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In this lesson we will continue to see the work of the Spirit in us.
First John 3:24 says, “In this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave to us.” The phrase by the Spirit whom He gave to us modifies we know. Therefore, by the Spirit we know that God abides in us. It is by this Spirit that we are born of God, we receive the divine life as the divine seed in us, we have the fellowship of the divine life, we are anointed with the Triune God, and we abide in God. This wonderful Spirit is given to us as the promised blessing of the New Testament (Gal. 3:14). He is given without measure by the Christ who is above all, who inherits all, and who is to be increased without limit (John 3:31-35). This Spirit and the eternal life are the basic elements by which we live the life that abides in the Lord continually. Hence, it is by this Spirit, who witnesses with our spirit, that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16) and that we know that the Lord of all abides in us.
First John 4:13 says, “In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit.” In the fact that God has given to us of His Spirit, we know that we abide in Him and He in us. The Spirit, whom God has given to dwell in us, is the witness in our spirit (Rom. 8:16) that we dwell in God and He in us. The abiding Spirit, that is, the indwelling Spirit, is the element and sphere of the mutual abiding, the mutual indwelling, of us and God. When we experience and enjoy the Spirit in the fellowship of the Triune God, by the Spirit we are assured that God abides in us and we in God; that is, we are assured that we and God are one, that we abide in each other, indwelling each other mutually.
The Spirit not only indwells us but also fills us inwardly. A number of verses in Acts speak of this matter. Acts 13:52 says, “The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word for “filled” is pleroo, which means to be filled inwardly. Being filled inwardly and essentially with the Spirit is for our Christian life and living. Acts 6:3 says, “Look for seven well-attested men from among you, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint over this need.” The Greek word for “full” here is pleres, an adjective form of pleroo. Being full of the Spirit is the condition after one has been filled with the Spirit inwardly and essentially. This also refers to life.
Acts 6:5 tells us that Stephen was “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 7:55 says that Stephen, “being full of the Holy Spirit,…looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” These verses also refer to the inward filling of the Spirit. As Stephen was about to be martyred, he was filled with the Spirit inwardly and essentially. Acts 11:24 says that Barnabas was a man “full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” This refers also to a believer’s condition after being filled with the Spirit essentially.
By this we see that the inward filling of the Spirit is not for work or for ministry but for our existence and living. Hence, it is essential, not economical. The Spirit dispenses the Divine Trinity into us by filling us inwardly that we may experience and enjoy Him.
The Holy Spirit who dwells in us also teaches us. Luke 12:12 says, “The Holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what should be said.” The Spirit’s teaching of the believers here is something particular. When we are persecuted, the Spirit within us always teaches us how to answer our persecutors. Therefore, we do not have to be anxious about how we should reply in defense or what we should say. We only need to be in our spirit and receive the Spirit’s teaching.
In Matthew 10:16-33 the Lord Jesus speaks to the twelve apostles concerning persecution and the way to meet it. He tells them that when they are persecuted, they should “not be anxious about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for you are not the ones speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is the One speaking in you” (vv. 19-20). This shows us how the Spirit speaks in the believers. The Lord’s word here corresponds with that in Luke 12:12, where He said that the Spirit will teach us what to say, as mentioned in the preceding point. When we are under persecution, the Spirit will teach us and speak in us. His speaking is His teaching.
As long as we have the Spirit, we have the presence of the Lord. The Spirit’s speaking in us is the Lord’s presence. In facing persecution we should turn to our spirit and trust the indwelling Spirit, believing that the Spirit is with us and that He will deal with the opposers and persecutors. We should face opposition and confront attack not in ourselves, but by turning to our spirit where the Spirit dwells. We need to trust in this indwelling Spirit, let Him lead us, and let Him speak for us.
John 16:13 says, “When He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming.” This shows us that the Spirit works in the believers as the Spirit of reality to guide them into all the reality. This is to make all that the Son is and has real to the believers. All that the Father is and has is embodied in the Son (Col. 2:9), and all that the Son is and has is declared as reality to the believers through the Spirit (John 16:14-15). This is a matter of the Triune God being wrought into and mingled with the believers.
According to the context, the reality in verse 13 refers to what the Father is and has, what the Son is and has, and what the Spirit receives of the Son and of the Father. What the Father is and has becomes the Son’s, what the Son is and has is received by the Spirit, and what the Spirit receives is declared to us and thereby becomes reality to us. Since what the Spirit receives is declared, transmitted, to us, we become the destination of the Triune God. We may say that the Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is transfigured to be the Spirit, and the Spirit is the reaching of the Divine Trinity to us. Therefore, all the riches of the Triune God are imparted into us in the Spirit.
Through the Spirit, as the consummation of the Triune God, the reality of the Divine Trinity is transmitted into us. This means that all the riches of what the processed Triune God is and has are dispensed into us to be our element and essence. In this way the Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God makes the Triune God our portion. This is the Spirit for our experience and enjoyment in the fellowship of the Triune God by guiding us into all the reality.
First Corinthians 2:10 says, “But to us God has revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” God in His wisdom (that is, in Christ) has ordained and prepared for us many deep and hidden things, such as justification, sanctification, and glorification. All these the human eye has never seen, the human ear has never heard, and the human heart has never realized (v. 9). But they are revealed to us in our spirit by God’s Spirit. In this verse the Greek word rendered searches is used in reference to active research, implying accurate knowledge gained not by discovering but by exploring. The Spirit of God explores the depths of God concerning Christ and shows them to us in our spirit for our realization and participation.
Therefore, to realize the deep and hidden things God has prepared for us, our spirit is more necessary than our mind. When our entire being becomes one with God through loving Him in intimate fellowship, He shows us, in our spirit through His Spirit, all the secrets of Christ as our portion. This is to reveal the deep things planned by God’s wisdom concerning Christ, things which have never come up in man’s heart.
First Corinthians 2:13 says, “Which things also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things with spiritual words.” The thought here is to speak spiritual things with spiritual words. The stress is not on the person to whom the speaking is done but on the means by which the spiritual things are spoken. The apostle spoke the spiritual things, which are the deep things of God concerning Christ, with spiritual words, which are the spiritual words taught by the Spirit. He did not speak the spiritual things in words taught by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit. He did not speak in words of Greek philosophy or wisdom. Rather, he interpreted spiritual things with spiritual words.
In this verse, the same Greek word is used for spiritual things and spiritual words. Paul uses the same term with two meanings. On the one hand, it refers to the spiritual things themselves; on the other hand, it refers to spiritual words. Therefore, we may say that spiritual things are designated and interpreted with spiritual words. These spiritual words are spiritual things used to designate spiritual things. The speaking that is according to man’s wisdom is not spiritual. But the words taught by the Spirit of God are truly spiritual things. Thus, spiritual things are both the things given to us by God concerning Christ as our portion and also the words taught by the Spirit of God. Paul spoke such spiritual things by spiritual things. When we live in the fellowship of the Triune God, the Spirit will also teach us spiritual words for the interpretation of spiritual things.
The matter of the Spirit’s speaking with the believers is clearly seen in 1 Corinthians 7. Paul’s teaching in this chapter is very different from that of the prophets in the Old Testament. When the prophets spoke for God in Old Testament times, the word of Jehovah came to them and then was spoken forth through them. Often the prophets would say, “Thus saith Jehovah.” But it is not so in the New Testament time. In 1 Corinthians 7 Paul’s teaching is based on the principle of incarnation, that God speaks in man’s speaking. Although certain things Paul said here are not the Lord’s commandment (v. 25), they have nonetheless become part of the divine revelation in the New Testament. This is because Paul was a person absolutely one with God, so when he spoke, the Lord spoke with him.
In 1 Corinthians 7:40 Paul said, “She is more blessed if she so remains, according to my opinion; but I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” In verse 10 he said, “I charge, not I but the Lord.” In verse 12 he said, “I say, I, not the Lord.” In verse 25 he said, “I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give my opinion.” In verse 40 he summarized by saying, “I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” This clearly indicates that all the words spoken by Paul in this chapter are the speaking of the Spirit with Paul. Paul did not speak by himself; he spoke together with the Spirit. The Spirit’s word became his word. Hence, his charge was the Lord’s charge (v. 10). He was one with the Lord, who is the Spirit, to such a degree that even when he gave his own opinion, not the commandment of the Lord, he thought that he also had the Spirit of God. He did not claim definitely to have the Spirit of God, but he thought that he also had the Spirit of God. This is the highest spirituality. The Spirit’s work in us is also to bring us to the realm of such a height that we may be absolutely one with Him and that He may speak with us in our speaking.
The Spirit as the means by which we know that God abides in us and we in Him is the element and sphere of the mutual abiding of us and God that we may be assured that we and God are one, that we abide in each other, indwelling each other mutually. The Spirit in us also fills us essentially to dispense the Divine Trinity into us for our existence and living. When we are persecuted, the Spirit within us also teaches us how to answer our persecutors. The Spirit also guides us into all the reality. This is to declare, to transmit, to us all that the Father is and has, all that the Son is and has, and all that the Spirit receives of the Son and of the Father as our element and essence. The Spirit also explores the depths of God concerning Christ and shows us all the secrets of Christ as our portion for our realization and participation. The Spirit also teaches us spiritual words for the interpretation of spiritual things, the things given to us by God concerning Christ as our portion. The Spirit also speaks with us. He works in us to such an extent that we may be absolutely one with Him that He may speak with us in our speaking.
