It is the Holy Spirit that Quickens

John 6:61-65; Ezekiel 37:1-10

Our Lord says, "It is the Spirit that quickens." By this He means that it is the Holy Spirit who is the special author of spiritual life in man's soul. By His agency it is first imparted and and afterwards sustained and kept up. If the Jews thought He meant that men could have spiritual life by bodily eating or drinking, they were greatly mistaken.

Our Lord says, "The flesh profiteth nothing." By this He means that neither His flesh nor any other flesh, literally eaten, can do good to the soul. Spiritual benefit is not to be had through the mouth, but through the heart. The soul is not a material thing and cannot therefore be nourished by material food.

Our Lord says, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." By this He signifies that His words and teachings, applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit, are the true means of producing spiritual influence and conveying spiritual life. By words thoughts are begotten and aroused. By words mind and conscience are stirred. And Christ's words especially are spirit-stirring and life-giving.

The principle contained in this verse, however faintly we may grasp its full meaning, deserves peculiar attention in these times. There is a tendency in many minds to attach an excessive importance to the outward and visible or "doing" part of religion. They seem to think that the sum and substance of Christianity consists in baptism and the supper of the Lord, in public ceremonies and forms, in appeals to the eye and ear and bodily excitement. Surely they forget that it is "the Spirit that quickeneth" and that the "flesh profiteth nothing." It is not so much by noisy public demonstrations as by the still quiet work of the Holy Spirit on hearts that God's cause prospers. It is Christ's words entering into consciences which "are spirit and life."

Truth and life come by God's Word and God's Spirit. Never separate the two.

~J. C. Ryle~