Romans 8:9-10 shows us 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. This reveals that the Spirit of God in us is the embodiment of Christ. Since regeneration causes us to have the Spirit of God within us, it also causes us to have Christ within us.
When we believe, God through His Spirit reveals Christ in us (Gal. 1:16). Therefore, once we receive Christ as Savior, He as the Spirit dwells in us (2 Cor. 13:5).
What is the purpose of Christ dwelling in us? It is that He may be our life. Although Christ dwells in us to be our all, the central reason for His indwelling is that He might be our life.
God in His salvation has regenerated us that we might receive His life, have His nature, and thereby be entirely like Him. He puts His life in Christ for us to receive (John 1:4; 1 John 5:11, 12). In other words, He wants Christ to be our life (John 14:6; Col. 3:4). Although it is His Spirit who puts His life in us, and although it is His Spirit who enables us to know, experience, and live out His life, yet His life is Christ. Although through His Spirit He causes us to receive, know, and experience His life, yet He makes Christ our life. God through His Spirit revealing Christ in us means that He wants Christ to be our life. Christ dwelling in us means that He lives in us as our life (Gal. 2:20) and wants to live out His life from us (2 Cor. 4:10-11). Thus, He wants us, in His life, to grow into His image and become like Him (2 Cor. 3:18). When we, in His life, grow 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 (Col. 1:15).
We have already seen that the life of God is all that God is; therefore, when God puts His life in Christ, He puts all that He 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 (Col. 2:9). Therefore, Christ dwelling in us causes us to be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:17-19).
Christ dwelling in us as our life enables us not only to enjoy all the fullness of God today, but also to enter into the glory of God in the future (Rom. 8:17; Heb. 2:10). Therefore, dwelling in us today, He is on one hand our life, and on the other hand He is our hope of glory (Col. 3:4; 1:27). His dwelling in us as our life today means that, through the life of God in Him, He will cause us to grow and become like God, to grow and be conformed to the image of God, and eventually to grow into the glory of God.
Christ is the embodiment of God. Since regeneration causes us to obtain Christ, it also causes us to have God. Furthermore, Christ is the embodiment of God, and the Holy Spirit is the reality of Christ. God is in Christ, and Christ is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when regeneration causes us to have the Holy Spirit, it causes us not only to have Christ, but also to have God.
Ever since God regenerated us, He in Christ through His Spirit has been dwelling in us. The apostle John says that we know God dwells in us by the Holy Spirit which He has given us (1 John 3:24; 4:13). The Lord Jesus also says that He and God together abide in us (John 14:23). Therefore, whether it is the Holy Spirit or Christ dwelling in us, it is God dwelling in us. 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 is in Christ dwelling in us, and Christ is the Spirit dwelling in us. Therefore, when we have the Spirit dwelling in us, we have Christ and God dwelling in us. The Spirit, Christ, and God—all three—dwell in us as one, which means the Triune God is dwelling in us.
But when the Bible mentions the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, the emphasis is on His anointing in us (1 John 2:27); when it mentions Christ dwelling in us, the emphasis is on His living in us as our life (Gal. 2:20); and when it mentions God dwelling in us, the emphasis is on His working in us (Phil. 2:13; Heb. 13:21; 1 Cor. 12:6). The Bible gives very clear distinctions concerning these three matters. Concerning the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, it speaks of “anointing”; concerning Christ dwelling in us, it speaks of “living”; and concerning God dwelling in us, it speaks of “working.” It never says that Christ or God is anointing us, that the Holy Spirit or God is living in us, or that the Holy Spirit or Christ is working in us. It only says that the Holy Spirit anoints us, Christ lives in us, and God works in us. These three manners of speaking are not interchangeable. “Anointing” is related to the Holy Spirit as the ointment in us; “living” is related to Christ being life in us, and “working” is related to God working in us.
The Holy Spirit dwelling in us is as ointment; therefore, what He does in us is to anoint. Christ dwelling in us is as life; therefore, what He does in us is to live. God dwelling in us is a matter of working; therefore, what He does in us is to work. The Holy 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 working in us, works His will into us that it may be accomplished upon us.
Therefore, we must see that what we obtain through regeneration is too great, too high, too rich, and too glorious. Through regeneration we obtain the life of God and the law of this life. Through regeneration we obtain a new heart and a new spirit. Through regeneration we further obtain the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God Himself. These are truly sufficient for us—sufficient to make us holy and spiritual, sufficient to make us victorious and transcendent, and sufficient to make us grow and mature in life.