The New Testament reveals that the Triune God became incarnate. The Triune God was manifested in the flesh. This means that the One who was incarnated was the complete God, the Triune God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, not merely the Son. To say that the complete God was manifested in the flesh means that the complete God was incarnated. The Triune God became a man, lived on earth, ministered, entered into death, conquering and subduing death, and came forth from death in resurrection. In resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, the Triune God, who became incarnated, who lived on earth, and who entered into death and came out of death in resurrection, has become the life-giving Spirit.
John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh,” and 1 Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” The “flesh” in John 1:14 is “the last Adam” in 1 Corinthians 15:45. Now the last Adam has become the life-giving Spirit, and this Spirit is the transfiguration of the incarnated Christ.
We need to realize who it was who became incarnate. The incarnated One was the Triune God to be a man as the last Adam, and this last Adam in resurrection has become the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, on the day of His resurrection, He appeared to His disciples, breathed upon them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Who is this Spirit? This Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God reaching His redeemed people.
We all need to see the vision of the Triune God becoming the last Adam, and the last Adam becoming the life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God reaching us. Concerning this, we do not care for councils, creeds, or traditional theology. We care only for the pure Word of God. The Word reveals that the Triune God became the last Adam, and this last Adam became the life-giving Spirit. Praise the Lord that the processed Triune God has reached us as the life-giving Spirit! On the day of the Lord’s resurrection, the processed Triune God as the life-giving Spirit was breathed into the disciples.
Fifty days later, on the day of Pentecost, something further happened. On that day the ascended Christ poured Himself out as the Spirit economically upon the disciples to be their power, authority, and uniform. A policeman in uniform has authority. No matter how powerful your car may be, you still must obey the policeman’s authority. His uniform is a sign of his authority. On the day of Pentecost the one hundred and twenty were clothed with the economical Spirit as their heavenly uniform.
In Luke 24:49 the Lord told the disciples to wait until they were clothed with power from on high. When they were clothed with power on the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up to speak with authority and power, and the people were subdued. Peter could speak with authority because he was clothed with a heavenly uniform.
We should not take any inaccurate teachings concerning the Holy Spirit in John 20 and Acts 2. We praise the Lord for the breathing of the Spirit in John 20 and for the blowing of the Spirit in Acts 2. The breathing is for life, and the blowing is for move. Furthermore, the breathing gives us inner strength, and the blowing gives us outer authority. Through the breathing and the blowing we are fully equipped.
Just as the crucifixion is an accomplished fact, so the breathing of the Spirit of life and the blowing of the Spirit of power are also accomplished facts. We should simply believe the report and take the facts. Where is the report? The report is in the Bible. What are the facts? The facts are that the Lord has breathed the Spirit of life into His believers and has blown His Spirit of power upon them.
When some hear about believing the report and taking the facts concerning the essential and economical aspects of the Spirit, they may say, “I don’t feel that the Spirit of life has been breathed into me, and I don’t feel that the Spirit of power is upon me.” If someone said this to me, I would reply, “Do you not believe that the Lord Jesus died for you? Certainly you do, even without feeling anything. You believe it because the Bible tells you so. Likewise, you need to believe that the Lord Jesus has breathed Himself as the Spirit of life into the disciples, including you. You also need to believe that the Lord Jesus has blown Himself as the Spirit of power upon us all.”
Let us all believe the facts of Christ’s breathing and blowing, just as we believe the fact of His crucifixion. Do we have the Spirit of life essentially? Yes, we have the Spirit of life. How do we know? We know it because the Bible tells us so. Do we also have the Spirit of power upon us economically? Yes, we have the Spirit of power upon us. How do we know? We know this as a fact because the Bible tells us so. Praise the Lord for His crucifixion, His breathing, and His blowing! Praise Him that we know these facts because the Bible tells us so!
Acts 2:2 says that the wind filled the house where the one hundred twenty were sitting. The Greek word for “filled” here is pleroo, a word that means to fill inwardly, as the wind filled the house.
Verses 3 and 4 say, “And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which were divided and sat on each one of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in different tongues, even as the Spirit gave them to speak out.” The Greek word for “filled” in verse 4 is pletho (also used in 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9; and Luke 1:15, 41, 67). This Greek word means to fill outwardly. According to its usage in Acts, pleroo denotes to fill a vessel within, as the wind filled the house inwardly in verse 2; and pletho denotes to fill the persons outwardly, as the Spirit filled the disciples outwardly in this verse. The disciples were filled (pleroo) inwardly and essentially with the Spirit (13:52) for their Christian living, and they were filled (pletho) outwardly and economically with the Spirit for their Christian ministry. The inward filling Spirit, the essential Spirit, is in the disciples (John 14:17; Rom. 8:11), whereas the outward filling Spirit, the economical Spirit, is upon them (Acts 1:8; 2:17).
Every believer in Christ should experience both aspects of the Holy Spirit. Even Christ as a man experienced the same thing. He was born of the Holy Spirit essentially (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20) for His being and living, and He was anointed with the Holy Spirit economically (Matt. 3:16; Luke 4:18) for His ministry and move. The essential Spirit was within Him, and the economical Spirit was upon Him.
The outward filling of the poured-out Spirit was the ascended Head’s baptizing His Body into the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, the Jewish believers, the first part of His Body, were baptized; and in the house of Cornelius, the Gentile believers, the second part of His Body, were baptized in the same way (10:44-47). By these two steps He baptized once for all His entire Body into the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), who is the application and realization of Himself. It was to baptize His Body into Himself that He baptized it into the Spirit. This was the accomplishment of the baptism in the Holy Spirit promised by Christ, the Head of the Body, in Acts 1:5.
I encourage you to study carefully this matter of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In 2:1-13 we see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples economically. That was the step of baptizing the Jewish believers in the Holy Spirit. Later, in the house of Cornelius, Christ baptized the Gentile believers in the Holy Spirit. Through these two steps Christ, the Head, has baptized His entire Body in the Holy Spirit once for all.