Search
In this message we shall begin to consider Christ’s attributes and virtues. We use “attributes” in relation to God and “virtues” in relation to man. The Lord Jesus possesses both the divine nature with its divine attributes and the human nature with its human virtues. The divine attributes are related to what God is and has. Because the Lord Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit with the divine essence, He possesses the divine nature with the divine attributes. Because He was born of a human virgin with the human essence, He possesses the human virtues. Therefore, while He was on earth, He lived a life that was both human and divine. He lived a human life, but in that life the divine attributes were expressed.
Christ is the God-man, a person who is the mingling of divinity with humanity. In Him we see all the attributes of God and all the human virtues. The makeup of Christ’s being, His constitution, is a composition of the divine nature with its divine attributes and the human nature with its human virtues. In the Lord Jesus man and God, God and man, are mingled to form a composition full of the divine attributes and the human virtues. Furthermore, in Christ the divine attributes strengthen and enrich the human virtues.
In His incarnation Christ, the very God, was born in such a way as to have the human virtues. He was conceived of God to have the divine attributes, and He was born of mankind to have the human virtues. With Him the divine attributes filled the human virtues, and the human virtues contained the divine attributes. In Christ the divine attributes and the human virtues are one; that is, the divine attributes and the human virtues are mingled together as one. With Christ the divine attributes are in the human virtues, and the human virtues contain the divine attributes. Therefore, possessing the divine nature and the human nature, He lived a life on earth with the attributes of God expressed in the virtues of man.
Today the Christ who lives in us is still the One who possesses the human virtues strengthened and enriched by the divine attributes. The Christ who is being dispensed into us is a composition of the divine nature with its divine attributes and the human nature with its human virtues. While He was on earth, He lived a life that was a composition of these two. From the time of His resurrection He has been seeking to live in the believers the kind of life He lived on earth. This means that within us today Christ is still living a life that is a composition of the divine nature with its divine attributes and the human nature with its human virtues. If we see this, we shall say with Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).
One of Christ’s attributes is glory (Heb. 2:9; Rev. 5:12). According to the Bible, glory is God expressed. Whenever God is expressed, that is glory. Hebrews 2:9 says that Christ has been crowned with glory. This glory is the splendor, in the expression of God, related to His person. After He accomplished redemption by suffering death, the Lord Jesus was glorified in His resurrection (Luke 24:26), and in His ascension to the heavens He was crowned with glory. Man crowned Him with thorns to shame Him (John 19:2), but God crowned Him with glory to show forth the splendor of His person in God’s glory.
The Lord’s word in John 17:5 indicates that He and the Father are the same in glory: “Glorify Me with Yourself, Father, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” This reveals that the Son is exactly the same as the Father in glorification. The Son is glorified along with the Father and with the same glory that the Father has. This word shows that Christ had the divine glory along with the Father before the world was, that is, in eternity past, and that He should be glorified with the Father with that glory now. The Lord Jesus participates in the divine glory, not separately by Himself, but along with the Father, for He and the Father are one (John 10:30). Therefore, Christ and the Father are the same in the divine glory.
Before His incarnation, Christ as the only begotten Son of God was with the Father in glory and enjoyed this glory with the Father. But when He put on flesh through incarnation, this glory was concealed in His flesh. His humanity was a shell that covered and confined the divine life and nature, along with the divine glory, that were within Him. The divine glory, the expression of the divine life and nature, was therefore confined and concealed within the Lord’s humanity. Christ’s divine element was confined in His humanity much as God’s shekinah glory was concealed within the tabernacle. Outwardly, the Lord Jesus appeared to be a Jew, even a despised Galilean and a Nazarene. This was the appearance of the shell of His humanity. But within this shell the divine glory was confined and concealed. As the Lord lived, walked, and worked among the people, His disciples saw in Him something that had never been seen by men before. Although the Lord lived among them as a man, He lived in such a way that He expressed God. What the disciples saw in the Lord Jesus was the expression of the divine glory that was within Him. Once, on the mountain of transfiguration, Christ’s divine element was released from within His flesh and expressed in glory, being seen by three of the disciples (Matt. 17:1-4; John 1:14). But it was concealed again in His flesh. Therefore, it was necessary for Him to pass through death so that the concealing shell of His humanity might be broken for His divine element to be released. He also had to be resurrected so that He might uplift His humanity into the divine element and that His divine element might be expressed so that His entire being, both His divinity and His humanity, might be glorified.
Another of Christ’s attributes is honor (Heb. 2:9; Rev. 5:12). Honor is the preciousness related to Jesus’ worth, value (“precious” in 1 Peter 2:7 is the same word in Greek as “honor” in Hebrews 2:9), and the dignity which is related to His position (2 Pet. 1:17; Rom. 13:7). Whereas glory, the expression of God, refers to a condition, honor refers to a high position, in particular to the dignity that is related to such a position. As the ascended One crowned with glory and honor, Christ is in a state of glory and has a rank of honor.
Although Christ is both the Son of God and the Son of Man, when we come to His being crowned with glory and honor, we must pay special attention to His humanity, to His being the Son of Man. It is in His humanity that He is crowned with glory and honor. As a man in His ascension to the heavens, He has been crowned in this way. The very Jesus who was born in a manger, who was raised in a poor home in Nazareth, and who had no beauty or comeliness, in His ascension has been crowned with glory and honor.
Christ also has the attribute of authority. “The crowds were astounded at His teaching, for He was teaching them as One having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt. 7:28-29). In decreeing the new law of the kingdom of the heavens, Christ spoke with authority. The Lord’s authority is also indicated in His giving the twelve disciples authority over unclean spirits (Matt. 10:1).
John 17:2 says, “You gave Him authority over all flesh, that He may give eternal life to all whom You have given Him.” This verse indicates that Christ the Son has the Father’s authority over all mankind so that He may give eternal life not to all mankind, but to those whom the Father has given Him. All mankind is under the authority of the Son because the Father has entrusted Him with this authority for the purpose of giving eternal life to the Father’s chosen ones.
In Matthew 28:18 the Lord Jesus says, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” In His divinity as the only begotten Son of God, Christ had authority over all. However, in His humanity as the Son of Man to be the King of the heavenly kingdom, all authority in heaven and on earth was given to Him after His resurrection. As God, Christ had all authority over all before His incarnation. After He went through all the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, as the processed and consummated God-man to be the Lord of all and the Christ of God, He was given all authority both in heaven and on earth. He is unique in authority.
Revelation 5:12 indicates that Christ has the attribute of power. Second Corinthians 12:9 says, “He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me.” Sufferings and trials are often the Lord’s ordination for us that we may experience Christ as grace and power. In his experience Paul realized that the Lord’s grace became power spread over him like a tent. Hence, this grace-power became a dwelling place for Paul in his sufferings. As he was suffering, Paul could dwell in the tabernacle spread over him. This tabernacle, this tent, sustained him, supported him, maintained him, and kept him.
To show forth the perfectness of Christ’s power, our weakness is needed. For this reason, Paul would most gladly boast in his weakness, that the power of Christ might tabernacle over him. Grace is the supply, and power is the strength, the ability, of grace. Both are the resurrected Christ, who is now the life-giving Spirit dwelling in us for our enjoyment.
The Greek word translated “tabernacle” in 2 Corinthians 12:9 is episkenoo, a compound verb composed of epi and skenoo. Skenoo, meaning to dwell in a tent, is used in John 1:14 and Revelation 21:3. Episkenoo here means to fix a tent or a habitation upon. It portrays how the power of Christ, even Christ Himself, dwells upon us as a tent spread over us, overshadowing us in our weakness.
In Philippians 3:10 Paul speaks of the power of Christ’s resurrection. The power of Christ’s resurrection is His resurrection life which raised Him from among the dead (Eph. 1:19-20). The reality of the power of Christ’s resurrection is the Spirit (Rom. 1:4). To know, to experience, this power requires identification with Christ’s death and conformity to it. Death is the base of resurrection. To experience the power of Christ’s resurrection, we need to live a crucified life as He did. Our conformity to His death affords a base for the power of His resurrection to rise up so that His divine life may be expressed in us.
Revelation 5:13 says, “To Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb, be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever.” This verse indicates that might is another of Christ’s attributes. The Greek word for “might” (kratos), denotes manifested power. God’s power toward us is according to the operation of the might of His strength (Eph. 1:19). We are empowered in the might of His strength (Eph. 6:10), empowered with all power according to the might of His glory (Col. 1:11). The Lord’s might is of the Lord’s strength, and the Lord’s strength is for the Lord’s power. Hence, the Lord’s might is the substance of the Lord’s power, substantiating His power toward us.
Revelation 5:12 says that Christ the Lamb is worthy to receive riches, and Ephesians 3:8 speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ. Christ’s riches are vast and inexhaustible. In the Scriptures these riches are depicted in types, such as light, the sun, the star, the vine, the apple tree, the cedar, the cypress, the Passover, wheat, barley, the henna flower, Adam, Abel, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Aaron, and Moses. Beneath the surface of the Bible are all the riches of Christ seen in the types. Because these riches are so vast, it is difficult for anyone to say how many types of Christ there are. Just this one matter of the types reveals many of the riches of Christ.
Christ’s riches are also portrayed in shadows, figures, prophecies, and in the fulfillment of prophecies. In the Bible the first prophecy concerning Christ is Genesis 3:15, a verse which predicts that Christ as the seed of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent, Satan. This implies that Christ had to become a man born of a virgin, for He was to be the seed of woman. This one verse reveals much of the riches of Christ.
Sometimes in the fulfillment of a prophecy concerning Christ in the New Testament something further is added. For example, the Old Testament reveals that Christ will be the Lamb, but in the Old Testament He is not called the Lamb of God. Nevertheless, in the fulfillment of the prophecy regarding Christ as the Lamb, He is called the Lamb of God (John 1:29). The reason for this is that Christ cannot be limited by the prophecies concerning Him. When He came, He fulfilled more than what had been prophesied. Furthermore, our experience of Christ surpasses the fulfillment of the prophecies. In our experience Christ is not only the Lamb of God but the Lamb of eternity (Rev. 21:22-23; 22:1). Thus, the prophecy is short, the fulfillment is longer, and the experience is eternal. When we experience Christ in the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning Him, we enter into the eternal experience of the inexhaustible riches of Christ.
Because Christ’s riches are unsearchable, untraceable, all the positive things in the universe point to Christ. For this reason, when He was on earth, He could use many things as illustrations of Himself. Christ with His unsearchable riches is the reality of every positive thing in the universe.
All the riches of Christ are for the producing of the church. The church is produced not by teaching nor by organizing but by the dispensing of the riches of Christ into us. As these riches are dispensed into us, we need to digest and assimilate them. By absorbing Christ’s riches in this way, we become His Body as His fullness (Eph. 1:22-23) to express Him. Therefore, the Body of Christ is constituted of the riches of Christ enjoyed and assimilated by us.
John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.” Here we see that Christ has the attribute of peace. Christ’s peace is not only an attribute of Christ; it is also Christ Himself. Ephesians 2:14 says, “He Himself is our peace.” This peace is for our relationship with God and with men. This peace is also concerning our condition and situation. Christ has given us this peace that we may enjoy tranquillity in our relationship with God and with men and in our daily life, regardless of what our condition and situation may be.
In John 15:11 the Lord Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full.” This verse indicates that another of Christ’s attributes is joy. Joy comes out of peace and goes along with peace. Since Christ has the attribute of peace, He simultaneously also has the attribute of joy. It is in His joy that we can rejoice. We should rejoice in Him always (Phil. 3:1; 4:4). This is to enjoy Him as our joy.
In Ephesians 3:19 Paul speaks of the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ. The love of Christ surpasses knowledge; yet we can know it by experiencing it. According to our mentality, the love of Christ is knowledge-surpassing. Our mind is not able to know it. But in our spirit we can know the love of Christ through our experience.
Just as Christ is immeasurable (Eph. 3:18), so His love is also immeasurable. Actually, the love of Christ is not merely something belonging to Christ; this love is Christ Himself. Because Christ is immeasurable, His love is knowledge-surpassing. If we compare what we have so far experienced of the immeasurable love of Christ to all there is to experience, it is like comparing a raindrop to the ocean. Christ in His universal dimensions and in His immeasurable, knowledge-surpassing love is like a vast, limitless ocean for us to experience and know in our spirit.
Regarding the thorn in the flesh, Paul entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from him (2 Cor. 12:7-8). But the Lord Jesus said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you” (v. 9). Instead of removing the thorn, the Lord supplied Paul with the sufficient grace to enable him to bear the suffering. Then in Paul’s experience this grace became the power that is made perfect in weakness.
According to the New Testament, grace is what Christ is to us for our enjoyment (John 1:16-17). Grace is actually Christ dispensed into our being for our enjoyment in our experience. Thus, grace is mainly not the work the Lord Jesus does for us; grace is the Triune God in Christ dispensed into us and experienced as our enjoyment. In brief, grace is Christ as the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9) experienced and enjoyed by us through the divine dispensing.
John 1:17 says that grace came through Jesus Christ. In his experience Paul realized that this grace is Christ Himself. When Christ is enjoyed by us as our portion, that is grace. Grace is Christ not in doctrine but in experience, for grace is Christ with all He is for our enjoyment. This includes life, power, and His other divine attributes.
Second Corinthians 13:14 also speaks of the grace of Christ: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This blessing is composed of grace, love, and fellowship. The love of God the Father is the source, the fount; and the grace of Christ is the flow, the expression, of love. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is a matter of communication, transportation, transmission. Therefore, love is the source, grace is the flow, and fellowship is the transmission of the flow with the source. Second Corinthians 13:14 clearly says that grace is of Christ, love is of God, and fellowship is of the Holy Spirit. Grace is actually the Triune God embodied in Christ and transmitted into our being through the Spirit for our enjoyment. Hence, the grace of Christ is the Triune God as our life, life supply, and enjoyment. This grace issues out from the Father’s love and is transmitted into us by the Spirit. Therefore, we have the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as the full enjoyment of the Triune God.
Hebrews 4:15 indicates that Christ, our High Priest, has the virtue of sympathy: “We do not have a high priest who is not able to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tried in all respects like us, yet without sin.” Christ has been tried in all respects like us. Because He has been tried, He is qualified and able to help us who are being tried. He is equipped to help us pass through trials and to keep us from any entanglement of sin. As the One who has been tried in all respects like us, Christ is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He is easily touched with the feeling of our weaknesses and quickly enters into a fellow suffering with us in our weaknesses. Whatever happens to us and whatever suffering we may have, He feels it with us and sympathizes with us.
