We must realize that Christ is not so simple. No one can exhaust telling us what Christ is because He is so much. The New Testament shows four main items concerning Christ: what He is, what He has accomplished, what He has obtained, and what He has attained. All of what Christ is, has accomplished, has obtained, and has attained has been concentrated into the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is the very embodiment of these four main items of Christ.
As the life-giving Spirit Christ is everywhere. We may often have the human concept that formerly Christ was on the earth, and that now He is in the heavens sitting at the right hand of God (Rom. 8:34). This is true, yet we must also realize that this very Christ became the life-giving Spirit. As the life-giving Spirit, He is everywhere today, and because we have received Him, He is also in us (Rom. 8:10). Although we cannot understand this in full, it is nevertheless a reality. He is beyond our concept and understanding!
When we preach the gospel of Christ, we must realize that at the very moment we are preaching, Christ is present. Therefore, in Romans 10:6-8 the unbelievers do not need to go to the heavens to bring Christ down or to Hades to bring Christ up (vv. 6-7). Christ as the living Word is near them, in their mouth and in their heart, waiting for them to receive Him. If they would just open their mouths and say from their heart, “Lord Jesus, I believe in You,” Christ would enter into them.
The Christ we believe in is a real, living Person, who is the life-giving Spirit; He is not a system of religion or a set of teachings. Since we have received Him and believed into Him, this wonderful all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit is now indwelling us, mingling with us to be one spirit with us (1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:16). Being one spirit with the Lord is the key for us to enjoy Christ. All of what Christ is, has accomplished, obtained, and attained is concentrated into this one life-giving Spirit. Christ as the life-giving Spirit has come into our spirit and mingled Himself with our spirit. Now we are joined to Him. He is such a life-giving Spirit, we have a regenerated spirit, and these two spirits are mingled as one.
A big mistake made by many in Christianity today is to merely teach people how to improve their behavior or to adjust and correct their conduct. This, however, is not the Bible’s revelation. Before we were regenerated, we lived, walked, and had our being in the soul. When we were regenerated, we received another life into our spirit (John 1:12-13; 3:6; Rom. 8:10). To be regenerated simply means to receive another life. This life is Christ Himself. Now that we have received the divine life, we need to be saved in this life daily (Rom. 5:10). To be saved does not mean to improve our conduct or adjust our behavior; rather, it means that we must deny our soul. We must give up living in the soul. We must turn absolutely from the soul to the spirit. We must forget about correction or improvement and turn to the spirit. The Christian life is not a matter of loving versus hating or of good versus bad; it is a matter of living in the spirit versus living in the soul.
Romans 8:1-2 and 4 say, “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death....that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh, but according to spirit.” In the King James Version, the article the is inserted before the word spirit at the end of verse 4. However, in the Greek text, the article the is not there. Because of this, many versions prefer not to capitalize the word spirit. It is difficult to discern the word spirit used in this chapter and in other places in the New Testament, unless it is clearly designated to denote God’s Holy Spirit or our human spirit, as in Romans 8:9 and 16. According to its usage in the New Testament, the word spirit in this verse means our human spirit mingled with God’s Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:16). We may also say that Romans 8:4 refers mainly to our own spirit, our human spirit. This is quite logical, since the contrast in verse 4 is between the flesh and the spirit, our human spirit. This contrast is not between the Holy Spirit and the flesh, but between our spirit and the flesh.
We as men have three parts: a body, soul, and spirit. Our body was corrupted through the fall of man to become the flesh (Gen. 6:3; Rom. 7:18). Deeper than our body is our soul and spirit. Our soul was also corrupted and became the self (Matt. 16:26; Luke 9:25). Therefore, between our spirit and our flesh is our self. Our self is just our very being. Now, there are two possibilities for our walk. We can walk according to spirit or according to flesh.
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