After Ezekiel 36:26 says that God gives us a new heart and puts within us a new spirit, verse 27 goes on to say that God puts His own Spirit within us. Therefore, among the things which we gain through regeneration, there is also the Spirit of God.
Originally, we did not have the Spirit of God. And not only did we not have the Spirit of God, but our own spirit was dead toward God. When God regenerated us, on one hand He caused His Spirit to put His life into our spirit, thus quickening our dead spirit; and on the other hand, God also put His Spirit into our spirit, which means that He caused His Spirit to dwell in our quickened, new spirit. Thus, within us who are regenerated, there is not only a quickened, new spirit, which has the element of God’s life, but also the Spirit of God dwelling in our new spirit.* [Romans 8:9 says, “The Spirit of God dwelleth in you,” and verse 16 says, “The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit.” From these two verses we see that the Spirit of God dwelling in us means that He dwells in our spirit; He is with our spirit.]
Why does God put His Spirit within us? What is the function of God’s Spirit dwelling in our spirit? According to the Bible, there are at least seven aspects of the main functions of the Spirit of God dwelling within us:
God puts His Spirit in us so that His Spirit may be the indwelling Spirit within us, that we may know God and experience all that God in Christ has accomplished for us (Rom. 8:9-11). This is the special blessing given by God in the New Testament era; it did not exist in the Old Testament. 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. Only after the Lord’s death and resurrection did God give His Spirit to us and cause His Spirit to dwell in us as the indwelling Spirit (John 14:16-17). Thus, He is able to reveal both God and Christ to us from within, that we in Christ may receive and enjoy the fullness of God (Col. 2:9-10).
The Lord told us of the Comforter in John 14:16-17. He said that He would pray the Father to give us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us as another Comforter. This word “Comforter” in the original text is the same as the word “Advocate” in 1 John 2:1, which when transliterated is “Paraclete,” or “an advocate by the side.” Originally, God gave His Son to be our Comforter, to be our Paraclete. When His Son returned to Him, He then gave His Spirit to us to be another Comforter, another Paraclete. This also means that He sent His Spirit as the embodiment of His Son to be our Comforter. Therefore, the Spirit of God dwelling in us is the very embodiment of Christ within us. He takes care of us from within, being fully responsible for us, just as Christ is for us before God.
In John 14:16-17 the Lord tells us that the Holy Spirit who comes to dwell in us as the Comforter is “the Spirit of truth.” Hence, the Spirit of God dwelling in us is also the Spirit of truth. The word truth in the original text means reality. Therefore, the Spirit of God, who dwells in us as “the Spirit of truth” or “the Spirit of reality,” causes all that God and Christ are to be reality within us. All that God is and all that He in Christ has prepared for us, and all that Christ is and all that He by His death and resurrection has accomplished for us, are revealed and imparted to us as reality by this Spirit of God who dwells in us. Thus, we may touch and experience them so that they become ours.
Romans 8 calls the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the “Spirit of life” (vv. 9, 2). This shows us that the Spirit of God who dwells in us is also the Spirit of the life of God. Although the life of God is in Christ (John 1:4), yet it is known and experienced by us through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. All the matters which relate to life are made known to us by this Holy Spirit who dwells in us. All experiences of life are also made ours by this Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30 show us that the Holy Spirit we receive at regeneration is within us as the seal. When God puts His Spirit in us, it means that He stamps His Spirit upon us as a seal. When a seal is stamped on an article, it not only becomes a sign of ownership on that thing, but it also makes an impression upon that article just as a stamp used for sealing. This is the function of the Spirit of God in us as the seal. The Spirit of God dwelling in us not only serves as a mark, showing that we belong to God and marking us out from amidst the men of the world, but furthermore, as the embodiment of God and Christ, He seals us according to the image of God and Christ so that we become like God, like Christ.
Ephesians 1:14 and 2 Corinthians 1:22 tell us that the Holy Spirit of God dwells in us as the earnest. An earnest is a pledge or a guarantee. The Spirit of God dwelling in us is not only a seal, marking us out as belonging to God and sealing us after the image of God; He is also the earnest, guaranteeing that God and all things which are of God are our portion and inheritance to be enjoyed.
First John 2:27 says that within us there is the “anointing” which we have received of the Lord. Anointing in the Bible refers to the Spirit of God (Luke 4:18). Therefore, this verse tells us that the Spirit of God dwelling in us is the anointing. This anointing in us often anoints us. The anointing is the moving of the Spirit of God within us. The Spirit of God moving in us or anointing us means that He anoints God Himself into us, that the element of God may become our inward element, and that we may know God and His desire and will in everything.* [A detailed explanation of this point is given in the book The Experience of Life (published by the Living Stream Ministry), chapter seven.]
How high and glorious these seven functions are! Not only do they show us the functions of the Spirit of God dwelling in us, but they make known to us what a Spirit this Spirit of God is which we have received through regeneration.