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Scripture Reading: Col. 1:12, 15, 18-19, 25-27; 2:2-3, 9-10, 16-17; 3:4, 10-11
Bible scholars know that in the New Testament there is one book focused on Christ and one book focused on the church. However, most people stop with only this revelation; they do not see the deep mystery in these two books.
Because I was taught at a young age that Colossians is on Christ and Ephesians is on the church, I read these two books from this perspective. Even though I read these books many times and even divided the verses into sections, I saw only the revelation on the surface; I did not touch the deep mystery. In my study I did not mention the word mystery, because I did not see it. Even though I saw many crucial points in these two books, such as the Father’s selection and predestination, our being saved by grace, and our putting on the whole armor of God, I did not see the mystery.
Like most people, we have a common problem: when reading a book, we see and quickly comprehend what we already know, but we neither see nor comprehend unfamiliar things. The reason we neither see nor understand the word mystery is that we are unfamiliar with it. In order to speed-read a book, for example, a person must be familiar with the material; otherwise, it is difficult to read even one sentence.
Ephesians is on the church as the mystery of Christ, but people have read this book many times without seeing the church as the mystery of Christ. Instead, they see that husbands need to love their wives and that wives need to be subject to their own husbands (5:25, 22). It is remarkable that sisters do not see “wives, be subject to your own husbands”; instead, they are impressed with “husbands, love your wives.” Every sister says Amen when she reads Ephesians 5:25; she would even pray for her husband according to this verse. It is equally remarkable that when the brothers read Ephesians 5, they are impressed with “wives, be subject to your own husbands” (v. 22). Every brother says Amen to this verse and even prays, “Lord, thank You for giving this word. Please enlighten my wife to see that she needs to submit.” However, Ephesians 5 concerns a mystery: “this mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church” (v. 32). Because this word is not in the concepts of the brothers and the sisters, they do not see it.
It is easy to see the revelation on the surface, but it is difficult to touch the deep mystery. If the Lord did not have mercy on us and give us a sincere heart and a willingness to pay the price, we would spend our whole lives as superficial Christians who know only the revelation on the surface. The revelation on the surface cannot accomplish God’s intention. His intention is in the deep mystery. Nearly two thousand years ago the Lord said, “I come quickly” (Rev. 22:20), but He still has not come. This proves that His desire has not yet been fulfilled. Over the past two thousand years, millions have been saved who love the Lord, read the Bible, and know the revelation on the surface. But according to church history, few believers have seen the deep mystery. Therefore, the Lord is still waiting. The Lord no longer wants us to give messages concerning the revelation on the surface; hence, we stopped giving such messages more than forty years ago. I am not being proud to say that I have much to speak concerning prophecies and types, but for forty years I have not had the burden to speak concerning such things. Instead, I have spoken on these two mysteries: the mystery of God and the mystery of Christ. If I am not speaking concerning these two mysteries, I do not have anything to say.
Christians in the West like the book of Psalms; therefore, when the New Testament is printed in the West, Psalms is included at the end. The New Testaments that are printed in China include Psalms and Proverbs. The Chinese love Proverbs more than Psalms, because the Chinese love maxims, and Proverbs is a book of maxims. If I were to print the New Testament, I would not include Psalms or Proverbs. Instead, I would typeset Colossians and Ephesians with a large font type and use a small font type for all the other books. Furthermore, Colossians would be in red, and Ephesians would be in green; red refers to Christ, and green refers to the church. I would also highlight every occurrence of the word mystery in these two books. However, the verses concerning ethics and morality in Ephesians, such as husbands loving their wives and wives being subject to their husbands, would be typeset in an outline font type. We need a Bible in which the beginning, the ending, the emphases, and the minor points are clearly indicated. Most people are confused concerning the beginning, the ending, the emphases, and the minor points in the Bible. For this reason, our concepts need to be corrected.
Some may say that it is wrong for me as a teacher of the Bible not to speak concerning ethics and morality. However, I would say that people have the wrong understanding of morality. Love is the highest expression of morality; it is the first virtue. The Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8). Therefore, real morality is God. Man has morals because he is made in God’s image (Gen. 1:26). God is love, and love is the image of God. In fact, every virtue is God Himself. Without God, every virtue is but a shell without any content. Only God is the reality of morality.
Confucius said that the way of great learning is to develop the bright virtue. This implies that the highest morality is the development of the bright virtue. The bright virtue of Confucius is the God-created conscience within man. To make known and magnify the conscience are to develop the bright virtue; that is, to develop the bright virtue is to magnify the innate knowledge of good and the innate ability to do good. The innate knowledge of good and the innate ability to do good were created within man by God. However, they are merely an image, just as a glove is in the image of a hand. The innate knowledge of good and the innate ability to do good are but a glove, and only God can be the content. God is the “hand” that must enter into man. Confucius did not know this revelation. He did not know that unless a person is saved, his conscience lacks the real content, is empty, and cannot be developed.
In Colossians 1:25 Paul says, “I became a minister according to the stewardship of God, which was given to me for you, to complete the word of God.” Paul was entrusted with a stewardship in order to be a steward in God’s large household. In ancient times the Greek custom was similar to the Chinese custom. Large and wealthy families had an abundant supply of everything; there was an abundant supply of food, clothing, and daily necessities. Hence, the master of the house would assign a steward to manage and distribute the supplies. Paul said that he received grace to be a steward who distributed the riches. He was a steward of the riches of Christ, which are a mystery. The content of this mystery is the riches of Christ. Paul was entrusted with these riches, and he wrote of these riches to complete the word of God, the revelation of God. This mystery, which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations but has now been manifested to us, is Christ in us, the hope of glory (vv. 26-27).
The hidden mystery is Christ in us, the hope of glory. When we meet one another in the morning, we should not say, “Good morning,” but rather we should say, “Christ in you!” A sister should not expect her husband to love her, nor should a brother expect his wife to be subject to him. Rather, a brother should say to his wife, “Christ in you!” and a sister should say to her husband, “Christ in you!” Parents are very happy when their children are obedient. However, parents should say to their children, “Christ in you!” We should talk about Christ until we are foolishly enthralled with Christ. We should say, “Hallelujah, praise the Lord! Christ is in us!”
During the Chefoo revival in 1942, when the saints were on their way to the meetings, they would talk only about what they had heard in the meetings. The city of Chefoo was not very big, and it did not have much public transportation. Hence, everyone walked to the meetings, and they walked with their neighbors and family, not alone. While they walked, they would talk about the last message they had heard in the meeting, and while they were on their way home from the meeting, they would talk about the content of the meeting. They did not gossip, nor did they discuss the weather; they spoke only about the Lord’s word, which is Christ. We need to ask the Lord to have mercy on us and to change our concept, our feelings, and our tone so that we would no longer speak idle words. We need to speak concerning Christ and concerning Christ in us being the hope of glory. How beautiful and sweet it is to speak concerning this Christ! The true “bright virtue” is Christ, and the true development of this “bright virtue” is to live Christ.
The first three chapters of Colossians are concerning Christ. However, the revelation concerning Christ in these three chapters is not on the surface, nor is it the revelation of Christ generally spoken of by Christians. Christ in these three chapters is deep and mysterious. Even though I was born in a Christian family and educated in Christian schools, everything I heard was on the surface of the Bible. The pastor regularly taught the Bible and told stories from the four Gospels, but everything he said was concerning the revelation on the surface of the Bible. I never heard about the mystery.
One of the co-workers in America grew up in a Catholic family. When he was a child, he watched the Catholic priest offer incense, and he served the priest. When he was in middle school, this brother heard the gospel and received the Lord Jesus. This brother was so happy that he told his family, “I now have the Lord Jesus!” His grandmother responded, “What is so special about that? We have had a picture of Jesus on the kitchen wall for a long time.” This shows the superficial condition in Christianity.
In Colossians 1:12 this mysterious Christ is the allotted portion of the saints. The Chinese Union Version Bible renders portion as “inheritance.” Most Christians understand this inheritance to be heaven. They believe that there is a God in heaven who has prepared an unfading, incorruptible, and everlasting inheritance in heaven for us and that one day we will receive this inheritance with the saints in the light. This inheritance has a street of gold, gates of pearl, and walls of precious stones. However, if we enter into the depths of Colossians, we will understand that Christ is the allotted portion of the saints. God determined to give His Son, the all-inclusive Christ, to us. We are the saints, and God has given Christ to us as our blessed portion.
Christ is our portion. This portion is God’s beloved Son, who is the image of God, God’s expression. Christ is the Firstborn of all creation (v. 15); He leads all things to express God. When all things were affected by the fall, He shed His blood in order to restore and reconcile all things to God. Christ also resurrected from the dead to become the Firstborn from the dead in order to bring all His redeemed people into resurrection. Thus, Christ is the Firstborn of all creation and also the Firstborn from the dead. He has the first place in God’s creation and in God’s new creation (v. 18).
Christ can be the Firstborn of all creation because He is of the same kind as His creatures, and He is the first among His creatures. If He were of a different kind, He could not be the Firstborn. If He were not a creature, He could not be the Firstborn of all creation. However, He became a man with flesh and blood. Man is a creature, and his body of flesh and blood was created. A person who does not confess that Christ is a creature does not confess that Christ became a man. First John 4:3 says, “Every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist.” We must give heed to this word. Christ became a man, and man is a creature. This means that Christ is of the same kind as creation, and hence, He can be the Firstborn of all creation.
As the Firstborn of all creation, God’s creation is an expression of Christ. Romans 1:20 says, “The invisible things of Him, both His eternal power and divine characteristics, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being perceived by the things made, so that they would be without excuse.” This refers to Christ leading all creation to express God. However, this expression is on the surface. When Christ resurrected from the dead, He brought in the new creation, which is altogether a matter in spirit. Because we, the redeemed, rose from the dead when Christ rose from the dead, we are of the same kind as Christ. Hence, Christ is the Head of the new creation and is leading the new creation to express God.
There are two kinds of expression here: the expression of the universe and the expression of the church. The universe is the expression of God’s creation, and the church is the expression of God’s new creation. Christ was born a man in order to be of the same kind as man in God’s creation, and Christ resurrected from the dead in order to be of the same kind as the new creation. Christ is the Firstborn of all creation because He is of the same kind as creation, and He is the Firstborn from the dead because He is of the same kind as the new creation. Christ is the Firstborn of two creations. He is the Firstborn in creation, and He is the Firstborn in the new creation. He expresses God in all creation, and He expresses God much more in the new creation. Therefore, “in Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell” (Col. 1:19). The word fullness refers to expression. All the fullness refers to the fullness of God as expressed in the old creation and to the fullness of God in the new creation. In other words, all the expression of God in the old creation and in the new creation was pleased to dwell in Christ. This Christ is our portion. He is God’s beloved Son, the image of God, the Firstborn of all creation, and the Firstborn from the dead. He is God’s expression, and He has entered into us.
Colossians 2 says that the mystery of God is Christ and that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ (vv. 2-3). All the fullness of the Godhead, that is, all that the Godhead expresses, dwells in Christ bodily, and we have been made full in Him (vv. 9-10). This Christ is the body of every positive thing — including the dietary regulations, the feasts, the new moon, and the Sabbath, all of which are shadows (vv. 16-17). After the new moon is the crescent moon, when the moon begins to shine. This is a new beginning. The Sabbath day is a day of rest. Feasts are for people to be merry, and eating and drinking are for man to be satisfied. However, these are shadows; the body is of Christ. Christ is our real new moon, our real Sabbath, our real feast, and our real food and drink. Christ is everything. He is our food, our clothing, and our breath. He is our peace, rest, joy, and feast. He is our satisfaction and enjoyment. This is the Christ who is in us today.
Opposition rose up when I spoke this in the United States. People condemned me for teaching pantheism because I said that God is our new moon, our Sabbath, our feasts, and our food and that He is the reality of every positive thing. I am not teaching pantheism; I am ministering Christ. I did not say that the new moon becomes God, or that the Sabbath becomes God, or that the feasts become God, or that the food we eat becomes God. I said that every positive thing is a shadow, but the body is of Christ. For this reason, the Lord told His disciples that He is the bread of life that came down out of heaven (John 6:33-35, 51). He also said, “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). The Sabbath is a shadow, and only Christ is the body. Christ is also light (John 8:12; 1 John 1:5). The sunlight is a shadow, but Christ is our real light. Hence, everything that we enjoy is a picture of Christ being our everything. Many can testify that Christ is everything to them. Such a Christ is our portion; He is in us not only as our future hope (Col. 1:27) but as our life today. Nothing is more important than life. Christ is our life. When He is manifested, we also will be manifested with Him in glory (3:4). Perhaps some already know that Christ is life, but they might not know that Christ is our life according to Colossians 1 and 2. If we see the revelation in Colossians, we will realize that the Christ who is in us as life is mysterious and rich.
Colossians 3 says that we have put on the new man (v. 10), which is the church. Verse 11 says that in the new man there is no Greek or Jew, meaning that there is no race; that there is no circumcision or uncircumcision, meaning that there is no religion; that there is no barbarian or Scythian, meaning that there is no culture; that there is no slave or free man, meaning that there are no social classes. Everything is gone in the new man. There is only Christ. Only Christ is all and in all. The word all refers to all the people in the church, that is, the members who constitute the new man. In the new man there is no Cantonese, no Shandongese, no you, and no I; there is only Christ. Who are you? Christ! What is your name? Christ! Our name is Christ! Christ is all and in all. The mystery of God is Christ, and the mystery of Christ is the church.
