The Spirit also works in us to transform us. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” The Lord, as both God and man, passed through incarnation, human living, and crucifixion, entered into resurrection, accomplished full redemption, and became a life-giving Spirit. As the life-giving Spirit, He dwells in us to make Himself and all that He has accomplished, obtained, and attained real to us, that we may be one with Him and be transformed into the same image as the Lord from glory to glory.
In this verse “the Lord Spirit” may be considered a compound title like “the Father God” and “the Lord Christ.” This expression strongly proves and confirms that the Lord Christ is the Spirit and the Spirit is the Lord Christ. When our hearts are turned to the Lord, our faces are unveiled, we enjoy Him as the Spirit, and we are being transformed into His image by beholding and reflecting Him. Such transformation is a metabolic process. It is not an outward change, correction, or adjustment; it is altogether an inward replacing of the old element with the new element. The Holy Spirit is working in us to cause us to have a change in life, nature, essence, element, form, appearance, and every aspect of our being by dispensing the divine life, nature, element, and essence into us. This change is organic, for it is a change by the Lord Spirit. As the Lord Spirit works to transform us by the divine dispensing, He causes a metabolic, organic change to take place in our whole being.
Transformation is related to the Spirit’s work in sanctification. Transformation is the changing aspect of sanctification, and sanctification is the separating aspect of transformation. Before we were saved, we were in a fallen condition among sinners. One day the Holy Spirit came to find us and separate us unto God for His use to fulfill His purpose. However, our life, nature, element, essence, and even our whole being remained in the old creation. For this reason, when the Spirit separated us unto God, He also dispensed the divine life, nature, essence, and element-even the divine element-into us so that we may be transformed into the image of Christ. Therefore, we may say that transformation is an aspect of sanctification. Sanctification and transformation go together: Transformation depends on sanctification, and sanctification works for transformation.
The Spirit also indwells us for God’s multifaceted purpose in us. Romans 8:9 and 11 say, “But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you....And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.” This shows us that if the Spirit dwells in us, we are not in the flesh but in the spirit. Furthermore, He will be able to spread from our spirit (v. 10) to our soul (v. 6) and even give life to our mortal bodies in order to saturate and transform our whole being.
First Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” Then 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” These two verses show us that the temple of the Holy Spirit is of two aspects: the corporate temple, which is the church, and the individual temples, which are the believers’ physical bodies. Both kinds of temples are for the Spirit’s indwelling so that He may dispense the Triune God into us individually and corporately.
Second Timothy 1:14 says, “Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.” This shows us that we need to guard the good deposit, the deposit of healthy words which the Lord has stored in us (v. 13), through the Spirit who dwells in us.
James 4:5 says, “The Spirit, whom He has caused to dwell in us, longs to envy.” This shows us that the Spirit longs within us unto envy for God against worldliness that we not make friends with His enemy and be His lovers at the same time.
The above verses all show us that the Spirit dwells in us for the multifaceted purpose that our whole being may be saturated and transformed by Him, that we may become His dwelling place, that we may guard the Lord’s deposit in us, and that we may love God in singleness with our whole being.
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