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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 4:15; 3:6-12, 16; 6:17, 19; 7:40
In 1 Corinthians 6:17 Paul says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” In this verse the word joined refers to the believers’ organic union with the Lord through believing into Him (John 3:15-16). This union is a matter not only of the divine life but in the divine life. The organic union with the resurrected Lord can only be in our spirit.
The words one spirit indicate the mingling of the Lord as the Spirit with our spirit. Our spirit has been regenerated by the Spirit of God (John 3:6), who is now in us (1 Cor. 6:19) and who is one with our spirit. Through resurrection the Lord became the life-giving Spirit, and as such a Spirit, He is now with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). Hence, the one spirit in 1 Corinthians 6:17 is the mingled spirit, our regenerated human spirit mingled with the divine Spirit.
Every regenerated person has two spirits within him. First, a regenerated person has a regenerated human spirit. Second, dwelling within the regenerated human spirit, there is the Spirit of God.
Throughout the years we have placed strong emphasis on the importance of the human spirit. We have pointed out again and again that man has a spirit within him created by God. Concerning the human spirit, Zechariah 12:1 says, “Jehovah...stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.” This verse indicates the importance of the human spirit, for here the spirit of man is ranked with the heavens and the earth. In the sight of God three aspects of His first creation are especially important: the heavens, the earth, and the human spirit. As we have said a number of times, the heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man with his spirit is for God. It is by the spirit that man is able to contact God, receive God, and contain God.
As those who believe in Christ, not only do we have the human spirit created by God, but our human spirit has been regenerated, born of the divine Spirit. In John 3:6 the Lord Jesus spoke clearly concerning this fact: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” In this verse the Spirit is the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. What is born of the Spirit is the human spirit, the regenerated spirit of man. Regeneration takes place in the human spirit by the Holy Spirit of God with God’s life, the uncreated eternal life.
Every regenerated person has the divine Spirit within him. In the New Testament this Spirit has different titles: the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9), the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35), the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7), the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), and the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19). These titles of the Spirit are used interchangeably. Elsewhere in the New Testament the divine Spirit is called the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), and even the seven Spirits (Rev. 1:4). In order to describe this Spirit, especially as the Spirit is typified by the compound ointment in Exodus 30, we have coined the expression the compound Spirit.
The New Testament reveals that in Jesus Christ God was incarnated. The incarnation brought God into man. Through incarnation God actually became a man and then lived on earth as a man for thirty-three and a half years. At the end of this period of time, the Lord Jesus, the God-man, was crucified. Through His death on the cross He terminated all negative things. God needed Christ to terminate all negative things through His crucifixion. After dying on the cross, the Lord rested for three days, and then He was resurrected from among the dead. In and through His resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit includes the elements of divinity, humanity, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. For this reason we may speak of this Spirit as the compound Spirit.
In John 4:24 the Lord Jesus said, “God is Spirit.” To say that God is Spirit must mean that the Triune God is Spirit. We should not think that only the Spirit of God is Spirit and that the Father and the Son are not Spirit. It would be ridiculous to say that only one-third of God is Spirit and that the other two-thirds are not Spirit. In John 4:24 God must refer to the entire God, the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Hence, to say that God is Spirit means that the entire God, the complete God, is Spirit.
Due to the influence of traditional teaching concerning the Trinity, many believers, perhaps unconsciously, hold to a form of tritheism, the belief in three Gods. Today some claim that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not only distinct but are also three separate persons. Those who hold to this concept may say that only the Spirit is Spirit and that the Father and the Son are not Spirit. This is to say that only one-third of the Godhead, the Spirit, is Spirit.
If we admit that the word spoken by the Lord Jesus in John 4:24 means that the entire God is Spirit, then we must also admit that the Father and the Son, and not only the Spirit, are Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are the entire God, and the entire God, not merely a part, is Spirit. Therefore, all three of the Godhead — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — are Spirit. Regarding this, we do not care for traditional teaching. Instead, we care for the revelation of the pure Word of God. The Scriptures tell us that the entire God, the Triune God, is Spirit.
Do you know how the Triune God reaches us? He reaches us as the Spirit. The Spirit of the Triune God is actually God reaching us. Apart from the Spirit, neither the Father nor the Son can reach us.
Paul’s word in 2 Corinthians 13:14 indicates that the Triune God reaches us as the Spirit: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” The grace of the Lord is the Lord Himself as life to us for our enjoyment, the love of God is God Himself (1 John 4:8, 16) as the source of the grace of the Lord, and the fellowship of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself as the transmission of the grace of the Lord with the love of God for our participation. This verse indicates that we need not only the grace of Christ and the love of God but also the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The word fellowship indicates transmission. Through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit the Triune God reaches us and communicates with us. Therefore, the entire God is Spirit, and the Spirit as the third of the Trinity is God reaching us for our experience and enjoyment of Him.
It is common for Christians to appreciate the fact that the Lord Jesus is God. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” According to John 1:14, this Word, which was God, became flesh. Christians also know that the Lord Jesus is our Redeemer, Savior, Lord, and Master, the One who died for our sins. However, not many Christians have seen from 1 Corinthians 15:45 that the last Adam, the Lord Jesus, has become a life-giving Spirit.
Because of the influence of traditional teaching concerning the Trinity, many Christians will not admit that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit. Concerning 1 Corinthians 15:45, some say, “This verse does not mean that Christ became the Holy Spirit. This verse says only that Christ is a Spirit. When He was on earth, He was in the flesh. Now through resurrection He became a Spirit.”
However, Paul added the modifier life-giving before the word Spirit. If the life-giving Spirit in 1 Corinthians 15:45 is different from the Holy Spirit who gives life, then there are two Spirits who give life. But it is a fact that there is only one life-giving Spirit. In addition to the Holy Spirit, there is not another life-giving Spirit. It is heretical to say that in addition to the life-giving Spirit, Christ in resurrection has become another kind of Spirit who gives life. Do you believe that there are two divine Spirits, two Spirits who give life? We absolutely do not believe this.
Paul was careful in writing 1 Corinthians 15:45. He did not say, “The last Adam became a Spirit.” He added the modifier life-giving and said, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Who is the Spirit who gives life? Do you believe that besides the Holy Spirit there is another divine Spirit who gives life? This is impossible.
In 2 Corinthians 3:17 Paul clearly says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” In 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. Verse 6 says, “The Spirit gives life.” The Spirit mentioned in 2 Corinthians 3:17 is the very Spirit spoken of in verse 6 who gives life. This proves that the Lord is the Spirit who gives life.
In this chapter we have covered three crucial points: first, that the entire God is Spirit; second, that the Triune God reaches us as the Spirit; and third, that through resurrection Christ, the last Adam, has become the life-giving Spirit.
The Father and the Son do not reach us directly. Rather, it is the Spirit who reaches us. When the Spirit reaches us, the Father and the Son also reach us, because the three of the Godhead cannot be divided or separated. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit not only coexist eternally but also coinhere. The Father, Son, and Spirit exist in one another. Hence, when the Spirit reaches us, the Father and the Son also reach us.
We have seen that the Lord is now the Spirit. He has passed through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit. Now as regenerated ones, we have this Spirit dwelling in us.
For some readers, what we have been speaking in this chapter may be new. Actually, what I have been giving you is not my word or teaching but quotations from the New Testament. The New Testament reveals that God is Spirit, that the third of the Trinity is the Spirit reaching us with the Son and the Father, and that today the Lord is the Spirit. At least two verses in the New Testament indicate this. First Corinthians 15:45 reveals that through resurrection and in resurrection Christ has become a life-giving Spirit. He has not become merely a Spirit; He has become the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit who gives life. Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 3:17 definitely says, “The Lord is the Spirit.”
However, some would try to twist this verse and say that the Lord here is not the Lord Jesus Christ but merely the Lord God. If we study the book of 2 Corinthians carefully, we will see that 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). Therefore, the Lord in 2 Corinthians 3:17, as in verses 16 and 18, undoubtedly refers to the Lord Jesus, not to God the Father. To say that the Lord in this verse refers to God and not to the Lord Jesus is a twisting of the verse in order to cover over the revelation here that the Lord is the Spirit.
The New Testament reveals that our Triune God has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the Spirit dwelling in our regenerated spirit. Hallelujah for the wonderful Spirit within us! Hallelujah for the mingling of the divine Spirit with our regenerated human spirit!
To say that our spirit is mingled with the divine Spirit does not mean that we will ever be deified. To say that the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the regenerated human spirit, are one does not mean that we believe that we will become God as an object of worship. It is blasphemy for anyone to say that a person can become God and be worshipped as God. According to the Scriptures, we believe that our Triune God is the all-inclusive Spirit dwelling in our spirit and mingled with our spirit. This is the significance of Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 6:17: “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”
For what purpose has the life-giving Spirit come into our spirit? The life-giving Spirit has come into us for the purpose of the divine dispensing. In order to experience the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity, we need to turn to our spirit and exercise our spirit by praying in a proper way and by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. We can testify from experience that when we pray in our spirit, we enjoy the supply of the Triune God. The more we pray by exercising our spirit, the more we have the sense deep within that we are being saturated with the Triune God. We have the sense that we are being soaked in the life-giving Spirit. This saturating and soaking is a matter of life dispensing.
The dispensing of the Triune God into us causes us to be members of the church who are growing and being transformed. Through this divine dispensing we will eventually reach maturity. Through the divine dispensing we have received our divine birth, and through this dispensing we have growth and enjoy transformation. Now we are one spirit with the wonderful Triune God. This is the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity, a dispensing that issues in the practical life of a local church.
