‘I got it in my spirit!’ That’s a popular phrase that many use to express how they received revelation from God’s word. Perhaps, the most abused word in the Body of Christ today is the word, ‘revelation’. Several people advocate a spooky, mystical, and esoteric approach to understanding the word of God and this is the bane of errors and contradictions in the church today. People would disagree, resist, and oppose truth by claiming the Spirit told them something differently. Some would even say, ‘my spirit does not agree’, as if their spirit is the Holy Spirit. How exactly are we to receive revelation from the word? Where exactly do we get insights? Our spirits or our minds? Let’s turn the pages of our bibles to clarify all ambiguities and misconceptions.
Christ Opened their Understanding
Luke 24:44-45; “And he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which where written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.”
Christ opened their understanding so that they might understand the Scriptures. The Greek word for, ‘understanding’ is ‘nous’ which means intellect or mind. So, Christ opened their minds or intellect so that they might understand the word. This means they didn’t get the revelation in their spirits but in their minds! In fact, the word, ‘understand’ is the Greek word, ‘suniemi’ which means ‘to put together, set or join together in the mind’. This means an understanding of scriptures happens in our minds when we are able to put facts together from the word. This was the exact way Christ did it for His disciples.
Luke 24:27; “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Jesus didn’t expect the disciples to just catch it in their spirits, He expounded the truth to them IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES! The teaching that births understanding has to be thorough. The word, ‘expounded’ is the Greek word, ‘diermeneuo’ which means to explain thoroughly. The faculty that receives this revelation is the mind. This is why there’s such an emphasis on the mind in the New Testament. Do you agree with me that the revelation of the word brings transformation? That is, the aim is to transform? If yes, let’s examine this text of the bible.
Romans 12:2; “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
According to this text, the transformation we seek happens only by the renewing of our minds! The word ‘mind’ here is the same word translated ‘understanding’ at Luke 24:45. The mind is the place that needs light and revelation! Your spirit is already in the light by virtue of your union with Christ. In fact, the bible calls us children of light (Ephesians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:5). We are not just children of light, we are LIGHT in the Lord – “For you were sometimes darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” (Ephesians 5:8). Your spirit is complete in Christ and has the fullness of God!
Colossians 2:9-10; “For in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” If a believer dies today, He’d wake up in heaven with full knowledge of the Father and the Son. The mind is the only barrier left to address for the believer! See Paul’s instruction to the Ephesian church.
Ephesians 4:17-19; “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
Why do the Gentiles walk the way they do? Because their minds are futile and their understanding is darkened, as they’ve been alienated from God. The believer that would walk differently from this would have to work on his mind, else though He has been joined to the Lord, he’d think and behave like the world. Paul is saying to the Ephesian church same thing He said to the Romans at Romans 12:2. This is why the only prescription He gave here also was that we should renew our minds. Ephesians 4:23; ‘And be renewed in the spirit of your mind…’ The word ‘spirit’ in this context refers to attitudes. The attitude of the new man flows from the mind as we renew it with knowledge. Again, the mind is the focus! It’s the understanding that’s darkened and in need of light. This is why the mind is what Satan attacks.
Satan Blinds the Mind
First, for the unbeliever. Since he doesn’t have a new spirit, if the revelation is gotten in the spirit, how can he understand the gospel? The unbeliever can understand the gospel because his mind is all he needs to receive this light and this is why Satan works on his mind and blinds him.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4; “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” The word, ‘minds’ is translated from the Greek word, ‘noema’, and it means thoughts, mind, disposition, intellect. This is what Satan assaults regularly. The moment a man’s thinking changes, his life changes! The problem of the unbeliever is that he fails to retain God in his knowledge.
Romans 1:28; “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to those those things which are not fitting…”
Titus 1:15; “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” Again, the problem is with their minds.
Second, for false teachers, the reason why they are distorting the word is because of the state of their minds. Their minds are corrupted; they haven’t received the light of the word!
1 Timothy 6:3-5; “If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.” Mark the phrase, ‘men of corrupt minds’.
See this other one
2 Timothy 3:8; “Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.”
Again, ‘men of corrupt minds’. It’s obvious from the Scriptures that there can be no transformation without the renewing of the mind! For this reason, Paul says, ‘Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 2:5)
What about Paul’s Prayer?
Paul prayed that God would give men the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. The prayer of Paul to the Ephesians has been wrongly interpreted in certain quarters. This was the same Paul who emphasizes the importance of renewing the mind. Could this have been a contradiction? Let’s learn the simple lesson in this prayer.
Ephesians 1:15-18; “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…”
First, Paul was not praying for them to receive a new spirit or the Holy Spirit. Like we’ve seen in some verses, the word ‘spirit’ also means ‘mind’. Paul was simply praying that these men gain understanding in their minds from the word. How does this happen? By reading!
Ephesians 3:3-4; “how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)…”
While Paul was away from them, he was praying for them to understand the word, but when He got an opportunity to write to them, he simply shared the revelation with them and says it’s as they read they would understand! If they never read, learn, study, there would be no understanding! We can pray that men come across the truth, or that God sends the word their way through others, or pray that they are not distracted from receiving the word, but they will never understand the word till they receive the word! This means, the Pauline prayer for the Ephesians is answered when the Ephesians yield to the Pauline teaching! This was why Christ was always asking the Jews, “Have you never read?” (Matthew 12:3; Matthew 12:5; Matthew 19:4; Matthew 21:16; Matthew 21:42; Matthew 22:31). He expected them to know the truth by reading it sincerely! The man that would receive revelation from the word must be ready to study and search the Scriptures. As we do this, light dawns on our minds.
So, let no one deceive you into getting into some spooky or mystical mode of receiving revelation. Throwing the bible down and hoping to see a verse that speaks to you is not the way to read your bible. I have done it before. Guess what? There will always be a verse that speaks to you! (Laughs). But it takes much more than this to understand the message of Christ.
What then is the role of the Holy Spirit? He has revealed the truth in the Scriptures through His Holy Apostles and Prophets for us to read. If I write you a letter explaining myself to you, I have done my part, and you’re expected to do your part by reading the letter. Diligence, consistency, humility, and meekness in receiving the word are the things missing in many believers. We’ll be answering this in
more details in the second part of this teaching.
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