by George Fox
Paraphrased in modern English usage with commentary by Stuart Masters. First published in The Friend, 2nd October 2015
George Fox (1624-1691) was perhaps the most important leader and organiser of the early Quaker movement. He wrote this tract in 1654 at a time when the early Quaker ministers known as the ‘Valiant Sixty’ were just beginning to unleash their vigorous preaching campaign all across England and beyond. It is an extremely important explanation of the message of early Friends and highlights a number of significant issues of dispute between Quakers and their opponents. In summary, Fox makes the following key points:
The Spirit is available to all people—Fox proclaims that, since the Spirit has been poured out on all flesh (see Acts, chapter 2, verses 1-21), a new covenant has been established in which God’s Spirit is directly available to everyone (see Jeremiah, chapter 31, verses 3-34). As a result of this, he argues that Divine revelation has not ended and that God continues to speak to people through the Spirit of Christ. This is the basis of the Quaker testimony to the spiritual equality of all people. God may choose to speak through any person, whether they are a man or a woman, rich or poor, black or white, well-educated or illiterate. Many of the early Quakers’ Puritan opponents denied this, asserted that revelation had ended and that only certain people had the right to preach and teach. This usually excluded women.
Only the Spirit of Christ can bring people to the Kingdom—Fox asserts that only the Spirit of Christ has the power to transform people when they follow his guidance. This Spirit is able to bring people into the kingdom of God. The Spirit reveals sin and provides the power to overcome it. Early Friends made this proclamation based on their own experience of the Light showing them their darkness, revealing the true nature of things, cleansing them, healing them and bringing them into right relationship with God, one another and the rest of creation. The Quakers’ Puritan opponents tended to deny the possibility of fundamental change in this life. They argued that it was not until death that people would know their eternal destiny. The elect would enjoy eternal life in heaven; everyone else would experience everlasting punishment in hell. The Quaker message was therefore one of hope and liberation in the face of such a hopeless prospect.
The nature of sin and salvation—Fox suggests that sin results from people becoming disconnected from God and ignoring the Spirit of Christ as their inward teacher. It is therefore a state of ignorance, delusion and relationship gone wrong. Salvation involves the development of an intimate relationship with God. This is available to everyone and is realised when people turn to the transformative power of their inward teacher. He rejects the idea that salvation is limited to the elect or something that happens without our knowledge or involvement. Salvation is universally available and always involves real transformation by the power of God. Puritan opponents usually denied the possibility of escaping sin in this life. Early Friends called this ‘talking up sin’, where the inescapability of sin was used as an excuse for people to continue in their sinful ways.
Outward physical things do not have the power to save—Fox states that God is a Spirit present within all people. Hence, God is not known primarily through physical things. Only the inward spiritual power of God can teach and transform us. Christ in Spirit is the Word of God and the primary authority, rather than the Bible or human ideas and institutions. Fox is not saying that physical things are evil or unimportant in themselves. It is a bit like saying that food cannot quench our thirst; only water can do that. Such a statement does not imply that eating food is wrong or unimportant; it is simply that it has a different function. The physical creation is good and the Spirit indwells it and transforms it.
The nature of the True Church—Fox proclaims that the True Church is formed when the people of God voluntarily gather together with the intention of being taught directly by the Spirit of Christ as their only leader, teacher and source of authority. He makes clear that the true church is not based on outward human authority, physical buildings or Bible. This was an attempt to distinguish the Quaker way from both the Catholic tradition, which regards the teachings of the institutional church as the principal source of authority, and the Protestant tradition, which is based on the authority of the Bible alone.
The nature of the false churches—Fox accuses the ‘false churches’ of adopting the outmoded ways of the old covenant by focusing on man-made practices and physical things that, by their nature, do not have divine power. This includes church buildings, the Bible, and human systems of authority. Fox argues that the Spirit has been given to all people as a free gift. The priests of the false church have taken this gift and preach it for financial gain. For early Friends, the principal problem with the mainstream church was that it acted as a barrier between people and the living God, distracting them with outward forms when they already had a direct relationship with the divine. This has serious implications because it prevents people from experiencing the transformative work of the Spirit within them that leads to salvation.
Spiritual Counsel—Based on these understandings, Fox offers some simple spiritual counsel to his readers. He asserts that the only teacher people need is their inward teacher, the Spirit of Christ. It is this Spirit alone that has the power to bring people to salvation and is needed to make sense of the Bible. He therefore exhorts people to pay attention at all times to the guidance of the Spirit within them and encourages them to take time to listen for this guidance. This is what really matters.
The Kingdom of God is coming on earth—Fox argues that the final defeat of darkness and evil is coming very soon because God is about to establish the kingdom of heaven as his rule on earth. Fox states that, when this happens, the current powers of unjust government and the false church will be replaced by God’s justice and righteousness. In the meantime, for the people of God, loyalty to the way of the Kingdom will inevitably bring them into conflict with the world. Early Friends expected to experience persecution at the hands of the earthly powers but were prepared to endure this because of their loyalty to a higher authority.
Many modern readers will find Fox’s apocalyptic tone and seventeenth-century language difficult. However, this tract expresses convictions that remain of crucial importance to Quakers today. Most notably, the belief that all people have direct access to God in Spirit, that everyone is of equal worth before God, that the Spirit has the power to teach and transform us in this life and so we need to take time to listen and follow the guidance of our inward teacher. These convictions speak of hope that the world of hatred, violence and injustice can become a world of love, peace and justice, that the kingdoms of this world can become the kingdom of God, heaven on earth.
To all that would know the way to the kingdom of God
Modern English Paraphrase
We all require a baptism in the Spirit if we want to know and enter the Kingdom of God. It is through the Spirit that the things of God are made know. Through the Spirit the apostles (e.g. John and Paul) were able to see the Kingdom of God and live within it. (Rev 1:9 & Col 1:13)
It is possible for all of us on this earth now to receive the Spirit of Christ which has the power to bring us into the Kingdom and to make us sons of God. (John 1:12-13)
The Spirit of Christ is available to everyone. If you pay attention to this Spirit and are guided by it you will become what God intended humans to be (e.g. it will teach you what is good and make you aware of what is bad). The Spirit of Christ will draw you away from the idolatry, division and evils of ‘the world’ and take you instead to the ways of God and God’s Kingdom. The things of the world are corrupt and perishable; the things of God are pure and eternal. Those who focus on the things of ‘the world’ give priority to the letter of scripture over the Spirit of Christ (the Word of God) but God’s Kingdom cannot be known through such outward things.
In the old covenant, although Abraham, Moses and the prophets were guided by the power of the Spirit, the Jews generally focussed on the outward things that did not have the power of the Spirit and this lead them to reject Christ. Today, those who focus on outward things have also rejected Christ. However, those who are guided by the Spirit of Christ (the real power) reject the ways of ‘the world’ and grow closer to God all the time. This causes conflict with ‘the world’.
The Spirit of Christ will show you the falseness of all those who base their faith on the things of ‘the world’ rather than the things of God. The Spirit of Christ is eternal and unchanging and if you follow it you will be led in unity to the one true way. This will free you from the temptations and evils of ‘the world’ and from all false man-made religion. Instead you will become part of the one true church that is gathered and taught directly by God (rather than by outward things and human teachers).
The Spirit of Christ is always with you whatever you are doing. Rather than dwelling in your own thoughts and wandering mind, pay attention instead to the Spirit which will reveal what is wrong in you and teach you what is right. The first thing you must do is take time to listen for and hear the Spirit of Christ working within you. This will reveal what is wrong in you and give you the power to overcome it.
Our ‘worldly’ ways of reasoning and understanding cannot comprehend God. The true church cannot be established by the letter of scripture or by clever human ideas. It can only be gathered by the living Spirit of Christ working within us. The Spirit undermines all our ‘worldly’ assumptions and ways. The Bible is not the Word; the Bible itself says that God is the Word. The Word of God which came in a human form in Jesus Christ is the head of the church. The church is not a building; it is a gathered people led by the Spirit of Christ (which is the Word of God). The false church of outward buildings and the outward scriptures is not acceptable to God.
God will soon act decisively to defeat the evil and disobedient powers of the ‘world’ and all the false churches and sects will be over-turned. When this happens God’s rule will be established on earth forever and the power of unjust government and false church (that has always worked together) will be undermined and destroyed. The old outward forms (such as formalised prayers, preaching and singing) will be seen to be worthless because they lack the living spirit of Christ (the Spirit that inspired the scriptures). Christ is available to you and can transform you into the sons of God. In this way God will govern his people and be the head of his church.
Christ enlightens every one of us and if you recognise the Spirit and follow it you will be transformed. However, those who reject the Spirit and ignore the evil it reveals in them will remain alienated from God. You will find that the teaching of the Spirit within you will be consistent with the teaching of Jesus Christ. You know when you do wrong that it is wrong because the light within you tells you so. If you reject your inward teacher you are showing your contempt for God.
I am not promoting the idea of human free will. The Spirit of Christ is contrary to the human will. The Bible cannot free you from sin, only the living Spirit of Christ can do that. The Bible is a declaration of the Spirit that existed before the Bible was written; it does not have the power of the Spirit. The Spirit inspired the writing of the Bible but the Bible is not the Spirit itself. The living Spirit of Christ is scripture within you and it will enable you to understand the meaning of the outward scriptures. Christ is able to free you from sin.
You do not need to ask God to show you your wrongs for these are already revealed to you by the Spirit working within you. Not only does the Spirit reveal sin but it provides the power to overcome it. Yet those who say that we are saved by God’s grace alone often use this as an excuse to continue in sinfulness. This abuse cannot continue any longer. It is useless to build up status and wealth on this earth for only God is worthy of such glory.
The guidance of the spirit made available to all is a gift of grace from God. The root cause of all the evils of ‘the world’ (e.g. drunkenness, swearing, pride, haughtiness, oppression and injustice) is humans ignoring the inward teacher that is given by the grace of God. But God will have victory over evil. God is pouring out the Spirit on all and men and women are being called to communicate the way of God through their actions and their words. This is a cry for justice, righteousness and equity.
God is coming to destroy evil and to reign on earth. Those who follow the Spirit of Christ will be part of this process. Those who reject the Spirit of Christ and continue to persecute the saints will be condemned.
Those who reject the Spirit of Christ within them value human pride and vanity instead. They believe those who tell lies about the nature of God (Jer 5:31). They are only interested in their own gain (Isa 56:11) and do not follow the way of God (2 Pet 2:15). They follow those who judge, preach and prophesy for financial gain (Mic 3:11 & Ezek 34:2-15). When we follow the Spirit of Christ we follow the same Spirit that inspired the prophets, the apostles and those who wrote the scriptures. We don’t need paid judges, priests and prophets because we all have direct access to Christ ourselves. Therefore, those who seek to make money from what is freely given (i.e. the clergy) are evil. For if we supported these evil people then we would be just as evil too.
If we agree with those who argue that God no longer reveals himself to humans we would be denying Christ because it is Christ who continues to reveal God to us (e.g. Paul did not become an apostle until Christ was revealed in him). You cannot be a minister of Christ if you deny that God continues to reveal himself to us through the Spirit of Christ.
The true prophets speak the words of God. However, the false prophets only speak their own words. The true prophets have always condemned this.
God is revealed to us as a free gift through the Spirit of Christ working within us. Those who seek payment for their preaching and rely on the letter of scripture rather than the living Spirit of Christ are shameless people. You need no other teacher than the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit will be your teacher and will make sense of the Bible for you. If you reject your inward teacher you will be condemned by God who is coming soon to establish his reign on earth.
God who created all things is not to be found in buildings and special places (like temples and church buildings) you can only know God when you have received God within (the human body is the real temple of God).
If you reject the Spirit of Christ within you, it will not be possible to understand the scriptures or to enter the Kingdom of God. The Spirit of Christ provides the only way to God. Without the Spirit of Christ, you will not be able to understand what the prophets and the apostles have said for it was the Spirit that produced their words.
Those who accept the Spirit of Christ and believe it, become the sons of God because God is working through them.