Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Are these the same, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of Christ?

Firstly, is God and the Spirit of God the same?
Yes, and no!

Why the “no”?
For the "yes", I will just give one text, John 4:24a - "God is spirit"; but why the “no”?   The “no”, is no in the sense that God and the Spirit of God can exist separate.  What this means is that, God is in Heaven, yet His Spirit can be all over the place, in the heavens, on the earth, or in the depths of the earth.  In other words, there is NOT necessarily anything wrong with statements containing both God and His Spirit as separates; and there are scriptures like that in the Word. 

Can God come “in person”, NOT as His Spirit, to earth, or meet a person? 
Yes, an example in Scripture is Moses meeting God in the desert, at the place of the burning bush.  Another is the case of Moses meeting God on Mount Sinai.  One can also say that God was in the Tabernacle, during the Exodus.  Is it not right that we understand, in present day, God is in Heaven, yet His Spirit is present on earth, all over the places, literally! 

Why do I start with this? 
It is because later on, we can appreciate that the Spirit of Christ and Christ, too, are possible to be separate – Christ Jesus is now seated with God in Heaven, and the Spirit of Christ is here, with us, in fact, indwelling us!

We will NOT go into the Triune God theology as such, but it suffices to say that the case of the Spirit of God, is like that of the Son (of God); just like Jesus is said to be begotten by God as His one and only Son, and so, the Son is God, and yet the Son is separate in personhood (when the Son, Jesus, was on earth as the man-Jesus, God [or Father God] is in Heaven), the Spirit of God is with separate personhood, even as God is spirit.

So, God (Father God), the Spirit of God, and the Son, Jesus Christ, are three (personhood), and yet One God.

Secondly, is the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit the same?
The answer is Yes.

Apostle Peter equated the two -
Acts 5:3-4 - 3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

Who do we receive as the indwelling one, upon entry into salvation? –
It said in Scripture to be the Holy Spirit or Spirit of God.  In other words, the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God are used interchangeably.  The following scriptures illustrate this:

1 Cor 2:12a - What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,

Eph 1:13-14 - 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him {Jesus} with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Eph 4:30 - And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

2 Cor 1:21-22 -  21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Cor 5:5 -  Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Eph 2:21-22 - 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

1 Cor 6:19 - Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

It is very clear from the above, the Spirit of God or His Spirit and the Holy Spirit are referring to same personhood.  We can use all the three names interchangeably.

The late Andrew Murray taught about this, and said along these lines -
“Through the Old Testament He was always called the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the Lord {LORD}; the name of Holy Spirit He did not yet bear as His own proper name.' It is only in connection with the work He has to do in preparing the way for Christ, and a body for Him, that the proper name comes into use (Luke 1: 15, 35).”  { Luke 1:15 is about John the Baptist was to be filled with the Holy Spirit before he was born; and Luke 1:35, about the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary (mother of Jesus) to bring about the conceiving of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.}

My remark on this is that OT Scripture did reference the Spirit of God as the Holy Spirit.  Examples included these:

Ps 51:11 (NIV) - Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit {holy spirit – KJV} from me. Isaiah 63:10-11 (NIV) – 10 Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit {holy Spirit – KJV}. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them. 11 Then his people recalled the days of old, the days of Moses and his people— where is he who brought them through the sea, with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them,

Andrew Murray’s exposition of the Spirit of God being given by God as the Spirit of the glorified Jesus is however correct.  We will touch on it, later, in this article.

Thirdly, is the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Christ the same?
The answer is Yes.

Before we go further into explaining the “Yes” above
Let us talk a little about: Are Christ and the Spirit of Christ the same or NOT?  Now, there are those who argue that the Spirit of Christ cannot be the Holy Spirit, solely on the ground that Spirit of Christ is Christ – the same.  And so, Christ is now in Heaven with God (Father God) (that is what Scripture said), how can He still be indwelling us; or that Jesus spoke about Himself going back to God the Father, and another (implying NOT Himself) to come.  At the outset we discussed about God and Spirit of God, and said although God is God and the Spirit of God is God, yet in personhood they are two, meaning God can be in one place and the Spirit of God can also at another.  It is the same with Christ and the Spirit of Christ; Christ can be in Heaven, seated with the Father God, while His Spirit (Spirit of Christ) is also elsewhere.  In other words, in personhood, Christ and Spirit of Christ are two (yet are part of one God).

Is the Spirit of Christ a fourth entity or personhood?
The answer is No.  The Spirit of Christ is still the same third person of the Godhead – the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of God.

We have already covered some of the verses supporting the saying that the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God are the same; are there scriptures pointing to the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God is also the Spirit of Christ?  Yes, below are some:

Gal 4:6 - Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

Romans 8:9-11 - 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him {God; Father God} who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit {Spirit of God} who lives in you.

Eph 1:13-14 - 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him {Jesus} with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Eph 4:30 - And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

1 Pet 1:10-12 - 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them {the prophets} was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

He, the Apostle Peter, was even saying the OT prophets were having the Spirit of Christ in them, in their time (OT time).  We know from various accounts of the prophets in OT, it was the Spirit of God that commonly came to the prophets, and gave them words of prophecies.  As a side, in OT, the Spirit of God could come upon, and into or in the OT people, but the Spirit was NOT indwelling as such. 

Peter was saying with the Spirit of Christ or the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit, giving revelations, the prophets spoke about things to come, concerning the Messiah or Jesus Christ, and then these things had come to pass, and then, in form of the gospel, were preached to us all, by the Holy Spirit. 

Why “by the Holy Spirit”? The gospel is spiritual, and Scripture revealed that spiritual things need to be spiritually discerned with the help of the Holy Spirit, especially when the non-believers were weak or not yet quickened.

What the above points to, is that the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are the same. 

Can it really be, that the Spirit of God is also the Spirit of Christ? 
Is NOT the Spirit of God, of God; are we saying, the same Spirit, is of Christ, now? 
Yes.  One way to view this, is that Scripture said that Jesus said it, that everything of the Father, the Father has given to Him:

John 3:32-35 - 32 He {Jesus} testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

Matt 11:27 - “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Luke 10:22- “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Scripture also recorded this (John 13:3): Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;  

Jesus said this in John 10:30 -  I and the Father are one.”

The Jews hearing that, wanted to stone Jesus, for His claim; John 10:33 -  “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

Jesus then said, in John 10:38, “………that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.””

How could Jesus claim this – that the Father and Him are one, or that the Father was in Him, and He in the Father? 
Because the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit was given Him, Jesus, without limit or measure (John 3:32-35; quoted above).   

John 10:37-38 read: 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

Now, Jesus was doing the works of the Father (Father God); in fact, Jesus repeatedly claimed He was doing the Father’s works.  How could He be in full agreement with the Father? 

Because the Father had given Him the Holy Spirit without limit or measure.  In other words, the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit of God had become also the Spirit of Christ.  I believe the Apostle Peter had also known that, when He wrote those verses of 1 Peter 1:10-12 (quoted above), concerning the Spirit of Christ  in the OT prophets. 

Again, how did Jesus know what God wanted done or was in full agreement with God? 
1 Cor 2:10b-11 said these:  10b The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.   Jesus knew the thoughts of God because the Holy Spirit, when given to Him, has become His Spirit or the Spirit of Christ.  The Spirit of Christ and the Holy Spirit is therefore, one and the same – the Spirit of God.

[Added: 10 Jul 2013 - Perhaps, Jesus did hint when He spoke about the giving of the Spirit to indwell the disciples in John 14.
John 14:15-18 -

15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

In the text above, there are clues:  In verse 18, Jesus said He would NOT leave the disciples as orphans, but would come to them.  In other words, Jesus was hinting that the Counsellor would still be Him, coming by spirit, as the Spirit of Christ. 


Additionally, to me, it is also possible to argue that verse 17 was even talking about Jesus Himself (the spirit of Him; in the first place, Jesus was NOT of human spirit, for He was conceived of the Holy Spirit; To me, He came into the fullness of His Spirit when the Holy Spirit came upon Him after His water baptism).  Was NOT Jesus with the disciples, and they knew Him, and He lived with them, despite the world NOT seeing Him or knowing Him.  Jesus said (and prophet Isaiah did prophesize) there were those who see but NOT seeing; hear but NOT hearing.  Such would NOT know Him, and such formed the world.  Jesus said those who believe unto Him, are no longer of the world, although still in the world (John 17:14-18).]


We have the mind of Christ in the person of the Spirit of Christ within us - 
1 Cor 2:12-16 - 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord {LORD} so as to instruct him {Him}?” But we have the mind of Christ.

In other words, the mind of Christ is in the person of the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God.  Now, it also means: It is NOT, now, you have your mind replaced by the mind of Christ, but it is you have to listen to the Holy Spirit in order to be in agreement with Christ, or you, be of wanting what Christ Jesus wants.

There is even a verse in Scripture that said it all, the Triune God is manifest in Christ Jesus - Col 2:9 (KJV) - For in him {Christ Jesus} dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Everything that God (the Father God) had given to Jesus; that included the Holy Spirit.  As a side, it is still to be understood that the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Christ, is a person separate.  God is a personhood, the Son, Jesus, another, and the Spirit of Christ or the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God, a third personhood.

Andrew Murray’s view on the Spirit of Christ
In the above, I agreed to talk a little more on Andrew Murray’s view on the Spirit of Christ:

John 7:38-39 (KJV) - 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

As a side, I want to say, we should recognise that there was an interim period between the clear OT and the NT eras – the time of Jesus ministry on earth.  In that time, Jesus had come (first coming) but he was NOT crucified and resurrected yet, and so, NOT yet glorified.  But in that time there were people who believed unto Him; the Apostle Disciples were examples.  Jesus had the fullness of the Holy Spirit but Holy Spirit was NOT given to indwell any of the then disciples, including the Apostle Disciples.  There would be occasions of the Holy Spirit coming upon them and even in them, but such were still of like-nature to that experienced by the OT people like the prophets of old, NOT indwelling (Indwelling I believed happened after Jesus reappearing after resurrection – John 20:22).

In the 2 verses above of John 7, the stream of living water was said to be referring to the Holy Spirit, but during that interim period, believers were NOT yet given and having them, because the Holy Spirit was NOT given YET.  Jesus had NOT been crucified and had NOT been resurrected; in other words, Jesus had NOT been glorified YET.  Before Jesus went to the Cross, He told the Disciples to wait for it, the Holy Spirit.  This is how Andrew Murray put it: When poured out at Pentecost, He {the Holy Spirit} came as the Spirit of the glorified Jesus, the Spirit of the Incarnate, crucified, and exalted Christ, the bearer and communicator to us, not of the life of God as such, but of that life as it had been interwoven into human nature in the person of Christ Jesus.

I believe Andrew Murray’s point is that the Spirit of God was the Spirit of God, in the OT, but in the NT, the Spirit of God is also the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the resurrected and glorified Christ.  For us, currently living the mortal life on earth, the Holy Spirit is the bearer and communicator to us, NOT of the life of God as such, but of that life as it had been interwoven into human nature in the person of Christ Jesus.  Christ Jesus has always been the Son of God; but the resurrected and glorified Christ, is NOT just the Son of God, but also the Son of Man, the first-begotten from the dead, clothed with that glorified humanity which He had perfected and sanctified for Himself.  And just so the Spirit of God as poured out on Pentecost was indeed something new - Andrew Murray put it as He (the Spirit) acquired the proper name, Holy Spirit.  I would rather say, the newness was in that the Spirit has taken on the dimension of being the Spirit of Christ.

This thought opens up to us further the reason why it is not the Spirit of God as such, but the Spirit of Jesus that could be sent to dwell in us, according to Andrew Murray.
Christ came to bring men again into the fellowship of the Divine life, which we lost because of sins, to make us partakers of the Divine nature. He did this, NOT by an exercise of Divine Power on man, but only in the path of a free, moral, and most real human development. In His own person, having become flesh, He had to sanctify the flesh, and make it a meet and willing receptacle for the indwelling of the Spirit of God.

Having done this, He had, in accordance with the law that the lower form of life rise to a higher, only through decay and death ,in death both to bear the curse of sin and to give Himself as the seedcorn to bring forth fruit in us. From His nature, as it was glorified in the resurrection and ascension, His Spirit came forth as the Spirit of His human life, glorified into the union with the Divine, to make us partakers of all that He had personally wrought out and acquired, of Himself and His glorified life.
In virtue of His atonement, man now had a right and title to the fullness of the Divine Spirit, and to His indwelling, as never before. And in virtue of His having perfected in Himself a new holy human nature on our behalf, He could now communicate what previously had no existence -a life at once human and Divine.

From henceforth the Spirit, just as He was the personal Divine life, could also become the personal life of men. Even as the Spirit is the personal life principle in God Himself, so He can be it in the child of God: the Spirit of God's Son can now be the Spirit that cries in our heart, Abba, Father.
This part on Andrew Murray’s teachings is taken from his exposition centering on this - 'The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified."

As extension, my own supposition which you can wonder about, flowing from what happened to Jesus, that upon His resurrection and glorification, He was with newness of who He was - that He NOT only became back the Son of God, but also He became the glorified Son of Man, with His man-spirit glorified into union with the Divine – the Spirit of God, we, when we enter into our sharing of the Lord’s glory, when we pass on, we too, perhaps, could be seeing our spirit glorified into union with the Divine  - the Spirit of God.  It is indeed glorious, awesomely glorious, if it is so, won’t you agree!
Jesus Himself, gave us a glimpse of His newness, in this manner, before His going to the Cross –
John 16:12- 15 - 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

The Holy Spirit is spoken as the Spirit of Truth.  The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth.  God is Truth.  Jesus said when the Holy Spirit came (He was yet to come, for Jesus was NOT yet glorified), He would guide the disciples into all truth, just as Jesus would, when He was with them. 

The Holy Spirit would NOT speak of His own, but speak only what He hears; hear from where?  Hear from the Lord Jesus, that was what was said by Jesus, in verse 14 above.  Does the Holy Spirit NOT hear from God (God the Father)? I believe the Holy Spirit hears from the Lord, and it is also that the Father does know what the Lord instructs, and it is unlikely the Lord Jesus is (or would be) in any disagreement with the Father. 

Why the Lord instructs?  Because all that belongs to the Father was already given to the Lord, said verse 15 above.  Jesus Himself, said, that was why the Spirit would receive from Him what He, the Spirit, would make known to the believers.  Of course, when we pray to the Father God, all the same, the Lord also hears it, even as the Father hears it.  What all of these also point to, is that the Holy Spirit or Spirit of God is also His (Christ’s) Spirit.

Emmanuel, God with us,  is still true
Then, in the interim period when Jesus was walking on earth, He was with the people as a Man; since then, it is still Emmanuel, God with us; this time it is He is with us, as the Spirit of Christ.

John 14:16-17  - 16 And I {Jesus} will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate {Comforter, Counsellor, Helper, Advocate}  to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Who sent the indwelling Spirit, the Father God or the Lord, Christ Jesus?
The Father God is correct; the Lord, Christ Jesus, is also correct!

John 14:16 - And I {Jesus} will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate {Comforter, Counsellor, Helper, Advocate} to help you and be with you forever
John 14:26 - But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 15:26 - “When the Advocate comes, whom I {Jesus} will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
John 16:7 - But very truly I {Jesus} tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I {Jesus} go, I will send him to you.

We say, “sama-sama”, same-same.  The indwelling Spirit is the Spirit of God, and so, is from Him, God the Father; and the indwelling Spirit is also the Spirit of Christ, and so, is from Him, Christ Jesus!

Finally, let it be clear, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of Christ is one and the same.


Anthony Chia, high.expressions

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