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Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:7; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 3:16-17a; 2:1, 5-6; John 3:5-6; 1 Pet. 1:3; John 3:36a; Gal. 2:20a; Eph. 2:22; John 14:23b; 4:24; Rom. 1:9; 8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22; Eph. 1:17; 3:5; Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10; Eph. 4:23; 5:18; 1 Cor. 6:17
I. In God’s old creation the spirit of man is the reality of man and not the person of man — Gen. 2:7.
II. In God’s new creation the spirit of the believers is the person of the man of the new creation (the inner man) of the believers — 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 3:16:
А. Being dead in sins — 2:1.
B. Being revived and made alive through the resurrection of Christ — v. 5.
C. And being enlivened and regenerated with the life of God by the life-giving Spirit in Christ’s resurrection — v. 6; John 3:5-6; 1 Pet. 1:3.
III. The regenerated spirit of the believers has:
А. The life of God as the second life, the new life, of the believers — John 3:36a.
B. Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God — the Father, Son, and Spirit — living in the believers to be the person of the believers as the new creation — Gal. 2:20a.
IV. The regenerated spirit of the believers becomes the dwelling place of the processed and consummated Triune God in them (Eph. 2:22), and it also becomes their inner man (3:16b), in which Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God dwells (2 Tim. 4:22) and from which He spreads to make His home in their heart (Eph. 3:17a); this is the processed and consummated Triune God’s making an abode in the believers (John 14:23b).
V. The regenerated spirit of the believers becomes the organ for them to worship, serve, receive, possess, experience, and enjoy God — 4:24; Rom. 1:9; 8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22.
VI. The regenerated spirit of the believers is also the organ for them to receive God’s wisdom, revelation, and vision — Eph. 1:17; 3:5; Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10.
VII. The regenerated spirit of the believers spreads into their mind to become the renewing spirit in their mind — Eph. 4:23.
VIII. The regenerated spirit of the believers is being filled with God — 5:18.
IX. The regenerated spirit of the believers and the consummated Spirit of God are mingled as one spirit — 1 Cor. 6:17.
Prayer: Lord, we not only worship You as the speaking God, but even more we worship You that You are the Word and that this Word is the Spirit. When the reality of this Spirit enters into us to be our element, it makes us God. Lord, we thank You that You became man in order to make man God. This is truly an economy incomprehensible to the angels and to men. Amen.
In the previous chapter we saw the first One in the mystery — the Spirit, who is God Himself. This God who is the Spirit has passed through a number of processes. First, He became flesh (John 1:14); then He became the life-giving Spirit, that is, the Spirit of life (1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:2a). Then this Spirit became the compound Spirit as the anointing ointment (Exo. 30:23-25). He is also the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17-18), the Spirit (John 7:38-39; Rev. 22:17), the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19b), the Spirit of reality (John 14:17; 1 John 5:6b), the Spirit in the Word (John 6:63; Eph. 6:17-18a), the mantle Spirit poured upon the believers, that is, the Spirit of power (Acts 2:18, 33; Luke 24:49; 2 Kings 2:12b-15), and finally, the seven Spirits (Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6). This processed God is one yet three, three yet one. This three-one and one-three God became flesh and then became the Spirit, that is, the consummated Spirit. This is what the Bible clearly reveals to us.
Such a God passed through these processes, first, that He might make God man and, ultimately, that He might make man God. At the beginning of the Bible, God created the heavens and the earth and man. For four thousand years after He created man, through the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, besides presenting some prophecies and types, nearly nothing was done as far as the accomplishment of His eternal economy is concerned. It was not until the New Testament that He came out to do something that is incomprehensible to men; that is, He was born into the womb of a virgin, remained there for nine months, and then was brought forth from the virgin’s womb. He was born with the flesh, with humanity. He was God, yet He was born to be a human child and was laid in a manger. It was from that point that He began to pass through the processes. This God became a God-man, passing through thirty-three and a half years of human living and then passing through death and resurrection. Eventually, this God-man produced tens of thousands of God-men. Peter, John, James, and Paul were included. All the believers in Christ also are included. Then after He ascended into the heavens, He poured Himself down like heavy rain to be the mantle Spirit for Peter and his company to put on as the Spirit of power for the carrying out of the Lord’s great work of salvation. Hence, three thousand and then five thousand were saved to become the church. Not only so, this Spirit also became the Spirit of Jesus Christ with the bountiful supply to enable those who became the church to live a God-man life to live out Christ.
All these accomplishments of God depend on the Spirit. However, there is a saying that a single hand cannot produce a clapping sound. If there is only God the Spirit, there is still no way to accomplish all the matters. He needs another spirit to “clap” together with Him. This other spirit is the spirit of the regenerated believers. When God created man, He made preparation for this spirit of the believers.
There are two crucial points concerning God’s creating of man. First, God created man in His image. What He created was man, but what came out was in God’s likeness. God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). God created man, yet what came out was not according to mankind but according to God’s kind. God created all things according to their own kind, but He created man not according to mankind but according to God’s kind. This laid a foundation for man so that he could become God in life and nature but without any share in the Godhead. This is the truth in the Bible.
The second crucial point in God’s creation of man was that God created a spirit in man (2:7; Zech. 12:1). Since God is Spirit, if there were no spirit in man, there would be no way for man to contact this God who is Spirit. If God had only created man according to God’s kind, having God’s likeness yet not having an organ to contact and receive Him, God’s heart’s desire would have had no way to be fulfilled. Hence, God created man with a spirit to enable man to contact and receive Him. We all know that in the universe the devil and the demons are evil. The Bible uses the serpent to signify the devil and the scorpions to signify the demons. Concerning the angels, although they are not evil, they are merely serving spirits (Heb. 1:14); hence, they are insignificant. In the universe, only man, who has a spirit, is important. Zechariah 12:1 says, “Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.” Here we have the three great keys in the universe: the heavens, the earth, and man. God created the heavens, the earth, man, and especially a spirit for man. This is God’s preparation within man for His economy.
In the old creation the spirit of man is the reality of man (Gen. 2:7). If we did not have a human spirit, we would be more or less like the animals. Although man is also a kind of animal, he is different from the other animals. Man has a spirit, whereas the other animals do not. Many people love dogs, but although they are clever and lovable, dogs do not have a spirit. Even if a dog stayed in your home for five years, it would still be the same, not knowing anything. But if you give birth to a child, after five days he will become different. After fifty days he will even be able to smile. After another few months he will even call “Mama!” But regardless of how long a dog stays in your home, it will never call you “Mama!” No matter how you teach it, it will not understand. Yet if a child stays in your home for eight or nine months, he will be able to call you “Mama!” After another period of time, he will be able to discern who is Daddy and who is Mommy. Gradually, the child will grow. When he is five or six years old, his parents may talk to him about God. Gradually, he will know God and he will pray to Him. If you teach a dog, telling it, “God is your Creator; He is the Lord of heaven and earth; you need to worship Him,” the dog will at most wag its tail and walk away. The little dog is just an animal. It does not have a spirit; it has no way to understand God. You can teach it, but it cannot understand. But with little children, after they become five or six years old, you can teach them, and they can understand and say, “Lord Jesus, my mother told me that You died for me. Lord Jesus, I thank You.” This is because man not only has God’s image outwardly; man also has a spirit within that can contact God. The spirit of man is the reality of man. Without this spirit, there is no reality.
In God’s old creation the spirit of man is not the person of man; the person of man is the soul. Hence, both the Old and New Testaments call men “souls.” The house of Jacob, consisting of seventy persons, went down to Egypt, but the Bible did not say “seventy persons” but “seventy souls” (Exo. 1:5, lit.). On the day of Pentecost three thousand people were saved, yet the Bible says, “There were added on that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41). In the old creation man is a soul, but the reality within him is the human spirit. This spirit is the organ for contacting and receiving God.
In God’s new creation the spirit of the believers is not merely an organ for contacting and receiving God, but it has become the person of the man of the new creation (the inner man) of the believers (2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 3:16). In the old creation the soul is the person of man; in the new creation the spirit is the person of man. Today it is the spirit that is the master and the person within us. In the old creation our person is the soul. In the new creation our person is the spirit; the soul is merely an organ in us. In the man of the new creation, there is a Lord who is Christ. This Christ dwells in our new man to be our Lord and our person. Galatians 2:20 says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” This means that our old “I” has been terminated; our soul is finished. Now it is no longer the “I,” the soul, who lives but Christ who lives in us to be our new person. He lives in our spirit and has become one with our spirit. Hence, the person in our being as a new creation, on the one hand, is our spirit and, on the other hand, is Christ. Both are the person in our new man.
The spirit of man was created by God. It became dead in sins due to man’s transgressions and fall and lost the function of contacting God (Eph. 2:1). Since man is sinful, he needs redemption. Through the redeeming death of Christ, the spirit of man has been enlivened through the resurrection of Christ (v. 5). However, this kind of enlivening is still not resurrection; it is just like a dead person being enlivened from death. Our spirit is first enlivened; then it is regenerated with the life of God in the resurrection of Christ, by the life-giving Spirit, who is the wonderful, processed Spirit (v. 6; John 3:5-6; 1 Pet. 1:3). Man was dead in sins. Based on the redemption of Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to enliven man and then resurrect him together with Christ in the resurrection of Christ and to regenerate him by the life of God.
Regeneration is to bring God into man. The life-giving Spirit who regenerates man is just God Himself. Therefore, when this life-giving Spirit regenerates man, God enters into man. God’s coming in is Christ’s coming in, because Christ is the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9). Christ’s coming in is just life’s coming in, because Christ is life (John 14:6). In this way the Spirit, God, Christ, and life all come into man. When we believe in the Lord, the processed and consummated Spirit enters into us. When we say, “O Lord Jesus, You are my Savior; I receive You,” at that moment the Spirit comes into us. When He comes, God comes; when He comes, Christ comes; when He comes, life comes. This consummated Spirit comes into us not to bring us some doctrines but to bring God, Christ, and life into us to be our elements so that our deadened spirit can be resurrected and thus be regenerated. Hence, regeneration is to remake, rebuild, and reconstitute us to be a person of the new creation with God, Christ, and life as the elements.
In the believers’ regenerated spirit there is the life of God as the second life of the believers, that is, the new life of the believers (3:36a). The initial life of the believers is the created life from Adam. The second life of the believers is the uncreated life that they received from God. This uncreated life becomes the new life of the believers, which is another life received by the believers apart from the created life. As soon as we believe in the Lord, God Himself enters into us to be our life. Hence, we have two lives. When I was saved at the age of twenty, I was striving in my studying. But one afternoon I heard and believed in the gospel and received the Lord. When I came out of that meeting, my whole being was changed. As I was walking on the street, I lifted my head to look at heaven and prayed to God, saying, “God, from now on, even if the whole world is given to me, I don’t want it anymore. I only want You.” I believe that everyone who is saved and regenerated has a similar experience. Yet this does not mean that we ourselves have changed; it means that another life has come into us to change us. This other life is God, and it is also Christ. Thus, regeneration is to be born of God that we may have the life of God to become a God-man.
The man that was created by God had God’s image but did not have God or the life of God within him. Hence, in the old creation man only looks like God and is like a photograph of God. Suppose you see a photograph of me. If you point at this photograph and say that it is me, I will say that it is not me, because the photograph does not have my life. If you say that the photograph is not me, I will say that it is me, because the photograph is my image. A person has no way to enter into his own photograph to cause that photograph to have his life and become him. However, after passing through the processes, God can enter into the man who has His image to be his life so that he can be the same kind as God in life and nature but not in His Godhead.
In the regenerated spirit of the believers there is also Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — living within the believers to be the person of the believers as the new creation (Gal. 2:20a). Therefore, we who have been regenerated have not only a new life but also a new person. This new life is God, and this new person is Christ, who is the embodiment of God.
The regenerated spirit of the believers becomes the dwelling place of the processed and consummated Triune God in the believers (Eph. 2:22). There are many things involved here. We build houses for us to dwell in. Likewise, if God wants to make our regenerated spirit His dwelling place, there is the need for a process of building.
The regenerated spirit of the believers becomes not only the dwelling place of God but also the inner man of the believers (3:16b), in which Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God dwells (2 Tim. 4:22) to spread and make His home in the hearts of the believers (Eph. 3:17a). Christ must spread from the regenerated spirit of the believers to the hearts of the believers. Originally, my office in my home was quite small, but recently I enlarged it. As soon as we are saved, the Lord comes in and stays in our spirit. However, He is restricted to our spirit and is suffering there, desiring to spread out from our spirit. Hence, He wants to spread from our spirit, which is the base, to our heart. This kind of spreading enables Him to make home and build up His dwelling place in us.
John 14:23 says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” This is the processed and consummated Triune God making His home in the believers. This making home is the building. On the one hand, it is the building of the house of God that He may dwell in us; on the other hand, it is the building of our house that we may dwell in Him. This twofold dwelling place is the mutual dwelling place of God and man. If God does not dwell in man, God will not be able to become man; if man does not dwell in God, neither will man be able to become God. For God to become man, He must gain man as His home; for man to become God, he needs to obtain God as his home. This mutual dwelling place is a joining of God and man with each other. However, if both parties are not of the same kind, they cannot become a mutual dwelling place and stay with each other. If you are not God but are only man, how can you dwell with God? If God is not man but is only God, how can He dwell with you? Hence, the preparation of the dwelling place in John 14 is God becoming man and man becoming God that God and man, man and God, can be joined and mingled together to become a mutual dwelling place.
This preparation of the dwelling place requires much building work. On God’s side, in order to dwell with man, He Himself had to pass through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. On man’s side, in order to dwell with God, man likewise has to pass through regeneration, sanctification, renewing, and transformation. All these are the work of building the dwelling place of God and man so that ultimately God and man can become a mutual dwelling place.
The regenerated spirit of the believers not only becomes the dwelling of God but also becomes the organ for them to worship, serve, receive, possess, experience, and enjoy God (4:24; Rom. 1:9; 8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22). This is like the receiver within a wireless radio that enables the radio to receive the radio waves. Our regenerated spirit within us is the organ for us to receive God that we may contact Him, worship Him, serve Him, and even possess Him, experience Him, and enjoy Him.
The regenerated spirit of the believers is also the organ for the believers to receive God’s wisdom, revelation, and vision (Eph. 1:17; 3:5; Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10). Genuine wisdom comes from God. Our regenerated spirit enables us to receive the wisdom that comes from God. Not only so, this wisdom enables us to understand God’s revelation. As soon as God comes into our spirit, we receive revelation. This revelation causes us to see something, and what we see becomes a vision. All these are matters that occur in our regenerated spirit.
The regenerated spirit also spreads into the mind of the believers to become the renewing spirit in the believers’ mind so that their entire being can be renewed (Eph. 4:23). A person is controlled by his mind. Whatever a person thinks, he will do. Before we were saved, what we had were old thinking and old thoughts. Now, after being saved, we have a regenerated new spirit. However, this is not enough. We still need a new mind. When the regenerated spirit of the believers spreads into their mind, the mind of the believers becomes a renewed mind. Hence, the regenerated spirit of the believers becomes the renewing spirit in their mind that their entire being may be renewed.
Before we were saved, we had our particular lifestyle. For example, a mother admonishes her daughter from her youth concerning how to dress herself properly. However, as the daughter grows up, she has her own ideas and dresses in a strange way. The mother admonishes her, but she does not listen. One day this daughter hears the gospel and is saved. Eventually, her mind is renewed. She no longer dresses herself in that worldly way. This is what is spoken of in Ephesians 4:23 concerning a believer after he is saved: his regenerated spirit spreads into his mind to become the renewing spirit in his mind. This causes his mind to be transformed and renewed. Thus he will no longer be the same.
The regenerated spirit of the believers also needs to be filled with God (5:18). Paul says that we should not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but should be filled in spirit. To be drunk with wine is to have our body saturated with wine. We, the believers, need to be filled with God and saturated with God in our spirit. All the experienced ones know that every day when we spend some time, eight or ten minutes, remaining before God to contact Him and allow Him to saturate and soak us within, it is as if the spirit within us takes a shower in the Spirit of God. This causes us to be filled with God. Eventually, both within and without, we will be God.
Finally, the regenerated spirit of the believers and the consummated Spirit of God are mingled as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Thus, the Spirit of God is no longer like a single hand that cannot produce clapping sounds; rather, the two spirits can “clap” together. Today the Spirit of God and the human spirit are mingled as one within us so that we can live a God-man life, a life that is God yet man and man yet God. Hence, the God-man life is a living of the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man joined and mingled together as one.
