In the foregoing message we saw that the believers are made a new creation by being regenerated. In this message we shall go on to see that the believers are made a new creation by receiving the Spirit of God and by having the eternal life.
The believers in Christ are made a new creation not only by being regenerated but also by receiving the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is God Himself for our experience and enjoyment. God the Father is the source, God the Son is the course, and God the Spirit is the application. Therefore, the Spirit of God is God reaching us and applied to us as our portion. Regarding the Spirit of God, we need to realize that the Spirit of God is actually God Himself reaching us and being applied to us.
Galatians 3:2 speaks of receiving the Spirit: “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of law or by the hearing of faith?” Through hearing the gospel, we have believed in Christ, but we have received the Spirit. The One who was crucified for us was Christ, but the One who enters us is the Spirit, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. The believers receive this Spirit by the hearing of faith, not by the works of law.
We believe in the crucified and resurrected Christ, but we receive the Spirit. The title of the One in whom we believe is Christ, not the Spirit. However, when we believe in Christ, we receive the Spirit. Christ is the One who was crucified for the accomplishment of redemption and who was resurrected. Hence, we believe in Him. But when He comes into us, He comes in as the Spirit. Therefore, as believers, we have received the Spirit, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the all-inclusive and ultimate blessing of the gospel (Gal. 3:14).
In being made a new creation, the believers have received the essential Spirit. Here the word “essential” refers to existence, to being, and to life for existence. To receive the essential Spirit is to receive the Spirit as life for our spiritual being, existence, and living. We have received the Spirit essentially for our spiritual existence as regenerated believers in Christ.
Furthermore, we have received the Spirit as the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). The Spirit is not only the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) but also the Spirit of life. The Greek word for “life” in Romans 8:2, zoe, denotes God’s life, the divine, uncreated, eternal life. The Spirit is the Spirit of such a life. The Spirit of life is the reality of life, for this Spirit contains the element of the divine life. Actually, the Spirit Himself is life. Therefore, the way to have the divine life is the Spirit. Life belongs to the Spirit, and the Spirit is of life. The Spirit and life are one, for we cannot separate life from the Spirit, nor the Spirit from life. By receiving the Spirit as the Spirit of life we have been made a new creation.
The Spirit has come into us to seal us (Eph. 1:13; 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:22). To be sealed with the Holy Spirit means to be marked with the Holy Spirit as a living seal. When we were saved. God put His Holy Spirit into us as a seal to mark us out and to indicate that we belong to God. The Holy Spirit, who is God Himself entering into us, causes us to bear God’s image signified by the seal. This seal indicates that God is our owner and that we belong to Him.
The Spirit as the seal of God upon us bears the image of God. This implies that the seal of the Holy Spirit is the expression of God and brings God’s image into our being. When we bear the Holy Spirit as the seal of God upon us, we bear the image of God and the expression of God.