«　WEEK 7　DAY 2　»

　　Acts 16:7 And when they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, yet the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

　　Col. 1:24 I now rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body, which is the church.

　　The Spirit of Jesus is not only the Spirit of God with divinity in Him that we may live the divine life but also the Spirit of the man Jesus with humanity in Him that we may live the proper human life and endure its sufferings.

　　We need to pay careful attention to two divine titles in Acts 16:6 and 7—the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus. The interchangeable use of these two titles reveals that the Spirit of Jesus is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a general title of the Spirit of God in the New Testament. The Spirit of Jesus is a particular expression concerning the Spirit of God and refers to the Spirit of the incarnated Savior who, as Jesus in His humanity, passed through human living and death on the cross. This indicates that in the Spirit of Jesus there is not only the divine element of God but also the human element of Jesus and the elements of His human living and His suffering of death as well. Such an all-inclusive Spirit was needed for the apostle's preaching ministry, a ministry of suffering carried out among human beings and for human beings in the human life. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2999-3000)

　　In Acts 16 Luke first speaks of the Holy Spirit and then of the Spirit of Jesus—two titles for the Spirit of God not found in the Old Testament. The title the Holy Spirit was used for the first time at the conception of the Lord Jesus. It was when the time came to prepare the way for Christ's coming and to prepare a human body for Him to initiate the New Testament dispensation that the term the Holy Spirit came into use (Luke 1:15, 35; Matt. 1:18, 20). In order to understand the first usage of the title the Holy Spirit, we need to see that this title is involved with the Lord's incarnation. Hence, according to the principle of first mention, the Holy Spirit is related to Christ's incarnation and birth. This title indicates God's coming into man to be one with man in incarnation. In the New Testament, the title the Holy Spirit indicates that God is now mingling Himself with man.

　　In Acts 16:7 Luke turns from the Holy Spirit to the Spirit of Jesus. As a man, Jesus first lived a human life and then was crucified and resurrected, and He ascended to the heavens and was made Lord and Christ. Thus, the Spirit of Jesus implies the Lord's humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3000)

　　The Spirit of Jesus involves more than the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit involves only the incarnation and birth of the Lord Jesus, but the Spirit of Jesus involves His humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension.

　　In Acts 16 we see that the move of the apostles in their evangelistic work was strictly speaking not by the Spirit of God. Rather, it was by the Holy Spirit, who was involved with the Lord's incarnation and birth, and by the Spirit of Jesus, who was involved with the Lord's humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. These two divine titles indicate strongly that Paul's move in his evangelical work was not something in the way of the old dispensation. If it had been a move in the old dispensational way, then the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Jehovah should have been mentioned. But in Acts 16 there is no mention of the Spirit of God nor of the Spirit of Jehovah. Instead, we are told that Paul and his co-workers were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia and were not allowed by the Spirit of Jesus to go into Bithynia. The fact that Luke speaks of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus indicates that the evangelical work of the apostles was a new move in God's New Testament economy. (Life-study of Acts, pp. 379-380)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1965, vol. 1, "The All-inclusive Spirit of Christ," pp. 560-563