Ephesians 4:23 says, “And are renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Some say that the spirit here cannot be the human spirit because this is the renewing spirit. However, the spirit here must be the human spirit because it is the spirit of the mind. The spirit in this verse is the regenerated spirit of the believers mingled with the indwelling Spirit of God. Such a mingled spirit spreads into our mind and thus becomes the spirit of our mind. The human spirit can be the renewing spirit only by being mingled with the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, the spirit here is the spirit of the mind, but, on the other hand, it is the renewing spirit. This indicates that it is a matter of the mingled spirit. The human spirit, not the Holy Spirit, is the base.
In 5:18 Paul exhorts us to be filled in spirit. Certainly he means that we should be filled in our spirit with the Holy Spirit.
In 6:18 Paul charges us to pray at every time in spirit. According to the context, the spirit here also refers to the human spirit mingled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Word which we are to take in spirit by prayer.
The Triune God has been fully processed to become the life-giving Spirit. As such a Spirit, He is near, present, and available. But He is holy, and we are sinful. How can this holy God be close to us? The answer is found in the fact that the element of redemption is included in the all-inclusive Spirit. The enemy, Satan, realizes this. If Satan would tell God that He has no right to be near sinful people, the blood of Jesus Christ would immediately testify against him. Before Christ’s incarnation, the Spirit of God could not be so close to fallen mankind as now because there was not yet the element of redemption in the Spirit. The effectiveness of Christ’s redemptive death, typified by the offerings in the Old Testament, is now in the life-giving Spirit. Perhaps not until we are in the New Jerusalem shall we fully understand what this Spirit means to us. Praise Him that this Spirit is the processed God, near, present, available, and ready for us to enjoy. Whenever we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we receive the Spirit. The reason for this is that the Spirit is the reality of Christ.
In 1:13 Paul says, “In Whom you also, hearing the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in Whom also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise.” The seal here is the life-giving Spirit. By coming into us, the Spirit sealed us. According to 1:14, this seal is the pledge, the earnest, the guarantee, the foretaste, of our inheritance. The full taste will simply be the full portion of the Triune God. Today the life-giving Spirit gives us a foretaste of the Triune God as our portion.
In 4:30 we see that the crucial matter is for us not to grieve the Spirit. Rather, we must always please Him. If the Spirit in us is not happy, we shall have difficulty. The most important thing in our Christian life is to take care that we do not grieve the Spirit. If you are faithful in this matter, you will be an outstanding Christian.
According to 2:18, through Christ we have access in one Spirit unto the Father. When the Spirit comes into us, He spontaneously brings us back to the Father. In this Spirit we are truly one. This oneness is the proper church life. Hence, the church is the oneness in the Triune God of all those who have been mingled with the Triune God.
The depth of the book of Ephesians is in these verses that speak of the mingled spirit. The church is the mingling of the Holy Spirit as the processed God with humanity. This is greater than spirituality, holiness, or victory. As long as we are in this oneness, we are surely spiritual, holy, and victorious. Our goal should be nothing less than this oneness. If we are in this oneness, what need have we to seek spirituality or holiness or victory? By being in this marvelous oneness we have all this and much more.