Now we need to spend more time to see some of the crucial points in verses 9 through 13. The first crucial matter in these verses is the indwelling or the residing Spirit. Verse 9 reads, “But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him.” We may also translate the word dwells into the word reside. To reside is even a stronger word than to dwell. This is a very great matter. You are such a small being, yet in you there is another One residing. Even up until today, perhaps Paul was the only other Christian who ever paid adequate attention to this matter: that in you as a tripartite man, as a human being, another One is residing. We know this doctrinally, but we have not paid adequate attention to the fact that there is such a One residing in us.
Some Christians today teach that Jesus Christ is in the heavens, not in you. They say that He has a representative in us, the “Holy Ghost.” And they argue with us because we are so strong in sounding the trumpet that Christ lives in us. We have to say that not only does Christ live in us, but He is also being formed in us, and He is making His home in us (Gal. 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:17). These are strong clear words from the Bible.
I am afraid, though, that we may not realize adequately in a practical and living way that a wonderful One is now residing in us. Paul says, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells or resides in you. The first thing these few verses stress is the residing Spirit. And today under God’s enlightenment we have seen that this residing Spirit is just the ultimate expression of the Triune God, who after being processed, has become our life and our everything. This is the residing Spirit. It is not just a “Ghost.” It is the ultimate expression of the processed Triune God. Surely in verse 11 when Paul uses the phrase “the Spirit of the One Who raised Jesus from among the dead,” it does not indicate a ghost. It indicates the ultimate expression of the processed Triune God. Why does Paul use such a long and complicated composition? Because his intention is to show us that this Spirit is not so simple. This is the Spirit of the One who raised up Jesus from among the dead. The Spirit is such a Spirit. Now the Spirit is the very expression, the ultimate expression, of the processed Triune God.
Jesus was raised up. Even this short sentence implies a lot. Jesus implies incarnation. Without incarnation how could Jesus have come into being? In the universe Jesus is a special name. In the entire human history Jesus is extraordinary. Even the calendar on this earth is the calendar of Jesus. This year, 1982, is the year of Jesus. Even Gog and Magog, or Russia, and even Red China, these atheistic nations, use the calendar of Jesus. If you use the calendar of Caesar, you become a Roman. If you use the calendar of a czar, you become a Russian. But if you use the calendar of Jesus, you become Jesus’ people. The entire world today is under the calendar of Jesus. Jesus is wonderful! If there had been no incarnation, how could Jesus have come into being?
Furthermore, if there had not been such a human living of thirty-three and a half years, how could you have a complete Jesus? Today our Jesus is complete and even completed. He was incarnated, and He lived on this earth, not for three and a half hours, but for thirty-three and a half years.
Then He was raised. Jesus implies incarnation and human living. Raised implies death and resurrection. If He were not put to death how could He be raised? So the little word raised implies both death and resurrection. Who did all this? The One! There is One in the universe who did this. You have to realize that it is not just the Father, but the One! Just to say the Father is not adequate. The One is very implicative. The One implies a lot. In the universe there is such a One! You have to realize that in the whole universe there is such a One who raised up, and this dear One is not merely in the heavens; this dear One today is within you as the residing One. He is not only the One who raised Jesus, but He is also the One who resides in you. The raising One is now the residing One.