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In this lesson we will continue to see the different aspects of the Spirit’s work.
After the Lord Jesus charged His disciples to go and disciple the nations, bringing them into the Triune God, the all-inclusive Spirit came upon the disciples to enable them to carry out the Lord’s commission. The great commission of bringing others into the Triune God requires not only life but also power. With the Spirit as their life and power, the believers may command the nations to believe in the Lord Jesus so that they may be brought into the organic union with the Triune God.
In Acts 1:8 the Lord says, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Here, to receive power is to be baptized in the Holy Spirit (v. 5) for the fulfillment of the promise of the Father (v. 4; Luke 24:49). Having the Holy Spirit upon us is different from having the Holy Spirit in us (John 14:17). The Holy Spirit was breathed into the disciples on the day of the Lord’s resurrection (John 20:22) to be the Spirit of life essentially. The same Spirit came upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost to be the Spirit of power economically. As for the Spirit of life, we need to breathe Him in as breath. As for the Spirit of power, we need to put Him on as a uniform.
The function of the Spirit as power is not for the life which we receive from the Lord inwardly; it is for the work which we do for the Lord outwardly. God gives us the Holy Spirit as power for our outward work that He may be our power, authority, ability, and capacity outwardly and be employed by us.
After the Spirit descended upon the believers, He filled them outwardly. Acts 2:4 says, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word for filled in this verse is pletho (also used in 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9; Luke 1:15, 41, 67), denoting an outward filling. According to its usage in Acts, pleroo denotes the filling of a vessel within, as the wind filled the house inwardly in 2:2, and pletho denotes the filling of persons outwardly, as the Spirit filled the disciples outwardly in 2:4. The disciples were filled (pleroo) inwardly and essentially with the Spirit (13:52) for their Christian living, and were filled (pletho) outwardly and economically with the Spirit for their Christian ministry. The inward filling Spirit, the essential Spirit, is in the believers (John 14:17; Rom. 8:11), whereas the outward filling Spirit, the economical Spirit, is upon them (Acts 1:8; 2:17). Every believer in Christ should experience both aspects of the Holy Spirit.
The outward filling of the poured-out Spirit was the ascended Head’s baptizing of His Body into the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the Jewish believers, the first part of His Body, were baptized; in the house of Cornelius the Gentile believers, the second part of His Body, were baptized in the same way (10:44-47). By these two steps He baptized once for all His entire Body into the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).
The fact of the baptism in the Spirit was accomplished on the Body of Christ once for all, whereas the experiences of the baptism in the Spirit are shared by individual believers numerously at different times and in different places. In fact, we, the saved ones, all were baptized in the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius. However, in experience, we receive the baptism in the Spirit at different times and in different places—each at his own time and in his own place. For example, Peter and the one hundred twenty disciples in the early days were filled with the Holy Spirit outwardly on the day of Pentecost. They did not have just that one experience, but later still continued to have experiences of the outward filling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:8, 31). Another example was Paul. After Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, it was not until three days later that Ananias was sent by the Lord to lay hands on him that he might be filled with the Holy Spirit outwardly. Later, he again experienced the outward filling of the Holy Spirit (13:9). We all need to see this glorious fact and remove all causes and hindrances that prevent us from experiencing this fact. If so, we can claim it by faith and experience it that the Holy Spirit may fill us outwardly.
In 2 Corinthians 3:6 the apostle Paul said, “Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Letter here means the written code of the law. The Spirit is the Spirit of the living God, with whom the apostles ministered Christ into the believers. The apostolic ministry for the New Testament is not of dead letters, like the Mosaic ministry for the Old Testament, but of the living Spirit, who gives life. The letter of the law only requires of man but is unable to supply man with life (Gal. 3:21). Because of man’s inability to fulfill the requirements of the law, the law kills man (Rom. 7:9-11). The Spirit, the ultimate expression of the processed Triune God, imparts the divine life, even God Himself, into the believers and the apostles, making them ministers of a new covenant, the covenant of life. Hence, their ministry is one constituted with the Triune God of life by His life-giving Spirit.
Therefore, the apostles became ministers of the new covenant not by human knowledge or natural effort but by the Spirit as the constituting element. There was a real spiritual constitution within them, and this constitution was of the Spirit. As a result, they became servants of the new covenant to minister this covenant. The Spirit who works in us today is the Spirit of the new covenant ministry that gives life. Within this Spirit there are many divine elements, which not only transform us but also constitute us the new covenant ministers. As the divine element is being dispensed into us by the Spirit, He works in us to transform us and becomes the element that makes us sufficient ministers of the new covenant.
Not only is the Spirit the element for the apostles to be the sufficient ministers of the new covenant, but the Spirit is the element of the ministry of the New Testament itself. Second Corinthians 3:8 says, “How shall the ministry of the Spirit not be more in glory?” The ministry of the Spirit is the apostolic ministry of the new covenant, a covenant of the living Spirit, who gives life. The ministry of the new covenant is not merely a matter of our work or preaching or teaching. It is a matter of spiritual constitution, a constitution of the Spirit with the divine life and the divine truths. Such a constitution makes us sufficient, competent, as ministers of the new covenant. Hence, we need to experience the divine life and know the divine truths by the Spirit in the fellowship of the Triune God.
In 2 Corinthians 3:7 and 8 Paul presents a strong contrast between the ministry of death and the ministry of the Spirit. The Old Testament ministry was a ministry of death; the New Testament ministry is a ministry of life embodied in the Spirit. The essence of the Spirit dispensed into us is life. Without the Spirit there is no source of life; neither is there the element or sphere of life. The Spirit, who is of life, is the element of the New Testament ministry. In every aspect and in every way the New Testament ministry dispenses Christ into us as the life-giving Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost the Spirit gave the believers the utterance to speak in different tongues. Acts 2:3 and 4 say, “There appeared to them tongues as of fire, which were distributed; and it sat on each one of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, even as the Spirit gave to them to speak forth.” The tongues of fire here are a symbol of speaking, symbolizing that God’s economical Spirit of power is mostly for speaking. He is the speaking Spirit. The different tongues mentioned here were the dialects of the attendants (vv. 6, 8). The disciples were Galileans (v. 7), yet, by the utterance given of the Holy Spirit, they spoke the different foreign dialects of the attendants who came from different parts of the world. However, this does not mean that those who were filled outwardly with the Holy Spirit all spoke in different dialects (cf. note 1 of 2:4 and note 1 of 10:46). In any case, one manifestation of the believers’ being filled outwardly with the Holy Spirit was that they were given the utterance by the Spirit to speak in different tongues; with these tongues they uttered the things concerning Christ in His resurrection and ascension.
The Spirit in us also witnesses of the resurrected and exalted Christ. Acts 5:32 says, “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit.” As the context of this verse indicates, these things refers to the resurrection and exaltation of Christ. Verse 30 says, “The God of our fathers has raised Jesus, whom you slew by hanging Him on a tree.” Verse 31 continues, “This One God has exalted to His right hand.” Both the apostles and the Holy Spirit were witnesses of these things, because the Spirit, as the Witness of the resurrected and exalted Christ, gave utterance to the believers and enabled them to witness of the Christ who is in His resurrection and exaltation. Today we, through the all-inclusive Spirit, need to testify of and preach the Christ who is in His resurrection and exaltation.
The Spirit is the power for us to preach the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles. Paul said, “I will not dare to speak anything of the things which Christ has not accomplished through me for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and by work, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (Rom. 15:18-19). During Paul’s time, Illyricum was a remote region in the northeastern corner of Europe, yet Paul was able to preach the gospel from Jerusalem to a remote, uncultured region. This is because he preached the gospel to the Gentiles in a prevailing way through the all-inclusive, consummated Spirit as power. As a result of such gospel preaching, the unclean, defiled Gentiles were sanctified in the Holy Spirit and became an acceptable offering to God (v. 16). In the same way, today we need to preach the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles through the Spirit as power, that Gentiles in increasing numbers may turn from paganism and all other isms unto the obedience of the faith.
When we preach the word of the Lord, the Spirit demonstrates Himself with power in our preaching. In 1 Corinthians 2:4 Paul said, “My speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” Persuasive words of wisdom issue from the human mind; demonstration of the Spirit comes from our spirit. This shows us that Paul’s speech and proclamation were not from his mind with words of speculation but from his spirit with the release and exhibition of the Spirit and, hence, of power.
First Thessalonians 1:5 says, “Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit.” Here we see that the gospel preached by the apostles was preached not only in word but also in power and in the Holy Spirit. Power and the Holy Spirit always go together in the preaching of the gospel. Therefore, when we preach the word of God, if we are willing to put aside our human wisdom, not depending on our eloquence but exercising our spirit and trusting solely in the work of the Spirit, the Spirit will demonstrate Himself with power in our preaching that people may be subdued.
In 1 Corinthians 12:1-3 we see that the Spirit is the means for us to speak for Christ. “I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit” (v. 3). Paul’s thought was that the dumb, voiceless idols in verse 2 make their worshippers dumb and voiceless. But the living God causes His worshippers to speak in His Spirit. This kind of speaking is related to the spiritual gifts. No one who speaks in the Spirit of God would say, “Jesus is accursed”; he would like to say, and he is able to say, “Jesus is Lord!” Paul’s intention in this portion of the Word was to impress us with the importance of speaking in the Spirit. We cannot speak for Christ unless we are in the Spirit. The Spirit is the element, the sphere, and the means for us to speak for Christ. When we speak Christ in the Spirit, the Spirit will work in our speaking for the dispensing of the Triune God into ourselves and into those who are listening.
The Spirit is with us in two aspects: He is in us as the Spirit of life essentially, and He is upon us as the Spirit of power economically. The Spirit’s coming upon us as power is for us to have Him as the power, authority, ability, and capacity of our work for the Lord on earth. The Spirit’s coming upon us is His filling us outwardly. This is the ascended Head’s baptizing of His Body into the Spirit. The fact of the baptism in the Holy Spirit was accomplished in two steps, on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius, on the Body of Christ once for all; the experiences of the baptism in the Spirit are shared by individual believers numerously, at different times and in different places. The Spirit in us is the element that makes us sufficient ministers of the new covenant. As the divine element is being dispensed into us by the Spirit, He works in us to transform us and constitute us the new covenant ministers. The Spirit is also the element of the New Testament ministry. The ministry of the new covenant is not merely a matter of our work or preaching or teaching. It is a matter of spiritual constitution, a constitution of the Spirit with the divine life and the divine truths. The Spirit also gives us utterance to speak in different tongues, with which we speak the things concerning Christ in His resurrection and ascension. This is a manifestation of our being filled outwardly with the Spirit. The Spirit in us also witnesses of the resurrected and exalted Christ that we may witness outwardly for Christ. The Spirit is also the power for us to preach the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles that the unclean Gentiles may be sanctified in the Holy Spirit and become acceptable offerings to God. As we preach the word of the Lord, the Spirit demonstrates Himself with power in our preaching that people may be subdued. He is also the element, the sphere, and the means for us to speak for Christ. If we speak Christ in the Spirit, the Spirit will work in our speaking for the dispensing of the Triune God into ourselves and into those who are listening.
