THE CROSS OF CHRIST
BEING THE TERMINATION OF
THE OLD CREATION
After branching Himself into humanity through incarnation, God did many things, but His main achievement was the cross. Through the cross of Christ, the old creation was terminated. The old creation terminated by the cross of Christ included sin, Satan, the world, the old man, "I," the self, the flesh, and the natural life. This termination was achieved by the death of Christ.
The wonderful Triune God took two steps in order to reach us. First, the Triune God became a man (John 1:1, 14), a God-man, the complete God and the perfect man. Second, as the God-man He mainly achieved one thing—the cross. The achievement of the cross issued in a transformation—the God-man becoming the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Through the steps of incarnation and the cross, the Triune God became the God-man and the life-giving Spirit.
THE SPIRIT AS THE ESSENCE
AND THE SPIRIT AS THE PERSON
John 4:24 says, "God is Spirit." The word Spirit in this verse refers to the essence of God, not His person. The essence of a stand made of wood is wood. Likewise, the essence of God is Spirit. The life-giving Spirit includes the essence of God mentioned in John 4, but He also contains much more. The Bible reveals not only that God is Spirit but also that the Spirit, the Third of the Godhead, is a person. In John 4:24 the Spirit is the essence, but in the divine title—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—the Spirit is the person (Matt. 28:19).
In the Divine Trinity, the Spirit is the outflow and the completion of the Triune God. There are not three Gods but one God. He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Spirit as the Third of the Godhead is the totality of the Godhead. When you have the Spirit, you also have the Son and the Father. When you approach God, you first contact the Spirit; then you have the Son and the Father.
In John 14 the term another Comforter (v. 16) is used. This another Comforter is the reality of the Triune God, the Spirit of reality. Second Corinthians 3:17 also says that the Lord is the Spirit, and in verse 18 the compound title Lord Spirit is used. First Corinthians 15:45 says that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit came into existence through Christ as the God-man passing through the cross and entering into resurrection.
(The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee)
