Moving From Outer To Inner
By Tammy Lacock
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2: 9-10)
In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman dives deeper into the writings of the Apostle Paul to help us understand the true gospel for us today and to show us the intimate relationship between Christ and Paul.
Christ called Paul to bring humanity a new gospel, one that moves us from a law-based mindset, basing our salvation on outer works, to relying on the work of Christ in the inner man as our salvation. The Jews and the early church had a very difficult time accepting Paul’s gospel of grace, his gospel of completion by the very life of Christ within us, because all they knew and understood up until that time were their own outer workings and the outer workings and miracles of God. By Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, a new covenant was made, which Christ revealed to Paul, saying believers are to no longer know the outer Christ, Jesus of Nazareth (2 Corinthians 5:16). We are to know Him now in Spirit, now that we are joined to Him in spirit, making us one (1 Corinthians 6:17). The only way to now know God is through relationship with His Son, God’s incorruptible Seed, Christ, literally placed in each of us who believes. By God’s amazing grace, we are to know Him now as the resurrected Christ who is alive and well in us.
Christ said, “At that day [the Day of Pentecost] ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20). The Jews and early church had no idea what this meant because they had always focused on the outer works of man. Jesus was saying an inner work took place: on that Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit delivered the Seed, Christ, into the believers, and we have been made brand-new creations by His life in us. For God, what we do or don’t do will no longer cut it. Only by Christ joined to our spirits are we made new (2 Corinthians 5:17); only by Christ in us are we reconciled to God, making us His bona fide children. We were literally born again. Out with the old man and sin nature and in with Christ as our very life.
In 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, Paul tells us our relationship now with Christ cannot be heard, seen, or felt. Here he rules out anything outer in our new life in Christ. It is not an outer relationship, based on sense knowledge, but one that can only be revealed by the Holy Spirit in our soul-mind (where our emotions, intellect, and will reside). On that Day of Pentecost, not only did the Holy Spirit deliver into us the very seed of Christ, making us brand-new creations, but He also came into us as our comforter and teacher of our new life in Christ. We can ask the Holy Spirit for what Paul calls a constant mind-renewal so we can continually understand and grasp our new life in Christ. We are perfect in spirit, now joined to Christ; but our souls are continually perfecting (maturing) as we live in relationship with Christ by the Holy Spirit revealing this new life.
To help us understand the role of the Holy Spirit in our new life in Christ, Jesus tells us in John chapters 14, 15, and 16 exactly what that role is. The Holy Spirit will never speak of Himself but only of Christ. Only by revelation of the Holy Spirit will we ever move from focusing on outer things to an inner relationship with Christ who now lives in us, indeed the deeper things of God (John 14:26).
