The disciples also received the Holy Spirit both essentially and economically. They received the Spirit essentially in John 20:22. The receiving of the essential Spirit was for their spiritual existence, their spiritual being. When the disciples received the Holy Spirit in John 20, they received the divine essence. After receiving the Spirit in this aspect for their spiritual existence, it was still necessary for them to receive the Spirit economically so that they could carry out God’s economy as the continuation of the Lord Jesus. The disciples had to carry out God’s economy in the same way the Lord Jesus carried it out. Since the Lord carried out God’s economy by the economical Spirit, the disciples had to carry out God’s economy by the economical Spirit. Therefore, after receiving the Spirit essentially, the disciples needed to receive the Spirit economically. They received the economical Spirit in chapter two of Acts.
We have emphasized that in John 20:22 the disciples received the Holy Spirit essentially for their spiritual being and existence. In Acts 1 we see the disciples living in this spiritual being. Before John 20, that is, before the Lord’s death and resurrection, the disciples had not been made alive in their spiritual being for their spiritual existence. Instead, they had a fallen natural, fleshly being. Even after the Lord had revealed to them His death and resurrection the third time (Mark 10:32-34), the disciples were still disputing concerning who was greater (Mark 10:35-45). In addition, Peter certainly was in his natural being when he denied the Lord. But after Christ’s death and resurrection, the disciples received the essential Spirit as the source of their spiritual being. In chapter one of Acts, although the disciples had not yet received the Holy Spirit descending upon them economically, they had experienced the Spirit essentially for their spiritual existence. Therefore, in their being they became spiritual.
The disciples had the essential Spirit for their spiritual being, but they still needed the Holy Spirit to descend upon them economically. This took place on the day of Pentecost. In Acts 2 the Spirit was fully consummated for the experience of the believers.
When did you receive the Holy Spirit essentially and economically? Some may say that they received the Holy Spirit essentially when they were regenerated and economically at a time after their regeneration. According to the biblical way of understanding this matter, we received the Holy Spirit essentially and economically more than nineteen hundred years ago. We all received the Holy Spirit essentially in John 20. Then the Jewish believers in Christ received the Holy Spirit economically in Acts 2, and the Gentile believers received the Spirit economically in Acts 10.
We may use purchasing a house as an illustration of receiving the Holy Spirit. Suppose a certain brother buys a house before he is married. Later he gets married and has children. When did this brother’s wife and children buy the house? The correct answer is that they bought it when he bought it. The principle is the same with our receiving the Holy Spirit. When did we receive the Holy Spirit? We received the Spirit when the disciples as our representatives received the Spirit.
Throughout the centuries a great many people have believed in the Lord Jesus. Each time a person believes in Him does the Lord come to that one to breathe on him and then baptize him in the Holy Spirit? No, the Lord Jesus breathed out the Spirit and baptized the believers in the Spirit once for all. Both the Lord’s breathing out of the Spirit and His baptizing in the Spirit are accomplished facts. In John 20 the Lord breathed the Spirit essentially into His Body. This happened once for all. Now, as a brother’s wife and children share in the house purchased by him before he was married and before his children were born, in a similar way, we have a share in the Lord’s breathing out of the Spirit as those who have become members of His Body. In the one case, there is no need for the wife and children to purchase the house again. Instead, they simply share in the house purchased by the brother. In a similar way, there is no need for the Lord to breathe out the Spirit again. We simply need to share in the Spirit breathed by the Lord into the Body.
After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus came to His disciples and, regarding them as His Body, breathed the Holy Spirit into them essentially. Fifty days later, on the day of Pentecost, He baptized the Jewish part of His Body into the Holy Spirit. Later, in the house of Cornelius, He baptized the Gentile part of His Body into the Spirit. At that time the consummation of the Spirit for the Body was fully accomplished.
Whenever a sinner believes in the Lord Jesus, his believing joins him both to the Lord and to the Body. In this way, the Spirit becomes his portion. He now has a share in the Lord’s breathing of the Spirit essentially into the Body and in His baptizing the Body in the Spirit economically.
We should not think that there are two Spirits or that the Spirit can somehow be divided. On the contrary, there is one Spirit. Yet there are the two aspects of the Spirit, one aspect for essence and another aspect for economy. The first aspect of the Spirit is essential; the second aspect is economical. Today in our experience we have both aspects of the Holy Spirit. We have both the essential Spirit and the economical Spirit.