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Scripture Reading: John 3:6b; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; Phil. 1:19b, Phil. 1:20b, Phil. 1:21a; Phil. 2:5-8; 3:9-10; 4:8, 13
We have seen that for the reproduction of the God-man we need to be reborn of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit with His divine life and nature. In this message we shall go on to see that for this reproduction we also need to be transformed by the pneumatic Christ in our soul and then live Christ as the God-man.
After we have been born again, born of the Spirit in our spirit, we need to be transformed. We need to be transformed by the pneumatic Christ in our soul with His divine attributes to uplift, strengthen, enrich, and fill our human virtues for His expression in our humanity. Concerning this, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:17 and 18, “The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” Both “the Spirit” in verse 17 and “the Lord Spirit” in verse 18 refer to the pneumatic Christ. As we behold and reflect Him, we are being transformed into His image. Furthermore, the Lord Spirit is actually the Spirit in John 3:6. The Spirit in John 3:6 is for regeneration, and the Lord the Spirit in 2 Cor. 3:18 is for transformation. To be regenerated, reborn, is a once-for-all matter, but to be transformed is a life-long matter. Hence, Paul says that we are “being transformed.” The word “being” indicates a process. We are undergoing the process of being transformed.
It is rather easy to understand the meaning of regeneration, but it is not easy to understand the meaning of transformation. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 the King James Version even uses the word “changed” instead of “transformed.” The use of “changed” in this verse is not adequate. Although transformation is a change, it involves more than a mere outward change. Transformation involves a metabolic change, an inward change in life. Such a metabolic change requires the working within us of the element of the divine life. This produces a change not only in appearance and behavior, but also a change in life, nature, and intrinsic essence.
We should not think that the Lord saves us merely in an objective way. We should not expect that the more we pray, the more the Lord will save us from the heavens objectively. On the contrary, the more we call on the name of the Lord, the more He moves within us to cause a metabolic change that affects our intrinsic being. This means that the Lord’s salvation is a metabolic salvation, not merely a salvation of outward activity. It is easy to do something outward, but to save us metabolically takes time. What is revealed concerning divine salvation in the New Testament is not merely a salvation of action; it is primarily a salvation of metabolism. From experience we know that this metabolic salvation is slow, gradual, and steady.
We are reborn in our spirit, but we are transformed in our soul. Regeneration is with the divine life and nature, but transformation is with the divine attributes to uplift, strengthen, enrich, and fill our human virtues for the Lord’s expression in our humanity.
Regeneration and transformation are two steps in the process to reproduce the God-man. The Man-Savior as the God-man is the unique prototype. God intends to reproduce, or mass produce, this prototype through regeneration and transformation. This reproduction takes place by the regeneration of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit and through the transformation by this same pneumatic Christ in our soul. Through these steps we become the reproduction of the God-man. This reproduction is the mass production of the unique prototype. Praise the Lord that we have been regenerated once for all and that we are now in the process of being transformed!
Those who are the reproduction of the God-man should also live Christ as the God-man (Phil. 1:20b, 21a). Christ lived on earth as a God-man for thirty-three and a half years. Today we, His reproduction, should live Him as the God-man.
Christians often quote Philippians 1:21a: “For to me to live is Christ.” Paul’s life was to live Christ. Christ was not only his life within but also his living without. He lived Christ because Christ lived in him (Gal. 2:20). He was one with Christ both in life and in living. He and Christ had one life and one living. They lived together as one person. Christ lived within him as his life, and he lived Christ without as His living.
An important matter for us to realize is that the Christ in Philippians 1:21 is the God-man. This can be proved by Paul’s word in chapter two of Philippians. In 2:5 Paul says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Then Paul goes on to say in the following verses that Christ subsisted in the form of God, but did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. Instead, He emptied Himself taking the form of a slave and becoming in the likeness of men (vv. 6-7). In verse 8 Paul continues his description of this God-man: “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of a cross.” From this description we see that the Christ in Philippians 1 is the God-man in Philippians 2. Therefore, to live Christ is to live the God-man.
We live Christ as the God-man by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19). We have seen that the Spirit of Jesus Christ is not merely the Spirit of God before the Lord’s incarnation, but the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit with divinity, after the Lord’s resurrection, compounded with His incarnation, humanity, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. The Spirit of Jesus is mainly for the Lord’s humanity and human living; the Spirit of Christ is mainly for the Lord’s resurrection. To experience the Lord’s humanity, as illustrated in Philippians 2:5-8, we need the Spirit of Jesus. To experience the power of the Lord’s resurrection, as mentioned in Philippians 3:10, we need the Spirit of Christ.
If we would live Christ as the God-man, we need to take His mind. In Philippians 2:5-8 Paul encourages us to take the mind of Jesus Christ, the God-man. This is the mind that was in Christ when He emptied Himself taking the form of a slave, and humbled Himself, being found in fashion as a man. To have such a mind requires us to be one with Christ in His inward parts (Phil. 1:8).
In Philippians 2:12-13 Paul goes on to say, “So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only as in my presence, but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.” The salvation in verse 12 is not salvation from hell. Salvation from hell is not something that can be worked out by us. The salvation here is a subjective salvation, an inward salvation that requires our cooperation with God. We cooperate through our obedience. Our obedience is our cooperation.
To work out our salvation is to carry it out, to bring it to the ultimate conclusion. We have received God’s salvation. Now we need to carry out this salvation, to bring it to its ultimate conclusion, by our constant and absolute obedience with fear and trembling. We have received this salvation by faith. Now we must carry it out by obedience. To receive salvation by faith is once for all; to carry out salvation by obedience is life long.
The word “for” in verse 13 gives the reason we need to obey always. We should obey because God operates in us. We have God operating in us both the willing and the working to carry out our salvation. It is not that we by ourselves work out our salvation, but that God operates in us to do it. The only thing we need to do is to obey God as the One who operates in us the willing and the working for His good pleasure.
In Philippians 2:14 Paul says, “Do all things without murmurings and reasonings.” Murmurings are of our emotion, and reasonings are of our mind. Both frustrate us from experiencing and enjoying Christ. Can you say that in your daily living you have no murmurings or reasonings? Perhaps you have experienced a considerable change in life, but you still need to be saved from your murmurings and reasonings. We certainly need to be saved from murmurings and reasonings by the living Christ, by the living God-man.
Paul was an experiential person, and he wrote the Epistle to the Philippians according to his experience. From experience Paul knew that we may be saved from many things but not yet from murmurings and reasonings. We are not saved from murmurings and reasonings by a divine arm that reaches us from the third heaven. What, then, is effective to save us from murmurings and reasonings? We are saved from these things by the indwelling Christ, by the indwelling God-man. Today this indwelling God-man is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit with the bountiful supply. By the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ we are saved inwardly from our murmurings and reasonings. This is related to living Christ. To live Christ is to live the God-man, who is now the pneumatic Christ.
As we live Christ as the God-man, we should “shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life” (Phil. 2:15b-16a). This is to shine as luminaries reflecting the brightness of Jesus Christ, the God-man. When we cooperate with the operating God within us by obeying Him, the God-man as the pneumatic Christ with His bountiful supply will enable us to shine the word of life as luminaries. Instead of merely teaching or preaching, we shall be shining the word of life. We shall be luminaries reflecting the brightness of the God-man.
If we live Christ as the God-man, we shall be found in Christ (Phil. 3:9). As one who was the reproduction of the God-man, Paul desired to be found in Christ by all his observers. He aspired to have his whole being immersed in Christ and saturated with Christ so that all His believers would discover him fully in Christ.
A condition for being found in Christ is that we have Christ as our subjective righteousness, as our surpassing righteousness. This is the righteousness referred to by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 5:20: “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” Righteousness here does not refer to the objective righteousness, which is the Christ we receive when we believe in Him so that we may be justified before God (1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 3:26). Instead, it refers to the subjective righteousness which is the indwelling Christ lived out of us as our righteousness. In Philippians 3:9 Paul calls this the “righteousness which is of God.” The Greek word for “of” means “out of” or “out from.” This righteousness is actually God Himself lived out of us to be our righteousness through our faith in Christ. Such righteousness is the expression of God, who lives in us. Therefore, the surpassing righteousness is God Himself living out of us. This is not our own righteousness; it is God as our righteousness.
In Philippians 3:10 Paul said, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” This verse indicates that Paul lived Christ in the power of His resurrection. Paul had been terminated and buried. Then in the resurrection of Christ he enjoyed the power of Christ’s resurrection.
The power of Christ’s resurrection is His resurrection life which raised Him from among the dead (Eph. 1:19-20). The reality of the power of Christ’s resurrection is the Spirit (Rom. 1:4). To know this power requires identification with Christ’s death. Death is the base of resurrection. If we would experience the power of Christ’s resurrection, we need to live a crucified life as He did. Being identified with Christ’s death affords a base for the power of His resurrection to rise up so that His divine life may be expressed in us.
In Philippians 3:10 Paul also speaks of being conformed to Christ’s death. To be conformed to Christ’s death is to take His death as the mold of our life. The mold of Christ’s death refers to His continual putting to death of His human life so that He might live by the life of God (John 6:57). Our life should be conformed to such a mold — dying to our human life to live the divine life. If we would be found in Christ and live Him as the God-man, we must be conformed to His death.
When we are found in Christ living Him as the God-man, He will be expressed in our human virtues. Paul’s word in Philippians 4:8 indicates this: “For the rest, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is well-spoken of, if there is any virtue and if any praise, take account of these things.” All the items listed here are human virtues. Here to be true is to be true ethically, not in matter of fact. To be honorable is to be venerable, worthy of reverence; it is also to be noble and grave (1 Tim. 3:8, 11; Titus 2:2). The word implies the idea of dignity, which inspires and invites reverence. To be righteous is to be right (not just) before God and man. To be pure is to be single in intention and action, without any mixture. The word “lovely” here means to be lovable, agreeable, endearing. The words “well-spoken of” are the translation of the Greek word that means sounding well. As used here, the word implies being of good repute, renowned, attractive, winning, gracious. In this verse “virtue” is excellence, that is, ethical energy exhibited in vigorous action. The word “praise” indicates things worthy of praise, as the companion of virtue.
The first six of these items are categorized as “whatever is”; the last two are categorized as “if any.” This indicates that the last two are a summing up of the six foregoing items, in all of which are some virtue or excellence and something worthy of praise. The point we would emphasize here is that these are human virtues in which Christ is expressed.
In Philippians 4:13 Paul says, “I can do all things in Him who empowers me.” Paul was a person in Christ (2 Cor. 12:2), and he desired to be found in Christ by others. Here he declares that he could do all things in Christ, the One who empowered him.
For Christ to empower us means that He makes us dynamic inwardly. Christ dwells in us (Col. 1:27). He empowers us, makes us dynamic, from within, not from without. By such an inward empowering Paul could do all things in Christ. In particular, Paul could have all the virtues in verse 8. Here Paul seems to be saying, “I can do all these things in the One who empowers me. This means that I can be truthful and honorable. I am able to be right with God and man, to be pure, and to be a person who is lovable and well spoken of. In Christ I can have all the virtues that are praised by others.”
The book of Philippians speaks of the reproduction of the God-man. Whoever lives Christ, the God-man, is His reproduction. Whoever lives Christ is a duplicate of the unique God-man, a reproduction of the prototype.
In Luke we see how Christ was incarnated and lived the life of a God-man. In Philippians we see how Christ is lived out from us in order to have many duplicates of Himself. All Christians should be duplicates of the unique God-man.
How can we be such duplicates, such reproductions? First, we need to be reborn of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit, and then we need to be gradually transformed by the pneumatic Christ in our soul. Then spontaneously we shall live Christ, the God-man, by the bountiful supply of His Spirit, taking His mind and shining the word of life as luminaries reflecting His brightness. We shall also be found in Christ with Him as our surpassing righteousness, in the power of His resurrection, and conformed to His death. Then we shall express Him in all the human virtues created by God for man. With the divine attributes of the God-man these virtues are strengthened, enriched, and filled. I trust that the Spirit will speak more to you concerning this.
