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Scripture Reading: John 14:16-20; Matt. 28:19; Rom. 8:2; 2 Cor. 3:6b; John 19:34; Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 1:23; 2:2; Gal. 5:22-24; Phil. 3:10; 1 Cor. 1:17-18; Gal. 6:12; Heb. 9:26; 2:14; Col. 2:15; Gal. 6:14; 2:20; Rom. 6:6; Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:14; Rom. 8:13b
In the previous chapter we saw what the Spirit is to God and to Christ. In this chapter we want to fellowship concerning the Spirit and the cross. The Spirit and the cross are both the consummation of Christ’s redemptive work. Christ has completed His redemptive work, and the result of this work is the Spirit and the cross.
The Spirit after Christ’s redemptive work with His death and resurrection is not the same as He was before Christ’s death and resurrection. Before His death and resurrection the Spirit was merely the Spirit of God. But afterward the Spirit became the consummated Spirit. After Christ’s redemption the Spirit is called the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7), the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), and the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19). Before the death of Christ there was the Spirit of God but not the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Acts 16:6 and 7 say, “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 these verses both the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus are mentioned. The interchangeable use of the Spirit of Jesus with the Holy Spirit reveals that the Spirit of Jesus is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a general title of the Spirit of God in the New Testament; the Spirit of Jesus is a particular expression concerning the Spirit of God and refers to the Spirit of the incarnated Savior who, as Jesus in His humanity, passed through human living and death on the cross.
We can see the particular functions of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus in Acts 16:6 and 7. The Holy Spirit forbade Paul and his co-workers, and the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. The Holy Spirit is the sanctifying Spirit. Sanctifying is always a matter of forbidding. The Holy Spirit’s forbidding separates us, sanctifies us. The Holy Spirit’s work is to sanctify us by constantly forbidding us. If we hear the Holy Spirit say no to us from morning to evening, we are blessed because we are being sanctified. We need to hear the Holy Spirit’s no again and again for our sanctification.
The Spirit of Jesus either allows us or does not allow us. To allow is to let you go. This is for accomplishing something. The Spirit of Jesus is always sending us to accomplish something. We have to go to do the will of God just as the man Jesus did. Jesus was a man who was always under the cross. In order to work for the Lord, we must be sanctified, on the one hand, and we must be under the cross, on the other hand. The Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of a person who was continually under the cross. The same Spirit is the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus. The Holy Spirit says no to sanctify us, and the Spirit of Jesus says go to send us out to accomplish the will of God under the cross.
The Spirit is also the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The emphasis of the Spirit of Christ mentioned in Romans 8:9 is on the resurrection and the imparting of life. In Philippians 1:19 Paul mentions the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Paul spoke this when he was in prison. He needed a bountiful supply, not only of the Spirit of Jesus but also of the Spirit of Christ, that is, of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is mainly for the Lord’s humanity, human living, and death. The Spirit of Christ is mainly for the Lord’s resurrection. The Spirit of Jesus Christ includes both these aspects. When Paul was in prison, he needed the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit of the Triune God, which includes the elements of the Lord’s death and resurrection. It was by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ that Paul’s salvation was consummated. He says in verse 19, “I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Paul’s being sustained and strengthened to live and magnify Christ was his salvation (vv. 20-21).
The Spirit of Jesus Christ is a compound Spirit. The compound ointment in Exodus 30:23-25 was a full type of the compound Spirit of God, who is now the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This ointment was a compound of oil with four spices. The oil signifies the unique God. The four spices signify Christ’s humanity, human living, and His death and resurrection. Today the Spirit of Jesus Christ is not just oil but an all-inclusive ointment. This compounded Spirit is the result, the produce, the issue, the coming out, of Christ’s redemptive work.
The complete and full redemptive work of Christ began with His incarnation and was completed with His resurrection. Christ entered into resurrection, and as the last Adam, He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This life-giving Spirit is not merely the oil but the ointment. In this life-giving Spirit there is incarnation, human living, the all-inclusive death, and resurrection. On the evening of Christ’s resurrection He came back to the disciples, breathed into them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). The Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath, is the very compounded Spirit, the consummation of Christ’s redemptive work.
After the book of Acts, the New Testament covers these two basic items—the Spirit and the cross. The ultimate consummation of Christ’s marvelous work in the universe is the Spirit and the cross, the all-inclusive death of Christ. Through His all-inclusive death, Christ has dealt with everything negative and has redeemed all things (Col. 1:20). In His marvelous resurrection He became the Spirit, who is the consummation of the processed and consummated God. Such a Spirit is the positive aspect of Christ’s redemptive work.
The Spirit is the realization of Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God (John 14:16-20). The embodiment of the Triune God is Christ, and this Christ is realized as the Spirit. The Spirit is also the consummation of the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), the Spirit of life, and the life-giving Spirit (Rom. 8:2; 2 Cor. 3:6b). Furthermore, the consummated Spirit is the positive consummation of the work of Christ (John 19:34). Such a Spirit is the issue of the cross of Christ (v. 34; Exo. 17:6). Just as the rock was smitten by Moses in the Old Testament to flow out water for the people to drink, Christ was smitten on the cross by the law, typified by Moses. Then the living water flowed out of Him. This living water is the Spirit as the issue of the Lord’s all-inclusive death.
The Spirit of the crucified Christ is always bringing us to the cross of Christ (1 Cor. 1:23; 2:2; Gal. 5:22-24). As Christians, our destiny is to be crucified, to be crossed out. The religious Jews in Paul’s day were proud of their traditional religion, and the philosophical Greeks were haughty in their worldly wisdom. In 1 Corinthians Paul says that Jews asked for signs and Greeks sought wisdom (1:22), but he preached Christ crucified (v. 23). Then he says that he determined to know only Jesus Christ and this One crucified (2:2). The Spirit of Christ always leads us to live a crucified life, conforming us to the death of Christ. In Philippians 3:10 Paul says that he desired to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. The wonderful Spirit works to conform us to the death of Christ.
The cross of Christ is the negative consummation of the work of Christ (1 Cor. 1:17-18; Gal. 6:12). The cross of Christ has put away sin (Heb. 9:26), has destroyed the devil, Satan (2:14; Col. 2:15), has crucified the world and us (Gal. 6:14b; 2:20a), and has crucified our old man (Rom. 6:6). The cross of Christ has also abolished the ordinances of the law (Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:14). The top ordinances among the Jews were those concerning circumcision, keeping the Sabbath, and the holy diet. There are also countless ordinances in the human race. Ordinances are the forms or ways of living and worship. All our ordinances have to go to the cross. Then we can have a genuine oneness with harmony in Christ for the Body of Christ. In the universe there is such an all-inclusive death that has killed all the separating ordinances among men. But sometimes these separating ordinances may creep into the church life. This is why we need the all-inclusive death of Christ. We have to realize that our destiny is to be crucified, and we must take a crucified way. Whatever we are has to be crucified.
The cross of Christ is applied to us by the Spirit (Rom. 8:13b). In the Spirit there is the killing element of the cross. When we live by the Spirit, the Spirit within us will kill all the negative things, such as sin, Satan, the world, me, the old man, and all the differences due to ordinances. We need to apply the cross of Christ to our flesh with the passions and the lusts through the cooperation with the Spirit (Gal. 5:24).
The experience of the cross of Christ issues in the abundance of the Spirit of life. According to Galatians 2:20, the more we experience the cross of Christ, the more Christ lives in us. John 12:24 shows that the Lord’s death as a grain of wheat issued in much fruit. When we experience the death of Christ, the issue is the multiplication of life. Furthermore, we boast in the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14a). The cross was really an abasement, but the apostle Paul made it his boast.
The Spirit brings us to the cross. If we take the cross, the cross will issue in more of the Spirit. Before Christ went to the cross, the Spirit was always leading Him. This leading Spirit always led Him to the cross. The entire life of Christ was a life led by the Spirit to the cross. Christ lived a crucified life, a life under the cross for thirty-three and a half years. Every day of His life He was being crucified by the Holy Spirit. Even when He went to the physical cross for six hours, He went there by the eternal Spirit of God and offered Himself to God through this Spirit (Heb. 9:14). Therefore, the Spirit comes first and then the cross. When we were saved, the first thing we received was the Spirit. Then from that time onward, this Spirit leads us to the cross. We have to undergo the process of being crossed out all the time by allowing the Spirit to bring us to the cross so that the cross can issue in more of the Spirit.
