The Gospel of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Christ. A genealogy is an explanation of a person, telling us who he is. Therefore, on the first page of the New Testament is an explanation, a revelation, of the person of Christ, telling us who He is. According to the principle of first mention, this establishes that the subject of the Gospels is the person of Christ. Immediately after this is the record of the birth of this person. The first two things we need to know about a person are his genealogy and birth. When we fill out papers about our status, we have to tell people about our parents, nationality, and date and place of birth. This shows us again that the Gospels tell us who Christ is and what kind of person He is.
After His genealogy and birth, the Gospels present the recommendation of Christ by His forerunner, John the Baptist. A recommendation is a revelation, a certain kind of explanation telling us who a person is. In today’s business and society we always need a reference. The Gospels give us a reference to prove and to recommend who Christ is. Following this is a test, a temptation, to prove what kind of person Christ is. In this way each page of the Gospels proves one thing: what kind of person this One is.
Although His testing proved who Christ is, we still need some practical illustrations and explanations, such as the accounts in Matthew 8, 15, and eventually 17, where Christ was suddenly transfigured on the mountain. We do not have this kind of record in the Epistles. When we come to the Epistles, the picture changes. The Gospels and the Epistles present two different kinds of pictures of Christ.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are all of one category. In these three Gospels, Christ is revealed as a man. In the first Gospel, He as a man is the King committed with all authority. In the second book, as a man He is a slave serving not only God but also us, with power, love, and even His own life. In the third book, as a perfect man He is the Savior, who went into death to redeem us. The last book of the Gospels is in another category. The Gospel of John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word” (1:1). This Gospel tells us that Christ was the Word, and the Word was God. Here Christ is revealed as God incarnate who came to impart life to us. In this way, the four Gospels present a picture and a record of all the aspects of Christ as the Word, showing us who this person is and what kind of person He is. All the records in chapter after chapter have only this one purpose. To read these four Gospels is simply to read an explanation and a definition of a person.
However, in the Gospels Christ is not yet the Spirit. He was among people to be seen, understood, and apprehended, but He could not come into people for them to enjoy. People could appreciate Him, admire Him, and praise Him, but they could not share of Him and partake of Him. People could understand Him as the Word, but until the Word became the Spirit He could not come into them.
For this reason, we cannot find a verse or passage in the four Gospels that tells us that Christ is the Spirit or that Christ is in the disciples, until we come to John 14 and 15. However, John 14 and 15 speak of Christ related not merely to the stage of the four Gospels. What these chapters refer to does not happen in the Gospels. They predict something about Christ in the stage of the Epistles. Similarly, John 20 takes place in the Gospels, but this chapter may be considered as the end of the stage of the Gospels and the beginning of the stage of the Epistles.
It was through His death and resurrection that Christ as the Word became the Spirit. That is why John 14 tells us that He had to go through death and be resurrected. It is from this chapter that the Spirit is first mentioned so clearly. Verses 16 and 17 say, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” Christ was the first Comforter, but He would send another Comforter, the Paraclete, the Spirit of reality.
Verse 17 says that this Spirit was abiding with the disciples and would be in them. To be in them indicated a further step. The Word was among them already, because the Word became flesh and tabernacled among them (1:14). However, the disciples needed the Lord’s second step so that He could become the Spirit to be not only among them but in them. Verse 17 of chapter fourteen says concerning the Spirit, “He abides with you and shall be in you,” but right away verse 18 says “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.” He in verse 17 changes into I in verse 18. Christ’s going in death and resurrection was His coming as the Spirit to be in the disciples.
Verses 19 and 20 continue, “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” At that time He could only be among the disciples; He could not be in them. In “that day,” however, He would be in them. These are the two steps of Christ—to be incarnated in the flesh to be among the disciples and to be transfigured into the Spirit to be in the disciples.
As the turning point in these two steps, John 14 is the most significant chapter in the entire Bible. It is in this portion of the Word that we have the Spirit of reality, the Spirit as the reality of Christ, and it is in this portion of the Word that we have the phrase in you. In the entire Bible before this chapter the phrase in you was never used in this way. Then in the following chapter the Lord says, “Abide in me and I in you” (15:4). If Christ were only the Word, how could He abide in us? To abide in us He must be the Spirit. It is at this turning point that the Word became the Spirit through crucifixion and resurrection. Therefore, after His resurrection He is no longer only the Word; rather, He is mainly the Spirit. As the Spirit He can be in us, and He truly is in us.