In Acts 16 we see that the move of the apostles in their evangelistic work was, strictly speaking, not by the Spirit of God. Rather, it was by the Holy Spirit, who was involved with the Lord’s incarnation and birth, and by the Spirit of Jesus, who was involved with the Lord’s humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. These two divine titles indicate strongly that Paul’s move in his evangelical work was not something in the way of the old dispensation. If it had been a move in the old dispensational way, then the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Jehovah should have been mentioned. But in Acts 16 there is no mention of the Spirit of God or of the Spirit of Jehovah. Instead, we are told that Paul and his co-workers were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia and were not allowed by the Spirit of Jesus to go into Bithynia. The fact that Luke speaks of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus indicates that the evangelical work of the apostles was a new move in God’s New Testament economy.
God’s New Testament economy is carried out through the Lord’s incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. The Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus include these matters. This means that the Spirit, who is now called the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus, is the totality and ultimate consummation of Christ’s incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. When we have this Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus, we have Christ in His incarnation, in His humanity and human living, and in His death, resurrection, and ascension.
Elsewhere we have pointed out that after His resurrection and in His resurrection Christ became the pneumatic Christ. The pneumatic Christ is identical to the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17). The Holy Spirit, who is also the Spirit of Jesus, is the totality of this pneumatic Christ. The pneumatic Christ is constituted of certain elements: incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. In the entire universe He is the only One who possesses these six qualifications. Only He is qualified with incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. Hence, the Spirit of Jesus is the realization of this qualified Jesus. The Spirit of Jesus is the totality of such an all-inclusive One. In Acts 16 Paul and his co-workers were moving under the direction of such a Spirit, the Spirit who is the totality of the all-inclusive Christ.
The Spirit of Jesus is the totality and realization of Christ as the uniquely qualified One, the One qualified through incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. The Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of the One with humanity, who lived a human life on earth for thirty-three and a half years, who died an all-inclusive death, who resurrected from the dead to propagate the divine life by imparting it into all His believers, and who ascended to the heavens to be made Lord and Christ. The Spirit who did not allow the apostles to go into Bithynia was the Spirit of this Jesus. This Spirit is the totality and the full realization of the all-inclusive Jesus. These verses prove that the apostles were moving under the direction and guidance of such an all-inclusive Spirit.
The kind of work we do for the Lord depends on the kind of Spirit by whom we are guided, directed, instructed, and constituted. Paul was not constituted of the Spirit of God or of the Spirit of Jehovah but of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus. As a vessel containing the Triune God, Paul was fully constituted of the Holy Spirit, who was involved with the Lord’s incarnation and birth, and of the Spirit of Jesus, who was involved with the Lord’s humanity, human living, all-inclusive death, life-imparting resurrection, and ascension. Paul was a person constituted of this all-inclusive Spirit. Thus, when he came out to preach, he could truly preach Jesus Christ.
We need to be impressed with the fact that the kind of work we do for the Lord depends on the Spirit by whom we are guided and of whom we are constituted. Actually, this Spirit should become our constitution. Then our work will be the expression of this Spirit, and we will do a work for Jesus as the incarnated One with humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. If we are constituted of the Spirit of Jesus, we will do the work of ministering Jesus as the all-inclusive One and convey Him as such a One to others.