The Holy Spirit Becomes the Life of the Believer-
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:5,6)
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5)
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10)
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. (II Corinthians 3:6)
Eternal life is another name for the Holy Spirit.
When we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the blood of Jesus washes away our sins. We then are born again and our new spiritual nature (Christ in us) is raised to dwell in Christ at the right hand of God. At the same time the Holy Spirit of God comes to dwell in us forever. The Holy Spirit becomes our life.
Contents
Following the Holy Spirit.
Eliezer of Damascus is a type of the Holy Spirit. He was sent from Abraham (the Father) to obtain a bride for Isaac (Christ). Rebecca (the Church) was led back to Isaac by the guidance of Eliezer (Genesis, Chapter 24).
Rebecca never had seen Isaac previously. She may have had a general idea where Isaac lived but she certainly could not have made the trip by herself.
If Rebecca had decided to remain in her home in Mesopotamia and enjoy the gifts that Eliezer had brought with him she never would have seen Isaac. She would have grown old and died while thinking about how wonderful it was that she had been chosen to be the wife of Abraham’s son.
So it is with a Christian. He must, upon having accepted Christ, immediately devote his whole attention to going exactly where the Holy Spirit invites him to go.
If the believer, having made a profession of Christ, does not start out on his pilgrimage toward Christ in strict submission to the guidance of the Spirit of God, his conversion to Christ may prove to be fruitless.
It is one thing to start in a race. It is another matter to finish the race. Christ has the wisdom, authority, and power to complete His work in us. We are required to live every day with the same dedication and faith in Christ that was true of us the day we first came to Him (Hebrews 3:14; 10:38).
The Christian discipleship never is static. It is a daily seeking of Christ with the whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. We are to follow Christ at all times, just as was true of the first apostles.
The Christian discipleship is dynamic at every moment. When we cease looking diligently to Christ we are attacked immediately by the forces of decay and death. Eternal life and eternal death constantly are striving for mastery over our conduct in the world. The one who is saved is he who endures to the end. Salvation is not completed in us until we finish our course.
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. (Hebrews 3:6)
To be a true Christian requires every second of our attention, our whole interest and love. No man can serve two masters. If we give less than our best we cannot be an overcomer (Revelation 12:11).
The Lord Jesus Christ always is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He alone can bring a person to the Father. Jesus of Nazareth is infinitely more than a master teacher who instructs us in a philosophy of living. He Himself Is the Way to God. We must keep on pressing forward in Him and toward Him.
As we move forward in Christ, truth is created in every part of our personality. We are the flesh being created the Word of God. As we are being made the Word of God, resurrection life increasingly is the force that moves us and by which we live. Our experience of eternal life is developing at every moment.
Our fleshly life is dying and indestructible resurrection life is taking its place. After we commence this process we ought never to look back. We are to keep our eyes steadfastly on Christ until we stand perfect and complete in all the will of God (Colossians 4:12).
Accepting Christ as our Savior and Lord includes taking up our cross and following Him (Matthew 16:24,25). Our position from then on is that we have the life of the Holy Spirit in our inner self because of the righteousness of Christ that has been given us as a gift. Our mortal body remains in death because of its sinful tendencies.
Our task is to sow to the Holy Spirit until resurrection life is perfected in us. We must yield ourselves to the Spirit rather than to our flesh. Our fleshly mind continually is conspiring with Satan and the spirit of the present wicked age in the attempt to divert our attention from Christ.
If we allow the resurrection life of Christ to work in us, then, at the coming of the Lord from Heaven, the same resurrection life that already is in us will make alive our physical body. This is the redemption of the body and the point at which our body is adopted as a son of God (Romans 8:23).
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (make alive) your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)
We must give our attention to grasping eternal life. Romans, Chapter Eight teaches that if a Christian walks in the appetites of the flesh after having made a profession of Christ he will die spiritually. The Divine Seed will be choked out by the cares of the present world (Luke 8:14).
As Romans 8:11 states, we already possess the life that will redeem our mortal body when the Lord returns. If we choose to live in the desires of the flesh we will lose that indwelling grace. We will defeat our own resurrection. As in the case of the foolish virgins we will not possess enough "oil" to go with the Bridegroom when He appears.
If by the power of the resurrection life of Christ the believer keeps on bringing his body under subjection to the will of Christ, he will live before God. The grace that already dwells in him will make alive his mortal body at the coming of the Lord.
When we receive Christ we are given the authority to be a child of God (John 1:12). In order to transform this authority into the actual attainment of sonship we must take up our cross and follow the Holy Spirit of God.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)
In the United States, each person has the authority to receive a high school education and his parents are prohibited by law from putting him out to work when he is a young child. Many American citizens do not achieve a high school education, even though they have the authority to do so, because they cease attending classes or become ill or some other problem develops.
So it is in Christ. Each person who receives Christ is given the authority to be a child of God. But in order to actually become a son of the Father he must follow the Holy Spirit just as Rebecca followed Eliezer of Damascus.
The new covenant
The Holy Spirit is the law of the new covenant. The Law of Moses, consisting of the Ten Commandments and the accompanying ordinances, was the law of the old covenant. When we died on the cross with Christ we became legally free from the Law of Moses so that we may live under the new law of the Spirit of life.
The new covenant is not an adherence to the letter of any law. Rather it is obedience to the Spirit of God. The letter of the law always kills us. The Spirit of God always gives us incorruptible resurrection life.
The Holy Spirit gives us life. What a difference there is between the old covenant and the new covenant! The law of God of the first covenant does not bring life, it brings death. "And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death" (Romans 7:10).
Our first personality cannot fulfill the law of God.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)
The "law of sin and death" consists of the Ten Commandments working together with the sin which dwells in our flesh. When the commandments come to our sinful nature and deeds the result is spiritual death. The Law of Moses is perfect—absolutely righteous and holy. The sin which dwells in us is contrary to the Law and will not obey the Law.
The Law of Moses makes one fact clear to us: "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
The new covenant does not consist of a new set of laws that we are to obey. The new covenant is the Holy Spirit working in us.
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. (II Corinthians 3:6)
The Law, the Torah , never will be done away. It is of the eternal Nature of God. Under the new covenant the Holy Spirit puts the Torah in our mind and writes it in our heart.
We are to keep the commandments of the New Testament writings, and of the old wherever applicable, until Christ, the Day Star, the Torahmade flesh, is formed in us. It is the Holy Spirit of God who forms Christ in us until we keep the Torah by nature.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their heart: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: (Hebrews 8:10)
The Torah that is formed in us is not the Law found in the Book of Exodus but the eternal moral law of which the Ten Commandments are an abridged form.
When we walk in the Spirit of God we are legally free from the law of sin and death because our death in Christ releases us from the legal obligation of the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses has jurisdiction over the individual only as long as he or she is alive.
As we continue to walk in the Spirit of God we are becoming actually free from the law of sin and death because the Holy Spirit, working through the authority of the blood of the cross, gives us the wisdom and power to stop sinning—to put to death the deeds of our body.
There are practical admonitions written in the New Testament to which we must give heed. These admonitions are not of the essence of the new covenant. They are guidelines for our conduct and must be obeyed, by our adamic nature for the most part, until we are able to walk in the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit by our transformed nature.
As the Christian learns to walk in the Spirit, just as a baby learns to coordinate his muscles so that he can begin to take some steps, he starts to realize in daily living a measure of the enormous resources of resurrection life available to him in the new covenant.
It is the Holy Spirit who makes the new covenant operate, who changes our flesh into the Torah of God.
In its purest sense the new covenant is an impartation of the grace of God—Divine virtue that transforms us into the image of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who is the guiding Force that keeps on bringing us to a stronger grasp on Christ.
Every person, Christian or not, has a tendency toward sin and rebellion. Left unchecked our fleshly nature brings us down to destruction because it lusts for the things that are hurtful to us and that cause God to turn away from us. The law of sin and death is so powerful in us that we by nature sin against God, destroying our spirit, soul, and body in the process.
The Law of Moses magnifies the state of corruption in which we live and warns us of the consequences of sin against God and against people. The Law of Moses interacts with the law of sin in our flesh with the result that we are deceived and slain (Romans 7:11). God has a method for bringing us up out of this death. God’s method is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ.
The law of the Spirit of life.
The law of the Spirit of life frees us from the law of sin and death that is in our body. We have been released from the jurisdiction of the Law of Moses by means of our identification with Christ on the cross.
Now we are free legally to come under another law—the law of the Spirit of life. We have righteousness while we are living in accordance with the law of the Spirit of life because of the righteousness of Christ that is given freely to every person who lives in the Spirit of God.
The law of the Spirit of life creates in us righteousness, peace, and joy (Romans 14:17). We can attain righteousness, peace, and joy only by a power greater than the power of Satan. The power of Satan keeps us in unrighteousness, turmoil, and misery.
The Holy Spirit is power—the power of endless, incorruptible resurrection life. The power, the energy, of the Spirit of life brings us health, strength, wisdom, righteous behavior, holiness, obedience to God, joy, peace—victory in every circumstance.
Satan would have us depressed, weak, confused, in a state of lethargy. The galactic energy of God’s Spirit gives us the power to serve God in confidence and joy.
The law of the Spirit of life brings conviction on the sins we are committing and also brings to us the wisdom and power that are necessary if we are to overcome the tendencies toward sin that dwell in us.
If an instant and complete deliverance from sinful tendencies were possible to us there would be no purpose for the many sections of the New Testament writings that are directed toward the need for Christians to follow the Spirit of God and cease sinning.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)
Getting rid our sinful ways does not happen all at once. The victorious Christian discipleship is a lifelong walk of continuous cooperation with the Holy Spirit as He leads us into dominion over our sinful nature and over the sinful environment in which we live.
The Holy Spirit brings us to victory by a multitude of operations on us. We do not achieve lasting victory over sin by our vain struggling against the adversary, the spirit of the world, and our fleshly nature. Victory over sin is possible and it is commanded by the Father. Victory comes about by the daily appropriation of the law of the Spirit of life.
Walking in the Spirit
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:4)
The righteousness of God Himself is given us as a gift through Christ provided we "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
The righteousness of the law of Moses is fulfilled in us as we follow the Spirit. The ascribing of Divine righteousness to us is based on Christ’s becoming sin and taking our sentence in our place. It is a substitutionary work, and we receive the benefit of an ascribed righteousness equal to the righteousness that would be ours if we were able perfectly to keep the Law of Moses.
The righteousness of the Law of Moses is added to our spiritual bank account as long as we are walking in the Holy Spirit and not following our fleshly mind. Walking in the Spirit means that we are giving our attention to obtaining the will of God for our life, that we are presenting our body a living sacrifice to the Lord (Romans 12:1,2).
We no longer are spending our days in the pursuits of our mind and body, bent on serving the impulses of our fleshly lusts, indulging our desire for the possession of material treasures, and nourishing our pride and rebellion against the Spirit of God.
Instead we are being brought into cross-carrying obedience to the will of Christ.
If we are living each day as a "whole burnt offering" to the Lord, our human reasoning and emotional, soulish, lustful body continually being brought under strict obedience to the Spirit of God, then the righteousness of the Law of Moses is added to us on the basis of Christ’s death on our behalf.
Christ took on Himself the judgment that legally should have fallen on us. Therefore He has the legal right, according to the Divine standard of justice, to share His own righteousness with whomever He desires.
Living in the appetites of our body and soul means we are spending our days in the ordinary pursuits of human beings. We are occupied primarily with eating, sleeping, working, playing, and reproducing. This is our life and it is the life of the animal.
We are not praying, reading the Bible, pressing on to know the Lord, gathering together with fervent believers, putting Jesus first in every decision. Rather, we are devoting our time to obtaining as much of the riches of the world as possible, indulging the lusts of our eyes and our flesh, and putting our own will, way, and understanding ahead of God’s will, way, and understanding.
The daily life of the average person in the world is lived in the appetites of the body, not in the Spirit of God. If we live according to the appetites of our body after we become a Christian, we cannot claim that we are the possessors of the righteousness that is by faith in Christ. The Christian redemption is not an exemption from the first commandment—that we love God with all our mind, soul, and strength.
Walking "in the Spirit" means that each day we are putting Christ first in all circumstances. We are spending some time in prayer and Scripture reading. We are assembly with fervent disciples on a regular basis whenever possible. We are pressing forward in the knowledge of Christ.
We think and talk about the Lord Jesus frequently. We are known as a Christian (except in countries where there is persecution). We are distinguished by our devotion to Jesus. We are meeting the difficulties that come our way by seeking the mind and help of the Lord and are growing in grace as a result.
The supremely important motive of our life is obedience to the Lord. He comes first in our plans and pursuits. We have a sense of direction and momentum in our life as we move forward in holiness and the knowledge of the Lord. We are not trying to find how many worldly things we can do and still be saved, how close to the Lake of Fire we can walk and not topple in. Rather, we always are looking for ways in which we can gain a greater grasp on Christ.
We count ourselves dead and resurrected with Christ. All of our personality, relationships, and possessions are on the altar of God. The world is crucified to us and we to the world. We are diligent in the use of our spiritual talents, and when Jesus returns we will have spiritual profit to show from what He has entrusted to us.
Walking "after the Spirit" is referring to first-century discipleship. It is a sincere, "take up your cross and follow me" life of dedication to the Master. This is the normal, true Christian discipleship. Every other way of life is below standard from the viewpoint of the Lord.
The fullness of the inheritance of the saint cannot be attained apart from the fullness of the discipleship required of the saint.
Utter dedication, discipleship, rejection of the claims of sin, rejection of self-love and self-will, are the normal requirements and experiences of the new covenant. Such complete abandonment to Christ is expected of each believer.
The Holy Spirit of God stands ready to bring each believer in Christ, each living stone in the eternal Temple of God, into unwavering, single-minded discipleship.
The Holy Spirit is God. He has all the resources of Christ to draw upon. If we will allow Him to do so He will perfect our walk in Christ.
The Holy Spirit is our Life. He is our Comforter. He is our Helper. He is our Strength. He is our Wisdom, our Counselor, our Teacher. The Holy Spirit is in the world now in the place of the Lord Jesus so that every bit of wisdom, strength, and inspiration we need for the service of Christ may be available to us.
The new covenant is Christ and is the Holy Spirit. The new covenant is the power of incorruptible resurrection life entering us so that by nature we shall love righteousness and hate sin and rebellion.
We who minister the new covenant do not minister only the letter of the writings of the Apostles, as important as the Epistles are to our understanding and to godly living. Rather, we minister the Holy Spirit. He is the Life of the believer. He brings us to Christ every day.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5)
The important issue in Christianity is not what church we attend or what doctrines we believe. The important issue is whether we are attending to the things of the flesh or the things of the Spirit.
A Christian believer may be quite sound in doctrine and may attend an assembly where the Scriptures are taught by the elders, and still be spending his time and energy in the things of the flesh. The greater part of his or her day may be occupied with what is being eaten, what is being worn, how his or her job is progressing, and all the other "legitimate" concerns of human beings. He thus will remain ignorant of God’s will until the flood comes and carries away all his treasures.
In fact, it happens in churches and theological institutions that the Scriptures themselves become a thing of the flesh, a corpus of knowledge, a cadaver dissected by scholars who are as full of the pride of knowledge as scholars of any other discipline.
The Scriptures do in fact lend themselves to an intellectual approach, becoming an object of fleshly ambition. The lawyers and Pharisees of Jesus’ day knew the Scripture but were dead spiritually. There is a great gulf between knowledge gained by a disciplined study of the Scriptures and other sacred books and knowledge that comes from the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. The Pharisees had the one. The Lord Jesus had the other.
Christians who are walking in the appetites of the flesh do not enjoy being around the true saints. They would not enjoy being around Peter or John or Paul even though they may pride themselves on their knowledge of the writings of the Apostles of the Lamb.
The true members of the Body of Christ, while they are diligent in secular affairs (they are commanded so to be), are occupied primarily with the Person and will of Christ. They are growing, growing, growing in the things of Christ. Christ is All in all to them. For them to live is Christ and to die is gain. The Spirit guides and comforts them in all areas of living.
For to be fleshly minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Romans 8:6)
The believer who is spending the greater part of his time and energy in worldly concerns is not attaining eternal life. Even though he may have accepted Christ as his Savior he still is dwelling in death as far as his spiritual life is concerned.
His spiritual nature, if he hasn’t already killed it, is at the right hand of the Father in Christ. However, His life on the earth is not reflecting his heavenly position. His human personality still is saturated with the death that always follows the lusts of the body and soul. "What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6).
After we are saved we must choose each day to come under the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise we are dwelling in the death that accompanies the lustful nature of our physical body rather than in the eternal life that accompanies our new nature in the heavenlies in Christ.
Because the fleshly mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)
If we walk according to our own understanding, trusting in our own wisdom and abilities to guide us through the world, even as a Christian, we soon will end up in confusion and misery. Our natural mind is the enemy of God and never will come under the law of God. The natural mind must be renewed by the transforming Virtue that is in the Spirit of God.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:8)
As long as we are following the dictates of our fleshly mind and bodily passions we never will please God even though we have accepted Christ, have been baptized in water, and are sound in doctrine. We can receive Christ as Savior and then continue to walk in our own understanding and strength. To do so is to displease God. The only true life of the Christian is the Spirit of God Himself.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)
As we understand the meaning of Romans 8:9, Paul is not teaching that once we make a profession of Christ we automatically are in the Spirit and therefore are pleasing to God. Such an interpretation would be inconsistent with other verses of the eighth chapter of Romans.
Rather, what Paul is stating may be paraphrased as follows: Christian, bring to mind that you have been washed in the blood. Maintain the concept that you have been crucified and have risen with Christ. God has given to you His Holy Spirit. You no longer are merely a flesh and blood creature. Your life no longer is animal and soulish in nature. If you truly have received Christ you possess the Spirit of Christ. Therefore you should be giving attention to the things of the Spirit because your new life is in the Spirit.
The result of the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in us.
How can we be sure we indeed are a Christian and that the Spirit of God is dwelling in us? We know that we are a Christian and that we possess the Spirit of God because of the change taking place in our personality.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-25)
If we claim that we belong to Christ and have the Spirit of God but are exhibiting hatred, misery, unrest, impatience, harshness, an evil nature, lack of faithfulness, lack of self-control, and are yielding to our fleshly lusts, we are deceiving ourselves.
We may begin the Christian discipleship with such a disposition. But if we are not changing into the moral image of Christ over a period of time, if some signs of the fruit of the Spirit are not appearing, then we are not walking in the Spirit of God. We may be doctrinally correct. We may speak in tongues, prophesy, and work miracles in the name of Christ. But Christ does not know us. We are none of His.
There is the fruit of the flesh and then there is the fruit of the Spirit of God. If we are walking in the appetites of the flesh we will reveal in ourselves the works of the flesh: lust, murder, covetousness, occult practices, envy, spite, backbiting, gossip, slander, bitterness, unforgiveness, and every other evil behavior.
If we are walking in the Spirit of God we will demonstrate love, joy, and peace.
Adherence to correct doctrine is not a substitute for love, joy, peace, and brotherly kindness.
Spiritual manifestations and gifts are not a substitute for loving God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves.
The proof of the Christian discipleship is the development of the fruit of the Spirit in our personality.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10)
Our mortal body is dead spiritually, being cut off from the life of the Holy Spirit. The body is dead because of the sin that dwells in it.
Our body is alive physiologically. We breathe, eat, think, move, speak. This is not the only life God desires that we have. Eternal life is the possession of Christ who Himself Is eternal Life. We do not have the Life of Christ in our body because our body contains a sinful nature that is an enemy of God.
We do possess eternal life in our new spiritual nature because the Holy Spirit in us gives us of the Life of Christ. The Spirit of God is the Life of the Christian. We have eternal life in our new spiritual nature because the righteousness of Christ has been ascribed to us. Eternal life always follows righteousness.
The righteousness brought to us by the Spirit of God is both imputed (ascribed) and imparted. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to us in that God has declared us to be righteous on the basis of our acceptance of the shed blood of Christ for our justification. God has declared us guiltless and has given to us His own righteousness through Christ.
The righteousness brought to us by the Spirit of God also is imparted , as the Spirit leads us into paths of righteous conduct. The Spirit empowers us, prompts us, warns us, comforts us, encourages us, teaches us, exhorts us, invites us to stop serving our fleshly mind and our flesh and to follow the righteous and holy ways of the Lord.
The Spirit works in us the love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, teachableness, and self-control that are so highly prized by the Father in Heaven.
It is the Holy Spirit who sets us free from the law of sin and death. Before we were Christians we were ruled by the lusts of our body. We may have desired to obey the law of God but we found that we were unable to do so because of the law of sin that governs the physical body.
The Presence and power of the Holy Spirit changes the condition of bondage. When we are obedient to His leading He furnishes us with wisdom and power sufficient to enable us to put to death the deeds of our flesh.
If we are willing to bring ourselves under the gentle rule of the Spirit He will make it possible for us to conquer our sinful deeds, words, motives, and imaginations. He frees us by bringing to us the Presence, authority, power, and moral Nature of Christ. We are set free from the lustful, murderous, idolatrous tendencies of our flesh by the Presence of God.
We always must keep in mind that the enabling power for righteous living that comes to us in the Holy Spirit is founded on the fact that our sins have been, and continue to be, forgiven by the merits of the atoning blood of Christ on the cross. We must regard ourselves as having been crucified with Christ and resurrected with Christ in order for the Holy Spirit to release us from the lordship of sin.
As we press forward in the Spirit of the Lord, bringing under subjection by Christ’s power the lusts of our flesh and the rebellion of our mind, we grow in eternal resurrection life. We develop and mature in the new covenant. We move along in the purpose of God for us, which is that we be changed into the image of Christ.
By walking in the Spirit of God we keep on drawing closer to the day when we are fit to be part of the eternal Temple of God. It is God’s will that we become transformed by consistent and increasing exposure to His Glory.
The Day of the Lord is breaking over the horizon of our soul. The light of His Presence will shine more and more brightly until our whole being is filled to fullness with His glorious radiance and we know as we are known.