For Matthew Chapter 5, the outline in the Recovery Version of the Bible opens up to us “The Decree of the Kingdom’s Constitution concerning…
1) The nature of the kingdom people, 2) The influence of the kingdom people, and 3) The law of the kingdom people.
We encourage you to read this whole chapter. The humanity presented by our Lord Jesus in this chapter is the highest humanity. Many of us would wonder if what is found here is even attainable. The last verse tells us how our Lord feels about this. It is an unwavering statement.
You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. – Matthew 5:48
The context for this verse is love, and love is God’s nature. In this Bible study, we want to linger on this unwavering and now resounding statement and enter into its being worked out in us. Ready? Let’s go.
Out of the desire of God’s heart, and for the fulfilling of His eternal purpose, God made a decision to create man. He did this in eternity past. The Bible then describes this creation in Genesis.
Zechariah 12:1 The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him,
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Ephesians 2:22 In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit,
Ephesians 6:18 By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints,
Romans 1:9a For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son
Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.
2 Timothy 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.
Fellowship to help us know Christ and pursue Him
God created us with a human spirit for good reason. The human spirit matches God’s Spirit so that God can dispense Himself into us. We know from John 4:24 that God is Spirit, and by all the verses above (and so many more) we also see that we have a human spirit. By it we contact God and receive Him! John 3:6 shows us that the part in our being where we were born again was our human spirit.
A hymn titled “There’s a Life That’s Deeper than our Mind” talks about touching our human spirit. In this hymn there is also a call to the Christ who is in our spirit to come make home in our heart– that is, to spread out from our human spirit to our whole being. (You can see the lyrics to the whole hymn here: https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/ns/217 ).
When we touch our spirit—such a thrill! This is far beyond emotion, mind, and will— It’s within our hidden part— Come, make home in all our heart; Let Your presence flow as rivers deep within.
All the genuine spiritual experiences in our Christian life are experiences in our human spirit.
We may have previously thought that we were only made of an inner part and an outer part, but the Bible reveals a third part, the human spirit. How wonderful it is to discover our human spirit!
