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Scripture Reading: 4, Col. 1:8; 1 Thes. 1:5-6; 4:3-8; 5:19; 2 Thes. 2:13-14; 1 Tim. 3:16; 4:1-3; Titus 3:5
The Spirit revealed in the seven books of the Bible from Colossians through Philemon is the all-inclusive, compound, processed, life-giving, indwelling Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God. It is difficult to arrive at a subject or a topic that can cover these seven books. Colossians reveals to us the all-inclusive Christ as the Head of the Body. The theme of 1 and 2 Thessalonians is a holy life for the church life. The subject of 1 Timothy is God’s economy concerning the church, and the subject of 2 Timothy is the inoculation against the decline of the church. In Titus we see the maintenance of order in the church, and Philemon is an illustration of the believers’ equal status in the new man. The sum-total subject of these seven books, however, is the Spirit of the practical Christian life.
In the twenty-two books from Acts through Jude we see a full definition and explanation of a wonderful person. This wonderful person is the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — becoming a man in the likeness of the flesh of sin. After going through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, this One became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. He is defined and presented to us in Romans as the Spirit of life, in 1 Corinthians as the life-giving Spirit, in 2 Corinthians as the transforming Spirit, and in Galatians as the blessing of the gospel. The main blessing of the gospel is the all-inclusive, processed, compound, life-giving, indwelling Spirit. Ephesians is a book on the Spirit of the Body, and Philippians is a book on the bountiful Spirit of Jesus Christ. Now we want to see the all-inclusive Spirit in Colossians through Philemon for the practical Christian life.
The Spirit in Colossians is revealed as the source, the element, and the sphere of the believers’ love toward all the saints in Christ the Head (1:4, 8). According to our natural understanding, the matter of love is common, but according to the divine fact, it is not common. Colossians 1:4 refers to the love which the saints in Colossae had unto all the saints; verse 8 reveals that their love to all the saints was the love in the Spirit. We would never imagine that in Colossians, which is a book on the all-inclusive Christ as the Head of the Body, the all-inclusive Spirit would be defined and presented in such a “common way.” According to our natural understanding, it may be common, but actually, it is very particular. For us to experience Christ as the Head of the Body we must have a love that is toward all the saints. The Greek word for all in verse 4 is pan. In America there is an airline called Pan American. Pan means “covering everything.” To experience Christ as the Head of the Body, we need to have a love that is toward all the saints.
In my lifetime I have traveled to many countries, and I have contacted many different peoples. All the peoples of the world have their distinctive characteristics. Our Lord has redeemed men out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Rev. 5:9). We must ask ourselves whether or not we can love all these people whom God has redeemed. When I was a young boy, the young people of China were infused with a hatred toward Japan since Japan invaded, damaged, and subdued our country. Now that I am a Christian, however, I have to love my Japanese brothers. History also tells us that Germany, Britain, and France were always fighting in Europe. How can the redeemed peoples from these three countries love one another? You must even ask yourself if you love everyone and feel happy about everyone in the church in your locality.
In ourselves we can never have a love which is toward all the saints. This love is in the Spirit. Many secular historians have said that Christianity is a religion of love. Surely God’s people should be a people of love, but of what kind of love? Should we love others with our human and natural love? We need a love that will love all kinds of peoples from all kinds of cultures. Our love is not this kind of love. It has to be the love in the Spirit. The Spirit is the source, the element, and the very essence and sphere of such a love. After being a Christian for over fifty-nine years, by the Lord’s mercy, I can testify that I love all the saints from all the different countries. This love, however, is not my love but the love in the Spirit.
The church is the Body of Christ, which is also the new man. For this new man the basic need is unique — His love. For people to stay together without love is very difficult. How could a husband and wife remain together without love? Neither of them could endure such a marriage. For human society, the basic need is love. How can different peoples with different tongues of different races and of different colors be one Body and be one new man? It is impossible without love. Only love unites, and only love makes all of us one new man.
Many would say that Christianity is a religion of universal love, but actually, our human and natural love is not universal. There is a love, however, that we Christians have in the Spirit, which loves all the different members of the Lord’s Body. We love all the brothers in the Lord from all cultures, from all races, and from all countries. This is not possible by our natural love, but there is the love in the Spirit, who is a wonderful person. The New Testament is not a book of doctrine or a book teaching us universal love. What the New Testament reveals to us is a person. This love is a person who is the all-inclusive Spirit; in Him there is such a love. He is the source, the element, and the sphere of this love. If you live in Him, He is the universal love that causes you, makes you, and stirs you up to love all the unlovable saints.
In 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6 we are told that the gospel preached by the apostles was not only preached in word but also in power and in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit in 1 Thessalonians is revealed as the reality of the gospel preached by the apostles. Verse 6 tells us that the believers accepted the gospel with joy of the Holy Spirit. The gospel was in the Spirit, and the joy with which the believers accepted the gospel was of the Holy Spirit. On the preachers’ side the gospel was in the Spirit, and on the receivers’ side the joy was of the Spirit. If there were no Spirit, there would be no reality of the gospel and no real joy to receive the gospel. If I did not have the assurance that my ministry of the word was in the Spirit, I would not do it. If I minister the word outside the Spirit, my ministry is in vain. When I speak in the Spirit, however, it can never be in vain, because the Spirit is the reality of my speaking.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 we see that the Spirit is given by God to the believers for sanctification versus fornication. This sanctification is in the Spirit. We may say that the sanctification is to make us holy. We also have to realize, however, what it is to be holy. You may be very moral, very ethical, very pure, very clean, and living for others, but you still may not be holy. To be holy is to be absolutely for God. You may be good, moral, ethical, pure, and kind, but if you are not for God, you are not holy; instead, you are common. You must be absolutely for God to be holy.
Fornication is to use the body for something other than God, whereas sanctification is to use the body absolutely for God. Sanctification is versus fornication. No one could commit fornication if they were using their body absolutely for God. We may not commit fornication physically, but spiritually speaking, every one of us has committed fornication. This is because we do not use our being for God but for something else. Spiritual fornication is not using yourself for God. You use yourself for things other than God.
How could we be a person who is not for anything else other than God? Seemingly, this is impossible, but we can do this in the Spirit. When you exchange words with your wife or husband, you have to realize that in principle this is committing spiritual fornication. Your lips, your tongue, and your entire mouth should be absolutely for God. It should not be used for exchanging words with the other party in the marriage life. If you use your mouth for something else other than God, this is spiritual fornication. Your mouth should be absolutely for God and not for anything else. To gossip is a kind of spiritual fornication. The only way to escape this kind of spiritual fornication is to be in the Spirit. When we are in the Spirit, we would never use our mouth to gossip, and we would never let our mouth exchange words with the other party in our marriage.
First Thessalonians 4:3-8 is a strong portion of the Word telling us that sanctification in the Spirit is versus fornication. To use our entire being for God is possible only by being in the Spirit. When we are in our mentality, we have many things to gossip about. When we are in our emotions, we are impelled to speak about things other than God. To use our mouth for something other than God is a kind of spiritual fornication, and the only way to be sanctified unto God absolutely is by being in the Spirit.
First Thessalonians 5:19 says, “Do not quench the Spirit.” Before we were saved, we did not have any kind of feeling that someone was moving in us. Since we have been saved, however, it seems that we have someone else within us all the time. Sometimes it may seem that someone is watching over you or “tailing” you. Wherever you go, He goes, just like a shadow. Before you were saved, you were really alone, and nobody was with you. Since you have been saved, though, One is with you all the time. You may like to go to a movie, but someone within you says, “Do not go.” It seems as if there is always someone around you, above you, behind you, or within you speaking to you. This is the wonderful One, the Savior, the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the Son, as the embodiment of the Triune God, including the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, in His humanity and with His human living as the all-inclusive Spirit. This One is the best detective; He knows every detail of your life. Even before you speak a word, He knows what you will speak. The apostle Paul tells us not to quench this Spirit. This Spirit makes our spirit burning (Rom. 12:11) and our gifts flaming (2 Tim. 1:6), so we should not quench Him. We need to go along with this Spirit.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 we see salvation in sanctification of the Spirit unto the obtaining of the glory of Christ to express God. God chose us unto salvation, but the salvation referred to here is not the salvation from perdition or from God’s condemnation. God has chosen us unto a particular kind of salvation, and this salvation is in the sanctification of the Spirit. This is to be saved by being sanctified by this all-inclusive Spirit all the time. When we are going shopping, we need the salvation that is in the sanctification of the Spirit. When we go shopping, most of the time we are “going downhill.” Many times while we are going up in the elevators or escalators in the department stores, actually we are going downhill. Sometimes when we want to purchase something, there is One within us telling us not to buy it and even telling us to go home. The only One who can save us from purchasing things according to our lusts is the sanctifying Spirit.
Also, who can save us from the temptation of exchanging words with our spouse? It must be Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the embodiment of the Triune God, consummating in the Spirit. This Spirit separates us from our habit and desire to exchange words, and this is the sanctifying. We daily need this kind of sanctifying salvation. We need to be saved from losing our temper and from the desire to gossip on the telephone. To many sisters the telephone is very “sticky.” Once these sisters pick up the telephone, it is hard for them to put it down. The only One who can save us from this is the sanctifying Spirit. We need a daily, practical, and present salvation, not by mighty power or miracles but by the quiet, gentle, mild, sanctifying Spirit. He does not fight us, nor does He force us not to do certain things. He is like a dove within us. We need such a salvation, and God has chosen us unto this salvation in the sanctifying grace of the Spirit.
The result of such a salvation is the obtaining of the glory of Christ to express God. When we are saved by the sanctifying Spirit, we are people under glory, and this glory is for the expression of God. Many of us really love the Lord, but in our daily life when we go shopping, when we gossip, and when we argue, there is no obtaining of the glory of Christ. The glory of Christ is to be God’s sons, possessing God’s life and nature to express Him. If we would be saved by the sanctifying Spirit daily, we will surely bear the glory of Christ to express God as sons of God, possessing His life and partaking of His nature.
According to 1 Timothy 3:16, the Spirit is justifying, or vindicating, the manifestation of God in the flesh. This transpired in Christ while He was on this earth. He was God manifested in the flesh, and this was vindicated and verified by this Spirit. The same principle applies to us, the church, today. God is manifested in our flesh, but this has to be verified, justified, and vindicated by the all-inclusive Spirit. This means that only when we live in the all-inclusive Spirit, do we have a kind of vindication, justification, and verification that God is manifested in us, the church.
In 1 Timothy 4:1-3 the Spirit speaks to the believers, warning them of apostasy in later times. This is the Spirit who dwells in our spirit and speaks to us there (Rom. 8:9-11, 16). We need to exercise our spirit in order that it may become keen and clear to listen to the Spirit’s speaking and be kept from the deceiving spirits and teachings of demons.
In 2 Timothy 1:14 the Spirit is also dwelling in the believers through whom they guard the good deposit. Since we were saved, we have received many things from God into us as a kind of deposit. This is just like a deposit in a bank. Within us and especially within our spirit, we have a divine deposit. God’s life, God’s Spirit, and all the precious truths that we have seen in the Lord’s recovery have been deposited into our being. How can we safeguard this deposit? It is only through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. If we are a person acting, behaving, and having our life in the Spirit, all that has been deposited into our being will be guarded. If we forget about the Spirit and walk in our flesh and according to our mentality, we will immediately be the same as the nations who are apart from God (Eph. 4:17-18). If this were the case, there would be no safeguarding of the good things deposited in our being. We need to safeguard the good deposit through the Spirit.
Finally, Titus 3:5 tells us that God saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit began to renew us from our regeneration and is renewing us continuously every day and all day to make us a new man with the divine life. Whenever we gather together for the ministry of the word in a conference, we experience the renewing of the Spirit, and we go back to our localities as renewed persons. This is the saving work of the sanctifying Spirit. Actually, His sanctifying is His renewing.
Through all the points that we have covered in these seven books, we can see that the Spirit in Colossians through Philemon is the Spirit of the practical Christian life. The first item of the practical Christian life is the love in the Spirit toward all the saints until we reach the last item, which is the daily renewing by the all-inclusive Spirit. This is our practical Christian life. In these seven books the all-inclusive Spirit is such a Spirit.
