In Acts 16 we see that the move of the apostles in their evangelistic work was strictly speaking not by the Spirit of God. Rather, it was by the Holy Spirit, who was involved with the Lord’s incarnation and birth, and by the Spirit of Jesus, who was involved with the Lord’s humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. These two divine titles indicate strongly that Paul’s move in his evangelical work was not something in the way of the old dispensation. If it had been a move in the old dispensational way, then the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Jehovah should have been mentioned. But in Acts 16 there is no mention of the Spirit of God nor of the Spirit of Jehovah. Instead, we are told that Paul and his co-workers were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia and were not allowed by the Spirit of Jesus to go into Bithynia. The fact that Luke speaks of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus indicates that the evangelical work of the apostles was a new move in God’s New Testament economy. As we have pointed out, it is not our burden in this Life-study of Acts to consider all the minor points. Our burden is to see God’s move on earth for His New Testament economy and all the crucial dispensational turning points related to this move.
God’s New Testament economy is carried out through the Lord’s incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. The Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus include these matters. This means that the Spirit who is now called the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus is the totality and ultimate consummation of Christ’s incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. When we have this Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus, we have Christ in His incarnation, in His humanity and human living, and in His death, resurrection, and ascension.
Elsewhere we have pointed out that after His resurrection and in His resurrection Christ has become the pneumatic Christ. The pneumatic Christ is identical to the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17). The Holy Spirit, who is also the Spirit of Jesus, is the totality of this pneumatic Christ. The pneumatic Christ is constituted of certain elements: incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. In the entire universe He is the only one who possesses these six qualifications. Only He is qualified with incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. Hence, the Spirit of Jesus is the realization of this qualified Jesus. The Spirit of Jesus is the totality of such an all-inclusive One. In Acts 16 Paul and his co-workers were moving under the direction of such a Spirit, the Spirit who is the totality of the all-inclusive Christ.
What I have been ministering in this message regarding the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus is not a product of my imagination. Rather, it is the result of more than a half century of studying the holy Word and the writings of others, plus observing the experience of the saints and my own experience. My fellowship concerning these two titles of the divine Spirit, therefore, is based upon years of study, observation, and experience.
If we see the significance of the titles the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus, we shall mourn and lament over the pitiful situation among Christians today with respect to understanding these matters. Who knows that the Spirit of Jesus is the totality and realization of Christ as the unique qualified One, the One qualified through incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension? We certainly are not proud of what the Lord, in His mercy, has shown us. But we are burdened to tell the truth to God’s seeking people. The depths of the truth regarding the Spirit is not found in traditional theology; on the contrary, it is in the depths of the Word. If we would know these depths, we should not be content to “skate on the ice” of the surface of the Word. We in the Lord’s recovery should no longer stay on the surface in such a way.
We surely need to consider the two divine titles in Acts 16:6 and 7. Paul and Silas were forbidden to speak the word in Asia not by the Spirit of God nor by the Spirit of Jehovah, but by the Holy Spirit, who carried out the conception of the Savior. When they tried to go into Bithynia, it was not the Spirit of God nor the Spirit of Jehovah who did not allow them—it was the Spirit of Jesus who did not allow them to go there. The Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of the One with humanity, who lived a human life on earth for thirty-three and a half years, who died an all-inclusive death, who resurrected from among the dead to propagate the divine life by imparting it into all His believers, and who ascended to the heavens to be made Lord and Christ. The Spirit who did not allow the apostles to go into Bithynia was the Spirit of this Jesus. This Spirit is the totality and the full realization of the all-inclusive Jesus. These verses prove that the apostles were moving under the direction and guidance of such an all-inclusive Spirit. May we all see the revelation here and not be satisfied with a superficial understanding of the Word of God.