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Scripture Reading: John 3:6b; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; Phil. 1:19b, Phil. 1:20b, Phil. 1:21a; Phil. 2:5-8; 3:9-10; 4:8, 13
In this message and in the message following we shall consider the reproduction of the God-man. As we shall see, the reproduction of the God-man requires that we be reborn of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit, that we be transformed by the pneumatic Christ in our soul, and that we live Christ as the God-man.
After living a wonderful and excellent life, the Man-Savior went to the cross and died. Then in His resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). How did Christ become a life-giving Spirit in His resurrection? Notice that we are not asking why He became a life-giving Spirit, but how, in what way, He became a Spirit. The answer to this question is that the Man-Savior became a life-giving Spirit with a wonderful, all-inclusive qualification. The Lord Jesus was both God and man. For thirty-three and a half years He lived the life of a God-man; that is, He lived a human life by the divine life for the expression of God. After living this kind of life, He died on the cross as the all-inclusive One.
Whenever a living thing dies, the death of that thing corresponds to its nature. For example, a dog dies a dog death. Likewise, an ant dies an ant death, and a fly dies a fly death. This principle also applies to human beings. An unknown person may die an insignificant death, but a great person dies a great death. The Lord Jesus was the all-inclusive One; therefore, He died an all-inclusive death. After His all-inclusive death, the Lord was resurrected by God. It was in this condition with such a qualification that He became a life-giving Spirit.
The life-giving Spirit is actually an extract of the all-inclusive Christ. As we have pointed out elsewhere (see The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, p. 2), an extract may be defined as liquid extracted from a plant or other organic matter and that contains its essence in concentrated form. A synonym for extract is “spirit,” which is the essence of a substance extracted in liquid form. Wine, for example, may be regarded as an extract, or spirit, of grapes. Whenever we extract the essence of a particular substance, we get the spirit of that substance. Furthermore, an extract of something will always include the essence, elements, and substance of that thing. Suppose, for instance, that we have the extract of an orange. This extract will comprise the essence, the elements, the nature, and the substance of that orange. In a similar way, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit comprises all that Christ is, all that He went through, and all that He accomplished, attained, and obtained.
Many Christians do not realize that the Spirit is the all-inclusive Spirit. In Philippians 1:19 Paul speaks of “the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Here Paul does not speak of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of God, but of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. In Philippians 1:19 the Spirit of God has become the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This is “the Spirit” mentioned in John 7:39. This is not merely the Spirit of God before the Lord’s incarnation, but the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit with divinity, after the Lord’s resurrection, compounded with the Lord’s humanity, human living under the cross, crucifixion, and resurrection.
What is your understanding of Jesus and of Christ? Jesus is both the complete God and a genuine man. He is the Word who became flesh. In John 1:1 and 14 we see that the Word that was in the beginning with God and that was God became flesh. As the God-man, Jesus was the complete God with the true divine nature and with excellent divine attributes, and a genuine man with a real human nature and with perfect human virtues.
Who, then, is Christ? Christ is the God-anointed Jesus passing through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. In resurrection Jesus Christ became an extract of Himself, and this extract is the life-giving Spirit. Because this life-giving Spirit is the extract of the all-inclusive Christ, this Spirit also is all-inclusive.
Christ’s becoming the life-giving Spirit is related to the reproduction of the God-man. How can the God-man be reproduced? The answer to this question is that the God-man is reproduced by the all-inclusive Spirit. Seeing this, we now need to find out in what way the God-man is reproduced by the all-inclusive Spirit.
The first step of the reproduction of the God-man by the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is regeneration. The Lord Jesus spoke about regeneration to Nicodemus in John 3. To this ethical, cultured, and religious gentleman, He said, “You must be born anew” (John 3:7). To be born anew, or again, is to be born of another essence, the divine essence. The Lord seemed to be saying to Nicodemus, “You were born of the human essence, and now you need to be born of another essence — the essence of God. Nicodemus, you must be born of God.”
To be born of God is to be born of the Spirit. What is the Spirit? The Spirit is the extract of God. Actually, this extract is not merely of God; it is also of Jesus Christ. The regenerating Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
If we compare John 3:6 with John 3:14 and 15, we shall see that the Spirit here is the extract of Jesus Christ. In John 3:6 the Lord Jesus says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” If we would have the divine life, we must be born of the Spirit. In John 3:14 and 15 the Lord Jesus goes on to say, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that every one who believes in Him may have eternal life.” Here the Lord refers to Himself as the crucified and resurrected Christ. Whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. Having eternal life is equal to being reborn. In other words, to be reborn is to have the divine life.
What does it mean to be born again, to be born of the Spirit? To be born of the Spirit is to receive the divine life. In these verses from John 3 we first have the Spirit and then the crucified and resurrected Son of Man. As we compare these verses we see that here the Spirit is the extract of Jesus Christ.
The Spirit of whom we are born to have eternal life is the extract of the crucified and resurrected Christ. Crucifixion is a “pressing” that produces an extract. When pressure is applied to an orange, we get the juice as the extract of the orange. We may compare the crucifixion of Christ to the pressing of an orange. When Christ was on the cross, He was “pressed.” After being pressed on the cross, He came forth as the “juice” of the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Furthermore, just as the essence, elements, nature, and substance of an orange are in the extract, so the essence, elements, nature, and substance of Christ are in the all-inclusive Spirit. It is by this Spirit that Christ, the God-man, is reproduced.
In our preaching of the gospel we need to tell others that Christ is the life-giving Spirit. We need to tell them that Christ was pressed on the cross to become the Spirit. Now if sinners repent, believe in Him, and call on Him, they will receive the Spirit. Whenever a person calls on the Lord Jesus, he receives the Spirit. This Spirit is actually the reality of Jesus Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit.
In Acts 2 we have the outpouring of the Spirit. In Acts 2:17 Peter quotes Joel’s word about the pouring out of God’s Spirit upon all flesh and his word that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord, shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). Since God has poured out His Spirit, what people need to do in order to be saved is to call on the name of the Lord. Whoever calls on the Lord’s name will be saved, and to be saved is actually to receive the Spirit.
As we have pointed out a number of times, the name denotes the person. Jesus is the name of the Lord, and the Spirit is His person. Therefore, when we call on the Lord’s name, we receive His person, the Spirit. This is what it means to be saved.
Some Christians oppose this matter of calling on the Lord. They say falsely that this is mere shouting or vain repetition. However, calling on the Lord’s name is not vain. When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we call on the name of the dear, all-inclusive One, the One who is above all. God has given this One a name that is above every name (Phil. 2:9). We can testify that when we call on the name of Jesus, the Spirit comes. Jesus is His name, and the Spirit is His person, the extract of His being.
The reality of a person’s name is the person himself. For this reason, when we call the name of a particular person who is present, the person responds. The principle is the same with calling on the name of Jesus. Whenever we call on this name, we get the person. Since the person is the Spirit, when we call on the name of Jesus, we receive the Spirit. From experience we know that when we believe in Jesus and call on His name, the Spirit comes as the all-inclusive Person to be our life.
In order for the Lord Jesus to come into us as the life-giving Spirit, it was necessary for Him to go through a lengthy process. In the life-giving Spirit, the all-inclusive extract of Christ, there is not only the essence of what Christ is, but also the element of the process through which He has passed. The Lord did not merely come to dwell among man. He lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years, experiencing a great many things. He was born of a virgin and grew up in a normal, human way. Eventually, He went to the cross to be pressed in order to release the Spirit as His extract.
Today the regenerating Spirit is the extract of the all-inclusive Christ. As such an extract, this Spirit comprises the divine element with the divine attributes and the human element with all the human virtues. This Spirit includes the element of the Lord’s wonderful life of expressing God. The Spirit also includes the element of the rescued, restored, recovered, improved, polished, sanctified, strengthened, empowered, and uplifted human virtues. Have you ever realized this? The all-inclusive life-giving Spirit contains the element of the Man-Savior’s uplifted human virtues.
Believers as well as unbelievers have a natural concept concerning how the Lord Jesus saves us. For example, a Christian may say, “Oh, what a problem I have with my temper! I can’t do anything about it. I have no choice except to lose my temper. Lord, help me!” After calling to the Lord for help this one may expect the Lord to stretch forth His hand from the heavens and help him.
Some Christians actually do not believe that Christ lives in us; they believe that He is merely on the throne in the third heaven. Nevertheless, even they will pray for the Lord to help them. How do they think the Lord will help them? Their understanding of the Lord’s help may be not only natural but even superstitious.
The New Testament reveals that the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ is the indwelling Spirit. We need to realize this when we are tempted to lose our temper. You may say, “Lord, help me,” or you may simply say, “Lord!” If you consider your experience, you will realize that when you call on the Lord’s name, something moves within you and even mingles with you. This is the life-giving Spirit moving in you and mingling with your spirit.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with asking the Lord to help us. But this kind of prayer can distract us from the indwelling Spirit. If we pray in this way, we may expect the Lord’s help to come from the third heaven and may feel that we need to wait for His help to arrive. But when we call on the Lord’s name, realizing that He is the life-giving Spirit dwelling within us, we shall sense Him moving in us and mingling with us. We experience this because the One who moves in us and mingles with us is the life-giving Spirit as the extract of the all-inclusive Christ. Simply by calling on the Lord’s name we can sense the mysterious, all-inclusive extract moving in us.
The Spirit as the extract of Christ contains the element of the highest standard of morality. As the Spirit moves within us, the element of the highest human virtues also moves in us. The Lord does not rescue us from our temper by doing something miraculously as the ascended One on the throne in the heavens. Instead, He rescues us by moving in us and mingling Himself with us as the One who indwells us. If we turn to Him as the One in our spirit and call on His name, He will move in us with all His elements. In this way He saves us.
What we are saying concerning the Lord’s saving us by moving in us as the Spirit is not a superstition. Just as taking medicine is not superstitious, so experiencing the moving of the Spirit in us is not superstitious. When a person takes medicine, that medicine will work in him to kill germs. This is not an outward killing, the attempt to kill the germs by doing something outwardly. On the contrary, this is an inward killing, a killing that results from taking a prescribed dose of medicine. In a similar way, the all-inclusive Spirit contains the element of the Lord’s all-inclusive death, and by this element the spiritual germs in our being are terminated.
The all-inclusive life-giving Spirit also has the element of germination. The Spirit contains this element because in the Spirit there is the element of Christ’s resurrection. Resurrection overcomes every form of death. Because death cannot hold the element of resurrection, death cannot hold the Spirit. Hallelujah for the element of resurrection in the all-inclusive Spirit!
Whether or not we understand the elements in the all-inclusive Spirit, it is nonetheless a fact that these elements have been born into us through the Spirit. When we were born of our parents, we were born with the human elements. In like manner, on the day we called on the name of the dear, all-inclusive One, the all-inclusive Spirit came into us, and we were born of Him. Now He with all His elements dwells within us.
The first step in the reproduction of the God-man is that we be reborn of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit with His divine life and nature. I like the term “pneumatic Christ.” Since the Spirit in John 3:6 is the extract of the all-inclusive Christ, He is actually the pneumatic Christ. In this verse the Lord Jesus does not speak of being born of the Spirit of God or of the Holy Spirit; He speaks of being born of the Spirit. The Spirit introduces us to the pneumatic Christ.
What is the pneumatic Christ? The pneumatic Christ is Christ after resurrection being the life-giving Spirit. We have been born of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit with His divine life and nature.
