Part 3 of
10
The
Spirit of Christ & the Comforter Are One
Jesus the
Lord is God, the Almighty eternal One.
After the
cross, Paul says “Now the Lord is that Spirit”
(2Cor 3:17). Today, Christ as God is “that spirit,” in His
spirit-form. It was necessary that Jesus of Nazareth pass through a process
in order to become “the life-giving Spirit” (1Cor 15:45). It is
only as “that Spirit” that the fully processed Jesus could then be
dispensed into those who would receive Him into their human spirit as “the
Spirit of life” (Rom 8:2a; Gk., life, Zoe, the eternal spirit-life).
Jesus of
Nazareth, after the cross, is “both Lord and Christ” (Act 2:36). Jesus
is God and He is one with “the Spirit of God.” Notice the terms
Paul uses interchangably, here in Romans 8:9-10, to describe who it is that is
indwelling the believers at
Rome
.
Romans
8:9-10 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,
if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10
And if Christ be in you, the body is
dead because of sin; but the Spirit is
life (Zoë, God’s eternal spirit-life) because of righteousness.
While
there are other spirits who were created by God, there is only one divine and
eternal “spirit-life” in the universe – that is God Himself. "God
is spirit" and He is the one fountain of the genuine life – the
eternal spirit-life. Psalm 36:9 For with thee is
the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. Today
that one, limitless, eternal life of God is the life in Christ, as “the
Sprit of life.”
Christ
as “the Spirit of life” now indwells the human spirit of every
spirit-birthed child of God as “one spirit,” now in full union
with the believer’s spirit. 1Corinthians 6:17 But he
that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Since
every believer is one with Christ then they are “crucified with
Christ” (Gal 2:20), God also they are “raised us up
together” with Christ. Thus, Christ’s “Spirit of life”
is now the believer's only core life.
Ephesians
2:5-6 Even when we were dead in sins, (He) hath
quickened us (made us alive) together with Christ, (by
grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath
raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Gal
2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…
In John 14:6
Christ Jesus says …I am the way, the truth,
and the life (Zoe, the eternal spirit-life)…
We need to
learn from what Jesus said to His Jewish disciples. “And I will pray the
Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may
abide with you for ever;” (John 14:16) John
quotes Jesus a saying the “Comforter” is “the
Spirit of truth” (John 14:26). Jesus also had said He is “…the
truth” (14:6). Thus, “the Comforter,” who
also “the Spirit of Truth” is one in the same as “the
Spirit of Christ,” who Jesus said would come to indwell those
believing Jews to whom He was speaking.
“Even
the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it
seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:17)
In the very
next verse Jesus made it abundantly clear that it was “He (Jesus) who was
dwelling with them” who would return to be in them.
“I
WILL NOT LEAVE YOU COMFORTLESS: “I” WILL
COME TO YOU.” (John 14:18).
Here Jesus
says “the comforter” is “I” who “will
come to you.”
Since there
is only “one Spirit” (Eph 4:4), it is clear from these verses that
the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of Truth,” who today is “the
Comforter,” who is “the Spirit Christ.” Simply
put, “the Comforter” is Jesus in His spirit-form. Jesus, who at
that time dwelled with them, said “He (Jesus) that dwelleth with
you, and shall be in you” (John 14:17). We
have but “one God” and “one Spirit,” who is the one “the
Spirit of Truth,” which is “the Spirit of Christ,” who comes
to indwell believers.
In John 14:26
Jesus said “the Comforter,” whom the Father will send, was
to come “in the name of” (meaning “in the person of”) of Jesus
Christ, and also that He is to be…the believer’s teacher of “all
things.”
John
14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my (Jesus’) name, he
shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John’s
first epistle confirms that Jesus, as “the Spirit of Christ,” is
the indwelling “anointing” who is the believer’s ever present
indwelling teacher of “all things.”
1
John 2:20 But ye have an unction (anointing, see v27) from the
Holy One (Jesus Christ), and ye know all things.
1
John 2:27 But the anointing which
ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye
need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you
of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even
as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
In John 16:7
we read these words. John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the
truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I
go not away, the Comforter (The Spirit of
Christ) will not come unto you; but if I (as the
Son) depart, I will send him (in
the form of “the Spirit of Christ”) unto you.
It should by now be
abundantly clear the resurrected and ascended Spirit of the risen Lord Jesus
Himself is “the Comforter” who comes to indwell and abide in all
who will receive Him.