The Bible shows us that life is God Himself. It shows us even more that life is Christ. Life was God; then God became flesh, which is Christ. Therefore, Christ is God, and Christ also is life (1 John 5:12). The life which was God, the life that God is, is in Him (John 1:4). Hence, Christ said again and again that He is life (John 14:6; 11:25), and that He came to earth that man may have life (John 10:10). Therefore, the Bible says that he that has Him has life (1 John 5:12), and that He in us is our life (Col. 3:4).
Just as life is God Himself, so also life is Christ. Just as having life is having God Himself, so also having life is having Christ. Just as to live out life is to live out God Himself, so also to live out life is to live out Christ. Just as life is not different in the least from God, likewise life is not different in the least from Christ. Just as a slight deviation from God is not life, likewise a slight deviation from Christ is not life. For Christ is God being life. It is through Christ and as Christ that God is manifested as life. Hence, Christ is life and life is Christ.
After the Lord Jesus said He was life in John 14:6, He made known to His disciples not only that He and God are one (vv. 7-11), but also that the Holy Spirit and He are also one (vv. 16-20).* [In verses 16 and 17 the Lord referred to the Holy Spirit as “he,” but in verse 18, He changed the pronoun from “he” to “I.” By changing the “he” to “I” the Lord was saying that “he” is “I.” This reveals that the Holy Spirit He spoke of in verses 16 and 17 is He Himself.] From verses 7 to 11 He showed us that He is the embodiment of God—He is in God, and God is in Him. Hence, His being life means that God is life. From verses 16 to 20, He further revealed that the Holy Spirit is His embodiment, His other form; and when His physical presence leaves us, this Spirit of reality Who is Himself as another comforter comes into us and abides with us. This Spirit living in us and abiding with us is just He Himself living in us as our life that we may live. These two passages therefore show us that it is by God being in Him and Him being the Holy Spirit that He is life. God is in Him as life, and He is the Holy Spirit as life. Him being life is God being life, and is also the Holy Spirit being life. Thus, John 4:10, 14 tells us that the living water which He gives is the eternal life. John 7:38-39 further tells us that the living water which flows out from us is the Holy Spirit which we received. This discloses that the Holy Spirit is the eternal life. The Holy Spirit we receive is the eternal life we experience, or Christ being experienced by us as life. The eternal life, or Christ as life, is to be experienced by us as the Holy Spirit. For this reason, the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2).
The Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of life” because God and Christ being life hinges on Him. He and life are united as one and cannot be separated. He is of life, and life is of Him. Life is His content, and He is the reality of life. Speaking more accurately, He is not only the reality of life, but also life itself.
We all know that God is a triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father is in the Son; the Son is the Spirit. The Father in the Son is manifested among men; therefore, the Son is the manifestation of the Father. The Son as the Spirit enters into man; therefore, the Spirit is the entering in of the Son. The Father is the source of life, the very life itself. Since the Son is the manifestation of the Father (1 Tim. 3:16), He is the manifestation of life (1 John 1:2). And since the Spirit is the entering in of the Son, He is the entering in of life. Life originally is the Father; in the Son, it is manifested among man; and as the Spirit, it enters into man for man to experience. Thus, the Spirit becomes the Spirit of life. Since the Spirit is the Spirit of life, man can receive life through the Spirit, and when man sets his mind on the Spirit, it is life (Rom. 8:6). Since the Spirit is the Spirit of life, when man exercises his spirit to touch the Spirit, he touches life. When he contacts the Spirit, he contacts life, and when he obeys the Spirit, he experiences life.
Thus, in summary, life is the Triune God. But to us, life is not the Triune God in heaven, but the Triune God flowing out. This flowing out of the Triune God means that His content, which is Himself, first flowed out through Christ; then it flowed out as the Spirit to be received by us as life. Thus, when we touch God in Christ as the Spirit, we touch life, for life is God in Christ as the Spirit.