About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman

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The Holy Spirit, 
The Spirit Of Christ

If I recall anything from my Free Methodist Church roots it's "you must be born again" (John 3:7).  I must accept God's deletion of my sins, His declaration of being in right standing before Him so I could invite Jesus into my heart and be reborn into the Kingdom of God .  So what does it mean to invite Jesus into my heart as my Methodist heritage instructed me?         

Just prior to His human death, Jesus told His disciples that He must leave them.  He then said, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18).  A bit later He said that "it is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you" (John 16:7).

As quoted above, John 14:18 says that Jesus would return to the disciples while John 16:7 says He would send the Advocate to them that John 14:16 and 17 says is the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit as stated in John 14:26. 

Here's the question.  Who entered the disciples' lives on the Day of Pentecost, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?  Since in Romans 8:9 and 1Peter 1:11 Paul and Peter believed the Holy Spirit is the "Spirit of Christ" as well as the Spirit of God, I conclude that Jesus entered the disciples on the Day of Pentecost in Spirit form.  It was then they were born again into the Kingdom of God .  It was then when Jesus returned to them as promised.  It's the mystery of  what we have called "the Trinity."      

A few days prior to the Day of Pentecost, as we read in John 20:22, Jesus breathed on the disciples and said "Receive the Holy Spirit."  I believe this was a prophetic portrayal that was fulfilled when the wind of the Holy Spirit, or the breath of the Spirit of Christ entered the disciples (Acts 2:4).  In like manner, when Jesus responds to your invitation to enter your heart, He lives within you in Spirit form because the Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of Christ.      

Postscript

It's interesting that the word "breathed" in John 20:22 (Jesus breathed) is a variation of the same Greek word that is translated as "wind" (mighty wind) in Acts 2:2.  This similarity didn't have to be since both "breathed" and "wind" could have been translated from different Greek words.  This might suggest a connection between the two passages.           

Scripture References 

John 3:7

"You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again."

John 14:16 - 17

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—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 in you."

John 14:26

"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."

Acts 2:4

"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."

Romans 8:9

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

"... 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."  

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