08 - The Spirit of the World
If we would understand the actions and behavior of a man we must know his spirit. So, if the world has a spirit, the character and motives which actuate that spirit would explain the characteristics of the world. We often hear, as an ordinary figure of speech, of the “spirit of the age;” and that spirit is always mentioned in terms of respect and admiration. To say that one is imbued with the spirit of the age is to pay him high compliment. If we turn to 1Co 2:12 we find the spirit of the world distinctly named and again mentioned in direct opposition to the Spirit of God. The apostle there says:
“For we have received, not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”
Put this Scripture with John 14:17: “The Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive.”
We, believers, have received the Spirit of Truth. Him the world cannot receive. It is an impossibility. The spirit of the world we have not received; the Spirit of Truth the world cannot receive. We have properly nothing whatever to do with the world and its spirit. We have no part or place in any of its aims, enterprises, pursuits, plans or projects—none at all. On the other hand, the world cannot receive the Spirit of God, and hence cannot have any conception of, or any interest whatever, in His plans and purposes. Here, then, there is a necessity of conflict. Those who have received the Spirit of God and who submit to His guidance find themselves in direct opposition to the entire course of the age. The world has not received the Holy Spirit, and indeed cannot receive Him; hence, even were it possible for the leaders of the age to maintain good works, the believer would none the less be bound to shun them. The only wish he can entertain with respect to an age whereof Satan is the god is that it may speedily come to an end. This Scripture also gives us one of the purposes for which we (believers) have received the Holy Spirit. It is in order “that we may know the things which are fully given us of God.” The presence of this clause in a verse which speaks of “the spirit of the world” is highly significant. We have seen that the spirit of the world has filled the world with a multitude of “things” (and is contriving new ones every day), the purpose of which is to keep people occupied with “what is going on in the world,” to keep up and stimulate their interest, to excite their admiration, and to arouse, if possible, their enthusiasm. But God has His things also. Every verse of this chapter (1Co 2:1-16) from the 9th to the 15th makes reference to “things,” “the things of God,” “the things of the Spirit,” “the deep things of God,” “the things which God has prepared for them that love Him,” and which He has revealed unto us by His Spirit. These things include all the possessions of God, which He has given to Christ, who is “the heir of all things” (Heb 1:2), by whom and for whom “all things were created” (Col 1:16), and who has said “all things” that the Father hath are mine: (John 16:15). All these things the Father has freely given to us in Christ. “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” How shall He not? But the Father has done something more for us. How should we get acquainted with the things which He has freely given to us unless we had the One “who searches all things, yea, the deep things of God” to show them to us? This is in accordance with our Lord’s promise when, speaking of the Spirit who was to come, He said: “He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you” (John 16:14-15). Now the spirit of the world desires by every possible means to prevent us from getting acquainted with and interested in the precious things that are freely given to us of God. Nothing so effectually separates the believer from the world and its things and doings and turns his affections away from them, as to get acquainted with the things of Christ. On the other hand, nothing so interferes with the believer’s progress in the knowledge of the things of Christ as to be taken up with the affairs and enterprises of the world, and to be in accord with their aims. It matters not what is the character of the things of the world in which the believer becomes interested, whether it be its politics, its business, or its pleasures, or it vices, or its philanthropies. Whether it be one class of things or another, the purpose of the spirit of the world will be equally well accomplished.