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Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:3-6; 12:2-5; 1 Cor. 1:2b, 9; 6:17; 12:13; 15:45b; 2 Cor. 13:14
Prayer: Lord, we worship and praise You that You are the One who operates among us in everything. We trust in You and believe that You are with us. We also have the confidence and assurance that we are under Your care. Lord, we are nothing, we have nothing, and we can do nothing. But praise You that we have You as the all-inclusive Christ. Today we are coming to Your Word to learn of You and to learn how to experience and enjoy You. Lord, do open Yourself to us. We trust in You for Your move and Your work. Lord, we remember those saints who are now moving and working in Moscow. Lord, do remember them. We thank You for this moment, for Your presence, and for all things. Amen.
In the previous chapters we have seen the way to receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit in the book of Galatians and the Gospel of John. In this chapter we will begin to see the way to receive, experience, and enjoy Christ in the rest of the books of the New Testament.
First, we will consider sixteen items related to the way in Romans, 1 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians. The way to receive, experience, and enjoy Christ as the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God in these books is related to the Spirit. The blessing is the Spirit, and the way to experience and enjoy such a Spirit is also the Spirit. On the one hand, the Spirit is the blessing, and on the other hand, the Spirit is the way for us to participate in the blessing. Both the blessing and the way are the all-inclusive Spirit, and this Spirit is the consummation of the processed Triune God.
The first item in Romans concerning the way to receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit is to walk according to the spirit (Rom. 8:3-4). The word walk in Greek means to have one’s being, to move, and to act. It denotes the general walk in our living. To walk according to the spirit is to have one’s being not merely by or through the spirit but according to the spirit.
Strictly speaking, we should not express anything that is not according to the spirit. If we are asked whether something is right or wrong, we should not answer yes or no. We should answer according to the spirit. Naturally, I am a quick and frank person, especially with my wife. But I have learned the lesson that I should not answer my wife according to yes or no but according to the Lord.
We must do everything according to the spirit. We must comb our hair not according to our barber’s instructions but according to the spirit. Everything we say and do must be according to the spirit. We might pray in a very spiritual way and might be able to speak very well, using many spiritual terms, but our appearance might be according to the modern fashion of this age, not according to the spirit. To do something according to another person’s instructions is very difficult. A person may be a very good child or student, but it is difficult for a child to do everything according to his parents or for a student to do everything according to his teacher. It is easy to do things according to our own opinion. We should have our being not just by Christ but also according to Christ.
In Romans 8:3-4 Paul says, “That which the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.” The law was ineffective because it was weak through the flesh. Because of this, God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin. The phrase the flesh of sin in this verse and the word flesh in John 1:14 are negative terms. The flesh that Christ, as the Word of God, became is the flesh of sin, but this does not mean that Christ had any sin within His flesh. In Romans 8:3 Paul says that Christ was “in the likeness of the flesh of sin,” implying that Christ had the likeness, the form, of the flesh of sin, but He did not have the reality of the sin of the flesh. God condemned sin in the flesh through Christ’s death on the cross in the likeness of the flesh of sin, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk according to the spirit.
To have our being merely according to the written word of the Bible is inadequate. If we had ten times as many words as are presently in the Bible, it would still be inadequate. But just the single phrase according to the spirit encompasses everything. There is not a verse in the Bible that tells us how to comb our hair. But if we walk according to the spirit, the Holy Spirit not only will bother us about the way we comb our hair but also will touch our attitude and intention. By walking according to the spirit, we enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, who is the blessing of the gospel. Thus, the Spirit is not only the blessing but also the way.
We receive, experience, and enjoy Christ also by setting our mind on the spirit (vv. 5-6). Romans 8:4 tells us to walk according to the spirit, and verse 6 tells us to set our mind on the spirit. We should not do anything that is not according to the spirit, and we should not think anything without our mind being set on the spirit. Every person, even a little child, is controlled by his mind. Whenever we begin to think about something, we as seeking Christians should always check whether or not our mind is set on the spirit. If our mind is not set on the spirit, the source of our thinking is wrong. If our mind is not set on the spirit, it is surely set on the flesh. The flesh is contrary to the Spirit (Gal. 5:17). Because our mind is fallen, whatever we think when our mind is set on the flesh is an offense to God (Rom. 8:7).
The spirit mentioned in Romans 8:4-6 refers to the regenerated spirit, which is indwelt by and mingled with the Holy Spirit. In his New Translation, John Nelson Darby says that in many verses in the New Testament one cannot discern whether the spirit refers to the human spirit or the Holy Spirit. He then says that the spirit in verses such as Romans 8:4-6 refers to both the human spirit and the divine Spirit. In addition to this, I would say that the spirit in these verses refers to the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit.
Today, we no longer have a single, independent spirit; we have a mingled spirit. Such a mingled spirit is troublesome to us. Very often we are troubled by the mingled spirit. At certain times I would like to say something unpleasant to my wife, but as I am about to speak, something bothers me within, and I have to stop without finishing my statement. Instead of saying something unpleasant, I change my tone and begin to praise the Lord. Because of this behavior, I may seem to be mysterious. Actually, I have such behavior because I have a mingled spirit. Every proper Christian is a mystery, and within every proper Christian there is a mystery — the mingled spirit. We must learn to walk according to the spirit and to set our mind on this spirit. When we set our mind on the spirit, we have life and peace (v. 6). These are signs of our enjoyment of Christ.
The way to receive, experience, and enjoy Christ in the book of Romans includes three things: first, walking according to the spirit; second, setting our mind on the spirit; and third, the renewing of our mind. The renewing of our mind is for the transformation of our soul so that we may know the will of God concerning the Body life (12:2-5). The mind is the leading part of the soul. When the leading part of the soul is renewed, the entire soul will be transformed. The purpose of transformation is that we may know the will of God. The will of God in Romans 12:2 is not His will related to our daily affairs but His will concerning the Body life, the church life.
The book of Romans, which is the gospel of God (1:1), has four sections. The first section is on justification (chs. 1—4); the second section is on the full realization of being in Christ (chs. 5—8); the third section is on God’s selection (chs. 9—11); and the fourth section is on the Body life, issuing in local churches (chs. 12—16). First, we must experience justification, both objectively and subjectively. Then we must have the full realization of being in Christ. Today we are no longer in Adam; we are now in Christ. With this realization, we then need to experience the Body life and live a proper local church life.
Romans 12 is on the Body life. Verse 5 says, “So we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” We need to live the Body life. In order to live such a life, all the members must have their minds renewed. This renewing will cause us to be persons who know God’s will concerning the Body life, the church life.
The Lord’s recovery has stressed the Body life since 1939. In 1934 Brother Nee held a conference concerning Christ as God’s centrality and universality. At that time my eyes were opened, and my Christian life took a big turn from doctrines and knowledge to a living person, Christ, who is God’s centrality and universality. Five years later, after his return from Europe, Brother Nee called a conference and began to give messages on knowing the Body of Christ. These messages caused me to have another turn. My first turn was to know Christ, and my second turn was to know His Body. To know Christ is only half of what we need. We also must know the Body of Christ. Christ is the Head (Eph. 1:22), and He is also the Body (1 Cor. 12:12).
The way to enjoy Christ is by participating in the fellowship of Christ as our portion (1:2b, 9). First Corinthians 1:2b says, “To those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours.” The meaning of the phrase who is theirs and ours is that Christ is the portion of both the saints in Corinth and the saints who “call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place.” If I say that a certain thing is mine, I indicate that it is my possession. In the same way, the phrase who is theirs and ours indicates that Christ is the portion possessed by all the saints.
First Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” The fellowship of Christ is the participation in Christ, the enjoyment of Christ. Today we are participating in Christ. Every day we enjoy Him as our portion. We enjoy the all-inclusive Spirit as the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God by participating in the fellowship of Christ as our portion.
The way to enjoy Christ is also by partaking of Christ as power and wisdom to us from God (vv. 24, 30). In order to achieve anything, we need power and wisdom. Power is the ability, and wisdom is the way. According to 1 Corinthians 1:30, Christ is wisdom to us from God as righteousness for our past, as sanctification for our present, and as redemption for our future. Christ is first our power, and then He is our wisdom, that is, our way. His being power to us from God means that there is now a transmission taking place from God to us (Eph. 1:19-22). The electricity that flows from the power plant to a building illustrates how power and wisdom are transmitted to us from God.
Without the transmission of power and wisdom to us from God, we do not have any power or wisdom. Every day the power and wisdom of God are being transmitted from God the Giver to us the enjoyers. In the morning I may be in the transmission, but at noon I may be out of the transmission. We must learn to remain in this transmission hour after hour, day by day, all the time. Power and wisdom are continually being given to us from God. It is not a once-and-for-all matter. Our enjoyment of this continual transmission is the way to enjoy Christ.
We enjoy Christ also by partaking of Christ as the Lamb of the passover and the unleavened bread that we may become a new lump (1 Cor. 5:7-8). The passover lamb was for redemption and initial feeding. The Israelites took the lamb, slew it, shed its blood, and cut the meat of the lamb into pieces. The blood of the lamb was for the redemption of the Israelites, and the meat of the lamb was their food. After the passover they had to immediately walk out of Egypt. In order to walk out of Egypt they needed strength, and their eating of the lamb supplied them with the needed strength.
The passover lamb was eaten with unleavened bread (Exo. 12:8). According to their constitution, the children of Israel were completely leavened; that is, they were constituted sinners (Rom. 5:19a). But after their eating of the passover lamb with the unleavened bread, they were cleansed and began to have an unleavened constitution. This change in constitution came about because of the change in their diet.
From the time of our regeneration we began to have a new constitution. Christ as the unleavened bread became our unleavened food to reconstitute us so that we may become a new lump. Before regeneration we were an old lump, full of leaven. But now we have become a new lump, because we are becoming unleavened. This new lump is the church.
In Leviticus 23 two loaves of bread baked with leaven were presented to the Lord on the day of Pentecost (vv. 15-17). These two loaves signify the church in two sections, one section being of the Jews, represented by the Jews at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), and the other section being of the Gentiles, represented by the house of Cornelius (10:24, 44). The two loaves included leaven because both the Jewish and Gentile believers still have sin. By eating Christ as the unleavened bread, we become unleavened. We must eat Christ as the Lamb and as the unleavened bread. As the Lamb, He is for our strengthening and support. As the unleavened bread, He causes us to be unleavened constitutionally, making us a new lump.
We enjoy Christ also by being joined to the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). First Corinthians 6:17 is one of the highest verses in the entire Bible. Today we as fallen human beings can become one spirit with the Lord. Although this may seem difficult to believe, it is nevertheless a fact. Because Paul wrote such a word in his Epistle, we must believe that we are one spirit with the Lord, who is the all-inclusive, life-giving, compound, indwelling, processed, and consummated Spirit. Because we are one spirit with Him, we experience His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. This is the way to enjoy Christ.
We enjoy the all-inclusive Christ also by eating the spiritual food and drinking the spiritual drink (10:3-4). The spiritual food is typified by the manna (Exo. 16:4, 14-15, 35), and the spiritual drink is typified by the water that flowed out of the cleft rock (17:6; Num. 20:10-11). Today we have Christ as our manna, and we have the Holy Spirit out of the crucified Christ as our drink. To eat and drink in this way is to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ.
Another way to receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ is by drinking the Spirit. First Corinthians 12:13 says, “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” This verse says that we are one Body because we all were baptized in the one Spirit. The Spirit was first the means through which we were baptized into the one Body. Now that we have been baptized into the Body through the one Spirit, we should continually drink the same Spirit. We have been given by Christ to drink the one Spirit, in whom we have all been baptized. The Spirit in whom we have been baptized and whom we are now drinking has two aspects, the outward and the inward. The Spirit in the outward aspect is the economical Spirit, and the Spirit in the inward aspect is the essential Spirit. We are baptized in the economical Spirit, and we drink the essential Spirit. Thus, baptism is economical, and drinking is essential.
We enjoy the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God also by partaking of Christ as the life-giving Spirit (15:45b). The incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Christ has become the life-giving Spirit. We must partake of Him as the life-giving Spirit every day.
We enjoy the all-inclusive Christ also by the anointing, sealing, and pledging of the Spirit (2 Cor. 1:21-22). Anointing is horizontal, but sealing is vertical. The anointing of the Spirit permeates us horizontally, and the sealing of the Spirit saturates us vertically by reaching deeply into our being. The pledging of the Spirit is the first taste, a sample, of the Spirit. The anointing, sealing, and pledging reveal three aspects of the one Spirit today. The Spirit is on us as the anointing Spirit, He is within us as the sealing Spirit, and He is with us as the pledging Spirit. The anointing Spirit is permeating us, the sealing Spirit is saturating us, and the pledging Spirit is the guarantee, the first taste, the sample, given to us for our enjoyment. This anointing, sealing, and pledging is the way for us to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ.
The way to enjoy Christ is also by the life-giving Spirit as the writing ink in our ministry (3:6b, 3). Second Corinthians 3:3 says, “Since you are being manifested that you are a letter of Christ ministered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone but in tablets of hearts of flesh.” This verse refers not only to the believers who receive the apostles’ ministry but also to the ministers who minister the word of God to others. Both the believers and the ministers should be written on by Christ with the life-giving Spirit as the writing ink. Today we are under the writing of the life-giving Spirit. The more Christ writes upon us with the inking Spirit, the more we enjoy the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the gospel.
I can surely testify that the more I speak, the more I am written upon. Today there is writing going on within me. When I began to write the outlines for these messages concerning the way to enjoy Christ, a great deal of writing took place within me. The more I wrote, the more writing took place within me. It is in this way that we become ministers of the word. The ministry comes out of the inward writing of Christ with the Spirit as the writing ink. This writing Spirit is the life-giving Spirit.
We enjoy the all-inclusive Christ also by beholding the glory of the Lord for our transformation from the Lord Spirit with the element of the Lord into His image from glory to glory (v. 18). Today we all need to have an unveiled face, a face not covered by any veil. With such an unveiled face we can behold the glory of the Lord. The more we behold the glory of the Lord in this way, the more we are transformed from the Lord Spirit. The phrase from the Lord Spirit indicates a transmission. As we are beholding the Lord, a transmission takes place. This transmission is from the Lord Spirit with the element of the Lord. Transformation requires the addition of another element; without such an addition, transformation cannot take place. Through the transmission from the Lord Spirit, within whom is the element of the Lord, we are transformed from glory to glory.
We are all busy in the morning, but we must do our best to save ten or fifteen minutes each day to behold the Lord. To do this is not a waste of time. If possible, we should reduce our time for sleep. If we normally rise at six o’clock in the morning, we can gain fifteen minutes by rising fifteen minutes earlier. If we take another ten minutes from the time given to our business, we can have a total of twenty-five minutes for beholding the Lord each day. By beholding Him we will receive an element from the Lord that will transform us into the glorious image of Christ, even from glory to glory. This is the way to enjoy Christ.
Another way to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ is by being renewed in our inner man day by day (4:16). Today we stress the matters of being revived every morning and of overcoming every day. However, Paul’s word is that we must be “renewed day by day.” We must not merely overcome; we must also be renewed. Daily our outer man is decaying, is being consumed, and our inner man is being renewed. This renewing of our inner man is of the Spirit within our spirit. This also is a way to enjoy Christ.
Another way for us to enjoy Christ is by being renewed as the new creation in Christ (5:17). Formerly, we were the old creation in Adam. Because we have been transferred out of Adam into Christ, we are now a new creation in Christ. This transfer is not only outward but also inward. The inward transfer is the renewing. We are being renewed from the old creation into the new creation. The New Testament uses the word renew quite often (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23; Col. 3:10; Titus 3:5). If we are to experience the renewing of the mind, the renewing in the spirit of our mind, the renewing of the new man, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, we must be renewed in our inner man day by day. All these aspects of renewing are for us to enjoy Christ as the Spirit.
We can enjoy Christ as the Spirit also by the fellowship of the Spirit in the enjoyment of the Divine Trinity. Second Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” The grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit are all for our enjoyment. God’s love is embodied in Christ’s grace, and Christ’s grace is dispensed by the fellowship of the Spirit. Today as we are in the fellowship of the Spirit, we participate in the grace of Christ and enjoy the love of God. This enjoyment of the Divine Trinity is altogether in the fellowship of the Spirit, which is in our spirit. Therefore, we must learn the lesson either to remain in our spirit or to come back to our spirit. We must learn not to be absent from our spirit. If we find ourselves away from the spirit, we should do our best to come back to the spirit. In our spirit we meet the Spirit of fellowship. By the fellowship of this Spirit we participate in the enjoyment of the Triune God in every way. This enjoyment is the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God.
