Spirit at Rest, Body in Motion: The Living Paradox of Christ in Us

Resting in spirit. Moving in step. The life of Christ in motion through you.

Those unfamiliar with the exchanged life often raise a fair concern: “If you’re just resting in Christ, doesn’t that mean you’re doing nothing? Don’t we have responsibilities—commands to obey, people to serve, sins to resist?” The question is understandable. At first glance, resting in Christ can seem like disengaging. But Scripture reveals a deeper paradox: those who are at rest in spirit are often the most dynamically active in soul and body—yet their activity flows not from self-effort, but from divine Life.

The Distinction That Changes Everything: Spirit vs. Soul

To understand this, we must begin with the trichotomist view of man—spirit, soul, and body (1 Thess. 5:23). The spirit is the deepest part of our being, the place of union with God. At salvation, our spirit is joined to Christ (1 Cor. 6:17), made alive (Eph. 2:5), and sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13). It is not growing or striving. It is already perfected in union with Him (Heb. 10:14).

But the soul—comprised of mind, will, and emotions—is where sanctification plays out experientially. Our thoughts are renewed (Rom. 12:2), our choices become aligned with God’s will (Phil. 2:13), and our affections are transformed (Col. 3:1–2). The body, likewise, is a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1), animated to serve, give, and endure hardship for Christ.

The confusion arises when believers collapse the spirit and soul into one indistinct category (the dichotomist view). Without recognizing the already-completed union of the spirit with Christ, the Christian life becomes a constant effort to become what God says we are. In contrast, the trichotomist understanding allows us to rest in what is spiritually true while responding in soul and body as that truth expresses itself in our lives.

Rest is Not Inactivity — It Is Dependence

When Hebrews 4 speaks of entering God’s rest, it doesn’t imply spiritual inertia. The Greek word katapausis (κατάπαυσις) refers to cessation from striving—not from action, but from self-sourced effort. Hebrews 4:10 clarifies: “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” Just as God ceased creating on the seventh day, we cease striving in our own strength and yield to His life.

Paul lived this truth. He wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Yet Paul was anything but idle. He was beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and poured out for the sake of the gospel. But listen to how he describes his labor: “I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me” (Col. 1:29, NIV). The Greek word for “strenuously contend” is agonizomai (ἀγωνίζομαι)—to struggle or fight. The energy (energeian) was real—but it was not sourced in Paul’s flesh. It was “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27) doing the living.

Jesus Modeled This Life

The Lord Jesus, though fully God, lived as a man in perfect dependence upon the Father. He said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself… but whatever He sees the Father doing, these things the Son also does” (John 5:19). His works were many—He walked, healed, taught, prayed, and even wept. Yet He was always resting in the Father's will. His rest was not passivity; it was perfect responsiveness.

This is the model for us. “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). We live, not by mimicking Jesus in our own ability, but by allowing the same Spirit who indwelt Him to express His life through us.

The Obedience of Faith

Romans 1:5 speaks of the “obedience of faith”—not the obedience of striving. Faith does not nullify activity; it transforms its source. When we trust Christ to live His life through us, our obedience becomes the fruit of the Spirit, not the labor of the flesh. We don’t disengage from choices, responsibilities, or disciplines—we just stop trying to produce godliness from our old nature.

Faith is not passive. The Greek word pisteuō (πιστεύω) implies reliance, not mere assent. And faith works—literally. “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). But those works, when born of the Spirit, are alive, fruitful, and free from burden. They are the natural outflow of the indwelling Christ.

A Life of Overflow

When the woman at the well met Jesus, He promised that a spring would well up within her (John 4:14). The Greek word for “spring” is pēgē (πηγή)—a fountain, a bubbling source. That is the life of Christ within. It doesn’t need coaxing or pumping. It overflows. This is why we can be spiritually at rest and yet energized in our soul and body. The source is not us. The source is Him.

In Summary

The exchanged life does not deny the will, intellect, or bodily activity. It re-centers them in Christ. In spirit, we are at rest—complete, secure, joined to Him. In soul and body, we are responsive—renewed, led, and empowered by His indwelling life. We don’t “let go and let God” in the sense of disengagement. We walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), present our bodies (Rom. 12:1), and run the race (Heb. 12:1)—not in anxious effort, but in restful dependence.

So we proclaim with Paul:
“I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

That’s the paradox of Christ in us. Resting… while running. At peace… while laboring. Seated with Him in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)… while walking on earth as His hands and feet.