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Scripture Reading: John 4:24; Luke 1:35; Hag. 2:5; 1 John 3:24; 4:13; Rom. 8:11; 5:5; 14:17; 15:13, 30; Acts 9:31; Matt. 28:19; Rev. 22:17a; Rom. 1:4; John 14:16-20; 1 John 5:6b; John 15:26; 16:13-15; 1 John 5:6-7; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; Rom. 8:2
In previous chapters, we have seen the functions of the Spirit in the New Testament. In this chapter we want to see what the Spirit is to God and to Christ. If we are going to experience God and Christ, we must know what the Spirit is to God and what the Spirit is to Christ.
The Spirit is the essence of God’s being. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.” In the Greek text there is no article before the word Spirit. This is like saying that a table is wood. This indicates not only that the table is made of wood but also that the very essence of the table is wood. When we say that a ring on a person’s hand is gold, we are referring to its essence. The essence is the intrinsic content of the substance. The Spirit is God’s very essence. The essence of God’s being, of what God is, is Spirit.
The word for Spirit in Hebrew is ruach, and in Greek it is pneuma. These words can be translated as “spirit,” “breath,” or “wind.” In Ezekiel 37 ruach is translated as “Spirit,” “breath,” and “wind” (vv. 5, 9, 14). In John 3 pneuma is translated as “Spirit” (v. 6) and as “wind” (v. 8). How these words are translated depends on the context. According to the context of John 3:6, pneuma here surely refers to the Spirit—“that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” In verse 8 pneuma must be translated as “wind” because it blows, and the sound of it can be heard. The very essence of the God whom we worship is pneuma, Spirit.
The Spirit is God’s reaching man. When God reaches us, He is the Spirit. The strongest proof of this is in Luke 1:35. The angel told Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her. The Holy Spirit was God’s coming upon Mary. This was for the incarnation of God. The incarnation of God is just God’s coming to man, God’s reaching man. Every morning we need to enjoy God’s reaching, God’s coming to us.
The Spirit is also God’s enduring among man (Hag. 2:5). This was mostly in the Old Testament. To endure, or abide, is to remain. In the New Testament, God’s remaining is not merely among us but mainly in us. Therefore, the New Testament uses the word in instead of the word among. In 1 John 3:24 and 4:13 we are told that God’s abiding in us is by the Spirit. We know that God abides in us because the Spirit is within us. The very God abiding in us is the Spirit. The Spirit is also God’s indwelling man. This is shown in Romans 8:11, which says that the Spirit of the resurrecting God indwells us.
The Spirit is the means of God for Him to dispense His attributes to man (5:5; 8:11; 14:17; 15:13, 30; Acts 9:31). God has many attributes, such as His mercy, His grace, His love, His life, His light, His righteousness, His holiness, and His patience. The means for these attributes of God to be ours is the Spirit. Through the Spirit, we can possess and enjoy them. The many attributes of God come to us through the channel of the Spirit.
The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). Eventually, God is called the Spirit, and the transformed tripartite man is the bride (Rev. 22:17a). The Spirit is the Bridegroom, and the bride is the transformed man. The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. Consummation means completion. Our God has been completed because He has been processed and compounded. We are the members of Christ, who is the embodiment of such a processed God. We possess God’s life and God’s nature. This makes us children of God, sons of God, and even heirs of God. We are members of the family of God, our Father. This is because we are indwelt by the Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God.
The Spirit is the essence of Christ’s divine being. In Romans 1:3-4 Paul says that Christ “came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead.” According to the flesh, Christ came out of the seed of David. But according to the Spirit of holiness, He was designated the Son of God in resurrection. The Spirit of holiness here is in contrast with Christ’s flesh. As the flesh refers to the human essence of Christ, the Spirit of holiness refers to the divine essence of Christ. The Spirit of holiness is the very essence of Christ’s divine person, His divine being.
John 14:16-20 presents a revelation of the Spirit as the realization of Christ. The Lord said that He would pray to the Father to give the disciples another Comforter, and this other Comforter is the Spirit of reality. Eventually, this Spirit of reality is the realization of Christ. After His resurrection the Lord as the Spirit lives in His disciples that they may live Him (v. 19). He told the disciples that in the day of resurrection they would know that He was in the Father, that they were in Him, and that He was in them.
In John 14:16-20 the Triune God is greatly defined. The Lord’s word here covers the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in a way to help us see that the Spirit of reality is the realization of Christ. Christ the Son is the Father’s embodiment, and the Spirit is the Son’s realization. In other words, the Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is realized as the Spirit.
The Spirit is the reality of Christ. The Spirit is the realization of the Son because the Spirit is the reality of the Son. First John 5:6b says, “The Spirit is the reality.” The truth is the reality, and the reality is Christ. The Spirit who is the truth, the reality (John 14:16-17; 15:26), testifies that Jesus is the Son of God, in whom is the eternal life. By thus testifying, He imparts the Son of God into us to be our life (Col. 3:4).
The Spirit is the witness, testifying concerning Christ (John 15:26; 1 John 5:6-7). Whatever the Father is and has is the Son’s, whatever the Son is and has is received by the Spirit, and the Spirit declares to us all that He receives (John 16:13-15). This means that the Spirit is the witness of Christ. All the riches of the Triune God reach us in the Spirit. Therefore, everything of the Triune God is ours. Whenever the Spirit speaks, He speaks Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God. He speaks all of what Christ is and has. This is a kind of witnessing. The Spirit witnesses Christ.
The Spirit is Christ as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). In redeeming us on the cross, He was Jesus in the flesh. But in giving life to us, He is the life-giving Spirit. As the Lamb, He redeemed us on the cross. As the life-giving Spirit, He gives us life within.
The Spirit is Christ as the Lord—the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17-18). The Lord Spirit may be considered a compound title like the Father God and the Lord Christ. This expression strongly proves and confirms that the Lord Christ is the Spirit and that the Spirit is the Lord Christ. Christ is the Lamb, the life-giving Spirit, and eventually, the Lord Spirit.
The Spirit is Christ as life to man (Rom. 8:2). The New Testament reveals that Christ is life (John 11:25), even our life (Col. 3:4). However, Christ can be life to us only in the reality of the Spirit. Hence, it is actually the Spirit of life who is life to God’s chosen people. The Triune God as the Spirit of life makes sinners into sons of God who become the living members of the Body of Christ.
According to the New Testament revelation, the Spirit of God is the very essence of both God and Christ. This Spirit, as the essence of God and Christ, is God’s reaching of man and Christ’s realization to us. It is through this Spirit that we receive God. It is also by the Spirit that we realize Christ. Hence, our experience of God and of Christ is altogether a matter of this Spirit. Such a Spirit today is dwelling in our spirit. So we have to learn how to exercise our spirit that the Spirit within our spirit may be able to make God and Christ real to us for our experience and enjoyment.
