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In this message we shall cover more aspects of Christ in the Godhead.
First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Undoubtedly, the last Adam here is Christ in the flesh. This last Adam became the life-giving Spirit through the process of resurrection. First Corinthians 15 deals with resurrection. Because Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit through resurrection, He is now the life-giving Spirit.
According to 1 Corinthians 15:45, the first man Adam became a living soul, and the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. Adam became a living soul through creation with a soulish body. Christ became a life-giving Spirit through resurrection with a spiritual body. Adam as a living soul is natural; Christ as a life-giving Spirit is resurrected. First, in incarnation He became flesh for redemption (John 1:14, 29). Then in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit for imparting life (John 10:10). As the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, He is ready to be received by His believers. When we believe into Him, He enters our spirit, and we are joined to Him as the life-giving Spirit to become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). In this way our spirit is made alive and resurrected with Him.
Acts 2:17 and 21 indicate that if we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we receive the Spirit. This is a matter not of doctrine but of experience. If you consider your experience, you will realize that when you believed in the Lord Jesus, called on Him, and received Him, you received the Spirit.
Very few Christians have seen that Christ in resurrection is the life-giving Spirit. Some who lack the proper spiritual vision even oppose us when we say, according to the Bible, that Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit. Andrew Murray, however, understood something concerning this and wrote about it in his masterpiece, The Spirit of Christ, in the chapter entitled, “The Spirit of the Glorified Jesus.” The Spirit of the glorified Jesus is actually the Lord Jesus Himself in resurrection and in glory. When He entered into resurrection, He became the Spirit who gives life. This life-giving Spirit is the essence to germinate a new creation. The germinating element of the new creation is the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
Traditional theology opposes the truth that Christ has become the life-giving Spirit. In the opinion of some this is heretical. Actually, it is a truth found in the depths of the Word of God.
First Corinthians 15:45 is a great verse. The Spirit in this verse is actually nothing less than Christ, the Triune God, in resurrection. The life-giving Spirit is the processed Triune God. God has passed through the process of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. Now in resurrection He is the life-essence to germinate the new creation. We have become the new creation germinated by Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
Some who oppose the truth that Christ is the life-giving Spirit try to make an issue of the fact that 1 Corinthians 15:45 does not use a definite article before “life-giving,” that this verse speaks of a life-giving Spirit and not of the life-giving Spirit. However, the crucial matter here is not whether the article is definite or indefinite; it is the clear mentioning of the life-giving Spirit. The modifier “life-giving” makes the denotation definite. Christ in His resurrection became a Spirit that gives the divine life, the eternal life. Do the opposers believe that there are two Spirits who give the divine life, the Holy Spirit and the life-giving Spirit? It is heretical to teach that there are two life-giving Spirits, two Spirits who give life. It is truly according to the divine revelation in the Scriptures to say that Christ, the last Adam, became a life-giving Spirit.
To say that the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit is similar to saying, according to John 1:14, that the Word became flesh. Notice that there is no article before the word “flesh.” Would it make any difference if this verse said, “The Word became the flesh”? In either case, flesh or the flesh, the meaning is the same. In the same principle, the lack of the definite article is not crucial in 1 Corinthians 15:45. The vital matter is the life-giving Spirit. In the Godhead Christ is the life-giving Spirit.
It is in resurrection that Christ is the life-giving Spirit. John 20:22 indicates this. According to this verse, on the day of His resurrection, the resurrected Christ breathed on the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” By breathing the Spirit into the disciples, the Lord imparted Himself as life and everything to them essentially.
In the Gospel of John we see that the Lord is the Word, the eternal God, who has passed through a long process to become the Spirit, the pneuma, the breath, that He might come into the believers. For the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose He took two steps. First, He took the step of incarnation to become a man in the flesh (John 1:14), to be the Lamb of God to accomplish redemption for man (John 1:29), to declare God to man (John 1:18), and to manifest the Father to His believers (John 14:9-11). Second, He took the step of death and resurrection to be transfigured into the Spirit so that He may impart Himself into His believers as their life and their everything to produce the church for the expression of the Triune God. Therefore, through His incarnation He, the eternal Word, became flesh to accomplish redemption, and in resurrection He became the Spirit to be our life and everything for the producing of the church.
We need to be impressed with the fact that as the eternal Word Christ took the two steps of incarnation and resurrection. The first step was for redemption, and the second step was for life-imparting. After becoming flesh to be the Lamb of God to shed His blood for our redemption, He became in resurrection the life-giving Spirit for the purpose of imparting Himself into us as life. Not many Christians have seen this clearly. Most believers realize only that Christ took the step of incarnation for the accomplishment of redemption. They do not see that in resurrection He, the last Adam in the flesh, became the life-giving Spirit in order to come into us to be our life. But the Gospel of John reveals both steps. In John 1 the eternal Word became flesh to be the Lamb of God. In John 20 this wonderful One took the step of resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, on the day of His resurrection He came to the disciples and breathed Himself into them as the Spirit.
As the last Adam in the flesh, Christ, through the process of death and resurrection, became the life-giving Spirit. It is as the Spirit that He was breathed into the disciples. It is as the Spirit that He is received into His believers and flows out of them as rivers of living water (John 7:38-39). It is as the Spirit that He enters into us as the Comforter and abides in us (John 14:16-17). It is as the Spirit that He lives in the disciples and they live by Him and with Him (John 14:19). It is as the Spirit that He abides in the disciples and they abide in Him (John 14:20; 15:4-5). It is as the Spirit that He comes with the Father to the one who loves Him and makes an abode with him (John 14:23). It is as the Spirit that He makes all that He is and has to be fully realized by the disciples (John 16:13-16). Through resurrection and in resurrection Christ is now such a wonderful life-giving Spirit. This is the fulfillment of His promise in John 14:16-20.
In resurrection Christ is the Spirit — the Lord Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” The Spirit in this verse is the Spirit mentioned in verse 6, where we are told that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. Now the Lord is the Spirit who gives life. According to Darby’s New Translation, verses 7 through 16 of 2 Corinthians 3 are in parentheses, showing that verse 17 is the continuation of verse 6. As we have pointed out, verse 17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” The Spirit mentioned here is the very Spirit who gives life spoken of in verse 6. Therefore, this verse clearly says that Christ the Lord is the Spirit. In resurrection the Lord is the Spirit.
Some claim that the Lord in 2 Corinthians 3:17 is not the Lord Jesus Christ but merely the Lord God. However, in the book of 2 Corinthians the title “the Lord” is always attached to the Lord Jesus (1:2, 14; 4:5; 13:14), and God is called “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:3; 11:31). According to the context of this section, which starts at 2:12, the Lord here must refer to Christ the Lord (2:12, 14, 15, 17; 3:3, 4, 14, 16). Therefore, the Lord in 3:17, as in 3:16 and 18, undoubtedly refers to the Lord Jesus, not to God the Father. Second Corinthians 3:17 is, then, a strong word in the Bible telling us emphatically that Christ the Lord is the Spirit.
Second Corinthians 3:18 refers to Christ as “the Lord Spirit.” The Lord Spirit may be considered a compound title like the Father God and the Lord Christ. This expression again strongly proves and confirms that the Lord Christ is the Spirit and the Spirit is the Lord Christ.
In the Godhead Christ is the complete God, the Son of God, and the life-giving Spirit. He is also the Giver of the Spirit. He is the Spirit and also the Giver of the Spirit. This means that He is both the Giver and the gift. The Giver is Christ who has become the Spirit, and the gift is also Christ as the Spirit. The Spirit gives the Spirit as a gift to us.
Concerning Christ as the Giver of the Spirit, John 3:34 says, “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the Spirit not by measure.” Here we see that Christ gives the Spirit to God’s people without measure. Some versions render this verse incorrectly, saying that God the Father gives the Spirit to the Son without measure. However, if you study the best manuscripts, you will see that this verse means that the Son gives the Spirit without measure to God’s people.
Christ ministers the immeasurable Spirit to the members of His Body. He dispenses the Spirit into all His members so that they may function in a full way. In the church Christ, as the all-inclusive Head, gives the Spirit of life without measure. Because of this immeasurable Spirit we can function as members of the Body. The whole Body is under the anointing of Christ’s immeasurable Spirit.
The Spirit given by Christ is the immeasurable Spirit, and the immeasurable Spirit is the all-inclusive Spirit. This Spirit is immeasurable in sphere and all-inclusive in nature. This immeasurable Spirit is the life-giving Spirit spoken of in 1 Corinthians 15:45. In resurrection Christ became this life-giving Spirit for imparting life. After His resurrection, through His resurrection, and in His resurrection, Christ became the life-giving Spirit. This is the Spirit, the immeasurable Spirit, whom He gives to us.
We also need to see that the immeasurable Spirit given by Christ is the pneumatic Christ (2 Cor. 3:6, 17-18; Rom. 8:9-11). When we describe the Christ who lived on earth, we may speak of Christ in the flesh. The term “pneumatic Christ” refers to Christ as the Spirit. Due to the traditional teaching concerning the Trinity, some regard the Spirit as a person separate from Christ and then go on to speak of Christ being in the Spirit. Although it is commonly understood that the phrase “Christ in the flesh” refers to Christ Himself while He was on earth, not many understand the term “Christ in the Spirit” to mean that Christ is the Spirit. This has made it necessary for certain teachers to adopt the term “pneumatic Christ” to denote the Christ who is the Spirit. Because of the influence of tradition, if we speak of Christ in the Spirit, others may think that Christ is separate from the Spirit, not realizing that Christ is the Spirit.
The word “pneumatic” means spiritual. However, if we use the term “spiritual Christ” instead of pneumatic Christ, there may be misunderstanding.
Nowhere in the New Testament are we told that Christ, or the Son, is in the Spirit. The Bible does say that the Father is in the Son and that the Son is in the Father (John 17:21). But in the New Testament we do not have the thought that Christ is in the Spirit. Rather, the New Testament reveals that the resurrected Christ became the Spirit. We have pointed out that 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” This is the pneumatic Christ, the Christ who in resurrection has become the life-giving Spirit and who gives Himself as the Spirit to us. The immeasurable Spirit is actually the application of the unlimited Christ. When the unlimited Christ is applied to us, appreciated by us, and enjoyed by us, He is the immeasurable Spirit.
John 1:33 reveals that Christ is “He who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.” In contrast to John the Baptist, who baptized in water, Christ is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. Water signifies death and burial for the termination of the repenting people; the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life and resurrection for the germination of the terminated people. The Holy Spirit, into whom Christ has baptized the believers, is the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9). Hence, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3), into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), and even into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13).
On the day of Pentecost Christ, the Head of the Body, baptized the Jewish believers in the Holy Spirit. Then in the house of Cornelius Christ baptized all the Gentile believers in the Holy Spirit. By these two steps Christ baptized His entire Body in the Holy Spirit.
Christ is the Author of life in whom is life. In his preaching in Acts 3:15 Peter declares, “And the Author of life you killed, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.” Here the Greek word rendered “Author” is archegos, meaning author, origin, originator, chief leader, captain. It denotes Christ as the origin or Originator of life, hence, the Author of life.
In Acts 3:15 the King James Version has “the Prince of life.” This is a poor rendering. Here archegos does not denote a prince; it denotes the very source, the origin, even the Originator, of life, the Author of life. Here Peter is saying that Christ is the source of life, the Originator of life; He is the Author, the Chief Leader, in life.
Christ’s being the Author of life is for the imparting, the dispensing, of life into others. To dispense the divine life into others is to propagate Christ. For such a propagation we need Christ as the Author of life, as the source of life.
We need to see where life is, where life comes from. The word “Author” in Acts 3:15 indicates that life comes from Christ. He is the source, the origin, of life, for He is the Author, the Originator, of life. Peter wanted the people to realize that the One they had killed and whom God had raised from the dead is the Author of life.
In Christ as the Author of life is life. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life.” Here “Him” denotes Christ as the Word who is God and through whom all things came into being (John 1:3). Through incarnation Christ, the Word, the Author of life, came as life to be received by the man whom He created. Life is in Him, and He is life (John 11:25; 14:6). He came that we may have life (John 10:10).
Man was created as a vessel to contain God as life, as indicated by the tree of life (Gen. 2:9). However, by creation man was merely an empty vessel; he did not have genuine life. The created life of man is not genuine; genuine life is the divine life, the life that is in Christ. What kind of life did you have before you received Christ, the Author of life? It was, at best, a temporary life; it was not a permanent life, an eternal life. Although it was an instant life, it was not a constant life. Before we received Christ, we were uncertain as to how long our instant life would endure. In a very real sense, before we were saved we did not have life, because we did not have the divine, eternal life that is in Christ as the Author of life.
The life in Christ is eternal, constant, and permanent. All men need such a life, the divine and uncreated life that is in Christ. This life is for man, and man is the receiver of this life. Christ is the Author of life in whom is life so that the life of God may be dispensed into us.
A number of verses in the New Testament reveal that Christ is the Lord (John 4:1; 6:23; 20:28). As applied to Christ, the Greek word for “Lord” used in the New Testament equals the divine title “Jehovah” of the Old Testament. Furthermore, in the New Testament “the Lord” is a divine title of the Triune God. Hence, the Lord is a title not only of the Lord Jesus Himself as the Son of God but also a title of the Triune God.
In 1 Corinthians 2 Paul says that “not one of the rulers of this age has known” God’s wisdom in a mystery, “for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (vv. 7-8). The “glory” in verse 7 is Christ, who is the Lord of glory. Christ is our life today (Col. 3:4) and our glory in the future (Col. 1:27). To this glory God has called us (1 Pet. 5:10), and into it He will bring us (Heb. 2:10).
At least four times in the book of Revelation Christ is called “another Angel” (Rev. 8:3; 7:2; 10:1; 18:1). Christ is called another Angel in this book because He is the One sent by God to carry out His economy. Revelation 8:3 says, “And another Angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and much incense was given to Him that He should add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.” This Angel is Christ. In the administration of God’s judgment upon the earth, Christ is the Angel standing on the position of One who has been sent by God. In a very positive sense, Christ is everything; He is whatever the economy of God needs. Revelation specifically describes Christ as another Angel indicating that He is not a regular or common angel but a special Angel. In the Old Testament Christ was called the Angel of Jehovah, who was God Himself (Gen. 22:11-12; Exo. 3:2-6; Judg. 6:11-24; Zech. 1:11-12; 2:8-11; 3:1-7). In Genesis 22 the Angel of Jehovah spoke to Abraham, and in Exodus 3 the Angel of Jehovah appeared to Moses. Christ is another Angel; He is the unique, special Angel.
In the heavenly scene portrayed in Revelation 8 Christ appears as another Angel to execute God’s administration over the earth in the way of ministering to God as the High Priest with the prayers of His saints. As He offers the prayers of His saints to God, He adds His incense to them. The first altar in Revelation 8:3 refers to the altar of burnt offering (cf. Exo. 27:1-8), and the golden altar before the throne refers to the incense altar (cf. Exo. 30:1-9). The golden censer signifies the prayer of the saints, which is brought to God by Christ as another Angel. The incense signifies Christ with all His merit added to the prayers of the saints so that the saints’ prayers may be acceptable to God upon the golden altar.
Revelation 7:2 says, “And I saw another Angel ascend from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea.” As in Revelation 8:3, the Angel in this verse is Christ. Here Christ is unveiled as another Angel in relation to “a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel” (v. 4).
In Revelation 10:1-7 we have a vision of Christ coming to possess the earth. Verse 1 says, “And I saw another strong Angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire.” Here “clothed with a cloud” indicates that Christ is coming secretly. The rainbow upon His head indicates that Christ, in His judgment upon the earth, will keep the covenant God made with Noah (Gen. 9:8-17). The pillars indicate steadfastness (Jer. 1:18; Gal. 2:9), and fire signifies the holiness of God (Exo. 19:18; Heb. 12:29), according to which Christ will execute His judgment upon the earth.
We have pointed out that Christ is called another Angel because He is One sent by God. In Revelation 7, 8, and 10 He is sent to carry out a particular commission. The same is true in Revelation 18:1: “After these things I saw another Angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was illumined with His glory.” According to verse 2, “He cried with a strong voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” Here Christ proclaims the fall of material Babylon, the city of Rome, at the end of the great tribulation. As another Angel Christ will shine over the earth to destroy Babylon the great with great authority.
We have seen that in the Godhead Christ is the complete God, the Son of God, the Word, the expression of the Father, the One whom no one knows except the Father, the Word of life, the life-giving Spirit, the Giver of the Spirit, the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, the Author of life in whom is life, the Lord, the Lord of glory, and another Angel. If you spend adequate time to consider these aspects of Christ’s person in the Godhead, you will realize that all He is in the Godhead is for the dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen people.
