We were regenerated by this life-giving Spirit, not merely by the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God was for God’s creation, and the Holy Spirit was for Christ’s conception. Now, the life-giving Spirit is for God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), for God’s producing of many sons (1 John 3:2; Rom. 8:29), who are the believers. Our spiritual origin, that is, the origin of our being God’s new creation, is the life-giving Spirit.
From the time of our regeneration this life-giving Spirit remains in us and indwells our spirit (Rom. 8:16). First, He regenerated our spirit; then He remains in us by indwelling our regenerated spirit. Hence, these two spirits—the divine, life-giving Spirit and our spirit, which has been regenerated by the life-giving Spirit—are mingled together as one (1 Cor. 6:17). In the New Testament there are a number of verses indicating that these two spirits are one. In Paul’s Epistles, especially in Romans and Galatians, when the Spirit is mentioned, it is difficult to discern whether the divine Spirit or the regenerated human spirit is referred to. Romans 8:4 says that God’s righteousness is with those who walk according to the spirit. It is difficult to discern whether the word spirit in this verse refers to the Spirit of God or to our spirit. In his New Translation, J. N. Darby, a great teacher among the Brethren, also noted this difficulty. This is because spirit in verses like Romans 8:4-6 denotes the two spirits, God’s Spirit indwelling our spirit as one spirit. In 1 Corinthians 6:17 Paul said, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit,” indicating that we are one spirit with the Lord. In Romans 8 Paul also said that we must set our mind on this mingled spirit. In verse 6 he said that the mind set on the mingled spirit is life and peace, but the mind set on the flesh is death. Thus, today there are two possibilities in our Christian life. The first is to set our mind, which represents our natural, soulish man, on the mingled spirit. Such a mind set on the mingled spirit becomes life and peace. The second possibility is to set our mind on the flesh, which issues in death.
The New Testament tells us that our being regenerated, sanctified dispositionally, renewed, transformed, and conformed to Christ’s image are all accomplished through the life-giving Spirit in our spirit (John 3:6; Rom. 15:16; 1 Cor. 6:11; Titus 3:5; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:2, 29). Apart from the mingled spirit, there is no regeneration, no sanctification, no renewing, no transformation, and no conformation. Thus, all our spiritual experience is by the two spirits mingled together as one.
As believers in Christ who are seeking Him, we all must learn to remain in this spirit. We must set our entire being on this mingled spirit and do things according to this spirit. We must have our being altogether in this spirit. This is my burden in this chapter. There are many books written to tell Christians how to do things, such as how to be holy and how to be victorious. However, not one of these how-tos is prevailing. Only one way prevails, that is, to set our entire being on the mingled spirit. If we will do this, life and peace will be ours, and we will walk, have our being, and do things continually, not only every day but even every moment, in and according to this mingled spirit.
Even with such an all-inclusive Spirit, the church still became degraded. This forced God to intensify this life-giving Spirit sevenfold. This sevenfold intensifying of the Spirit is referred to in Revelation as the seven Spirits of God (1:4; 4:5; 5:6). Actually, these are not seven different Spirits of God. The Spirit of God is uniquely one, but to meet the need of the degraded church, this Spirit has been intensified sevenfold. Thus, Revelation 1:4 says that the book of Revelation was written from the seven Spirits to the seven churches. Since the seven churches were degraded churches (Rev. 2—3), they needed the sevenfold intensified Spirit.
In Revelation 1:10 the apostle John told us that he was in spirit—the mingled spirit—on the Lord’s Day. This means that John was a person who continually lived and walked in the mingled spirit. Then, at the end of Revelation, as a closing of the entire Bible, the Spirit and the bride speak together (22:17). The bride is the church (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32), and the Spirit is the Triune God consummated to be the Spirit. This Spirit is the Husband to the church. This indicates that the consummated Triune God will marry the transformed tripartite church. Thus, these two will become a couple—the Triune God consummated to be the Husband, and the tripartite man transformed to be the bride. The issue of such a union is the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem we can see the bride and also the consummated Triune God, that is, Christ as the Lamb (21:2, 9).
Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you to forget everything. Do not listen to all the distracting things. We simply need to take care of one thing. We need to realize that God has been consummated to be the life-giving Spirit, and now this Spirit, after regenerating us, indwells our spirit to be one with our spirit, to sanctify us, to renew us, to transform us, to conform us, and to seal us (Eph. 1:13; 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:22). Sealing means saturating, and saturating means dispensing. The Spirit seals us with His divine element by dispensing the entire God into our being. The issue of this is the church, the Body of Christ. Ephesians 4:4-6 says that there is one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father. These four constituted together are the Body of Christ, and this Body of Christ will consummate in the New Jerusalem. Today we must realize this. Then we will forget everything and simply walk, live, and have our being in and according to the mingled spirit. This is all that we need. When we live in this way, spontaneously we put our natural man, our old man, on the cross (Rom. 6:6). The cross brings in resurrection, which is not merely a thing but a living person, who is the consummated Triune God as the life-giving Spirit.
I hope that this fellowship will impress you to the extent that you will never forget it. I hope that you will not be able to erase this message from your being. Now you should be clear that to be a believer in Christ is simply to have your being in and according to the mingled spirit. In your family life, in your daily life, in your church life, and in your social life, you should live by this mingled spirit. When you live such a life, spontaneously you are crucified all the day. Actually, you are crucified to live. Crucifixion always leads you to live in resurrection, and this resurrection is just the processed Triune God as the life-giving Spirit.
(Living a Life According to the High Peak of God's Revelation, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)