Part 7 of 10

The Fullness of God in Christ is One with the Believer

How is it that Jesus of Nazareth, the “Son of man,” is now able to literally come to indwell the believing members of "the body of Christ?" It is as “the Spirit Christ” (Rom 8:9).

The “Spirit of Christ” is the spirit-form of the incarnated, crucified, and risen “Jesus of Nazareth .” Jesus now as “the Spirit of Christ” is the key for believers to be able to receive and experience the Lord Jesus Christ as the deposit of the life of the divine eternal Godhead.

In John 16:13 Jesus called the coming Spirit by yet another name, “the Spirit of truth.” John also wrote of the Spirit-anointing or “unction” that is “of the Holy One (Jesus Christ)” (John 2:20), which "abideth in you” and “is truth” (1John 2:27). That which is “true” is that which is “real.” The “Spirit of Christ” is the “truth” and “reality of Christ” to the believer. Believers today are able to realize, receive, and enjoy union with Christ as “the Spirit” – “His Spirit” to “our spirit.”

Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself (Himself) beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: Who exactly is “the Spirit” here in Romans 8:16?

Paul tells us “the Spirit” is the fullness of God that is in the “one spirit” of Eph 4:4, which today is “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2a). In these verses below we see the three persons of the Godhead are “one Spirit”… within the believer. Note that these terms are used interchangeably – “Spirit of God,” “Spirit of Christ,” “Christ,” and “the Spirit.”

Romans 8:9-10 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the SPIRIT OF GOD dwell IN YOU. Now if any man have not the SPIRIT OF CHRIST, he is none of his. 10 And if CHRIST be IN YOU, the body is dead because of sin; but THE SPIRIT is life because of righteousness.

Now in 2 Corinthians 13:14, Paul incorporates all three persons of the full Godhead that are personified in “the Spirit of Christ” today.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God (the Father), and the communion of the Holy Ghost (The Spirit), be (are) with you all. Amen.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)

By this verse we may see the working of the Triune God to become real and available to believers.

Thus, in 2 Corinthians 13:14 we see how the Triune God brings the reality of Jesus Christ to His believers.

“The love of God (the Father)” becomes available to believers in the person of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the embodiment of God’s “grace.” But Jesus Christ may only be made real and available to believers as “the Spirit of Christ.” The processing of Jesus of Nazareth via incarnation, human living, death and resurrection, culminates in Jesus becoming “the life-giving spirit.” 1 Corinthians 15:45 (AMP) …the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving Spirit [restoring the dead to life].

It is only by the believer’s spirit-union with “the Spirit of Christ” that they each member of “the body of Christ” may have and enjoy “communion” with “the fullness of the Godhead” ( Col 2:8-9)… which is “in Him.”

Colossians 2:9-10a For in him dwelleth all the FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD bodily. 10 And ye are complete IN HIM…

We can say “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” which believers receive at the moment of their regeneration, is all of God because the whole Godhead “in Him.”

John plainly says the believers with him have Christ’s Spirit in them. “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” (1 John 4:13)

Jesus Christ is the one divine and eternal life in the universe today. His Spirit is available to indwell every person who will receive Him to indwell and unite with their human spirit as their new eternal spirit-life.

Many Christians fail to realize that “salvation” is much more than the legal matter of justification before God – “justification” is “objective salvation.” Our personal or “subjective salvation” to be received and enjoyed comes to us by having become a “partaker of the divine (eternal) life” that is in Christ Jesus (2Peter 1:4).

Our indwelling union with Christ, Spirit to spirit,” is what Paul called “the mystery” or the secret plan of God that had been hid in God and “kept secret since the world began (Rom 16:25), until it was first revealed to Paul.

Paul here below explains how Jesus made this “mystery” known to him “for you Gentiles” (Eph 3:1).

Ephesians 3:1-4 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: 3 How that by revelation he (Jesus) made known unto me the mystery (musterion, secret plan); (as I wrote afore in few words, 4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

The Ezekiel 37:14 prophecy reveals that God’s Spirit would one day indwell the believers among the children of Israel . Until Paul was given “the gospel of the grace of God” (Act 20:24b), the Gentiles were “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). Paul says “But now ye (Gentiles)…are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:13.) Paul here tells us plainly that “the mystery” or secret eternal plan of God was that Christ would indwell believing Gentiles.

Colossians 1:26-27  Even THE MYSTERY which HATH BEEN HID FROM AGES AND FROM GENERATIONS, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of THIS MYSTERY among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory:

Note that today, under “the dispensation of the grace of God,” unbelieving Jews stand exactly as lost Gentiles; see Rom 3:9-12, 3:23. Romans 11:32 For God hath concluded them ALL in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon ALL. All believers today, during “the  dispensation of the grace of God,” are literal partakers of the divine life of God… which is “in Christ”…who is now available to believers as the life-giving resurrected “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”; now available to enliven and indwell the believer’s human spirit as their new core life.

1 Corinthians 15:45 … the last Adam (Christ) was made (became) a quickening (life-giving) spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
Colossians 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear…

Galatians 2:20 (AMP) I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME…