Since the Spirit of God today is the Spirit of Jesus and the Spirit of Christ, we have “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” in Philippians 1:19. It says, “This shall turn to my salvation through...the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Here “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” is related to “the supply.” Conybeare says, “The words here mean the supplying of all needs.” Williams and Vincent both say, “bountiful supply”; The Twentieth Century and Montgomery Translations, “rich supply”; Wuest, “the full-proportioned support and aid”; The New Testament in Basic English, “the giving of the stored wealth.” The word “supply” in Greek is a specific, rich word used by the apostle here to indicate the bountiful, rich supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. It is the abundant “stored wealth” in the Spirit of the incarnated, afflicted and crucified Jesus and the resurrected, ascended and enthroned Christ.
In Philippians 1 the apostle was suffering imprisonment and expecting deliverance. For the suffering he needed the Spirit of the suffering Jesus. For the deliverance he needed the Spirit of the rising Christ. The bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ was all he needed to face his situation at that time.
Christ, as God, by being incarnated put on Himself the human nature. Through His life on earth He acquired also the human living. With the human nature He entered into death, conquered it, and rose up from it. By rising from death He was glorified. Then He ascended and received the enthronement, the headship, the lordship, the authority and the kingdom. After experiencing and entering into all of these things, He came down! He came down in the Spirit, and as the Spirit, for we have seen that He is the Spirit. He came down as the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Let us complete the illustration thus:
This is the Spirit of Jesus spoken of in Acts 16:7. This is also the Spirit of Christ spoken of in Romans 8:9. This is the Spirit of Jesus Christ spoken of in Philippians 1:19. And this is the Spirit of God today! Today the Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit, who as the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the all-inclusive Spirit, bountifully rich in so many elements for the fulfilling of God’s eternal purpose.
We have used the illustration of a cup of water mingled with tea. Now suppose we add some sugar, salt, apple juice, and many other things. Originally it was just a cup of plain water, but now it is an all-inclusive drink! In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God was only the Spirit of God. There was no human element, no human living, no effectiveness of death, etc., within Him. However, today in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, there is God, man, the human living, the effectiveness of death, the life and power of resurrection, glorification, ascension, enthronement, headship, lordship, authority and the kingdom. All these elements are included in the rich and bountiful Spirit of Jesus Christ.
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