There is sense of what is called ‘spirit’, as is taught in the Book of Enoch, where there is a set of characteristics which define something, plus there is intent of something happening or coming into existence, and this goes back, apparently, to the way of thinking and seeing the world in very ancient times. God brings about such spirits—such defining sets of characteristics with intent of them coming into physical existence—which is the spirit of those things, and Jesus said he is there in existence before the birth of Abraham, who was born centuries before Jesus was born, in that he exists even before the ancient figure Abraham was born, not only as the set of characteristics defining the anointed one, the Christ, as a spirit, a defining set of characteristics, there in those times, but the divine intent of this spirit becoming flesh and blood one day, as Jesus, is also there. God defines Jesus and forms His intent that Jesus would come one day in flesh and blood, and so this spirit is there in existence in the universe, having existence in its own right. Now how does this understanding guide our lives? We are to live by spirit, not by flesh. How can we live by spirit in the sense of meaning of ‘spirit’ here? It is the spirit of what God defines as a set of characteristics for us, and the spirit of what God intends for us. And it is a spirit of saintliness. We are to live our lives aiming to become this set of characteristics which God has ordained for a saint, and we are to live lives within this intention of becoming saints with these characteristics: Saintly people who do not keep ethically failing, sinning, falling short, but live up to the kind of lives that God has revealed in the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. We do so as one, united by this shared spirit of it all.
