Part
5
Christ, as
“the Spirit of Life,” is the Fullness
of the Godhead Now In us
Col.
2:9-10 For in him
(in
Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily. 10And ye are complete in him, which is
the head of all principality and power:
The Spirit “in
us" is for our personal realization of righteousness, peace and joy. Rom
14:17 the kingdom (realm) of God is not meat
and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost. In fact,
all the attributes and benefits of God’s life are now… “in Christ,” and they come
to us … by the indwelling “Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus.”
The “Spirit of
Christ”
in the believer is “the
truth” or reality of Christ Himself for us to realize
personally as our “comforter.”
John
14:16-20 And I (Jesus) will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for
ever; 17Even the Spirit of truth (the Truth – Christ is the “reality”);
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. 18I will not leave you
comfortless:
I will come to
you. 19Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20At
that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. < Ask yourself, who is in
the believer?
·
NOTE:
In v16 & 17 the Lord refers to the Holy Spirit as “he,” but in verse 18, the pronoun
changes from “he” to the “I” who was speaking to them at that time –
The “I” was and is “Jesus.”
§
By
changing the “he” who was with
them (in verses 16-17) to “I” in v18
the Lord was saying the “he” is
the “I” who is to return as the Spirit to indwell
them.
§
The
Holy Spirit that Jesus spoke of in
v16-17…is He Himself, but then as “the Spirit of Life” (Rom
8:2a)
We
see Jesus as the “living water” here in
John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a
well of water springing up into everlasting
life. Also below, in John 7:38-39, we see the “the Spirit” is the “water of life.” Both Jesus and
the Spirit are “the water of life” because they are One and the same.
We
need to note that in the KJV, the word “given” (v39 below) is
italicized because it was incorrectly added by the
translators. It is not in the oldest original Greek manuscripts. You see,
it’s not that “the Spirit” was “not yet given,” rather it’s
that Christ had not yet glorified since he had not yet completed the
transformation from the man “Jesus of
Nazareth” into being “the
Spirit of life.”
John 7:38-39
(KJV) He that believeth on me, as
the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that
believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was
not yet glorified.)
Here above the Holy Spirit is seen as the “water of
the life” of the resurrected Christ who then was still “not yet,” meaning “not yet in existence” because
Jesus had not yet completed the process by which He would become available as “the Spirit of life” to indwell
the believers.
Obviously then, Jesus and the
Holy Spirit are one in the same, seen here as…the “water of life.” The “Spirit is life” and it is “Christ who is our life”
(Col 3:4a), so “the Spirit” and “Christ” are One as the real life indwelling the believer’s
spirit.
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me. Romans 8:2 …the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Col. 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with him in glory.
“The Spirit” then is Spirit of the One
Godhead, God the Father, and Christ, as the new life to
indwell believers. Note here the various terms to describe who it is that is
“in you.”
Romans 8:8-10
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. [9] But ye are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if
so be that the Spirit of
God (the Father) 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 because of righteousness.
“The
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” is
the culmination of Jesus of Nazareth’s human experience on earth, now as “the
life-giving spirit.”
1 Cor.
15:45 …the last
Adam was made a quickening (life-giving)
spirit.
John
6:63 It is the spirit that
quickeneth
(gives life); the flesh
profiteth nothing.
1 John
4:13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he
hath given us of his Spirit.