In John 14:16-17 Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality.” The word another indicates that there was already one Comforter. Christ, who is the reality, was the first Comforter. However, when He lived among His disciples on the earth, He could not enter into them. Therefore, another Comforter needed to come—the Spirit of reality. Because Christ is reality (v. 6), the title the Spirit of reality refers to the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit is the second Comforter. However, the second is actually another form of the first—the Spirit is another form of Christ. In His incarnation Christ took one step to become a man, and in His resurrection He took another step to become the Spirit. First, God became the flesh (1:14); then the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Thus, the life-giving Spirit is the reality of Christ.
Without the Spirit, Jesus would be only a name. The Spirit is the person of Christ, the reality of Christ. For this reason, 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “No one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” When we call a person’s name, the person comes, for the person is the reality of the name. Similarly, when we call on the Lord’s name, we receive the Spirit, because the Spirit is the person of Christ. Jesus is the name, and the Spirit is the person, the reality.
As the house of the living God, the church should be full of life, and as the pillar and base of the truth, the church should be full of reality. Doctrines are easily understood. However, conveyed in the doctrines is the truth, the reality. What is needed to apprehend the truth is not mere knowledge or mental comprehension but revelation. We learn doctrines by reading or listening, but we see the truth, the reality, by revelation.
It is not sufficient to understand doctrine; we also need to see the truth. For instance, many Christians study the Bible to try to discern various matters related to baptism, such as who can be baptized, who can baptize others, what kind of water to use, and other aspects of the outward form of baptism. These are all doctrinal matters. Among Christians, different practices related to baptism come from different understandings of the doctrine of baptism. However, the doctrine is not the reality.
The truth, the reality, of baptism is the death and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:3-4). When we baptize people, we should exercise our faith in the power of the Spirit and help the ones being baptized to realize that they are being baptized not only into the water but also into the Spirit and into the death and resurrection of Christ. Being put into death and resurrection through baptism changes a person. Someone who has been baptized has died and resurrected. The reality of the death and resurrection of Christ is applied in the Spirit to a person who is baptized. This is the truth of baptism. Doctrines lead to differences in opinion and endless arguments. When we care for reality instead of doctrines, there is no argument. Regardless of the outward forms of baptism, the reality of baptism is being put into the death and resurrection of Christ.
The Lord’s table is another matter concerning which Christians hold different doctrines. Christian scholars have studied many doctrines concerning the Lord’s table, such as how many cups to use, whether to use wine or grape juice, what kind of bread to use, and when and how often to have the table. Even after much biblical and historical study, it is impossible to reach a definite conclusion on some of these issues. However, we should not care for the study of the empty doctrines. Instead, we need to see the truth, the reality, of the Lord’s table.
The truth of the Lord’s table is that the loaf signifies Christ’s physical body, which He gave on the cross for our sins, and also His mystical Body, which includes all His believers. When we partake of the Lord’s table, we are participating in the Lord’s Body. This requires not knowledge but the exercise of our spirit by faith. When we see the Body, signified by the bread, we are reminded of the Head. Where the Body is, the Head is also. The separation of the body and the blood, signified by the separation of the bread and the cup, displays the death of Christ. Furthermore, resurrection is seen in the loaf, for a loaf is not one grain of wheat but many grains produced in resurrection and blended together into one. In Christ’s resurrection we were begotten as the many grains and formed into His one Body.
When we come to the Lord’s table, we should not merely keep a doctrinal form. Instead, we need to see the truth, the reality, of the Body, the Head, Christ’s death, and His resurrection. At the Lord’s table we are participating in the Body under Christ as the Head, and we are realizing His death and resurrection. The Lord’s table displays Christ’s death and resurrection to the universe and declares that we are one with Him by eating Him and living by Him. This is the truth of the Lord’s table.