Contents
A Live-Giving Spirit
After the Day of Pentecost, the New Testament used the expression “the Spirit” 60 times, to refer to the Spirit of Christ. The phrase “Spirit” was used for the Spirit of God, only 30 times.
In 1 Corinthians 15:45, Paul called Christ “a life-giving Spirit.” In 2 Corinthians 3:6 he wrote, “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
He concluded 2 Corinthians 3 saying, “the Lord is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
The Spirit of Christ Intercedes for Us
Jesus Christ is the one mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5).
In Romans 8:26, Paul wrote, “the Spirit itself intercedes for us.” In Romans 7:25, the verse preceding Romans 8, Paul also described the intercession of Christ, saying, “I thank God through Jesus Christ.”
Romans 8:26-27 is easy to understand when we read ‘Spirit of Christ,” where Paul has written, “the Spirit.”
In the same way, the Spirit of Christ also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit of Christ Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and (God) the One who searches the hearts knows what the desire of the Spirit of Christ is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
The Pledge of the Spirit, the Guarantee
Beginning with 2 Corinthians 1:22, Paul explained that God sealed us and gave us the Spirit as a pledge.
Ephesians 1:13-14 literally reads,
“after you believed you were sealed. The Spirit of Promise, the Holy One, is our pledge. “
Paul compared the Spirit of Christ to a guarantee, or pledge, like a scroll that is sealed by the spirit of God.
The Spirit of Adoption
Writing to the Galatians, Paul described the Spirit of Christ as the Spirit of Adoption,
“God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, by which we cry out ‘“Abba Father’” (Galatians 4:6).
He repeated this in Romans 8:15.
In Romans 8:9, Paul said “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”
The Spirit of Christ makes the House of God
The Apostle John’s message that Christ was the Holy Spirit in the prophets, began in John 1:1, where he called Jesus, the Word.
In John 10:36, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “do you say of Him who the Father sanctified and sent into the world, You are blaspheming.”
In John 14, Jesus described Himself as the Spirit who makes the house of God, “in My Father’s house are many dwelling places. . . I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).
Jesus told us that God would make His home in the Church, when we keep His commandments, “if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him” (John 14:23).
The Targum of Zechariah described the Spirit of Christ as the wall that surrounds the temple of God,
“My Word, will be a wall of fire around…” (Zechariah 2:5).
And Paul described,
A holy temple, in the Lord
Ephesians 2:21-22
The Fruit of the Spirit
In John 15, Jesus called Himself the vine, saying“he who abides in Me…bears much fruit” (John 15:5).
So, Paul, wrote, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Receive the Holy Spirit
John’s message that Christ was the Holy Spirit in the prophets, climaxed in John Chapter 20, when Jesus breathed on His disciples, saying, “receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.”