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Scripture Reading: Col. 2:2; 3:4; Phil. 1:19-21
In Colossians 2 Paul told the Colossians that he wanted them to know how great a struggle he had for them and for those who had not seen his face, that their hearts might be comforted and that they might be knit together in love and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ (vv. 1-2). Here, the mystery of God, Christ literally means that God is difficult to understand and comprehend and therefore is a mystery, but Christ is the explanation, expression, and manifestation of the mysterious God. Thus, Christ is the mystery of God. When one sees Christ, one sees God and knows God. When the Lord Jesus was living on earth, He was full of love, grace, forbearance, meekness, and authority. Although we always have the desire to care for others and love our children, relatives, friends, brothers, and sisters, we are unable to do it. However, Christ is not like us. We desire to love, yet we are unable to love. Christ not only has love, but He is also able to love. With Him nothing is impossible; He can do all things. He is able to meet the needs of anyone. If you are sick, He can heal you; if you are deadened, He can enliven you; if you are hungry, He can feed you and five thousand others with five loaves and two fish. All His acts reveal all the fullness of the Godhead to the uttermost. Therefore, you can see God in Christ.
The literal meaning of the phrase the mystery of God, Christ appears to be very simple. Yet, according to the Bible, what this phrase implies is not so simple; rather, it includes a great many things that are beyond human imagination and comprehension. For example, a person who has received little education and has only a little knowledge may be able to recognize and read almost all the words in the newspaper, but he still does not understand what he has read. On the contrary, a knowledgeable person can tell what the end of the story will be by simply reading the opening lines and can know the content of a whole line by simply reading the first few words. Since he has been equipped with the knowledge of the subject matter, it is very easy for him to comprehend when he reads it. The same is true in reading the Bible. If our mind does not have the divine concept, regardless of how hard we try in our reading, we cannot receive the divine revelation. Eventually, what we receive in our reading is actually what we already have in our natural concept. For example, the Bible says, “Husbands, love your wives” (Eph. 5:25a). Every wife who comes across this verse would exclaim in her heart, “Amen! The Bible is really good, and it is so right!” Why? The reason is that since the day she got married, she has earnestly hoped that her husband will love her. However, every husband who is provoked daily by his wife responds with an Amen when he comes across the verse that says, “Wives, be subject to your own husbands” (v. 22). He understands this matter immediately because this is exactly what he expects of his wife. Actually, the book of Ephesians is filled with many high revelations and profound truths, yet we are unable to take them in.
The high revelations and profound truths in the Bible are fundamentally non-existent in our natural concept. Our natural concept does not have this knowledge or this vocabulary; therefore, in our Bible reading we can understand only the superficial meaning of the words but not their intrinsic significance, much less understand the hidden mystery.
Colossians 2:2 speaks of “the mystery of God, Christ,” referring first of all to Christ as the mystery of God being in us as our life (3:4). In the Scriptures, the book of Colossians is on the objective truth concerning Christ, while the book of Philippians is on the subjective experience of Christ. Colossians pulls open the heavenly veil to show us who Christ is and what Christ is. In Colossians 1 more than ten items concerning Christ are mentioned. The most important ones are Christ being the allotted portion of the saints (v. 12), Christ being the image of the invisible God (v. 15a), Christ being the Firstborn of all creation (v. 15b), and Christ being the first in resurrection and in the new creation (v. 18). After speaking about who Christ is in chapter 1, Paul goes on in chapter 2 to give Christ an aggregate title by saying that Christ is the mystery of God. Christ as the mystery of God is an aggregate title, just like the sum total in arithmetic. Christ is the mystery of God, and in this mystery many items are included. Then in chapter 3 Paul says that this Christ, the mystery of God, is our life. This is Colossians, a book that reveals the truth concerning Christ.
The Bible is complete and covers all aspects. Not only does it speak about truth and revelation, but it also refers to the experience. Not only does it have the book of Colossians with the revelation of Christ, but it also has the book of Philippians with the experience of Christ. Not only does Paul tell us in Colossians that Christ is our life, but he also tells us in Philippians that Christ is our experience of life. The entire book of Philippians is filled with the experience 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.” Here divine characteristics denotes the special features, the characteristics, as the outward manifestations of God’s nature or substance, that can be seen and appreciated by men. If you want to know God, just look at the universe with all the created things, because the entire universe expresses the divine characteristics. When you see that the universe is full of light, you know that God is light; the universe is beautiful, so God is a God of beauty; the universe is full of vitality, so God is brimming with life; the universe is orderly with the heavenly bodies revolving in their proper orbits, so God is orderly and without confusion. Therefore, you know the characteristics of what God is through the manifestations of all the created things in the universe. Although knowledgeable people may know God as the Creator of the universe by observing the universe itself, they do not truly know who God is and what the Godhead is, because their knowledge of God is merely according to the outward expression of the universe.
Who is this God with the Godhead? This needs to be explained and expressed by the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus came, He did not just show us the manifested characteristics of God, but even more He fully declared God Himself with the Godhead. This is because all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in this incarnated Jesus bodily (Col. 2:9). God was the Word in eternity past (John 1:1). Although He had the fullness of the Godhead, to the naked eye this Godhead was not concrete, not “bodily.” It was not until the time when the Word became flesh as Jesus of Nazareth, who lived on the earth among men, that the Godhead was manifested in Him bodily. Before God became flesh, He was the Word without a bodily form; when He became flesh, He assumed a bodily form. Christ is the mystery of God, the embodiment of God, because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily.
Colossians 3:4 says, “Christ our life.” Here it says that Christ is our life; it does not say that Christ is to be our life. It may sound better in Chinese to say that we experience Christ to be our life, but this utterance is not accurate. The accurate way is to say that we experience Christ as our life. The book of Colossians covers the matter of Christ as our life in the aspect of truth. Therefore, there is the need for the book of Philippians to go on to tell us how Christ is our life and how we can experience this Christ as our life.
Philippians 1:19 says, “Through...the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” The Spirit of Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ. To God, Christ is His mystery; to us, Christ is the Spirit. The mystery of God, Christ, reaches us as the Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus Christ does not mean that Christ is one person and the Spirit is another person. In Greek the expression the Spirit of Jesus Christ means that the Spirit is Jesus Christ; hence, the Spirit of Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ. Similarly, 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” The first part of the verse says, “The Lord is the Spirit,” and the latter part says, “The Spirit of the Lord.” If you do not understand the spiritual significance of this verse, or if your study of the original text is inadequate, you will think that the two statements contradict one another. The first part says, “The Lord is the Spirit,” meaning that the Lord and the Spirit are one; then the verse goes on to say, “The Spirit of the Lord,” seemingly implying that the Lord and the Spirit have become two entities. Actually, it is not so. “The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is...” shows good sentence construction. In contrast, it is neither smooth nor grammatically correct to say, “The Lord is the Spirit where there is...” Furthermore, in verse 18b Paul also says that we “are being transformed...even as from the Lord Spirit.” This proves that the Lord and the Spirit are one. The compound title the Lord Spirit does not mean that the Lord is one person and the Spirit is another person. The Lord Spirit is one person, not two. This is just like the compound title the Father God, indicating that God and the Father are one person, not two.
In order to be our life Christ had to become the Spirit, and indeed He has become the Spirit. “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45b). Jesus became flesh, lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years, died on the cross, and resurrected; in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. Many Christians get lost here because they do not have the light.
The Lord Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and was born of the virgin Mary with a body that was physical and belonged to the old creation. He lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years and was crucified, but God raised Him from the dead. After passing through the process of death and resurrection, His body, which was of the old creation and physical, became a resurrected and spiritual body. This matter is clearly explained in 1 Corinthians 15. Through resurrection the body of the old creation, which the Lord Jesus had put on, was brought into the Spirit. Therefore, after His resurrection His body became a spiritual body. Thus, today Christ, who is the Spirit, is our life.
Philippians 1:19 says, “For me this will turn out to salvation through...the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Regardless of our circumstances, the life-giving Spirit becomes our salvation through His bountiful supply. For example, if a man falls into the water, I can save him by dragging him out of the water. This kind of salvation merely delivers him from drowning; he does not gain me. He is saved, but he does not gain me as his salvation. What this verse means is that when a brother is in the midst of afflictions, because the Spirit of the Lord is in him, he is strengthened when he calls, “O Lord!” The more he calls, the more strengthened he is. Eventually, when he is filled by the Holy Spirit, he is strengthened and empowered to overcome the oppression of afflictions. In this way the Lord becomes his salvation in him. Here you see that this brother is not only saved, but even more he has experienced the Spirit in him as his salvation. Many Christians, when reading this word, “for me this will turn out to salvation,” understand it as an objective salvation. However, the Spirit of Jesus Christ turning out to be our salvation is subjective. Not only does He save us outwardly, but even more He becomes our salvation inwardly.
Christ in us becoming our salvation can be likened to the life in our body being our daily salvation. For example, if your feet get trapped in the mud and you are a person made of wood, a lifeless person, or a weakling, then you need others to pull you out of the mud. But as long as you are a living person with the power of life within you, the life in you will enable you to extricate your feet from the mud. Thus, the life in your body is your salvation. When medical doctors diagnose illnesses, they invariably tell patients that medicine helps cure an illness, but the real cure to someone’s illness is the life in the body. If your physical life is healthy and strong, it cures you every day until your body fully recuperates. Thus, the life in your body is your salvation; this is not an objective, outward salvation but rather a subjective, inward salvation. The Lord Jesus has become the Spirit of life in our spirit as our subjective salvation.
Philippians 1:20 says, “As always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death.” Although the Lord Jesus as the Spirit indwelling our spirit is abstract, impalpable, and invisible, He is indeed saving us inwardly. The Lord Jesus has become the life-giving Spirit as our life and our salvation within us.
Christ has become the life-giving Spirit as the life and life supply in our spirit. Therefore, we must live in our spirit to experience the salvation and the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Man has a three-layer constitution: the outermost layer is the body; within the body is the second layer, which is the soul; and within the soul is the third layer, which is the spirit. Today Christ is the Spirit, and within us we also have a spirit; therefore, we can experience Him. The two spirits—the Lord’s Spirit and our spirit—are mingled and have fellowship with one another. This may be compared to metal conducting electricity. If we sin, an insulation comes between us and the Lord, and then the “electricity” cannot pass through. At such a time we need to open up to Him in our spirit to repent and confess our sins. In this way the barrier of sin is removed; immediately we can have fellowship with the Lord Spirit and once again experience His salvation within us. Then the Lord Jesus is no longer a doctrine to us but a reality. As the Spirit, He now indwells our spirit so that we can daily experience Him as our salvation.
Although we have a spirit, do we live by this spirit in our daily life? This is our problem. Indeed, we have the spirit in us, yet we do not live according to the spirit. We are accustomed to living according to our soul in our daily life. We delight in and are accustomed to using our mind to consider, our emotion to love or to hate, and our will to decide. Every day we live according to our soul instead of according to the spirit within us. Before you were saved, you spoke recklessly and you lied. But now that you have repented and believed in the Lord, you realize that you should behave differently. Therefore, you do not commit outward sins and you do not lie. Nevertheless, just as your lying was of yourself, now your not lying is also of yourself; formerly your reckless behavior was of yourself, but now your proper behavior is also of yourself. You are not living according to the spirit but according to yourself. Consequently, although the Lord Jesus lives in your spirit, He is securely confined and restricted in you; you do not allow Him to live out through you. Instead, you are still living out your old habits and your old self.
Old habits are very difficult to change. Let me tell you a true story. In my early years in my hometown, Chefoo, there were electric lamps and telephones, but only very few people had them installed in their homes. Whenever we came home after dark, we would look for a match to light the kerosene lamp; we did this every day such that it became our habit. In 1939 my house finally had electric lamps. However, during the first couple of months, when I went home at the end of a busy day and noticed that the room was dark, I would still spontaneously look for a match to light the kerosene lamp. My children would laugh at me. This is also the story of our daily life. Our speaking and our thoughts can be likened to lighting the kerosene lamp. The kerosene lamp is our self, whereas the electric lamp is the Spirit. Although we have the electric lamp installed in us from heaven, we are still controlled by our old habit. Instead of appropriating the electric lamp by turning on the switch, our spirit, we light up our kerosene lamp. Not using what one already has is tantamount to not having that thing at all. As believers, we have the Lord Jesus in our spirit, but our problem is that we do not use our spirit. We are accustomed to living according to the soul and not according to the spirit.
Paul was a good pattern of one who lived according to the spirit, one who lived Christ. He always allowed Christ to be magnified in his body under any circumstances, whether smooth or rough, good or bad, whether through life or through death (Phil. 1:20b). What does this mean? This means that he ignored his mind, emotion, and will but cared only for the spirit within him by always opening up to the spirit. In this way Christ was lived out through him and was magnified in his body. First Christ entered into him, and then Christ was lived out from him. Christ was lived out and thus magnified. As a result, he could say, “To me, to live is Christ” (v. 21a). When Paul lived, his living was Christ; this was his experience. This is why I want to speak to you something concerning our experience. Ever since I spoke about living Christ three or four years ago, I have often been asked this question: What is it to live Christ? We coined the phrase live Christ. Most Christians would say “live by Christ,” but this kind of utterance is not adequate. The word living in the phrase living Christ is a verb, not an adjective. To live Christ means to live out Christ; therefore, to live is Christ.
Recently, someone also asked me, “How do I live Christ?” I will give a general answer to this question. First of all, let us see the experience of Christians in living Christ. Many Christians live according to themselves in their daily life. When it is time to go to the meeting, a Christian reminds himself, “I am going to the meeting now, so I have to exercise my spirit.” Then he may have a little prayer to ask the Lord to bless the meeting. His wife would also remind him, “You always speak in haste. It is all right to speak hastily at the dinner table, but at the meeting you should be more cautious.” Thus, at the meeting he tries to be cautious and prays to the Lord, “O Lord, touch me by Your Spirit.” Then when he is inspired, he says, “O Lord! Indeed You are my life!” This is one who lives Christ only during the meetings. Another one may live Christ in another way: A wife, for example, may have been bothering her husband for the past few days, or a husband may have been showing his displeasure toward his wife, and the situation has become unbearable, and this one is compelled to turn to the Lord and say, “O Lord, I am in fear and trembling simply because I am afraid that I will lose my temper and get into an exchange of words or even a fight. I want to live by You in fear and trembling.” This is one who lives Christ only in times of difficulties. These are examples of not living Christ when there are no meetings or difficulties. In our daily life we all live ourselves instead of Christ. We live Christ only when it is time to go to the meetings or when we need to depend on Him in the midst of difficulties. This is the true situation of our daily living.
Brothers and sisters, we have to go against our habits. We should not wait to live Christ until we go to the meetings, speak in the meetings, or encounter difficult situations and persecutions. Rather, in our daily life, toward our wife, our children, or anyone, we should live and walk according to the spirit and not according to the soul, including the mind, emotion, and will. This is to live Christ in our daily living.
If a Christian waits until he is in a meeting to act like he is living Christ, then that is to have a true, formal, first-class religion. To be in a religion is to perform a kind of life in the meetings that is different from one’s daily life. If you do not live Christ in your daily life, yet you try to perform something when you go to the so-called Sunday worship, that is religion. Today the Lord does not want religion; what He wants is for us to live Christ whether in our daily life or in the meetings.
Today the Lord is in our spirit as our life. Therefore, we must exercise our spirit daily that Christ may be lived out through us. Just as I speak in the spirit in the meetings before the elders, so I also speak in the spirit at the family dinner table to my wife and children. Every day I live and walk according to the spirit. Then this is not religion but a spiritual living. This is the kind of living we ought to have; this is to live Christ. By this we experience the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ to be our salvation in all things. The indwelling Spirit with the bountiful supply will save us from the old creation and from the living that is of the old creation. If we live by and according to the spirit in all things, including big things and small things, and not only in the meetings, then we have Christ instead of religion. We need to see that today we are in the Lord’s recovery, not in religion. Therefore, we need to live Christ and not adhere to religion.
How can we have such a spiritual living? The secret lies in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our God, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Savior, and the Lord of all, but today He has become the life-giving Spirit dwelling in us in a true and living way to be our life. Therefore, we should not speak, behave, live, or move according to our soul but according to our spirit. Moreover, we should remain in our spirit. The spirit in us is living and sensitive; we must exercise and learn to live and walk according to the sense of the spirit every time and everywhere. Moreover, we should establish a life of living Christ. Then we can say as Paul said, “To me, to live is Christ.”
