«　WEEK 5　DAY 4　»

　　Rom. 8:9-10 But you are…in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

　　The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are not two Spirits but one. Paul used these titles interchangeably, indicating that the indwelling Spirit of life in Romans 8:2 is the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit of the entire Triune God. God, the Spirit, and Christ—the three of the Godhead—are all mentioned in verse 9. However, there are not three in us; there is only one, the triune Spirit of the Triune God (John 4:24; 2 Cor. 3:17; Rom. 8:11)….The Spirit of Christ implies that this Spirit is the embodiment and reality of Christ, the incarnated One. This Christ accomplished everything necessary to fulfill God’s plan. He includes not only divinity, which He possessed from eternity, but also humanity, which He obtained through incarnation. He also includes human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. This is the Spirit of Christ in resurrection, that is, Christ Himself dwelling in our spirit (v. 10) to impart Himself, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, into us as resurrection life and power to deal with the death that is in our nature (v. 2). Thus, we may live today in Christ’s resurrection, in Christ Himself, by living in the mingled spirit. (Rom. 8:9, footnote 4)

　　The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of the One who passed through death and entered into resurrection. The Lord’s death was an all-inclusive termination, and His resurrection was an all-inclusive germination. The Spirit of Christ, therefore, is the totality, the aggregate, of the all-inclusive Christ with His all-inclusive death and resurrection. Because we have this Spirit in us, we have the all-inclusive Christ and His all-inclusive termination and germination. Because the Spirit is the reality of Christ, we may say that this Spirit is the pneumatic Christ. By the Spirit of Christ we partake of Christ in His resurrection life and power, His transcendency, and His reigning authority. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 856)

　　In Acts 16:7 we have “the Spirit of Jesus,” while in Romans 8:9 we have “the Spirit of Christ.” In Romans 8:9 “the Spirit of Christ” is used interchangeably with “the Spirit of God.” It tells us that the Spirit of God today is the Spirit of Christ. The emphasis of “the Spirit of Jesus” is upon humanity and the strength for suffering. But the emphasis of “the Spirit of Christ” is upon the resurrection and the imparting of life. Persecution in the environment faced in Acts 16 required suffering strength in humanity. But the death in our nature dealt with in Romans 8 requires resurrection power in the imparting of life. Thus, in Acts 16 it is “the Spirit of Jesus” who led in the preaching of the gospel under persecution. But in Romans 8 it is “the Spirit of Christ” who raises us up from any kind of death-element and animates us by imparting life into us. In the verses following Romans 8:9 we read, “If Christ [who is the Spirit of Christ] is in you, though the body is dead…the spirit is life…. And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you” (vv. 10-11). The Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of the incarnate and suffering Jesus. But the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of the resurrected and life-giving Christ. By the Spirit of Jesus we can share “the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” but by the Spirit of Christ we can partake of “the power of His resurrection” (Phil. 3 :10), identified with Him in the transcendency of His ascension and in the authority of His enthronement. By the Spirit of Jesus we share the Lord’s humanity and His suffering strength. By the Spirit of Christ we partake of His resurrection life, His resurrection power, His transcendency, and His reigning authority. (CWWL, 1965, vol. 1, “The All-inclusive Spirit of Christ,” p. 564)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Spirit,” chs. 2, 12