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Scripture Reading: Phil. 1:8, 19, 21; 2:1-3; 3:6b-10; 4:8-9
Philippians 1:8 says, “I...in the inward parts of Christ Jesus.” In the Chinese Union Version this verse is translated as, “I...understand the bowels of Christ Jesus.” This rendering seems to be saying that the bowels of Christ Jesus are His alone and that I just sympathize with and understand His bowels. He is He, and I am I; His bowels are His, and I am sympathetic toward Him. Therefore, I understand His bowels. This kind of rendering separates Christ from us. This, however, is not Paul’s notion in the original text. According to the original text, what Paul said was, “I...in the inward parts of Christ Jesus.” By saying this, he joined himself to Christ Jesus and became one with Him.
Instead of only outwardly understanding the inward parts of Christ Jesus, Paul was in the inward parts of Christ Jesus. Paul was not only in Christ, but even more he was in the inward parts of Christ Jesus. This shows us that we who believe in the Lord Jesus are joined to Him and are one with Him; hence, His inward parts are our inward parts. Before we were saved, we did not have the inward parts of the Lord Jesus; we had only ours. After we are saved, the Lord Jesus enters into our being, and we have His inward parts. Hence, we no longer walk or conduct ourselves according to our inward parts but according to His inward parts.
Every spiritual matter is a story of life, and it is mysterious and incomprehensible. Yet our God frequently uses His created things with their natural phenomena to explain the hidden mysteries. The grafting of trees is a good example. In grafting, a good branch is joined to a poor tree. How can we make a peach tree produce sweet fruit instead of sour fruit? It is by grafting a branch of the good peach tree to the sour peach tree. Originally, these two trees have two distinct and different lives, but after the grafting process, the two become one. The life that produces the sour peaches can no longer grow, because the old branch that grows out of the roots of the sour peach tree has been cut off, and the good branch has been grafted in; therefore, new fruit comes out of the good branch. The new fruit, which is the result of the mingling of two lives, is no longer sour and ugly but sweet and beautiful.
When we believe in the Lord Jesus, He as the new branch is grafted into us as the old tree. Therefore, we need to realize that our old man must be terminated and put to death so that Christ can grow in us and be magnified through us. Every day, by the Spirit, we need to put to death the old practices of the body. We should not give them any opportunity to grow, so that Christ can grow in us daily. Paul said, “I long after you all in the inward parts of Christ Jesus.” Paul’s longing after the saints was in the Lord, even in the inward parts of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, it was not his longing in himself alone; rather, it was his longing in the Lord, in his union with the Lord.
Philippians 1:19 refers to “the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” The Spirit of Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ Himself. The Spirit of Jesus Christ has a bountiful supply. The phrase bountiful supply has a special meaning in Greek. In ancient Greece there were choruses, and the choragus, the leader of the chorus, was responsible for supplying all the needs of the members of the chorus by providing them with instruments, costumes, food, lodging, and other matters. The choragus supplied whatever the chorus needed. The supply of the choragus was the “bountiful supply” referred to in this verse.
The bountiful supply of the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus Christ enabled Paul to magnify and live Christ in anguish, in persecution, in peril, in tribulation, and even in imprisonment. Since Paul and the Lord Jesus were completely joined as one, the inward parts of the Lord Jesus became the inward parts of Paul. Paul lived in the inward parts of the Lord Jesus and regarded the Lord’s inward parts as his own inward parts. Hence, the Spirit of Jesus Christ as his bountiful supply enabled him to always magnify Christ, whether in death or in life, in woe or in blessing, in pain or in joy, in sorrow or in delight. Therefore, for him to live was Christ. This is the experience of Paul in Philippians 1, and this should be our experience as well.
Philippians 2:1 says, “If there is therefore any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of spirit, if any tenderheartedness and compassions.” Philippians 1 shows us that Paul was one with Christ. Philippians 2 shows us that the believers are also one with Christ. In chapter 2 Paul began by saying “in Christ.” This tells us that all the encouragement, consolation, and fellowship are in Christ. Paul was not speaking about the things outside of Christ. Therefore, Christians must live and walk in Christ. In the phrase if any fellowship of spirit, spirit refers not to the Holy Spirit but to the regenerated human spirit. In the phrase if any tenderheartedness and compassions, the Greek word for tenderheartedness is literally “bowels,” the same word for inward parts in 1:8, signifying the tender, inward affections. Therefore, it is appropriately translated as “tenderheartedness.”
Philippians 3 shows us that Paul considered the knowledge of Christ as an excellency; on account of Christ he counted all things, including even the righteousness which was out of the law, to be loss that he might gain Christ. Formerly, Paul had been zealous for the law to the extent that he persecuted the Christians, but he turned from the law of Moses to Christ. Therefore, when others saw him, they found him to be a man in Christ. He no longer had the righteousness which was out of the law, but he had the righteousness which was through faith in Christ. This righteousness is the righteousness of God, not the righteousness of Paul. Paul could have this righteousness because the resurrected Christ who lived in him caused him to experience the power of the resurrection of Christ.
Philippians 4:8-9 lists six precious virtues: truthfulness, dignity, righteousness, purity, loveliness, and being well spoken of. In addition, there are virtue and praise as the summing up of the six items, which include all the good qualities found in the Chinese ethical teachings.
Truthfulness does not mean to be truthful in matter of fact, without falsehood. Instead, it means to be genuine and trustworthy in conduct, not to play politics but to be sincere and honest. The term dignity is rich in meaning; it refers to being venerable without putting on airs. A person whose conduct is weighty and dignified will invite respect. Righteousness means being right, correct, proper, unbiased, and fair. Purity refers to being single in intention, motive, and action, without any mixture. Then, anything that is true, dignified, right, or pure is lovely (agreeable) and well spoken of. Finally, Paul summed up these six items with this word: “If there is any virtue and if any praise.” In Greek the word for virtue means “excellence.” It refers to the state of ethical energy exhibited in vigorous action. Such excellent exhibition will naturally elicit praise from people. These eight items are grouped in pairs. “What things are true” and “what things are dignified” form a group; “what things are righteous” and “what things are pure” form another group; “what things are lovely” and “what things are well spoken of” form still another group; and “any virtue” and “any praise” form the last group. These are moral virtues in the Bible. These were the things that people saw and heard in Paul. Paul testified that if we live out such a life, the God of peace will be with us.
The Bible tells us that man is a special creation of God, different from the trees and flowers and from the oxen and sheep. Man is God’s unique creation in the universe. Man is unique in that he was created to be a vessel of God. God created man with the purpose of entering into man that He and man might be mingled as one. He wants to be the life in man that man might live Him out. The life of God within man is just God Himself, and the living out of God is the expression of the life within. In other words, God wants man to live Him out. This is the most mysterious truth in the Bible. Unfortunately, not only do the unbelievers not understand this, but even many Christians do not know this truth. Nevertheless, this is the central revelation in the Bible.
Man was created to be God’s vessel to contain God and to express God. God wanted to enter into man to be his life, and man was to express God in his living. For this reason God created man in His image. We mentioned earlier that God is light, love, holiness, and righteousness. Light, love, holiness, and righteousness comprise the aforementioned virtues: truthfulness, dignity, righteousness, purity, loveliness, and being well spoken of. Moreover, God has His thoughts, emotions, and will; He is also purposeful. God’s image refers to all these attributes and virtues, and it is according to such an image that God created man. Although man often commits sins and does evil due to the fall, there is still a desire in him to attain to a higher plane, a desire to be honorable, kind, holy, and righteous.
The Ten Commandments, which God decreed through Moses, are a portrait of the nature of God. The first commandment is to have no other gods. The second commandment is to not make graven images nor to worship and serve idols. The third commandment is to not take the name of Jehovah God in vain, that is, to not use His name in vain in things other than God Himself. The fourth commandment is to remember the Sabbath day. The Sabbath denotes that man becomes one with God to enjoy all that He has accomplished. To keep the Sabbath is to acknowledge and enjoy what God has accomplished for man. In six days God created the heavens, the earth, and all the things therein, and last He created man. Then on the seventh day He rested from His work. Therefore, immediately after man was created, he began to enjoy the rest established by God; that is, he began to enjoy all of God’s creation. These are the first four commandments of the Ten Commandments. God’s desire is that man be one with Him. Besides God, man should have no other gods. He should not make any graven images, and he should not bow down or serve idols. He should not take the name of God in vain, that is, not vainly use the name of God in things other than God. Moreover, man should remember the Sabbath and be one with God to enjoy all that God has accomplished for man. This is on God’s side.
The last six of the Ten Commandments, which are on man’s side, include the following: honor your parents, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not testify with false testimony against your neighbors, and do not covet. The last commandment touches our inner heart most deeply. Some people may be able to fulfill the first nine commandments, but the last one is the most difficult to fulfill. In Philippians 3:6 Paul says that he was blameless according to the righteousness of the law. However, in Romans 7 he confesses that he was not able to overcome covetousness (v. 8). Paul shows us that ultimately man is unable to fulfill the law. Moreover, he shows us that even if he had the ability to fulfill the first nine commandments, he would give it all up because the righteousness of the law had replaced Christ. Anyone who seeks after the righteousness of the law and rejects Christ, who is the reality of the law, is just like one who cares only for the glove and rejects the hand so that eventually the glove replaces the hand. The righteousness of the law must not replace Christ.
Man was created in God’s image, possessing the image of God’s virtues. Christ is the embodiment of God, the reality of God’s virtues. When you receive Christ into you, your love becomes one of His “rooms,” your righteousness becomes another “room,” and your holiness becomes still another “room.” All your human virtues become His habitation. Do not think that because we are those who live in Christ, we do not practice ethics and morality. No! Our ethics and morality are higher and more real because they are not our own work but the living out of Christ in our human virtues.
Formerly, when we did not have Christ, we conducted ourselves with all propriety, observed the moral principles, and upheld the ceremonies for courtesy. However, like an empty glove, everything we did was without the real content. It is only after we have received Christ that He becomes our life, reality, and content. When man was created, he had the human virtues in him, but all these virtues were devoid of reality, because only Christ is the reality of all these virtues. When Christ comes into our being, He makes every virtue real. Thus, our love toward others becomes real, and our honoring of our parents becomes real. This is because these virtues are the living out of Christ from within us.
According to the revelation in the Bible, God went through four steps to enable man to live out Christ in human virtues. First, God created all things in the universe, and in particular He created man in His image. Second, He decreed the law. The content of the law is a portrait of God’s image. God is light, so the law also gives light; God is compassionate, so the law also shows compassion; God is holy and righteous, so the law is also holy and righteous. Man was created in God’s image; likewise, the law was also written according to God’s image. Accordingly, the law and man should be in complete harmony. But man fell and was not able to live and walk according to what was written in the law. In other words, fallen man cannot express God.
Third, God was incarnated and became the man Jesus, who lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. What the Lord Jesus lived out on earth was exactly what was portrayed in the law. In the four Gospels we see that the human living of Jesus was just the expression of God. He was love, light, holiness, and righteousness; He was also full of thoughts, emotions, and intentions. The Lord Jesus lived out God exactly according to what God is.
Now we see that man was created in God’s image, that the law was written according to what God is, and that the Lord Jesus lived out a life that was according to what God is. Concerning these three steps, some Christians have a misconception. They think that since the Lord Jesus lived out the likeness of God, He is qualified to be our pattern, and we should imitate Him. In fact, however, Christians who try to imitate Jesus are just like monkeys trained to imitate men eating food with a fork; that is a mere performance and not the genuine living. Therefore, man cannot live Christ by imitating Him. Hence, man needs the fourth step of God’s work. In this step, after the Lord Jesus lived out God for men to see, He went to die for them and shed His blood for the redemption of their sins, and then He was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit. When we receive this pneumatic Christ, He enters into us to be our life and lives out the image of God from within us. This is the way for Christians to live out Christ.
Since the Lord Jesus lives in us, He uplifts our love toward others, causing us to love them in a more real and sincere way. We no longer love by ourselves, but we love by the Christ who lives within us. It is not we who love, but it is Christ who loves in us. Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). It is Christ who is lived out in our human virtues. In this way children will surely honor their parents, husbands will surely love their wives, and wives will surely submit to their husbands. You will conduct yourself in a way that is upright, true, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, and well spoken of. Your living and your every move will be excellent and worthy of praise. Nevertheless, all these are not by your own effort; rather, it is Christ who lives in your spirit and who lives out of you.
Today Christ is the Spirit. Not only can He be in us, but we also can be in Him. This is just like the air. The air can get into us, and we can also be in the air. The Lord is like the air; on the one hand, He is in us, and on the other hand, we are in Him. We are mingled with Him as one. His life and our life have become one. This is not an exchanged life but a grafted life. Therefore, we no longer live by our natural life, but we live through Him and by Him. Consequently, He is lived out in our human virtues.
The Christ who lives in us is the Spirit with a bountiful supply and the One who empowers us. He has become one with us. Therefore, we do not have to depend on our own strength to keep the law and work out the righteousness which is out of the law. We have to reject ourselves, take Christ as life, and live by Him. Then He will be the bountiful supply in our spirit. If we allow Him to live out through us, then what is lived out is not our own righteousness but the righteousness of Christ. The righteousness that we have by keeping the law is the expression of ourselves. But if because of our faith in Christ we reject ourselves and allow Christ to live out from us, then what we express is not our own righteousness by our own keeping of the law but the righteousness which is out of God through faith in Him. This righteousness is the expression of God and the magnification of Christ. This is to live Christ. When Christ is lived out from us, He is lived out from our human virtues.
