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Scripture Reading: John 1:1, 1:14, 29; 4:24; 10:10; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 6:17
In these messages we will cover a great and profound matter, the divine Spirit with the human spirit in the Epistles, from Romans through the book of Revelation. The Epistles come after the four Gospels and the Acts. The Gospels are a full record of the Lord Jesus Christ — who He is, what He did, what He accomplished, and what He attained. After this, the Acts gives us a record of the spread, the propagation, of this Christ, which is the church as the Body of Christ. In the four Gospels we have the Head, and in the Acts we have the Body, the propagation and continuation of the Head. After this, the twenty-two books from Romans to Revelation present a full definition, explanation, and revelation of the wonderful and mysterious economy of God.
First, we must see not only who Christ is but what He is. The New Testament tells us that Christ is God Himself. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.” Therefore, Christ as God Himself was Spirit. According to who Christ was, we may say that He was God, but according to what Christ was, we must say that He was Spirit. From the beginning He was Spirit, because He was God Himself who is Spirit. Then verse 14 of chapter 1 says that one day the Word became flesh. Man is flesh just as God is Spirit. By incarnation this very Christ, who was God Himself as Spirit, became flesh as a man. Now, according to who Christ is, we must say that Christ is both God and man, but according to what Christ is, He is both Spirit and flesh. Christ is God, and He is man. Since God is Spirit and man is flesh, Christ is both Spirit and flesh. God became man, and Spirit became flesh.
Christ as God became a man, and Christ as Spirit became flesh because man needed an offering with blood for the purpose of redemption. Man was lost and fallen, so he needed redemption. Only by an offering with blood is it possible for us to be redeemed. Christ as the Spirit had to become flesh in order to be the offering with blood to shed for our sins. John 1:29 says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” If Christ were only Spirit and had not become flesh, He could not have been the Lamb of God. We need to highlight verses 1, 14, and 29 of the first chapter of John in our Bibles. Then when we open to John 1, we will immediately see these three phrases: the Word was God, the Word became flesh, and behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Christ as God Himself became a man, and as Spirit He became flesh, in order to be the Lamb of God to take away all our sins so that we may be redeemed.
However, Christ did not come only for redemption. In the same Gospel, verse 10 of chapter 10 is the word of Christ Himself: “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” This was the further purpose of Christ’s coming. The first chapter of this book tells us that in the beginning Christ was the very God, but He became flesh to be the Lamb of God to redeem us. However, redemption is not the goal. It is only a procedure for the goal. The goal is that we may have life. For this purpose, Christ took two steps. The first step was to become flesh so that He might be the Lamb of God for redemption, but since He could not be life to us simply as the Lamb of God in the flesh, there was the need of another step. After accomplishing redemption, He took the further step to become the Spirit who gives life (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:6, 17).
In eternity past Christ was God, and one day He became flesh, a man, to accomplish redemption. When He went to the cross in His flesh, He was not yet the life-giving Spirit. He was the Lamb of God with flesh to bear the sin of the world and to shed His blood for the cleansing of sin. There at the cross He died as a man in the flesh, accomplishing a full redemption for us sinners in order to solve all the problems between us and God. Because we were fallen, we needed to be redeemed, and because we had become dirty, we needed to be cleansed. This He accomplished by being the Lamb of God who died in the flesh on the cross. This is wonderful, but it is not the goal. It is only the process, the procedure, to reach the goal. The goal is to give us life.
How could Christ give us life and be life to us? It is by means of another step. After being crucified, He was laid in a tomb, and then He resurrected from the dead. In this resurrection He became something else. In His incarnation as God, He became flesh, but now in His resurrection as a man, He became the life-giving Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” We should not only underline this passage but also highlight it and circle it. This verse is vital, living, and basic. It is of great importance, but it has been missed by most Christians today. The last Adam, who is Christ in the flesh as a man, became a life-giving Spirit. This is the Spirit who gives life. Thus, we have the two steps which Christ took, incarnation and resurrection.
We must emphasize this for the sake of the young believers, because today in Christianity many important matters have been neglected. There are many teachings telling people what to do and what not to do, but the vital, living items concerning the life of Christ are mostly missed. In the first step of incarnation Christ became flesh to be the redeeming Lamb, and in the second step of resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. The Lamb is for redemption, and the Spirit is for life.
Chapter 14 is the turning point of the Gospel of John. At the beginning of this chapter the Lord surprised the disciples by telling them that He was about to leave them. The disciples were greatly disappointed at the thought of losing the Lord. Then the Lord told them the truth, the fact, that His going would be not a loss to them but a gain. His going was not His leaving but His coming back; His going was His coming. About sixteen years ago, after we first came to Taiwan, all our children were very young. One day I brought home a big watermelon. Previously, in mainland China we did not have watermelons in the winter time, so a melon at that time seemed like something to treasure. When I placed the watermelon on the dining table, the children were very excited, but when I took it to the kitchen, some of the little ones began to weep. I told them, “Do not be sorrowful. For me to take away the melon is to bring it closer to you.” Then I brought the melon to the kitchen where I cut it into slices. When I brought it back, all the children were happy again. I said to them, “Do you see? Taking it to the kitchen was not to take it away; it was to bring it closer to you.” Without taking it away and cutting it into slices, it would have been too difficult to receive. We could have only appreciated and admired it. The watermelon needed to be cut in order to be transformed into something that we could receive. This is an illustration of the Lord’s word in John 14.
Verses 16 through 20 say, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” In verse 17 the Lord Jesus said that the Spirit of reality would be with the disciples, and then in verse 18 He said, “I am coming to you.” While He was speaking, He was already coming. His going was His coming. The day of His coming would be the day of resurrection (v. 20). It is as if the Lord were saying, “There is no need for you to worry. You should be happy. I am leaving, but I am coming. Moreover, My coming is to come into you. Now I am in the flesh; for that reason, I can only be among you. As long as I am in the flesh, I can never be in you. Therefore, I need to be transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit. I need to have a change in form. Through death and resurrection I will be transfigured, changed in form, from the flesh into the Spirit.” It was in this way, by death and resurrection, that Christ became the life-giving Spirit.
After speaking to His disciples, He delivered Himself to the people to be put on the cross where He was crucified to accomplish redemption. The work of redemption was finished (19:30), and He was put into the grave to rest there. Then on the third day He was resurrected from the dead, and on the day of resurrection He came back to the disciples in a very mysterious way. On that evening the doors were shut in the house where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, but suddenly Christ was among them. Even though no one opened the door, He came into the room and told His disciples to touch His resurrected body. He came back in this mysterious way in order to do one thing, that is, to breathe Himself into the disciples. He breathed into the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Spirit in Greek is pneuma, which also means “breath.” At that time He was the Holy Breath for His disciples to breathe. It was in this way that Christ came into the disciples. In the Gospel of John there is no record of Christ’s ascension to the heavens. From that time on He was continually in the disciples as the Spirit, the Holy Breath.
The four Gospels tell us that Christ was God as Spirit who became a man as flesh. He lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years, and at the end of His earthly life He was put on the cross to accomplish redemption. After accomplishing redemption, He was resurrected, and in His resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. This is not merely my word. It is the word of the Scriptures: “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45b). Christ became flesh to accomplish redemption, and then He took another step to become the Spirit to impart life into us. We can confirm this by another verse. Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” The Lord here is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit is the One mentioned in verse 6, which says, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The Lord Christ is the Spirit who gives life.
From the beginning, Christ was God, and God is Spirit. Then God as Spirit became a man to die on the cross to bear our sins and accomplish redemption. After this, He was resurrected, and in and by resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. What then is the difference between the Spirit who was from the beginning and the life-giving Spirit? Are They two Spirits or one? We may illustrate the answer in the following way. Originally, I may have a cup of plain water, but if I gradually pour some juice into it, followed by some milk, tea, honey, and a little salt, eventually I will have a wonderful drink. It is still the water I had originally, but now there is a difference. At first it was purely, plainly, and uniquely water. Now it is still water but with certain elements added to it. Christ as Spirit in eternity was the “plain water,” but the life-giving Spirit has further elements added to Him, including incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
The life-giving Spirit is still the original Spirit, but many wonderful elements have been added to Him. Without Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, redemption, resurrection, and ascension, the original Spirit could not come into man. It was not until Christ accomplished redemption, passing through incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, that He came into man. How wonderful this is! Now Christ as God is the all-inclusive Spirit with redemption, incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit with many wonderful elements added to Him. This is the Spirit in the book of Acts who was spreading to produce the Body of Christ. In the Acts this wonderful Spirit is no longer only the Spirit of God. Acts 16:6-7 says, “They passed through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, yet the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” In the Acts the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, has become the Spirit of Jesus, who is Christ Himself. It is through the spreading of this wonderful all-inclusive Spirit that the church, the Body of Christ, came into existence.
We need a new understanding, comprehension, and view of all the matters in the book of Acts. What is taking place in this book is the spreading of Jesus as the wonderful Spirit to produce the Body of Christ, which is the church. If we consider this book and the churches in the early days with this point of view, we will have a new understanding. This wonderful Christ mingled Himself with many human beings, including Peter, John, James, Paul, Timothy, and thousands of believers in the early days. All the believers in the Acts were joined to Christ and made one with Christ as the Spirit.
As we have seen, 1 Corinthians 15:45 tells us that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit, and 2 Corinthians 3:17 says that the Lord is the Spirit. In addition, 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” I hope that you will keep all three of these verses in mind. Here we have Christ as the Spirit in our human spirit, and these two spirits are mingled as one. Christ today is not only the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God but also the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit who gives life with many wonderful elements added to Him, including incarnation for redemption, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and even His enthronement, headship, and lordship. This Spirit comes into our spirit, and these two spirits become one. This oneness is the reality of the church, the church life, and the building up of the Body of Christ. In the early days Peter, Paul, and all of the apostles lived and worked in this oneness. In other words, they lived and worked in this Spirit, that is, in the mingled spirit — Christ as the life-giving Spirit mingled with our human spirit to be one spirit. Now after the book of Acts we have this wonderful mingled spirit in the Epistles.
The foregoing is the foundation and preparation to consider the twenty-two Epistles from Romans through the book of Revelation. In these books we have the definition, explanation, and revelation of this wonderful mingled spirit. In the four Gospels Christ was in the flesh for the purpose of accomplishing redemption. After He accomplished redemption, He was transfigured into another form, the Spirit. Now as the Spirit He comes into our spirit to mingle Himself with our spirit as one in order to be our life, our everything, and our all in all for our experience. In order to experience Christ as our life, our everything, and our all in all in an all-inclusive way, we must realize that today Christ is the wonderful Spirit who indwells our regenerated human spirit. This is the revelation, explanation, and definition found in the twenty-two Epistles. In these books Christ is no longer flesh but Spirit. Redemption has been accomplished, and now He is the Spirit who gives life for us to enjoy, experience, and partake of.
Accordingly, we may summarize our burden for these messages with four sentences: (1) In the Gospels, Christ was life outside of us. (2) In the Acts, Christ is life coming into us. (3) In the Epistles, Christ is life within us to build us up together. (4) In Revelation, Christ is life within us to flow out of us for eternity. This is the revelation of the entire New Testament. All of these matters are contained in one fact, that is, that Christ as the life-giving Spirit mingles Himself with our human spirit to be one spirit.
