John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” Here the word spirit is mentioned twice: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” Chapter six verse 63 reads, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” This verse also mentions the word spirit two times. We see the principle that the Spirit gives life and that the words that the Lord speaks are spirit.
Chapter fourteen verses 17 to 20 say, “Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Here it says that the Spirit will be with us. The world cannot receive or know this Spirit, but we the believers know Him, because He abides with us and shall be in us.
In verse 18 the Lord told the disciples that He would not leave them as orphans and that although He would leave, He would come back again. He also said that when He came back to in that day, He would live, and they also would live. Then they would know that the Lord is in the Father, and they are in the Lord, and the Lord is also in them. It is through the Holy Spirit that we are able to have these three “in”s. First John 4:13 states, “In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. When God gives us the Holy Spirit, there are two issues: one is that we abide in Him, and the other is that He abides in us.
John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Here spirit is also mentioned twice: first, in the phrase that which is born of the Spirit, and second, in the expression is spirit. That which is born of a certain thing is that certain thing. Thus, that which is born of the Spirit is definitely spirit. We can also say that spirit can come only from the Spirit. God’s salvation altogether depends on its spiritual reality; without spiritual reality, there would be no salvation of God. This is the same with our faith. Without the spiritual reality of faith, our faith would not exist.
The Bible tells us that God is Spirit and that God became flesh. This indicates that God, who is Spirit, became flesh. The Lord Jesus is the God who is Spirit become flesh. We all know that the Holy Spirit is God Himself.
The innermost part of our being is our spirit. Our spirit as the center of our entire being is our reality. When we were saved, everything regarding salvation happened in our spirit. After we have been saved, our progress in life before the Lord is also a matter in the spirit. Thus, the progress of a Christian is the growth of a Christian in the spirit. Christian living, work, and even prayer all depend on the spirit.
In short, God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the center of man, the reality of salvation, spiritual living, spiritual work, and even prayer are all in the spiritual realm. Only when we touch the spirit can we touch God, Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit, the genuineness of man, the center of man, the salvation of God, and Christian progress. Hence, Christian living and function must be in the spirit in order to have reality. Without the spirit, all things are empty and are nothing but knowledge and doctrines.