3.  “For though ye have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15).  No clearer statement could be made as to the power exercised in begetting men to a new life.  They are begotten through the gospel.

4.  “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures” (Jas. 1:18).  This is as clear as the one above it.  We are brought forth by the Word of truth.

5.  “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them” (Matt. 13:15).  To be healed, one must be converted; to be converted, one must understand with the heart; to understand with the heart, one must perceive and hear.  But the people the Lord mentions were not healed.  Why?  Because they were not converted.  Why were they not converted?  Because they had not perceived with their eyes and heard with their ears.  Why had they not seen and heard!  “Their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest at any time they should see with their eyes, And hear with their ears.”  Men talk of the Bible being a sealed book.  They would better talk of sealed eyes, ears and hearts, as does the Saviour.

IX

THE SPIRIT AND CHRISTIANS

It has been aptly and truthfully said that “no importance can be attached to a religion that is not begun, carried on and completed by the Spirit of God.”  That the Christian is led, guided and strengthened by the Spirit can not be denied by any Bible reader.  To deny the fact that the Spirit dwells in us is to deny the Bible.  But it is asserted with equal clearness in the Divine Word that God dwells in us.  “And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Cor. 6:16).  This not only says that God will dwell in us, but that he walks in us.  It is also clearly taught that Christ dwells in us.  “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love” (Eph. 3:17).

Now, if God, Christ and the Spirit dwell in us, is there any teaching that the Spirit dwells in us in a different sense from that in which the Father and the Son dwell in us?  How, then, does the Father dwell in us?  By referring to Lev. 26:12, from which Paul quoted, we find that God promised to be in communion with Israel, but there is nothing in the passage to show his personal indwelling in any one person.  How does Christ dwell in us?  The passage above quoted says, “Christ shall dwell