The Spirit Supplied
By J.P. Thackway
… and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
Philippians 1:19
J.P. Thackway
Paul writes from confinement at Rome to believers in the church at Philippi. The words of our text are part of his testimony. He had earlier expressed a longing to minister at Rome (Romans 1:10,11,15). And about three years later the Lord gave him his desire, but in a surprising way. He came there, not as a free man as when he preached in other places. He came under house arrest, and was remanded in custody pending his hearing before the emperor (Acts 28:16,19).
This limited Paul to receiving visitors and ministering to them privately (Acts 28:30,31). How different, and potentially disappointing! And yet to Paul this was simply an alternative sphere in which to serve the Master. He was, “the prisoner of Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:1), not the prisoner of Nero.
It reminds us that the Lord may answer our prayers in ways different from what we hoped. But when so, “our disappointments are His appointments.” It is that He may do something even better for us. And when we humbly and gladly embrace His will, we see providence unfold and His perfect way appear (Psalm 18:30; 107:7). God never gives “second best.”
Paul says the experience will be profitable to him as the believers at Philippi remember him – “your prayer;” and in answer, he receives “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”
Notice, Paul does not ask that his appeal be successful, or that he might escape death. He wants the experience to be sanctified to him. He recognises, as we must, that God’s work through him must include a work in him. What we are is always more important than what we do. And this experience, if blessed to Paul, will be by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
“The supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”is an interesting phrase, and only found here. Let us consider this unique description to see what this meant for Paul – and what it can mean for us.
1. HIS TITLE
“The Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Paul describes Him with reference to our Lord – His saving name: “Jesus;” and His Messianic title: “Christ.”
1] There is a reason for this.
It is because He is the Spirit whom the Father promised to Jesus Christ in the Covenant of Grace. He would equip the Mediator to fulfil what He engaged with the Father to do. The third Person of the Godhead would minister to the second Person of the Godhead in the days of His flesh! Coming into the world to save us, the Spirit would wonderfully help our Lord. By Him “The LORD (would be) the saving strength of his anointed” (Psalm 28:8).
2] A heavenly enduement.
In Matthew 3:17 we see the Spirit descending upon Christ at His baptism, and the Father (echoing Isaiah 42:1 “mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth”), saying, “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Spirit came to service our Lord’s Manhood for the stupendous work of redemption. He did not need this as God, but He accepted it as God’s incarnate Servant. This is confirmed in Isaiah 48:16, where the Messiah says, “the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.” As George Smeaton wrote,
The task assigned to the Spirit, and carried out by Him in all respects, was to anoint and equip the Mediator for all the duties of that servant’s place which He was abased to fill.[1]
3] This was all our incarnate Redeemer needed.
“The Spirit of Jesus Christ.”The Father was not going to send His Son on this colossal mission without the Spirit enabling Him to fulfil it. Here is the supply of heaven for heaven’s Beloved One.
4] It is true, the Father gave Him other helps.
a] Angels ministered to Him.
As Jonathan Edwards wrote, “The angels … were committed to him, to be subject to him in his mediatorial office, to be ministering spirits to Him in this affair.”[2] We can see this as our Lord undergoes His temptations in the wilderness (Mark 1:13), His agony in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43), His resurrection (Matthew 28:2-7; John 20:12,13), and His ascension (Acts 1:9-11). Truly, He was “seen of angels” (1 Timothy 3:16).
b] Disciples ministered to Him.
How much their love and support meant! The home at Bethany (Luke 10:38-42)). The women “which ministered unto him of their substance” (Luke 8:3). However, they were not always consistent. Our Lord had to ask, “Where is your faith?” … “Could ye not watch with me one hour?” (Luke 8:25; Matthew 26:40). We detect the note of disappointment in such words, for our Lord appreciated the company and trust of His own while in the world. He loved them unto the end and treasured their love.
c] However, the greatest ministry was that of the Spirit.
We can see this throughout the Gospels, for example in Luke 4:1,14 where we read,
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
And Peter could preach in Acts 10:38,
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power … for God was with him.
This wonderful provision enabled our Lord right up to the climax of His work on the cross. M’Cheyne expresses it beautifully, quoting Hebrews 9:14,
Never did the Holy Ghost find such a rest as in the bosom of Emmanuel – never did He find such a home as that … And when He hung on the Cross, the Holy Spirit seemed still to be within Him. God the Father hid His face from Him; for He cried out, My God, My God, etc. As if He had said, ‘I thought that thou wouldst have been the last in the world to have forsaken me.’ Even then the Spirit was dwelling within Him; for it is written, He, through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God.[3]
And then, heaven’s Amen to His finished work – His resurrection – when He was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).
5] This gives our Lord His Messianic title.
“Christ”translates the Greek christos, which literally means, “anointed,” i.e. with the Spirit. This is from the metaphor of oil, the symbol of the Holy Spirit. It is used of the Messiah in Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings…” In Hebrews 1:9 Paul quotes Psalm 45:7 referring to Christ, “God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”
Commenting on this, Dr. Gill wrote,
The anointed is the Son of God, the Son spoken to … as Mediator, to be prophet, and priest, and King: what he is anointed with is not material oil, but spiritual, the Holy Ghost, … called ‘the oil of gladness,’ an allusion to the use of oil at feasts and weddings, for the delight and refreshment of the guests; and because of the spiritual effects of joy and gladness, both on Christ, as man, and on His people.
The mention of “and on his people” reminds us that the Spirit given to Christ is also given to us. His resurrection was the beginning of His exaltation, and Peter declared, “being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). In other words, Christ’s anointing is also our anointing. Gill continues,
Now Christ was anointed as Mediator from all eternity; … but he was declared to be Lord and Christ, the anointed one; and received gifts for men, the fullness of the Spirit without measure, and with which he was anointed above his ‘fellows;’ by whom are meant, not the angels, nor the kings and princes of the earth; but the saints, who are so called, because they are of the same nature, and are of the same family, and are partakers of the same spirit, and grace; and having received the unction from him, are also kings, priests, and prophets, and will be companions with him to all eternity.[4]
This is wonderful! Christ has made us partakers of the same Holy Spirit that He has! Remember the anointing of Aaron in Psalm 133:2. There, the oil went over his head, down his beard and onto the skirts of his garments – a picture of the Spirit upon Christ, and upon His members, the church, also. Union with Jesus Christ means we partake of His Spirit. We are anointed ones too, who have “an unction from the Holy One” (1 John 2:20) and are “Christ-ians” (Acts 11:26). What has been supplied to Christ is supplied to us; without measure to Him; and in measure to us.
2. HIS SUPPLY
“The supply of the Spirit.”He can be supplied to Paul – and to us. What does this mean in our experience and in practical terms?
1] We share in this wonderful supply.
The Spirit Who ministered to the incarnate Son of God will minister to you and me also! This is an encouraging precedent!
2] The Spirit will be all we need.
“Supply”(epichoregia) is an interesting word. It is in its strengthened form, and means a very generous payment to a chorus master to ensure a lavish production. The Spirit therefore is not barely enough for us: He is abundantly supplied.
This encourages us to trust that, when our need comes, the divine supply will come. We do not get tomorrow’s grace today. The supply of the Spirit is there for us when the need is there, and not before. “Take no thought for the morrow…” (Matthew 6:34).
An interesting question arises at this point: does this mean the supply the Spirit provides, or the supply that is the Spirit Himself? Is the Spirit the Giver or the Gift? For J.B. Lightfoot, the Greek will bear either interpretation, and we can take it as being both. In my view, this is correct. We can illustrate it this way. When Boaz married Ruth, (Ruth 4:13) were her needs met by what he gave to her – or by what he was to her? Both are true – these are two ways of looking at the same thing. And both are wonderfully true of the supply of the Spirit.
3] Let us apply this to ourselves.
a] Are you a minister, a preacher?
We say, “Who is sufficient for these things?” But here is our help – in full supply. What was true of the Messiah can be true for us: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings…” The Spirit is supplied to enlighten, enliven, enlarge, empower, and enable us to be “the LORD’s messenger in the LORD’S message unto the people” (Haggai 1:13). This is how our sufficiency is of God, and how the Lord speaks through us: the Spirit of truth in the Word of truth. Let us venture forth and trust to this promised supply. As an old divine put it: “I go, He comes.”
We know there is a sovereignty is the Spirit’s working. Sometimes we feel marvellously helped in preaching. Other times we feel anything but – and yet those are often the most fruitful times. God will hide pride from us and use “earthen vessels” for His glory alone. Kenneth Macrae once wrote in his diary, “I had no sense of liberty and felt very disappointed. On my return home, however, a remark of Matthew Henry comforted me: ‘When God’s servants are bound, yet His word and Spirit are not bound; spiritual children may then be born to them.’ May it be so.’”
b] Are you persecuted?
Like Paul here, but here is your help also. The supply of the Spirit was such that Paul could “rejoice” (1:18). This is like our Lord in this world, who, though the man of sorrows, yet could “rejoice in spirit,” literally “in the Spirit” (Luke 10:21). Joy is one of the Spirit’s fruit (Galatians 5:22). The new Christians at Thessalonica had “received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost” (1 Thessalonians 1:6) – the joy was more powerful than the affliction.
Sometimes, however, persecution comes by being criticised by fellow-Christians. Not gracious, constructive criticism (Psalm 141:5), but the withering, destructive kind. This is hard to bear. We struggle with vengeful feelings, we self-justify, we argue with the person in our head, and much more. It is a comfort to know that the Lord Jesus experienced this, and He suffers with you as you suffer for Him. And the Spirit who was upon our Lord is upon you also. Do what He did, who “reviled not again … (and) threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:23). Leave your cause and reputation in your Father’s hands: “O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause” (Lamentations 3:59).
c] Are you tempted?
Doubtless you will be, because remaining sin never weakens, and often revives with new strength. Therefore “we … through the Spirit (must) mortify the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). Although our Lord had no carnal lusts to mortify, He had a devil to resist and temptation to reject. And the Spirit led Him in this (Luke 4:1). He is given to us also.
That gracious Spirit will quicken in us a loathing of sin and will strengthen us against it. He raises gratitude to the Lord for the gospel, inflames our hearts with love to Christ, and produces hunger for holiness (Matthew 5:6). In all this, He enables us to resist temptation from the highest motives, and keep close to our dear Redeemer.
And He will lovingly convict us of what caused the temptation in the first place. That second look, that second thought, dipping into forbidden territory, the unwise association, and a host of other subtle invitations to the tempter. We should not only keep at the greatest distance from sin but also the greatest distance from temptation to sin.
d] Do you need wisdom?
We feel this lack very much (James 1:5). However, the Spirit that was upon our Redeemer is “the spirit of wisdom and understanding” (Isaiah 11:2) and He is ours to work in us that heavenly wisdom (James 3:17). Let us pray for this every day. And let us heed the lessons the Holy Spirit teaches us through the Word, through experiences in life, through the example of others – even through our sinful failures – that we might be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16).
e] Do you struggle with a mysterious providence?
The Spirit is supplied to help you view things spiritually. Paul is our example as he assures the Philippians that “the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel” (1:12). The phrase “fallen out” means literally “to come:” that is, to come about, come into being: there is purpose in it. It has not just happened but also “fallen out” from the lap of God’s providence (Proverbs 16:33). This is true of everything. Nothing happens of itself, by chance, or merely by human agency – God is the great First Cause. He rules and overrules all things for our highest good and blessing. Mysterious providences are not mysterious to Him. He says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11).
f] Do you feel afraid and weak?
Here is a word for you. The Spirit supplies the strength you need. Again, Paul could say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). The word is literally “in-strengthened.” The indwelling Comforter does not give us a stock of grace to live upon, but the continual supply of the Spirit to us as pensioners. In this way we are kept dependent, but kept blessed. It is a supply always as great as our need.
g] Are you troubled about dying?
Many Christians are. They echo the words,
Such a worm as I,
Who sometimes am afraid to die?
We need divine assurance for this ultimate experience, for we “have not passed this way heretofore” (Joshua 3:4). The Holy Spirit can supply this, for in Romans 15:13 we read, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” We can then be like the apostle in his custody, where he is indifferent as to whether he dies or lives (Philippians 1:20-24).
4] Let us remember this comes when believers pray.
“Through your prayer.” He assumes he has their prayers – he does not need to ask for them. What a privilege to be prayed for! David was grateful for those who upheld him (Psalm 54:4). Compared with the Philippians’ material gifts (Philippians 4:18) this was the best gift of all.
What better thing can we do than to pray for others! To ask for them the supply of the Spirit! “God never denied that soul anything that went as far as heaven to ask it,” said John Trapp. They may not be in prison, but there is the “prison” of discouragement, Satan’s oppression, an “impossible” situation, depression, fear, etc. Ask for the supply of the Spirit for them, as well as for yourself.
Ask for your family members. For your
minister and office-bearers. For the church. For the persectuted. For
missionaries. For fellow believers. That we all might know “the supply of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ.”
[1] The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, T & T. Clark, 1889, page 122.
[2] History of Redemption, page 30.
[3] Quoted in Banner of Truth magazine, April 2011, page 14.
[4] Commentary, in loc.