The Spirit works in us to confess to us that Christ came in the flesh. First John 4:2 says, “In this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.” This shows us that the discernment of spirits is based upon whether or not a spirit confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. The spirit of any genuine prophet motivated by the Holy Spirit of truth will confess the divine conception of Jesus and affirm that He was born as the Son of God. Christ is God incarnate to become a man through divine conception. His conception is divine because it was carried out by the Holy Spirit. However, this conception took place in the womb of a virgin. Therefore, He, the very God, became a man in the flesh. Because He was conceived of the Spirit to be born in the flesh, the Spirit would never deny that He has come in the flesh through divine conception.
When we are kept in the divine fellowship of the Triune God, the Spirit will show us, will confess to us, that the Lord Jesus who came in the flesh is still a man after His death and resurrection (Luke 24:39; Acts 7:56). Therefore, in the divine fellowship we may continually enjoy Him as God and as a man, especially as the One who, in His humanity, can sympathize with our weaknesses and problems. In our fellowship with the Divine Trinity, the Third, the Spirit, confesses, testifies, that the Second, who is the Lord Jesus, is still a man. The Spirit’s confessing to us of the humanity of the Lord Jesus is truly a comfort.
On the one hand, the Spirit confesses Christ’s humanity, that He has come in the flesh; on the other hand, the Spirit confesses Christ’s divinity, that He is the Son of God. First John 5:6 says, “This is He who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ; not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood; and the Spirit is He who testifies, because the Spirit is the reality.” According to the context of this verse, Jesus, the man of Nazareth, was attested to be the Son of God by the water He went through in His baptism (Matt. 3:16-17; John 1:31), by the blood He shed on the cross (John 19:31-35; Matt. 27:50-54), and also by the Spirit He gave not by measure (John 1:32-34; 3:34). By these three God has testified that Jesus is His Son given to us, that in Him we may receive His eternal life by believing into His name (John 3:16, 36; 20:31). The water of baptism terminates people of the old creation by burying them; the blood shed on the cross redeems those whom God has chosen from among the old creation; and the Spirit, who is the truth, the reality in life (Rom. 8:2), germinates those whom God has redeemed out of the old creation by regenerating them with the divine life. By the three steps of termination, redemption, and germination, Jesus Christ has not only been testified of as the Son of God but has also entered into our spirit. Now the Spirit is working in us to preserve us in the fellowship of the Triune God that we may enjoy the humanity of the Lord Jesus and also His divinity.
The Spirit is the sword for us to fight against our spiritual enemies, the power of darkness, and the evil things. When the constant word in the Bible becomes the instant word, this word is the Spirit, who is the sword. When we receive the word of God by means of all prayer, we enjoy the Spirit as the sword for slaying all the things that resist us. We should take care of the Holy Spirit in us and not grieve Him. We should not quench the Spirit; instead, we need to fan the Spirit in us that He may burn in us. Furthermore, we should not insult the Spirit nor contradict the work of the Spirit of grace. We should take the Spirit as the means for us to pray that we may be preserved to experience and enjoy Him in our fellowship with the Triune God. The Spirit also helps us in our weakness in prayer and intercedes for us with groanings. Although we have the desire to pray, we may not have the energy needed to pray. Therefore, He works in us to help us in our weakness. Furthermore, although we may be burdened to pray, we may not know what to say and can only groan. The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings in our manner. He also mingles with us by infusing His according-to-God mind into us in our prayer. The Spirit is also the means for us to guard the good deposit that we may be able to guard the healthy words and the riches of life in the word, which the Lord has deposited in us. In our living we should sow to accomplish what the Spirit desires and not sow to fulfill what the flesh covets, that we may have a reaping of eternal life of the Spirit. The Spirit works in us, on the one hand, to confess to us the humanity of Christ, to confess that He came in the flesh, and on the other hand, to confess the divinity of Christ, testifying together with the water and the blood that Christ is the Son of God.