The Spirit is also the access for us to draw near to the Triune God. Ephesians 2:18 says, “Through Him [Christ] we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” Here the trinity of the Godhead is implied. Through God the Son, who is the Accomplisher, the means, and in God the Spirit, who is the Executor, the application, we have access unto God the Father, who is the Originator, the source of our enjoyment. First, the Father came to us in the Son, and then the Son came into us as the Spirit. Now through the Son we have access in the Spirit unto the Father to draw near to Him and enjoy Him.
According to the context of this verse, through the redemption of Christ all the Jewish and the Gentile believers, who were once at enmity, have access to the Father in one Spirit. First, both the Jewish and the Gentile believers were reconciled in one Body to God (v. 16). That was a positional matter. Then they both have access in one Spirit unto the Father. This is experiential. To be reconciled to God is to be saved; to have access unto the Father is to enjoy God, who, as the source of life, regenerated us to be His sons. The Father came to us through the Son in the Spirit, and now the Spirit brings us back to the Father through the Son. Through this wonderful two-way traffic we enjoy the dispensing of the Triune God.
The Spirit in us is the means for us to take Christ as our righteousness. Through the Spirit and by faith we have Christ as the righteousness that we live out. The Spirit also witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. He assures us that we have God’s life and restricts us to walk according to this life, in keeping with our being children of God. The Spirit also cries with our spirit, “Abba, Father!” When we cry, “Abba, Father!” He cries with us in our crying, expressing the strong affection we have toward the Father and leading us into the intimate enjoyment of the Father. The Spirit also bears witness in our conscience, testifying that our speaking and walk in Christ are true. The Spirit also anoints us, continually adding the divine elements of the Divine Trinity, which are the elements of the compound Spirit, into us. He also seals us that we may bear God’s image to be God’s designated inheritance, and transforms us with the divine elements until we are fully redeemed in our body. He is also pledging in us, guaranteeing that God is our inheritance belonging to us, and affording us a taste beforehand of this inheritance that we may have a sample of what we will inherit of God in full. The Spirit is also the firstfruits of our divine inheritance as the foretaste of our full enjoyment of God and the guarantee that at the Lord’s coming back we will enter into the full enjoyment of God. The Spirit is the access for us to draw near to the Triune God. Through the redemption of Christ and in one Spirit we have access to the Father to draw near to Him and enjoy Him.