In Acts 13:38 and 39 Paul goes on to say, “Therefore let it be known to you, men, brothers, that through this One forgiveness of sins is announced to you; and from all the things from which you were not able to be justified by the law of Moses, in this One everyone who believes is justified.” To be forgiven of sins (v. 38) is on the negative side and is for our release from condemnation. To be justified (v. 39) is on the positive side and is for our reconciliation to God and acceptance by Him.
In both verse 38 and verse 39 Paul speaks of “this One.” Who is this One? This is the One who has been resurrected to be God’s firstborn Son, our Savior, and the many holy and faithful things. Therefore, through the One who is the holy and faithful things as God’s mercies to us, we are forgiven and justified. Through the One who is the firstborn Son, the Savior, and the holy and faithful things, forgiveness of sins has been announced to us. And through this One we are justified from all the things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses.
The One by whom we are forgiven and justified is not only our Savior; He Himself is our forgiveness and justification. Both forgiveness and justification are mercies from God to us, and these mercies are aspects of the resurrected Christ. Today Christ in His resurrection is our forgiveness and our justification. Never consider forgiveness and justification as something apart from Christ. Both forgiveness and justification are aspects of Christ Himself as mercies from God to us, and these mercies are holy and faithful things. To be sure, forgiveness and justification are gifts of God, and they certainly are holy and faithful things. If we have this understanding, we shall see that forgiveness and justification are not common. Rather, they are holy. Furthermore, they are faithful, sure, trustworthy. This is Paul’s preaching of Christ as the Firstborn of God in Acts 13, through which many were saved.
Acts 16:6-7 indicates that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, who guided the apostles in their ministry. Speaking of Paul and his co-workers, these verses say, “They passed through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, yet the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” The move of the apostle Paul and his co-workers for the spread of the gospel was not according to their decision and preference or according to any schedule made by human council, but by the Spirit of Jesus.
Just as the Spirit of Christ is the reality of Christ, so the Spirit of Jesus is the reality of Jesus. If we do not have the Spirit of Jesus, Jesus will not be real to us. But today Jesus is real to us because we have the Spirit of Jesus as the reality, the realization, of Jesus. Jesus was a man who continually suffered intense persecution while He was on earth. Therefore, the Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of a man with abundant strength for suffering. He is the Spirit of a man as well as the Spirit of suffering strength.
As an evangelist, Paul went out to preach, and he also suffered. In that suffering he needed the Spirit of Jesus because in the Spirit of Jesus there is the suffering element and the suffering strength to withstand persecution. In our preaching today we also need the Spirit of Jesus to face the opposition and persecution. The Spirit of Jesus is not only the Spirit of God with divinity in Him that we may live the divine life but also the Spirit of the man Jesus with humanity in Him that we may live the proper human life and endure its sufferings.
We need to pay careful attention to two divine titles in verses 6 and 7—“the Holy Spirit” and “the Spirit of Jesus.” The interchangeable use of these two titles reveals that the Spirit of Jesus is the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit” is a general title of the Spirit of God in the New Testament. “The Spirit of Jesus” is a particular expression concerning the Spirit of God and refers to the Spirit of the incarnated Savior who, as Jesus in His humanity, passed through human living and death on the cross. This indicates that in the Spirit of Jesus there is not only the divine element of God but also the human element of Jesus and the elements of His human living and His suffering of death as well. Such an all-inclusive Spirit was needed for the apostle’s preaching ministry, a ministry of suffering carried out among human beings and for human beings in the human life.
In Acts 16 Luke first speaks of the Holy Spirit and then of the Spirit of Jesus—two titles for the Spirit of God not found in the Old Testament. The title “the Holy Spirit” was used for the first time at the conception of the Lord Jesus. It was when the time came to prepare the way for Christ’s coming and to prepare a human body for Him to initiate the New Testament dispensation that the term “the Holy Spirit” came into use (Luke 1:15, 35; Matt. 1:18, 20). In order to understand the first usage of the title “the Holy Spirit,” we need to see that this title is involved with the Lord’s incarnation. Hence, according to the principle of first mention, the Holy Spirit is related to Christ’s incarnation and birth. This title indicates God’s coming into man to be one with man in incarnation. In the New Testament, the title “the Holy Spirit” indicates that God is now mingling Himself with man.
In Acts 16:7 Luke turns from the Holy Spirit to the Spirit of Jesus. As a man, Jesus first lived a human life and then was crucified and resurrected, and He ascended to the heavens and was made Lord and Christ. Thus, the Spirit of Jesus implies the Lord’s humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension.