[Paul Miletus]

Originally Posted by Thankful Jane

I'm no longer with you on this. The Bible shows plainly that the "life-giving" Spirit already existed. The truth is that it was at this point that God accepted Christ's offering for sin (as evidenced by His resurrection) and we were able to believe God's forgiveness and receive the Holy Spirit. No change happened in the Holy Spirit so that it could become something it wasn't before this.

If the Bible shows plainly that the "life-giving" Spirit already existed, why then the following Scriptures say:

John 7:37-39
37On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as[a] the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

The Spirit became "a life-giving Spirit" only after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Through incarnation, the Lord Jesus was the "Immanuel" (God is with us); through death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus became "a life-giving Spirit" wherefore now He can come INTO us to those who believe in Him.

Brother Witness Lee clearly taught with regards to 1Corinthians 15:45 as follows:

Through creation Adam became a living soul with a soulish body. Through resurrection Christ became a life-giving Spirit with a spiritual body. Adam as a living soul is natural; Christ as a life-giving Spirit is resurrected. First, in incarnation He became flesh for redemption (John 1:14, 29); then, in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit for the imparting of life (John 10:10b). Through incarnation He had a soulish body, as Adam had; through resurrection He has a spiritual body. His soulish body has become a spiritual one through resurrection. Now He is a life-giving Spirit in resurrection, with a spiritual body, ready to be received by His believers. When we believe into Him, He enters our spirit, and we are joined to Him as the life-giving Spirit. Hence, we become one spirit with Him (6:17). Our spirit is made alive and is resurrected with Him. Eventually, our present soulish body will become a spiritual body in resurrection, just like His (vv. 52-54; Phil. 3:21).