Romans 8:9, the Spirit of Christ is not a new idea invented in the first century, he is the fulfillment of a promise God made centuries before, consider what the prophet Ezekiel wrote hundreds of years before Jesus was born, Ezekiel 36:26-27. A new heart and the Spirit within, that was the promise and then the prophet Joel said something even more startling, Joel 2:28. Pour out, not drip, not measure out, pour and on all flesh, not on kings, not on priests, on everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. And then centuries later, it happened, consider the street in Jerusalem, it is early morning and the city is filling with pilgrims from every nation, people who speak different languages and wear different clothes.
Suddenly a sound comes from a house, a sound like a violent wind and it fills the whole place and something like tongues of fire rests on 120 ordinary people in an upper room. And the crowd gathers confused, because every person is hearing these uneducated men speak in his own language. And Peter stands up and quotes the prophet Joel and says, this is what the prophet spoke, this is the pouring out, the new covenant had arrived. What was new was not that the Spirit existed, the Spirit had been active since the very beginning, hovering over the waters at creation, coming upon judges and prophets and kings. What was new, the Spirit now dwells permanently in every believer, not a visit, not a temporary anointing for a special task, a permanent indwelling.
That is the new covenant and that is what Paul is talking about in Romans chapter 8, when he says the Spirit of Christ dwells in you, he is not describing a rare experience for a spiritual elite, he is describing the new covenant reality for every person who belongs to Christ. The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are not two spirits, they are one Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, Paul uses the two names interchangeably in the same sentence, Romans 8:9, because he believes the Spirit belongs equally to the Father and to the Son, and God did not leave that reality to your feelings, he attached it to a guarantee. Consider a king’s table, a document is brought out and the king takes a ring and presses it into warm wax, the seal is the mark of ownership, it means this belongs to me, no one else can touch it.
Suddenly a sound comes from a house, a sound like a violent wind and it fills the whole place and something like tongues of fire rests on 120 ordinary people in an upper room. And the crowd gathers confused, because every person is hearing these uneducated men speak in his own language. And Peter stands up and quotes the prophet Joel and says, this is what the prophet spoke, this is the pouring out, the new covenant had arrived. What was new was not that the Spirit existed, the Spirit had been active since the very beginning, hovering over the waters at creation, coming upon judges and prophets and kings. What was new, the Spirit now dwells permanently in every believer, not a visit, not a temporary anointing for a special task, a permanent indwelling.
That is the new covenant and that is what Paul is talking about in Romans chapter 8, when he says the Spirit of Christ dwells in you, he is not describing a rare experience for a spiritual elite, he is describing the new covenant reality for every person who belongs to Christ. The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are not two spirits, they are one Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, Paul uses the two names interchangeably in the same sentence, Romans 8:9, because he believes the Spirit belongs equally to the Father and to the Son, and God did not leave that reality to your feelings, he attached it to a guarantee. Consider a king’s table, a document is brought out and the king takes a ring and presses it into warm wax, the seal is the mark of ownership, it means this belongs to me, no one else can touch it.