Quenching the Spirit
W. Carl Ketcherside
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I have before me a letter from a reader who wants to know what it means to quench the Spirit, and how this may be done. The term is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, and I strongly suspect from the context that it relates directly to the exercise of spiritual gifts, and especially to that of prophecy, which means to speak under divine impulse, or by inspiration. The New English Version reads, "Do not stifle inspiration, and do not despise prophetic utterances, but bring them all to the test and then keep what is good in them and avoid the bad of whatever kind."
The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet (1 Cor. 14:32). He did not have to speak and it was within his power to withhold a message and thus stifle the Spirit who sought to use him as a channel for revelation. But the prophet also spoke to men to build, stimulate and encourage them (1 Cor. 14:3). They might thwart the Spirit's purpose by refusing to receive the message or to heed it. So the Spirit could be stifled by the prophet or the recipient to whom the message was addressed.
While this seems to be the direct import of the expression, we should be reluctant to limit it solely to this, for any sublimation of the Spirit's work and influence would certainly come under this admonition. The word "quench" is used with reference to fire or flame, and means to cause a flame to lose its intensity or to die out.
This is a particularly apt metaphor because the Spirit is alluded to in conjunction with fire or flame, as well as with water. When the bubbling up and flowing forth of the influence of the Spirit is alluded to, water is used to describe it (John 7:38, 39). But when the motivating intensity which threatens to consume one unless he gives vent to it is under consideration, the experience is described in terms of fire or flame. Thus Jeremiah regarded the prophetic influence as fire in his bones, and Timothy was told to "Stir into flame the gift of God which is within you" (2 Timothy 1:6).
A fire can be quenched in three ways. One of the simplest and most effective is by pouring cold water upon it. The licking tongues of flame recede and die down and soon only cold gray ashes remain. It has been the fate of many congregations to thus suffer. Bitterness, complaining, bickering and backbiting have driven out the Spirit and left only a vacant burned-out shell where once a group of saints acted as a lighthouse to the community.
All men have not the faith. Some in despotic arrogance must have their own way, and brutally tyrannize others, using the community of saints as a tool for their own ego-gratification. They will "rule or ruin, boss or bust!" Any suggestion by others is vetoed, and a sterile conformity in which there is neither peace nor passion for souls results. The congregation settles into a rut of meaningless tradition and composes itself to await death.
A second way to quench a fire is to smother it with non-combustibles, to heap up in the heart a pile of extraneous matters which are like asbestos to the soul. How often men have started out in the livid glow of the Spirit, only to become involved in the affairs of this passing age until the fervor died down and the ardor cooled.
Perhaps it was secular employment with its mad scramble for power, position or pelf. Perhaps it was pleasure, innocent in itself, but becoming an obsession. Boating, golfing, pro-football, television
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"Nobody lights a lamp and then covers it with a basin or puts it under a bed." These are the words of Jesus. He spoke them to show how incongruous it is for men to conceal or snuff out a light under something that defeats its very purpose. All of us have known men of great spiritual potential who have washed out under an avalanche of worldly philosophy and increasing knowledge of this world. They have quenched the Spirit by degrees--scholastic degrees!
A third way to quench a fire is by neglect. One can smother it with noncombustible materials which make a great show of smoke but never burst into flame, or he can simply refuse to refuel it and it will go out. While dealing with a slightly different theme, Solomon wrote, "Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out." Flames are like people. They must be fed to live. I have found in my own life that I must nourish the inner man. Shakespeare wrote, "Self-love is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting."
I require regular communion with God in fervent prayer. "Fervent" is another word allied with fire or heat. The root word means to glow. I am like Moses on the mount, when my hands begin to droop and are not lifted up toward heaven, the tide of battle goes against me. I must stoke my spiritual flame with study of the word. Nothing else stimulates and fires my imagination like gaining new insights into the revealed truth.
Another factor which kindles enthusiasm is the fellowship of the saints. Enthusiasm means "God indwelt." It is from en and theos. Madame de Stael correctly writes, "The sense of this word among the Greeks affords the noblest definition of it; enthusiasm means, 'God in us.'" To create enthusiasm by kindling the Spirit is to allow God to work in and through us, and we thus edify and comfort one another. A coal of fire which becomes separated from the mass is soon extinguished and dies out. I need all of my brothers and sisters.
It is my fond and fervent hope that all of our readers who have been stifling the Spirit will open the draft and let the wind of God blow upon the coals of fire and become aflame for God. May we all be filled with the Spirit and speak the word in boldness. And may His glory be our aim!