Apparently there is no verse in the Acts that tells us that Christ was in Peter, John, James, or Stephen. However, in Acts there is the fact to prove that Christ was not only in the disciples but even one with them. When Christ revealed Himself to Saul of Tarsus, He said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (9:4). It is as if the Lord was saying, “When you persecute Stephen and My other disciples, you persecute Me, because I am one with them. I suffer your persecution within them.” Here is the fact that Christ was one with all His disciples, because Christ as the living Spirit was in all His disciples.
In the Epistles, Romans 8:9 to 11 tells us that Christ is in us. This passage speaks of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ Himself interchangeably. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is Christ Himself. This passage makes it very clear that Christ now is the Spirit. Therefore, whatever Romans 8 says about the Spirit, it is speaking about Christ as the Spirit. The Spirit mentioned in Romans 8 is nothing less or different than Christ Himself. Christ as the Spirit is living in every saved person.
Following this, 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” This is a strong proof that the Lord is the Spirit. If He were not the Spirit, how could we be one spirit with Him? This is also a strong proof that we have a human spirit and that Christ as the Spirit is in our spirit, so that we can be one spirit with Him. First Corinthians also uses the phrase in Christ a number of times (1:2, 4, 30; 4:15, 17; 15:22; 16:24). Finally, 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.”
Several passages in 2 Corinthians show us that Christ is in us. Verse 17 of chapter three says, “The Lord is the Spirit,” and 4:7 says that Christ is the treasure in us, the earthen vessels. At the end of the book, 13:5 says, “Test yourselves whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves. Or do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are disapproved?”
Galatians 1:16, 2:20, and 4:19 tell us that Christ is in us, and the last verse, 6:18, says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers.” Next, Ephesians 3:16 and 17 is a prayer that our inner man be strengthened and that Christ would make His home in our heart. Philippians 1:19 speaks of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who was in the apostle Paul. Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” 3:4 speaks of “Christ our life,” and verse 11 says, “Christ is all and in all.” In the same way, we can also find verses like these throughout the remainder of the Epistles. These are just a few of the verses that show us that Christ as the Spirit lives in us. There is no need to glean this kind of passage; there is a full harvest of these passages in the New Testament.
Each of the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3 begins with, “These things says,” referring to the Lord Himself in His various qualifications (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14), but the end of every epistle says, “...hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). Revelation 2:1, for example, says, “To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, He who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.” Says He means “Christ says.” However, the end of the epistle says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (v. 7). By this we can see that “He” is “the Spirit,” and “the Spirit” is “He.”
Likewise, verse 8 says, “And to the messenger of the church in Smyrna write: These things says the First and the Last, who became dead and lived again.” The one speaking here is Christ. However, verse 11 begins, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” The beginning of every epistle says that the Lord speaks, but the end of each epistle says that the Spirit speaks. The Spirit is the Lord, and the Lord is the Spirit.
Revelation 5:6 says, “And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing as having just been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” The Lord as the Lamb has seven eyes, and the seven eyes are the seven Spirits. That indicates that Christ comes to us as the seven eyes, that is, as the Spirit, for us to experience. Moreover, the Lamb is on the throne, from the throne flows the river of water of life, and in the water of life grows the tree of life (22:1-2). This is a picture of the redeeming Christ, who has become the life-giving Spirit constantly flowing with the life supply.
By all this, we can see that Christ is no longer only the Word but the life-giving Spirit, not only for us to know and understand, but for us to enjoy, take, and experience. We cannot enjoy Christ only by knowing Him as the Word. We have to enjoy Christ by realizing Him as the Spirit. Therefore, we must not exercise only our mind to understand Him; we have to exercise our spirit to contact Him in our spirit, as revealed in the Epistles.