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Scripture Reading: John 3:5; Gal. 2:20a; 1 Cor. 15:36; Matt. 16:24-26; Gal. 5:24; Rom. 6:6; 8:13b; 2 Cor. 4:10, 16; Phil. 3:10
In chapter 12 we saw that we were regenerated crucified, born crucified (John 3:5; Gal. 2:20a) and that now we are dying to live (1 Cor. 15:36). In chapter 13 we saw that we need to bear the cross of Christ as our cross in dealing with our soul-life, our self (Matt. 16:24-26) and that we need to crucify our flesh with its passions and lusts in dealing with our body of sin (Gal. 5:24; Rom. 6:6; 8:13b). In this chapter we want to see something further concerning our need to live and walk under the crucifixion of Christ.
In the Christian life we are under the killing of Christ’s death, and this has a purpose. The purpose is that His life may be manifested in our body in the renewing of the inner man (2 Cor. 4:10, 16). Second Corinthians 4 is concerning the renewing of our inner man.
As regenerated believers, we are complicated persons. We were born in the physical realm, and then we were regenerated in the spiritual realm. We have had two births, so we are a “double person.” By our natural birth we are an old man. Even though a person is only nineteen years old, he is still an old man. Through regeneration, through the second birth, we all became a new man. Now outwardly we are old, but inwardly we are new. However, God is not satisfied to leave us in the old man. He wants our old man to be renewed by transformation. Transformation transfers us from one form, the form of the old man, to another form, the form of the new man. The word transform means to transfer to another form. The Lord accomplishes this by the killing of Christ’s death.
In chapter 12 we pointed out that we were born crucified, regenerated crucified. Thus, from the day of our regeneration we have been a dying person. In one sense we are living, but in another sense we are dying. We are dying to live (1 Cor. 15:36). If there is no death, there is no life. If we do not die, we cannot live.
In 2 Corinthians 4:10 Paul says that we are “always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus.” Putting to death here means “killing.” The death of Christ kills us. His death is the killing capacity within us.
We should not forget that His death is included in the all-inclusive, compound Spirit. The Holy Spirit today is a compound Spirit, typified by the compound ointment in Exodus 30:23-25. This compound Spirit has God as the base, typified by one hin of olive oil. This oil is compounded with four spices — myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia. These spices typify the elements of Christ’s death and resurrection. Furthermore, the number four typifies the created man. Thus, the Spirit, typified by the ointment, is a compound of God and man. The God-man, Jesus, has been compounded together with the elements of His death and resurrection.
In this compound Spirit, there is the death of Christ, and the death of Christ is active. Within today’s antibiotics there is some element that is very active to kill the germs. In like manner, within this compound Spirit as a big dose, there is the element of Christ’s death, which is active in killing all the negative things within us.
Second Corinthians 4:10 indicates that the death of Christ kills us. The apostle Paul always was under the killing of Christ’s death. According to history and according to the biblical record, Paul became an apostle bearing the burden to spread God’s economy through the preaching of the gospel. He was always under people’s persecution. A number of people were trying to kill him. He was continually under the persecution of the Jews, the Gentiles, and the Judaizers. This is why Paul says that he died daily (1 Cor. 15:31). Daily he risked death, faced death, and died to self (2 Cor. 11:23; 4:11; 1:8-9; Rom. 8:36). He was bearing about in his body the killing of Jesus so that the life of Jesus could be manifested in him.
In such a one who was daily under the killing of Jesus, people saw Christ. For him, to live was Christ, and to live Christ was to magnify Christ (Phil. 1:20-21a). Even when he was in a Roman prison, he did not want to be put to shame. To be put to shame, to shame the Lord, would mean that people could not see Christ in him. But Paul was not put to shame. Even when he was in prison, people saw Christ in him. The manifested Christ is the life that comes out of the killing of Christ. This is what it means to live and walk under the crucifixion of Christ.
We need to live Christ under the crucifixion of Christ, under the killing of Jesus’ death. Some may feel that since they are not the apostle Paul and are not under the kind of persecution that he experienced, they do not experience this killing. However, all of us are under this killing to a certain extent. The Lord may want us to do something that is against our will. When we follow the Lord against our will, this is a killing.
All the full-time trainees are being killed every day. To eat food and stay in dormitories against their choice is a killing. Under God’s divine and sovereign arrangement, our entire environment is a killing. All the things in our environment are like knives to kill us. The wives, the husbands, the children, the brothers, and everything in our environment are used by the Lord as knives to kill us.
It is difficult to say whether we are enjoying the Lord or suffering in the Christian life. Sometimes we are in the “day” enjoying the Lord. At other times our spiritual day is unclear with very little shining. Then there are times when it seems that we are suffering in the night. But we need to realize that the earth cannot exist without night. The earth can exist only with days and nights. According to the Bible, there is first the evening and then the morning (Gen. 1:5). The Bible starts from the night, but we start from the day.
We may think that the Christian life is always a pleasant, happy life. But this happy life does not exist by itself. If the Christian life were merely a happy life, the apostle Paul would not have needed to charge us to rejoice (Phil. 4:4). While we are suffering and wiping away our tears, we should rejoice. In order to weep, we do not need any kind of encouragement. Paul does not charge us to weep in the Lord, but he does charge us to rejoice in the Lord. If we do not exercise our spirit to rejoice in the midst of our killing environment, we cannot have any joy.
God in His sovereignty is putting us all the time under the killing of the cross. The apostle Paul was under the killing of the cross, and so are we. We do not experience as much suffering and persecution as he did, but we are still under this killing. This is God’s divine arrangement.
In the marriage life both the husband and the wife experience being killed. I encourage all the young people to get married. To frustrate people from being married is a teaching of demons (1 Tim. 4:1-3). The marriage life, however, is a suffering. A sister can be a very good wife, yet she is also a killing factor to her husband. The husbands are also the killing factors to the wives. When a person is single, he is still somewhat free, but when a person gets married, he enters into a cage. In marriage life our freedom is taken away, and we suffer.
The killing of the cross, the killing of Christ’s death, ushers in resurrection. When we are willing to suffer and be killed, we live Christ, we magnify Christ, and Christ is manifested in us. Then we are transformed. We enjoy Christ under the killing of His death. I see many of the saints smiling, and their smiling is the manifestation of Christ. They are smiling while they are under the killing of the cross. On the other hand, we Christians, at least to a certain extent, are hypocrites. A hypocrite is an actor with a false appearance, and this false appearance is a mask. We may wear a mask before others, but that mask is not the real person. Many times we are not so genuine. Instead, we are pretending. As we are under the killing of Christ’s death, Christ as the genuine One needs to be manifested in us.
We have to realize that our circumstances and our environment are altogether not up to us. They are like the weather. Whether it is raining or whether the sky is clear is up to God, the Creator. He arranges all things, both big and small. This is why Paul says that all things work together for our good so that we can be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:28-29). Everything works for our good under God’s arrangement through the killing of Christ’s death. All day long we are under this killing. On the one hand, we are enjoying Christ, and on the other hand, we are under the killing of Christ’s death. This is the Christian life.
Thus, our outer man is being consumed, but our inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). As our outer man is being consumed by the killing work of death, our inner man, that is, our regenerated spirit with the inward parts of our being, is being metabolically renewed day by day with the supply of the resurrection life. This is what it means to live and walk under the killing of Jesus, the crucifixion of Christ. The real Christian life is a life under the killing of Christ’s death.
We may feel that no one would want to believe in the Lord Jesus if they realized that the Christian life is a life under such a killing. But our believing in the Lord Jesus is not up to us. If it had been up to us, none of us would have believed. The Lord is sovereign, and He managed everything in our life to bring us to believe in Him.
David says to the Lord, “My times are in Your hand” (Psa. 31:15a). My times means “my things.” Our birth, our believing in the Lord Jesus, and all the things through which we pass are not up to us. All our things are in His hand. Actually, they are within Christ. This does not mean that we are so willing, but it does mean that He is sovereign. He arranges all things.
I was saved by the Lord after hearing a message in a large gospel meeting. While I was walking home from that meeting, I offered myself to God. I told Him that I would give up the whole world for Him and that I would be willing to travel throughout the villages to preach the gospel. Eventually, the Lord did not allow me to travel to the villages. Instead, I was brought to the big cities all the time.
Later, I had the intention of evangelizing the people of Inner Mongolia. Eventually, however, I did not end up in Inner Mongolia but in California. I surely realize that my times, my things, are not up to me. I never thought that I would be in the United States for the Lord’s recovery. If our times were up to us, we would never be killed. The Lord’s sovereignty is operating to put us under the killing of Christ’s death.
Everything related to us is under the Lord’s sovereign arrangement. What kind of job we have and whom we marry are altogether not up to us. A brother may choose a sister to be his wife, but later this brother may think that he made a mistake. This is why the Lord charges the husbands to love their wives (Eph. 5:25). Under the Lord’s sovereign arrangement, we are like lambs brought to the slaughter every day (Rom. 8:36). Every day we are being slaughtered. Every day we are under the killing of Christ’s death that His life may be manifested in our body in the renewing of our inner man.
