The Lord said in John 14:16-17 that He would ask the Father to give us the Spirit, who would dwell in us as another Comforter. The Greek word for Comforter is the same as the word Advocate in 1 John 2:1, which means “an advocate by the side.” Originally, God gave His Son to be our Comforter. Following the Son’s ascension, He gave the Spirit as another Comforter; that is, God sent His Son as the Spirit to be our Comforter in another form. The Spirit of God dwelling in us is Christ in another form, taking care of us from within. He is fully responsible for us within, just as He is responsible for us before God.
In John 14:16-17 the Lord said that the Spirit who would come to dwell in us as another Comforter would be “the Spirit of reality.” The Spirit of God dwelling in us is also the Spirit of reality. The Spirit of reality causes everything of God and Christ to be reality within us. All that God is and has prepared for us through Christ’s death and resurrection is revealed and imparted to us as reality by the Spirit of God who dwells in us. Thus, we may touch and experience these realities so that they become ours.
Without the Spirit, all that God is and has done and all that Christ is and has done cannot be touched by us. When the Spirit comes, He causes all that God is and has done and all that Christ is and has done to become reality so that we may touch and experience them. Hence, He is the Spirit of reality.
In addition, the Spirit in us is the Spirit of life, the seal, the pledge, and the anointing.
Romans 8:9-10 shows that the Spirit of God dwelling in us is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us, and the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us is Christ dwelling in us. In other words, the Spirit of God in us is Christ in another form. Since regeneration causes us to receive the Spirit of God, it also causes us to receive Christ. When we believe, God reveals Christ in us through His Spirit. Therefore, once we receive Christ as our Savior, He dwells in us as the Spirit. Christ dwells in us so that He can be our life. Although Christ dwells in us to be our all, the central reason for His indwelling is to be our life.
God in His salvation has regenerated us so that we might receive His life, have His nature, and thereby be like Him entirely. His life in Christ is for us to receive, and He wants Christ to be our life. Although His Spirit puts His life in us and enables us to know, experience, and live out His life, this life is Christ. Christ dwelling in us means that He lives in us as our life and wants to live out from us. Thus, He wants us to grow in His life into His image and be wholly and absolutely like Him. When we grow in His life into His image and become like Him, we grow into the image of God and become like God because He is the image of God.
The life of God is all that God is. The life of God in Christ means that all of God is in Christ. Christ is the incarnation of God, the embodiment of God. All that God is and all the fullness of the Godhead dwell in Christ bodily. Therefore, Christ’s dwelling in us causes us to be filled with all the fullness of the Godhead.
Christ’s dwelling in us as our life enables us not only to enjoy all the fullness of the Godhead today, but also to enter into the glory of God in the future. As the One dwelling in us today, He is our life and our hope of glory. His dwelling in us as our life means that He will cause us to grow and become like God and have the image of God through the life of God. We are growing in the life of God into the image of God and eventually into the glory of God.
Since regeneration causes us to gain Christ, it causes us to have God because Christ is the embodiment of God. Ever since we were regenerated, God in Christ has been dwelling in us through His Spirit. The apostle John says that we know God abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave to us (1 John 3:24; 4:13). The Lord Jesus also says that He and God abide together in us (John 14:23). God is in Christ, and Christ is the Spirit. Therefore, the Spirit dwelling in us is Christ dwelling in us, and Christ dwelling in us is God dwelling in us. God in Christ dwells in us, and Christ as the Spirit dwells in us. Therefore, when we have the Spirit dwelling in us, we have Christ and God dwelling in us. All three—the Spirit, Christ, and God—dwell in us as one; that is, the Triune God dwells in us.
When the Bible speaks of the Spirit dwelling in us, its emphasis is on His anointing in us (1 John 2:27); when it speaks of Christ dwelling in us, its emphasis is on His living in us as our life (Gal. 2:20); and when it speaks of God dwelling in us, its emphasis is on His operating in us to do His work (Phil. 2:13; Heb. 13:21; 1 Cor. 12:6). The Bible makes a clear distinction in regard to these three matters. In regard to the Spirit dwelling in us, it speaks of anointing; in regard to Christ dwelling in us, it speaks of living; and in regard to God dwelling in us, it speaks of operating. These three expressions are not interchangeable, because the anointing is related to the Spirit as the ointment in us; living is related to Christ being life in us; and operating is related to God working in us.
The Spirit, by anointing us, anoints the element of God into us. Christ, by living in us, lives the life of God both in us and out from us. God, by operating in us, works His will into us so that it may be accomplished upon us. The first aspect is related to the element of God, the second aspect is related to the life of God, and the third aspect is related to the will of God. It is the Holy Spirit who anoints us with the element of God, it is Christ who lives the life of God in us, and it is God Himself who operates in us to work out His will.
What we gain through regeneration is so great, so high, so rich, and so glorious. Through regeneration we gain the life of God, the law of life, a new heart, and a new spirit. Through regeneration we further gain the Spirit, Christ, and God Himself. These are sufficient to make us holy and spiritual, sufficient to make us victorious and transcendent, and sufficient to make us grow and mature in life. We have no reason for not growing unto maturity.