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Scripture Reading: John 4:24; Gen. 1:2; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 2:11; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Judg. 6:34; Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18; Acts 5:9; 8:39; 2 Cor. 3:17; Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 4:1; Matt. 3:16; Acts 10:38; Matt. 12:28
We need to enter into the significance of all the different aspects of the Spirit. We need a vision of all these different aspects, which will give us a clear view of the Spirit. Once we see something, we will never forget it. In 1958 I came to the United States, and someone took me to see Disneyland. I could never forget Disneyland because I saw it. I received a “vision” of Disneyland, and what I saw was impressed into my being. In like manner, we need to see visions concerning the Spirit. This series of messages is entitled The Spirit. The Spirit is the simplest divine title of the Spirit of God in the Bible. What I will share in these messages is the accumulation of all the visions that I have seen through my study of the Bible over many years.
Basically speaking, what is revealed in the Bible is God. We have to realize that the center of the Bible is God. Of course, God is embodied in Christ. God is the source, Christ is the embodiment of the source, and this Christ is realized as the Spirit. The Spirit is the reaching of God to us and the realization of the embodiment of God. God is embodied in Christ, and Christ is realized as the Spirit. Thus, the Spirit is the realization of Christ, and Christ is the embodiment of the very God who is the source of everything.
In the first verse of the Bible, there is God—“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). The second verse of the Bible tells us that the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters. Thus, the first two verses of the Bible speak of God and of the Spirit of God. In the first chapter of the Bible there is not the term Christ, the Messiah, the anointed One, but there are a number of things typifying Christ. In chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis, four items typify Christ: the light, the sun, the man Adam as the head of God’s creation, and the tree of life. Therefore, the Triune God is in the first two chapters of the Bible. In these first two chapters are God, the Spirit, and four types of Christ. Now we want to go on to see the different aspects of the Spirit of the Triune God.
Spirit is the essence of God. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.” This verse does not say that God is “the” Spirit but that God is Spirit. To insert a definite article, the, in this verse is wrong. John 4:24 does not show us “the” Spirit. It only says, “God is Spirit.” This is just like saying that a table is wood. We would not say that a table is “the” wood. That is wrong. When we say that a table is wood, this indicates that the essence of the table is wood. To say that a ring on a person’s finger is gold means that the ring’s essence is gold. John 4:24 shows us what God’s essence is. God’s essence is Spirit. In order to touch God and experience God, we need to know what His essence is.
Now we need to see the distinction among four words: nature, substance, essence, and element. In the theological study of the Trinity, these four words have been used. An element is a substance. Every element has its nature, and in the nature of the element is the essence. Consequently, the essence denotes the very thing itself. Now we can see that there is a difference in using the two words essence and substance. We cannot refer to the substance of the essence but to the essence of the substance. Each substance or substantial element has its essence. God is Spirit, and Spirit is the essence of God.
The Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit—the third in the person of the Triune God (Gen. 1:2; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 2:11; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14). In the Bible the Spirit of God is first mentioned as the brooding Spirit. Genesis 1:2 says that the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters. The brooding of a hen over its eggs is for the purpose of producing some living things. The Spirit of God was brooding, stretching out His wings, over the death situation for the purpose of producing life. The Spirit of God in Genesis 1:2 is for God’s move in His creation.
In the New Testament the Spirit of God is mainly mentioned for God’s new creation. In God’s old creation the Spirit of God brooded. In God’s new creation the Spirit of God does not just brood over us, but He has entered into us and dwells in us. This is mentioned in Romans 8. In the Old Testament the Spirit of God moved to brood over the surface of the waters for the producing of life in God’s old creation. In the New Testament the Spirit of God also moves and acts in God’s new creation, but He does this in a deeper and a more subjective way. In the New Testament the Spirit of God dwells in us.
First Corinthians 2:11b-12 says, “The things of God also no one has known except the Spirit of God. But we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is from God, that we may know the things which have been graciously given to us by God.” This means that the moving Spirit of God is also the revealing Spirit. When He moves in us, that is, when He dwells in us, He reveals to us the things of God. This very Spirit—the moving One, the indwelling One, the revealing One—is the third in the divine person. The third means the ultimate one, the last one. Matthew 28:19 gives us the complete title of the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Our God is one God, but our one God has three aspects. He is one but in three persons.
Stanza 1 of Hymns, #608 says,
Instead of saying, “In person three, in substance all are one,” it would be better to say, “In substance three, in essence all are one.” We may say that God has three substances but only one essence. In the three substances of the Divine Trinity, the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God, is the third one. He is the consummated One, and this consummated One is the consummation of the Triune God. When the Triune God was consummated, He was revealed in the way that we who believe into Christ can be baptized into Him. This indicates that we, the believers of Christ, can have an organic union with the consummated Triune God.
The first time that the New Testament speaks of our spiritual baptism, it says that we are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Later, when the Acts and the Epistles speak concerning spiritual baptism, they speak of being baptized in the Spirit (Acts 1:5; 1 Cor. 12:13). This indicates that when we are baptized into the Spirit, we are baptized into the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This is because the Spirit is the consummation and the totality of the Triune God. The Father as the source is embodied in the Son, and the Son as the embodiment of the Father is realized as the Spirit. Therefore, all three of the Triune God are present in the Spirit. When we were baptized in the Spirit, or into the Spirit, we were baptized into the Triune God. The Spirit has become the consummation of the Triune God.
When this consummation had been accomplished, the Triune God was ready for us to get into Him, to have an organic union with Him. Before the consummation of the Spirit, the Triune God was not ready for anyone to get into Him. Thus, baptism was not in the Old Testament. Baptism into the Triune God was only begun after the accomplishment of Christ’s resurrection. His resurrection was the final step for the Triune God to be processed and to be consummated. After that step the Spirit had been consummated, which means that the Triune God had been consummated. The consummated Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. After this consummation, the Triune God was ready for us to be organically united with Him.
Because we are now in the Triune God, 2 Corinthians 13:14 tells us that the grace of the Son, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit is with us for our portion, for our enjoyment. Matthew 28:19 shows the organic union we have with the Triune God because we have been baptized into Him. Second Corinthians 13:14 shows us that in this organic union we have a fellowship. This fellowship is the flow of the consummated Spirit in the source of God’s love and in the passage of the Son’s grace.
The Bible shows us first that the Spirit of God moved in God’s old creation. Second, the same moving Spirit in God’s new creation dwells in us to reveal all the things of God to us. This Spirit—the moving Spirit, the indwelling Spirit, the revealing Spirit—has been consummated to be the third in the divine person of the processed and consummated Triune God. Now the Triune God is ready for His chosen people to get into Him, to have an organic union with Him, making them one with Him. Day after day we can enjoy Him as our portion from the Father’s love, through the Son’s grace, and by the fellowship, the flow, of the Spirit.
The Spirit of Jehovah, the Spirit of the Lord, is the reaching of God (Judg. 6:34; Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18; Acts 5:9; 8:39; 2 Cor. 3:17). “The Spirit of Jehovah” in the Old Testament is “the Spirit of the Lord” in the New Testament. This is proved by comparing Isaiah 61:1 with Luke 4:18. Isaiah 61:1 says, “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me.” When this verse is quoted in Luke 4:18, it says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.” These two verses show that the Spirit of the Lord in the New Testament is the same as the Spirit of Jehovah in the Old Testament.
The Spirit of the Lord, or the Spirit of Jehovah, is the reaching of God to us. When God comes to us, that means He reaches us. In His reaching, He is called the Spirit of Jehovah, the Spirit of the Lord. Two verses in the book of Acts confirm this. In Acts 5:9 Peter said to Sapphira, “Why is it that it was agreed between you two to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter’s word to Sapphira indicates that the Spirit of the Lord is in the church. His presence, His reaching, His coming, is in the church. He is not far away. This was Peter’s thought. It was as if he were saying, “Don’t you realize that the Spirit is here? I have the reaching, the presence, of the Spirit of the Lord. When you deceive me, you deceive Him.” Acts 8:39 tells us that “the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away.” The Spirit of the Lord reached Philip and took him away. Second Corinthians 3:17 says that the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is,” is the reaching of the Spirit.
The New Testament reveals that Jesus was born of the essential Spirit and filled with the essential Spirit. Luke 1 and Matthew 1 unveil to us that Jesus was born of the Spirit. The Spirit was the very essence of the person of Jesus. Therefore, this Spirit is the essential Spirit. From the birth of Jesus, this essential Spirit never left Him. Actually, the essential Spirit could not leave Him because this Spirit was His essence. The essence is the very intrinsic matter of a substance. A piece of wood, for example, is a substance, and in this substance there is an essence. The essence could never leave this substance. We may say that Jesus is the substance. Within Jesus is His essence, and this essence is the essential Spirit. He was born of the essential Spirit, and He was also filled with this essential Spirit.
Jesus was born of the essential Spirit and filled with the essential Spirit. Then when He came out to start His ministry at the age of thirty, He needed another aspect of the Spirit. This was the economical aspect of power for the work. The essential aspect of the Spirit is for the intrinsic nature within. The economical aspect of the Spirit is for the power without. He needed both aspects for His living and for His ministry.
Jesus was born of the essential Spirit and filled with the essential Spirit, but when He went out to minister, He needed the power. Thus, when He came out of the water of baptism, the Spirit as the economical Spirit descended upon Him (Matt. 3:16). According to Luke 4:18, He was anointed by God with this economical, descending Spirit. Within, Jesus was constituted and filled with the essential Spirit. Without, Jesus was anointed and empowered with the economical Spirit. Therefore, He was a person wrapped up with the Spirit. The Spirit within Him was essential, and the Spirit outside of Him was economical. The essential Spirit is for life and nature, and the economical Spirit is for power to do the work. Jesus was wrapped up with the Spirit of God in these two aspects.
Today we need the same two aspects of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is God reaching us to be life and nature to us and also to be power to us. We must be filled with the essential Spirit and anointed with the economical Spirit.
Question: I do not understand how the Triune God is three in substance and one in essence. Could you speak more concerning this?
Answer: We may use a table with four legs to illustrate this matter. We can say that the four legs of the table are the four substances. Each piece is a substance. The table, however, has only one essence. In the same way, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three substances, but the Triune God has only one essence.
Question: I have a question concerning footnote 3 in 1 John 1:5 of the Recovery Version. This footnote says, “In His nature, God is Spirit, love, and light. Spirit denotes the nature of God’s person; love, the nature of God’s essence; and light, the nature of God’s expression.” This footnote says that Spirit denotes the nature of God’s person, but John 4:24 reveals that Spirit is the essence of God. Can you share more concerning this?
Answer: God being Spirit refers to His person. God being love refers to His intrinsic essence. God being light refers to His expression. In the person is the essence, and outside of the person is the expression. God’s being is Spirit; God’s essence is love; and God’s expression is light. From within, God is love. From without, God is light.
Spirit is the nature of God’s person and also the essence of the nature. God is a person, a being. This person, this living being, has a nature. That nature is Spirit. In the person is the nature, and in the nature is the essence. The person, the nature, and the essence are all the Spirit. The divine essence has different aspects. The essence of God is not only Spirit but also love. Actually, the Spirit of God is the love of God.
The Spirit is the person of God, the nature of God, and the essence of God. If you call on the name of Jesus, you get His person. His person is the Spirit. The Spirit is not only the person of God but also the person of Christ. This Spirit is also the nature of God and the essence of God. That means that the Spirit is God. God is Spirit, God is love, and God is light. Light is God’s expression, expressing God as love, and this love is just the Spirit. Eventually, God, love, light, the Spirit, and Jesus Christ are all one. This is our wonderful God!
Question: Are the economical Spirit and the essential Spirit the same Spirit?
Answer: The economical Spirit and the essential Spirit are two aspects of the same Spirit. The same Spirit has two kinds of functions. Inwardly for our life and living, the Spirit is essential. Outwardly for our ministry and work, the same Spirit is economical. Jesus had the Spirit essentially from His birth. Suddenly, when He came out of the water of baptism, the Spirit descended upon Him. This is not another Spirit but the same Spirit in the economical sense. The Bible tells us that Christ was born of the Spirit. He was full of the Spirit all the time. But still the Spirit descended upon Him. The Spirit was with Him already essentially, but in the sense of economy for God’s administration, God’s arrangement, the Spirit was not with Him. Economically speaking, the Spirit came upon Jesus when He was baptized. These are not two Spirits but the same Spirit in two aspects.
When a brother exercises his spirit to deal with his wife by the Spirit and not by himself, he is enjoying the essential aspect of the Spirit. When a brother exercises his spirit to minister the Word by the Spirit and not by himself, he is experiencing both the essential and the economical aspects of the Spirit. Because the experience of the Spirit is altogether abstract and mysterious, we need to exercise our faith. In Ephesians 3 Paul asks the Father to grant us to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ might make His home in our hearts through faith (vv. 16-17). We should not neglect this small phrase—through faith. We have to believe. If we say that we do not feel that Christ is in us, we have annulled this fact by our unbelief. Instead, we should say, “Praise the Lord! Christ is in me.” In spite of not having any feeling, we can still exercise our spirit of faith to declare that Christ is in us. When we do this, we confirm this fact by faith.
We need to experience the Spirit by faith. When we go out to preach the gospel, we should not say that we do not feel that we have the economical Spirit. Sometimes we may not even feel that we have the essential Spirit. The more we pay attention to our feelings, the more we lose everything positive. Instead, we should pray, “Lord, thank You that I am saved. Thank You that You are in me and that I am in You. Thank You that I am abiding in You and that You are abiding in me.” The more we speak this way, the more we confirm the divine facts by faith. We may even shout, “Hallelujah! The Lord dwells in me! Hallelujah! I have the power of the economical Spirit!” When we declare the facts in this way, the facts become ours. I admire Paul’s writing in Ephesians 3—“that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith” (v. 17). If the two words through faith are deleted, everything positive is gone. Our experience of Christ is altogether a matter of the Spirit through faith.
