Search
Scripture Reading: Col. 2:6-12
In this chapter we will consider the experience of Christ as the mystery of God in Colossians 2:6-7: “As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” These two verses contain four very important expressions — received the Christ, walk in Him, having been rooted, and being built up.
Even after having been saved for many years, I did not know the expression receive Christ. One day, however, I read a book written by Brother Watchman Nee that equated believing in Christ with receiving Christ (John 1:12). This was quite a new thought to me. From that time on, however, I realized that believing in Jesus is not simply to make a decision in one’s mind to believe that there was once a person named Jesus Christ who died on the cross, bore the sins of the world, resurrected from the dead, and ascended to heaven. I saw that to believe in Christ is to receive Christ as the Spirit into our spirit. Today the Lord is in the Spirit and is even the Spirit Himself (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17). Thus, when we believe in Him, we receive Him as the Spirit into our spirit (Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17; cf. John 4:24).
After receiving Christ, we must walk in Him. The word walk is very ordinary, but the phrase walk in Him is very peculiar. Could Confucius have told his disciples to walk in him? Can a professor tell his students to walk in him? No mere human being can tell others to walk in him. Only Christ can speak such words.
What then does this phrase mean? What does it mean to walk in Christ? Walking in Christ can be likened to living in a particular country. Just as I am living in America, according to the same principle, I am living in Christ. I am a citizen of the kingdom of Christ. Everything that is not Christ is simply foreign to me. I do not understand anything that is apart from Christ. Philosophy is foreign to me. Committing sins is foreign to me. Even doing good is something that I do not understand. I am not governed by trying to do good. All I understand is Christ. Christ is my kingdom. Christ is everything to me. This is what it means to walk in Christ, and this was the apostle’s thought when he wrote this Epistle.
At the time that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Colossians, the believers in Colossae were being distracted away from Christ by many good things. As a result, they were not walking in Christ — they were not “living in their own country” but had been brought into “foreign kingdoms.” Some of them had been brought into the kingdom of philosophy and were ruled by philosophy; others had been brought into the kingdom of worldly knowledge and were governed by that knowledge. In response to this situation the apostle seemed to tell them, “You should not be carried away from Christ. Since you have received Christ as your life and kingdom, you have to live by Him and walk in Him.”
When I first came to this country, I heard people saying, “Hi!” to each other. When I first heard this, I was surprised. However, now that I have been in America for some time, I am used to this expression, and I even use it. Hi is an American term. It is spoken with an American tone in an American atmosphere. This expression is suitable for America, but if you were to use it in Taiwan or Hong Kong, people would think that you were very strange. This expression is not appropriate for these places. Similarly, many times when we hear a message given by a preacher, we realize that certain words that he is using should not be used in preaching the gospel. Recently, while translating some hymns, I also had this feeling. In one particular hymn I noticed that the word mansion was used. This word is not suitable for the kingdom of God. We should rather use words such as habitation, house, temple, and dwelling place. Certain words are not the right words for the kingdom of God and of Christ.
Brother Nee was very aware of this principle. Approximately thirty years ago, I spent a long period of time with him. During that time I was with him nearly every day, and whenever we were together, we always had much fellowship concerning the Lord’s work, the Scriptures, and various spiritual matters. We also had a good amount of fellowship concerning what terms, utterances, words, or phrases we were going to use in the messages. In this fellowship Brother Nee would often say, “Brother, that word is not the right word for the kingdom of God.” Using words that are appropriate for the kingdom of God is just one small example of what it means to walk in Christ. As citizens of the kingdom of God, which kingdom is simply Christ Himself, we must live a life that is suitable to Christ. Christ is our life, and He is also our kingdom. Thus, we must learn to walk in Him.
Colossians 2:6 says that we have received Christ and that we should walk in Him; verse 7 reveals that we also have been rooted in Him. The fact that we have been rooted in Christ reveals that we have a very particular kind of unity and identification with Him. We have been planted in Him in the way of life, and as such, we draw all our nourishment and supply from Him, just as a plant draws all its nourishment and supply from the soil. Do we realize that we have been rooted in Christ? Do we have the thought that Christ is our soil? We all need to see that we are like little plants that have been rooted in Christ so that by His nourishing and supplying we will grow up.
All these items mentioned in Colossians — receiving Christ, walking in Christ, and being rooted in Christ — reveal Christ to us. They are all aspects of the full knowledge of Christ. Thus, we must study and consider all these aspects as they relate to and unveil Christ. What does it mean that we have received Christ? How do we receive Him, and where do we receive Him? Moreover, what does it mean to walk in Christ, and how is it that we have been rooted in Christ? What do these items reveal concerning Christ? The fact that we have received Christ reveals that Christ to us is our life; the fact that we must walk in Christ unveils that Christ is also our kingdom — He is the realm in which we live and walk; the fact that we have been rooted in Christ indicates that Christ is our soil — the source from which we draw all our nourishment and supply. If Christ were not life, how could we receive Him? If Christ were not the kingdom, how could we walk in Him? And if Christ were not our soil, how could we be rooted in Him? If we would spend some time to consider these matters, the Spirit would grant us revelation. As a result, we would know Christ more and more and would have a fuller revelation of Christ. This will cause us to jump up and praise the Lord. Praise the Lord that He is so much to us!
The progression of thought in Colossians 2:6-7 is very peculiar. After saying that we have received Christ, we might expect that the following phrase would say to keep Him. Instead, this verse says that since we have received Christ, we should walk in Him. Having received Christ, we should walk in Christ. Then verse 7 says that having been rooted in Christ, we are being built up in Him. It would seem to make more sense to say that having been rooted in Christ, we are growing up in Him, but instead of saying growing, this verse says being built up. Having been rooted in Christ, we are being built up in Christ.
What does it mean to be built up in Christ? What is the relationship between being rooted in Christ and being built up? As a young believer, I did not understand the meaning of being built up. I knew how stones were used in the building of a house, but I wondered, “How can I be built up?” Eventually, I realized that to understand such a portion of the Scriptures requires that one spend much time to seek the Lord’s mind. It requires that one consider other verses in the Scriptures that speak of these matters.
One such verse is 1 Corinthians 3:9, which says, “We are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” This verse corresponds with Colossians 2:7 — our being God’s cultivated land relates to our being rooted in Christ, and our being God’s building relates to our being built up. As God’s cultivated land, we must be rooted in Christ as our soil in order to grow; as God’s building, we must be built up. Both these verses reveal that we are God’s plants and God’s building. What then is the relationship between growth and building, and how can being rooted and being built up be merged into one? The answer to these questions can be found in two verses in 1 Peter 2. Verse 2 speaks of our growth when it says, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation.” Verse 5 then continues, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.” This verse merges growth and building together. We are stones that are being built, but we are living stones — stones that grow. As living stones, we grow, and as we grow, we are built together. On one hand, we are growing; on the other hand, we are being built together. As those who have received Christ, we must walk in Him as our kingdom; and as those who have been rooted in Christ, we must grow in order to be built up. This is Paul’s thought in Colossians 2:6-7.
From the verses we have just considered, we can see that growth is for building and that building is the result of growth. When we grow up in Christ, we are built up with others. Without growth, there is no building. When we speak about the building of the church, we must remember that the genuine building of the church is the growth of all the brothers and sisters. We are built together by our growth. Thus, without our growth we can never be built together.
Recently, in fellowshipping with some brothers, I became familiar with their understanding of building. According to their understanding, the believers, who are all materials for building, are built together when the Holy Spirit uses someone to gather them and “pile” them together. This is absolutely wrong. The building of the church is not the result of some kind of work; it is the result of the growth of the life of Christ in all of us. These passages in Colossians very much stress the life of Christ (cf. 3:4). If there is no growth of the life of Christ among us, there is no possibility that the church will be built up among us.
In our natural state we are not the material with which the church is built. In our natural state we are not stones; we are merely clay. We were made out of the dust of the earth, and thus, we are merely clay in our natural state (Gen. 2:7; 2 Cor. 4:7). How then do we get from being clay to being stones that can be used for the building of the church? The way is to be transformed, to have our nature changed, by receiving another element into us. Often in chemistry when one element is added to another, it produces a change in nature in that element. We were all clay to begin with, but one day we received Christ. When Christ came into us, our nature began to change. We did not instantly change from clay to stone, but when we received Christ, this began a process of transformation by which we are progressively being changed in nature. The key to this process is to live Christ. The more we live Christ and experience Christ, the more Christ grows within us; and the more Christ grows within us, the more we are transformed from clay into stone. Only as stones can we be built together for the building of the church.
Many times it appears that certain brothers and sisters have been built together. After some time passes, however, it is manifested that they have not truly been built together, because they all are still primarily clay. If you take several pieces of clay, put some glue on them, and stick them together, you may think that you are doing the work of building, but eventually you will see that you are deceiving yourself. When a little water falls on the pieces of clay that you have glued together, the clay will dissolve, and your building work will be gone. If all the saints remain clay, even if they appear to be built together, once a little “water” falls on them, their so-called building will disappear.
Only those who have been transformed into living stones can be built together. Living stones are built together by growing together. This can be illustrated by the bones in the human body. If a person breaks one of his bones, as long as the two bones are held together, after a month or so they will grow back together. They will be built together by growing together. As those who have received Christ, we must learn to take Christ as our life and allow the life of Christ to increase within us day by day. If we know Christ as life — daily receiving all our nourishment and life supply from Him — we will grow together and be transformed in Christ into living stones for the building up of the church.
A specific area of our being that must be transformed into stone in order for us to be built together is our soul, including our mind and emotion. Often when a brother comes to fellowship with me, after ten minutes I realize within myself that this brother’s mind is just a piece of clay. His entire mentality and all that he thinks about are “dusty,” natural, and of Adam. His mind has not yet been transformed. Before such a brother can be built with others, he must grow up more in Christ; he must have his mind transformed into the image of Christ. It is also often the case with sisters that their emotion is like a piece of clay. Sometimes sisters come to fellowship with me and before they even say a word, they begin to cry. Their emotion is like a piece of clay that can be quickly dissolved. Once when a sister began to cry while speaking to me, I tried to give her the sympathy that she desired by speaking nice words to her and encouraging her. While I was speaking to her in this way, suddenly her emotion changed, and she began to laugh. Within a period of only ten minutes her emotion underwent such a big change. This is clay. Clay can be quickly changed and quickly dissolved. If our mind remains natural and our emotions are as free as those of the people in the world, we will never be able to be built up with others. We need our mind and emotion to be transformed from clay into stone.
The Scriptures provide several examples of people who were transformed in their soul. One such example is Aaron. When the two sons of Aaron died before the presence of the Lord, the Lord told Moses to tell Aaron not to weep. When Moses gave this word to Aaron, although Aaron’s two sons had died, he accepted it and did not weep (Lev. 10:1-3, 6). This demonstrates that he was one who had strict control over his emotion. I believe that the apostle Paul was also such a person. Do you think that if Paul were to come to you while he was undergoing severe suffering that he would come to you with tears? I do not think that he would. If you were to contact him during such a time, I do not believe that you would even be able to tell that he was being deeply moved in his emotion. His emotion would be fully under his control. It would be solid, hard, and strong like a piece of diamond or precious stone. Even if he were to be delivered by the Lord in a miraculous way, I do not believe that he would laugh too much. Paul was a man whose emotion had been transformed from clay to stone.
Jacob was also one who was gained by God in his emotion. We can see this in the way that he reacted to the news that his son Joseph was still alive. For many years his dear son had been missing, and Jacob did not know if he was alive or dead. Then one day his other sons returned from Egypt with proof that Joseph was alive and had become the highest ranking person in all of Egypt. If I were Jacob, upon hearing such news I would jump up and down and be mad with joy. I would be so happy that my son Joseph was still alive, and I would want to go visit him right away. But when we read the Scriptures, we realize that Jacob did not react in this way. When Jacob heard the news that Joseph was still alive, he was surely happy, but he was not overly excited. He was very calm in his reaction; in fact, he even seemed almost cold. In addition, soon after hearing this report, he went to Beer-sheba to offer burnt offerings to the Lord and to seek the mind of the Lord as to whether or not he should go down to Egypt. Surely Jacob was happy, but he was not overly excited. His emotions were under control. This was not the emotion of Jacob but the emotion of Israel — a transformed person.
In order for you to be built up with the other brothers and sisters, Christ must gain the ground in and occupy your emotion. If your emotion is so natural, so easy to be moved, and so easily hurt, it will be very difficult for you to be built up with the other brothers and sisters. One day you will be happy with them, and the next day you will be unhappy with them. Thus, you must allow the Lord to grow in and transform your emotion so that your emotion will no longer be natural but spiritual.
The way to have this transformation is to love the Lord more and more. By loving the Lord, we will have wisdom and spiritual understanding, and our mind and emotion will be renewed and transformed from being natural to being spiritual. Loving the Lord causes us to know the Lord, and when we truly know the Lord, we will no longer be so easily moved or hurt in our emotions. It will not matter how the brothers and sisters treat us; regardless of how they treat us, we will remain the same. If they treat us well, we will be the same in our emotion. If they treat us in an evil way, we will be the same in our emotion. The Lord will have occupied our emotion and will have gained control of it. Our emotion will no longer be clay; it will be precious stone. As a result, we will be able to be built together with the other brothers and sisters.
Since the church is built up by the growth of the believers, we must consider another matter related to our growth. As believers in Christ, we all need to grow. We must be clear, however, that spiritual growth can never be individual. The growth that builds the church can never be individualistic or independent of the other members. No single member can grow separately, independently, or individually. Genuine spiritual growth is always corporate. The members of the Body grow corporately, collectively, and jointly. Thus, if we desire to grow, we need to join ourselves with the other members of the Body, and the more we grow, the more our sense of this need to join ourselves to others will grow. This is the law of the Body and the principle of the Body. We can never be against this law, this principle. If you are against this law, you will never grow. If you are independent and individualistic, there will be no growth for you. Any member that is separated from the Body will die, and a dead member cannot grow. Thus, if we desire the genuine growth in life that builds up the Body of Christ, we must join ourselves to the other members and grow together with them in the Body.
Our experience of Christ, the growth of the life of Christ within us, and the mingling of Christ Himself with us cause us to become material that is suitable for God’s building. Apart from these things we can never be used for God’s building. Unless we have the element of Christ added to us, we will remain a piece of clay. We need Christ to increase and expand within us from one corner of our being to the other — from our heart to our mind and from our heart to our emotion. Thus, we must allow Christ to increase and expand in us all the time.
Many of the Christian books written today mention the building of the church. However, the books that I have read that speak of building do not have the proper understanding of this matter. Building is not the result of Christian work. The church is not built by some form of work that attempts to bring believers together. The church is built only by the growth in life. Only when all the believers experience Christ as life day by day and allow Him to increase and expand in them so that they will grow up in Him will the church be built. Any message, book, or literature that speaks of the building of the church must stress the experience of Christ as life. If it does not, it is talk that is vain and useless and teaching that can never be worked out. We must remember that the growth of the church depends upon the growth of the believers. Apart from this growth there is no building of the church.
Since we have received Christ as our life and all, we must walk in Him as our kingdom, our spiritual sphere, and since we have been rooted in Christ, we must grow up in Him in order to be built together with others to be the house of God.
