THE LORD BEING THE SPIRIT
Verse 6 of 2 Corinthians 3 says, "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life," and verse 17 says, "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." If we put these verses together, we see that the Lord is the Spirit who gives life. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is no bondage, no deadness, no entanglement of letters and regulations. Because the life-giving Spirit is within me, I am free from the law, from knowledge, from bondage, from regulations, and from all dead letters. Hallelujah, I have the living One within me!
TRANSFORMED BY THE LORD SPIRIT
Second Corinthians 3:18 says, "But we all, with unveiled face beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit" (Gk.). If we, like mirrors, behold and reflect the Lord without having any veils on our faces, we shall be transformed into His image from one degree of glory to another. This is from the Lord Spirit. This indicates that the life-giving Spirit is now doing a transforming work within us. Our God is the Spirit for us to breathe in and to drink of, and our Triune God issues in the Spirit as the flow, the fellowship, the transmission. Also our Redeemer is the life-giving Spirit within us, imparting Himself into us as life. When we open to Him, gaze on Him, behold Him, and reflect Him, we are under the process of transformation. This means that all that He is, now is being transfused into our being. By being transfused with all that He is, we shall have a complete transformation. We shall be transformed into His image from one stage of glory to another. Eventually, we shall all be the same as He is. This does not take place by means of teaching or doctrine, but by means of Him as the Lord Spirit. This Lord Spirit is in us right now.
To this point we have seen three aspects of the Spirit: that our God today is Spirit, that the Triune God issues in the Spirit as the flow, and that Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, has become the life-giving Spirit within us to transform us by imparting Himself into us as the transforming element. Do not think that you are so familiar with all these verses about the Spirit. You need to consider your experience. I do not care whether or not you know these verses. I am burdened to fellowship with you to bring you into the real experience of these verses. God is Spirit, the Triune God issues in the Spirit, and the Redeemer today is the life- giving Spirit, transmitting Himself into our being that we may be transformed into His image to be exactly the same as He. This is the Spirit we must experience today.
EXPERIENCING THE WORD AS THE SPIRIT
Now we must proceed to see another aspect of the Spirit. Not only is God the Spirit, not only is the issue of the Triune God the Spirit, and not only has the Redeemer become the life-giving Spirit, but the words the Lord Jesus speaks are also Spirit. John 6:63 says, "The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life." Years ago I could not understand how the word could be the Spirit. Eventually I learned that the word of God is Spirit because it is God’s breath. Second Timothy 3:16 says, "All scripture is God-breathed" (Gk.).
(The Spirit and the Body, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)
