Signs of the Spirit by Sam Storms

Author:Sam Storms
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2009-01-30T16:00:00+00:00

15: THE EIGHTH SIGN OF AUTHENTIC AFFECTIONS

True religious affections reflect the character of Christ himself.

They produce and promote the same love, humility,

forgiveness and mercy that we see in Jesus Christ.

ALL THOSE WHO ARE truly godly and regenerate disciples of Jesus Christ have the spirit of Christ in them. Indeed, this spirit not only abides within them but governs and directs and gives shape to their true and proper character.

There are also some virtues that are uniquely Christian and especially give evidence of God’s gracious activity. This is because they are especially agreeable to the attributes of God and were extraordinarily manifest in the redemptive work of Christ himself. These virtues are humility, meekness, love, forgiveness, and mercy (see Matt. 11:29). The bottom line is that “Christians are Christlike: none deserve the name of Christians that are not so, in their prevailing character.”

This is Paul’s point when he says that the new man is renewed after the image of the one who creates him (see Col. 3:10). The elect are predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son of God (see Rom. 8:29). Thus “there is grace in Christians answering to grace in Christ, such an answerableness as there is between the wax and the seal. There is character for character. Such kind of graces, such a spirit and temper, the same things that belong to Christ’s character, belong to theirs.”

Indeed, it would be strange “if Christians should not be of the same temper and spirit that Christ is of, when they are his flesh and his bone, Religious Affections yea are one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), and live so, that it is not they that live, but Christ that lives in them. A Christian spirit is Christ’s mark that he sets upon the souls of his people; his seal in their foreheads, bearing his image and superscription.”

Consider how the Spirit’s descent upon Christ as a dove instructs us in this matter. “The dove is a noted emblem of meekness, harmlessness, peace and love. But the same Spirit that descended on the Head of the Church, descends to the members.” God has sent forth the same Spirit into our hearts (see Gal. 4:6) such that if any person doesn’t have the Spirit he does not belong to Christ (see Rom. 8:9). Christ himself breathes the Spirit into his followers (see John 20:22), the same Spirit with whom all believers have been anointed (see 1 John 2:20, 27).

Let’s consider meekness, forgiveness, love, and mercy or compassion in particular. That all Christ’s disciples will display a meekness like his is evident from the way he compares them to the temperament of little children (see Matt. 10:42; 18:6, 10, 14; 19:14; John 13:33). Meekness that is a sign of genuine affections entails innocence, harmlessness, the absence of unrighteous anger, guilelessness, simplicity, and a yieldable and flexible spirit.

This is not to deny that there is a place in the Christian heart for fortitude and boldness for Christ. But many misunderstand the nature of this boldness.

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