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Scripture Reading: Col. 1:12, 15a, 19; 2:9, 16-17; 3:4, 10-11; 1:27; John 6:63; 2 Tim. 3:16-17
In this chapter we will consider who and what Christ is. Christ is not only a person of many aspects, but He is also many things and matters. It is difficult to fully describe who Christ is, and it is even more difficult to describe what Christ is.
God made a plan, a purpose, in eternity past. God’s eternal purpose is to work Christ into God’s chosen people. God has chosen us with the purpose that Christ would be dispensed and wrought into our being to become our constitution. This is God’s eternal purpose, and it has become His economy. The New Testament uses the word economy (Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4), which indicates a stewardship to dispense Christ into God’s children (Eph. 3:2; Col. 1:25).
Regrettably, immediately after God’s dispensation in His New Testament economy began, certain things other than Christ crept into the church. Even while the apostles were still on the earth, before the end of the first century, certain things other than Christ had been brought in by God’s enemy, Satan. Galatians and Colossians were written to deal with two of these things — religion, specifically Judaism with the Old Testament law, and philosophy, specifically Gnosticism.
The Epistle to the Galatians was written with the purpose of clearing up the matter of Judaism and the law. Judaism, the Jewish religion, is versus Christ. Paul wrote in Galatians that when he was young, he advanced beyond many of his contemporaries in Judaism (1:14). He was a leading Jewish religionist. While Paul was on his way to arrest the Christians in Damascus, the Lord appeared to him from the heavens and knocked him to the ground (Acts 9:1-4). Paul saw the heavenly Christ and later testified, “It pleased God...to reveal His Son in me” (Gal. 1:15-16). God the Father revealed Christ in Paul. From that day Paul dropped the Jewish religion, the law, and the traditions practiced by his forefathers. Instead, he began to live Christ. He said, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (2:20). Paul also wrote, “I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you” (4:19). The Christ who is revealed in us, who lives in us, and who is formed in us is absolutely versus any kind of religion.
The book of Colossians deals with Greek philosophy, earthly pondering and human thought, and it reveals many items of who Christ is and what Christ is. The first item of Christ that is revealed in Colossians is the allotted portion of the saints in the light (1:12). Christ is not only our inheritance for the future but also our portion to enjoy today. We have been qualified for a share of Christ as the portion of the saints in the light.
We are the saints and the partakers of Christ as our portion. This portion is the image of the invisible God (v. 15a). God is invisible, but an image is visible. Christ our portion is the image, the expression, of the invisible God, and in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (2:9). In other words, in this portion we enjoy not only the expression, the image, of the invisible God but also all that God is. The fullness of God dwells in Christ, who is our portion for our enjoyment. All that is in Christ is unimaginable. The portion we are enjoying day by day is the embodiment of the fullness of God. Whatever God is, is embodied in this portion. This is beyond our comprehension.
This dear One who is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead is also the reality of every positive thing in the universe. 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.” There are two categories of things in the universe: positive and negative. There is the day and the night, life and death, light and darkness. All positive things in the universe are shadows of Christ. The light we see with our eyes is not the real light; it is a shadow of Christ. Christ is also our real day. Feasts are times of release, rest, and enjoyment. Such times are only a shadow; Christ is the real feast. Anytime we have Christ, we have the real feast. Food is a shadow of Christ. If we do not have Christ, even if we eat much food, we will still be hungry. Christ is our real new moon — a bright new beginning in a dark time. Christ also is the real Sabbath. If we do not have Christ, we do not have rest.
Colossians 2:16-17 shows that all positive things are a shadow of Christ, indicating that Christ is the reality of every positive thing. He is our food, our drink, our clothing, our rest, our joy, and our everything. When I am wearing my eyeglasses, I often say, “Lord, You are my real eyeglasses. If I do not have You, I am blind. Thank You, Lord, without You I can see nothing, but with You everything is clear to me.” In our daily life we need to realize that Christ is the reality of every positive thing.
Colossians 3:10-11 says, “The new man...where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.” In the old man there are many different races, nationalities, cultures, and statuses. To consider that we or others in the church are of a certain race or nationality is to have the concept of the old man. Ephesians 4:23 says, “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” We need the new mind of the new man rather than the old mind of the old man.
Ephesians 2:15 says, “Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace.” This verse reveals that on the cross Christ created one new man of two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles. Thus, the new man is not individual but corporate. In the whole universe there is only one new man, not many new men. This one new man is the church, the Body of Christ.
In the one, unique, corporate new man there is no race, nationality, culture, religion, or anything natural. In the new man Christ is all persons. Therefore, as members of the new man, we are Christ. The apostle Paul says, “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Paul lived Christ, because in the new man Christ is all. The word all in Colossians 3:11 refers not to all things but to all persons, for the first part of the verse does not name different kinds of things but different kinds of persons. Christ is the one person in the new man.
In the new man there are no persons other than Christ. The new man is one man, and it is impossible for one man to have many persons. Therefore, in the new man there is only one person. This person is Christ. Our old man has been buried (2:12). Our old man cannot be in the new man and should remain in the grave. Only one person can be in the church — Christ. This is difficult for the natural mind to comprehend, but it is the clear revelation of the Bible.
Christ is so much. Many items of Christ are revealed in the Bible, and most Christians lack a full vision of Christ. He is our portion, the image of the invisible God, the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, the reality of all positive things, and the unique person in the new man. We should never think that we fully know Christ. No matter how many years we have been a Christian, we need to know more of Christ.
This Christ who is so much is also our life (3:4). Christ is our life today and our hope for the future. Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christ as our glory is our hope for the future. This Christ is wonderful. He is many items, yet He is our life.
The Bible reveals that Christ is our life, but we need to consider what life is. Our words and actions prove that we have a physical life. We are living persons. The function of all the parts of our body shows that we have life. Nevertheless, life is abstract and difficult to define. The spiritual life, the divine, eternal life of God, is altogether mysterious, abstract, intangible, and invisible yet real and living. Life may be compared to electricity. Electricity is real and powerful, yet we cannot see it. Electricity is transmitted into buildings through wires. Without these wires, electricity could not be realized and applied. The current of electricity flows by the transmission of the wires. Spiritually, there are two “wires” that transmit Christ as the heavenly electricity to us. These wires are the Bible and the Spirit. In order to have electricity in a house, we must first install the wires, which make the electricity real and practical. In order for Christ to be transmitted into our being, we need the wires of the Word and the Spirit. The Word without and the Spirit within transmit Christ into us.
Regrettably, many Christians do not read the Bible for weeks or even months at a time. If we do not touch the Word and the Spirit, we cannot touch Christ, and we will be spiritually weak and poor. Christ is God’s rich provision. However, no matter how rich Christ is, if we do not “switch on” the heavenly transmission by touching the Word and the Spirit, we will remain apart from Christ. We need to worship God that He has made us the partakers of Christ as our rich portion and that He has given us two means of transmission to receive this rich portion.
Our great heritage is the Bible without and the Spirit within. This inheritance is much more valuable than any material possession. We have the Word and the Spirit, and we need to use them every day.
Whenever we come to the Bible with a sincere heart and an open spirit, we immediately touch Christ as the Spirit. Often when we come to the Bible, we have a deep sense that we have entered into the presence of God. When we read a few verses, we not only understand something outwardly, but we also touch something inwardly.
We come into the presence of God when we come to the Bible, because the Bible is God’s breath. Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” The Bible is not only the word of God but also God’s breath and even God’s breathing. When we come to the Word of God, after only a few minutes we will be inwardly refreshed, comforted, nourished, watered, strengthened, and enlightened by the living God. I have often come to the Word with a heavy heart, but after reading a few verses, I am refreshed within. This happens because God’s breathing is in the Bible. Just as we can be refreshed physically by rising early and breathing deeply in the fresh morning air, so we can be refreshed spiritually by coming to the Word. As the life-giving Spirit, God always accompanies His word (John 6:63). Wherever His word goes, the life-giving Spirit goes. Countless sinners have been converted simply by reading the Bible, and countless Christians have been transformed by reading this living book. We are transformed not by teaching or admonishing but by reading the Bible to contact the breathing of the living God.
Some believers may think that they do not need to read the Bible, because afterward they do not remember what they have read. They may suppose that it is useless to continually read and forget. However, we do not remember all the air that we breathe in, yet we would never say that we do not need to breathe. Our purpose in coming to the Bible is not primarily to memorize but to be refreshed and enlivened by God’s breathing.
In order to be healthy spiritually, we need to come to the Bible every morning to enter into God’s breathing. This breathing clears us up inwardly and supplies us for the rest of the day. This practice influences our mental and physical health as well, for it takes away our unnecessary worries and anxieties and brings us joy. When we become joyful in the spirit through breathing in God’s word, we will be the most balanced people. If we have a healthy time early in the morning in the Word of God, all the negative things will be carried away, and Christ as the life-giving Spirit will be our joy.
The way for one’s abnormal condition to be healed is by contacting the living Lord through the Bible. If we spend time in the Word every morning, we will become the most healthy and normal person. We will be sober in our thinking, balanced in our emotion, and proper in our will. Moreover, our heart will be pure, our conscience will be void of offense, and our spirit will be open. Our body will be healthy, and our mind will be clear.
We are blessed to have the Word without and the Spirit within. Because we have had these two “wires” installed, our only need is to keep them “switched on” to enjoy the heavenly transmission of the rich, all-inclusive Christ into our being. Eventually, this wonderful Christ will fully constitute us. Then, like the apostle Paul, we will be able to say, “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:20-21). This is the proper Christian life and the proper church life in the Lord’s recovery. The Lord today is not recovering doctrines, practices, or forms; He is recovering Christ as our life and our everything for the proper Christian life and church life.
