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Now we want to see how the believers, by being conformed to the death of Christ, experience and enjoy the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation.
Philippians 3:10 speaks of being conformed to the death of Christ, indicating that we must take Christ’s death as the mold for our living. The mold of Christ’s death refers to Christ’s putting His human life to death continuously so that He might live by His divine life. Today Christ’s death is a mold, and we are being conformed to the shape of this mold. When our human living is conformed to the shape of this mold, we are dead to our human life yet live God’s life.
Unless we are conformed to Christ’s death, we cannot be conformed to the image of Christ. Christ’s death is the mold in which we are being conformed to His image, the image of the firstborn Son of God. As we experience the process of transformation and conformation, we are being conformed to the death of Christ.
The death of Christ was present in Him throughout His whole life. As He was living, He was also dying. Every day He was being molded by the cross, even when He was a child living in the home of a carpenter in Nazareth. He was continuously being crossed out by His mother, by His brothers, and by His disciples. When He told His disciples that He would suffer and be crucified, they had no ears to hear. Day after day Christ died to the old creation so that He might live in the new creation.
Being conformed to Christ’s death should be our daily experience as believers. The more our natural life is put to death, the more the divine life in us will be released. Then in our experience we will be conformed to Christ’s death.
In Matthew 16:24 the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” The cross is not merely a suffering; it is primarily a killing. It kills and terminates the criminal. Christ bore the cross and then was crucified. As He was bearing the cross, He was under a killing rather than a suffering. The believers in Christ are crucified with Him and then bear the cross. Bearing the cross means to remain in the killing of the death of Christ for the terminating of our self, natural life, and old man.
Many Christians have a mistaken concept of the cross, thinking that the cross is related to suffering. Associating the cross merely to suffering, however, is wrong. In Matthew 16:24 the cross does not denote suffering but killing. The ultimate purpose of the cross is not to make us suffer; it is to terminate us, to kill us. The Lord’s word does not include the concept of suffering but rather of killing.
To bear the cross means to remain on the cross. All who have experienced the cross agree that one who bears the cross cannot be separated from the cross. A person who bears the cross is one with the cross; he cannot be separated from the cross.
For us to bear the cross, we must realize that we have already been crucified. We have been crucified together with Christ on the cross; our own life, the natural life, the old man, and our entire being have been killed. Now we must remain under the killing. This is the meaning of bearing the cross.
Bearing the cross means to be identified with the crucified Christ. Christ passed through death by being crucified; we must be one with Him. This involves our being identified with the crucified Christ, not with the glorified Christ.
The meaning of bearing the cross is that we bear about in our body the death of Christ, allowing the death of Christ to work continuously on us for the putting to death of our self. To bear the cross is also to remain in the death of Christ. The death of Christ is our destiny and our goal. If we want to be transformed and conformed to the image of Christ the Firstborn, we need to remain in His death, taking His death as our dwelling place. Hence, the meaning of bearing the cross is to join ourselves to the crucified Christ and remain with Him in His death. If we do not remain in Christ’s death, we are forsaking His cross; if we remain in His death, we are bearing the cross. This is to be conformed to the death of Christ.
We need to have a clear vision: to bear the cross is not to suffer but rather to keep ourselves under the termination of death. The cross of Christ is a terminating death; as those who bear the cross, we keep ourselves under Christ’s termination. By the Lord’s grace we should remain in the place of termination our whole life.
Not only do we bear the cross, identifying ourselves with the crucified Christ and remaining in His death, we also need to realize that our old man has been crucified. Romans 6:6 says, “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves.” Having been baptized into Christ, we are now in Christ. As we are in Him, whatever He has passed through has become our history. He has been crucified, and His crucifixion is our crucifixion. This is a glorious fact. We need to see this vision—we are in Him, and we were crucified together with Him. God has accomplished the glorious fact of putting us into Christ; our old man has been crucified with Him.
The knowing in Romans 6:6 is actually the seeing of a fact in a spiritual vision. Such a vision is basic to our knowing. After we see a certain thing, we can never say that we do not know it. Thus, if we have a clear vision concerning the fact that our old man has been crucified with Christ, we know this in reality. We should not be content with a mere doctrinal understanding; we need to clearly see in our spirit the divine fact that our old man has been crucified with Christ.
Because our old man has been crucified, our body of sin has been annulled. Knowing that our old man has been crucified with Christ, the body that had been utilized by the old man as the instrument of sinning has nothing to do; it is unemployed, jobless.
Romans 6:7 continues, “For he who has died is justified from sin.” To be justified from sin is to be cleared, released, and freed from sin. When we are justified from sin, we no longer owe sin any debt or have any obligation toward sin.
Galatians 5:24 says, “They who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts.” “They who are of Christ Jesus” are those who have believed into Christ and have been baptized into Christ; therefore, they belong to Christ. As saved ones, we are now of Christ.
According to Paul’s word, those who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh. The crucifixion of the old man in Romans 6:6 is not accomplished by us. But these verses say that we have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. The old man is our being; the flesh is the expression of our being in our practical living. The crucifixion of our old man is a fact accomplished by Christ on the cross, but the crucifying of our flesh with its passions and lusts is our practical experience of this fact. Through Christ’s crucifixion we have been crucified with Christ. This enables us to crucify our flesh with its passions and lusts. In other words, our having been crucified with Christ enables us to crucify our flesh. Our crucifying the flesh is based upon the fact that our old man has been crucified with Christ.
We need to have a clear understanding concerning the old man and the flesh. We do not need to deal with the old man, because the old man has been crucified with Christ. However, day by day we need to crucify our flesh. The problems in our daily life do not come from the old man; rather, they come from the flesh with its passions and lusts. Therefore, based upon the fact that our old man has been dealt with by the death of Christ, we need to practically crucify our flesh.
It is very important to see the difference between Romans 6:6 and Galatians 5:24. We cannot crucify the old man, but we can crucify the flesh. The crucifixion of the old man has been accomplished by Christ, but the crucifixion of the flesh must be executed by us. In speaking about the crucifixion of the flesh, Galatians 5 uses the perfect tense. It does not say that we are crucifying the flesh or that we shall crucify it but that we have crucified it. There are two aspects to crucifixion. The first aspect involves the crucifixion of the old man when Christ was crucified. The second aspect involves our crucifixion of our flesh. Based upon the fact that Christ has crucified our old man, we have crucified the flesh. The second aspect—our crucifying the flesh—is the application of the first aspect—Christ’s crucifying of the old man. In our experience we need to apply the crucifixion of Christ to our flesh. The use of the perfect tense to describe this indicates that the crucifixion of our flesh should be the normal experience of the believers. All believers should apply Christ’s crucifixion to their flesh. If we have never crucified our flesh, then our experience is abnormal. If our experience is normal, we who belong to Christ should have crucified the flesh.
It is by the Spirit that we put to death the flesh (Gal. 5:16). The cross of Christ gives us the standing or the basis to deal with the flesh. We not only have a base objectively, but we also have the Spirit subjectively to enable us to execute the cross of Christ upon our flesh. If we apply the cross to our flesh by the indwelling Spirit, our flesh will be nailed to the cross. This is to crucify our flesh. When the flesh is on the cross, only the Spirit remains, and we experience the Spirit as everything to us. In this way, we walk by the Spirit and are led by the Spirit. The more we experience the Spirit, the more we are transformed and conformed to the image of Christ, God’s firstborn Son.
To crucify the flesh by the Spirit is to experience the death of Christ practically and not to live habitually according to the flesh. If we would be conformed to the death of Christ and thus conformed to His image, we should not live according to our habits. We always need to be alert related to our habits because we are accustomed to living by the flesh. We need to reject and forsake our habits and live according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:13 says, “If you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” If we live according to the flesh, we will die spiritually. However, if by the Spirit we put to death the practices of the body (that is, to restrain or crucify them), we will live in spirit.
Romans 8:13 corresponds to Romans 8:6. To live according to the flesh is mainly to set the mind on the flesh; to put to death the practices of the body by the Spirit requires setting the mind on the spirit and walking according to the spirit. When we set our mind on the spirit, our flesh is put to death. Hence, by setting the mind on the spirit, we put to death the practices of the body.
We have the genuine experience of the crucifixion with Christ in our putting to death the practices of the body by the Spirit. This does not happen once for all; it is a daily exercise. Every practice of the body must be put to death by turning our mind to the spirit and setting it on the spirit.
To put to death the practices of the body by the Spirit means that we do not live habitually according to the flesh. This requires the exercise of our will to cooperate with God. We need to determine resolutely to stand on the Lord’s side and be conformed to His death by forsaking all the habits in our natural life so that we no longer live habitually according to the flesh. This is to put to death the practices of the body.
Matthew 16:24-25 speaks of denying the self. The self is the soul-life with its emphasis on man’s thoughts and opinions. The self, soul-life, and opinion are three aspects of one thing. The essence of the self is the soul-life; the expression of the self is the opinion. The soul-life is lived out through the self, and the self is expressed through the mind. What the mind thinks or considers is an opinion, idea, or concept. The mind’s opinion, idea, or concept is the expression of the self, the embodiment of the soul-life. Since opinion is the expression of the self, we need to deny ourselves by applying the cross to our opinion.
We deny the self by subjectively experiencing the death of Christ. There are three steps to the experience of the cross of Christ: first, the accomplishment by Christ of the objective fact that our old man has been crucified; second, our acknowledgment, acceptance, and application of this fact; and third, our continual subjective experience of this fact.
In the dealing with the self, there is an objective fact that our old man, which includes the self, has been crucified with Christ. We subjectively experience this fact by the Spirit, allowing the Spirit to execute the death of the cross on our opinion and to put it to death. This is the subjective experience of dealing with the self.
In order to deny the self, we need to see the divine revelation that our old man has been crucified with Christ. Then we need to see that our natural opinion is the expression of the old man. Once we know that our old man has been crucified and understand that our opinion is the expression of the old man, we can apply the death of Christ by the Spirit to our opinion. This is the denying of the self spoken of by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 16:24.
The real experience of denying the self takes place in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. We may understand that the old man has been crucified and also know that our opinion is the expression of the self, but if we are not living in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we have only empty doctrine which cannot render us any real spiritual experience. When we live in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, our seeing will be real, and our experience will be real. Therefore, if we desire to continually live in the experience of denying the self, we need to live in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and let the Holy Spirit apply the crucifixion of Christ to our expression of the self. This is the reality of denying the self through the subjective experience of the death of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
The believers deny the self by not living in their “I.” The old man in Romans 6:6 refers to our created and fallen being; the “I” in Galatians 2:20 is what the old man calls itself. The old man is the “I”; the “I” is the old man. Galatians 2:20 says that this “I” has been crucified with Christ; Romans 6:6 shows that the “I,” who has been crucified, is the old man. When we see that our old man has been crucified with Christ, we are able to deny the self by not living in the “I.”
The believers are conformed to the death of Christ by losing their soul-life. In Matthew 16:25 the Lord Jesus said, “Whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it.” To save the soul-life is to allow the soul to have its enjoyment in the present life and not to suffer; to lose the soul-life is to cause the soul to lose its enjoyment and thereby to suffer. In following the Lord, we should not save our soul-life, that is, let the soul have its enjoyment. If we save our soul-life in this age, we will lose it in the coming age, that is, lose the enjoyment of the soul and thereby suffer. But if we lose our soul-life for Christ’s sake, in the enjoyment of the coming age of the kingdom we shall gain the soul-life, that is, gain the enjoyment of the soul and moreover share the joy of the Lord in ruling over the earth (25:21, 23).
Losing the soul is the reality of denying the self and taking up the cross. The soul-life is expressed bodily in the self. To deny our self is to lose our soul-life. To take up the cross is to put to death the self, to put to death the soul-life. To identify ourselves with Christ in His death is to take up the cross; therefore, to take up the cross is also to lose our soul-life.
To lose the soul-life is to experience the death of Christ. We have been crucified with Christ, terminated with Him. Therefore, after being organically united with Him through faith, we should remain on the cross, keeping our old man under the termination of the cross (Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:20). This is to participate in the crucifixion of Christ. When we remain in His crucifixion, subjectively experiencing the death of Christ, we lose our soul-life.
To lose the soul is to no longer live in our natural life. The soul is very much related to the natural life. The natural life is dealt with through the loss of the soul. Everything of the natural life and its habits must be forsaken. When our natural life is put to death, we lose our soul.
For the believers to lose their soul is for them to hate their father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even their own self, that is, not to love these above the Lord. In Matthew 10:37 the Lord Jesus said, “He who loves father or mother above Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter above Me is not worthy of Me.” Our love for the Lord must be absolute; we should love nothing above Him. He is the One most worthy of our love, and we must be worthy of Him. In Luke 14:26 the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and moreover, even his own soul-life, he cannot be My disciple.” According to the Lord’s word here, we should hate those whom we love, not those whom we do not love. We should especially hate ourselves, even our soul-life. When we love ourselves, mainly we love our soul rather than our spirit or body. The Lord clearly says that if we do not hate our soul-life, we cannot be His disciple. The real proof of our seeking the Lord is whether we hate our own soul-life.
To lose our soul in this age is to save our soul in the coming age. When the Lord Jesus returns, He will exercise judgment upon all His believers to determine whether or not they will receive dispensational punishment. To save the soul is to be saved from dispensational punishment in the coming age and to participate in the joy of the Lord; to lose the soul is to undergo dispensational punishment in the coming age.
First Peter 1:9 says, “Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” This salvation is the full salvation in three stages: the initial stage, the progressing stage, and the completing stage. Our spirit was saved through regeneration (John 3:5-6). Our body must wait for the Lord’s return in order to be saved and redeemed through transfiguration (Phil. 3:21; Rom. 8:23). Whether we save or gain our soul at the Lord’s appearing depends on how we deal with our soul in following the Lord after being saved and regenerated. If we are willing to deny our soul, that is, our soul-life with all its pleasures in this age, we will gain the soul in the enjoyment of the Lord in the coming age (Matt. 10:37-39; 16:24-27; Luke 17:30-33; John 12:25).
We, who are gradually being conformed to the death of Christ, have been crucified with Christ from the elements of the world, the worldly ordinances which are according to the teachings of men. Every religion has its ordinances, regulations, rules, and laws. These are the religious ordinances taught by men. In Christ we have died to all these matters.
In Colossians 2:20-22 the apostle Paul says, “If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances; do not handle, nor taste, nor touch (regarding things which are all to perish when used) according to the commandments and teachings of men?” The elements of the world include Jewish observances, heathen ordinances, and philosophy; they also include gnosticism, asceticism, and mysticism. The elements of the world are the elementary principles of worldly society, the rudimentary principles invented by mankind and practiced in society. With Christ we have died to these elements of the world. When Christ was crucified, we were crucified as well. In His crucifixion we were released from the elementary principles of the world.
For us to be conformed to the death of Christ, we need to bear the cross, accept the fact that the old man has been crucified, crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts, put to death the practices of the body, deny the self, lose the soul, and also experience dying with Christ to be freed from the elements of the world. Here are six negative things that must be dealt with: the old man, the body of sin, the flesh with its passions and lusts, the practices of the body, the self, and the soul (the natural life). None of these can remain in the mold of Christ’s death, because the death of Christ cuts off, kills, and annuls them. Therefore, in the mold of Christ’s death no trace of these six things can be found. In actuality, to be conformed to Christ’s death is to deal with these six negative things. The more these things are dealt with, the more we are conformed to Christ’s death and the more we are conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son. God’s Firstborn has the human nature, but He does not have the old man, the body of sin, the flesh with its passions and lusts, the practices of the body, the self, or the soul (natural life). To be conformed to the image of Christ, we must be dealt with by the cross to be conformed to the death of Christ.
The believers, by being conformed to the death of Christ, experience and enjoy the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the divine transformation. To be conformed to the death of Christ denotes that the believers need to take Christ’s death as a mold for their living. The mold of Christ’s death refers to His putting to death His human life continuously so that He might live by the life of God. Unless the believers are conformed to the death of Christ, they cannot be conformed to the image of Christ. Therefore, when the believers experience the process of transformation and conformation, they are being conformed to the death of Christ. The death of Christ was present in Him throughout His entire life; therefore, the believers also must daily experience being conformed to Christ’s death.
Our conformation to Christ’s death is by taking up the cross and staying under the killing of the cross so as to be identified with the crucified Christ and to remain in the death of Christ. We must also realize that our old man has been crucified with Christ, that the body of sin has been annulled, and that we no longer serve sin as slaves. On the basis of the old man having been crucified, we need to apply the cross of Christ to our flesh by the Spirit, crucifying our flesh with its passions and lusts, thus practically experiencing the death of Christ and being led by the Spirit, walking by the Spirit, to be transformed and conformed to the image of Christ, God’s firstborn Son.
To be conformed to the death of Christ, we need to put to death by the Spirit the practices of the body, that is, to turn our mind to the spirit and set our mind on the spirit, putting to death all kinds of practices of the body and not living habitually according to the flesh. We also need to deny the self, that is, our soul-life, our human thoughts and opinions, and through the application of the cross, we need to experience the death of Christ and not live in our “I” but live only in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit to be conformed to the death of Christ.
We are also conformed to the death of Christ through losing our soul. This is the reality of denying the self and bearing the cross, causing us to experience the death of Christ and not live in our natural life so that our love would be absolute for the Lord. Ultimately, this is to save our soul, that is, to gain the salvation of our soul, the gaining of our soul in the enjoyment of the Lord in the coming age. Finally, being conformed to Christ’s death is to die with Christ from the elements of the world, that is, to be freed from the worldly ordinances according to the teachings of men. Being conformed to the death of Christ deals with all these items.
