The Spirit of Jesus Christ| Oneness-Pentecostal Pneumatology

The Spirit as identified with Jesus Christ. The most important development and element in earliest Christian understanding of the Spirit is that the Spirit is now the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Acts 16:7; Rom 8:9; Gal 4:6; Phil 1:19; 1 Pt 1:11; see also Jn 7:38; 15:26; 16:7; 19:30; Rv 3:1; 5:6). The Spirit is to be identified as the Spirit that bears witness to Jesus (Jn 15:26; 16:13–15; Acts 5:32; 1 Cor 12:3; 1 Jn 4:2; 5:7–8; Rv 19:10), but also, and more profoundly, as the Spirit that inspired and empowered Jesus himself. This Spirit became available to the believers after Christ’s resurrection. The apostles John and Paul were quite clear in their writings about Christ becoming spirit through resurrection. The keynote verses penned by John are: 1. John 6:63 2. John 7:37–39 3. John 14:16–18 4. John 20:22 5. 1 John 3:24 6. John 4:13. The critical passages written by Paul are: 1. Romans 8:9–10 2. 1 Corinthians 15:45 3. 2 Corinthians 3:17–18 4. 1 Corinthians 6:17 Revelation concerning the Spirit of Jesus is progressive in the Gospel of John. a. John does not tell us from the beginning that people could not actually receive eternal life until the hour of Christ’s glorification. b. Throughout the Gospel, Jesus declares to various people that he can give them eternal life if they would believe in him. c. He promises them the water of life, the bread of life, and the light of life. NOTE: But no one could really partake of these until after the Lord had risen. As a foretaste, as a sample, they could receive life via the Lord’s words because his words were themselves spirit and life (Jn 6:63). However, it was not until the Spirit would become available that believers could actually become the recipients of the divine, eternal life. After the Lord’s discourse in John 6, Jesus said: “It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing” (v 63). In the flesh Jesus could not give them the bread of life, but when the Spirit became available, they could have life. Again, Jesus offered the water of life—even life flowing like rivers of living water—to the Jews assembled at the Feast of Tabernacles. He told them to come and drink of him. But no one could, then and there, come and drink of him. So John added a note: “But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, for the Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified” (7:39). Once Jesus would be glorified through resurrection, the Spirit of the glorified Jesus would be available for people to drink. John 6, Jesus offered himself as the bread of life to be eaten by people. John 7, he offered himself as the water of life to refresh men. But no one could eat him or drink him until he became spirit, as was intimated in John 6:63 and then stated plainly in John 7:39. Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). In Tyndale Bible dictionary (pp. 1220–1221). Tyndale House Publishers.