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In this chapter we shall consider the crucial points in the books of Philippians and Colossians.
The first crucial point in this book is found in 1:19-21. The Spirit here 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, human living under the cross, crucifixion, and resurrection. According to verses 20 and 21, this bountiful supply is for the believers to live Christ and to magnify Christ. The living and magnifying of Christ is our daily salvation. We need to be saved daily by experiencing Christ to live Him and to magnify Him by the all-inclusive, bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Chapter 2 of Philippians contains several crucial points. The first is found in verse 5, which says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” This verse is similar to Colossians 3:16, which says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Something that can dwell in you must be living. The word there is personified; it is the word as a person. We must let this person dwell in us. For the mind which was in Christ Jesus to be in us means that this mind is something living. To translate this phrase as “take the mind of Christ” or “possess the mind of Christ” would be to lose the proper significance of this verse. The mind of Christ actually is just Christ Himself. However, Paul does not say, “Let Christ be in you.” Rather, he says to let this mind, this particular mind which was in Christ Jesus, be in you.
We must not forget that the subject of the book of Philippians is the experience of Christ. This book first tells us in chapter 1 that we need the all-inclusive, bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, this bountiful supply is for us to live Christ and to magnify Christ. The means for us to live Christ is the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Following this, chapter 2 gives us another point concerning our experience of Christ. The second means for us to experience Christ is to let the living mind that was in Christ Jesus be in us. There is in the universe a living mind, a mind that Paul calls “this mind.” This living mind is waiting for you to open yourself up and let Him in. It is not simply that you take Christ as a pattern to imitate Him. The point here is that the Christ whom we experience is very practical and available. His mind especially is so living and active. Just as our minds are so active, the mind of Christ is even more active.
In Paul’s writings he sometimes refers to Christ’s meekness and Christ’s gentleness (2 Cor. 10:1). However, meekness and gentleness are not personified. But here His mind is likened to a person. You cannot say that the meekness or the gentleness of Christ dwell in you. Paul does not use this expression. Rather, he says to let this mind which is in Christ Jesus be in you. This means, practically speaking, the person of Christ is manifested in His mind. We must take the practical Christ. He is living, and His mind is living and waiting for us to open to Him. We must open ourselves to let such a mind be in us.
Once we let the living mind of Christ be in us, this mind will transform us. Ephesians 4:23 says that we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind, and Romans 12:2 says, “Be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” The renewed mind, the mind with the spirit, is the mind indwelt by the mind of Christ. This mind which was in Christ is a transforming mind, a renewing mind. To have the mind of Christ in us is for our transformation. We do not merely follow Christ’s steps outwardly, but we let Christ’s living mind be in us inwardly to transform us. By this we will live a life that is a mingled life, a life of divinity mingled with humanity.
This portion of Philippians 2 shows us a mingled life. Christ is revealed here to be both God and man. The life lived by this God-man is a mingled life. It is not an exchanged life but two lives in one union. He was God, yet He did not live in the form of God. Rather, He took the form of a slave and was found in fashion as a man. Such a one was God living in humanity with the form of a slave in the fashion of a man. Christ did not simply spend one year in the fashion of a man. For thirty-three and a half years He was found in the fashion of a man. His living was His work. In Philippians 3:9 Paul desired to “be found in Him.” In chapter 2 Christ was found in the fashion of a man, and in chapter 3 Paul desired to be found in Him. This refers to his living.
When we have the living mind of Christ, this mind will transform us. Our transformed form will simply be His image. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we are being transformed into the same image. Whatever Christ lived will be lived out by us. Christ was humble, and spontaneously we will be the same, because He will be the mind acting and living in us to transform us. Spontaneously we will live a life that is a grafted life, two lives mingled together as He had. When He was being found in the fashion of a man, He lived a life that was the divine life and the human life. The life of God and the life of man became the mingled life of the God-man. Now we repeat His history by living a mingled life of two natures, both human and divine. His life was both divine and human, and our life is human and divine. In principle, our life is the same as His.
The second crucial point for our experience of Christ in Philippians 2 is found in verse 13. This verse says, “It is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.” The word for in verse 13 connects this verse to verse 12, and the phrase so then in verse 12 connects this portion to verses 5 through 11, which tell us to let the living mind of Christ be in us to transform us that we may live a mingled life of God and man. By this we live Christ and magnify Christ. Based on this, verse 12 says, “So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Some may use this verse to argue that salvation is not by faith but by works. However, salvation here is not the eternal salvation from eternal perdition. Salvation here as in chapter 1 is our daily salvation. To work out our salvation is to live out our salvation with fear and trembling.
According to verse 14 of chapter 2, this daily salvation saves us from murmurings and reasonings. These two small “gophers” require a very powerful, practical, daily salvation. Without this strong and practical daily salvation we will all remain in murmurings and reasonings. Therefore, we need a divine operation. Verse 13 says that it is God who operates in you. God here is not simply God the Father but rather is the processed Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit who operate in us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. When we let the living mind of Christ be in us, we live a life that is a mingled life, and we experience the Triune God operating in us. He is operating in us both the willing and the working. The willing is a decision within, and the working is an action without to carry out the decision within.
The third crucial point in chapter 2 is found in verses 15 and 16, which tell us that we are to hold forth the word of life as luminaries. As the luminaries hold forth the light of the sun, we as luminaries of Christ hold forth the word of life. Holding forth strongly implies speaking. If we do not speak the word of life, how could we hold it forth? If we let Christ’s living mind be in us doing His transforming work, then we can experience the Triune God operating in us. Right away we become the luminaries of Christ speaking His word of life. This is the experience of Christ in chapter 2.
Verse 8 of chapter 3 speaks of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Paul does not say “the excellency of Christ” but “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.” To experience Christ we first need the knowledge of Christ. We must know Him. This chapter stresses very much the knowledge of Christ. Verse 10 says, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection.” Therefore, to know Him is crucial to our experience of Him. We cannot experience Him without knowing Him. The knowledge of Christ is excellent, and this knowledge is even an excellency. Paul counted everything refuse, rubbish, dog food, for the excellency of knowing Christ. Most readers of Philippians 3 consider the excellency here to be the excellency of Christ the person. However, this is not correct. We must stress here the knowing of Christ. Christ Himself stressed that He would build His church not upon Himself as the rock but upon the revelation concerning Him. The revelation is for knowing. Without the revelation concerning Christ surely we could not know Him. We need this revelation to know Christ. When Paul was Saul of Tarsus, Christ was there, having passed through all the major steps, perfected, completed, and consummated in full. However, Saul of Tarsus had no knowledge concerning this Christ. On his way to Damascus the day dawned, and the light came. He began to see the vision, the revelation, concerning Christ (Acts 26:19). By seeing this vision he gained a knowledge, and that knowledge became to him a treasure, an excellency. For this knowledge that he treasured, he counted everything as refuse, dregs, rubbish, filth, which is thrown to the dogs, the dog food or dung.
Among all the things that Paul counted dung the first was the religious or Judaic things. In Philippians 3:5-6 he gives us a list of his Judaic status. He counted not only these things as loss but also all things, including rank, position, fame, and wealth. The loss of all things to Paul was the loss not only of his Jewish status but of everything.
Verses 10 and 11 say, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead.” To know Christ here is by experience — to have the experiential knowledge of Him, to experience Him in the full knowledge of Him. The power of Christ’s resurrection is His resurrection life, which raised Him from the dead. The fellowship of His sufferings is the participation in Christ’s sufferings by being conformed to His death. The result of this experience is that we attain to the out-resurrection from the dead, the outstanding resurrection, the extra- resurrection, which will be a prize to the overcoming saints.
Philippians 3:21 speaks of the transfiguration of our body, the conformation of our body to the body of Christ’s glory. The transfiguration of our body is the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23). This is the conformation of our body to the form of the body of Christ’s glory. In Philippians 1 to experience Christ is a matter of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. No doubt, this is a matter in our spirit. In chapter 2 to experience Christ is a matter in our mind. Our mind should be indwelt by Christ’s mind. Murmurings and especially reasonings are a matter of the mind. To think the same thing in 2:2 is also a matter in the mind. In chapter 3 to experience Christ in the final stage is to experience Him in our body. When we experience Him in our body, that will be the consummation of the experience of Christ, the transfiguration, the redemption of our body. This will be the conformation of our natural body to the heavenly form of the body of Christ’s glory. Our entire being will be brought into glory by experiencing Christ. Philippians 1 through 3 reveals our progressive experience of Christ.
Philippians 4:5 and 6 say, “Let your forbearance be known to all men. The Lord is near. In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Near in verse 5 means near in space and time. Spacewise, the Lord is nigh to us, ready to help. Timewise, the Lord is at hand, coming soon. The forbearance mentioned in 4:5 is not an ordinary forbearance or an ethical forbearance. It is the forbearance of Christ, the spiritual attribute or virtue of Christ. If we exercise such forbearance, we will not be anxious. A life full of forbearance but without anxiety is the subject of Messages 56 through 62 of the Life-study of Philippians.
Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers, what things are true, what things are dignified, what things are righteous, what things are pure, what things are lovely, what things are well spoken of, if there is any virtue and if any praise, take account of these things.” The first six items in verse 8 are summed up in virtue and praise. Virtue and praise are the totality, the result, and the issue of these six foregoing things. In verse 13 Paul says, “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.” All things does not refer to healing the sick, raising the dead, or performing certain miracles. However, this is the thought of many Christians. Perhaps some from a Pentecostal background would apply verse 13 to the performing of certain miracles. All things in verse 13 refers to the all things mentioned in verse 12 and the virtues listed in verse 8. The application of verse 13 is limited by the context of verses 8 through 13. By the empowering of Christ we can live a contented life (vv. 11-12) and be true, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, and well spoken of.
If you put all the points from these four chapters together, you will see something very meaningful. First, we experience Christ in our spirit by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in our spirit. Then we experience Christ in our mind by letting Christ’s mind indwell our mind and do the transforming work. This saves us primarily from murmurings and reasonings. Third, we experience Christ consummately in chapter 3 in that our body will be transfigured, conformed to the glorious form of His body. Eventually, we are persons in Christ who empowers us to live out every kind of virtue. This is to live Christ, to magnify Christ in His virtues.
The six virtues mentioned in verse 8 are actually the image of God. God created man in His image, that is, in His attributes. The law came to describe what kind of God He is and to show us the main attributes of God. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. These four things are God’s attributes, which constitute the image of God. That man was made in the image of God means he was made in the form of love, light, holiness, and righteousness. These six items, whatever is true, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, and reputable, or well spoken of, are in those four divine attributes of love, light, holiness, and righteousness. This is the real virtue, and this is the praise that is the very expression of our processed Triune God. This is to live Christ, and this is to magnify Christ.
The first crucial point of the truth in Colossians is found in 1:12. This verse says, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.” Allotted portion in this verse may also be translated into “lot.” Lot refers to the allotment of the good land in the Old Testament. Each of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel received an allotment of the good land. The good land as a whole was the portion of God’s chosen people. This good land is an all-inclusive type of Christ. Today as God’s chosen people, the saints, we all have Christ as our portion. To understand this point we must read from verse 12 to the end of this chapter. This portion of the Word describes the different aspects of this lot. First, this portion is the image of the invisible God (v. 15). Second, He is the first item, the Firstborn of all creation (v. 15). As to His divinity, He is the image of the invisible God. In His humanity, He is the first item of God’s creation. He is also the Firstborn in resurrection (v. 18), the Firstborn of the new creation. He is the One in whom all the fullness of the Divine Trinity dwells (v. 19). This One must have the preeminence, the first position in everything. Because He is the One who has the preeminence in all things, He redeemed and reconciled all things to God. This wonderful, all-inclusive Christ is our portion.
Colossians 1:27 says, “To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This mystery full of glory among the Gentiles is Christ in us. Christ in us is mysterious as well as glorious. Christ is the mystery that is full of glory now. This glory will be manifested to its fullest extent when Christ returns to glorify His saints (Rom. 8:30). Hence, it is a hope, the hope of glory. Christ Himself is also this hope of glory. Today He is our life, and when He comes back, we will be manifested with Him in glory (Col. 3:4).
The first crucial point in chapter 2 is found in verse 2. At the end of 2:2 Paul speaks of the “full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ.” The book of Ephesians is on the mystery of Christ, which is the church, the Body (3:4). This book is on the mystery of God, which is Christ, the Head. God is a mystery, and Christ, as the embodiment of God to express Him, is the mystery of God. It is crucial that we know Christ not only as our Savior and Lord but also as the mystery of God.
In Colossians 2:9 Paul says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” This means that Christ is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead, that the fullness of the Triune God dwells in Christ in a bodily form. Fullness refers not to the riches of God but to the overflow, the expression, of the riches of God. What dwells in Christ is not only the riches of the Godhead but the expression of the riches of what God is. Godhead refers to deity, which is different from the divine characteristics manifested by the created things (Rom. 1:20). This strongly indicates the deity of Christ. The fact that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily means that it dwells in Him in a way that is both real and practical. This implies the physical body that Christ put on in His humanity, indicating that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ as One who has a human body. Before His incarnation the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him as the eternal Word but not bodily. Since He became incarnate, clothed with a human body, the fullness of the Godhead began to dwell in a bodily way, and in His glorified body (Phil. 3:21) now and forever it dwells.
In Colossians 2:6 and 7 Paul says, “As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, having been rooted and being built up in Him.” According to chapter 1, the One in whom we are to walk is the portion of the saints, who according to His divinity is the image of God and in His humanity is the Firstborn of the old creation and the Firstborn of the new creation. He is the One in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells to have preeminence in all things. He is the One by whom all things were redeemed and reconciled to God (v. 20). Furthermore, according to chapter 2, He is the mystery of God and the embodiment of God. In such a One we have to walk.
As we have received Christ, we should walk in Him. To walk is to live, to act, to behave, and to have our being. We should walk, live, and act in Christ as our portion (1:12) so that we may enjoy His riches, just as the children of Israel lived in the good land, enjoying all its rich produce.
By walking in Him we will be rooted and built up in Him. To walk in such a One is to be rooted in Him and to be built up in Him. To be rooted is to have downward growth, and to be built up is to have upward growth. A tree grows in two directions. The roots of the tree grow downward, and the branches grow upward. We Christians must be like a tree. Our growing up depends upon our growing down. The branches can never go up without the roots going down.
In 2:16 and 17 Paul says, “Let no one therefore judge you in eating and in drinking or in respect of a feast or of a new moon or of the Sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.”
All these items of the ceremonial law are a shadow of the spiritual things in Christ, which are the things to come. The body in verse 17, like a man’s physical body, is the substance. The rituals in the law are a shadow of the real things in the gospel, like the shadow of a man’s body. Christ is the reality of the gospel. He is all the good things in the gospel. The book of Colossians unveils such an all-inclusive Christ as the focus of God’s economy.
In 2:19 Paul refers to “holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.” Holding the Head that we may grow with the growth of God is related primarily to His subjective death. Verse 20 says, “If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as living in the world, do you subject yourself to ordinances.” The elements of the world are the ordinances, primarily the Jewish ordinances but also the ordinances of the Greeks. These ordinances are related to “do not handle, nor taste, nor touch” (v. 21). We must hold the Head that we may grow with the growth of God, with the increase of God as life. If we live such a life, surely we will experience His subjective death.
Colossians 3:3 and 4 say, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.” Because our life (not our natural life but our spiritual life, which is Christ) has been hidden with Christ in God, who is in the heavens, we should no longer care for things on the earth. God in the heavens should be the sphere of our living. With Christ we should live in God. In God, Christ — not our self, our soul — is our life. This life is now hidden, but it will be manifested. Then we will be manifested with this life in glory.
In 3:16 Paul says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.” First, we have Christ as our life, then we have His living Word personified as His person dwelling in us. The word of Christ is the word spoken by Christ. In His New Testament economy God speaks in the Son, and the Son speaks not only directly in the Gospels but also through His members, the apostles and prophets, in Acts, in the Epistles, and in Revelation. All these may be considered as His word.
In this passage the infilling of spiritual life that overflows in praising and singing is related to the Word, whereas in its parallel passage, Ephesians 5:18-20, the infilling of spiritual life is related to the Spirit. This indicates that the Word and the Spirit are identical (John 6:63b). A normal Christian life should be one that is filled with the Word so that the Spirit may bubble from within us in lauding melodies, melodies of praise.
The word of Christ includes the entire New Testament. We need to be filled with this word. This means that we should allow the word of Christ to dwell in us, to inhabit us, to make home in us. The Greek word rendered “dwell” literally means “to be in a house, to inhabit.” The word of the Lord must have adequate room within us so that it may operate and minister the riches of Christ into our inner being.
In Colossians 4:3 Paul says, “Praying at the same time for us also, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ (because of which also I am bound).” In chapter 3 the last crucial point is to let the word of Christ dwell in us. The crucial point in chapter 4, the last crucial point of the entire book, is to pray for the door to be opened for the word. The open door for the word is related to the divine speaking. In this matter I would recommend two books for you to prayerfully read: The Home Meetings — the Unique Way for the Increase and Building Up of the Church and The Divine Speaking.
