spirit does talk to people and this is His leading, how does He do it?  How does someone know it is the Holy Spirit doing the talking to him?
To be “led of the Spirit,” I’ve also observed of and from others, is about synonymous to be “filled with the Spirit,” very little to nothing differentiating the meaning of these two, filled or led.  Do they mean something different?
I’ve found that the same people who think that being led by the Spirit means the Holy Spirit talks to you, also think that if He isn’t talking to you, then you are not led by the Spirit.  If you were to say, the Holy Spirit doesn’t still talk to people, they might ask, and they’ve asked me, “Then how does the Holy Spirit lead you?”  Many people don’t think the Holy Spirit can lead you without revealing something to you.  In a technical way, that’s called revelation.  They think revelation continues from the Holy Spirit today.
One historical occurrence that got me thinking about being “led by the Spirit” is the story of Joseph Smith and Mormonism.  Part of the Mormon story is that God spoke directly to Joseph Smith, including what Mormons call his first vision in a grove of trees in New York.  As you continue reading the history of LDS (the Mormons, the title:  Latter Day Saints), continued revelation is a big part of their theology.  Many Mormons say God has spoken directly to them.  This is a big part of their understanding, that God can and does keep talking to people, even today.  Almost every split in Mormonism, however, has also been between one group that says God did speak and the other rejecting that He did say something to them.  How do you know?
Late nineteenth and early twentieth century Princeton Theological Seminary theologian, Benjamin (B.B.) Warfield, wrote a large chapter (pp. 151-179) on “The Leading of the Spirit” in his book, The Power of God Unto Salvation.  I recently read an article online that quoted Warfield on this subject.  I agreed. In that chapter, Warfield wrote about the usage in Romans 8:14:

In the preceding context Paul discovers to us our inherent sin in all its festering rottenness. But he discovers to us also the Spirit of God as dwelling in us and forming the principle of a new life. It is by the presence of the Spirit within us alone that the bondage in which we are by nature held to sin is broken; that we are emancipated from sin and are no longer debtors to live according to the flesh. This new principle of life reveals itself in our consciousness as a power claiming regulative influence over our actions; leading us, in a word, into holiness.

In this chapter, Warfield is saying that “led by the Spirit” is referring to or means “sanctification.”  He says, “a synonym for sanctification.”  He continues:

When we consider this Divine work within our souls with reference to the end of the whole process we call it sanctification; when we consider it with reference to the process itself, as we struggle on day by day in the somewhat devious and always thorny pathway of life, we call it spiritual leading. Thus the “leading of the Holy Spirit” is revealed to us as simply a synonym for sanctification when looked at from the point of view of the pathway itself, through which we are led by the Spirit as we more and more advance toward that conformity to the image of His Son, which God has placed before us as our great goal.

It is not that some believers are led by the Spirit and some are not.  Every believer is led by the Spirit.  Whoever the Lord justifies, He also sanctifies.  Being led by the Spirit isn’t something mysterious and inexplicable.  It isn’t a unique dosage of the Spirit’s power or a higher life with the Spirit.  It is the normal Christian life.  Every believer is led by the Spirit.  It is not a unique experience that someone seeks for and receives as a special blessing for certain believers.
You do know that someone is saved because He is led by the Spirit.  When someone is not led by the Holy Spirit, that is, he isn’t being scripturally sanctified, then he also isn’t justified.  He’s never been saved.  One of the ways you know you’ve been saved is that you are led by the Spirit of God.  As Romans 8:13 says:

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Being led by the Spirit in verse 14 is parallel to ‘through the Spirit mortifying the deeds of the body’ in verse 13.  Those who live after the flesh, they die.  Those who are led by the Spirit, they live.
How does the Holy Spirit sanctify?  He does that through scripture.  Like Jesus said, we’re sanctified by the truth, and God’s Word is truth (John 17:17-19).
Hearing voices in your head is not being led by the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit does not continue giving new revelations.  The Holy Spirit leads by your following the Words of Christ, which dwell in you richly (Colossians 3:16).  Someone led by the Spirit is characteristically obedient to scripture.  He has a living faith and walks by faith.  Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Sanctification Summary: Christian Holiness or Sanctification—A Summary from Eternity Past to the Eternal State

 During the recent Word of Truth Conference at Bethel Baptist Church, I had the privilege of preaching a summary of what Scripture teaches on sanctification. It was suggested that this summary be made into a pamphlet.  You can now download the pamphlet on the FaithSaves website by clicking here; it is entitled “Christian Sanctification: A Summary from Eternity Past to the Eternal State.” The video is also live at FaithSaves; it can also be watched on YouTube by clicking here; if it is a blessing, I would encourage you to “like” it on YouTube and leave a comment. I have also embedded the video below for your viewing edification.

May it be a blessing to you, and with those with whom you can share it who want to understand what Scripture teaches about sanctification.

TDR

My Lifetime Surprising Struggle With My Own Sin

Nobody on earth, what I say, “breathes pure, spiritual air.”  Nobody has their head in some superior spiritual cloud.  Everyone must struggle against sin.  My life has been one of a continuous struggle with sin.  When I say that, some might act like they are surprised.  I was surprised too, because when I was young, I didn’t understand sanctification.  Little was said about sanctification as a struggle, the latter a technical word to describe a successful Christian life.

I don’t expect believers to live a sinless life.  Scripture itself informs me of this (1 John 1:7-2:2).  It’s been, especially in certain seasons of my life, a real struggle, even after I became a pastor in early adulthood.  Being a pastor doesn’t take away the difficulties of living the Christian life and not sinning.

To a pastor, it seems very, very important not to be sinning.  It’s similar to sinning as a husband or parent though.  Your consideration is that the people you are leading will not do well with your leadership if you are sinning, you are not doing right.  Struggling with sin seems to be very, very incongruent with influencing people under your leadership, so you don’t want them to know that you’re struggling with it too.  This tends toward this idea that you’re really not, when you really are.

Struggling with sin doesn’t sound like a good Christian life.  It sounds like failure.  Yet, that’s what the Bible says sanctification is, a struggle.  It will be harder at different times in your life too, and it would be helpful to know that.

The struggle isn’t losing.  It is struggling.  Losing is giving in to sin, saying that you are just going to continue in sin.  When someone is struggling with sin, he’s not comfortable with his sin.  He’s vexed.  He doesn’t like it.  He’s battling, which can look ugly.  It is.  But he doesn’t settle and give in, to where he’s now a committed sinner, not giving it up.

One reason someone might not want to admit a struggle with sin is that someone might think he’s even unsaved.  This is an important reason why to teach believers that sanctification is a struggle.  It isn’t an excuse to sin.  Where is this doctrine though?  The classic passage is Romans 7.  Romans 7 gives a lot of hope to any Christian when he finds out what it’s like to live the Christian life.  It seems impossible to have assurance of salvation without a passage such as this, looking at Romans 7:7-24, but especially focusing on 7:14-23:

14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

When you read it, it is pretty self-explanatory why this passage is so helpful to present the true Christian life as a struggle.  This is not some novice, weak professing believer here.  This is the Apostle Paul, sometimes considered the greatest Christian who ever lived.  This is his describing of his own life, not someone else.  It doesn’t sound possible, but it is true.  Where do we get the idea that the Christian life is not a struggle if he said this about his own Christian life?

I write “surprising,” because I had the definitive impression that my Christian life wasn’t going to be like that, a struggling one.  Why?  I don’t remember anyone telling me it would be a struggle.  Keswick theology, which was the environment of evangelicalism and fundamentalism, that I grew up with, portrayed Christians able to live in an ionosphere of near perfect Christianity.  It’s not that people were doing it, but it was what was portrayed by preachers.  They weren’t living this way, but they were making it look this way.  I wanted what they had that they didn’t have.

How did I figure out that it wasn’t what was presented to me?  It took me awhile.  Ironically, it was a struggle to find out it was a struggle.  I had to study the Bible.  I had to reject what I heard or was taught, to sort through and understand without anyone telling me.  That’s not the preferred way, which is one reason why our church has recently put so much emphasis on sanctification in our Word of Truth conference, spending four years of conferences on this subject.  I’ve written on it.

Pastors are not disqualified for struggling with sin. Parents are not disqualified as parents for struggling with sin.  The people we pastor are not disqualified for struggling with sin.  There is disqualifying sin for a pastor.  He can’t pastor any more for varied reasons, but he’s not disqualified because he sins.  Paul was obviously sinning and he was the one who wrote about disqualification.

In writing this piece, I thought of pastors who are judged by a perfectionist standard, who actually don’t judge their own people in their church by a perfectionist standard.  They are trying to help their people.  Why are leaders judged harshly?  They are going to be judged, but a big reason for harsh judgment can be that the followers want to use their leaders as an excuse for ejecting from the struggle themselves.  They don’t want to live the Christian life, and they use the struggle of a leader as a reason not to struggle.  This doesn’t make sense, but it happens.  all.  the.  time.  Especially young people today are harsh about their leaders.  They don’t want to be judged by their leaders and then they use their own judgment of their own leaders, not to live the Christian life, but to not live the Christian life.

I’ve been careful in my leadership to give room to young people to grow and to help them to grow.  I don’t excuse their ejecting from the Christian life though.  I expect them to want the Bible, to love Christ, and to struggle.  Just giving up on the struggle and then using whatever leader — parent, pastor, teacher — as an excuse, to give up, to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, to go out from us and discontinue with us, is inexcusable.  This is apostate-like behavior.  Every true believer is going to struggle and the support with that struggle needs to be there, either with the follower or the leader.

The Apostle Paul was attacked all the time for his Christian life and for his leadership.  The whole book of 2 Corinthians among other chapters in other epistles accounts for this.  People used Paul’s example as their basis for false teaching and bad behavior.  He was regularly defending himself.  Why?  It was crucial for followers that they didn’t have him as an excuse.

I believe in continuous Christian living, a practice of righteousness, that is seen in 1 John and James among other places.  However, not in contradiction to that is a struggle with sin.  My lifetime has been a surprising, relentless struggle with sin.  Losing the struggle is giving up.  A true Christian will not give up.  Giving up is not an appropriate response to someone who is struggling.

Someone struggling is at least struggling.  Someone giving up is doing his own thing in contradiction to struggling.  Endurance is a struggle.  Followers of leaders should give leaders some room to struggle.  They are not following their example when they give up.  They can’t use the example of a struggling leader for ejecting from true Christianity.

Was the Apostle Paul a broken, useless leader because he was doing what he hated?  Was he not worth listening to?  We don’t want to trample and kick someone to oblivion, just because he has sinned.  It’s also contradictory in someone who is living in sin without repentance because he saw others sin, and those same people have judged him or her.  The question should be, is the judgment true?  Isn’t the point to repent, submit to and please God, and grow as a Christian?  In so many cases, it is just about not being judged.  This was the case with the critics of Paul.  They criticized him because they didn’t want to be judged by him and they had an agenda and life of their own they wanted to live.

Our judgment of other Christians should have as their point the desire to see repentance and growth, the actual winning of the struggle against sin.  It shouldn’t be to excuse behavior.  It isn’t an excuse.  Everyone is going to stand before God by himself.  He needs to struggle with sin and then help others with their struggle.

AUTHORS OF THE BLOG

  • Kent Brandenburg
  • Thomas Ross

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