Search
Scripture Reading: Phil. 1:8, 19-21; 2:1-5; 3:6b-10; 4:8-9, 13
I believe that after reading the above verses from the book of Philippians, we can sense that the words are so sweet and precious. These precious words involve two aspects; the first aspect concerns us, and the second aspect concerns the Lord. Concerning our side, the human side, Paul refers to the matter of “bowels.” He says that if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of spirit, if any tenderheartedness (lit., “bowels”) and compassions, we should think the same thing, have the same love, being joined in soul, and think the one thing. Furthermore, on the negative side, Paul tells us that we should not do anything out of selfish ambition or vainglory, but that in lowliness of mind each one should consider others more excellent than himself. Then in 4:8 Paul gives us six virtues with two additional items as a summation. These six virtues are truthfulness, dignity, righteousness, purity, loveliness, and being well spoken of. The two items of summation are virtue and praise. Paul wants us to consider these things.
The book of Philippians also presents the aspect concerning the Lord. The aspect concerning us is easy to comprehend. However, the aspect concerning the Lord is too extraordinary and therefore is more difficult to comprehend. Philippians 1:19 says, “Through...the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”; 3:10 says, “To know...the power of His resurrection”; 4:13 says, “In Him who empowers me”; last, 4:9 says, “The God of peace.” These words are not easy to comprehend, because they are transcendent and uncommon. However, in the verses of our Scripture Reading, some of the wordings show us that the two aspects are connected. For example, in the phrase the inward parts of Christ Jesus, Christ Jesus involves the Lord, who is transcendent, whereas inward parts involves us, who are human. These two aspects become one in Christ. Another example, the verse concerning taking the mind of Jesus Christ as our mind (2:5), also joins Christ Jesus and us together.
Many people in Christianity preach from the book of Philippians, especially concerning the human aspect. We can hear this kind of preaching in almost all Christian congregations. However, few speak about the transcendent aspect of the Lord. Among us, however, we always speak about the transcendent aspect of the Lord. We constantly preach concerning the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the power of the resurrection of Christ, Christ as the One who empowers us, and the enjoyment of the God of peace. When I was young, I heard much preaching on the book of Philippians in relation to man, but after I became older, I began to preach concerning the transcendent aspect of the Lord.
However, the Lord has shown me in recent years that it is not right to speak only about the transcendent aspect of the Lord and put the human aspect behind. I did what I did because I received a negative impression from Christianity when I was young. Because most Christians are not clear about the truths concerning the human aspect in the book of Philippians, when they hear someone speaking about human virtues, such as tenderheartedness, kindness, compassion, humility, being without vainglory, truthfulness, dignity, righteousness, purity, loveliness, and being well spoken of, they question in their heart, “Aren’t these the same as the teachings of Confucius, Mencius, and other philosophers?” Therefore, since I came to America, I have been speaking specifically concerning the transcendent aspect of the Lord. For this reason some people misunderstood me and thought that I speak only about the Spirit and not about ethics. In fact, the Christian virtues referred to in the Bible are far superior to the ethics taught by Confucius and Mencius. The believers’ virtues taught in the Bible are lived out by Christ from within the believers. We Christians are precious in that we have God in us, we have the Spirit of Jesus Christ as our bountiful supply, we have the resurrection power of Christ operating in us, and we have Christ empowering us. Such a God in us becomes our peace and our daily enjoyment. Therefore, we spontaneously live out the surpassing human virtues.
I have already spoken a number of times on the book of Philippians. During the 1980 summer training on Philippians, I gave thirty messages; soon thereafter I gave another series of more than thirty messages. Those messages were combined into a printed volume of sixty-two messages. However, in all those messages I did not point out this particular subject—living out Christ in human virtues. I feel that it is a great advancement to point out this subject. Philippians 1:21 says, “To me, to live is Christ.” This statement should not be considered alone. To understand this statement we have to understand the entire book of Philippians because this statement is a summary of the entire book. We want to see from this statement what it means to “live out Christ in human virtues.”
In the Bible the image of God refers to what God is. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. Therefore, love, light, holiness, and righteousness are what God is, hence, His image. Ephesians 4:23 and Colossians 3:10 clearly say that we need to be transformed and renewed into the image of the Lord. God’s image is love, light, holiness, and righteousness in reality.
The virtues spoken of in the Bible are summed up in the things that are true, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, and well spoken of, as well as in virtue and praise, as listed in Philippians 4:8. If we put all these items together and carefully analyze them, we will clearly see that these virtues are love, light, holiness, and righteousness. These four words represent all the virtues in the Bible, which are the expressions of God. God’s expression is God’s image, which is love, light, holiness, and righteousness.
Human virtues are a picture of God’s image. Many things in the universe are symbols. Suppose you take a picture of me. You may say that the person in the picture is I, yet it is not I. You may also say that it is not I, yet it is I. If you send this picture to someone, saying, “This is Mr. Lee,” that is not exactly correct. This is because the person in the picture is actually not I but only my picture. The picture of a person is not the reality of the person or the person himself; it is merely the image of a person.
Consider yourself. Before you were saved, you desired to be kind, honest, upright, and fair. These desires are innate; they are not the result of any outward teachings. Why was man created this way? It is because man was created in God’s image. The first man was a photograph of God. We are all reprints of this photograph. The negative of this photograph can be developed into millions of copies. The descendants of Adam are all reprints of this picture. We are pictures of God, reprints of God. Our relationship with God is so intimate. God is our source, and we are His pictures. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness; we also have the essence of love, light, holiness, and righteousness.
We have said earlier that the Ten Commandments given by God through Moses are a portrait of God’s nature; therefore, the law is a portrait of God’s image. The Ten Commandments may be likened to the menu in a restaurant. You do not go to a restaurant to eat the menu. A menu merely indicates the dishes to be served. The law is merely a “menu” that portrays what God is. Therefore, the contents of the law exactly correspond to the image of God. What the law speaks about are love, light, holiness, and righteousness.
The law is only a portrait of God’s image. It was not until Christ came that the true image of God was expressed. The four Gospels in the New Testament are biographies of the Lord Jesus as the records of His life on the earth. To sum up, the Lord’s entire life was the expression of love, light, holiness, and righteousness. He was not merely a portrait or picture of God’s image; rather, He was actually a man who lived out God Himself.
Human virtues are pictures, reprints, of God’s image. We who have the life of Christ in us are reprints of Christ. We can see this in Paul’s experiences. In Philippians 3:6-8 Paul says, “As to the righteousness which is in the law, become blameless. But what things were gains to me [including the righteousness of the law], these I have counted as loss on account of Christ...on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Paul does not speak of the excellency of Christ Jesus but of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Formerly, he knew only the law and regarded only the keeping of the law as precious, but now he knew Christ and considered his knowledge of Christ as something excellent. Paul’s insight had dramatically changed. Now he regarded the righteousness of the law as refuse. Before Paul was saved, he treasured the righteousness that he gained in the law. Consequently, he said that according to the righteousness of the law he was blameless. Now his attitude had completely changed. He said that he considered the righteousness of the law as refuse and therefore forsook it in order to gain Christ as his life and everything. He wanted Christ, instead of the righteousness of the law, to be his righteousness.
Righteousness here may also be explained as virtues. Paul did not have virtues on account of the law. Instead, he took Christ as his virtues. Therefore, in verse 9 he goes on to say, “And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith.” How could others see that Paul was in Christ? It was because Paul lived Christ. He did not have the righteousness (virtue) which was out of the law but that which was through faith in Christ, the righteousness (virtue) which was out of God. Paul lived Christ and magnified Christ; hence, he became a reprint of Christ.
Through faith in Christ we have been joined to Christ, and another kind of righteousness is manifested through us. This righteousness, which is out of God and based on faith, is just Christ Himself. First Corinthians 1:30 says that Christ became righteousness to us from God. This righteousness is not our morality, our behavior, or the result of our keeping the law. Instead, it is the issue of our being joined to Christ through faith and of Christ’s being one with us and living Himself out through us. When others see that Christ is lived out of us, they know that we are in Christ. Thus, we know Christ and the power of His resurrection. We personally experience that Christ in us is living, resurrected, and powerful. He is lived out of us as God’s righteousness and expressed through us as our virtues. Whoever lives Christ and expresses Christ in this way is a reprint of Christ.
In chapter 4 Paul goes on and exhorts us to experience Christ in this way. When we experience Christ, we live out the things that are true, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, and well spoken of, all of which possess some virtue and something worthy of praise. We can attain to this level because the resurrected Christ is in us empowering us with the power of resurrection. Therefore, Paul says, “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me” (v. 13). Paul was able to do all things in the One who empowered him. Being able to do all things does not mean being able to earn a Ph.D. or being promoted to general manager just like some others. All things refers to the things that are true, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, and well spoken of, all of which possess some virtue and something worthy of praise, as mentioned in verse 8. Others were not able to do these things, but Paul was able because he was empowered with the power of resurrection through the operation of the resurrected Christ in him.
Based on the foregoing speaking, we can derive a conclusion. Philippians is a book on living out Christ in human virtues, such as being true, being dignified, being righteous, being pure, being lovely, and being well spoken of. Christ is our virtues. When Christ is lived out through us, we are actually living out Christ. Because Christ is the expression of God, when Christ is lived out through us, divinity is expressed through humanity. Thus, God’s original purpose in the creation of man is attained, and what is portrayed in the law is also more than adequately fulfilled and realized.
To live out Christ in man’s virtues is to live out Christ in the virtues that God created in man. We do not disregard ethics, but we disregard ethics that are devoid of Christ. We want virtues that are filled with Christ. Here lies the superiority of biblical ethics, which are human virtues expressed through God as life in man. Biblical ethics are the virtues lived out from us by the Christ who has entered into us after He was incarnated, lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years, passed through death and resurrection, became the life-giving Spirit, and ascended to the throne. As the Christ who died and resurrected and as the all-inclusive Spirit, He lives in us as our life to express His image through us. The expression of His image is the highest human virtue.
No other ethic in the world is higher than this kind of virtue. All virtues expressed in human conduct, religious philosophy, human ethics, laws, and rituals cannot compare with this. Today what the overcoming and sanctified Christians live out is Christ. The perfect conduct that is expressed through them is the highest virtue.
We should be truthful, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, and well spoken of; we should have all kinds of virtues and receive all kinds of praises. However, these characteristics must not be devoid of content. The content is not we but Christ. Our truthfulness is Christ; our loveliness is Christ; our dignity is Christ; our righteousness is Christ; our purity is Christ; our being well spoken of is Christ; any virtue and any praise that we have are Christ, who is the image of God. Today when we live Christ, we live out the image of God in our human virtues for the glory of God. Consequently, God becomes our enjoyment and satisfaction. Hence, He is also our God of peace. The God of peace means that God is the One whom we can enjoy and the One who can satisfy us. The apostle Paul lived out this kind of life, and he hoped that every Christian also will live this kind of life.
