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In the previous chapters we have seen that the Christian life is a mingling of two persons living together as one. We have also seen who we are. We are flesh, and our spirit was deadened and our soul contaminated. As such, we have no confidence in our self. In this chapter we will see who Christ is. If we are seeking after the growth in the divine life and seeking to live the Christian life, we should always remember who our Savior is. We have not exhausted the knowledge of Christ. The knowledge of Christ that many Christians have is too limited, shallow, traditional, and even superstitious. Many hold an inadequate concept of Christ in the Divine Trinity and do not realize how Christ’s person is related to God’s economy.
Christ our Savior is God (Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:8), the Son (Matt. 16:16), and the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). In total, He is the processed and dispensing Triune God who is consummated as the Spirit. The Spirit of God is the consummated Spirit, the consummation of the processed Triune God. The writings of John reveal much concerning the divine Spirit and our human spirit. John 3:2-13 is a portion of the Word on regeneration. In this chapter the term Holy Spirit is not used. Verses 5, 6, and 8 simply refer to “the Spirit.” John 7:39 also speaks of the Spirit, saying, “This He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” Finally, Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!”
John 3:6 and 4:24 speak of the two spirits, the divine Spirit and the human spirit. John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” The divine Spirit begets our human spirit, and our human spirit worships the divine Spirit. As a result, our human spirit is filled with the divine Spirit.
Paul also speaks much concerning the divine Spirit and our human spirit in the Epistles. Many times Paul’s references to the Spirit are difficult to translate because Paul often used the word spirit to denote the mingled spirit. Many references to the spirit in the Epistles actually denote the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit. The mingled spirit is indicated several times in Galatians 5. Verses 16 and 17 say, “I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” Verse 25 says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” The Spirit in these verses, according to the context of the chapter, is the Holy Spirit, who dwells in and mingles with our regenerated spirit. To walk by the Spirit is to have our walk regulated by the Holy Spirit from within our spirit. In verse 17 it is the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit with our human spirit, that is contrary to the flesh.
In Romans 8:16 Paul says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” In this verse the two spirits are no longer separate. The divine Spirit is with our human spirit, and the two spirits have become the mingled spirit.
Our Savior is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Son is the embodiment of the Father, and the Spirit is the realization of the Son. After the Triune God passed through all His processes, the Spirit became the consummated Spirit, the consummation of the Triune God. In eternity past God was perfect. He was the divine person, almighty, unlimited, and eternal. However, in eternity past He did not possess the human nature since He had not yet been born of a human virgin. He had not passed through human life for thirty-three and a half years. He also had not yet entered into death and walked through it, and He did not yet have the experience of resurrection. He was in the heavens, but He had not yet descended from the heavens to the earth, descended further to Hades, risen up from the realm of death and darkness, and entered into resurrection. He had not ascended to the heavens, not only in His divinity but also in His incarnation, His human living, all-inclusive death, and all-empowering resurrection. Today, however, after passing through all these processes, He is the consummated Triune God. He is not only perfect but also completed.
As believers in Christ, we have been made one with God and have become the members of Christ. God is embodied in Christ, and Christ is both the individual Christ and the corporate Christ. The individual Christ is simply Christ Himself, but the corporate Christ is Christ with all His members. God has made Himself one with man and has made man one with Him. The oneness of Christ with His members is seen in Acts 9. In Acts 9:4 the Lord Jesus said to Paul, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Paul had never persecuted the individual Jesus. He persecuted the members of Christ, yet Christ considered that as a persecution against Himself. In Philippians 1:21 Paul says, “To me, to live is Christ.” This indicates Paul’s oneness with Christ. First Corinthians 6:17 also shows that we and Christ are one wonderful entity. This verse says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” The one spirit in this verse is the mingled spirit.
The early church fathers in their writings used the word mingling to describe our oneness with the Lord. They also taught that the believers were “deified” by being joined to the Lord. However, in using these terms there is the possibility of being misunderstood. When we say that we are one with God, we do not mean that we become the person of God. This is to make ourselves an object of worship and should be condemned as blasphemy. To be one with God is to be one with Him in His divine life and nature. Every life produces offspring after its own kind (Gen. 1:11, 21, 24). As children of our physical father, we have our father’s life and nature, but we are not the same person as he is. A grandfather, a father, and a son all have the same life and nature, but they are different persons. In life and nature they are the same, but in person they are different. As the children of God (Rom. 8:16; 1 John 3:1), we have been deified, not in person but in life and in nature. We are one with God in His life and nature but not in His person.
Christ is a God-man, a man born of two natures, the divine nature and the human nature. He lived a human life on the earth and passed through trials and temptations. As the God-man, He also entered into death and accomplished an all-inclusive death. Christ’s death terminated everything negative in the universe. His all-inclusive death ended sin, Satan, the flesh, the old creation, our old man, and everything negative. Then He was buried with all the items that He had terminated through His death. Our old man was buried with Christ (Rom. 6:4, 6). Sin, sins, and the devil were also buried in Christ’s tomb. Many times Satan attacks us under different cloaks. To Eve he came in the cloak of a serpent. Many times he comes to us in the cloak of a person or a situation to tempt us. At that time we should tell him not to remain with us but to return to the tomb. Christ came out of the tomb in resurrection, and in resurrection He ascended to the heavens.
As we have seen, Christ is the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — and He is the embodiment of God. Christ is many other items, such as the reality of the plants mentioned positively in the Bible. Christ is the real cedar tree (Lev. 14:4; 1 Kings 6:9), the real hyssop (Lev. 14:4; Psa. 51:7), and the real henna flower (S. S. 1:14). The chorus of Hymns, #171 says,
Lord, like the pretty henna-flower,
In vineyards blossoming Thou art;
Incomp’rable Thy beauty is,
Admires and loves our heart!
At the time the Song of Songs was written, the henna flower was used by women as a cosmetic. We should take Christ as our beauty. Christ is also the apple tree (2:3). The word translated “apple” in Song of Songs 2:3 is actually the word for a juicy and nourishing tropical fruit. We need to be beautified with Christ as the henna flower and nourished with Christ as the fruit. Moreover, we can sit under His shadow to rest, enjoy, and relax (v. 3). Christ is also the planting place of renown in Ezekiel 34:29.
Christ is the reality of everything positive. Colossians 2:16-17 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 the things to come, but the body is of Christ.” Christ is the reality of the Sabbath and the festivals in the Old Testament. Christ is also our food (John 6:32-35), our drink (4:10-14), and our real joy. He is the air, the breath, the soil, and our good land. This is our Savior.
We need to remember Him as all these things. Every week we have at least one meeting for the purpose of coming together to remember Him. At the Lord’s table we display His death for the remembrance of Him. We need to improve our praises at the Lord’s table meeting. We should pray, “Lord, You are our henna flower for our beauty, and You are the fruit for our nourishment.” If we do not praise Him in this way, it indicates that we do not have the proper knowledge of Christ from the Bible. If we have the adequate knowledge of Christ, we will praise Him adequately at His table.
Because Christ is so many positive items, the church also becomes many items. Stanza 4 of Hymns, #203 says,
We’re Thy total reproduction,
Thy dear Body and Thy bride,
Thine expression and Thy fullness,
For Thee ever to abide.
We are Thy continuation,
Thy life-increase and Thy spread,
Thy full growth and Thy rich surplus,
One with Thee, our glorious Head.
The church is all these items because Christ is so much.
We must remember what the Christian life is, who we are, and who Christ is. Then day after day we will be refreshed and revived. We will be overcoming and victorious, and we will spread Him. We will bear the responsibility to dispense Him to others, not only to sinners but also to weaker, younger Christians.
