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Scripture Reading: Gal. 1:4, 13-14; 2:19-21; 4:6, 4:21; 5:2-4, 5:5-6, 16, 17, 18, 24, 25; 6:8, 6:13-15, 18; 3:2, 5, 14, 23
Four books in the New Testament—Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians—may be considered the heart of the divine revelation. In recent years the Lord has shown us vision after vision and given us revelation upon revelation from these books. However, we are still short of adequate spiritual experience. This has caused me to seek a way to have more experience of Christ. Little by little, the Lord has unveiled the secret of experiencing Himself as found in these books. My burden in these chapters is not related to doctrine or even to revelation. Rather, my burden is on the secret of experiencing Christ.
In order to see the secret of experiencing Christ, we need to consider the negative things that Paul deals with in these books. These negative things are related to Paul’s purpose in writing these Epistles.
The negative things in the book of Galatians are all part of one thing—“the present evil age.” In 1:4 Paul says that Christ “gave Himself for our sins that He might rescue us out of the present evil age.” What Paul terms the present evil age is the most serious negative matter covered in Galatians. In 6:14 Paul refers to this evil age as the world: “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” As the context of 6:14 makes clear, the world here is the religious world. Hence, the religious world in 6:14 is the present evil age in 1:4.
This religious world, the present evil age, includes Judaism, the law, circumcision, and tradition as four of its basic constituents. The major roles in the religious world are portrayed by the “I” and the flesh. The “I” is the fallen man, and the flesh is the expression of “I.” Actually, “I” and the flesh are one. In 2:20 Paul says that the “I” is crucified, but in 5:24 he speaks of the flesh being crucified. The cross, therefore, is the termination of both the “I” and the flesh. The four constituents of the religious world plus the “I” and the flesh are the negative things found in the book of Galatians.
All these negative things are substitutes for Christ. In this book Paul reveals to us that Christ must now replace Judaism, the law, circumcision, and tradition. Furthermore, Christ must replace the “I” and the flesh.
According to this book, Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God. Having accomplished redemption to fulfill God’s economy, Christ has become the all-inclusive Spirit, the blessing promised by God to Abraham. Such a Christ must replace all the negative things. He must be the all-inclusive replacement; He must replace our religion, law, ritual, and tradition. He must also replace our “I” and our flesh.
As the book of Galatians indicates, Christ has been revealed in us (1:15-16). He is living in us (2:20), and He is being formed in us (4:19). Furthermore, we have put on Christ as our clothing (3:27). Thus, Christ is not only our inner being, but He is also our outward expression. Although all this is true, we must still go on to ask how we can experience Christ moment by moment. How much do you experience in a practical way the Christ who has been revealed in you and who is now living in you? As believers, we all have received Christ, but what is the secret of applying Him continually?
Recently, I had a little problem with my health, and I tried to apply Christ to my situation. I must confess that I found it difficult to apply Him. I could sing, “Hallelujah, Christ is Victor!” However, as soon as I stopped singing, it seemed as if Christ had vanished. I was very troubled about my difficulty in applying Christ. When I was singing hymns and praising the Lord, I could sense that Christ was Victor. But as soon as I stopped singing, I was occupied once again by thoughts of sickness. What should we do when we face such difficulties? How shall we apply Christ when our husband or wife gives us a difficult time? When we face so many hard situations in our daily living, we realize that the secret of experiencing Christ is very precious. To apply the all-inclusive Christ, the One who is so present and available, requires that we know the secret.
A clue to the secret of experiencing Christ in Galatians is found in the phrases in faith and through faith. Toward the end of 2:20 Paul says, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Paul did not live by his own faith; he lived by the faith that is both in the Son of God and of the Son of God. This indicates that we need to live by a certain kind of faith; however, this faith is not something that we ourselves have. Rather, it is the faith of the Son of God.
Many Bible teachers understand the word of in 2:20 to mean “in.” But in this verse Paul speaks not of the faith in the Son of God but of the faith of the Son of God. What we need is not only faith that is in Christ but also faith that is of Christ. The faith is His, not ours. But we can be in this faith.
In chapter 3 Paul goes on to speak about the “hearing of faith.” In verse 2 he inquires of the Galatian believers, “Did you receive the Spirit out of the works of law or out of the hearing of faith?” According to this verse, the receiving of the Spirit has much to do with the hearing of faith. In verse 5 Paul goes on to say, “He therefore who bountifully supplies to you the Spirit and does works of power among you, does He do it out of the works of law or out of the hearing of faith?” The supplying of the Spirit is also related to the hearing of faith. In verse 2 Paul uses the past tense, and in verse 5, the present tense. On the one hand, we received the Spirit when we believed in the Lord Jesus. This was accomplished once for all in the past. But on the other hand, the supplying of the Spirit is not once for all but takes place continually. The hearing of faith is involved both with the receiving of the Spirit and the supplying of the Spirit. We have received the Spirit and are continually supplied with the Spirit through the hearing of faith.
What does Paul mean by faith here? If I were writing this Epistle, I would have said “by the hearing of the gospel” or “by the hearing of the word.” In Romans 10:17 Paul says, “Faith comes out of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” In the past we have pointed out that in the New Testament faith has two aspects—the objective aspect and the subjective aspect. The objective aspect of faith includes the things in which we believe; the subjective aspect refers to our act of believing, or to our ability to believe. Although this distinction is helpful, it is not sufficient to help us know the meaning of faith in Galatians 3:2 and 5. In order to understand the meaning of faith in these verses, we need to have spiritual experiences that are very fine.
When we believed in the Lord Jesus, what we heard was not faith. Rather, what we heard was the message of the gospel, the preaching of God’s word. Apart from hearing the gospel, it would not have been possible for us to have faith. Faith comes from hearing the word of God. When we preach the gospel, the good word of God, this word infuses something into those who hear. This element that is infused into others is faith. When we heard the preaching of the gospel, faith was infused into us.
Now we must go on to consider what this faith is. The faith that has been infused into us is the Spirit, and this Spirit is the word. When the word spoken to us enters into us, it becomes the Spirit, and this Spirit is the faith. According to Ephesians 2:8, we are saved by grace through faith. The faith through which we are saved is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. Faith as a gift always comes through hearing the word. Furthermore, Hebrews 12:2 says that Christ is “the Author and Perfecter of our faith.” In fact, Christ Himself is our faith.
It is important that we not separate the word from the Spirit, the Spirit from faith, and faith from Christ. These four are one. In this universe there is God. When God speaks, we have the word. As we hear the word, the Spirit is infused into us and becomes faith, a faith which is Christ Himself. When we hear the preaching of the word of God, faith is thus produced within us. In our experience the word becomes the Spirit, the Spirit is the living faith, and this faith is Christ. The proper speaking in the meetings of the church will always produce faith in this way.
In the first two chapters of Galatians Paul speaks of Christ, but in chapter 3 he begins to speak of the Spirit. Through the hearing of faith we have received the Spirit. Also, the Spirit is supplied to us by the hearing of faith. This indicates the urgent need for the hearing of faith.
The hearing of faith as mentioned in 3:2 and 5 implies the word. If we do not hear the word of God, there is no way for us to have faith. Furthermore, only through the word can we apply Christ to our situation. Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” The way to apply Christ is to contact the Word and hear the Word. As we contact the Word, the word of God comes into us and infuses us with the Spirit. Then the Spirit becomes the faith by which we live Christ and enjoy Him.
Galatians 4:6 tells us that God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. God sends the Spirit into our inner being through the hearing of the word. Our experience testifies of this. Whenever we pray-read and assimilate a portion of the Bible, we receive the supply of the Spirit. Then we have a living faith within us. This faith is the proper realization of Christ. With this realization we experience Christ living in us and being formed in us, and we also have the experience of being clothed with Christ.
The reason for the failures in our daily living is that we depart from the Word. I do not believe that any Christian can live in a proper way without the Bible. If we neglect the Word and pay no attention to all the verses we have heard, it will not be possible for us to live Christ. We may try to live Him, but we will not be able to do so.
In 5:5 Paul puts the Spirit and faith together: “We by the Spirit out of faith eagerly await the hope of righteousness.” Notice that Paul first speaks of the Spirit and then of faith. If we do not have the Spirit, we cannot have faith. Faith and the Spirit are important aspects of the secret of experiencing Christ.
In 5:16 and 25 Paul charges us to walk by the Spirit. If we regularly contact the Word, we will be infused with the Spirit. This infusion of the Spirit will become the faith, which is the realization of Christ. By this living faith, Christ is applied to us in our practical situations, and we experience God’s salvation. In a sense, the faith produced by the infusion of the Spirit actually is our salvation. By having this faith, we become those who are in the Spirit. We should then go on to walk by the Spirit.
We need to have our daily living by the Spirit. Even in talking to our husband or wife, we should live by the Spirit. However, it is our habit to talk and do many other things apart from the Spirit. When we pray, we expect to pray by the Spirit. But in doing other things we may neglect the Spirit and be satisfied as long as the things we do are good or right. But many of the good things we do are according to our habit, not according to the Spirit. As long as a certain thing is not done by the Spirit, it must be done by the “I” and by the flesh. In our daily living we do not walk absolutely by the Spirit.
As we have pointed out elsewhere, in 5:16 and 25 Paul uses two different Greek words for walk. This indicates that there are two kinds of walk by the Spirit—the walk in our daily living (v. 16) and the specific walk for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose (v. 25). On the one hand, we need to live, walk, and have our being by the Spirit. On the other hand, we need to walk in rank, in step, by the Spirit for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
According to Paul’s word in 6:8, we also need to sow unto the Spirit. To sow unto the Spirit is to sow with a view to the Spirit. Everything we do or say is an act of sowing. In our sowing we should aim not at the flesh but at the Spirit. Whatever we do or say that is not with a view to the Spirit is automatically a sowing unto the flesh.
If through the Word we receive the Spirit and have the living faith, we will be able to walk by the Spirit in our daily life and also have a particular walk by the Spirit for God’s purpose. Moreover, we will sow with a view to the Spirit. As a result, we will enjoy grace. In the very last verse of Galatians Paul says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers” (6:18). Grace is the Triune God enjoyed by us in a practical way as our portion. This enjoyment of the Triune God is in our spirit.
When we put all these matters together, we will have the secret of experiencing Christ. We must begin by touching the Word in a living way. Through the Word we will be infused with the Spirit. The Spirit will become in us the living faith, the realization of Christ, and we will be one with Christ in a practical way. Following this, we need to have the two kinds of walk by the Spirit and sow with a view to the Spirit. In this way we will enjoy grace in our spirit.
Experiencing Christ according to all these points is a very fine matter. Neglecting this experience is like neglecting our breathing, drinking, and eating. Just as we cannot afford to neglect the things needed to maintain our physical life, so we cannot afford to neglect the Word of God. We must come to the Word and let it become in us the Spirit so that we may have faith. This faith will be to us the full realization of Christ. Then in our daily life we will walk by the Spirit and sow unto the Spirit. Spontaneously, we will thus enjoy the Triune God as grace in our spirit. May we take this word seriously and practice it in a very fine way so that day by day and even moment by moment we may experience Christ.
