Jesus described Himself as “the Spirit” in the kingdom of heaven, which Paul explained in his Epistles.
After the Day of Pentecost, all references to “the Spirit” describe the Spirit of Christ.
John described “the Spirit” who spoke to the seven Churches (Revelation 2:7).
Paul said, “The Lord is the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 3:17) and he explained the meaning of Christ as “the Spirit” throughout his Epistles.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said, “the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). From here, Paul described the war of the flesh and the Spirit.
In John 3:5–6, Jesus told us that we must be born of “the Spirit.” So, Paul said, “God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, by which we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’ (Galatians 4:6). The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16). Paul called the Spirit of Christ “the Spirit of Adoption” (Romans 8:15) and “the Spirit of Promise” (Ephesians 1:34-14).1Ephesians 1:12–15 is a series of appositive statements describing “the Anointed One – the Holy One.” Ephesians 1:12–15 reads: “To be for us the praise of the glory of Him, the ones who first trusted in the Anointed One (ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ)—in whom, you also, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom, you also, having believed, were sealed—the Spirit of Promise, the Holy One (τῷ Πνεύματι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τῷ Ἁγίῳ), who ( ὅς) is the guarantee of our inheritance, to the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of the glory of Him.” The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Universities notes that the literal meaning of τῷ Πνεύματι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τῷ Ἁγίῳ is “the Spirit of Promise, the Holy One.” The expression τῷ Πνεύματι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τῷ Χριστῷ is a dative of apposition to τῷ Ἁγίῳ. The next phrase “He Who” ὅς is masculine, describing Christ. Daniel B. Wallace, in Greek Grammar and the Personality of the Holy Spirit, page 117, says the only pronoun that cannot be explained as for the holy spirit is ὅς, in Ephesian 1:3. Why is this masculine? Of course, it did not describe the holy spirit but instead Christ, the Holy One.
In John 6:63, Jesus said, “the Spirit gives life.” So, Paul called Christ, “a life-giving Spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45); “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). And Paul described “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:4).
In John 11:33 and 13:21, Jesus “groaned in the Spirit.” So, Paul said, “All creation groans … The Spirit [as the firstborn] intercedes for the saints, with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:22,26).
The Targum of Zechariah described the Word as the Spirit that makes the house of God, saying, “My Word will be a wall of fire around her, and I will dwell in her midst”2literally: I will make my Shekinah dwell in her midst (אַשרֵי שְכִינְתִי בְגַוַה) dwell the-dwelling within” (Zechariah 2:9, cf Heb. Zechariah 2:11). So, Jesus said, “in My Father’s house are many dwelling places, I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Paul called the Church, “a holy temple in the Lord in whom you are built up together as a dwelling place for God” (Ephesians 2:21).
In John 15, Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser … He who abides in Me bears much fruit” (John 15:1-4). So, Paul said, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (Galatians 5:22).
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