The Spirit also works in the believers as the means for them to know that God abides in them and they in God (1 John 3:24b; 4:13). How do we know that God abides in us and that we abide in God? We know this by the indwelling Spirit. If we did not have the indwelling Spirit, we could not realize that God abides in us and we in Him. But as believers we know this mutual abiding by our experience. We have experienced that between us and God there is an organic union, an organic relationship, and that the indwelling Spirit is the link between God and us. The Spirit links us with God and God with us. Through the indwelling Spirit God abides in us and we abide in God.
First John 3:24b says, “In this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave to us.” Literally, the Greek word for “by” means “out of.” The phrase “by the Spirit” modifies “we know.” Therefore, by the Spirit we know that God abides in us.
The first explicit mention of the Spirit in 1 John is in 3:24b. Earlier, the Spirit is anonymously implied in the anointing in 2:20 and 27. Actually, the Spirit, that is, the all-inclusive compound life-giving Spirit, is the vital and crucial factor of all the mysteries unveiled in this Epistle: the divine life, the fellowship of the divine life, the divine anointing, the abiding in the Lord, the divine birth, and the divine seed. It is by this Spirit we are born of God, we receive the divine life as the divine seed in us, we have the fellowship of the divine life, we are anointed with the Triune God, and we abide in the Lord. This wonderful Spirit is given to us as the promised blessing of the New Testament (Gal. 3:14). He is given without measure by the Christ who is above all, who inherits all, and who is to be increased universally (John 3:31-35). This Spirit and the eternal life (1 John 3:15) are the basic elements by which we live the life that abides in the Lord continually. Hence, it is by this Spirit, who witnesses assuringly with our spirit, that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16), and that we know that the Lord of all abides in us. It is through this Spirit that we are joined to the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). And it is by this Spirit that we enjoy the riches of the Triune God (2 Cor. 13:14).
First John 3:24b does not speak of the Spirit of God or of the Holy Spirit; this verse speaks of the Spirit. Whenever the New Testament mentions the Spirit, it refers to the all-inclusive compound, life-giving, indwelling Spirit. In the last chapter of the Bible we have a word concerning the Spirit (Rev. 22:17). The Spirit is more inclusive than the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit. The Spirit refers to the Spirit who was “not yet” (John 7:39) before Christ’s glorification. Now after the resurrection of Christ, the Spirit is here. Therefore, we abide in the Lord and He abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given to us.
First John 4:13 says, “In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given us of His Spirit.” The words “in this” mean in the fact that God has given us of His Spirit we know that we abide in Him and He in us. The Spirit whom God has given to dwell in us is the witness in our spirit that we dwell in God and He in us. The abiding Spirit, that is, the indwelling Spirit, is the element and sphere of the mutual abiding, the mutual indwelling, of us and God. By Him we are assured that we and God are one, abiding in one another, indwelling each other mutually.
In 4:13 John indicates that we may know that we abide in God. To abide in God is to dwell in Him, remaining in our fellowship with Him, that we may experience and enjoy His abiding in us. This is to practice our oneness with God according to the divine anointing (2:27) by a living that practices His righteousness and love. This is all by the operation of the all-inclusive compound Spirit, who dwells in our spirit and who is the basic element of the divine anointing.
In 4:13 John tells us that God “has given us of His Spirit.” In Greek “of” literally means “out of.” God has given us out of His Spirit. This closely resembles and repeats the word in 3:24, which proves that this does not mean that God has given us something, such as the various gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:4, of His Spirit, but that His Spirit Himself is the all-inclusive gift (Acts 2:38). “Out of His Spirit” is an expression which implies that the Spirit of God, whom He has given to us, is bountiful and without measure (Phil. 1:19; John 3:34). By such a bountiful immeasurable Spirit we know with full assurance that we are one with God and that we abide in Him and He in us.
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