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Preparing a Study Plan before starting this Study Guide will assist you in completing it within a designated timeframe. It also helps in developing the discipline required for studying God’s Word effectively.

Proverbs 16:3:

Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

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Keep a record as you progress through your Study Guide, including the Personal Responses for each section, for future reference and goal setting.

Content

• Preface

• INTRODUCTION: WHO LIVES WITHIN THE BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER?

• THERE IS ONE SPIRIT

• THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS GOD HIMSELF

• THE SPIRIT OF GOD AND THE HOLY GHOST ARE THE SAME SPIRIT

• THE HOLY GHOST IN JESUS CHRIST

• THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST

• THE LORD IS THAT SPIRIT

• CHRIST IN YOU – CHRIST LIVETH IN ME

• THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD

• WE RECEIVE THE ONE SPIRIT AT THE NEW BIRTH

• COMPLETE IN HIM – NOTHING IS MISSING

• THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IS NOT A SECOND EXPERIENCE

• THE COMFORTER: “I WILL COME TO YOU”

• CONCLUSION: CHRIST IN YOU

Important Points

• COGMA does not claim to be infallible or the authority.
• Infallibility and authority belong only to God and His Word.

COGMA therefore strongly advises that you prayerfully study the content of each Study Guide with the heart of a Berean (Acts 17:10–12).

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PREFACE

The previous Study Guide established that the one invisible God made Himself fully known in Jesus Christ. God was manifest in the flesh, the Father dwelt in the Son, God was in Christ, and all the fulness of Deity dwells bodily in Him. We now take the next step in this revelation and ask a deeply personal New Covenant question: Who lives within the born-again believer?

The New Testament gives a direct answer. Paul speaks of “Christ in you” and declares, “Christ liveth in me.” The Christian life is therefore not centred upon Jesus Christ remaining distant while the believer attempts to follow His example through human effort. The life of the New Covenant is the indwelling life of Jesus Christ Himself.

To understand this clearly, we must establish the Scriptural identity of the Spirit who dwells within the believer. Paul says that there is “one Spirit.” Scripture speaks of the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of Christ, but these expressions do not identify several divine Spirits. They describe the same one Spirit.

Romans gives us an especially important progression. Paul speaks of “the Spirit of God,” then “the Spirit of Christ,” and immediately says, “if Christ be in you.” He does not move from one divine person to another. He is describing one indwelling reality: when the Spirit of Christ dwells within the believer, Christ Himself is present within.

Paul makes the identification even more direct when he writes, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” This truth is essential to understanding the new birth. A person does not first receive Jesus Christ and then later receive another divine person to complete salvation. The Spirit of Christ belongs to the new birth itself.

Paul declares that if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, “he is none of his.” The born-again believer has therefore received the one Spirit and is complete in Jesus Christ.

This Study Guide will also examine the promise of the Comforter. Jesus told His disciples that the Spirit of truth “dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” He then immediately promised, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”

The One who had been with them in visible human life would come to dwell within them by His Spirit. The promise was not that Jesus would remain distant while another divine person came in His place. Jesus said plainly, “I will come to you.”

The purpose of this Study Guide is therefore clear: to establish from Scripture that Jesus Christ Himself dwells within the born-again believer by His one Spirit. The New Covenant mystery is not Christ distant from His people. It is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

INTRODUCTION: WHO LIVES WITHIN THE BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER?

The previous Study Guide established who was revealed in Jesus Christ. The one invisible God was manifest in the flesh, the Father dwelt in the Son, and all the fulness of Deity dwells bodily in Him. We now turn from the God revealed in Jesus Christ to the life of Jesus Christ within the believer.

The question before us is direct: Who lives within the born-again believer?

Paul gives the answer in Colossians 1:27:

“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:”

The answer is not simply that Christ helps us, influences us or remains near us. Paul says, “Christ in you.” This is one of the great realities of the New Covenant. Jesus Christ is not distant from those who have been born again. He lives within His people by His Spirit.

To understand this correctly, we must examine the different expressions Scripture uses concerning that indwelling Spirit. The Bible speaks of the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ in you. These expressions must not be separated as though several divine Spirits or several divine beings were entering the believer.

Paul gives us an important foundation when he writes that there is “one Spirit.” That truth must govern every passage we examine. If there is one Spirit, then the Spirit of God cannot be one divine Spirit while the Spirit of Christ is another. Neither can the Holy Ghost be a different divine person who comes after the believer has already received Jesus Christ.

Scripture must be allowed to explain these expressions within its own declaration that there is one Spirit. We will therefore trace the testimony carefully. We will see that the Spirit of God is God's own Spirit, that the Holy Ghost is that same Spirit, and that Paul identifies the Spirit of God as the Spirit of Christ.

Paul then moves directly to the declaration “Christ in you,” and gives an even stronger statement: “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” These truths establish the identity of the One who dwells within the believer and also help us understand the new birth.

The Christian does not receive an incomplete Christ and later require another divine person to complete what was missing. The Spirit of Christ belongs to the believer from the beginning because Paul says that anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. The New Covenant life therefore begins with the indwelling Christ.

Our purpose in this Study Guide is to follow the Scriptural testimony until the answer becomes unmistakable:

There is one Spirit, and Jesus Christ Himself lives within the born-again believer by that Spirit.

THERE IS ONE SPIRIT

Before we examine the different expressions Scripture uses for the Spirit, we need to establish one controlling truth. Paul does not leave the number of Spirits open to interpretation. He states plainly that there is “one Spirit.”

Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:4-6:

“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

Paul places the declaration “one Spirit” beside “one Lord” and “one God.” The language is deliberate. The Church has one body, one Spirit, one Lord and one God. We must therefore allow this clear statement to govern every passage that speaks about the Spirit.

One Spirit Must Govern Every Expression

Scripture uses several expressions concerning the Spirit. It speaks of the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the Lord. These different expressions do not require us to believe that there are several divine Spirits.

Paul gives us the controlling principle: Scripture declares there is ‘one Spirit.’ When one passage speaks of the Spirit of God and another speaks of the Spirit of Christ, we should not begin by assuming that two different divine beings are being described. We must interpret both expressions within the clear declaration that there is one Spirit.

This is an important principle of Bible interpretation. Clear statements should govern how we understand expressions that could otherwise be separated from one another. We should not build a doctrine of several divine Spirits from different names when Scripture has already told us how many Spirits there are.

The same apostle who speaks of the Spirit of God also speaks of the Spirit of Christ. He does not correct himself or explain that he has moved from one divine Spirit to another. His language moves naturally because these expressions belong within the one-Spirit revelation. The names describe relationship and identity, but they do not multiply the Spirit.

The One Spirit Works in All Believers

Paul gives the same truth when he writes about the Church as one body.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13:

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

Paul twice emphasises “one Spirit.” Every born-again believer is brought into the one body by that same Spirit. There is not one Spirit for one group of believers and another Spirit for a different group. Neither does one believer receive one divine Spirit at conversion and then later receive a different divine Spirit in another experience.

The body is one, and the Spirit is one. Paul does not present the unity of the Church as being maintained by several divine Spirits working in agreement. The unity of the body rests upon the reality that the same one Spirit gives life to every member. Whatever differences exist among believers, the divine life within them comes from the same Spirit.

This prepares us for an important truth that will be developed later in this Study Guide. The new birth is not the beginning of a Christian life without the Spirit. Paul says that believers are brought into the body “by one Spirit.” The Spirit is therefore present from the beginning of the believer’s life in Christ.

Different Expressions, One Divine Spirit

Once this foundation is fixed, several passages become easier to understand. Scripture speaks of:

• The Spirit of God;
• The Holy Ghost;
• The Holy Spirit;
• The Spirit of Christ;
• The Spirit of the Lord.

We must not treat these expressions as separate divine occupants or separate divine persons entering the believer. The Bible has already established the governing truth: there is one Spirit.

The next sections will examine these expressions individually and show how Scripture itself connects them. We will see that the Spirit of God is not something separate from God. God is Spirit, and His Spirit is His own divine presence.

We will also see that the Holy Ghost is not another divine Spirit beside the Spirit of God. Paul then takes us even further by speaking in the same passage of “the Spirit of God,” “the Spirit of Christ,” and then “Christ in you.” Finally, he states with unmistakable directness, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.”

All of these statements must remain within the foundation we have established here. There is not one Spirit belonging to the Father, another belonging to Jesus Christ, and another called the Holy Ghost. There is one Spirit.

That one truth gives us the Scriptural foundation for answering the central question of this Study Guide. If there is one Spirit, and that Spirit is identified as the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ and the Lord Himself present by His Spirit, then the believer is not indwelt by several divine beings. The New Covenant indwelling is one divine reality.

The next question is therefore fundamental: What does Scripture mean when it speaks of the Spirit of God? The answer begins with the words of Jesus: “God is a Spirit.”

THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS GOD HIMSELF

We have established that there is one Spirit. We now need to ask what Scripture means when it speaks of “the Spirit of God.” Is the Spirit of God another divine being beside God, or is the Spirit of God God Himself present and active?

Jesus gives us the foundation for answering that question. Jesus said in John 4:24:

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

The statement is direct: “God is a Spirit.” God is not one being while His Spirit is another divine being standing beside Him. Spirit describes the very nature of God.

God Is Spirit

Scripture consistently presents God as invisible Spirit. He is not limited by a physical body, confined to one location or divided into separate divine beings. The one God is Spirit.

This means that when Scripture speaks of the Spirit of God, it is speaking of God’s own Spirit. The Spirit of God is not something external to Him, nor is the Spirit of God a lesser divine power that God sends while He Himself remains distant. The Spirit of God is God Himself present and active by His own Spirit.

This agrees with what we have already established concerning the Father. Jesus identified the Father as the One dwelling in Him, and Scripture establishes that God is Spirit. The Father is therefore the eternal invisible Spirit, and when Scripture speaks of God working by His Spirit, it is describing the one God working and making Himself present by His own Spirit.

Scripture also speaks of the Word of God, the wisdom of God and the power of God. These expressions do not divide God into separate divine beings. They tell us something about the one God Himself, and the same principle applies to the Spirit of God.

Because God is Spirit, His presence is not restricted by physical distance. He may dwell within His people without ceasing to fill heaven and earth. His indwelling does not divide Him or reduce Him, because the same one God who is everywhere present can truly dwell within the believer by His Spirit.

The Spirit of God Dwells in the Believer

Paul makes this especially clear when he describes the believer as God’s temple. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:16:

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

Notice how closely Paul connects the two statements. The believer is “the temple of God” because “the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.” Paul does not say that the believer is the temple of God while someone other than God lives inside. The reason the believer is God’s temple is that God dwells there by His Spirit.

Paul makes the same truth even clearer in another passage. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:16:

“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Paul does not call believers the temple of a divine influence or a spiritual force. He calls them “the temple of the living God,” and then quotes God saying, “I will dwell in them.” The One dwelling within His people is therefore God Himself, present by His own Spirit.

This is why the Spirit must never be separated from God as though the Spirit were another divine being. The Spirit of God dwelling within the believer is the presence of God Himself.

God’s Spirit Is His Own Divine Presence

This truth helps us understand the language Scripture uses throughout the New Testament. When Paul says “the Spirit of God dwelleth in you,” he is not teaching that God remains somewhere else while another divine person called the Spirit comes to live within the believer. The Spirit is God’s own divine presence.

This does not mean that the believer becomes God. The believer remains human, and neither does the believer possess the fulness of Deity in the unique way Scripture speaks of Jesus Christ. Yet God truly dwells within the believer by His Spirit.

This is the New Covenant reality promised in the words “I will dwell in them.” It is not symbolic language for God simply being near His people. Scripture says that the Spirit of God “dwelleth in you,” so the Christian life begins with an indwelling divine reality. God is not only the One whom the believer worships from a distance. By His Spirit, He is present within His people.

This prepares us for the next step in the Scriptural testimony. If the Spirit of God is God’s own Spirit, what are we to understand when Scripture speaks of the Holy Ghost? Is the Holy Ghost another divine Spirit beside the Spirit of God?

The answer must remain consistent with the foundation already established: “There is one Spirit.” The next section will show that the Spirit of God and the Holy Ghost are not two different divine Spirits, but the same one Spirit.

THE SPIRIT OF GOD AND THE HOLY GHOST ARE THE SAME SPIRIT

We have established two important truths. There is one Spirit, and the Spirit of God is God's own divine presence. We now come to another expression used throughout the New Testament: the Holy Ghost.

Does Scripture present the Holy Ghost as another divine Spirit beside the Spirit of God? The answer becomes clear when we allow the different passages to explain one another. Paul speaks of the believer as both the temple of God and the temple of the Holy Ghost. These are not two different temples inhabited by two different divine beings. The Holy Ghost is the same one Spirit whom Scripture calls the Spirit of God.

The Temple of God

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:16:

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

Paul directly connects the identity of the temple with the identity of the One dwelling within it. The believer is “the temple of God” because “the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.” The Spirit dwelling within is therefore not someone separate from the God whose temple the believer has become.

God dwells within His people by His Spirit. This agrees with the truth established in the previous section: God is Spirit, and the Spirit of God is His own divine presence.

Paul then uses another expression when speaking about the same indwelling reality.

The Temple of the Holy Ghost

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”

Earlier Paul called the believer “the temple of God.” Here he calls the believer “the temple of the Holy Ghost.” We should not conclude that Paul is describing two temples or two divine occupants.

In one passage, the believer is the temple of God because the Spirit of God dwells within. In the other, the believer is the temple of the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost dwells within. The simplest Scriptural conclusion is that the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of God are the same Spirit.

This agrees perfectly with Paul's controlling declaration: “There is one Spirit.” If there is one Spirit, then the Spirit of God cannot be one divine Spirit while the Holy Ghost is another. The different expressions describe the same divine Spirit.

The word holy describes the character of God's Spirit. God is holy; therefore His Spirit is holy. Calling Him the Holy Ghost does not introduce another divine being beside God. It identifies the holiness of the same Spirit who belongs to God and is God's own divine presence.

The Living God Dwells Within

Paul strengthens this connection when he describes believers as the temple of the living God.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:16:

“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Notice who promises to dwell within His people: “I will dwell in them.” God does not say that He will remain distant while another divine being comes to dwell within them. He says that He Himself will dwell in them.

Paul therefore gives us three expressions that belong together: “the temple of God,” “the temple of the Holy Ghost,” and “the temple of the living God.” These do not describe three separate divine occupants. They describe one indwelling divine reality.

The Spirit of God dwelling within the believer is the Holy Ghost dwelling within the believer, and this is why the believer is called the temple of the living God. The Holy Ghost must therefore never be separated from God as though He were another God or another divine Spirit. There is one God and one Spirit.

Different Names Do Not Mean Different Spirits

This principle is important as we continue through the New Testament. Scripture may speak of:

• The Spirit of God;
• The Holy Ghost;
• The Holy Spirit;
• The Spirit of the Lord.

The expressions vary, but Scripture has already told us: “There is one Spirit.” We should therefore allow the different names to reveal different aspects or relationships of that one Spirit without multiplying the Spirit Himself.

The Holy Ghost is not a second Spirit added to the Spirit of God. Neither should we imagine that a believer may possess the Spirit of God while still waiting to receive the Holy Ghost at a later time. If the Holy Ghost is the same one Spirit as the Spirit of God, such a separation cannot be maintained.

This truth will become especially important when we later examine the new birth and the teaching of a second Spirit experience. For now, the Scriptural foundation is clear. The believer is the temple of God because the Spirit of God dwells within, and the believer is also the temple of the Holy Ghost because that same Holy Ghost dwells within.

The believer is the temple of the living God because God has fulfilled His promise: “I will dwell in them.” These are not competing descriptions. They reveal the same one Spirit and the same indwelling God.

We can therefore state the conclusion plainly: The Spirit of God and the Holy Ghost are the same Spirit.

The next step takes us even further. Paul not only speaks of the Spirit of God. In the same passage, he calls that Spirit “the Spirit of Christ.” We must now ask what that reveals concerning the identity of the Spirit dwelling within the believer.

THE HOLY GHOST IN JESUS CHRIST

We have established that there is one Spirit and that the Spirit of God and the Holy Ghost are the same Spirit. We now need to apply that truth to Jesus Christ Himself.

The New Testament speaks of Jesus being conceived by the Holy Ghost, anointed with the Holy Ghost and having the Spirit of God upon Him. Yet Jesus identified the divine One dwelling within Him as “the Father.” These expressions must therefore be understood within the Scriptural foundation that there is one God and one Spirit.

Jesus Was Conceived by the Holy Ghost

Matthew wrote in Matthew 1:18-20:

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”

The conception of Jesus Christ was therefore directly connected with the Holy Ghost. Luke gives the same testimony.

Luke wrote in Luke 1:35:

“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

The genuine humanity of Jesus Christ did not begin independently from God and later become associated with the Holy Ghost. His conception itself was by the Holy Ghost. This is important because Jesus later identified the divine One dwelling within Him as the Father.

The Holy Ghost Is Not Another Father

Jesus said in John 14:10:

“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

Matthew says that Jesus was conceived “of the Holy Ghost,” while Jesus says, “the Father that dwelleth in me.” These passages do not require us to introduce two divine Spirits, one called the Holy Ghost and another called the Father.

There is one Spirit. The Holy Ghost is not another divine being beside the Father. The Father is the eternal Spirit, and the Holy Ghost is that same divine Spirit.

This is why the conception of Jesus by the Holy Ghost does not make the Holy Ghost another Father beside the Father whom Jesus identified throughout His ministry. Scripture is using different expressions for the same one eternal Spirit. The one God who was revealed in Jesus Christ is the Spirit who formed His genuine humanity and dwelt within Him.

Jesus Was Anointed With the Holy Ghost

Scripture also speaks of the Holy Ghost in the ministry of Jesus.

Peter said in Acts 10:38:

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”

This verse preserves the genuine humanity of Jesus. Peter speaks of “Jesus of Nazareth” being anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power. Jesus lived and ministered in genuine human life.

Yet Jesus had already explained the divine source of His works when He said, “the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” The Holy Ghost active in the ministry of Jesus was therefore not another divine Spirit separate from the Father dwelling within Him. There is one Spirit.

The Spirit was also seen descending upon Jesus at His baptism, and the Old Testament had prophesied that “the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him.” These different expressions do not multiply the Spirit. The Spirit of the LORD is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God is the Holy Ghost, and the Father is the eternal Spirit.

John also gives another important statement concerning Jesus Christ.

John wrote in John 3:34:

“For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.”

The Spirit was not present in Jesus Christ by a limited measure. This agrees with Paul’s declaration that “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” dwells in Him. The one eternal Spirit was fully present and revealed through the genuine humanity of Jesus Christ.

We can therefore bring the Scriptural testimony together. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost, anointed with the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the LORD rested upon Him, and the Spirit was given to Him without measure. Jesus also identified the divine One dwelling within Him as the Father.

These statements do not describe several divine Spirits or several divine beings. They describe the one eternal Spirit of God present and active in relation to the genuine humanity of Jesus Christ.

This prepares us for the next important expression. The same Spirit whom Scripture calls the Spirit of God and the Holy Ghost is also called “the Spirit of Christ.”

THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST

We have established that there is one Spirit, that the Spirit of God is God’s own divine presence, and that the Holy Ghost is that same Spirit. Paul now gives us another expression that is essential to understanding who dwells within the born-again believer. He speaks of “the Spirit of Christ.”

The question is important: Is the Spirit of Christ another Spirit beside the Spirit of God, or is Paul using different expressions for the same one Spirit? Paul answers that question within the same passage.

The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ

Paul wrote in 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. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

Notice how naturally Paul moves through the different expressions. He first says “the Spirit of God dwell in you,” then speaks of “the Spirit of Christ,” and immediately continues with “Christ be in you.”

Paul does not pause to introduce a second Spirit or another divine being. He moves from one expression to the next because he is describing the same indwelling reality. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and when the Spirit of Christ dwells within the believer, Christ Himself is present within.

This passage therefore gives us one of the clearest Scriptural connections between the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ.

Paul Is Not Describing Two Spirits

We must keep Romans 8 within the foundation already established:

“There is one Spirit.”

Therefore, when Paul speaks first of the Spirit of God and then of the Spirit of Christ, we cannot divide those expressions into two different divine Spirits without contradicting his clear statement elsewhere.

Paul does not say that the Spirit of God dwells in the believer and then another Spirit called the Spirit of Christ may come later. Neither does he suggest that one divine person gives the Spirit of God while another divine person gives a separate Spirit of Christ.

His wording is direct and continuous. He speaks of “the Spirit of God” and then “the Spirit of Christ.” The same Spirit belongs to God and is also identified with Christ.

This agrees with the truth established throughout this Study Guide. There is one God and one Spirit. Different biblical expressions do not multiply the divine Spirit.

If Any Man Have Not the Spirit of Christ

Paul then makes a statement that has great importance for understanding the new birth:

“Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

The Spirit of Christ is not an optional addition to Christian life. A person does not first belong to Jesus Christ without His Spirit and then later receive the Spirit of Christ through another experience.

Paul says that if a person does not have the Spirit of Christ, “he is none of his.” Possessing the Spirit of Christ therefore belongs to what it means to belong to Christ.

This truth will become especially important when we later examine the teaching of a second Spirit experience. For now, the point is clear: every true believer belongs to Christ with the Spirit of Christ present within.

There is no Christian life in which Jesus Christ has been received while His Spirit remains absent. Christ and His Spirit cannot be separated in that way.

“If Christ Be in You”

Paul then takes the revelation one step further. He does not stop with the phrase “the Spirit of Christ.” His next words are “And if Christ be in you.”

This is significant because Paul moves directly from the Spirit of God, to the Spirit of Christ, to Christ in you. That progression shows us how the apostle understood the indwelling Spirit.

The Spirit of Christ is not someone separate from Christ who lives within the believer while Jesus Himself remains distant. When the Spirit of Christ dwells within, Christ is in the believer.

This agrees with Paul’s words elsewhere: “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” and “Christ liveth in me.” The New Covenant indwelling is therefore not simply the presence of spiritual power or an influence sent by Christ. It is Christ Himself present within His people by His Spirit.

This is an important distinction. Jesus does not remain outside the believer while another divine person enters. He comes to dwell within by His Spirit.

One Indwelling Reality

Romans 8 therefore gives us a clear Scriptural pattern. The believer is described as indwelt by the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ Himself. These are not three separate spiritual occupants. They describe one indwelling divine reality.

The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and when that Spirit dwells within the believer, Christ Himself is present. This does not mean that the believer becomes God, nor does it mean that the believer possesses the fulness of Deity in the unique way that Jesus Christ does.

It means that the same one divine Spirit who belongs to God and is identified as the Spirit of Christ now dwells within those who belong to Jesus Christ. This is why Paul can speak with such certainty.

The believer does not simply belong to Christ outwardly. The believer possesses the Spirit of Christ, and Paul immediately explains what that means:

“Christ be in you.”

The next section will take this identification even further. Paul does not only call the indwelling Spirit the Spirit of Christ. He makes the statement unmistakably direct: “Now the Lord is that Spirit.”

THE LORD IS THAT SPIRIT

We have seen that Paul speaks of “the Spirit of God,” then “the Spirit of Christ,” and immediately says “Christ be in you.” He now gives us an even more direct statement concerning the identity of the Spirit.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:16-18:

“Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

The statement at the centre of the passage is unmistakable: “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” Paul does not say that the Lord is separate from the Spirit who gives liberty. He identifies the Lord with that Spirit.

The Lord and the Spirit Are Not Separate Indwelling Beings

Throughout this Study Guide, Scripture has established that there is one Spirit. We have seen that the Spirit of God is God’s own divine presence, that the Holy Ghost is that same Spirit, and that the Spirit of God is also called the Spirit of Christ.

Paul now brings those truths together when he says, “The Lord is that Spirit.” The Lord Jesus Christ is therefore not absent from the believer while another divine person called the Holy Spirit takes His place. The Spirit who dwells within the believer is not someone separate from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Himself is present by His Spirit.

This agrees with Romans 8. Paul speaks of the Spirit of God dwelling in the believer, calls that same Spirit the Spirit of Christ, and then says, “if Christ be in you.” Second Corinthians 3:17 expresses the same truth in one direct statement: “The Lord is that Spirit.”

We must not force a separation into passages that Scripture itself joins together. If there is one Spirit, if that Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, and if the Lord is that Spirit, then the indwelling Spirit cannot be treated as another divine being beside Jesus Christ. The expressions are different, but the divine indwelling is one.

Where the Spirit of the Lord Is, There Is Liberty

Paul continues with the words “and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” The same verse therefore contains both expressions: “The Lord is that Spirit” and “the Spirit of the Lord.” Paul does not treat these phrases as contradictory. The Spirit belongs to the Lord because it is His Spirit, and the Lord is present by that Spirit.

The liberty Paul describes therefore comes from the presence of the Lord Himself. It is not produced by a spiritual force detached from Jesus Christ, nor does the believer receive freedom from someone other than the Lord while Jesus remains distant.

The Lord who saves is the Lord who dwells within. The Lord who gives life is the Lord who gives liberty. The Lord who was revealed in genuine human life is now present within His people by His Spirit.

This does not mean that the genuine humanity of Jesus Christ ceased to be real or that the human Son became an impersonal spirit. The distinction established in the previous Study Guide remains. Jesus Christ possessed genuine humanity, while the eternal Spirit revealed through Him was God Himself.

Here Paul is showing us how the Lord is present with His people in the New Covenant: by the one Spirit. This is why the Christian life cannot be reduced to an outward imitation of Jesus. The believer is not left with only the memory of what Jesus did and an instruction to reproduce His life through human strength.

The Lord is present within His people by His Spirit. The liberty of the New Covenant therefore flows from an indwelling life, not from an external religious system. The Christian does not begin each day trying to bring an absent Jesus near, because the New Covenant reality is that the Lord has already come to dwell within those who are born again.

The Lord Is Present Within His People

Paul’s statement also prepares us to understand the other great New Covenant expressions concerning indwelling. Scripture says “the Spirit of God dwelleth in you,” speaks of “the Spirit of Christ,” says “Christ be in you,” and now declares “The Lord is that Spirit.”

These are not descriptions of several divine beings taking different positions within the believer. They describe one divine presence. The language is cumulative, and each statement helps identify the same indwelling Lord.

The born-again believer is not indwelt by God while Christ remains elsewhere. Neither is the believer indwelt by the Holy Ghost while Jesus Christ remains separated from that indwelling. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is present within His people by His Spirit.

This truth gives real meaning to the expression “Christ in you.” Christ is not in the believer only through memory, doctrine, influence or example. He is present by His Spirit.

Later in this Study Guide, we will examine Jesus’ promise concerning the Comforter and His words “I will come to you.” Those words will show that the indwelling Spirit is the fulfilment of His promise to come to His disciples and dwell within them.

For now, Paul’s declaration must be allowed to stand with its full force: “The Lord is that Spirit.” There is one Spirit. That Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of Christ, and the Lord is present by that Spirit.

We are now ready to bring these truths to the central New Covenant declaration of this Study Guide. Paul does not simply say that the Spirit of Christ is in the believer. He describes the mystery in words that are deeply personal:

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

CHRIST IN YOU – CHRIST LIVETH IN ME

We have established that there is one Spirit, that the Spirit of God is the Holy Ghost, that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and that “the Lord is that Spirit.” We can now come to the central New Covenant truth of this Study Guide.

The believer is not simply told that Christ is near, that Christ helps from a distance, or that Christ sends another divine person to take His place. Paul describes the mystery in three simple words: “Christ in you.”

The Mystery Revealed

Paul wrote in Colossians 1:26-27:

“Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 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:”

Paul calls this truth a “mystery” that had been hidden but was now made manifest. The mystery is not simply that people would learn about Jesus Christ or believe that He once lived among humanity. The glorious New Covenant reality is “Christ in you.”

The words are personal. Christ is not only for us, above us or someone whom we remember historically and follow doctrinally. Christ is in us.

This does not mean that the believer becomes Jesus Christ or becomes Deity. The believer remains human, and Jesus Christ remains unique. All the fulness of Deity dwells bodily in Him, yet the same Lord now dwells within His people by His Spirit.

This is why everything established concerning the one Spirit is so important. Paul speaks of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ and Christ in the believer because these expressions describe one indwelling reality. The mystery is not another divine person dwelling within while Jesus Christ remains elsewhere. It is “Christ in you.”

Christ Liveth in Me

Paul expresses the same truth personally in Galatians 2:20:

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Paul does not say only that Christ teaches him how to live or that he studies the life of Jesus and then attempts to reproduce it through human strength. He says, “Christ liveth in me.” The Christian life therefore proceeds from an indwelling life.

Paul is still living. He says, “the life which I now live in the flesh.” He has not lost his human personality, mind, will or responsibility, but the source of his new spiritual life is no longer the old life of sin and self-rule. Christ lives within.

This is one of the clearest distinctions between biblical Christianity and outward religion. Outward religion can give rules, ceremonies, examples and instructions. It can tell a person what should be done. The New Covenant gives life.

The believer does not receive only a better standard to imitate. The believer receives Jesus Christ by His Spirit. This does not remove obedience. It makes true obedience possible from within, because the believer now walks, serves, loves and obeys from the life of Christ already present within. The Christian life is therefore not an attempt to become like an absent Jesus through human effort, but the life of the indwelling Jesus Christ being expressed through the born-again believer.

The Spirit of Christ Is Christ Within

Paul wrote in 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. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

The progression is unmistakable. Paul speaks first of “the Spirit of God,” then “the Spirit of Christ,” and then “Christ be in you.” He is not describing three different occupants of the believer. He is showing us who is present when the one Spirit dwells within.

The Spirit of Christ is not someone separated from Christ. When the Spirit of Christ dwells within, Christ Himself is in the believer. This is why Paul can say both “Christ in you” and “Christ liveth in me.” The indwelling Spirit is the presence of the Lord Himself.

This also explains why the Christian life cannot properly be described as receiving Jesus Christ first and then later receiving someone else who supplies the spiritual life that Christ did not provide. The Spirit of Christ belongs to Christ. To have Christ is to have His Spirit.

Paul makes this relationship decisive when he says, “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” The Spirit of Christ is therefore not an optional addition to belonging to Christ. Christ is present in the believer by His Spirit from the beginning of the born-again life.

Life From Within

The truth of “Christ in you” changes how we understand spiritual growth. Growth does not mean that the believer gradually acquires more pieces of Christ because Christ was incomplete when first received. Neither does growth mean that a believer begins with human life alone and slowly develops the life of Jesus through discipline.

The life is already present. Growth is the increasing expression of the life already received in Christ.

The believer learns to yield, obey, understand the Word, walk in faith and bring every area of life under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Yet none of these things creates the indwelling life. They flow from the life already present.

This protects us from turning Christianity into external imitation. Jesus Christ is certainly our perfect example, but the New Covenant gives us more than an example. It gives us His life within.

The believer does not stand outside Christ trying to copy Him. The believer is in Christ, and Christ is in the believer by His Spirit. This is why the outward life should increasingly reveal what has already taken place inwardly.

Love, holiness, obedience, faithfulness, prayer, service and spiritual fruit are not attempts to manufacture the life of Jesus. They are to flow from His life within. The source is Christ, the life is Christ, and the power is His Spirit.

The Great New Covenant Reality

The words “Christ in you” therefore bring together everything we have established so far. There is one Spirit. The Spirit of God is God’s own divine presence. The Holy Ghost is that same Spirit. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and the Lord is that Spirit.

When that Spirit dwells within the believer, Christ is in the believer. This is the heart of New Covenant life.

Salvation is not simply that Jesus Christ has done something for us, although His saving work is essential. It also brings us into a living relationship in which Jesus Christ Himself dwells within.

Paul does not leave the believer with an absent Lord. He says, “Christ liveth in me.” The Christian therefore does not need to spend life trying to produce Jesus from the outside. The life has been received within.

This does not encourage passivity. The believer must walk, obey, yield, pray, serve and remain faithful. But all of this proceeds from the reality that Christ is already present. The believer lives from the indwelling life rather than striving to create it.

This is why Paul calls the mystery glorious: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The next section will show how Scripture describes this same indwelling reality from another direction. If Jesus Christ lives within the believer by His Spirit, what has the believer become? Paul answers: “ye are the temple of the living God.”

THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD

We have seen that the great New Covenant mystery is “Christ in you.” Scripture describes this same indwelling reality in another powerful way: the born-again believer has become the dwelling place of the living God.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:16:

“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Under the New Covenant, God is not directing His people towards a physical building as the centre of His dwelling. He says, “I will dwell in them.” The believer has become the temple of the living God.

God Promised, “I Will Dwell in Them”

Paul’s words are stronger than saying that God will simply be near His people. God declares, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” This is the fulfilment of a divine promise. The New Covenant brings the presence of God within His people.

This agrees with everything we have established. Paul says “the Spirit of God dwelleth in you,” “Christ in you,” and “Christ liveth in me.” These are not separate indwelling beings. They describe the same New Covenant reality: the one true God dwelling within His people by His Spirit.

The language of the temple helps us understand this clearly. A temple is the dwelling place of the one to whom it belongs. If believers are called “the temple of the living God,” then the One dwelling within them is the living God Himself, present by His Spirit.

The Believer Is the Temple of God

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17:

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”

Paul joins the truths together directly. Believers are “the temple of God” because “the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.” The Spirit of God does not dwell within while God Himself remains distant. The Spirit is God’s own divine presence, so when the Spirit of God dwells within the believer, God dwells within His temple.

Paul also calls the believer the temple of the Holy Ghost. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”

The believer is called both “the temple of God” and “the temple of the Holy Ghost.” These are not two temples for two different divine beings. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God, and there is one Spirit.

The Temple Is Now a People

Under the Old Covenant, the presence of God was associated with the tabernacle and later the Temple. Yet even then, God was never confined within a physical building.

Solomon said in 1 Kings 8:27:

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?”

God cannot be contained within walls. He is Spirit and omnipresent. The New Covenant therefore directs our attention away from a physical temple as the dwelling place of God and towards His people.

Paul described the Church in Ephesians 2:19-22:

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

Paul says that believers are “an habitation of God through the Spirit.” God has made His people His dwelling place. The Church is therefore not holy because God is confined to a building, but because His Spirit dwells within His people.

Holiness Flows From the Indwelling Life

The truth that the believer is God’s temple also affects how the Christian lives. Paul says, “the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” Holiness is not produced by outward ceremony, nor does the believer become holy by copying religious behaviour from the outside.

The believer belongs to God, and God dwells within. The outward life is therefore to express the holy life already received within. This is another reason the Christian life must not be reduced to external imitation.

God does not simply stand outside His people demanding that they reproduce holiness through human strength. He dwells within them by His Spirit. The life of Christ within is to be expressed through the believer’s thoughts, words, choices and conduct.

The temple is holy because it belongs to God and because God dwells there. The great New Covenant reality is therefore both personal and practical: Christ lives within, the Spirit of God dwells within, and the believer is the temple of the living God.

This brings us to the next important question. If the believer is the temple of God and possesses the Spirit of Christ, when is that Spirit received? Scripture connects the possession of the Spirit directly with belonging to Christ.

That brings us to the next section:

WE RECEIVE THE ONE SPIRIT AT THE NEW BIRTH

We have established that the born-again believer is the temple of the living God, that the Spirit of God dwells within, and that this same Spirit is called the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of Christ. We must now answer an important question: When does the believer receive this one Spirit?

Scripture does not present the Christian life as beginning without the Spirit and then receiving the Spirit later as a second stage of salvation. The new birth itself is a birth of the Spirit. The one Spirit is received when a person becomes Christ’s.

If Any Man Have Not the Spirit of Christ

Paul wrote in 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. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

Paul’s statement is decisive: “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” A person without the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. Therefore, a person cannot truly belong to Jesus Christ while still waiting to receive His Spirit at some later time.

To belong to Christ is to possess the Spirit of Christ. Paul does not describe two classes of Christians, those who belong to Christ but do not yet have His Spirit, and those who later receive His Spirit. The dividing line is much clearer: those who do not have the Spirit of Christ are “none of his.”

This agrees with everything we have already established. The Spirit of Christ is not another Spirit beside Christ, and Paul immediately continues with the words “And if Christ be in you.” The believer receives Christ by His Spirit. Christ and His Spirit cannot be separated into two stages of Christian life.

The New Birth Is a Birth of the Spirit

Jesus described entrance into the kingdom of God as birth of the Spirit.

Jesus said in John 3:5-6:

“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

The new birth is not simply a change of religious opinion, church membership or outward conduct. It is a work of the Spirit that gives spiritual life. Jesus says, “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Natural birth gives natural life, while spiritual birth gives spiritual life. The Spirit therefore cannot be something added later to complete a new birth that occurred without Him. The Spirit is the One through whom the new birth takes place.

The believer does not first receive spiritual life and then later receive the Spirit who gives that life. The new life comes by the Spirit. This agrees with Paul’s words, “the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” The indwelling Spirit and the new spiritual life belong together.

To be born again is to receive the life of Jesus Christ by His Spirit.

By One Spirit We Are Baptised Into One Body

Paul also explains how believers enter the body of Christ.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13:

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

Notice Paul’s language: “by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” The Spirit brings the believer into the body of Christ. Therefore, the baptism of the Spirit cannot be separated from becoming part of Christ’s body and placed later as an experience required after the believer has already entered that body.

Paul says “we all.” All who belong to the one body have been baptised into that body by the one Spirit. He then continues, “and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

Again, the word all is important. Paul is not describing a spiritual privilege possessed only by a second group of Christians who have progressed beyond ordinary salvation. The one Spirit belongs to the entire body.

Every true member has been brought into that body by the Spirit and has been made to drink into that one Spirit. The baptism in the Holy Spirit therefore belongs to the new birth itself. It is not another experience required after a person has already been born again.

The Spirit Is Present From the Beginning

The New Testament gives a consistent picture of the beginning of Christian life. The believer is born of the Spirit, baptised by one Spirit into one body, possesses the Spirit of Christ, becomes the temple of the living God, and has Christ living within.

Paul also speaks of believers being sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:13-14:

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

The Holy Spirit belongs to the believer’s Gospel experience. Those who heard the word of truth, trusted in Christ and believed were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. The Christian life therefore does not begin without the Spirit and later become spiritual. It begins by the Spirit.

This does not mean that the believer will never experience further strengthening, filling, leading, teaching or empowering by the Spirit. Scripture certainly speaks of the continuing work of God within His people. But those later workings of the Spirit must not be confused with receiving a different Spirit or finally obtaining the Holy Spirit for the first time.

There is one Spirit, and the Spirit who gives the new birth is the Spirit who continues to work within the believer. At the new birth:

• The believer receives Christ;
• The believer receives the Spirit of Christ;
• The believer is born of the Spirit;
• The believer is baptised by one Spirit into one body;
• The believer becomes the temple of the living God;
• The believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit.

The new birth is therefore the reception of the life of Jesus Christ by His Spirit. The born-again believer possesses Christ and His Spirit from the beginning of spiritual life.

This raises the next important question. If the believer has received Christ and His Spirit at the new birth, is anything still missing that requires another divine person or another essential Spirit experience to make salvation complete?

Paul answers: “And ye are complete in him.”

COMPLETE IN HIM – NOTHING IS MISSING

We have established that the believer receives the one Spirit at the new birth. The believer receives Christ, is born of the Spirit, is baptised by one Spirit into one body, becomes the temple of the living God and is sealed with the Holy Spirit. Paul now gives us another important truth that protects the completeness of this New Covenant experience: the born-again believer is “complete in him.”

Paul wrote in Colossians 2:9-10:

“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:”

The connection between these two verses is important. All the fulness of Deity dwells in Jesus Christ, and the believer is complete in Him. Paul does not separate the believer’s completeness from the fulness found in Christ.

All the Fulness Is in Jesus Christ

The previous Study Guide established the meaning of Paul’s declaration: “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Nothing belonging to Deity is absent from Jesus Christ. All the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Him, and Scripture directs our confidence fully to Him.

All the fulness dwells in Him, and Paul immediately turns from the fulness in Christ to the believer’s position in Christ: “And ye are complete in him.” The two statements belong together. Because all the fulness is in Christ, the believer who has received Christ has not received an incomplete Lord.

The believer is not waiting for another divine person to supply something that Jesus Christ lacks. Nothing is lacking in Christ, and therefore the believer’s spiritual completeness is found in Him. Complete means complete.

Complete Does Not Mean There Is No Growth

To say that the believer is complete in Christ does not mean that there is no further spiritual growth. The born-again believer must still grow in understanding, faith, obedience, discernment, holiness, service and spiritual maturity. The believer continues to learn how to yield every area of life to the indwelling Christ.

Growth, however, must not be confused with receiving an additional divine life that was absent at the new birth. The believer grows because life has already been received. A child is alive before growth takes place, and growth does not give the child life. It develops the life already present.

The same principle applies spiritually. The born-again believer possesses the life of Christ by His Spirit. Spiritual growth is the increasing expression and maturity of that life.

We therefore do not grow in order to obtain Christ. We grow because Christ lives within. Neither do we grow in order to receive the Spirit of Christ for the first time. We grow because the Spirit of Christ already dwells within.

The Believer Has Not Received an Incomplete Salvation

Paul’s words also protect us from thinking that the new birth gives only part of what God intends for salvation. A person who has genuinely received Jesus Christ has not received an incomplete salvation that must later be completed by the arrival of another divine person.

Paul wrote in Colossians 2:6-7:

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

Notice the order. The believer has received Christ Jesus the Lord, and then the believer is told, “so walk ye in him.” Christian growth therefore follows the reception of Christ. The believer does not walk in order to obtain Him later, because Christ has already been received.

The same is true of His Spirit. We do not receive Christ without His Spirit and then wait for His Spirit to arrive later. Paul has already said, “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” To receive Christ is to enter the life in which His Spirit dwells within.

Nothing Needs to Be Added to Christ

This truth should shape the believer’s confidence. Our confidence does not rest in finding something beyond Jesus Christ that will make us spiritually complete. Paul does not say that we are partly complete in Him. He says, “ye are complete in him.”

This does not make the believer independent of Christ. It means exactly the opposite. Our completeness is in Him, and we continue to depend upon Him, walk in Him and receive strength, wisdom, guidance and grace from the indwelling Christ.

The believer does not need another divine person to complete what Christ has begun. The believer possesses the one Spirit from the beginning of the born-again life. Christ is in the believer, and the believer is complete in Christ.

These truths belong together. The question that follows is therefore unavoidable: if the believer already possesses the Spirit of Christ and is complete in Him, should the Holy Spirit be taught as another divine person who must be received through a second spiritual experience?

The next section will examine that question directly:

THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IS NOT A SECOND EXPERIENCE

We have established that the one Spirit is received at the new birth and that the believer is complete in Jesus Christ. This means that the Holy Spirit is not another divine person who must come later to complete something that was missing when the believer first received Christ.

Paul makes the matter clear when he says, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” The believer does not first belong to Christ without His Spirit and then receive the Spirit of Christ through a second experience. To belong to Christ is to possess His Spirit.

There Are Not Two Classes of Christians

Some teachings divide Christians into two spiritual classes. One group is described as saved but not yet possessing the Holy Spirit in fulness, while another group is said to have received a later Spirit experience and therefore possesses something the first group lacks. Paul does not divide believers in this way.

Paul wrote in Romans 8:9:

“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.”

The dividing line in this verse is not between Christians who have the Spirit and Christians who do not. It is between those who belong to Christ and those who do not. Everyone who truly belongs to Christ possesses His Spirit.

This agrees with Paul’s teaching concerning the one body. Every believer is brought into that body by the one Spirit. There is not one group brought into Christ without the Spirit and another group later elevated into a higher spiritual position by receiving Him. The same one Spirit gives life to every member of the body.

The Holy Spirit Is Not Another Spirit Added Later

We have already established that the Spirit of God is the Holy Ghost, that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and that “the Lord is that Spirit.” These truths must remain joined together.

If the believer has received the Spirit of Christ, then the believer has received the one Holy Spirit. To teach that a person first receives Christ and then later receives the Holy Spirit as another divine person creates a separation that Scripture does not make.

We do not receive Christ without His Spirit. We receive Christ by His Spirit. Paul says “Christ in you” and “Christ liveth in me.” The Christ who dwells within the believer is present by the same one Spirit Scripture calls the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of Christ.

The New Covenant indwelling is therefore complete from the beginning of the born-again life.

Indwelling Is Not the Same as Fresh Empowering

This does not mean that every experience of the Spirit ends at the new birth. Scripture speaks of believers being strengthened, led, filled, taught and empowered by the Spirit after they are born again. Those continuing workings of the Spirit are real and necessary, but they do not mean that the believer lacked the Spirit beforehand.

A believer who already possesses the Spirit can receive fresh strength, guidance and help from that same Spirit. The believer can also grow in surrender, boldness, understanding, fruitfulness and obedience. These experiences do not require the arrival of another divine person.

There is one Spirit, and the born-again believer already possesses that Spirit through the new birth. Receiving fresh help from the indwelling Spirit is therefore not the same as receiving the Holy Spirit for the first time.

Growth Does Not Mean That Christ Was Missing

The believer may properly desire to go deeper with God. We should desire greater surrender, stronger faith, clearer understanding, greater obedience and greater fruitfulness. But these desires must be understood correctly.

The problem is not that the born-again believer lacks Christ, nor is the problem that the believer has received only part of the Spirit. The question is whether the believer is yielding fully to the Christ who already lives within.

Paul says, “ye are complete in him.” Completeness does not remove the need for growth, but growth takes place from the life already received. The believer does not grow in order to obtain Christ. The believer grows because Christ is already present.

Neither does the believer seek a second Spirit because the first was insufficient. The believer learns to walk more fully in the one Spirit already received. This guards the Christian life from becoming a continual search for another spiritual arrival, because our confidence rests in the indwelling Christ.

Our Language Should Agree With the New Covenant Reality

Because Christ already dwells within the born-again believer, our language should agree with that reality. We should not speak as though the Holy Spirit is absent from a believer who has genuinely been born again and must still come from outside before that believer can possess Him.

This does not deny our continual dependence upon God. Neither does it deny the need to seek His help, strength, guidance and continuing work within us. It simply recognises who is already present.

The New Covenant confession is “Christ in you.” The believer does not need another divine person to complete Jesus Christ, nor does the believer need another Spirit to complete the one Spirit. The believer needs to walk, yield and live in the life already received.

The Scriptural testimony can therefore be stated clearly. The Spirit of Christ is received at the new birth, while later experiences of strengthening, filling, guidance or empowering are the work of the same Spirit already dwelling within the believer.

This leads us directly to the promise Jesus made concerning the Comforter. If the Holy Spirit is not another divine person received later, what did Jesus mean when He promised “another Comforter”? Why did He then immediately say, “I will come to you”?

Those words must be understood together.

THE COMFORTER: “I WILL COME TO YOU”

We have established that the Spirit of Christ is received at the new birth and that the believer does not receive another divine person later in order to become complete. We now come to one of the passages most often used to teach that the Holy Spirit is a separate divine person from Jesus Christ. Jesus promised His disciples “another Comforter.”

John recorded the words of Jesus in John 14:16-18:

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”

These words must be read together. Jesus speaks of “another Comforter,” but He also says, “I will come to you.” The identity of the Comforter must therefore be understood from the whole statement rather than from the word another by itself.

The Spirit of Truth: With You and in You

Jesus identifies the Comforter as “the Spirit of truth.” He then explains the change that was about to take place: “he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” The movement is from with you to in you.

At that time Jesus Christ was physically present with His disciples. He had walked with them, taught them, corrected them, comforted them and revealed the Father to them. They knew Him as the Lord who was with them in genuine human life.

Jesus now spoke of a coming indwelling reality. The Spirit of truth who was with them would be in them. This agrees with everything we have already established concerning the one Spirit.

The Spirit of God is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and Paul says, “The Lord is that Spirit.” Therefore, when Jesus speaks of the Spirit of truth coming to dwell within His disciples, we must not separate that Spirit from the Lord Himself.

Jesus also says, “ye know him.” The disciples were not being introduced to a completely unknown divine person whom they had never encountered. Jesus connected the promised Comforter with One they already knew and who was already with them.

The relationship was about to change. They had known Christ with them in visible human life, but they would now know Him dwelling within them by His Spirit. This does not mean that the genuine humanity of Jesus Christ ceased to be real. The point is that the disciples would no longer know the Lord only through His visible bodily presence among them. By His Spirit, He would dwell within them.

“I Will Not Leave You Comfortless”

Jesus then makes the promise personal: “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” These words are essential to understanding the Comforter. Jesus does not say that He will leave them and that someone entirely different will come in His place. He says, “I will come to you.”

The promise of the Comforter is therefore inseparable from the promise of Christ Himself coming to His disciples by His Spirit. The One who had been with them would be in them. The Lord who had taught and comforted them would continue His work within them by His Spirit.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus had answered their questions, corrected their misunderstandings, encouraged them when they were afraid, taught them truth and protected them. The promise of another Comforter therefore did not announce the loss of Christ’s care. It promised the continuation of that care through a new manner of presence: the Lord who had been beside them would now dwell within them by His Spirit.

This agrees with the later apostolic testimony: “Christ in you,” “Christ liveth in me,” and “The Lord is that Spirit.” The coming of the Comforter does not place another divine person between Christ and His people. It explains how Christ Himself would continue to be present with them after His visible earthly ministry.

Why Did Jesus Say “Another Comforter”?

The word another must be understood carefully. The Greek word translated another is ALLOS. The word means another, but by itself it does not define the nature or identity of the One being described. We must therefore allow the surrounding words of Jesus to explain what He meant.

Jesus says “ye know him,” “he dwelleth with you,” and “shall be in you.” He then says, “I will come to you.” These statements belong together and must not be separated from one another.

The word ALLOS cannot be isolated from the explanation Jesus immediately gives. The Comforter would continue the comforting, teaching and guiding work that Jesus had already been doing among His disciples, but now the relationship would be inward rather than limited to His visible presence beside them.

Jesus makes this even clearer later in the chapter. He said in John 14:23:

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

Jesus says, “we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” This does not mean that two separate divine beings take up residence within the believer. The Father is the eternal Spirit, and the one God was fully revealed in Jesus Christ. There is one Spirit, and the indwelling presence is the one God dwelling within His people by that Spirit.

The Father revealed in Christ and Christ dwelling within His people are not two different indwelling divine presences. The same one Spirit makes the believer the dwelling place of God.

The Comforter Is the Holy Ghost

Jesus later identifies the Comforter directly. He said in John 14:26:

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

The Comforter is “the Holy Ghost.” We have already established that the Holy Ghost is not another Spirit beside the Spirit of God. There is one Spirit. We have also established that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ and that the Lord is that Spirit.

Therefore, the Comforter cannot properly be separated from Jesus Christ as though Christ leaves and another divine person takes His place. The Holy Ghost is the one Spirit by whom Christ comes to dwell within His people.

Notice also that the Comforter comes “in my name.” His ministry continues the revelation and teaching of Jesus Christ. He brings to remembrance the words Jesus had spoken and continues the work of the Lord within His people. The emphasis remains centred upon Jesus.

The Promise Became “Christ in You”

The later writings of the apostles show how they understood the fulfilled indwelling reality. Paul wrote in 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. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

Paul moves directly from the Spirit of God to the Spirit of Christ and then to Christ in the believer. This is the same indwelling reality Jesus promised in John 14.

Jesus said, “he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you,” and then, “I will come to you.” Paul later says, “Christ in you.” The promise and the fulfilled New Covenant reality belong together.

At Pentecost in A.D. 31, Jesus Christ fulfilled His promise, “I will come to you,” by coming as the Holy Spirit to dwell within His people. The Person had come, and the New Covenant reality of Christ within His people had arrived.

The Comforter is not another divine person replacing Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost is the one Spirit by whom Christ comes to dwell within His people.

This is the great transition Jesus was explaining in John 14. He would not leave His people comfortless. His visible earthly ministry among them would change, but His presence would not end.

He promised, “I will come to you,” and the apostolic testimony declares the fulfilled reality: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

CONCLUSION: CHRIST IN YOU

We began this Study Guide with a deeply personal New Covenant question: Who lives within the born-again believer? Scripture has answered that question clearly and consistently.

There is one Spirit. The Spirit of God is God’s own divine presence, the Holy Ghost is that same Spirit, and the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ. Paul then gives the identification directly when he declares, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.”

The indwelling Spirit is therefore not another divine person standing apart from Jesus Christ. When the Spirit of Christ dwells within the believer, Christ Himself is present. Paul expresses this New Covenant reality in the words “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” and also declares, “Christ liveth in me.”

The Christian life is therefore not an outward attempt to imitate an absent Jesus. Jesus Christ lives within His people by His Spirit, and the believer walks, grows, obeys, serves and bears fruit from the life already received within.

Scripture also shows when this indwelling begins. Jesus said that a person must be “born of the Spirit.” Paul says that by one Spirit we are all baptised into one body, and that anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. The one Spirit is therefore received at the new birth.

The believer does not first receive Jesus Christ and then later receive another divine person to complete salvation. All the fulness of Deity dwells bodily in Jesus Christ, and the believer is “complete in him.” Complete does not mean that spiritual growth has ended, but it does mean that nothing is missing from the Christ who has been received.

The believer continues to be strengthened, taught, led and empowered by the Spirit. These are not the arrival of another Spirit, but the continuing workings of the same one Spirit already dwelling within. Spiritual growth therefore proceeds from the life already received in Christ.

Paul also calls the believer “the temple of the living God.” God promised, “I will dwell in them.” The New Covenant is therefore not centred upon God remaining distant from His people. His people have become His dwelling place, and the life within is to be expressed through their thoughts, words, choices and conduct.

Jesus explained this truth before His departure. He promised the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, and said, “he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” He then gave the promise that identifies the One who would come: “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”

The Lord who had been with His disciples would come to dwell within them by His Spirit. The promise of the Comforter and the promise “I will come to you” belong together.

The testimony of Scripture therefore leads us to one clear New Covenant reality. There is one Spirit, the Lord is that Spirit, the believer is the temple of the living God, and Jesus Christ Himself lives within every person who is truly born again.

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

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