The Spirit is received by the believers. Galatians 3:2 indicates that we received the Spirit by the hearing of faith. Through hearing the gospel we believed in the crucified Christ, but we received the Spirit. The One who was crucified was Christ, but the One who enters into the believers is the Spirit. This is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, who is the ultimate blessing of the gospel. The believers receive such a divine Spirit by the hearing of faith, not by works of law. The Spirit enters into the believers and lives in them, not by their keeping the law, but by their faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ.
We have considered nine aspects of the coming of the Spirit to the New Testament believers essentially for their spiritual life and being. Now we need to consider the coming of the Spirit economically. The coming of the Spirit to the believers economically is for their spiritual ministry and work.
First, the coming of the Spirit economically was promised by God the Father. This promise was given in the second chapter of Joel and is quoted by Peter in Acts 2:17 and 18. These verses speak of the pouring out of the Spirit. The pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh differs from the breathing of the Spirit into the disciples out of the mouth of Christ after His resurrection. The pouring out of God’s Spirit was from the heavens after Christ’s ascension. The former is the essential aspect of the Spirit breathed into the believers as life for their living; the latter is the economical aspect of the Spirit poured out upon them as power for their work. The same Spirit is both within the believers essentially and upon them economically. The word “upon” in Acts 2:17 is economically different from the essential “in” in John 14:17. “In” is related to the intrinsic essence for life; “upon” is related to the outward element for power.
First, the Father promised the coming of the Spirit economically in the Old Testament through the prophet Joel. Then the coming of the Spirit was promised by the Son through His referring to the Father’s promise. This is clearly revealed in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:5 and 8. In Luke 24:49 the Lord Jesus says, “Behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you.” This promise was of the outpouring of the Spirit as power from on high for the believers’ ministry economically. In Acts 1:5 and 8 the Lord Jesus reminded the believers concerning the promise of the Father, telling them that they would be baptized in the Holy Spirit and thereby receive power by the Holy Spirit coming upon them.
Finally, in His ascension Christ received the economical Spirit from the Father and poured out this Spirit upon the believers. Acts 2:33 says, “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He poured out this which you both see and hear.” The exalted Christ’s receiving of the promise of the Holy Spirit was actually the receiving of the Holy Spirit Himself. Christ was conceived of the Spirit essentially for His being in humanity, and He was anointed with the Spirit economically for His ministry among men. After His resurrection and ascension, He still needed to receive the Spirit economically again so that He might pour out this Spirit upon His Body to carry out on earth His heavenly ministry for the accomplishment of God’s New Testament economy. The same Spirit who was breathed into the believers essentially as life in Christ’s resurrection was poured out upon them economically by Christ in His ascension. In and after His ascension Christ received the all-inclusive Spirit from the Father economically and poured Him out upon the believers for their ministry and work.
We have seen the way in which the Spirit comes to us. The Spirit was sent by the Triune God, and He came as the Triune God. Hence, the coming of the Spirit is actually a matter of the Triune God sending the Triune God. Now as New Testament believers we have the consummated Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God within us essentially as our life and upon us economically as our authority and power.
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