IV. JAMES MENTIONING THE SPIRIT OF GOD
ONLY ONCE AS THE INDWELLING SPIRIT IN US
James mentions the Spirit of God only once as the indwelling Spirit in us (4:5); in the whole book there is no indication of the Spirit of God as five marvelous items: the life-giving Spirit, the compound Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Lord Spirit, and the sevenfold intensified Spirit. Such a Spirit was not yet before the resurrection of Christ (John 7:39). James does not say anything about these rich items of the Spirit. Such a Spirit was not yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified in His resurrection. Thus, after Jesus’ resurrection such a Spirit came into existence.
A. The Life-giving Spirit
James does not speak of the life-giving Spirit as the consummated Spirit of God, even as the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God. First Corinthians 15:45b says that the last Adam (Christ in the flesh) became a life-giving Spirit. The Spirit Himself is the processed and consummated Triune God. The Father is embodied by the Son and the Son is realized as the Spirit, so this Spirit is the consummation and the totality of the Triune God.
I came to the United States with the burden to teach that Christ is the life-giving Spirit. Hymns, #539 is on this truth. I wrote it in 1963. The first two stanzas of this hymn say:
- O Lord, Thou art in me as life
And everything to me!
Subjective and available,
Thus I experience Thee.
- O Lord, Thou art the Spirit!
How dear and near to me!
How I enjoy Thy marvelous
Availability!
- To all my needs both great and small
Thou art the rich supply;
So ready and sufficient too
For me now to apply.
(Crystallization-Study of the Epistle of James, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee)
