User:Ian Goggin/Spirit of Christ text/

This text has been saved in case it needs to be used in future after the merger of Spirit of Christ into Inner Light.

Spirit of Christ

The Spirit of Christ is a term used by many members of the Religious Society of Friends to refer to the spiritual God inside of them. Other terms such as "Inner light" are also used. These refer to the commonly held Quaker belief that there is "that of God in everyone". George Fox - considered the founder of Quakerism - and the other early Quaker preachers believed that direct experience with God was available to all people, without any mediation (e.g. through a pastor, or through sacraments). Hence they affirmed that the Spirit of "Christ has come to teach his people himself" and gave them power to become more Christ-like.

Howard H. Brinton, a prolific Quaker writer, wrote how the spirit of Christ can bring people closer to God.

Man is saved, not by a leap of faith into the dark, but by giving way to the Divine Spirit. Since this Spirit is also the Spirit of Christ, man by obedience to it or by “putting on Christ,” to use Paul’s words, becomes Christ-like, able and willing to fulfill the teachings of the historic and the inward Christ.