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In Philippians 1:19-21 we see that we may express Christ through life or through death. All of Paul’s life and work were not for expressing himself or for displaying his knowledge, ability, or other merits and strong points; what he was and what he did were for expressing Christ, even magnifying Christ.
In Philippians 1:20 Paul declares, “According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death.” In the apostle’s suffering in his body, Christ was magnified, that is, shown or declared to be great (without limitation), exalted, and extolled. The apostle would have only Christ magnified in him, not the law or circumcision. To magnify Christ under any circumstances is to experience Him with the topmost enjoyment. To magnify Christ is much greater than to express Him. We should not only express Christ but also magnify Him in our body.
In verse 20 a number of expressions are related to Paul’s statement that Christ would be magnified in him: with all boldness, as always, even now, in my body, and whether through life or through death. Paul does not simply say, “With boldness,” but he says, “With all boldness.” Then he specifically points out that Christ would be magnified in his body. He says this because his body was in chains. At least during the night, if not all the time, Paul was chained to a guard. Nevertheless, even though his body was in chains, Christ would be magnified in his body. Moreover, Christ would be magnified whether through life or through death. This indicates that no matter what the circumstances were, Paul expected Christ to be magnified in him.
Now we must consider what it means to magnify Christ. The word magnify means to make something large to our sight. Perhaps we may wonder how Christ can be magnified since He is already universally great. According to Ephesians 3, the dimensions of Christ — the breadth, length, height, and depth — are immeasurable (vv. 18-19). They are the dimensions of the universe. Although Christ is vast, extensive, and immeasurable, in the eyes of the Praetorian guard, the imperial guard of Caesar, Christ was virtually nonexistent. In their eyes there was not such a person as Jesus Christ. However, Paul magnified Christ; he made Him great before the eyes of others, especially before the eyes of those who guarded him in prison. As a result, some eventually turned to Christ. Evidence of this is found in Philippians 4:22, where Paul speaks of the saints in Caesar’s household. Through Paul’s magnification of Christ, even some in Caesar’s household were saved.
At the time of Paul’s imprisonment, the Jews were despised by the Romans. The Romans were the conquerors, and the Jews were the conquered ones. Among these conquered ones there was a man named Jesus. Although He is great and most wonderful, in the eyes of the Romans He was nothing. But as Paul was held captive in a Roman prison, he magnified Christ, making Him appear great in the eyes of his captors.
In our daily living we also should magnify Christ, making Him great in the eyes of others. People may look down on Christ where we work or go to school. They may ridicule Him and take His name in vain, in violation of the third commandment (Exo. 20:7). Therefore, we need to let others see Christ, not in a small way but in the way of enlargement, of magnification.
We should also magnify Him at home. The parents of some of the young people may not believe in Christ but instead despise Him. Hence, these young people must bear the responsibility to enlarge Christ before their parents. Instead of simply preaching to their parents about Christ, they need to magnify Him. We need not only the life within but also the living without. Through the proper living, Christ will appear to be great in the eyes of others. Young people should let their parents see Christ’s greatness in them.
We can magnify Christ even in situations where we have little or no liberty to speak about Him. Although teachers may not be able to preach the gospel to their students, they can magnify Christ in the classroom. They can cause Christ to appear great in the eyes of their students. It is not likely that when Paul was in prison, he was free to do much preaching of Christ. On the contrary, he was very limited and under strict control. However, even in such circumstances, Christ was magnified in his body. With all boldness Paul sought to magnify Him always.
At the time Paul wrote the book of Philippians, he was an elderly person. No doubt, the guards expected him to be exhausted by his imprisonment. But far from being exhausted, Paul was full of joy and rejoicing in the Lord (1:18, 3:1; 4:4). He was shining forth Christ and expressing Him. Such an expression was a declaration of the unlimited greatness of Christ and a declaration that Christ is inexhaustible.
Even though Paul must have been mistreated in prison, he could be happy and display to the guards the unlimited greatness of Christ. In particular, Paul displayed Christ’s inexhaustible patience. Christ certainly was magnified in Paul’s physical body. Day by day Paul was happy in the Lord. His happiness did not diminish as time went by. In his happiness he could show forth the immeasurable Christ whom he experienced and enjoyed. By this way Paul expressed, exhibited, exalted, and extolled Christ. Instead of offending or being offended by the jailers, Paul was a living witness of Christ, testifying of His ability, power, patience, love, and wisdom, all without measure. The guards may have considered Paul to be strange or peculiar, viewing him as possessing something which they did not have. What they sensed in Paul was Christ magnified. While he was in prison, Paul expressed the greatness of Christ in an enlarged way. He magnified Christ with all boldness both through life and through death. By magnifying Christ in this way, Paul could overcome any situation.
Our natural love is eventually exhausted, but Christ as love is inexhaustible. Likewise, our natural patience is limited, but Christ as our patience is without limit. We all have the capacity to be patient, but only to a certain extent. Then we become provoked and angry. For example, a brother may exercise patience with his wife. Eventually, however, this patience reaches its limit, and he becomes angry with her. Although our natural patience is limited, Christ as patience is inexhaustible and immeasurable.
Paul says that Christ would be magnified in him, whether through life or through death. No matter what faced him — the opportunity to go on living or to be martyred — Paul expected to magnify Christ. In his living, Paul magnified Christ. This is to magnify Him through life. As he was expecting to be martyred, he also magnified Him. This is to magnify Christ through death. Thus, whether through life or death, Christ was magnified in Paul’s imprisoned and chained body. Obviously, this is not mere doctrine; it is the genuine experience of Christ.
In Philippians 1:19 Paul mentions the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. If we allow the bountiful supply of the Spirit to work in us, our daily living will be changed. We will be burdened to magnify Christ always and with all boldness. Through our magnifying of Christ, others will see His greatness and His unlimitedness. To magnify Christ in such a way surely is to live Him.
The experience of Christ in Philippians can be primarily related to four aspects: our circumstances, the unbelievers, the believers, and God. First, we magnify Christ in any kind of circumstance, condition, state, or situation, whether through life or through death. No matter what happens to us, we must remember that within us there is the all-inclusive Spirit supplying us all the time. We overcome all the troubles and hardships, and nothing can oppress, depress, suppress, or overcome us. In 4:12 Paul says, “In everything and in all things I have learned the secret,” and in 1:20 he says, “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death.” As persons existing on this earth and living among humanity, we cannot escape our circumstances. Every day we encounter certain situations. If we prefer not to live in one place, we may have more difficult circumstances when we move to another place. In order to be a normal believer living in the spirit, we must first deal with our circumstances. We should praise the Lord and thank Him for His sovereignty and wisdom. The sovereign, wise hand of the Lord always arranges our circumstances for us and assigns them to us. If we need a wife, He will assign a proper, suitable wife, and if we need a certain kind of child, He will give us such a one. He also knows what kind of health we need, and He assigns it to us. We should not complain, because all things are under His sovereign and wise hand. The Lord knows what we need, He is never wrong, and He assigns us our circumstances accordingly. Therefore, in order to live in the spirit by Christ as our life, we must learn the secret of how to deal with our circumstances, how to be abased and how to abound, and how to be poor and how to be rich (4:12). Then we will be able to magnify Christ. Paul had learned the secret, and he could do all things, not in himself but in Him who empowered him (v. 13). The One who empowers us in this way is the empowering Spirit. No matter what our state or circumstance may be, we can do all things in Him who empowers us so that He may be magnified in our body. This is the experience of Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit so that He may be magnified in any kind of circumstance.
Second, in order to magnify Christ, we need to preach and impart Him to the unbelievers, presenting Him as the good tidings. This is the reason that Philippians mentions the preaching of the gospel, the good work begun by the Lord in us (1:5-7, 12-14, 18, 27). If we intend to magnify Christ, we must preach the gospel to present Christ to the unbelievers. The all-inclusive Spirit within us constantly supplies us for preaching the gospel. In order to experience Christ and enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit, we need to do the work of preaching the gospel. The more we preach the gospel to present Christ to people, the more we will enjoy the bountiful Spirit within us. To preach the gospel is an enjoyment. On the other hand, if we do not preach the gospel to present Christ to others, we will suffer the loss of the supply of the Spirit.
Third, in order to magnify Christ, we must fellowship with the believers. In order to fellowship with the saints, we should open to them in order for the Spirit to flow out of us into them, and we should help them to open to us for the Spirit to flow out of them into us. This is a two-way traffic, a flowing out and a flowing in. We present Christ and impart Him to the unbelievers, and we also serve Him to the believers, fellowshipping the glorious Christ with one another.
Fourth, we magnify Christ by serving and worshipping God by the Spirit of God. In Philippians 3:3 Paul gives us a contrast between serving God by the Spirit and by the flesh. According to chapter 3, Paul had many virtues to boast of according to the flesh (vv. 4-6). However, he learned the lesson not to serve God by the virtues of the flesh. He gave up all these things and left no ground for them in his service to God. Instead, he learned to serve God by the Spirit. According to the context of this chapter, to serve God by the Spirit is a matter of the resurrection life (v. 10). The Spirit is the reality of the power of resurrection; He is the Spirit of Jesus Christ who includes both human suffering and resurrection. Resurrection power is nothing less than the Spirit Himself. To worship and serve God by the Spirit is to worship and serve in the resurrection power, not in anything natural, in the flesh, or by our self. Paul had virtues in the flesh of which he could boast, but he had seen the vision and learned the secret to give up the good flesh and worship God simply and absolutely in the power of Christ’s resurrection. This is the meaning of serving God by the Spirit. In order to magnify Christ, we must deal with our circumstances by the empowering Spirit, present Christ to the unbelievers, fellowship with the believers, and serve God by the Spirit of God.
In Philippians 1:20 Paul speaks of his magnification of Christ in his body. In verse 21 Paul continues, “For to me, to live is Christ.” The little word for at the beginning of this verse is important. It indicates that what is to follow is an explanation of the preceding verse, which speaks of Paul’s magnification of Christ in his body. Christ could be magnified in Paul’s body because Paul lived Christ. In order to magnify Christ, we must live Him. Although the matter of living Christ is of such tremendous importance, not many Christians have paid adequate attention to it. In Paul’s chained body Christ was exalted, extolled, praised, and appreciated because Paul lived Christ. To live Christ means that no matter what our circumstances may be, Christ is magnified in us, and we are not put to shame in anything. Furthermore, to live Christ also means that in our daily life we are saved from murmurings, reasonings, crookedness, and perverseness and that we present our living Lord as the word of life to those whom we meet day by day (2:14-16). To live Christ for His magnification is to participate in Christ’s salvation in life (Rom. 5:10), in which we are saved from the failure of not living Christ and from the defeat of not magnifying Christ.
Paul could say not only that Christ lived in him (Gal. 2:20) but also that to him to live was Christ. On the one hand, Christ lived in Paul; on the other hand, Paul lived Christ. Inwardly Christ was Paul’s life, and outwardly Christ was Paul’s living. Paul and Christ thus had one life and one living. Christ’s life was Paul’s life, and Paul’s living was Christ’s living. The two, Christ and Paul, lived as one. First Corinthians 6:17 refers to such a living. In this verse Paul says that we are one spirit with the Lord. The organic union that has taken place between us and Christ causes us to be so close and intimate with Him that we are even one spirit with Him.
To live Christ is deeper than to live by Christ or to live out Christ. We can be helped to know what it means to live Christ by reading the Gospel of John. This Gospel reveals that Christ, the Word, is God (1:1). One day, the Word became flesh (v. 14); that is, God was incarnated. Referring to the Word made flesh, John the Baptist declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (v. 29). The third chapter of the Gospel of John speaks of regeneration. Here we see that we must be born of God through the Spirit in our spirit (v. 6).
In John 14 the Lord Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (v. 9). The Lord also went on to say, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (v. 11). The Lord Jesus was one with the Father. To see Him was to see the Father. In this chapter the Lord Jesus also spoke of the Spirit of reality, telling the disciples that the Spirit of reality abode with them and would be in them (v. 17). The Lord Jesus indicated that when the Spirit of reality came, He Himself would come also. Verse 19 says, “Because I live, you also shall live.” Verse 20 continues, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Here we have our living together with Christ. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. This means that we and He live together. He lives, and we live also. We live in Him, by Him, and with Him. We even live Him. In John 15 the Lord gave the very impressive illustration of the vine and the branches. He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (v. 5). The branches are the living of the vine.
If we magnify Christ by living Him, we will become strong factors, channels of supply, to enable the saints to grow in life and enjoy the Lord (Phil. 1:22-26). When Paul wrote to the Philippians, he was living in prison and not outwardly working. Yet he speaks of “fruit” for his “work” (v. 22). This indicates that his work was actually his living. The fruit of this work was Christ lived out, magnified, ministered, and transfused into others. The fruit of this work was the issue, the result, of Paul’s living in prison. Paul’s living work was to minister Christ to others and to transfuse the Christ whom he magnified into them. Through Paul’s magnification of Christ, even some in Caesar’s household were saved (4:22). Possibly Paul’s enjoyment of Christ in prison was a factor in bringing Onesimus, a runaway slave, to salvation (Philem. 10).
Paul also says to the believers in Philippi, “I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of the faith” (1:25). Here progress refers to the growth in life, and joy, to the enjoyment of Christ. This indicates that Paul was a factor of the saints’ growth in life and of their enjoyment of Christ. Whether or not we are such factors of the progress and joy of others depends on whether or not we magnify Christ by living Him. If we live Christ, He will surely be magnified in us. Then we will become factors to enable the saints to grow in life and enjoy the Lord.
Because Paul lived and magnified Christ to the uttermost, he could transfuse Christ into the saints and minister Christ to all the churches. It should matter to the church whether we remain or go to be with the Lord, but this depends on our living Christ, magnifying Christ, ministering Christ, and transfusing Christ from the depths of our being into that of the saints (cf. 2:25-30). In the Body life there is the urgent need of certain ones to function as channels of supply (cf. Zech. 4:12-14; Judg. 9:9). We need members of the Body like Paul. When such members die, the transfusion of Christ is in a very real sense interrupted, but as long as such ones are with us, the transfusion continues unabated.
In Philippians 1:19, Paul indicates that he lived Christ for His magnification by “the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” In this verse he declares, “This will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” The salvation here is not eternal salvation; it is a subjective, experiential, and constant salvation in our daily life for magnifying Christ. It is the working out of the salvation in 2:12, and it means to be sustained and strengthened to live and magnify Christ. This requires the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:19 indicates that the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the Spirit of the bountiful supply. The Spirit of Jesus has the bountiful supply, which comes from all the processes that Christ passed through. It has the supply of Christ’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. All that Christ went through became a source, a factor, of this bountiful supply. After incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, He became the Spirit. Today this Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus.
Philippians 1:19 speaks neither of the Spirit of God nor of the Holy Spirit but of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This divine title signifies all the processes that this dear One underwent. Before the incarnation, He was God, and the Holy Spirit was the Spirit of God. Yet in Christ, God was incarnated and lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. He then entered death, passed through death, conquered death, subdued death, overcame death, and came out of death. This was certainly a process. He went on to enter resurrection, in which He was transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit. In the Spirit, in resurrection, He ascended to the heavens. Today He is the life-giving Spirit. As such, He is not merely the Spirit of God but the Spirit of Jesus Christ with all the elements and factors of His processes. Hence, He has the bountiful supply to support us in order that we may magnify Him and live Him regardless of our situation, whether it be through life or through death.
The Spirit of Jesus Christ is “the Spirit” mentioned in John 7:39. This is not merely the Spirit of God before the Lord’s incarnation but the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit with divinity, after the Lord’s resurrection, compounded with the Lord’s incarnation (humanity), human living under the cross, crucifixion, and resurrection. The holy anointing ointment in Exodus 30:23-25, a compound of olive oil and four kinds of spices, is a full type of this compound Spirit of God, who is now the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Spirit to Paul was the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit of the Triune God.
We need to see what the bountiful supply of the Spirit includes. First, the bountiful supply includes the divine person with the divine life and nature. Thus, the bountiful supply includes divinity. Divinity includes the divine life, nature, being, and person; in other words, it is God Himself. In the bountiful supply we have God with His life, nature, being, and person.
The bountiful supply also includes an uplifted humanity, a humanity with a proper life, living, nature, and person. The Lord Jesus is both God and man. Within Him there are both divinity and humanity. Thus, when He was on earth, He lived as God and also as man. All that the Lord passed through in thirty-three and a half years of life on earth is now in the all-inclusive Spirit. Therefore, divinity and humanity, including the human living of the Lord Jesus, are in the bountiful supply of the all-inclusive Spirit.
On the cross the Lord Jesus died a wonderful death. The all-inclusive death of Christ dealt with every negative thing in the universe. By His death all sinful things were terminated. This wonderful death is also included in the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Christ’s resurrection and ascension are included as well. Now in the bountiful supply of the Spirit we have Christ’s divinity, humanity, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
The bountiful supply of the Spirit also includes the divine attributes and the human virtues. God is love and light, and He is holy and righteous. These are some of His attributes. Furthermore, as a man Christ has all the human virtues. Both the divine attributes and the human virtues are in the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus Christ.
The submission and love that we need day by day are also found in the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Although the Bible commands a wife to submit to her husband and a husband to love his wife (Eph. 5:24-25), in ourselves we actually do not have either genuine submission or love. Instead of submission, we have rebellion. Instead of a proper love, we have an unbalanced, twisted love. True submission and love are in the bountiful supply of the Spirit.
As we enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit, we partake of the ingredients of this supply without being aware of it. For example, we may love others without being conscious of the fact that we are loving. In like manner, we may be submissive without realizing that we are submissive. However, if we deliberately try to love or submit, our love or submission will not be genuine. True love and true submission are always spontaneous and not something of which we are conscious. A sister who is genuinely submissive to her husband has no consciousness of being submissive, for her submission comes out of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Real submission is spontaneous; it is the issue of enjoying the bountiful supply of the Spirit.
Actually, every kind of religion teaches people to act in a political way. Under this influence, we may think that for the sake of our husband or wife, for the sake of our children or relatives, and even for the sake of the church, we should behave in a particular way. But whenever we try to behave ourselves apart from enjoying the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we are political and hypocritical.
The source of true virtue is the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. When Paul was rejoicing in a prison in Rome, he was not deliberately trying to act joyful. His rejoicing was not the result of his own effort, and it certainly was not a performance. Because Paul loved the Triune God, opened himself to the Triune God, and communicated with the Triune God, He had a free course to infuse all that He is into Paul. As a result, Paul could realize that with this Triune God there is the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Because he experienced this supply, he could rejoice in the Lord even while being a prisoner in chains.
When we fail to magnify Christ and are put to shame, this indicates that there is a shortage of Christ. However, the shortage is actually the lack of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. If we have the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we shall experience instant and constant salvation. Then we will not be put to shame in anything, but we will magnify Christ in all things.
When we find ourselves in a difficult environment, we simply need to apply the compound ointment, the compound Spirit. The compound Spirit is in our regenerated human spirit. Instead of considering our difficult environment, we should turn to the spirit, apply the compound Spirit, and behold the Lord with an unveiled face. Then we will reflect the Lord. If we apply the compound Spirit and behold the Lord, the elements of the ointment will be applied to us. Both the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ will operate in us, and we will be anointed with the compound Spirit. In this Spirit is all that we need — the death of Christ and its effectiveness, the resurrection of Christ and its power, and Christ’s divine nature and human nature. By applying this compound Spirit, we will experience God’s instant salvation. Then, far from being put to shame, we will magnify Christ. Furthermore, those with us will want to rejoice in the Lord when they see such a glorious magnification of Christ.
Through the bountiful supply of the Spirit, Christ is magnified in us. What Paul speaks of in Philippians 1:20 is the magnification of Christ, but in 2:16 he speaks of holding forth the word of life. The word of life is actually the living expression of Christ. Holding forth the word of life is equal to magnifying Christ. Christ Himself is the word of life. We hold forth the word of life, and this word is Christ.
In order to magnify Christ and to live Christ, we need the bountiful supply of the Spirit. This bountiful supply is stored in the word. According to the Bible, the Spirit and the word are one. In John 6:63 the Lord Jesus said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” This indicates that the word is the Spirit. Ephesians 6:17-18 indicates that the Spirit is the word. Second Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is God-breathed. Every word of the Bible is the breath of God. This breath is the pneuma, the Spirit. Thus, because both the word and the Spirit are the breath of God, they are truly one. The Spirit is the breath of God, and the word also is God’s breath. Furthermore, God’s breath is His pneuma, the Spirit. On the one hand, the word of God is the Spirit; on the other hand, the Spirit of God is the word.
In Ephesians 6:17 and 18 Paul tells us to receive the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition. Here Paul covers the aspects of the word and the Spirit. Furthermore, he tells us to receive the word of God by means of all prayer, praying at every time in spirit. We may receive the word of God by means of all kinds of prayer — audible and silent prayer, long and short prayer, quick and slow prayer, and private and public prayer. When we pray-read the word, we exercise our spirit. As saved and regenerated ones, we have the Spirit of God in our spirit. Thus, when we exercise our spirit in pray-reading the word, we apply the word to us and mingle the word and the Spirit. Immediately, we receive the bountiful supply of the Spirit.
The Bible reveals that the fullness of the Godhead is embodied in Christ. This means that all the riches that God has and is are embodied in Christ. Having passed through the process of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, Christ is now the all-inclusive Spirit with the bountiful supply. The bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in Philippians 1:19 is nothing less than the riches of Christ in Ephesians 3:8. Paul testifies that he was given grace to preach the gospel of the unsearchable riches of Christ. With respect to Christ, there are the unsearchable riches, but with respect to the Spirit, there is the bountiful supply.
It bears repeating that the bountiful supply of the Spirit is the unsearchable riches of Christ. Both the riches and the supply are embodied in the Word of God in the Bible. If we would touch the unsearchable riches of Christ and partake of the bountiful supply of the Spirit, we must come to the Bible. God’s intention is to impart Himself to us and work Himself into us. He does this by means of the Spirit and the Bible. By these means, the heavenly riches are transmitted into us. On our part, we need to turn away from trying to do good and taking the Bible merely as a book of ethics; instead, we need to come to the Bible for nourishment. We should not simply read the Bible and study it; we also need to pray-read it. If we desire to enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit, we need to eat the word by pray-reading the Word (Jer. 15:16; Matt. 4:4).
Through reading the Word, we know what we are receiving in the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Through the Word we realize that we receive Christ’s divinity, humanity, human living, all-inclusive death, resurrection, and ascension. Furthermore, we understand that we are one with Christ in His headship, lordship, and kingship. All these elements are included in the compound Spirit; they all are aspects of the bountiful supply of the Spirit. We may now live Christ by receiving the word through the Spirit!
We simply need to come to the Bible, to the embodiment of the riches of Christ and of the bountiful supply of the Spirit. As we feed on the word in a proper way day by day, we will grow. The flesh, the natural man, the self, and different evil tendencies and intents will be dealt with. Furthermore, Christ’s resurrection life will release the divine riches into us, strengthen our spirit, and edify our whole being. Spontaneously, unconsciously, and automatically we will live Christ. Living Christ in this way is equal to holding forth the word of life. As we live Christ, having a daily life full of divinity, humanity, Christ’s human living, death, and the fragrance of His resurrection, we will magnify Christ. This is what it means to live Christ by the riches of the bountiful supply of the Spirit embodied in the word.
When we enjoy the Spirit and partake of Him, Christ comes forth and is magnified. On the one hand, we enjoy the Spirit; on the other hand, Christ is the One who is magnified. This is true both according to the Bible and according to our experience. When we call “Lord Jesus,” we inwardly enjoy the Spirit. Then as a result of the enjoyment of the Spirit, Christ is magnified. He becomes our expression.
