Spir Dynamics 72-78 10/28/92

THE FORMATION OF SPIRITUAL I.Q.

A. The Significance of the Two Births.

1. The person who believes in Jesus Christ has two births. The first birth is a physical birth, at which point we have the origin of human life plus the origin of spiritual death. The second birth is a spiritual birth, in which we have the origin of eternal life and spiritual life.

2. In the postsalvation spiritual life of the believer, there must be a spiritual I.Q. which provides for each one of us equal opportunity and equal privilege to execute the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. This cannot be accomplished on the basis of equality from human I.Q. It can only be accomplished through an I.Q. provided by God in eternity past.

3. Mortal human beings in copulation can only produce a human body, classified as biological life. Mortal human beings cannot produce the immortal soul. This is the work of God the Father, who creates the immortal soul at the point of physical birth for every member of the human race. God has to create a human soul at birth in the case of every human being, and that soul has self-consciousness, mentality, volition, and emotion. From the mentality of the soul comes the six spiritual skills. A skill has to be developed; it is only a potential.

4. The thinking skills (which relate to potential human I.Q.) must be converted into spiritual I.Q. There is nothing in physical birth that helps us execute God’s plan, God’s will, and God’s purpose for our lives. We are not born equal; we are born again equal. God has provided for spiritual growth and the execution of His plan a fantastic equality that does not depend on any form of human I.Q. An unbeliever genius, when he becomes a believer, has no advantage over the believer with a low I.Q., so that perception and metabolization of doctrine is not dependent on anything we bring from physical life. Thinking skills are those skills from which human I.Q. is derived.

a. Comprehension, which is the function of spiritual I.Q. under the filling of the Spirit plus Operation Z. The result is maximum metabolized doctrine circulating in the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness.

b. Memory, which is the circulating of metabolized doctrine in memory center for recall.

c. Problem solving, which is the use of the ten problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

d. Decision making, which is the precise and correct procedure of analyzing all circumstances of life in light of the word of God and making decisions which are compatible with the plan, will, and purpose of God for your life. The power and ability from metabolized doctrine to understand the issues of life, to clarify in your own thinking the solutions, and to make decisions which are compatible with the will of God as revealed in the Scripture.

e. Creativity, which is the recovery of truth based on divine viewpoint. The result is mental attitude divine viewpoint which focuses on true Bible doctrine.

f. Awareness. The ultimate function of awareness is the application of extensive knowledge of Bible doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness. You become aware of things and do not understand them and you want to know about them. Awareness of Bible doctrine stimulates curiosity, motivates the desire for more understanding of the word of God. The more doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness the greater your awareness. Awareness perpetuates Bible doctrine as the number one priority of your scale of values.

(1) Awareness is developed in many ways, for example, thoughtfulness of others. Awareness is to know and understand people, to think about someone besides yourself. You do things to avoid hurting others or making their life miserable in your presence. People avoid someone who is going to make them miserable.

(2) Awareness contributes to restructuring your scale of values, restructuring to give Bible doctrine number one priority.

(3) Awareness plus the spiritual skill of the filling of the Spirit results in increasing metabolized doctrine in your stream of consciousness.

(4) Awareness contributes to the accurate interpretation of Scripture, resulting in a more comprehensive understanding of biblical systematic theology.

(5) Awareness demands accurate and precise application of Bible doctrine to your own experience.

5. When the fetus emerges from the womb, God creates soul life and imputes it to that biological life to form human life. God creates human life by imputing the immortal soul to the biological life. Simultaneously, the male in copulation provides the sin nature. The sin nature is not in the soul except by the function of human volition. At birth, God imputes to the sin nature Adam’s original sin to form spiritual death. This is true in the case of every human being except our Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritual death is total separation from God, total depravity, and total inability to do anything for eternal salvation. This is why our Lord said, “You must be born again.”

6. In the cell structure of biological life is the sin nature. The sin nature seeks to gain control of the soul through sin. This is the great struggle of total depravity. When we received soul life at birth, that activated the functions of the sin nature, which became the basis for total depravity. This has a great deal to do with human I.Q., the six thinking skills which have to be developed.

7. The unbeliever cannot understand spiritual phenomena with his six thinking skills: comprehension, memory, problem solving, decision making, creativity, awareness. 1 Cor 2:14, “But the natural man [unbeliever] does not accept the things [spiritual phenomena] from the Spirit of God; for to him, it is foolishness, furthermore he is not able to understand it, because it is examined [comprehended] in a manner caused by the filling of the Spirit.”

a. From human life, there is great inequality in physical ability and human I.Q. When we are born again, the inequality related to spiritual life is wiped out and replaced by the formation of a spiritual I.Q. which is not handicapped even by the most difficult of Bible doctrines.

b. For the unbeliever, spiritual death plus whatever thinking skills are developed equal ignorance of Bible doctrine and total inability to understand even the gospel. Therefore, the importance of God the Holy Spirit in the ministry of common and efficacious grace.

(1) In common grace, God the Holy Spirit merges spiritual phenomena into our human thinking skills to give academic understanding to our human souls. The spiritual phenomena is understood whether the human I.Q. is low or high; the human ability makes no difference. The spiritually dead person under total depravity and total helplessness now understands the gospel. This is the call of God.

(2) In efficacious grace, God the Holy Spirit takes faith alone in Christ alone and makes it effective for salvation of the human soul from the human body with the sin nature. It takes just a little more faith than none at all to save a person because it all depends on God the Holy Spirit. If we are to live with God forever, we must have more than immortal soul life; we must have eternal life.

c. Dichotomy and trichotomy have coexisted since the fall and salvation of man. At the point of salvation, God the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit, so that we can understand spiritual phenomena. Unbelievers do not have a human spirit, Jude 19, “These [unbelievers] are the ones who cause divisions, soulish, not having a human spirit.” Once we believe, our status is trichotomous, as stated in 1 Thes 5:23, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The unbeliever is dichotomous, having only a soul and body, but the believer is trichotomous, having a body, soul, and spirit.

8. Therefore, God has provided for all believers a system of spiritual perception based on the fact we now have a human spirit. This combines the ministry of the filling of the Holy Spirit with the believer’s human spirit in Operation Z, the metabolization of Bible doctrine.

a. Job 32:8, “But it is the spirit of man and the Spirit of the Almighty that gives perception.”

b. Rom 8:16, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.”

9. The filling of the Spirit is the basis for the spiritual I.Q. and based on the principle of equality. Our Lord delineated the fact that the Holy Spirit would be our teacher during the Church Age, Jn 14:26; 16:12-14. Paul declared this in detail in 1 Cor 2:9-16.

B. The filling of the Holy Spirit must be distinguished from spiritual skills.

1. A skill is defined as the ability to do something well, resulting from training and practice, or both. A skill is acquired. We are not born with skills. A skill is also competent excellence in performance.

2. Since a skill is something attained or acquired, it can be acquired through comprehension, understanding, cognition, inculcation, as well as other skills attained by practice. Spiritual skills are acquired through comprehension, understanding, and cognition.

3. The filling of the Holy Spirit is not a spiritual skill but a grace gift from God at the point of salvation through faith in Christ. There are three spiritual skills we develop as believers.

a. The attainment of metabolized Bible doctrine (the Greek word is epignosis) through the filling of the Spirit related to Operation Z. The Holy Spirit teaches the human spirit acquired at salvation. The human spirit was created by the Holy Spirit at salvation in order to have a spiritual I.Q. and in order to fulfill regeneration because God the Father imputed His very own eternal life to that human spirit.

b. From metabolized Bible doctrine, you form the ten problem solving devices which you put on the defense line of your soul to defend the soul against the outside pressures of prosperity or adversity from penetrating and controlling the soul. You can meet and handle every injustice and adversity in life with these problem solving devices.

c. The ultimate of attainment is the execution of the protocol plan of God, which glorifies God.

4. The unbeliever does not have any of these spiritual skills. He has thinking skills but they are limited by his spiritual death and totally incapable of any cognition of Bible doctrine. Spiritual death at birth has three characteristics: total separation from God, total depravity from the sin nature, and total helplessness to attain a relationship with God. The presalvation status quo is: human life plus thinking skills plus spiritual death equals human I.Q. minus Bible doctrine. (HL + TS + SD = Hu I.Q. - BD)

5. The believer can lose the filling of the Spirit as soon as he or she commits their first sin after salvation. If they fail to use the rebound technique (1 Jn 1:9), they will spend the rest of their Christian life grieving and quenching the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit is a divine mandate found in Eph 5:18, “...stop being intoxicated with wine by which is dissipation, but keep on being filled with the Spirit.” You do not feel the filling of the Spirit; it is not the function of emotion.

6. Regeneration results in God giving us forty things at salvation. One of those things is the filling of the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit is that Bible doctrine whereby God the Holy Spirit controls the soul of the believer to provide the divine power necessary for the function of spiritual I.Q. The believer loses the filling of the Spirit when in a state of sin, but never the indwelling of the Spirit, which provides a temple in the human body for the indwelling of Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory.

C. The Conversion of Thinking Skills From Human to Spiritual I.Q.

1. After salvation, there is the potential of the thinking skills being merged into a spiritual I.Q. The filling of the Spirit is the divine power that converts human I. Q. into spiritual I.Q.

2. The filling of the Spirit plus human I.Q. (the six thinking skills) equals spiritual I.Q. plus Operation Z equals metabolized doctrine. The formula is: F/HS + Hu IQ = Sp IQ + Op Z = MD. Human I.Q. is not a factor in learning Bible doctrine as the means of fulfilling God’s will, plan, and purpose for your life. Spiritual I.Q. provides the equality factor which makes possible any and every believer fulfilling the protocol plan of God. Perception and metabolization of doctrine in the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness (Operation Z) means the formation of two results.

a. The semifinal result is the whole development of the ten problem solving devices. The filling of the Spirit plus human I.Q. equals spiritual I.Q. plus Operation Z equals ten problem solving devices. The formula is: F/HS + Hu IQ = Sp IQ + Op Z = 10 PSD.

(1) This is God’s equal opportunity for all. No race, no sex, no culture has any advantage over any other category to learn doctrine and fulfill God’s plan. This is all a part of being in God’s plan.

(2) We are held accountable by God for our very own spiritual life because we have been provided equal privilege and equal opportunity to execute His will, plan, and purpose for our lives.

b. The final result is the execution of the protocol plan of God. The filling of the Holy Spirit plus human I.Q. equals spiritual I.Q. plus Operation Z equals the execution of the protocol plan of God. The formula is: F/HS + Hu IQ = Spir IQ + Op Z = PPG. Human I.Q. is not a factor in learning Bible doctrine as the means of fulfilling God’s will, plan, and purpose for your life. Spiritual I.Q. provides the equality factor which makes possible any and every believer fulfilling the protocol plan of God.

4. This emphasizes the importance of constantly being filled with the Spirit. These three formulas illustrate the importance of the ongoing function of perception, cognition, inculcation, and metabolization of Bible doctrine. The filling of the Spirit in the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit converts the six thinking skills from human I.Q. into a spiritual I.Q. You use what you have by way of thinking skills, but it no longer depends on you, because in the grace of God we all have the same equal opportunity. Some things are more difficult to others, but nothing is too great for the believer to understand.

5. The filling of the Holy Spirit combines with each of the thinking skills to form spiritual I.Q.

a. The filling of the Spirit plus comprehension is maximum doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness

. b. The filling of the Spirit plus memory results in the accurate recall of metabolized doctrine as necessity dictates. You cannot use doctrine you cannot recall.

c. The filling of the Spirit plus problem solving devices is designed to use the privacy of your own priesthood to resolve all the problems in your own life. God’s solutions are perfect; man’s solutions are not.

d. The filling of the Spirit plus decision making fulfills the principle of the free will of man and sovereignty of God coexisting in human history to resolve the prehistoric angelic conflict. Decision making is a precise and correct procedure of analyzing all the circumstances of life in light of the word of God and making decisions which are compatible with God’s plan, purpose, and will. Solutions are clarified and applied with accuracy when the ten problem solving devices of the soul are stationed on the defense line of the soul. With the problem solving devices on the defense line of the soul, decision making is compatible with God’s will, plan, and purpose for your life.

e. The filling of the Spirit plus creativity means recovery of truth based on divine viewpoint of life and accurate interpretation of the Scripture. True doctrine is separated from false doctrine by independent thinking related to metabolized doctrine in your stream of consciousness.

f. The filling of the Spirit plus awareness stimulates curiosity, motivates a perpetual desire to understand the whole realm of doctrine and to be filled, therefore, with the fullness of God. Awareness causes the restructuring of your own scale of values to assign number one priority to Bible doctrine. Awareness sees both the semifinal and final result of God’s will, plan, and purpose for your life, and it results in a personal sense of destiny.

D. The filling of the Spirit is the mechanics for understanding spiritual phenomena, 1 Cor 2:9-16.

1. 1 Cor 2:9 introduces the concept of the basis of reality in your life. There are three systems of perception: rationalism, empiricism, and faith. “But just as it stands written [Isa 64:4; 65:17], `What [spiritual phenomena] the eye has not seen [empiricism] and the ear has not heard [rationalism], furthermore it has not entered into the heart [stream of consciousness] of man, what doctrines God has prepared for those who love Him.”

2. 1 Cor 2:10, “But to us God has revealed them through the Spirit; for our spirit investigates all things, even the deep things from God.”

a. The first line of this verse is a reference to the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, as per Rom 8:16-17; Jn 14:26; 16:12-14. The second line is a reference to the human spirit.

b. As a part of Operation Z, our human spirit investigates or diligently searches all information taught by the Holy Spirit. The deep things of God are the invisible assets of our portfolio, as mentioned in Eph 3:18

. 3. 1 Cor 2:11, “For who among mankind comprehends the thoughts of a mankind except the soul life of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one has known except the Spirit of God.”

a. The Greek word PNEUMA is used for the Holy Spirit, the human spirit, breath, wind, and for soul life. The meaning soul life was used by Aeschylus, Plato, and Aristotle.

b. All the understanding we ever have comes in our soul life, in our thinking skills.

c. Spiritual phenomena cannot be understood apart from the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit.

This is the purpose of the filling of the Holy Spirit during the Church Age. In spiritual brain death, the unbeliever lacks the necessary spiritual I.Q.

4. 1 Cor 2:12, “But we have not received the human I.Q. [human viewpoint, human frame of reference] of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things [spiritual phenomena] which have been graciously given to us by God,”

5. 1 Cor 2:13, “which doctrines also we do not speak with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to spiritual persons [believers filled with the Spirit].”

6. 1 Cor 2:14, “But the soulish person [unbeliever] does not accept the things [spiritual phenomena] from the Spirit of God; for to him it is absurd, furthermore he is not able to understand spiritual phenomena, because it is discerned in a manner caused by the filling of the Spirit.”

7. 1 Cor 2:15, “But the spiritual phenomena examines [discerns, investigates] all things, yet he himself is judicially examined by no man.” Bible doctrine is the way in which we are investigated by God. We stand or fall before God based on our knowledge or ignorance of doctrine. We stand before God on the basis of doctrine we have learned. We never stand before God in the status of ignorance of doctrine. This is a private matter between you and God and no other person has the right to judge you in this. Bible doctrine must judge you rather than the arrogant vilification of other believers.

8. 1 Cor 2:16, “But who has known the thinking of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the thinking of Christ.”

a. We do not instruct the Lord; he instructs us.

b. The thinking of Christ is Bible doctrine

. 9. Compare Eph 3:18, “That you may utilize the power [filling of the Spirit] to grasp the idea with all the saints, what is the width [formation and function of the problem solving devices] and length [metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness] and height [the execution of the protocol plan of God] and depth [the portfolio of invisible assets].” (See the Doctrine of Awareness.)

R. B. Thieme, Jr. Bible Ministries 5139 West Alabama, Houston, Texas 77056 (713) 621-3740

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