There are some simple tests of our “view” of complete victory over sin
which will show whether we are in danger of coming into bondage to a
_doctrine_.
Any view that centers attention upon self is dangerous. The heart
secret of victory is looking away from self unto Christ. If I testify,
“I am holy”; if I must look into my own state, examining self to see
whether this holiness still remains, I am on wrong ground.
Any view that brings into prominence my past record of victory or
holiness leads to difficulties. The testimony, “I have not sinned
for so many weeks or months since my new experience” may be given
with sincerity, and the speaker may intend to give the glory to God.
Nevertheless, it is a wrong testimony, and no encouragement is given
in the Word for such a statement. For one thing, no human being has a
perfect memory; none of us can have accurate knowledge of past states
of consciousness. Victory is always a matter of the present moment,
and if we are occupied with Christ and _his_ perfect work for us, the
matter of _our_ past record is of no consequence, so far as it bears on
present victory by faith.
Any view that centers attention upon feeling is on the wrong basis.
Many Christians who have come into the new experience of the fulness of
the Spirit have been overwhelmed with flood-tides of blessed feeling.
In some cases this exalted state of feeling has continued for weeks or
even months. Some have counted this the “witness of the Spirit” that
a new work of grace has been wrought in their hearts. Many have been
thrown into confusion and darkness by waiting for this “witness of
the Spirit,” which they have been taught to believe is some wondrous
consciousness in their feeling. Others who have had such a “witness”
have later lost the feeling and have wondered whether their experience
has gone. God often permits the feeling to go, that his child may learn
to look to Christ and to the fact of his grace in the life, rather than
to the feelings, which vary according to temperament and circumstances.
What is the “Witness of the Spirit”?
Feeling or emotion should not be discounted, but should be kept in
its right place. Praise God for every blessed emotion that is of his
Spirit, but praise him also when the emotion is entirely absent. He and
his grace remain the same, while the feelings go up and down. There
should be, indeed, a continuous consciousness of his presence, but
consciousness is based on fact and is not to be confused with emotion.
As to the “witness of the Spirit,” there is no suggestion in the Word
of God that this “witness” has any connection with a great flood-tide
of feeling. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in
him: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he hath
not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning his Son.
And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son” (1 John 5:10, 11). The witness is God’s record,
or God’s eternal Word to us, that he has done something, that he has
given us a gift. He does not want us to _feel_ this word, or witness
of his. He wants us to _believe_ it. One who does not believe it makes
God a liar, and this is what Christians are in danger of doing, both
in regard to salvation from the penalty of sin and salvation from the
power of sin. When we believe this word, and the wonder of the gift
breaks upon us more and more, we shall have feelings, of course, and
they will find expression according to our different temperaments and
environments.
(Dr. Griffith Thomas notes that the often abused passage on the witness
of the Spirit in Romans eight does not say that the Spirit beareth
witness _to_ our spirit, but _with_ our spirit, that we are children
of God. That is, our spirit says “Father,” and the Holy Spirit says
“Father” with us.)