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In previous messages we have seen that, in the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, the believers enjoy the dispensing of the divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation by being transformed, by being conformed to Christ’s image and conformed to the death of Christ, by entering into the Holy of Holies, by following Jesus, by living to Christ, by walking according to spirit, by sowing unto the Spirit, by walking by faith, and by living in the organism of the divine Trinity and participating in the dispensing of the divine Trinity. Now we shall begin to consider how the believers enjoy the dispensing of the divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation by being filled in their spirit with the processed Triune God and letting the word of Christ dwell in them richly.
We enjoy the dispensing of the divine Trinity by being filled in our spirit with the processed Triune God and letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly. Ephesians 5:18b says, “Be filled in spirit,” and Colossians 3:16a says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” These are parallel verses, for the first charges us to be filled in our spirit with the Triune God and the second, to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. When we are filled in our spirit with the processed Triune God and let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, we enjoy the dispensing of the divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation.
To be filled in spirit is to be filled in our regenerated spirit, the human spirit indwelt by the Spirit of God. However, some readers of Ephesians 5 may regard the spirit in verse 18 as the Holy Spirit. But according to the Greek text, Paul here is not saying that we should be filled with the Spirit; rather, he is saying that we should be filled in our spirit, that is, in our regenerated spirit. Our spirit should not be empty, but should be filled with the riches of Christ unto all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19). If our spirit is filled with the riches of Christ, we shall have no problems in our Christian life.
All the items in Ephesians 5:18—6:9 are related to the one matter of being filled in spirit. We may read these verses and pay attention to such details as wives submitting to their own husbands or husbands loving their own wives, but fail to see the source of these virtues, that is, being filled in spirit with the processed Triune God. When we are filled in our spirit with the Spirit, then wives will be subject to their husbands, husbands will love their wives, parents will care for their children, slaves will obey their masters, and masters will treat their slaves in a proper way. All of these things are the issue of being filled in spirit.
We may say that the imperative “be filled” is actually in the “active-passive” voice. “Be” is active, and “filled” is passive. Hence, “be filled” is active-passive. In our language there may not be such a thing as active-passive, but in God’s New Testament economy active-passive is a great matter.
Peter’s word in Acts 2:40 helps us to understand how “be filled” in Ephesians 5:18 is a matter of active-passive. Peter entreated the people saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation!” Here “be” is active, and “saved” is passive. Hence, we may say that “be saved” is in the active-passive voice. It is to be done by God, but man needs to be active to receive what God intends to do. At the time of Pentecost, everything concerning God’s full salvation was prepared, and the Holy Spirit was poured out as the application and full blessing of God’s salvation ready for man to receive. In this matter God is waiting for man, and man needs to take the initiative. Although we cannot save ourselves, we must be willing to be saved by God. God is willing and prepared to save us. Nevertheless, we need to be saved; that is, we need to take the initiative to receive God’s salvation.
The principle is the same with Paul’s charge, “Be filled in spirit.” Just as God has done everything necessary for us to be saved, He has done everything necessary for us to be filled in our regenerated spirit. Nevertheless, just as we need to take some action to be saved, we need to take some action to be filled in spirit with the Holy Spirit who has been given to us and who now dwells in our spirit.
We should not limit the Spirit or restrict Him. The Holy Spirit with all of Christ’s riches as the fullness of God is ready to fill us in our spirit. Now we need to coordinate with Him, taking some action, to be filled.
Many of us are filled with the Spirit not thoroughly but only partly. The reason for this may be that we do not give the Holy Spirit enough room within us. Instead, we still have a great deal of reserve and do not allow the Spirit to have every part of our being. As a result, we are filled with things other than the Spirit.
It is very difficult for the believers to be completely emptied in order to give the indwelling Spirit all the room in our spirit and in our mind, emotion, and will. The Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God indwells us and desires to fill us. However, we give Him too much restriction and limitation. He does not have the freedom to occupy every part of our inner being. Therefore, if we would be filled in our spirit with the Spirit, we need to clear away all preoccupations from our spirit and allow the indwelling Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God to occupy us in full. If we are filled in our spirit with the Spirit, the issue will be a proper Christian life, church life, individual life, and family life.
As believers, we should not only be filled in our spirit with the processed Triune God but should also let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. In Colossians 3:16a Paul says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” The word of Christ is the word spoken by Christ. In His New Testament economy, God speaks in the Son, and the Son speaks not only directly in the Gospels but also through His members, the apostles and prophets, in Acts, in the Epistles, and in Revelation. All these may be considered His word.
The word of Christ includes the entire New Testament. We need to be filled with this word. This means that we should allow the word of Christ to dwell in us, to inhabit us, to make home in us.
The Greek word rendered “dwell” in Colossians 3:16a means to be in a house, to inhabit. The word of the Lord must have adequate room within us so that it may operate and minister the riches of Christ into our inner being. Furthermore, the word of Christ must dwell in us richly. The riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8) are in His word. When such a rich word inhabits us, it must inhabit us richly. The word of Christ should have free course within us. We should not simply receive it and then confine it to a small area of our being. On the contrary, the word of Christ should be given a free course to operate within us. In this way the word will inhabit us and make home in us.
The verb “dwell” in Colossians 3:16a indicates that the word of Christ is actually a person — Christ Himself. Because the word can dwell in us, make home in us, it must be a living person, for it is not possible for something that is not living to dwell in a place or make its home there. We would never say, for example, that a table dwells in our home. Rather, we, as living persons, dwell in our home. Therefore, to let the word of Christ dwell in us indicates that we should let a living person — Christ Himself — dwell in us.
As we come to the written word day by day, we should sense that Christ as the living, personified Word is waiting for us and desires to dwell in us richly. Whenever we come to the written word we should have the conviction deep within that we are contacting the Lord Himself as the living Word.
As we receive the word of Christ, even Christ Himself, we should give the word the freedom to make its home in us. If a certain place is to become our home, we must have the freedom to make all necessary arrangements. If we want to keep a certain item, we may do so. But if we want to throw something else away, we are free to do that as well. If we do not have this kind of freedom, it is not possible for us to make that place our home. In like manner, if the word of Christ is to make home in us, we must give it the full liberty, freedom, and right. We need to pray, “Lord, I offer my whole being to You and Your word. I give You access to every part of my inner being. Lord, make my inner being a home for Yourself and Your word.”
In Ephesians 5:18 we have the charge to be filled in our spirit with the Triune God, and in Colossians 3:16, the charge to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. Colossians is focused on Christ as our Head and life. The way for Him to exercise His headship and to minister His riches to us is through His word. Hence, the emphasis is on the word of Christ. Ephesians is concerned with the church as the Body of Christ. The way for us to live a normal church life is to be filled in our spirit unto all the fullness of God. Hence, the emphasis is on the Spirit. In Ephesians both the Holy Spirit and our spirit are emphasized again and again. Even the word is counted as the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). In Colossians the Holy Spirit is mentioned only once (1:8), and the human spirit is also mentioned once (2:5). In Ephesians the word is for washing away our natural life (5:26) and for fighting against the enemy (6:17), whereas in Colossians the word is for revealing Christ (1:25-27) in His preeminence, centrality, and universality. This word, like the Spirit, is ready to dwell in us, occupy us, and fill us, but we need to let the word dwell in us richly.
If we compare Ephesians 5:18-20 with Colossians 3:16 and 17, we shall see that, as the New Testament reveals, the word is the Spirit and the Spirit is the word. John 6:63 indicates this. Here the Lord Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.” The Spirit is living and real but rather mysterious and intangible and difficult for us to apprehend. The words, however, are substantial. In John 6 the Lord Jesus first indicates that for giving life He would become the Spirit. Then He says that the words He speaks are spirit and life. This shows that His spoken words are the embodiment of the life-giving Spirit. He is now the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, and the Spirit is embodied in His words. When we receive His words by exercising our spirit, we get the Spirit who is life.
Many readers of John 6 are puzzled by the Lord’s word in verse 63, not knowing what it means for His words to be spirit and life. Some Christians care only for the Bible in letters; they are reluctant even to talk about the Spirit. Their desire is merely to understand the Bible in letters. However, if we do not touch the Spirit in the Word, we cannot receive life. The Spirit is the extract of the Bible. Yet this extract is embodied in the Word. Today the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ is the life-giving Spirit, and this Spirit is embodied in the word of the Bible. Daily we need to come to the Lord and touch Him as the Spirit in the Word.
The New Testament assures us that the Word and the Spirit are one. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word.” But in John 20:22 the Lord Jesus breathed upon the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” At the beginning of the Gospel of John, Christ is the Word, but at the end of this Gospel He breathes out the Spirit. We have seen that in 6:63 He says that the word is the Spirit. Hence, the Word and the Spirit are one.
A further indication of this is seen in Ephesians 6:17. Here Paul charges us to receive “the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.” This verse indicates that the Spirit is the word of God. The antecedent of the word “which” in this verse is not sword but Spirit. This indicates that the Spirit is the word of God, both of which are Christ (2 Cor. 3:17; Rev. 19:13).
In our Christian experience the word of God and the Spirit must always be one. It is an utter falsehood to say that we can take the Spirit without taking the word of God, or that we should take the word of God without the Spirit. Without taking the word of God, we cannot have the Spirit. In our experience we receive the Spirit mainly through the Word. As we contact the Word in a living way, it becomes the Spirit to us.
Christ is both the Spirit and the Word. He is not the Spirit without being the Word, nor is He the Word without being the Spirit. Because He is both the Word and the Spirit, we need to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and we need to be filled in our spirit with the Spirit.
Another verse which indicates that the Spirit and the word of God are one is 2 Timothy 3:16a. Here Paul says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” This indicates that the Scripture, the word of God, is the breath of God. Every word of the Bible is God’s breath, and this breath is the pneuma, the Spirit. God’s breath is His pneuma, the Spirit. The Spirit is the breath of God, and the word of God is also the breath of God. Thus, because both the word of God and the Spirit are God’s breath, they are truly one. On the one hand, the word of God is the Spirit; on the other hand, the Spirit of God is the word.
God’s speaking is His breathing. Hence, His word is spirit, pneuma, breath. This means that the Scripture is the embodiment of God as the Spirit. The Spirit is therefore the very essence, the substance, of the Scripture, just as phosphorus is the essential substance in matches. We must strike the Spirit of the Scripture with our spirit to catch the divine fire.
In our Christian life we should neglect neither the Spirit nor the Word. Because the Lord is both the Spirit and the Word, we should not separate the Spirit from the Word. It is actually dangerous to have the Spirit without the Word, for then we are in an unlimited and unrestricted sphere. But without the Spirit the Word has no life, for apart from the Spirit the Word is dead letters. The Spirit is the life content of the Bible. The Word conveys God’s life because the Word conveys the Spirit. In fact, the substance, the essence, the constituent, of the Word is the Spirit. Therefore, the Bible cares for both the Spirit and the word of Christ. We are charged to be filled in spirit with the Spirit, and we are also charged to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.
Concerning the Spirit, there are two extremes, one found among fundamentalists and the other among Pentecostalists. Because they are afraid of the experience of the Spirit, certain fundamental Christians care primarily for Bible doctrine. But to have only the doctrine of the Bible without the Spirit is to have a lifeless body. The Spirit is embodied in the Word. Hence, the Word may be called the body of the Spirit. To separate the Spirit from the Word is to have a lifeless body. Nevertheless, fundamental Christians are often afraid to hear about the experience of Christ, the Spirit, and the inner life. They represent one extreme.
The Pentecostalists represent another extreme. They may neglect the Word and emphasize the Spirit in an abnormal, unbalanced way.
God’s New Testament economy avoids both extremes. In the economy of God the Spirit is the ultimate and consummate reaching of the Triune God to man. When the Spirit comes to us, the Triune God comes. Along with the Spirit, God gives us the Word. On the one hand, we have the Spirit as the ultimate and consummate reaching of the Triune God; on the other hand, we have the Word as the embodiment of the Spirit. Just as our life and our physical body are one entity, one complete living organism, so the Spirit and the Word are one. As human beings, we must have both a visible and tangible body and also an invisible and intangible life. In like manner, as believers, we need both the Word and the Spirit. Furthermore, just as it is the invisible life within our body which makes our body vigorous and active, it is the Spirit who causes the Word to be living. This indicates that the Spirit and the Word are one. God’s New Testament economy depends on both the Word and the Spirit. We need the Word as the body and the Spirit as the life.
Since the Word and the Spirit are one and since we should allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly and should be filled in our spirit with the Spirit, we should avoid the two extremes of the fundamentalists who care for the Word but often neglect the Spirit and the Pentecostalists who care for the Spirit but often neglect the Word. We should not be at either extreme, but should be balanced, caring both for the Spirit and the Word. Within, we have the Spirit, and in our hands we have the Word, the Bible.
Now, in order to enjoy the dispensing of the divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation, we need to be filled in our spirit with the processed Triune God who is now the all-inclusive Spirit, and we need to let the word of Christ dwell in us, make home in us, richly. In the two following messages we shall see the kind of living that issues from being filled in our spirit with the Spirit and allowing the word of Christ to dwell in us richly.
