Verse 10 says that Christ is in us. The preposition “in” here is most remarkable. Christ, the wonderful One, is actually in us! In order for Christ to be in us, God must be the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God must be the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ must be Christ. If God were simply God Himself, He could not get into us. There are two reasons for this. The first is that God is divine, infinite, and almighty. However, we are human, and God cannot come into us without human mediation. Second, we are sinful and unclean. Because of the fall, every part of our being is defiled. It is impossible for a holy God to dwell in such sinful people. To bridge the gap between divinity and humanity, God had to become a man named Jesus. Jesus means Jehovah the Savior. As such a One, He died on the cross for our sins, shedding His blood to cleanse us from all defilement. Hallelujah, the infinite God became a finite man to die on the cross for us! This removed the barriers which hindered God from coming into man. Now in Christ the infinite, holy God can come into us. For this reason, in verse 10 Paul declares that Christ is in us.
It is significant that Paul does not say that God is in us, but that Christ is in us. The Spirit here joins God with Christ. The Spirit is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. How profound and inexhaustible are all these terms!
Verse 11 says, “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who indwells you.” According to verse 10, Christ is in us. But according to verse 11, the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in us; that is, His Spirit makes His home in us. In this verse we have the Triune God: He who raised Jesus from among the dead (the Father), Christ Jesus (the Son), and the Spirit. Here we see the Triune God dispensing Himself into us. Furthermore, He is making His home in us and even giving life to our mortal bodies. This is the full dispensation of the Triune God into our entire being.
In verse 11 we do not find the words triune or dispensing, but the fact of the dispensation of the Triune God is implied. The Triune God is implied here, and the dispensing of the Triune God into our being is also implied. We have pointed out that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all to be found in this verse. Furthermore, Paul’s word about life being given to our mortal bodies implies a dispensation. This is not an explicit revelation; it is an implied revelation of the dispensing of the Triune God into the believers.
In verse 11 Paul speaks of the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from among the dead. This implies not only God’s dispensation, but also the process required to make this dispensation possible. Dispensation requires a process. Raising Christ up from among the dead was part of this process. Hence, in order for the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from among the dead to dwell in us, God had to become involved in a process. Paul does not say simply that the Spirit dwells in us. That would have been too direct. Rather, He says that the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus dwells in us. This implies the process that is involved.
The preparation of food for eating can be used to illustrate the process required for God’s dispensation. Most of the things we eat must be processed before we eat them. For example, my wife does not buy a fish at the market and then bring it home and simply set it on the table at mealtime. No, the fish must be thoroughly prepared; only then can we eat it. In the same principle, the Triune God has passed through a process in order to dwell in us.
The process in verse 11 is indicated by the very indirectness of the verse. The entire verse is actually one long, indirect statement. In this verse three crucial matters are covered: the Triune God, the process, and the dispensation. In order for God to indwell us, He has to be the Triune God who has passed through a complete process.
This process involves incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. Before the Son of God could die for us on the cross, He had to be incarnated as a man. By incarnation He put on humanity with flesh and blood and became a man called Jesus. Only in this way was He able to shed His blood on the cross for our sins. Hence, Paul’s word regarding Christ’s resurrection in verse 11 implies His incarnation and crucifixion. All this is related to the process.
Our God is no longer the unprocessed God. The One who dwells in us has been fully processed. The Spirit who indwells us is the realization of the Son, who is the embodiment of the Father. The Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit indwells us. This is the Triune God who has been processed through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, who is dispensing Himself into us, and who is now dwelling in us.
Verse 11 indicates that the Triune God is being dispensed not only into our spirit, the center of our being, as indicated in verse 10, but even into our mortal body, the circumference of our being. This means that the dispensation of the Triune God is saturating our whole being. The more I experience and enjoy this dispensation, the more I am energized spiritually, psychologically, and physically. I can testify from experience that the dispensation of the Triune God is not mere doctrine. The Spirit of the One who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead gives life to our mortal bodies. How amazing! Verse 11, therefore, implies a great deal: the Triune God, the process, the dispensation, and the saturation of our entire being with the divine life. This is the dispensation of the Triune God.