In This Issue

• THE GALILEAN WOMEN

• INDWELLING: DEITY IN HUMANITY

• MORE INFORMATION...

THE GALILEAN WOMEN

As Jesus was being crucified, “there were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome, who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee; and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.” (Mark 15:40-41). 

Matthew’s account apparently refers to these same three women as “[1] Mary Magdalene, [2] Mary the mother of James and Joses, and [3] the mother of the sons of Zebedee” (Matt. 27:56). If indeed Matthew is referring to the same women as referred to by Mark, we learn from a combination of the two passages that Salome was the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee. One of the other women mentioned by Matthew and Mark was “Mary, the mother of James the Less and of Joses.” In addition to these women mentioned specifically, Matthew and Mark say there were “many other women,” (Mark 15:41; Matt. 27:55).

Luke, in an earlier context had told of some Galilean women who had been delivered by Jesus from demon possession and other infirmities, and who traveled with Jesus and His apostles and ministered to them of their means. These women included Mary Magdalene, Joanna (wife of Chuza, a steward of Herod Antipas) and Susanna, Luke 8:1-3. Susanna is not mentioned again by name, but Luke mentions Joanna again in connection with Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, Luke 23:54 through 24:10. 

Fausset’s Bible Dictionary describes Chuza with the following comments: “Herod's house steward, husband of Joanna, who ministered to the Lord of her substance (Luke 8:3). Subsequently, she was one of the women who, on the morning of the resurrection, brought spices to complete the Lord's burial (Luke 24:10), and who came and told the eleven and all the rest of His being no longer in the tomb, and of their having seen angels. We read in Matt 14:1, ‘Herod heard of the fame of Jesus, and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist, who is risen from the dead.’ The reason does not in Matthew appear why Herod addressed his servants about Christ; but we infer it from Luke's incidental mention of Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, as among the women ministering to Christ. Also from the margin of Acts 13:1, where ‘Manaen, Herod's foster brother,’ appears among the Christian ‘prophets.’ How naturally, since Christ had followers among Herod's household, did that prince turn to his servants for information about Christ. The undesigned coincidence is a proof of the gospel veracity.”

Jesus’ mother, Mary, was also at the cross and it was just before His death that the Lord charged the apostle John with her care. That apostle took her into his home and cared for her as if she were his own mother, John 19:25-27.

-Clarence R. Johnson

INDWELLING: DEITY IN HUMANITY

No one can successfully deny that God dwells in man. Too many passages of Scripture tell us that all three divine Persons live and work within the righteous for us to dispute the fact. The great misunderstanding of many revolves around the question, “How does deity dwell in humanity?” Paul provides the answer to that question in his prayer for the Ephesians, Eph. 3:16-17.

Strengthened Through the Spirit

“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16).

The Lord has promised that He will “supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). The grace of God showers unlimited gifts upon us from God’s unlimited storehouse. God gives to a degree corresponding to His treasures (cf. Eph. 1:7). His blessings are given according to His ability to give. They not only come out of His glory but according to His glory. The glory of God is the perfection of God in everything, the showing forth of His very nature, (Eph. 1:6, 17): His grace, Eph. 1:2, 6; 2:7-8); His love (Eph. 1:5; 2:4); His mercy (Eph. 1:4); His power (Eph. 1:19; 3:7); His wisdom (Eph. 3:10).

Have you ever felt weak spiritually? Paul’s first request in this prayer beseeches God to fortify Christians enabling them to stand firm (cf. 1 Cor. 16:13). Surely all of us have fallen into temptations, faced trials, or been called upon to perform responsibilities which we felt unable to handle without help. We need power from God to make us mighty in the face of these challenges. The power we need is the power of God; the same power which raised Christ from the dead (Eph. 1:19-20; 6:10; Col. 1:11). Where we need the power is in the inward man, the heart, the mind, the conscience, the will (cf. Matt. 15:19; 22:37; Phil. 1:7; 1 Tim. 1:5; Prov. 4:23; 2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 7:22). The inward man is the rational self, the true person. To live and work for Christ requires moral strength, not physical prowess (1 Cor. 16:13; Phil. 4:13). All this emphasizes that Paul is not pleading for special miraculous gifts of an exciting physical manifestation. He is praying that God would work His power upon the inner man, through the Spirit. The Spirit strengthens the inner man by instructing, revealing the will of the Lord to him, feeding him knowledge. He is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation (John 1:17). He instructs, reveals, and feeds by making known the mind of God in the written word (1 Cor. 2:9-13). We receive the Spirit by the hearing of faith (Gal. 3:2). Paul is praying that out of His exhaustless grace, love, mercy, power, and wisdom, God will make known through His Holy Spirit to a degree commensurate with those great characteristics the understanding necessary to strengthen them in heart and spirit. God’s word is powerful to make the Christian mighty in the face of trials, temptations, and responsibilities.

Indwelt by Christ

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:17a).

Christ dwelling in us and our being strengthened through the Spirit are not two different processes. They go together (Rom. 8:9ff; Gal. 2:20). The Spirit reveals the great truths about Christ and His will (Col. 1:9-11). The metaphor involves the picture of Christ making His home within our hearts, living in us, abiding or continually dwelling in us as a result of our being strengthened through the Spirit. Paul is praying for closer communion, more submission, and greater commitment to Christ. Notice the stress on our knowledge and apprehension of truth in the following verses (Ephesians chapter 4). Christ comes into our hearts by faith (Rev. 3:20).
The Scriptures teach that each of the three Divine Persons dwells in us (1 John 3:24; 4:12-15). Not only so, but we also abide in the Father. That should make it obvious that literal, personal possession of our beings is not under consideration. We do not literally inhabit the person of the Father in the supernatural sense. Neither does He abide us in that way. John says that if we keep His commandments (3:24), love one another (4:12), and confess Jesus (4:15), God dwells in us and we dwell in God. It is a representative or figurative indwelling indicating a close association and harmony of spirits. We know that we dwell in Him because we love and keep His word (1 John 2:3-6; 2:24). We know that He dwells in us because He has given us of His Spirit (1 John 4:13); that is, we have been anointed by God with the Spirit’s revelation, which teaches us concerning all things (1 John 2:20, 27). He dwells in us by influencing us by the Word He has caused to be known by us. We dwell in Him when we keep that Word.

Jesus Christ dwells in us. We also dwell in Him (John 15:1-7); Eph. 3:17; John 14:23; Rom. 8:10; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27; John 17:23). Reading these passages again impresses us with the representative character of Divine indwelling. Christ dwelling in us is a figurative metaphor suggesting oneness, harmony, unity of purpose, communion, and close association. Christ dwells in us through His word abiding in us (compare John 15:4 and John 15:7). We abide in Him by loving His words and keeping them. That is what is meant by Paul when he prays “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Eph. 3:17).

The Holy Spirit dwells in us (1 Cor. 6:19; 3:16; Eph. 5:18; Rom. 8:9). We are also in the Spirit. Again, the figure is representative of the close association and harmony that exists. The Spirit dwells in us as the Word of Christ abides in us. We have received the Spirit by the hearing of faith (Gal. 3:2). The Christian should recognize that having the Spirit in us and having Christ in us is not two different processes (read Rom. 8:9-10). However Christ dwells in us, the Spirit dwells in us. As a matter of fact, each member of Deity dwells in us in the same way; that is, by influencing us through the revealed Word of God.

This kind of expression is not foreign to our language and our modern way of thinking. We speak of parents living in their children, of lovers having each other in their hearts, of teachers abiding in their students, and of national leaders possessing the hearts of their peoples. Obviously we are not speaking of a direct and personal indwelling nor of direct and personal enforcement of the will of one upon the other when we use these terms. We are addressing the fact that there is close harmony of thinking and feeling between two persons. So it is with God and man.

What, therefore, from a practical standpoint does the expression mean? We are told that Christ (or God the Father or the Holy Spirit) dwells in us by faith. When another persons dwells in someone, what exactly is involved? I want to offer the following suggestions:

a) When another person dwells in you, you think about them all the time! When a boy dwells in the heart of his young lady, she cannot get him out of her mind. So it is with the Lord. If Christ dwells in your heart, you think about Him and meditate upon His character and things that He says continually. Isn’t that what Paul is saying when he appeals to us to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col. 3:16)?

b) When another person dwells in you, you develop the same attitudes toward things that they have. It is amazing to me how nearly alike husband and wife who are truly in love come to think about things after they have lived together several years. If Christ lives in you, you will come to feel about right living, about sin, about the things of the world, about the things of God, the same way the Lord does. Paul reminded us that our bodies are members of Christ and just asked if we should join our bodies to a harlot. He said, “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” Then he said, “Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you” (1 Cor. 6:15-20). The point is that it is totally inconsistent for the Christian to live in sin because if the Spirit dwells within him he does not love sin. He knows it hurts himself and pushes out the Lord.

c) When another person dwells in you, you develop the same attitudes toward other people that they have. That is not to argue how much we should be influenced by others in our attitude toward people. It is just to express the fact of it. We tend to look with suspicion upon those who are so viewed by our loved ones and we tend to love those whom our loved ones love. John said, “If we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12). We love the people of God. We will also have the kind of love for the people of the world that Jesus had.

d) When another person dwells in you, you want what they want. Husband and wife want the same kind of house, the same kind of recreation, and the same kinds of food when they intertwine their lives in faithful marriage. Do not take these illustrations to extremes, but see the point. If Christ is in us we will want to worship. We will want the body of Christ to grow. We will want to go to heaven. We will want God’s truth on any point of issue.

e) When another person dwells in you, you will want to be what will please him. A young man who is filled with the girl of his dreams wants to be the strongest (if it pleases her), the wisest (if it pleases her), the riches (if that is what she wants), the most secure (if that suits her). “Whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17). “He that keepeth his commandments abideth in him and he in him” (1John 3:24). These statements and so many others indicate that closeness with the Lord and complete harmony is what is meant by His dwelling in us. Think about it.

-Colly Caldwell, Broadmoor Beacon, Nashville, TN

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