In search of the Spirit of Christ - how many Spirits/spirits are there?

[St. SteVen]

A discussion about this began/continued on another topic.

Who ARE "the prophets" in Ephesians 2:20?

Warranted its own topic. This will be a bit of a sketchpad for anyone that wants to participate.
I certainly don't have all the answers on this. Been discussing it for years.

Even the Greek Scholar Bible translators don't understand it. And relegate it to the discernment of the reader.
Discernment of course, is a difficult thing to measure in any tangible way.

Basically we understand the Trinitarian doctrine of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
But the Bible uses the word Spirit/spirit in many ways. And even Spirit is not used consistently.
Worse than that, we are presented with MANY spirits/Spirits.
Do we assume the Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit, or something else? Many questions arise.

For now I want to focus on the Spirit of Christ. There again, is this the same as the Holy Spirit, or something else.
And to be clear, I am not proposing additional members be added to the Trinity. Just trying to get a handle on this.
I'll pick up where I left off in the other topic, the Spirit of Christ.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are a few obvious ones. I will start from there and work it out.

Romans 8:9 NIV
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh
but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

1 Peter 1:11 NIV
trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them
was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

Philippians 1:19 NIV
for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ
what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.[a]

Acts 16:7 NIV
When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia,
but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.


I saw a few more promising inroads. But I will begin by digesting this.

Context of Rom.8:9

Romans 8:9-11 NIV
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh
but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death
because of sin, the Spirit gives life[a] because of righteousness.
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you,
he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies because of[b] his Spirit who lives in you.

/

 

[St. SteVen]

There is a lot to unpack in this one verse. Let's start there.

Romans 8:9 NIV
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh
but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

- We are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit. What Spirit?
- In the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. So, the Spirit of God?
- Is the Spirit of God the same as the Holy Spirit, or something else? Continue...
- If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. Have?
- Does "have" mean "lives in you", or something else?

We are in the realm of the Spirit because the Spirit of God lives in us.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ.

?????

Got it? - LOL

I guess we need to unpack the context?

/

 

[St. SteVen]

Continued from post #2

We tried to unpack Rm.8:9 in the previous post. Let's see if the context helps.

Romans 8:9-11 NIV
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh
but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death
because of sin, the Spirit gives life[a] because of righteousness.
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you,
he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies because of[b] his Spirit who lives in you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Starting with verse 10...

- If Christ is in you, the Spirit gives life. What Spirit? The Spirit of Christ, or the Holy Spirit?
- The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
because of his Spirit who lives in you. Which Spirit raised Christ from the dead?
Which Spirit indwells us?

This was easier to understand when the Spirit was assumed to be the Holy Spirit.
Now it is not clear at all. (send help)

- What Spirit is in us? The Spirit of Christ, or the Holy Spirit?
- What Spirit raised Christ from the dead?

Would more context help?

/

 

[St. SteVen]

Continued from post#3

More context.

Romans 8:12-13 NIV
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Therefore... we have an obligation to live according to the Spirit.
Even though it is not clear what Spirit that is.
- The Holy Spirit?
- The Spirit of Christ?
- The Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead?

Fortunately, I don't anticipate that any of these Spirits would be in conflict with each other.
If we are led by the Spirit, it matters not what label we attach, I suppose.

Verse nine (pasted below) seems to throw a monkey wrench in the works.
Without that, this would be fairly straight forward.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Romans 8:9 NIV
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh
but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

/ @Hillsage

 

[St. SteVen]

Let's look at the other two key verses from the OP. (opening post)

1 Peter 1:11 NIV
trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them
was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

Philippians 1:19 NIV
for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ
what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.[a]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beginning with 1Pet.1:11 let's check the near context.
This is an interesting reference to the OT Prophets and specifically to Isaiah.

1 Peter 1:10-12 NIV
Concerning this salvation, the prophets,
who spoke of the grace that was to come to you,
searched intently and with the greatest care,
11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which
the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted
the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.
12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you,
when they spoke of the things that have now been told you
by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit
sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And the context of Phil.1:19
No clues here as to the significance, other than the obvious.

Philippians 1:18-20 NIV
But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way,
whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,
19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me
will turn out for my deliverance.[a]
20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed,
but will have sufficient courage so that now as always
Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

/

 

[MatthewG]

The Spirit of Christ, seems more of the conforming in allowing him to live in and through your flesh by the way that he had lived his life in love for God and others.

10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain[a] to the resurrection from the dead.

The Holy Spirit of God, seems more of God calling out to the world, to come to him.

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

People partake of this living water, which is taking on Jesus who is the everlasting waters, and everlasting bread of life.

 

[St. SteVen]

Let that rest for a bit while we tackle the other aspect of how many spirits.
We will have both positive and negative spirits. Like the spirit of antichrist or an impure spirit.

The Spirit of truth. Which seems synonymous with the Holy Spirit, the advocate.

John 14:16-18 NIV
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate
to help you and be with you forever—
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him,
because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you.
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

The Spirit of holiness. Who is this?

Romans 1:3-5 NIV
regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life[a] was a descendant of David,
4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power[b]
by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles
to the obedience that comes from[c] faith for his name’s sake.

The Spirit (Or a spirit) of wisdom and revelation.

Ephesians 1:17 NIV
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,
may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

The Spirit of grace.

Hebrews 10:29 NIV
How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who
has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood
of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

The Spirit of glory.

1 Peter 4:14 NIV
If you are insulted because of the name of Christ,
you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

The Spirit of prophecy.

At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me,
“Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters
who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!
For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”

/

 

[amigo de christo]

THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY IS INDEED the TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST .
so , hey st steven , how come so many are now heeding this other love prophecy which actually says
muslims and other religoins be serving the same God we do and that there is no need for them to repent and believe JESUS is THE CHRIST
but rather just have love and lets all just get along . CAUSE THAT DENIES THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY . exactly .
JUSt a friendly reminder to all to NOT HEED that dung pile all inclusive false love broad road to GOD lie .

 

[St. SteVen]

THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY IS INDEED the TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST .
so , hey st steven , how come so many are now heeding this other love prophecy which actually says
muslims and other religoins be serving the same God we do and that there is no need for them to repent and believe JESUS is THE CHRIST
but rather just have love and lets all just get along . CAUSE THAT DENIES THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY . exactly .
JUSt a friendly reminder to all to NOT HEED that dung pile all inclusive false love broad road to GOD lie .

That's a favorite claim of Seventh Day Adventism. Is EGW your Prophet?

If that was leveled at me in regards to UR, I would say it shows a deep level of ignorance.
You have been following my topics long enough to be better educated in UR by now.
But I will be patient with you and straighten out some of your misconceptions,

Ultimate Redemption (UR) does NOT claim:
- Islam and other religions have the same God as Christianity
- "there is no need for them to repent and believe JESUS is THE CHRIST"

Ultimate Redemption (UR) does claim:
- Salvation is ONLY through Jesus Christ
- Every knee will bow and every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord.
on earth, in heaven and under the earth. (in the realm of the dead)
- This is an act of repentance that restores a relationship with God.
- Everyone will answer for every idle word and sinful deed.
- There will be an age of Restoration for everyone.
- The purpose being to correct, restore and redeem all of humankind.

/

 

[amigo de christo]

That's a favorite claim of Seventh Day Adventism. Is EGW your Prophet?

If that was leveled at me in regards to UR, I would say it shows a deep level of ignorance.
You have been following my topics long enough to be better educated in UR by now.
But I will be patient with you and straighten out some of your misconceptions,

Ultimate Redemption (UR) does NOT claim:
- Islam and other religions have the same God as Christianity
- "there is no need for them to repent and believe JESUS is THE CHRIST"

Ultimate Redemption (UR) does claim:
- Salvation is ONLY through Jesus Christ
- Every knee will bow and every tongue will acknowledge the Jesus is Lord.
on earth, in heaven and under the earth. (in the realm of the dead)
- This is an act of repentance that restores a relationship with God.
- Everyone will answer for ever idle word and sinful deed.
- There will be an age of Restoration for everyone.
- The purpose being to correct, restore and redeem all of humankind.

/

Feel free to ask the adventists on this site about ol amigo .
A hint , i wouldnt follow ol ellen to burger king . Amigo no follow that .
But do go ask some . They know . for i have spoken against that place too .
But thanks for allowing me the time to expose it . OH since we are on that note , be sure and NOT sit under the RCC
cause deadly she is and highly deceptive are her ways . Ps , i wont bring the entire list of who to flee from .
Its just far too long . A massive great delusoin is now taking them all under guise o love and unity .
And it will take all not in the lambs book of life right into the final lie that will cause them to rise as one
with the other religoins too . To come as one voice , one mind , one heart , a unified people of the dark one
TO COME against the last true lambs standing , who conformned not to the lie . My advice , IF you in any of them places
GET OUT . let us learn the bible well and not through their lens and their doctrines . Hurry . my desire is good for you .
Thus i warn . Flee them places for the end of them is destruction and perdition . This i say with great love and urgency .

 

[Bob Estey]

A discussion about this began/continued on another topic.

Who ARE "the prophets" in Ephesians 2:20?

Warranted its own topic. This will be a bit of a sketchpad for anyone that wants to participate.
I certainly don't have all the answers on this. Been discussing it for years.

Even the Greek Scholar Bible translators don't understand it. And relegate it to the discernment of the reader.
Discernment of course, is a difficult thing to measure in any tangible way.

Basically we understand the Trinitarian doctrine of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
But the Bible uses the word Spirit/spirit in many ways. And even Spirit is not used consistently.
Worse than that, we are presented with MANY spirits/Spirits.
Do we assume the Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit, or something else? Many questions arise.

For now I want to focus on the Spirit of Christ. There again, is this the same as the Holy Spirit, or something else.
And to be clear, I am not proposing additional members be added to the Trinity. Just trying to get a handle on this.
I'll pick up where I left off in the other topic, the Spirit of Christ.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are a few obvious ones. I will start from there and work it out.

Romans 8:9 NIV
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh
but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

1 Peter 1:11 NIV
trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them
was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

Philippians 1:19 NIV
for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ
what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.[a]

Acts 16:7 NIV
When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia,
but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.


I saw a few more promising inroads. But I will begin by digesting this.

Context of Rom.8:9

Romans 8:9-11 NIV
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh
but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death
because of sin, the Spirit gives life[a] because of righteousness.
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you,
he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies because of[b] his Spirit who lives in you.

/

I believe there is one God. We should all be trying to get to know him.

 

[St. SteVen]

I believe there is one God. We should all be trying to get to know him.

Are you indwelt by the Spirit of Christ?

/

 

[St. SteVen]

Feel free to ask the adventists on this site about ol amigo .
A hint , i wouldnt follow ol ellen to burger king . Amigo no follow that .
But do go ask some . They know . for i have spoken against that place too .

You have spoken against Burger King? - LOL

/

 

[Bob Estey]

Are you indwelt by the Spirit of Christ?

/

It would seem so. I believe Christ is God in flesh.

 

[amigo de christo]

You have spoken against Burger King? - LOL

/

yea rather i have mocked to the T and to the Z the madre of a false religoin birthed in darkness .
It simply means i would not trust a word out of that mouth .

 

[amigo de christo]

You have spoken against Burger King? - LOL

/

TRY offering up TRUE HOPE . but to do that ya better TRULY KNOW HE WHO DOES SAVE .
TIME TO PREACH JESUS CHRIST , NOT UNIVERSALISM , BUT RATHER JESUS CHRIST .
JESUS SAVES ,THAT I KNOW , false hope saves not .

 

[amigo de christo]

I believe there is one God. We should all be trying to get to know him.

Well we sure wont and cant know him through false religoins . SO that rules out mulsims , atheist , buddists and any other .
HOW do we KNOW we KNOW HIM .
How do we know the jesus we follow IS JESUS CHRIST and not rather just another jesus
HOW do we know the gospel we believe IS THE GOSPEL and not just another gospel .
My friend , i allow YOU the floor . GO ahead , type away , tell me HOW does one know
the GOD , THE CHRIST , THE SPIRIT , THE GOSPEL they do believe in , IS THE TRUTH . IS OF GOD , IS OF JESUS CHRIST .
Do allow me some parting words . TWO parting words . and let us do this for ourselves and not rather through the lens of men .
BIBLE TIME .

 

[amigo de christo]

It would seem so. I believe Christ is God in flesh.

while true this statment is .............................if i had but a nickle for every denomination that says this
and yet DONT FOLLOW HIM , Lets just say i could have fed most all the poor of this world .
WEE BIT MORE TO IT my friend .
So allow me some parting words . words about a man i once knew .
These words will seem harsh , but believe me i dont desire the death of this man i will speak about .
There once was a man , who could quoate the gospel , could say that JESUS too was GOD in flesh
but that demon filled wicked whore of a man was still lost and dire wicked . HE was satans son
the son of darkness , the son of great evil . the man was a hog , a pig , filthy and just evil .
OH he could appear to be kind , loving , he could give to the poor
he could quoate some scrips as though they were written on the back of his hand .
BUT HE WAS A DEVIL in prada , in diguise . He loved his sin NOT GOD , NOT CHRIST .
PRAISE GOD HE DIED . Now the man you speak to today , ME , the new man in CHRIST
marches onward , hating the flesh , not justifying my sins , but a whole new creature . TOLD YA I DIDNT DESIRE HIS DEATH .
IT WAS ME DUDE .

 

[amigo de christo]

YE MUST be BORN AGAIN
LIP ONLY AINT SQUAT . the grace , the true grace of GOD , given to TRUE BELIEVERS , well that ACTUALLY CHANGES ONE

 

[Bob Estey]

Well we sure wont and cant know him through false religoins . SO that rules out mulsims , atheist , buddists and any other .
HOW do we KNOW we KNOW HIM .
How do we know the jesus we follow IS JESUS CHRIST and not rather just another jesus
HOW do we know the gospel we believe IS THE GOSPEL and not just another gospel .
My friend , i allow YOU the floor . GO ahead , type away , tell me HOW does one know
the GOD , THE CHRIST , THE SPIRIT , THE GOSPEL they do believe in , IS THE TRUTH . IS OF GOD , IS OF JESUS CHRIST .
Do allow me some parting words . TWO parting words . and let us do this for ourselves and not rather through the lens of men .
BIBLE TIME .

We can get to know him through prayer, remembering that listening to the Lord is a a key element of prayer.