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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2a
I. The definition of transformation:
А. Not merely a perceptible change outwardly in behavior.
B. Being a metabolic transformation inwardly in essence.
II. The steps of transformation:
А. Washing — the washing of regeneration — Titus 3:5b.
B. Sanctification — the sanctification of the Holy Spirit — Rom. 6:19, 22; 15:16.
C. Renewing — the renewing of the Holy Spirit — Titus 3:5b:
1. Beginning from our mind — Rom. 12:2a.
2. Through our spirit, which is mingled with the Spirit — Eph. 4:23; Rom. 8:6b.
3. Reaching all the inward parts of our being.
D. A metabolic process — transformation — 12:2a.
E. Not accomplished in an instant.
F. But achieved throughout our entire life — 2 Cor. 4:16-17.
III. The way of transformation:
А. By fellowshipping with the Lord without any barrier — with unveiled face beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glorious image of the Lord — 3:18a.
B. The advancing — from one degree of glory to another degree of glory — v. 18b.
C. Being transformed into the same image of the Lord, even as from the Lord Spirit — v. 18c.
D. By remaining in our spirit and exercising our spirit — 2 Tim. 4:22; Phil. 4:23; Gal. 6:18.
IV. The issue of transformation:
А. Growth and maturity in the divine life — Eph. 4:13b; Col. 1:28.
B. Arriving at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ — Eph. 4:13c.
V. The purpose of transformation:
А. The building up of the Body of Christ — v. 12.
B. The accomplishing of God’s eternal economy — 3:9.
VI. The ultimate transformation:
А. The transfiguration of our body — Phil. 3:21.
B. The glorification of our body — Rom. 8:30.
C. The ultimate redemption — v. 23c; Eph. 1:14; 4:30.
D. The full taste of the divine sonship — Rom. 8:23b.
We have seen clearly that the unique heart’s desire of God in the universe is to work Himself into us to be our life. This is the greatest miracle, and it is also the greatest revelation. But I am afraid that many who have been Christians for a number of years still have not heard about this matter, nor can they speak this word. Therefore, they do not see that at the beginning of the Bible there is a tree, the tree of life. At the conclusion of the Bible, this tree of life appears again. This tree of life expresses God’s desire, and it also symbolizes God’s goal.
After God created Adam, He waited for two thousand years and still did not come. Then He promised Abraham that he would have a seed and that in this seed all the nations would be blessed. This seed would be God who was to come. At the time of Abraham, although God had created man two thousand years before and the history of the human race also had quite a long record, He still did not come. After another two thousand years John the Baptist appeared. One day he saw Jesus coming to him, and he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). This Jesus was God, the Creator of all things, coming among men. At that time the human race already had four thousand years of history. The Lord Jesus came, but He did not come with a great noisy display; rather, He came quietly. He was born in a royal family, being a descendant of King David, but at that time the royal family was in complete ruin. The Lord Jesus lived in the little town of Nazareth in Galilee, which was a despised land in Israel. He lived not in the home of a rich man but rather in the home of a carpenter, a laborer who worked hard. Even up to the present day, we do not know all that He did there. The Creator of the heavens and the earth actually lived in that little cottage for thirty-three and a half years and worked as a carpenter.
This Jesus was actually God. He was God who became a man, and people called His name Emmanuel (Matt. 1:23). Jesus was God with man. He was not only a royal descendant; He was God. Isaiah prophesied that a Son would be given to us, yet His name would be called Mighty God, Eternal Father (9:6). When He was thirty years old, He began to minister. Then one day after three and a half years He told His disciples that He was going to die on the cross. Apparently, it was men who nailed Him to the cross. Actually, in God’s view it was He Himself who went to the cross. It was not men who killed Him; rather, it was He Himself who gave up His life to die for us sinners. His death was a vicarious death. He is the One who died to make redemption for our sins, to solve all our problems, and to terminate our old man. On the cross He solved all the problems in the universe between God and man.
He was on the cross for six hours, and at the end He declared, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). He accomplished the great work of redemption on the cross. Then a rich man took His body, wrapped it in linen cloths with precious spices, and laid it in a new tomb hewn in the rock. After three days the Lord resurrected. He took off the linen cloths in which He was wrapped, folded them neatly, and laid them to one side. Then He walked out of the tomb. At early dawn some of the women who had been following Him came to the tomb and saw that the stone, which had been against the door of the tomb, was rolled away. Two angels in white sitting there said to them, “I know that you are seeking Jesus, the crucified. He is not here, for He has been raised, even as He said” (Matt. 28:5-6; John 20:12).
As the only begotten Son of God, the Lord Jesus put on human nature and became a man. Then through His death and resurrection He brought His humanity into divinity. This means that originally His humanity was not the Son of God, but at this time He brought His humanity into divinity. This human part of Him also became the Son of God. Thus, He became the firstborn Son of God. He was no longer just the only begotten Son but the First among many sons. Firstborn Son indicates that there would be many sons after Him. Therefore, when He resurrected, it was not He alone who resurrected. Rather, He brought a group of people whom God had chosen and predestinated before the ages, before the creation of the heavens, the earth, and all things, to be resurrected together with Him. Before the heavens and the earth were in existence, before we were born, we believers all had been chosen and predestinated by God. We are those chosen by God, and we are those predestinated by God.
On the day of His resurrection the Lord brought us to be resurrected with Him. That resurrection was our regeneration. Originally, God created us in His image and according to His likeness. Regrettably, we became fallen. So He was incarnated and then brought us all to the cross to be crucified with Him. This is why Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ.” Furthermore, He brought us with Him into resurrection. Thus, 1 Peter 1:3 says, “God...has regenerated us...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” We were regenerated before we were born. Not only so, we were all regenerated together. In our view there are the elements of space and time, but in God’s eternal view there is no element of time. In His eyes a thousand years are like one day. We died together with Christ, and we were also raised up together with Him. Moreover, we were regenerated together with Him.
To be regenerated is to receive the life of God in addition to having our natural life. This God who is life entered into us to become our life. On the one hand, it is a blessing to have God as our life; on the other hand, it is a great suffering. The Chinese say that to get married is “to have a family.” I say this is right, except that the family becomes a bondage. Once you get married, you are put in shackles. Marriage is a blessing on the one hand and a bondage on the other hand. Similarly, we all have been saved. It is good to be saved, and it is also good to have God as life. When God lives in us, however, He is always bothering us. He “meddles” in our trivial affairs, not to mention the big ones. Reading the newspaper is a small matter, yet often within us we sense that He will not allow us to read it. Before they were saved, some sisters were very free and at peace when they went shopping on Saturdays. They went whenever they wanted, and they bought whatever they considered inexpensive and suitable. After they were saved, however, the Lord within them would bother them and not want them to go shopping. Sometimes they went anyway and subsequently were not at peace. We often have this kind of experience.
This can be compared to two persons who are married and cannot get along with each other. God has come into you to be your life. Now, does He balance you, or do you try to balance Him? Do you go along with Him, or does He go along with you? We all should yield ourselves to the Lord and say, “Lord, You have chosen me. You arranged all the circumstances for me to be saved. Now You are living in me. Lord, You are the Lord who is God and who became the life-giving Spirit through incarnation, death, and resurrection. You are the Spirit today. I call on Your name. I tell You that I love You and that I want to be transformed.”
The first step of God’s salvation in life is regeneration. After we are regenerated, we cannot avoid Him; He will always follow us. Apparently He is following us, but actually He wants us to follow Him. The second step of God’s salvation in life is transformation. After we were saved, we thought that everything would be peaceful and smooth. Little did we know that when we were saved, we were “caught” by the Lord. Very often He stirs within us in order to transform us. This transformation is not merely an outward change; it is a metabolic change. At the zoo in Taipei there used to be a show with a monkey eating a Western-style meal. This was a real monkey, but when it came out, it imitated a man. It walked on two legs, sat down, put on a napkin, and began to eat a Western-style meal with a fork and knife. A man with a whip stood close by to direct the performance. After the performance, however, the monkey jumped about on all four legs, revealing its true nature. Man’s outward change is just like the monkey’s eating a Western-style meal. Man is deceitful. He can make many changes on the surface because he is capable of pretending. But the Bible tells us that after we are saved and have God as our life, He then does His transforming work in us with the elements of His divine nature so that we may be like Him.
Our transformation in the life of God is not merely a perceptible change outwardly in behavior. After a person is saved, he might think that he was a mess as a non-Christian, but now that he is going to church and is also carrying a Bible, he should change his behavior. Many Christians change their behavior this way, and their relatives praise them, saying, “It is good to be a Christian. See, my child has changed since he believed in Jesus.” The fact is that inwardly he has not changed; he has changed only outwardly. If after you believe in the Lord Jesus, there is a change only in your outward condition, then this change is merely an outward, perceived change in behavior. This is not to be saved in God’s life. I lived in China when I was young, and I observed many disciples of Confucius. Sometimes their improvement in behavior was quite remarkable. What is the difference between the behavioral improvement of Confucius’s disciples and the transformation of Jesus’ believers? When I was young, I heard some missionaries, who were not clear concerning the truth, say that the teachings of the Bible are exactly the same as the teachings of Confucius. They did not realize that what the teachings of Confucius produced, at most, was an improvement in behavior and not a transformation.
Transformation is not merely a noticeable change outwardly in behavior; rather, it is a metabolic transformation inwardly in essence. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image...even as from the Lord Spirit.” In this verse the word changed is not used. In the New Testament the word transformed is used twice. It occurs once in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and another time in Romans 12:2. This term denotes an inward, metabolic change and not an outward change.
What is the difference between change and transformation? We may use the example of a person who has been ill and looks thin and pale. Because of this she puts cosmetics on her face to try to improve her appearance. After applying some powder and lipstick, she has some color and looks nice. This is not transformation but is altogether an outward change. It is just like a Chinese opera singer who may turn his face into a white face, a black face, or a red face. However, whether white, black, or red, it is not transformation; it is a performance. For a person to be transformed means that after he is sick, he nourishes himself properly; then after two months, when people see him, they will say that he has good color and looks nice. That kind of healthy look is not something added outwardly. It is a manifestation of an inward, physical, metabolic transformation in essence.
God wants us to be transformed, but we cannot transform ourselves. There are steps in transformation. If we follow these steps, we will be transformed.
The first step of transformation is that God has washed us, but this washing is not an outward washing by water. This washing is the washing of regeneration referred to in Titus 3:5. When we receive God into us as our life and are thus regenerated, that is a great washing. At the time of our regeneration, we repented, condemned ourselves, and confessed our sins. Moreover, we confessed that we were sinners who deserve to die and that we were indeed dead and ought to be buried. Therefore, we needed to be baptized in water to declare that we died and have been buried. This is the reason that after we have believed, we must be baptized. To be baptized is to be buried; our old man, our dirty man, our dead man, needs to be buried. This burial is a big washing that buries our old man and our old history in the tomb.
We have been saved and also baptized into the Lord. We have been regenerated, and now we have God in us. Our old man was also buried through baptism. The Lord Jesus said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). To be born of water is to confess that we are sinners who are condemned, who suffered the penalty of death, and who are buried. Therefore, we now let the baptizing one bury our old man in baptism. Thus, regeneration is a washing. This matter is clearly mentioned in Romans 6.
The second step of transformation is sanctification, the sanctification of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 6:19, 22; 15:16). After our old man was buried through baptism, God set us apart and sanctified our regenerated new man. This new man belongs to God, and God is in this new man. This sanctification is not only an objective sanctification in position; it is even more a subjective sanctification in disposition. We, as the saved ones, all have this experience. For example, after a person is saved, without anyone telling him, he may feel that the shoes he is wearing are too worldly. When he bought this pair, he liked the pointed style, which is a favorite of the Texan cowboys. But now that he is saved, when he wears these shoes, he feels that there is too much of a worldly flavor, so he cannot wear them.
When I went to the United States about thirty years ago, it was the time of the hippies. There were many hippies who came to our meetings, but there was one that I can never forget. He was big in stature, wore a headdress with varied colors, and had a long beard. He came to the meetings barefoot and sat on the front row. Praise the Lord, after two or three meetings his headdress was gone, and after another week his long beard was also gone. I was very happy. Nevertheless, he still came barefoot. After another week he came wearing sandals. This was better than being barefoot. After another period of time he came wearing shoes, and after a little more time he came also wearing socks. He was sanctified.
Stanza 1 of Hymns, #841 says, “Thou art all my life, Lord, / In me Thou dost live; / With Thee all God’s fullness / Thou to me dost give. / By Thy holy nature / I am sanctified, / By Thy resurrection, / Vict’ry is supplied.” The Lord lives in us to be our life, and this life with the divine nature sanctifies us within. This is the second step of transformation.
The third step of transformation is renewing. When we were washed, we were sanctified; when we were sanctified, we were renewed. Titus 3 speaks of the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit (v. 5). I know of some brothers and sisters who have changed their hairstyles. This was not due to the teachings of man, but it was surely the renewing of the Holy Spirit within them.
In 1942 during the great revival in Chefoo, a young woman came into the church life. She was from a very rich family. She had gone to Shanghai by herself to study law in the university so that she might come back to fight for her inheritance. We all knew her family situation. I saw her sitting in the meeting and noticed that her hair was like a tower three or four stories high. After she came to the meetings for about one or two weeks, I saw that the high tower on her head was dismantled, though not completely, because there was still a little portion left. Then after another period of time, the tower was completely brought down. We can say that the change in her hairstyle was a renewing. From the time that we are saved, we who love the Lord may feel that we are often weak, and we fail in many things. Yet if we carefully consider even a little, we will realize that in many areas we have been renewed.
Renewing begins from our mind. Romans 12:2 says, “Be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” God is in us as our life to transform us. How does He begin the transformation? First, God comes to be our life. Many verses in the Bible refer to this matter. Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” This shows us that the Lord is in our spirit. Then it says, “Grace be with you.” The grace of the Lord is the Lord Himself as our enjoyment. This is in our spirit. However, our spirit is the deepest part of our being, and it is surrounded by our mind, emotion, and will. Therefore, the Lord wants us who love Him to have our spirit spread into our soul so that we may always set our mind on our spirit.
We all know that man has three parts. The outermost part is the body, the innermost is the spirit, and in the middle is the soul. Thus, starting from the outside, we have the body, the soul, and the spirit; whereas, starting from the inside, we have the spirit, the soul, and the body. When we were saved, we first felt regretful and confessed our sins. That feeling of regret was the function of our conscience, which is the main part of our spirit. Then we repented and called on the name of the Lord. Although we called outwardly, we were motivated by the spirit deep within us. Thus, we believed in the Lord and received Him. He then began to renew us in our mind. The renewing of the mind is the foundation of the transformation of our soul, and it is the result of our setting our mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:6). Our mind is the main part of our soul. Since our emotion and our will, together with our mind, constitute our soul, when our mind is renewed, our emotion and will spontaneously will be renewed along with the mind.
Renewing is also through our spirit, which is mingled with the Spirit (Eph. 4:23, Rom. 8:6b). This renewing reaches all the inward parts of our being. God, who is Spirit, cannot dwell first in our body or in our soul; He has to take our spirit as His dwelling place. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” Also, 3:6 says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” God is Spirit, and we are born of Him in our spirit. Therefore, our inner spirit and He as the Spirit have become one spirit. After we are saved, however, God wants all the parts of our soul to be transformed. First, this is the transformation of the mind; then it is the transformation of the will and the emotion.
Our mind may have two kinds of action. One results in our being in the spirit; the other results in our being in the flesh. If our mind is dependent upon and joined to our regenerated spirit, which has been mingled with the Spirit of God, this will bring us into the mingled spirit for the renewing of our mind, and this renewing will reach all the inward parts of our being. If our mind is joined to our flesh and acts independently of the mingled spirit, this will bring us into the flesh and make us enemies of God, being unable to please God. Thus, we will not be renewed and transformed.
We as saved persons have many situations in which to set our mind on the spirit or on the flesh. If we set our mind on the flesh, then we cannot be transformed. Instead, we will become worse than what we were. We who are saved have God in our spirit, and yet at times we do not follow God in our spirit but rather follow our flesh. Romans 8:6a says that the mind set on the flesh is death. Thus, we will be deadened, depressed, dried up, darkened, and without peace if we set our mind on the flesh.
Our spirit is a spirit mingled with God’s Spirit; it is two spirits mingled to be one spirit. This mingled spirit is our spirit and also God’s Spirit; it is God’s Spirit and also our spirit. When we set our mind on this mingled spirit, immediately we are joyful, uplifted, and released; we also feel satisfied, watered, and enlightened. We have the sense of life and peace. Romans 8:6b says, “The mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” If we continually set our mind on the spirit and cooperate with the spirit, this mingled spirit will be united with our mind, and within us there will be transformation continually. Then the concepts of our mind concerning many matters will be different, our logic will be changed, and we will be transformed and renewed in every inward part of our entire being.
In this way our spirit will spread from our innermost part to the mind in our soul, and the mind will surrender to our spirit and cooperate with our spirit. As a result, this spirit will be able to penetrate our will and our emotion. Then we will discover that our own love toward others is not the love of God, and our likes and dislikes toward people, things, or matters are different from God’s likes and dislikes. Previously, we thought that we were quite all right, but now we see that our love is just our own love and not God’s love. By the spirit’s spreading, our emotion is being changed. We no longer merely love whatever we like and hate whatever we dislike; we are no longer this way. Our emotion is now under God’s control and is being transformed.
Before you were saved, you might have been a person of a strong will. When you decided on something, no one could change your mind. Now it is no longer so. Now you see that your intention is altogether your own; it is not God’s intention. You then allow the spirit within you to direct your intention. When God does not make the decision, you also would not decide. As a result, whatever you decide will be the decision of God. God’s will and your will become one will. In this way your soul is being transformed, part by part. Your mind is being transformed, your emotion is being transformed, and your will also is being transformed.
This work of transformation carried out by God in us is very deep, and it is also very fine. The Lord is so fine and detailed that He interferes even in the matter of how long or how short our hair should be. If we cooperate with the mingled spirit within, then we will be living with God and in God’s life, allowing God’s life to strengthen us into our inner man continually. Then our spirit will come forth to conquer our mind, subdue our will, and transform our emotion. Thus, we will be in newness. We then will see things as God sees them. Our view will be God’s view. Our loving and hating of any matter will be the same as God’s. All our decisions will be the same as His.
Christians often say, “Let us pray and see what the Lord’s will is.” This is a common saying, yet most Christians actually do not know what this means. To see what the mind of the Lord is requires us to return to our spirit and follow the Spirit who is life within us. Then from this Spirit we will have a view that knows how to discern matters. We will see whether or not we should love a certain thing and how we should decide on a certain matter. At that time, if we make a decision, it will surely be from God. We must follow the direction of the Spirit within us, letting our mind be set on the spirit, letting our will follow the spirit, and also letting our emotion obey the spirit.
The fourth step of transformation is a metabolic process (12:2a). What the human body needs most is the circulation of the blood. But in the blood circulation, new elements and good elements must be added into the blood; otherwise, the blood circulation will be useless. When the Chinese speak of taking care of the body, they mean eating better so that the blood may gain the nutrients. Thus, the blood brings the new nutrients to the different parts of the body, and at the same time, it discharges the old elements from the body. This is metabolism.
The Lord’s transformation in us is a metabolism. If we were to change ourselves, we would not have the new elements, and our change would be only an outward cosmetic change. But the transformation that the Lord is carrying out in us is with the bountiful supply of the all-inclusive Spirit. When we fellowship with the Lord, He supplies us within. This supply is a supply of new elements. The spiritual blood circulation also discharges the old things from us. This is a metabolic transformation.
The transformation within us by the Holy Spirit cannot be accomplished in an instant. The metabolic transformation cannot be carried out in a hurry; rather, it is like taking Chinese medicine, where the effect is gradual.
The transformation within us by the Holy Spirit is achieved throughout our entire life (2 Cor. 4:16-17). When we contact the Lord daily, we receive the nutrients freshly supplied by His resurrection life. Thus, we are renewed and transformed in a continuing way.
The way to be transformed is first by fellowshipping with the Lord without any barrier, that is, with an unveiled face beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glorious image of the Lord (3:18a). Stanza 5 of Hymns, #501 reads, “In spirit while gazing on Thee, / As a glass reflecting Thy glory, / Like to Thyself transformed I’ll be, / That Thou might be expressed thru me.” We must be this way every day. There is a distinct difference between one who reads the Word for ten minutes and prays for five minutes in the morning and one who neither reads the Word nor prays. Every morning we must have fellowship with the Lord in this way, even if we are very busy. Moreover, during the day we also must find time to draw near to Him, to be face to face with Him. Then we will be like a mirror beholding Him and reflecting His glory. Thus, the Lord will transfuse into us the elements of what He is and what He has done. By the power of His life and with His life elements we will gradually be metabolically transformed to have His life shape. What is most important is that through the renewing of our mind we will gradually be transformed into His image.
Second, the way of transformation is by an increase and an advance, that is, advancing from one degree of glory to another degree of glory (v. 18b). In the pathway of transformation we proceed from one level of glory to another level of glory, from glory to glory, progressively.
Third, the way of transformation is to be transformed by the Spirit of the Lord into the same image of the Lord (v. 18c). Today the Spirit of the Lord is no longer only the Spirit of God as in Genesis 1:2. At that time the Spirit of God was purely the Spirit of God. At that time He had only one element in Him, the divine element, the element of God. There was no other element besides the divine element. However, since that time the Spirit of God has passed through various processes with the Lord Jesus and has been consummated. In John 7:37-39 the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But 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.” The Spirit of God was there, but the processed and consummated Spirit was not yet. It was not until the Lord Jesus was resurrected and glorified that He became a life-giving Spirit. At that time the Spirit of God also became the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This Spirit of Jesus Christ has the divine element, the human element, the elements of Christ’s death and its efficacy, and the elements of Christ’s resurrection and its power. Today these elements are in the processed, all-inclusive, and consummated Spirit of Jesus Christ.
The holy anointing ointment in Exodus 30 is a type of this all-inclusive compound Spirit. Ointment is different from oil. Oil is purely oil, and it has no other ingredient in it. But when oil is compounded with other ingredients, it becomes an ointment. The holy ointment in Exodus 30 was first olive oil. Second, it contained four ingredients: myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia. These four kinds of ingredients were ground into powder and mingled with the oil to become an ointment. This was the holy anointing ointment. With this holy anointing ointment Moses anointed the tabernacle, the altar, all the furniture and utensils in the tabernacle, and the serving ones. All learned Bible readers admit that this holy anointing ointment typifies the Holy Spirit. Olive oil signifies the Holy Spirit, myrrh signifies the death of Christ, cinnamon signifies the effectiveness of Christ’s death, calamus signifies Christ’s resurrection, and cassia signifies the power of Christ’s resurrection. These are all compounded into the processed and consummated Spirit. Therefore, the Spirit of God became the compound Spirit with these elements.
Today this Spirit is not merely the Spirit of God but also the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, and even more, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Philippians 1 speaks of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (v. 19). Since the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the all-inclusive compound Spirit, His supply is bountiful. Do you need divinity? He has it. Do you need humanity? He has it. Do you need the Lord’s death? He has it. Do you need the effectiveness of the Lord’s death? He has it. Do you need the Lord’s resurrection? He has it. Do you need the power of resurrection? He has it also. When you have this Spirit, you have everything. Therefore, our being transformed into the same image of the Lord, which is mentioned in 2 Corinthians 3:18, is from this Spirit, the Lord Spirit.
The fourth way of transformation is by remaining in our spirit and exercising our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22; Phil. 4:23; Gal. 6:18). Today this processed, all-inclusive, and compound Spirit is in our spirit, and He is working in our spirit. Hence, 1 John 2:27 says, “The anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things...” This anointing is the moving of the all-inclusive compound Spirit in us. We must mingle ourselves with this Spirit daily, morning and evening, even moment by moment. It is best to remain in our spirit indwelt by this Spirit. When we remain in our spirit, the compound Spirit, who is the Spirit of Jesus Christ today and who is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, will work within us. His working supplies us, and from this supply we receive new elements. This is metabolism. Listening to messages and understanding the meaning of transformation will not cause us to be transformed. This series of four messages has only explanations and instructions; we still have to practice according to what is said in them.
Daily we must practice to remain in our spirit and be joined as one with the Lord as the compound Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, and the dispensing Spirit. He supplies us within continually, dispensing the riches of Christ and the fullness of God into our whole being. This becomes the supply to our whole being, and within us we then have new elements to replace the old elements. This is the work of spiritual metabolism. Thus, we will be healthy spiritually, and we will be transformed. This is not to improve ourselves. Rather, it is the all-inclusive compound Spirit transforming us with the elements of God.
In summary, we should not depart from the Spirit who is in our spirit. When we remain in the Spirit, gradually we will be transformed. The Spirit does not simply improve us; instead, He transforms us, who are not God, into God-men and unites us with God as one. Strictly speaking, this God is Jesus Christ today. This is to live Christ and to live out Christ. This is to express Christ and to manifest Christ. To sum it up, this is a corporate expression, which is the Body of Christ as His fullness and His expression.
The first issue of our transformation is our growth and maturity in the divine life (Eph. 4:13b; Col. 1:28). When we are transformed, we obtain Christ as the element of the divine life and grow and mature in the divine life.
The second issue of our transformation is that we arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13c). Christ as a person has a fullness, and His fullness is His Body. If I had only a head but not a body, then my head would be suspended in the air. Not only would there be no fullness, but also I would be terrifying to look at. Today I have a body, and this body is my fullness. The fullness of Christ is the Body of Christ, which has a stature with a measure. When we have been transformed, we will have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
The purpose of transformation is the building up of the Body of Christ (v. 12) and the accomplishing of God’s eternal economy (3:9).
The ultimate transformation is the transfiguration of our body (Phil. 3:21). Today our body is a body of humiliation. At the coming of the Lord, He will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself. This is the glorification of our body (Rom. 8:30), and this is also God’s ultimate redemption (v. 23c; Eph. 1:14; 4:30). At this stage we will have reached the highest point — a completely redeemed person. Not only will our spirit be regenerated and our soul be transformed, but our body also will be redeemed and transfigured. This is the full taste of the divine sonship (Rom. 8:23b). God has entered into us and has regenerated us to make us His sons. As sons, we have the sonship, the blessing of the sons. The ultimate blessing of the divine sonship that we receive from God is the transfiguration of our mortal body, a body of sin and of death, into a body of resurrection and glory. This is the highest blessing and the blessing of full enjoyment. All this is produced through transformation. May the Lord have mercy on us that daily we may be transformed in God’s salvation in life.
