Praying in the Spirit
Praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and
supplication for all saints. Ephesians 6:18 (KJV)
What does it mean to Pray in the Spirit.
Most commentators and many translations
(such as the King James, above) translate the Greek as “Pray in the Spirit”
(Spirit with a capital ‘S’).
But is this true to the original language
and consistent with the rest of Scripture?
Those of Charismatic persuasion often place
tremendous emphasis on being, walking, praying and living IN the Spirit. This
focus on IN the Spirit is epitomised by glossolalia
– speaking (tongues) in the Spirit. The verse that is often used in argument of
this is Romans 8:9 – “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit…”
There is a semantic problem with this, and
that is the difference between being in and having in (within). Building a
doctrine on semantics is a very dangerous thing. Proponents of this view
neglect the second part of the verse which goes on to say, “… if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you…”
So to focus solely on us being IN the
Spirit or IN Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30, 4:15, 15:18-19, 22, 2 Corinthians
5:17, Galatians 1:22, 3:28, Ephesians 1:1, Philippians 1:1, 1 Thessalonians
2:14, 4:1, Philemon 1:8, 1 Peter 5:14) without considering the necessity for us
to be filled personally, is considering the Holy Spirit to be the vessel and
our human spirit the power within. We are the vessel (Isaiah 64:8, Jeremiah
18:4-7), God is the potter and the Holy Spirit is the oil that fill us (Matthew
25:1-13) so that we may be lights to the world (Matthew 5:14).
James S. Hewett writes in Illustrations
Unlimited (Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, Wheaton, Ill. 1988, p303), ‘One Sunday on their way home from church, a little girl turned to
her mother and said, "Mommy, the preacher's sermon this morning confused
me. The mother said, "Oh? Why is that?" The little girl replied,
"Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?" The
mother replied, "Yes, that's true, honey." "And he also said
that God lives in us? Is that true Mommy?" Again the mother replied,
"Yes." "Well," said the little girl, "if God is bigger
than us and he lives in us, wouldn't He show through?"’
If you placed a bath-sponge in a container
of water you could legitimately say that the sponge is IN the water. But as the
sponge does what all sponges do (soaks up the water), it would be more accurate
to say that the water is IN the sponge. This does not negate the former, but
focuses our attention upon the latter. When we daily invite the baptism of the
Spirit, we become baptised (literally fully immersed) in Him, and like the
sponge, we become fully absorbed with Him.
A second consideration when considering the
argument for ‘Praying in the Spirit’ is that when the phrase ‘in the spirit’ is
used in Scripture, the word ‘spirit’ does not necessarily always refer to the
Holy Spirit. In some verses it is obvious that God’s Spirit is being referred
to (see, for example, Ezekiel 37:1, Revelation 1:10 , 4:2, 17:3, 21:10 ).
John the Baptist being ‘in the spirit’ in
Luke 1:17 refers to the spirit power (pneuma
dunamis) of Elijah. Undoubtedly this came from God, but the verse does not
claim that John was ‘in the Spirit’. In Galatians 5:16 and 25, Paul talks about
living and walking in the Spirit, but the development of this outward habit
requires inward habitation (of the Holy Spirit).
I wrote to a theologian colleague to ask
for a peer-to-peer comment on this concept, and this is what he wrote in reply
(Email 10 Dec 2008):
“It is very brave of you to argue with the
scholars and commentary writers, but I must concur – your argument alleviates
my anxiety over the divinium mysterium.
Your erudition has me kicking myself for not seeing it that way it first.”
– Dr Arthur N Patrick (BA, MA, MDiv, DMin,
MLitt, PhD)
So let us focus, not on being and doing IN
the Spirit, but focus on inviting the Spirit’s being and doing in and through
us. We cannot ever smugly assert that we are in the Spirit or that we walk
and talk in the Spirit. But let us
humbly ask the Spirit’s help for us to empty ourselves and be filled with Him.
– Lionel Hartley
