THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S ECONOMY
SERIES NINE
THE SPIRIT
Message One
The Last Adam Being Made the Life-giving Spirit
1 Cor. 15:45b “The last Adam being made the life-giving Spirit.”
2 Cor. 3:17 “And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Christ as the Last Adam Becoming the Life-Giving Spirit
First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Undoubtedly, the last Adam here is Christ in the flesh. This last Adam became the life-giving Spirit through the process of resurrection. First Corinthians 15 deals with resurrection. Because Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit through resurrection, He is now the life-giving Spirit.
Very few Christians have seen that Christ in resurrection is the life-giving Spirit. Some who lack the proper spiritual vision even oppose us when we say, according to the Bible, that Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit. Andrew Murray, however, understood something concerning this and wrote about it in his masterpiece, The Spirit of Christ, in the chapter entitled, “The Spirit of the Glorified Jesus.” The Spirit of the glorified Jesus is actually the Lord Jesus Himself in resurrection and in glory. When He entered into resurrection, He became the Spirit who gives life. This life-giving Spirit is the essence to germinate a new creation. The germinating element of the new creation is the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
Believing into Him, He Enters Our Spirit
As the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, Christ is ready to be received by His believers. When we believe into Him, He enters our spirit, and we are joined to Him as the life-giving Spirit to become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). In this way our spirit is made alive and resurrected with Him.
Acts 2:17 and 21 indicate that if we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we receive the Spirit. This is a matter not of doctrine but of experience. If you consider your experience, you will realize that when you believed in the Lord Jesus, called on Him, and received Him, you received the Spirit.
Working Out the Full Activity of God’s Complete Salvation
in and through the Life-Giving Spirit
A key focus of our ministry is the believers’ experience of Christ, and it is in this experiential sense that we interpret verses like 1 Corinthians 15:45 [“The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit”] and 2 Corinthians 3:17 [“And the Lord is the Spirit”]. We understand that in resurrection Christ comes to the believers and works out the full activity of God’s complete salvation in and through the life-giving Spirit. Because of this, we find in the New Testament Epistles a strong identification of Christ with the Spirit, again not to the elimination of their distinctions in the Divine Trinity but according to their coinherent existence and operation in the believers.
Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 23；we were wrong, ch. 2
THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S ECONOMY
SERIES NINE
THE SPIRIT
Message Two
The Spirit of the Glorified Jesus
John 7:39 “But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”
Acts 2:33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this which you both see and hear.”
The Spirit of the Glorified Jesus
In eternity past the Spirit of God possessed only divinity. However, God in Christ became a man and thereby put on humanity. Then He passed through human Jiving, death, resurrection, and ascension. After passing through all these processes, He descended as the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit not only of God but also of man, the Spirit who has not only divinity but also humanity. Andrew Murray saw this truth. The following is an excerpt from his book The Spirit of Christ. In a chapter entitled “The Spirit of the Glorified Jesus,” Murray points out that the Spirit of the glorified Jesus, the resurrected Christ who is the Spirit, contains His glorified humanity:
We know how the Son, who had from eternity been with the Father, entered upon a new stage of existence when He became flesh. When He returned to Heaven, He was still the same only-begotten Son of God, and yet not altogether the same. For He was now also, as 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 at Pentecost was indeed something new…When poured out at Pentecost, He 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.
Having Received Him to Stream into Us, and to Stream Forth from Us in Rivers of Blessing
When Christ had entered with our human nature, in our flesh, into the Holiest of all, there took place that of which Peter speaks, ‘Being by the right hand of God exalted, He received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost.’ In our place, and on our behalf, as man and the Head of man, He was admitted into the full glory of the Divine, and His human nature constituted the receptacle and the dispenser of the Divine Spirit. And the Holy Spirit could come down as the Spirit of the God-man
He could come down as the Spirit of the glorified Jesus to be in each one who believes in Jesus, the Spirit of His personal life and His personal presence, and at the same time the spirit of the personal life of the believer.
He can now come down to witness of the perfect union of the Divine and the human, and in becoming our life, to make us partakers of it. There is now the Spirit of the glorified Jesus: He hath poured Him forth; we have received Him to stream into us, to stream through us, and to stream forth from us in rivers of blessing.
Further Reading: CWWL, 1971, vol. 2, “Enjoying the Humanity of Jesus for the Church,” ch. 4
THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S ECONOMY
SERIES NINE
THE SPIRIT
Message Three
Scholars and Bible Teachers Who Affirm That the Lord Is the Spirit (1)
Marvin R. Vincent
Paul identifies Christ personally with the Spirit (2 Cor. iii. 17); and in Rom. viii. 9, 10, “Spirit of God,” “Spirit of Christ,” and “Christ” are used as convertible terms. Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. IV- Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1887, 1980), p. 243; see also vol. III, pp. 308 and 423.
Andrew Murray
It was when our Lord Jesus was exalted into the life of the Spirit that He became ‘the Lord the Spirit,’ could give the New Testament Spirit, and in the Spirit come Himself to His people. Andrew Murray, The Spirit of Christ (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1963, 1978), p. 167; see also p. 168.
W. H. Griffith Thomas
Then there is a close association of the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ with the Person of Christ. No line of demarcation is drawn between Christ and the Spirit. The great passage is 2 Cor. iii. 17. ‘Now the Lord is the Spirit.’ So close is the association that [A. B.] Bruce is able to say, ‘The Spirit is the Alter Ego of the Lord.’” W. H. Griffith Thomas, The Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications,1986), p. 34.
Christ and the Spirit are different yet the same, the same yet different. W. H. Griffith Thomas, The Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications,1986), p. 144.
Further Reading: Brothers Hear Our Defense (2)–the Divine Trinity
THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S ECONOMY
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THE SPIRIT
Message Four
Scholars and Bible Teachers Who Affirm That the Lord Is the Spirit (2)
John Peter Lange
‘But the Lord, to whom their heart thus turns, is the Spirit.’ Many artificial explanations have been given of this verse. Without noticing those attempts which have been in direct contradiction to the meaning of the words and the scope of the context…we find here such an identification of Christ and the Holy Spirit, that the Lord, to whom the heart turns, is in no practical respect different from the Holy Spirit received in conversion. John Peter Lange, Cornmentary on the Ho1y Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal and Homiletical, translated and edited by Philip Schaff, Volume 10, “The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians” (Grand Rapids, M1: Zondervan Publishing House, 1960), p. 58.
James D. G. Dunn
Most significant of all, the Spirit for Paul has been constitutively stamped with the character of Christ. Christ by his resurrection entered wholly upon the realm of the Spirit (Rom. 1:4; cf. 8:11). Indeed, Paul can say that Christ by his resurrection “became life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45). That is to say, the exalted Christ is now experienced in, through, and as Spirit. James D. G. Dunn, The Christ and the Spirit, vol. 2: Pneumatology (Grand Rapids, M1: William B. Eerdmans, 1998), p. 16; see also pp. 338, 341.
William Barclay
In this passage Paul has set for many a theological problem. He says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” He seems to identify the Risen Lord and the Holy Spirit. We must remember that Paul was not writing theology; he was setting down experience. And it is in the experience of the Christian life that the work of the Spirit and the work of the Risen Lord are one and the same. The strength, the light, the guidance we receive come alike from the Spirit and from the Risen Lord. It does not matter how we express it as long as we experience it. William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1954, 1956), p. 216
Further Reading: Brothers Hear Our Defense (2)–the Divine Trinity
THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S ECONOMY
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THE SPIRIT
Message Five
Five Critical Points Concerning the Spirit of God
John 7:39 “But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
2 Cor. 3:17 “And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Exo. 30:23-25 “You also take the finest spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred fifty shekels, and of fragrant calamus two hundred fifty shekels, And of cassia five hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded according to the perfumer’s art; it shall be a holy anointing oil.”
Rom. 8:11. “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.”
Rev. 1:4. “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne.”
Five Critical Points Concerning the Spirit of God
Not one of today’s theologies, including the Nicene Creed, stresses adequately the following five critical points concerning the Spirit of God in the move of God’s eternal economy:
A. The Spirit that gives life was not yet before the glorification (resurrection) of Christ—John 7:39.
B. The last Adam (Christ in the flesh) became a life-giving Spirit (fulfilling John 7:39)—1 Cor. 15:45b. Hence, 2 Corinthians 3:17 says that “the Lord is the Spirit,” and the following verse uses “the Lord Spirit” as a compound divine title.
C. The compound Spirit typified by the anointing ointment (a compound of one hin of olive oil with four kinds of spices and their effectiveness) in Exodus 30:23-25.
D. The Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, Christ Himself, and the indwelling Spirit in Romans 8:2, 9-11, all referring to the compound Spirit that gives life.
E. The seven Spirits (the sevenfold intensified Spirit, cf. the sevenfold sunlight—Isa. 30:26) of God—Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6.
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm,” ch. 1
THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S ECONOMY
SERIES NINE
THE SPIRIT
Message Six
The Spiritual Gifts
1 Cor. 12:7-8 “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable. For to one through the Spirit a word of wisdom is given, and to another a word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit”
9-11 “To a different one faith in the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing in the one Spirit, And to another operations of works of power, and to another prophecy, and to another discerning of spirits; to a different one various kinds of tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues. But the one and the same Spirit operates all these things, distributing to each one respectively even as He purposes.”
The Spiritual Gifts Being for the Functions of the Members of the Body
The Body has many members, and every member has a gift. This is the reason that after the headship and the Body, Paul comes to the matter of the spiritual gifts. The spiritual gifts are for the functions of the members of the Body. Hence, chapter twelve is the direct continuation of chapter eleven. After discerning the Body, we need to see the importance of all the gifts of the members of the Body. In 12:4-11 Paul mentions nine gifts. This does not mean that there are only nine spiritual gifts. Paul lists nine gifts as an illustration.
All the Different Gifts Being the Manifestation of the Spirit
In verse 7 Paul says, “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for profit.” All the different gifts are the manifestation of the Spirit; that is, the Spirit is manifested in the believers who have received the gifts. Such manifestation of the Spirit is for the profit of the church, the Body of Christ. For profit means for the growth in life of the members of the Body of Christ and for the building up of Christ’s Body.
The Word of Wisdom and the Word of Knowledge Being Listed
as the First Gifts and Topmost Manifestation of the Spirit
In verse 8 Paul goes on to say, “For to one through the Spirit is given a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit.” According to the context of this book, the word of wisdom is the word concerning Christ as the deeper things of God predestined by God for our portion (1:24, 30; 2:6-10). The word of knowledge is the word that imparts a general knowledge of things concerning God and the Lord (8:1-7). The word of wisdom is mainly of our spirit through revelation; the word of knowledge is mainly of our understanding through teaching. The former is deeper than the latter. However, these two, not the speaking in tongues nor any other miraculous gift, are listed as the first gifts and topmost manifestation of the Spirit because these two are the most profitable ministries or services for the edification of the saints and the building up of the church to carry out God’s operation.
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 57
THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S ECONOMY
SERIES NINE
THE SPIRIT
Message Seven
The Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Acts 1:5 “For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
10:44 “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those hearing the word.”
1 Cor. 12:13 “For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.”
The Baptism in the Holy Spirit Being Accomplished in Two Sections
Concerning the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus said in 1:5, “John indeed baptized in water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” This was accomplished in two sections. First all the Jewish believers were baptized in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Then all the Gentile believers were baptized in the house of Cornelius (10:44-47; 11:15-17). In these two sections all genuine believers in Christ have been baptized in the Holy Spirit into one Body once for all universally (1Cor.12:13). Therefore, what happened on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius was the fulfillment of Acts1:5.
Three Extraordinary Cases
The first case concerns the Samaritan believers…until two apostles, Peter and John, came from Jerusalem to Samaria to lay their hands on the Samaritan believers so that they might receive the Holy Spirit (8:14-17). Only then did the economical Spirit fall upon them, and that was strong evidence that the Samaritan believers had been accepted as members of the Body. In this extraordinary case there was the need for the laying on of hands by a member of the Body of Christ.
The second extraordinary case was the case of Saul of Tarsus…in his case there was the need of another member of the Body to lay his hands upon him so that the economical Spirit may come upon him. The extraordinary case of Saul required the laying on of hands by a member representing the Body.
The last of the three extraordinary cases recorded in Acts is that of the believers in Ephesus…Because those believers had heard only the inadequate preaching of Apollos and knew only the baptism of John, they also needed the laying on of hands of a member of the Body in order to receive the economical Spirit. These three extraordinary cases recorded in the book of Acts reveal a particular need for the laying on of hands by a member of the Body.
Normal Cases of Receiving the Holy Spirit
In addition to the five cases of the believers on the day of Pentecost, the Samaritans, Saul of Tarsus, the house of Cornelius, and the believers in Ephesus, there are many other cases of conversions found throughout the book of Acts. In none of those cases is there any mention of the laying on of hands in order to receive the economical Spirit. The reason for this is that all those cases are normal
we are not extraordinary cases that require the laying on of hands. Rather, in a normal way and by faith we participate in the baptism in the Holy Spirit that has been accomplished by the Head on the Body once for all.
Further Reading: Life-study of Acts, msg. 31
THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S ECONOMY
SERIES NINE
THE SPIRIT
Message Eight
Speaking in Tongues
1 Cor. 12:10 “And to another operations of works of power, and to another prophecy, and to another discerning of spirits; to a different one various kinds of tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues.”
30 “Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret tongues?”
13:8 “Love never falls away. But whether prophecies, they will be rendered useless; or tongues, they will cease; or knowledge, it will be rendered useless.”
14:4-5 “He who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but he who prophesies builds up the church. I desire that you all speak in tongues, but especially that you would prophesy; and greater is he who prophesies than he who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, that the church may receive building up.”
The Genuine and Proper Speaking in Tongues Being One
of the Many Gifts of the Spirit
Paul concludes 1 Corinthians 12:10, Tongues here are a proper language or dialect (Acts2:4, 6, 8, 11), not meaningless voices or sounds. The genuine and proper speaking in tongues is one of the many gifts of the Spirit (v. 4), one of the many aspects of the manifestation of the Spirit (v. 7). Some say speaking in tongues is firstly the initial evidence of the baptism in the Spirit, but it afterward becomes a gift of the Spirit: as the initial evidence, they say that every believer must have it; as a gift, every believer does not necessarily have it. But this kind of teaching is groundless in the New Testament. The New Testament makes it more than clear that speaking in tongues is only one of the many gifts of the Spirit, and not all the believers have it.
Reasons for Not Encouraging Tongue-Speaking
I do not encourage today’s tongue-speaking because it can be compared to opium or morphine. Medical doctors know that opium and morphine can be useful in dealing with certain kinds of pain or illnesses, but the dosage has to be limited and the use restricted.
for the long run, tongue-speaking does not help believers to grow in life.
those who have become addicted to tongue-speaking have no ear to hear the word of the cross and the deeper things concerning Christ.
Genuine Tongue-Speaking Being Practiced in a Proper Way
Paul was deeply concerned for the Body of Christ and for God’s administration. He knew God’s heart and God’s plan. He knew that God’s purpose is to have a Body to grow Christ and express Christ and also to have the church to carry out the divine administration. Today’s tongue-speaking has been used by the enemy to frustrate the growth of the Body and to damage the building up of the church for God’s administration. Therefore, I cannot encourage this practice. But I want to say again that I do not oppose genuine tongue-speaking. I do not follow J. N. Darby in saying that speaking in tongues is dispensationally over. No, it is still possible for there to be genuine tongue-speaking, but this must be practiced in a proper way.
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 57, msg. 62
THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S ECONOMY
SERIES NINE
THE SPIRIT
Message Nine
Miracles Being Spontaneous
Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; They will pick up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it shall by no means harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will be well.”
Acts 28:3-5. “But when Paul had collected a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened onto his hand…However he shook off the snake into the fire and suffered no harm.”
No One Can Make a Performance Out of Any Part of God’s Word
We have to pay attention to one thing: No one can make a performance out of any part of God’s Word, and no part of God’s Word can be performed by man. Man is incapable of performing not only these two verses in Mark 16 but also any part of the Scriptures. God answered the prayer of Elijah on Mount Carmel by sending down fire, but this was only for the purpose of proving that Jehovah was God and that Baal was not God (1 Kings 18:30-39). God is willing to use miracles to prove Himself and prove that He is God. But He is not willing to allow man to use miracles as a kind of performance.
Faith Being Spontaneous, and So Being Miracles
Faith is spontaneous, and so are miracles. Those who perform miracles are never conscious that they are performing miracles. To those who have faith in God, miracles are ordinary things. Only those who are far from God think that miracles are something extraordinary. Those who live in the presence of God and who are near God do not think that miracles are extraordinary.
But those who live before God consider miracles to be an ordinary thing. God’s hand is the source of the miracles, and God Himself is constantly performing miracles.
Hence, there is no need for anyone to struggle to perform miracles. When God’s power is manifested in us, there are miracles. Paul was bitten by a viper, and he shook it off into the fire (Acts 28:3-5)
Everything Being of God and Not of Us
In Paul we see many miracles and works of wonders. Yet Paul said of himself, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1 Cor. 2:3). God is willing to work through man. But He is not willing to allow man to become conscious of what he can do
Day by day as we live before the Lord, we will become simpler and simpler. We will say genuinely from our heart that everything is of God and not of us. Brothers and sisters, if we truly know God, we will know that all of His work in us is spontaneous.
Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 38, “General Messages 2,” msg. 42.
THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S ECONOMY
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THE SPIRIT
Message Ten
Pentecostalism Being More of a Loss than a Gain
1 Cor. 12:30-31 “Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret tongues? But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And moreover I show to you a most excellent way.”
Our Involvement with Pentecostalism Was More of a Loss than a Gain
After more than fifty years of study and experience, I can testify that nothing is more subtle in hindering God’s people from experiencing Christ than today’s Pentecostalism. For a number of years, we in the Lord’s recovery in China were under the influence of the Pentecostal things. Through our experience we can testify that our involvement with Pentecostalism was more of a loss than a gain.
The Greatest Damage of Pentecostalism
The greatest damage of Pentecostalism is that it makes it difficult for believers to appreciate the inward organic union with the Triune God. The emphasis in Pentecostalism is on outward manifestations. It is difficult for those who emphasize such things to calm down and know the Spirit in their regenerated spirit and to follow the inner anointing. Many in Pentecostalism neither know nor care that they have a regenerated spirit. Rather, they care mainly for the manifestation of the so-called gifts. They are interested in speaking in tongues, healing, and miracles, not in the development and cultivation of the organic union with the Triune God.
in one of the meetings of this same Pentecostal group, a woman gave a short word in tongues. Then a young man gave a long interpretation of that word. Later the leader of the group admitted that the interpretation given by the young man was not genuine. I then asked him why he engaged in these practices when we have such a rich Christ to minister to others. He had nothing to say in response to my question. Much later the young man who had given that interpretation denied that what he spoke was intended to be the interpretation of that woman’s message in tongues. I reminded him that he had clearly indicated to all present that he was giving an interpretation. I went on to say, “There is no need for us to do these things. I definitely believe that you love the Lord. Why don’t you simply preach the truth and minister the riches of Christ to others?”
Needing the Real Experience of the Holy Spirit upon Us as Power
Today we need the real experience of the Holy Spirit upon us as power. We should not be frightened away by the wrong teachings. We should not consider them. We simply must be clear that we need the Holy Spirit within us, and we also need the Holy Spirit upon us. We need to be filled with the Spirit as life within, and we need to be clothed and empowered with the Spirit as power outwardly.
In these days may we all go to the Lord to deal with Him about this, saying, “Lord, I do realize that I need this experience of the Holy Spirit as power to me.” Then we should leave this open to the Lord. We should not regard speaking in tongues, and we should not oppose it. Leave it to the Lord, and have the real experience of the Holy Spirit as power. There are many aspects of the manifestation of the Spirit, of which speaking in tongues is only one. What we must experience is the Holy Spirit as power upon us.
Further Reading: CWWL, 1963, vol. 3, “The Work of the Holy Spirit,” ch. 4; Life-study of Galatians, msg. 16