What is a new spirit? A new spirit means that our old spirit, which was deadened, has been renewed and made alive. Just as a new heart is an old heart made new, a new spirit is an old spirit made new. When our old heart is renewed, it is softened; when our old spirit is renewed, it is made alive. Whereas the trouble with an old heart is hardness, the trouble with an old spirit is deadness. Therefore, when God regenerates us, He renews our old, hardened heart by softening it to become a new heart, and He renews our old, deadened spirit by enlivening it to become a new spirit.
The created spirit of man was originally the organ for man to contact God. Man had fellowship with God and communed with God through his spirit. Because of man’s fall, his spirit was damaged by the defilement of sin. Thus, the human spirit lost its function toward God and became a deadened spirit. For our spirit to be deadened means that it stopped functioning, and because it was deadened, it became old. When we are regenerated, the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses the defilement of our spirit. Then the Spirit of God enlivens our spirit by putting the life of God, which is the element of God, into our spirit. In this way, our old deadened spirit is renewed and becomes a new living spirit.
The old creation is related to two points. The first point involves the absence of the element of God, and the second point involves the defilement and corruption by Satan and sin. Our spirit is an old spirit because of these two points. Hence, when God regenerates us, He works in two directions in order to renew our old spirit to make it a new spirit. On one hand, He uses the blood of the Lord Jesus to cleanse the defilement of our spirit so that our spirit becomes clean. On the other hand, He puts His life into our spirit through His Spirit so that our spirit may have His element. Thus, He renews our old spirit and makes it a new spirit. His renewing of our old spirit and making it a new spirit means that He puts a new spirit in us. In other words, God makes our old spirit a new spirit by adding His life into our spirit so that it may have the life of God and the element of God.
Even though God gives us a new heart at the time of our regeneration, He puts a new spirit in us because the heart can only desire God and love God; it cannot contact God or touch God. The heart can desire and love God but not contact and touch Him. Therefore, it is not sufficient for God to simply give us a new heart; He must also put a new spirit in us. Only a new spirit can enable us to contact God and fellowship with Him.
We have already mentioned that the heart is the organ of our inclination and love. Therefore, the function of the heart toward God is to incline toward Him and love Him. The heart can pant after God and thirst after Him, but it cannot contact God or touch Him. The heart can function to love God and thirst for God, but it does not have the ability to contact God or touch Him. It is the spirit that can contact God, not the heart. The heart is good only for loving God, but the spirit is good for contacting God and fellowshipping with God. I may have a nice pen and like it very much, but my heart cannot contact or take possession of it because it does not have this ability. Only my hands have such an ability. Therefore, when we are regenerated, God not only gives us a new heart; He also puts a new spirit within us.
With a new heart we can desire God and love God, and with a new spirit we can contact God and touch God. Our new heart enables us to have new delights and inclinations and new feelings and interests toward God and the things of God. Our new spirit, however, enables us to have new contact and insight and new spiritual ability and function toward God and the things of God. Formerly, we neither loved God nor liked the spiritual things of God; moreover, we could not contact God or understand the spiritual things of God. But now we have a new heart and a new spirit; therefore, we can love God and the things of God, and we can also contact God and know God and the things of God. Formerly, we had no feeling toward God and no interest in God; we were weak and without any ability whatsoever toward God and the things of God. But with a new heart and a new spirit, we not only have feeling and interest toward God and the things of God, but we also are able to contact God and understand the things of God. When our heart loves God, our spirit touches Him, and when our heart delights in the things of God, our spirit understands them. This is the intention of God in giving us a new spirit in addition to a new heart.
Originally, we did not have the Spirit of God in us, and our spirit was dead toward God. When God regenerated us, He put His life into our spirit through His Spirit, enlivening our deadened spirit. He also put His Spirit into our spirit, causing His Spirit to dwell in our new spirit, which has been made alive. Thus, within those who have been regenerated, there is not only a new enlivened spirit, which has the element of God’s life, but also the indwelling Spirit of God.
According to the Bible, there are at least seven functions of the Spirit of God in us. He is the indwelling Spirit, the Comforter, the Spirit of reality, the Spirit of life, the seal, the pledge, and the anointing.
God puts His Spirit in us so that His Spirit may be the indwelling Spirit in order for us to know God and to experience all that God in Christ has accomplished for us (Rom. 8:9-11). This is the special blessing that God has given to us in the New Testament age, which was not possible in the Old Testament age. In the Old Testament, God only caused His Spirit to come from without to work upon man; He did not cause His Spirit to dwell within man. After the Lord’s death and resurrection, God has given His Spirit to us and caused His Spirit to dwell in us as the indwelling Spirit (John 14:16-17). He is able to reveal both God and Christ to us from within so that in Christ we may enjoy the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 2:9-10).