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In the initial stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of regeneration, the believers are made a new creation by being regenerated, by receiving the Holy Spirit, and by having the eternal life of God. Since we have covered the matter of regeneration, we shall proceed to see the matters of receiving the Holy Spirit and having the eternal life.
We receive the Spirit through hearing and believing the gospel (Gal. 3:2). When we hear the word of the truth, the gospel of our salvation, the Holy Spirit begins to move within us, urging us to believe in and receive Christ. When we believe in and receive Christ, we are regenerated. At this time, on the one hand, God causes His Spirit to impart His life into our spirit to enliven our dead spirit; on the other hand, He puts His Spirit into our spirit, that is, He causes His Spirit to dwell in our enlivened new spirit. Hence, we, the regenerated ones, not only have obtained the eternal life of God but also have received the Spirit to indwell us.
According to the revelation of the Bible, the indwelling Spirit in us has the following six main functions:
First, the Spirit enters into us as the essential Spirit for our existence, being, life, and living. He is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God, the life-giving Spirit whom Christ became in resurrection (1 Cor. 15:45). This Spirit enters into us who have believed in Christ (John 20:22) and lives in us to be the essence of the divine life, nature, and being within us.
The Spirit enters into us as the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). Life is the contents of the divine Trinity. When the Spirit of life enters into us, He imparts the eternal life of God into us to be our life. According to the revelation of Romans chapter eight, the Spirit of life is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and even Christ Himself (vv. 9-10). First, the Spirit of life comes into our spirit to make our spirit life (v. 10). Then He spreads from our spirit into our mind to make our mind a mind of life (v. 6). Finally, He imparts this life even into our mortal bodies to make the body of death a body of life (v. 11). Thus the Spirit of life fills our entire being, including our spirit, soul, and body, sanctifying us and conforming us to the image of the firstborn Son of God (v. 29) that we may become the many sons of God to be His corporate expression.
The Holy Spirit enters into us also as the seal within us (Eph. 1:13; 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:22). A seal is a mark. That we, the believers, are sealed with the Holy Spirit means that we are marked with the Holy Spirit as a living seal, indicating that we belong to God, that is, that we are God’s inheritance (Eph. 1:11). Furthermore, a seal also has an image. When we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, we bear the image of God signified by the seal. Thus we are made like God and can express God.
The Holy Spirit is the seal and also the sealing within us. The Spirit as the seal comes into us once for all, but the sealing of the Spirit continues until every part of our being is sealed, even unto the redemption, the transfiguration, of our body. As Ephesians 1:13 and 14 tell us, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the redemption of God’s acquired possession. At the time of our regeneration, the Spirit as the seal was put into our spirit, and His sealing began within us. This sealing is spreading from our spirit to our mind, emotion, and will for the sanctification and transformation of our soul. Eventually, even our body will be thoroughly sealed, that is, saturated and transfigured; that will be the redemption of our body.
The Holy Spirit is not only the seal within us but also the pledge of the divine inheritance (Eph. 1:14; 2 Cor. 1:22b; 5:5b). In God’s economy we are an inheritance to God (Eph. 1:11), and God is an inheritance to us (Eph. 1:14). God and we are a mutual inheritance. For us to be God’s inheritance, the sealing of the Holy Spirit is needed; for God to be our inheritance, the pledging of the Holy Spirit is required. The Greek word for pledge also means foretaste, guarantee. As the pledge of our inheritance, the Spirit is not only a guarantee, assuring us that all that God is and all that God has shall be our inheritance, but He is also a foretaste of what we shall inherit of all that God is to us.
Therefore, as the seal, the Holy Spirit forms the divine elements into an impression in us for God’s expression; as the pledge, He gives us a foretaste as a sample and guarantee of the full taste of God.
The Holy Spirit in us is also the indwelling Spirit (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 6:19). In John 14:17 the Lord Jesus clearly and definitely promised that when the Holy Spirit came He would indwell the disciples. Then on the night of His resurrection, He came into the midst of the disciples and breathed into them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). That was the fulfillment of the promise of the Spirit’s indwelling the disciples. In the Epistles, Paul also stressed the Spirit’s indwelling. Romans 8:9 says that “the Spirit of God dwells in you,” and verse 11 refers to “His Spirit who indwells you.” The word dwell in Greek means “to make home.” The Spirit of God comes into us not only to be the seal and the pledge, the guarantee, the foretaste, but even more to dwell in us, to make His home in us. This is a particular blessing given by God to us in the New Testament age; it was not there in the Old Testament times. In the Old Testament age, God caused His Spirit to come and work only upon man outwardly; He did not cause His Spirit to dwell in man. Not until after Christ’s death and resurrection did God Himself as the consummated Spirit enter into the believers to be the indwelling Spirit. He comes into us not to visit but to settle down in us, to make His home in us, even to occupy our whole being, that He may reveal God and Christ to us and that we may receive and enjoy all the riches of God in Christ.
The indwelling Spirit in us is also the reality of Christ. John 14:16-20 reveals that the Comforter who was coming was the embodiment of Christ. Verse 17 says that “the Spirit of reality...abides with you,” and verse 18 says, “I [Christ] am coming to you.” Again, verse 17 says that “He [the Holy Spirit]...shall be in you,” and verse 20 says, “I [Christ] in you.” This clearly indicates that when the Spirit comes, it is Christ who comes, and that when the Spirit is in us, it is Christ who is in us. The Spirit is Christ, and Christ is the Spirit. The Spirit who indwells us is the Christ who died and was resurrected and who indwells us.
John 14:26 says, “But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name...” The Comforter is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in the name of the Son. To come in the name of the Son is to come as the Son. This proves that when the Spirit comes, it is the Son who comes, and that when the Spirit dwells in us, it is Christ the Son who dwells in us.
John 16:12-15 further indicates that the Spirit’s indwelling the believers is to reveal Christ, to glorify Christ, and to make Christ real in the believers. Verse 13 says, “But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality.” The Spirit of reality does not guide the believers into the doctrine concerning Christ but into all the reality of Christ, so that all that Christ is and has may become real to the believers. All that God is and has is embodied in Christ (Col. 2:9; John 16:15), and all that Christ is and has is received by the Spirit and is revealed to the believers through the Spirit (John 16:14, 15). Therefore, when the Spirit is in us, it is Christ who is in us. The Spirit is not Christ’s representative in us, but Christ’s reality.
For example, the Bible says that God is light (1 John 1:5), and it also says that Christ is light (John 8:12). This light can be realized in us only through the Spirit. When the Spirit moves within us, the light shines. The light is both the Father and the Son. The Father is the source and the essence of light, and the Son is the embodiment and expression of this light. We realize this light in actuality through the Spirit. When the Spirit moves within us, He is the reality of light.
The same is true with the matter of life. The Father is the source and the essence of life, and the Son is the embodiment and expression of this life. Through the Spirit this life becomes our experience and enjoyment. Romans 8:2 says that the Spirit is the Spirit of life. When the Spirit moves within us, He is the reality of life. He is not only the shining and enlightening light but also the very life which enlivens, nourishes, and strengthens us.
The Bible shows us that the matter of having the eternal life and enjoying the blessing of the eternal life is divided into three different periods—having eternal life in the present age, having eternal life in the coming age, and enjoying eternal life in the eternal age. In this lesson we shall cover only the matter of having eternal life in the present age.
We receive eternal life in the present age at the time of our believing. When we believe into Christ, we receive eternal life in this age; we do not have to wait until the coming age or the eternal age.
The eternal life is the life of God. The Greek word for this life is zoe, denoting the divine spiritual life; it is not psuche, denoting the human soulish life, nor bios, denoting the physical life. In the Bible, the word “eternal” denotes not only duration of time, which is everlasting, without beginning or end, but also the quality, which is absolutely perfect and complete, without any shortage or defect. In the whole universe, besides the life of God, there is no other life that has this nature. God is eternal, without beginning or end, and He is absolutely perfect and complete. Therefore, His life is also eternal, without beginning or end, and it is absolutely perfect and complete. This life of God, which is without beginning or end and which is also absolutely perfect and complete, is the eternal life.
The eternal life is the life which was from the beginning (1 John 1:1). It was already there at the beginning of creation; that is, it preceded the universe and time. This indicates that this life is uncreated, without beginning or end, self-existing, ever-existing, and never changing. In the universe, God alone is uncreated; He is from everlasting to everlasting (Psa. 90:2), without beginning or end, self-existing and ever-existing (Exo. 3:14), and never changing (Psa. 102:27). Since God Himself is such, the life which is God Himself must also be such. Therefore, the divine life is the eternal life, and the eternal life is the divine life, the life which was from the beginning.
The eternal life is the life which was with the Father (1 John 1:2). The phrase “with the Father” in 1 John 1:2 indicates that the Father is the source of the eternal life and that the eternal life and the Father are one.
The eternal life is the life which was manifested to the apostles (1 John 1:2). This life which was manifested to the apostles is the Son who was with the Father and who was manifested with the Father as the expression of the eternal life. The apostles saw this life and then testified and reported this life to the believers. What they reported was not some theology or doctrine but the divine, eternal life, which they saw and testified by their practical experiences. The manifestation of the eternal life is for the purpose of revealing and imparting life to men, so that those whom the Father has chosen may partake of and enjoy this life and may be brought into the union and communion of this life with the Father.
Eternal life is the life which is in the Son of God (John 1:4). The Son of God is the expression of God, and God Himself is hidden in His Son. Hence, the life of God is in His Son. This life which is in the Son of God is the eternal life. Therefore, he who has the Son of God has the life, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life (1 John 5:11-12). When we receive the Son of God, we have the eternal life, which is in Him.
Eternal life is the free gift of God in Christ. Romans 6:23 says that “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” First John 5:11 also says that “God gave to us eternal life.” These two verses clearly indicate that God has given to us His life, the eternal life, as a free gift in Christ. There is no need for us to pay any price for it; we simply need to receive it and we have it.
Man receives eternal life by faith. Because God loved us, He put His life, the eternal life, in His Son and gave His life to us that we might receive it. The way to receive this life is to believe in His Son. When we receive the Son by believing in Him, we shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). Since God has put His life, the eternal life, in His Son and has given it to us as a gift, when we receive the Son by believing in Him, spontaneously we have the eternal life which is in the Son (John 3:36; 6:47).
Therefore, as soon as we hear the gospel and believe into Christ, we have eternal life (John 5:24). Many people think that after we believe in the Lord today, we must wait until the future to have eternal life. The fact is that there is no space of time between “believing” and “having.” When we believe in the Lord, immediately we have eternal life (1 John 5:12); we do not need to wait even for one moment, much less until the future.
That we have eternal life is assured by the Word of God. First John 5:13 says, “I write these things to you that you may know that you have eternal life, to you who believe in the name of the Son of God.” This verse indicates that the written words of the Scriptures are the assurance to the believers, who believe into the name of the Son of God, that they have eternal life. Our believing to receive eternal life is the fact; the words of the holy writings are the assurance concerning this fact. We are assured and have the pledge by these words that because we believe into the name of the Son of God we have eternal life, and we know that we have it now.
Since we have eternal life, we shall by no means perish forever. John 10:28-29 says, “And I give to them eternal life, and they shall by no means perish forever, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”
Since the life which we have received is the eternal life, we shall never perish. Because of the eternal nature of this life, we shall live forever and not perish. Furthermore, we who have eternal life are also in the hands of the Lord and the Father. Both the Lord’s hand as the hand of power and the Father’s hand as the hand of love are for the believers’ protection. Eternal life shall never run out, and the hands of the Son and the Father shall never fail. Hence, the believers are eternally secure and shall never perish.
When we are regenerated by hearing the word of the truth and by believing in Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit from God and we also have the eternal life of God. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive Him as the essential Spirit for our existence, being, life, and living. As the Spirit of life, He continually imparts God’s eternal life to us until our entire being is filled with Him. As the seal, He marks us out, indicating that we are God’s inheritance, and He also impresses us with the image of God that we may be made like God to express Him. As the pledge, He assures us that all that God is and all that God has shall be our inheritance, and He also gives us a foretaste of what we shall inherit of all that God is to us. As the indwelling Spirit, He is settling down in us, making His home in us, and even occupying our whole being. As the reality of Christ, He brings us into all the reality of Christ so that all that Christ is and has may become real in us.
When we receive eternal life, we receive the life of God. Eternal life is without beginning or end, and it is also absolutely perfect and complete. It is the life which was from the beginning and which was with the Father and one with the Father. In time it was manifested to the apostles for the purpose of revealing and imparting life to men, so that those whom the Father has chosen may partake of and enjoy it. Furthermore, it is the life that is in the Son of God, and it is the free gift of God in Christ. We need only to believe into Christ, and immediately we have eternal life. This is a fact assured by the Word of God. Moreover, because of the eternal nature of this life, we shall live and shall by no means perish forever. Not only so, we are also in the hands of the Lord and the Father. Eternal life shall never run out, and the hands of the Son and the Father shall never fail. Hence, we are eternally secure and shall never perish.
