In resurrection Christ also became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). This verse in 1 Corinthians is one of the most neglected verses in the Bible. In resurrection, the subject of 1 Corinthians 15, Christ as the last Adam, through His death and resurrection, became a life-giving Spirit. Many Christians consider Christ as their Redeemer, but very few consider Him as a life-giving Spirit. But our Redeemer is the life-giving Spirit in resurrection. By His death He redeemed us; in His resurrection He imparts Himself into us as life.
After His resurrection and in His resurrection, He became the pneumatic Christ. The pneumatic Christ is identical to the Spirit. This is why 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” Today in resurrection the very Christ, our Redeemer, is identical to the Spirit who gives life to us.
John 20 reveals that after His death and in His resurrection Christ came back. He returned in a wonderful way. The disciples were in a house with the doors shut for fear of the Jews (v. 19). Suddenly, Jesus was standing there and saying to them, “Peace be to you.” He did not teach them, and He did not give them a sermon as He did on the mount. He simply breathed into them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22), the Holy Breath, the Holy Pneuma.
Christ appeared without knocking at the door because in resurrection He is the Spirit. He had a resurrected body, which is called a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44; John 20:27). We cannot explain this, but it is a fact revealed in the Bible. From the time of His resurrection, Christ never left the believers. Here and there He appeared to them, but He was always with them.
Consider, then, what is included in His resurrection: He was glorified; He became the firstborn Son of God, making all of us His brothers; and He became the life-giving Spirit breathed into us to be with us forever (John 14:16-20).
After His resurrection, in His ascension Christ was highly exalted (Eph. 1:20-21). He was made Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), and He was given to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His Body (Eph. 1:22-23). Our Head, Christ, is not only our Head, but the Head over all things to us.
In His ascension Christ poured out the Holy Spirit upon all His believers (Acts 2:33). This was the genuine baptism of the Spirit that formed the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). In His resurrection He breathed the Holy Spirit into His disciples; then in His ascension He poured out His Spirit upon His believers. This means that within the believers and upon them there was only the Spirit. Within was the Spirit, and without was the Spirit. Within was the infilling Spirit, and without was the outpoured Spirit. This was accomplished once for all and is an eternal fact in which we participate.
Incarnation is a fact, and crucifixion is a fact, including all the accomplishments of the Lord on the cross. Resurrection is also a fact. In His resurrection Christ became the Firstborn, making us all His brothers, and He also became the life-giving Spirit breathed into us. Furthermore, the ascension is a fact. In His ascension Christ was made the Head over all things, He was made Lord and Christ, and He poured Himself out as the Spirit upon us all. Now we are in Him. He is in the heavenlies, and so are we (Eph. 2:6). He is within us and upon us, and we are in Him. This is the complete redemption of Christ.