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Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:2, 6, 9-11; 1 Cor. 12:13; 3:16; 6:17; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 3:17-18; 13:14; Gal. 3:14; 1:16; 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:8, 17-19; Phil. 1:19-21a; 1 John 2:27; Heb. 7:25; 8:6
I. Christ, the last Adam, passed through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit — 1 Cor. 15:45.
II. Christ, the life-giving Spirit, as the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ, who is Christ Himself, first enters into the believers’ spirit to make their spirit life. He then spreads from their spirit to their mind, making their mind life also, and finally gives life to their mortal body so that their whole being — spirit, soul, and body — is saturated by Him as the Spirit of life and is sanctified and conformed to the image of Him as the firstborn Son of God to become the many sons of God, being His living members to build up His Body to be His corporate expression — Rom. 8:2, 6, 9-11, 8:29; 15:16; 12:5.
III. After His ascension He baptized all His believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, in Him as the all-inclusive Spirit into one Body and gave them to drink one Spirit. In this way they become the temple for Him to dwell in them as the Spirit and are joined to Him as the Spirit to become one spirit, that He may become wisdom to them from God: power, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and everything — 1 Cor. 12:13; 3:16; 6:17; 1:24, 30.
IV. With this all-inclusive Spirit He anoints His believers, sealing them and giving them this Spirit within them as the pledge of their enjoyment of God as their inheritance. This Spirit also becomes the ink (the essence and element) with which is written into them the all-inclusive Christ. As the all-inclusive Lord in resurrection, who is the all-inclusive Spirit, He releases us from the bondage of the law and ordinances, that we, with an unveiled face, may behold His glory, may be transformed into His image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. In this way we can enjoy the riches of the Triune God — the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit — 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 3:3, 17-18; 13:14.
V. He, as the pneumatic Christ, being the blessing of the gospel promised by God, has been revealed in the believers, lives in them, and is being formed in them, that they may live to God by Him as the Spirit — Gal. 3:14; 1:16; 2:19, 2:20; 4:19; 5:25.
VI. He, as the pneumatic Christ, who has ascended to the heavens and has been exalted by God as the Lord, being the Head of the church, will make His home in the hearts of the believers with His unsearchable riches, that they may be strong to apprehend with all the saints His breadth, length, height, and depth, that they may be filled unto all the fullness of God — the full expression of God, the built-up church, as the Body of Christ who fills all in all. This becomes the holy temple of God, the dwelling place of God in our spirit, the universal new man accomplishing God’s eternal purpose, the counterpart of Christ satisfying Christ’s desire, and the spiritual warrior withstanding God’s enemy — Eph. 1:20-23; 3:8, 16-19; 2:21-22; 4:24; 5:31-32; 6:11-13.
VII. He, as the pneumatic Christ, is also the Spirit of Jesus Christ who was incarnated, put on humanity, passed through human living, died, and resurrected. As such, He has the bountiful supply to enable those who believe in Him and who live in Him to suffer with Him under all kinds of circumstances by His resurrection power and in conformity to His death in order that they may live Him and magnify Him and be able to do all things in Him through His empowering, gaining Him as the righteousness of God manifested in them — Phil. 1:19-21a; 3:10; 4:13; 3:8-9.
VIII. He, as the compound Spirit of such a processed, all-inclusive, life-dispensing Triune God, being typified by the holy ointment in Exodus 30:23-25, abides in us as the anointing of the Triune God for the purpose that we would abide in the Son and live in the fellowship of the Father, receiving the anointing of this all-inclusive compound Spirit to enjoy the eternal life, overcoming sin, the world, and Satan, to live out God’s inward love and outward righteousness — 6, 1 John 2:20, 23-29; 1:5; 3:9; 5:1, 5:4, 18; 4:7.
IX. At the same time, He, as the ascended Christ, is the High Priest in the heavenly tabernacle, interceding for the believers that they would be saved to the uttermost, and the Mediator of the new covenant, executing the testament of the new covenant, supplying the believers with the heavenly life, that they may live a heavenly life on earth and may cooperate with Him as the heavenly Christ to carry out His heavenly ministry on earth — Heb. 4:14-16; 7:22, 7:25-26; 8:1-2, 8:6; 9:15-17.
There are twenty-seven books in the New Testament. In addition to the four Gospels, the Acts, and Revelation, there are twenty-one Epistles. What do these twenty-one Epistles speak about? Bible readers may have read them many times without apprehending the crucial points. However, we must not forget that the subject of the New Testament is Christ. He is a mysterious God-man. These Epistles speak of this God-man in seemingly simple words. The words in these Epistles seem simple, but in their simplicity are hidden deep truths.
As an example of the above, let us consider Ephesians 3:8. Here Paul says that he will preach to us the unsearchable riches of Christ. Literally, this word seems to be very simple. But it is not that easy to understand what are the unsearchable riches of Christ. This phrase means that the riches of Christ are immeasurable. Because it is too mysterious and too inexhaustible to be described in human words, Paul could only use the four dimensions — breadth, length, height, and depth — to describe what Christ is. Christ is the breadth; He is the length, the height, and the depth. The breadth, length, height, and depth of the universe are all unlimited. These are the dimensions of Christ.
In verse 17 Paul says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts.” When Christ makes His home in our hearts and fills and saturates our whole being, we will be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what are the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ. The words make home here are a compound word in Greek. It is the verbal form of the noun oikos, which means “house,” with the prefix kata added to it. Kata has the sense of establishing in a firm way. The word is therefore aptly translated as “make home.” It is not just an abiding but a making home. I am often invited to different places to conduct conferences. Everywhere I go, the brothers and sisters warmly welcome me. They invite me to stay in their homes and ask me to make myself at home in their homes. I try my best to settle down according to their good wishes. But never have I been able to do so. I can never feel at home in those places. Only when I go back to my own home and put down my luggage can I feel truly at home. Not only do we have to let Christ abide in our hearts, but we also have to let Him make His home deeply in our hearts.
How does Christ make His home in our hearts? For this Paul prayed to the Father. He says that he bowed his knees unto the Father, that He would, according to the riches of His glory and through His Spirit, have Christ make home in our hearts. The meaning of this prayer is very deep. First, it mentions the Father. Second, it mentions the Spirit. Third, it mentions Christ. Finally, it mentions our heart. We do not have time to get into them in detail one by one. We can only mention in brief the matter of Christ making home in our hearts.
Our heart is composed of four parts: the mind, the emotion, the will, and the conscience. For Christ to make home in our heart is for Him to make home in these four parts. A home has many rooms, such as the living room and the bedroom. Our heart is the home of Christ. This home has a mind-room, an emotion-room, a will-room, and a conscience-room. We have received Christ into our heart. But is He in our mind, emotion, will, and conscience? Actually, we have often allowed Him to stay only in the living room, not giving Him the liberty to go into the other rooms. The brothers like to exercise their mind. They often remain in their mind. Also they are usually strong in their will. If they say yes, they mean yes. Whether they are right or wrong, they would insist to the end. The sisters are more apt to exercise their emotions. They are often swayed by their joy, their anger, their sorrow, and their elation. All this means that Christ has no place and is not making home in our mind, emotion, and will. We should give Him every room of our heart. Only then will He be able to make home in our heart. All the other tenants in the rooms of our heart have to be chased away. First Corinthians 3:16 says that we are the temple of God. But this temple is occupied by many illegal tenants. We need the Lord Jesus to chase them away with a whip so that this temple may be cleansed, just as He cleansed the temple twice while He was on earth (John 2:14-15; Matt. 21:12), chasing away all the oxen, sheep, doves, buyers and sellers, and money changers. Only then can Christ make His home in our hearts.
Some dissenting ones have said, since we are so small, how can such a great Christ be contained in us? Has not the Bible said that Christ has ascended on high and is seated at the right hand of God with glory as His crown? How then can we say that He lives in our heart? These words seem logical at first hearing. But they are void of the central revelation of the Bible. Romans 8:34 says that Christ has been raised and is now at the right hand of God, interceding for us. However, verse 10 of the same chapter says that Christ is also in us. Paul tells us that, on the one hand, Christ is in heaven and, on the other hand, He is in us. This is just like the electricity that is in this meeting hall and is at the same time in the power station. Christ is in us; at the same time He is in heaven. We should not try to understand Christ with our limited mentality. He is too profound and too unlimited. We can only receive this revelation according to the pure word of the Bible.
Although Christ is so mysterious and unlimited, He is very real and dear. By calling on His name, we can experience Him and be saved by Him in everything in our daily life. The more we call on His name, the more refreshed we feel. This is why we like to call on His name, just as the hymn writer who wrote that we say the sacred name of Jesus a thousand times a day. But again, some dissenting ones condemn this kind of calling. They accuse us of being the callers, saying that this is wrong and is not proper worship. They think that worship is to go to a chapel or cathedral, first to recite some creeds, then to listen to a choir sing, and then to listen to a sermon by a pastor. Everything should be done according to a program. At the end, the pastor would stretch out his hand to give a benediction, and with the congregation responding with an Amen, the meeting would end, and everybody would go home. Actually, they all come to this kind of meeting empty and leave empty. They receive nothing, and there is no change in their living. This is religion. This is not Christ. We do not need religion. What we need is Christ. The simple way to get Christ is just by calling on His name.
Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” This is not just salvation from perdition but salvation from our temper and disposition as well. To call on the name of the Lord is not a small thing. Many Christians have discovered from their experience that when they are tempted and bothered in their environment and become oppressed and depressed, all they need to do is call on the name of the Lord. Then they will be brought into true fellowship with the Lord and will be able to enjoy the overcoming life of Christ. In this way they will be delivered from their self, sins, the world, the devil, and all other entanglements, and they will experience Christ as their inward satisfaction and joy.
We have seen the Christ in the Gospels. We have also seen the Christ in Acts. Now we come to the Christ in the Epistles. Item number one of the outline says that Christ, the last Adam, passed through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit. This is the most important point of the Epistles. The last Adam, who is the Lord Jesus, passed through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit is the Holy Spirit, because in the whole universe only the Holy Spirit can give life, and this life-giving Spirit is just Christ. Hence, the Christ in the Epistles is the last Adam becoming the life-giving Spirit. This is the subject of the Epistles. The Christ spoken of in the twenty-one Epistles is the life-giving Spirit. I have selected eight out of these twenty-one Epistles — Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 John, and Hebrews — for us to take a look at the Christ spoken of there.
Item number two says that Christ, the life-giving Spirit, is the Spirit of life. In Romans 8:2 we have the Spirit of life. Then in verse 9 we see that this Spirit of life is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, who is also Christ Himself. This pneumatic Christ first enters into the believers’ spirit to make their spirit life (vv. 9-10). He then spreads from their spirit to their mind, making their mind life also, and finally gives life to their mortal body so that their whole being — spirit, soul, and body — is saturated by Him as this Spirit of life to be sanctified and conformed to the image of Him as the firstborn Son of God, to become the many sons of God, being His living members to build up His Body to be His corporate expression.
The book of Romans deals with this Spirit of life, who is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, even Christ Himself, and the firstborn Son of God. Christ is the Spirit. When He enters into our spirit, He makes our spirit life. Then He spreads from our spirit to the most important part of our soul, which is the mind, that our mind would also have life. He then spreads further outward to dispense His life to our mortal body, that our body would also have life. As a result, we are sanctified and are conformed to His image. In this way we become the many sons of God and are made His members to be built up to be the Body of Christ, which is His corporate expression. This is the Christ in the book of Romans.
Item number three says that after Christ’s ascension, He baptized all His believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, in Him as the all-inclusive Spirit into one Body. Once at Pentecost and once at the house of Cornelius, God baptized both the Jewish and the Gentile believers into one Body.
We were baptized into the Body of Christ even before we were born. This is also very difficult to understand, but we accept it because the Bible tells us so. This is similar to Revelation 13:8, which says that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. Humanly speaking, the Lord was killed on the cross about one thousand nine hundred years ago; but in God’s eyes He has been slain from the foundation of the world. In the same principle, at Pentecost and at the house of Cornelius, the Lord Jesus as the Head of the church baptized all His believers throughout the generations, both the Jews and the Gentiles, into one Body in the Spirit.
They are also given to drink this one Spirit. Today we do not have to seek for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We were already baptized long ago. What we need to do now is to drink of this Spirit every day. The baptism is once for all, but the drinking is continuous and daily. Our salvation through baptism is also once for all. But after being baptized, we still need to drink this Spirit every day.
According to our experience, to call on the name of the Lord is to drink this Spirit. But there is a difference between calling and praying. In Romans 10:13 Paul does not say that whoever prays to the Lord shall be saved. Rather, he says that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The word for call upon in Greek is epikaleo. It means “to call out aloud.” Although God is omnipotent and omnipresent, He acts according to certain laws. A seed will surely not grow if it is placed on a table, but it will surely grow when it is put into the soil. This is a law. In order for man to be saved, he has to act according to God’s law, which is to believe in the heart, to confess with the mouth, and to call on the name of the Lord. We have to believe in our heart and call with our mouth. When we believe in our heart and call with our mouth, we will be saved. We should not wait until calamities arise before we call on the Lord. Instead, we should learn to call on the Lord every day in our daily life. This kind of calling on the name of the Lord is the drinking of the Spirit. By drinking this Spirit, by our calling on the name of the Lord, we become the temple for Him as the Spirit to dwell in and are joined to Him as the Spirit to become one spirit, that He may become wisdom to us from God: power, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and everything. This is the Christ spoken of in the book of 1 Corinthians.
Item number four says that with this all-inclusive Spirit He anoints His believers, sealing them and giving them this Spirit within them as the pledge of their enjoyment of God as their inheritance. Now this Spirit is both anointing and sealing us within, and as a result, we have this Spirit as the pledge. This is a proof to us that God is our portion. The anointing ointment is Christ. The seal is Christ. The pledge is also Christ. Item number four goes on to say that this Spirit also becomes the ink with which the all-inclusive Christ is written into us. The ink here refers to the essence and element of God. We write with ink. What is written are the letters, and the essence of the letters is the ink. The Spirit who dwells in us is writing continuously. The letters written are Christ, but the essence of the letters is the Spirit. The more this Spirit writes, the more ink we will have within. The more ink we have, the clearer the letters will become. The more this Spirit writes within us, the more Spirit we will have within, and the more Christ will be expressed.
As the all-inclusive Lord in resurrection, who is the all-inclusive Spirit, He releases us from the bondage of the law and ordinances, that we, with unveiled face, beholding His glory, may be transformed into His image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. In this way we can enjoy the riches of the Triune God — the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This is the Christ in 2 Corinthians.
Item number five says that He, as the pneumatic Christ, is the blessing of the gospel promised by God. This blessing is not the blessing of going to heaven, nor is it merely the blessing of forgiveness of sins. Rather, it is that the Spirit will enter into us to be revealed in us, to live in us, and to be formed in us. Not only is Christ living in us; He has to be formed in us, with the result that we would live to God by Him as the Spirit. This is the Christ in Galatians.
He, as the pneumatic Christ, who has ascended to the heavens and has been exalted by God as the Lord, being the Head of the church, will make His home in the hearts of the believers with His unsearchable riches, that they may be strong to apprehend with all the saints His breadth, length, height, and depth, that they may be filled unto all the fullness of God, which is the full expression of Him. When we are filled with the riches of Christ to become the fullness of God, we are all coordinated together to become the full expression of God, which is the built-up church as the Body of Christ who fills all in all. This becomes the holy temple of God, the dwelling place of God in our spirit, the universal new man accomplishing God’s eternal purpose, the counterpart of Christ satisfying Christ’s desire, and the spiritual warrior withstanding God’s enemy. This is the Christ in Ephesians.
Item number seven says that He, as the pneumatic Christ, is also the Spirit of Jesus Christ who was incarnated, put on humanity, passed through human living, died, and resurrected. As such, He has the bountiful supply. There is a background to the use of the word supply in Philippians 1:19. In the choral band of the ancient Greeks, the leader of the band had to supply all the needs of the members, including their food, clothing, dwelling places, instruments, and so forth. Whatever the members needed was supplied by the leader of the band. The Greek word here refers to that kind of supply. Such supply is a bountiful supply. This is why this word is translated as “bountiful supply.”
Paul uses this word to describe the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who supplies all the needs of those who believe in Him and who live in Him so that they can suffer with Him under all kinds of circumstances by His resurrection power and in conformity to His death, thus living Him and magnifying Him, being enabled to do all things in Him through His empowering, and gaining Him as the righteousness of God manifested in us. This is the Christ in Philippians.
Item number eight says that He, as the compound Spirit of such a processed, all-inclusive, life-dispensing Triune God, is typified by the holy ointment in Exodus 30:23-25. This ointment was not merely the pure olive oil, but it was mingled with four kinds of spices. In this compound Spirit there is divinity, humanity, human living, the death on the cross, Christ’s resurrection, and His ascension. This is the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Not only is He the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of Jesus; He is even the Spirit of Jesus Christ. He is such a compound Spirit. This is why 1 John calls Him the anointing. Oil is of one element, but the anointing ointment is a mingling of many elements.
First John speaks not only about the ointment; it speaks about the anointing. The operation of Christ within us is the anointing. He abides in us as the anointing of the Triune God for the purpose that we would abide in the Son and live in the fellowship of the Father, receiving the anointing of this all-inclusive compound Spirit to enjoy the eternal life, overcoming sin, the world, and Satan, to live out God’s inward love and outward righteousness.
First John repeatedly emphasizes that those who are born of God love others. Those who are born of God love the brothers, and those who are born of God do not practice unrighteousness. Rather, those who are born of God live out righteousness. Love is inward, and righteousness is outward. How can we live such a life? How can we have this inward love and outward righteousness? It is by the anointing within us. This is the Christ in 1 John.
The foregoing eight items all speak about Christ being in us. But today Christ is not only in us; He is also in the heavens on the throne.
Item number nine says that, in another aspect, He, as the ascended Christ, is the High Priest in the heavenly tabernacle, interceding for the believers that they would be saved to the uttermost. Not only so, He is also the Mediator of the new covenant, executing the testament of the new covenant. The whole New Testament is not only a book of covenant; it is also a book of bequests, a will for inheritance. Every item in the New Testament is an inheritance from God to us. Christ comes to execute the bequests of this new covenant, supplying the believers with the heavenly life, that they may live a heavenly life on earth and may cooperate with Him as the heavenly Christ to carry out His heavenly ministry on earth. This is the Christ in the book of Hebrews.
From Romans to 1 John we have the essential Christ. Eventually, in the book of Hebrews we have the economical Christ. Essentially speaking, Christ is in us as our life and everything. As far as the divine economy is concerned, Christ is in heaven executing the bequests of the new covenant. At Pentecost when Peter stood up, it was by the economical Christ that he was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. But it was by the essential Christ that the one hundred twenty disciples were able to persevere in prayer with one accord for ten days, with no opinion among them, and no fear of the threat of the Jews. In prayer meetings we need the essential Christ. But when we preach the gospel, we need the economical Christ.
We have seen that this Triune God was incarnated, put on humanity, passed through human living, died, resurrected, ascended on high, and now has become the life-giving Spirit making home in our heart. This Christ who dwells in us is, at the same time, sitting on the throne in heaven. He dwells in us as our essence, and He sits in the heavens to execute God’s divine New Testament economy. Today He desires that we cooperate with Him to live Him, express Him, preach Him, and propagate Him in order that we may accomplish God’s eternal purpose. This is the Christ in the Epistles.
