Angelic Conflict part 164: Human history (soul and spirit) – Heb 4:9-12; 1Co 2:9-16; 9:27; Rom 8:12-17; 1Pe 1:2-4; Eph 5:2-21.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 164: Human history (soul and spirit) - HEB 4:9-12; 1CO 2:9-16; ROM 8:12-17; 1PE 1:2-4; EPH 5:2-21. 

 

 

The Spirit of God or the spirit of the world can influence our souls.

 

In the CA, which is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict, satan has ramped up the intensity and magnitude of his deception campaign and so God has given us a spiritual life that gains insight into the deep things of God, which is embodied in the hidden wisdom or the mystery doctrine of the CA. As Christ gave His disciples the power over actual demons He has given us power over the doctrines of demons which is embodied in the deceit of modern idol worship. This power and wisdom is designed to enter the CA believer into the daily divine rest that has been left behind by Christ after He ascended into heaven.

 

There many antagonists to this rest from many sources. The positive CA believer must be made aware of his enemies. They are the flesh (OSN location), the KOD, and the world system which feeds all the wrong spirits of idolatry.

 

1CO 2:1And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

 

1CO 2:2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

 

1CO 2:3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

 

1CO 2:4 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

 

1CO 2:5 that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

 

1CO 2:6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature [excluding unbelievers and infant believers]; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;

 

1CO 2:7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

 

1CO 2:8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

 

1CO 2:9 but just as it is written [combination of ISA 64:4; 52:15; 65:17],

"Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,

And which have not entered the heart of man,

All that God has prepared for those who love Him."

 

1CO 2:10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

 

"revealed" - avokalu,ptw [apokalupto] = to uncover or to unveil.

 

The context (vs. 11) reveals that this is God the Holy Spirit. Only He would know the deep things of God and it is none other than He that reveals them to us.

 

1CO 2:11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

 

Unbelievers know the thoughts of man since they are men and have been created in God's image having an intellect, sensibility, and will. This verse would seem to state that all men possess a spirit and in the next verse that spirit is described as the spirit of the world.

 

This doesn't state that man receives a spirit from the world, but may mean that the fallen spirit of mankind, as those who come to love the world system, is the same as the spirit of the world. What influences the unbeliever from within and without are not in conflict. He doesn't have a war of Spirit and flesh.

 

JOH 15:19

"If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

 

Christ created this conflict within for those who would believe in Him. So don't disparage it. Embrace the conflict knowing that war brings about heroes, and in this case hero witnesses for the Lord, our King. Your struggle has great meaning in the way that Christ fought. He has given you the same spirit that He had and has asked you to fight the good fight of faith as He did. There is no greater honor than that. Yet He would not ask you to fight without the spiritual new creature, God the Holy Spirit, and the hidden mystery that is the NT mystery doctrine of the church.

 

Without war peace isn't as sweet or appreciated as it should be.

 

1CO 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God,

 

Things freely given is the very definition of grace. Without faith in Christ as Savior these things, though desired for every person by God, go unnoticed and unfulfilled.

 

A contrast is made between the spirit of the world and God the Holy Spirit both of which influence the soul to a certain knowledge.

 

2PE 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

 

2PE 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness [one who is well devoted], through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence [virtue].

 

2PE 1:4 For by these [divine power, life, devotion, true knowledge, and virtue] He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them [the promises from God to you] you might become partakers [partners] of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust [idol worship].

 

Lust is an inordinate or unreasonable desire for something and so that something is an idol. The world system tirelessly promotes these idols and maintains them.

 

The opposite of these idols are the promises from God. They direct the desire away from the earthly idols to something far greater and eternal. These promises of who He is and who He has made believers to be, and what He has promised them make us desire the divine nature, which is, the new divine spirit receive