The Two Spirits - Lesson 1

Lesson One 

The Two Spirits

there are three verses in the New Testament that speak of both the human spirit and the divine Spirit.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.

Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.

we need to see the matter of the two spirits because it is a crucial truth concerning God, God's purpose and our Christian experience. 

1. God's eternal purpose

Ephesians 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

Ephesians chapter 3 reveals to us that God hid within Himself an eternal purpose, and God made a plan according to His eternal purpose. Therefore, He made man in His own image and acccording to His likeness so that one day He would enter ino the man He made so that He can gain man to be a vessel to contain Himself, so as to express God. This is God's eternal purpose and also the reason why man was created. 

2. the way God fulfills His eternal purpose

Ephesians 1:10 Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him;

Ephesians 3:9 And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things,

1 Timothy 1:4 Nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies, which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith.

in order to fulfill His eternal purpose, God made a plan, which is called "economy" in the New Testament. the economy of God is to dispense Himself into His chosen, predestinated, and redeemed people as their life, their life supply, and their everything. and out of this economy, many believers are being produced to be the members of the Body of Christ, for a full expression of the Triune God. 

3. God as the Spirit reaching man

in order for God to dispense Himself into man, the Triune God passed through the process to become the pneumatic Christ who is able to enter into man. from the Bible, we can see that God the Father is dwelling in the unapproachable light. though God the Son became a man and came to tabernacle among man, He could not enter into His disciples because of His flesh and blood. therefore, through the death and resurrection, His form was changed from a physical form into a spiritual form. God the Father is embodied in God the Son, and God the Son is realised, transmitted, experienced and gained by us in God the Spirit. 

4. the Spirit is the entire Triune God

when we have the Spirit entering in and dwelling within us, it does not mean that we only have a third of the Triune God. actually, we have the entire Triune God, because the three of the Godhead not only coexist, but they also coinhere. God is triune, which means He is three-one. 

5. the Spirit of reality

John 14:17 Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.

John 16:13 But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming.

The Spirit of reality guides the believers into all the reality of the Triune God and of all divine matters. if we would apply all that God and Christ are, we need the Spirit. 

6. the human spirit

when God created man, He created man with a human spirit, with the intention that man would be able to contact god with the human spirit. we were born again in our human spirit; we are joined to the Lord in our spirit, and we contact and worship God in our spirit. so the human spirit is the key to our Christian life. 

In summary, God's eternal purpose is to have a people that would express Him. the way He fulfills this purpose is called His economy. In His economy, God as the Spirit dispenses Himself into man. God is able to dispense Himself into man because He is the Spirit and man has a spirit. The Spirit transmits the entire Triune God, and the human spirit receives this transmission. Our spirit is the means for us to contact the Triune God; therefore the human spirit is a great thing in the universe. By the divine Spirit entering the human spirit, God will accomplish His desire.