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Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:10, 17; 6:4, 6:5; 8:2, 6, 10; 6, 17, 11:29, 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 6:8; 8:6
As believers in Christ, our relationship with the Lord is wholly a matter of life. Beginning with 5:10, Paul has much to say about life. In this verse he says that “we shall be saved in His life,” and in 5:17, that we “shall reign in life.” In 6:4 he says, “Even so we also should walk in newness of life.” In 8:2 Paul speaks of the Spirit of life, and in 8:10 he says that our “spirit is life because of righteousness.” Furthermore, the mind set on the spirit is life (8:6), and the divine life is imparted into our mortal bodies through the Spirit of Him who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead (8:11).
Through the growth and function of the divine life within us, God will reach His goal to produce many sons to form the Body to express Christ. Today Christ, the Son of God, is no longer simply the only begotten Son, but also the firstborn among many brothers (8:29). As the firstborn Son, He is the prototype and pattern of sonship for all who believe in Him. Eventually, all the sons of God will form a living organism, the Body, to express Christ.
Through the expression of Christ in the Body, the Father is glorified. This is related to righteousness and sanctification. Righteousness is the beginning, the foundation, sanctification is the process, and glory is the consummation. The process by which we are brought fully into glory is altogether a matter of transformation in life.
The life by which we are transformed is a grafted life, the mingling of the human life with the divine life. According to God’s sovereignty in creation, the human life is similar to the divine life, just as a glove is similar to a hand. Unless there is a hand, the glove has no purpose and is useless. In the same principle, unless it contains God, the human life is purposeless and useless. The human life was created in the image of the divine life and according to the likeness of the divine life for the purpose of containing the divine life. If it does not contain the divine life, the human life is like an empty glove that has no purpose. The meaning of human life is to contain the divine life.
The human life is complicated. Not only was it created by God, but it has become fallen, corrupted, and mixed with devilish, satanic things. Nevertheless, the good element created by God remains. For this reason, God loves the complicated human life.
In order to be received by the human life, the divine life had to pass through a process involving incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Through incarnation Christ put on a physical body so that He could shed His blood for our sins on the cross. On the cross, He not only accomplished redemption, but also terminated all the negative things in the universe. After crucifixion and burial, He entered into resurrection with His divine elements and was then able to germinate, generate, and transform us. Furthermore, in His ascension Christ has been exalted, glorified, and enthroned and has been given the headship, the lordship, and the kingship. Now the divine life is fully qualified and prepared to be received by the human life.
On the day we received the divine life into us, a wonderful marriage took place in our being. This was the marriage of the human life and the divine life. By means of this marriage we have become very special people. This is the reason that in 1 Corinthians 3 Paul tells us that all things are ours. The heavens are for the earth, and the earth is for man. We who have a life that is married to the divine life are the center, the focal point, of the universe. Within our being we have experienced the grafting of the human life to the divine life. The mingling of these two lives will produce proper sons for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Through this mingled and grafted life we shall be fully transformed and conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son.
Transformation and conformation are two very significant words. They are windows through which we can see into the depths of the revelation implied in the book of Romans. Transformation is related to the life process, and conformation is related to the life goal. It is crucial that we all have a full understanding of this process and this goal. What I intend to share regarding this is the product of more than fifty years of Christian experience considered in the light of God’s holy Word.
The New Testament says explicitly that we have been crucified with Christ and resurrected with Him (6:6; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 3:1). When I was young, I tried to figure out how I could have been crucified with Christ and buried with Him when His crucifixion and burial took place more than nineteen hundred years ago. Eventually, I read a book that pointed out that with God there is no time element. We are bound by time, but God, being eternal, is not bound in this way. Although it was helpful for me to see this, it had no practical effect on my life. I could believe that I had been crucified and resurrected with Christ, but I was troubled and dissatisfied by the fact that there was still no practical effect in my living. I simply could not be satisfied with doctrine or theory.
Later, I began to see that in the life-giving Spirit there are many elements, many ingredients. In Exodus 30 we have the compound ointment, an ointment composed of olive oil, which signifies the Holy Spirit, compounded with four spices. These spices mainly signify Christ’s humanity, death, and resurrection. In Old Testament times, before the Spirit was compounded, the Spirit was merely the Spirit of God, signified by the oil. The Spirit had not yet become the ointment, the compound Spirit produced through the addition of the spices. But through the process of Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, Christ’s humanity, death, and resurrection have all been compounded with the Spirit of God. Therefore, the Holy Spirit today is the compound Spirit, the compound ointment with the elements of humanity, death, and resurrection.
Suppose you have a glass of plain water. Then a number of nourishing ingredients are added to the water to form a delicious drink. Thereafter, it is impossible to take in the water without drinking these ingredients. Sometimes a mother may add medicine to such a drink for a sick child. Although the child may refuse to take the medicine itself, the child will drink it when it is part of such a compound beverage. In this way, the medicine, added to a sweet-tasting drink, gets into him and spontaneously works within him.
Today the life-giving Spirit is an all-inclusive dose of divine “medicine,” full of ingredients. This dose is actually the processed Triune God Himself as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. In this Spirit are divinity, humanity, and Christ’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Therefore, when we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, this all-inclusive Spirit with all these marvelous ingredients comes into us.
Now we come to a crucial point. In 6:5 Paul says, “For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” As believers in Christ, we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death. The likeness of Christ’s death refers to baptism. Furthermore, we shall also be in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection. This also implies the matter of growing together with Christ, as understood from the first part of this verse. Therefore, Paul is saying that if we have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death, we shall also be growing together in the likeness of His resurrection, that is, in the newness of life mentioned in the previous verse.
Romans 6:5 includes two steps of our growth in Christ. The first step has already taken place, whereas the second is progressive. On the one hand, we have grown together with Christ, but, on the other hand, we shall be growing in the likeness of His resurrection. We have grown in baptism, and we shall be growing in the newness of life.
According to 6:5, Paul regarded baptism as a step in our growth in life. However, few Christians view baptism as related to growth. Nevertheless, to be baptized is to grow together with Christ. According to the Greek word used here, we have “co-grown” with Him. This means that as we were being baptized, we were growing together with Christ. In order to understand transformation by the grafted life, it is vital that we grasp this point. After our baptism had been completed, we had grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death.
When we repented, called on the name of the Lord Jesus, and believed in Him, the divine life that is complicated in a positive sense came into us, and there was a marriage, a grafting, of the human life with the divine life. Immediately, this grafted life began to grow. This means that we began to grow in our Christian life together with Christ. Furthermore, as we were baptized in water, we continued to grow together with Him. Baptism is the best soil for spiritual growth. When we were placed in the water, we were like a seed planted in soil. Then we came forth in resurrection, having grown together with Christ in baptism. Such a baptism is certainly not a mere ritual or formality.
As a believer experiences a proper baptism, the divine Spirit within him puts to death the old man with his worldly, sinful elements. Then he rises out of the water a new person. In this way he takes a major step in the growth in life. From that time onward, the believer continues to grow in Christ in the likeness of His resurrection, that is, he walks day by day in newness of life. This is real growth, not mere outward activity. The more a believer grows, the more the divine life works within him to crucify him and to resurrect him. Through such growth we experience the application of our crucifixion with Christ, which was accomplished more than nineteen hundred years ago. No longer is our crucifixion with Christ a mere theory, doctrine, or belief that has no practical effect on our living. On the contrary, it is applied to us in a full way. Therefore, day by day we grow in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection, and we walk in newness of life.
The Christian life is a life of baptism. On the one hand, baptism has been accomplished. But on the other hand, baptism continues until we are fully transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. Hence, until this goal has been attained, we continue to live a life of baptism. This means that we are daily under the application of the death of Christ as we experience the effectiveness of Christ’s death, which is now one of the ingredients, the elements, in the all-inclusive Spirit. If our husband or wife gives us a difficult time, we can experience at that very moment the application of Christ’s death. Instead of exchanging words, we can experience the putting to death of the negative element within us. This takes place not by doctrine or by a particular practice, but by the killing element in the death of Christ included in the all-inclusive, divine life.
The divine life is a heavenly antibiotic. To argue with our husband or wife is to have a “cough.” Whenever we exchange words with our husband or wife, we are “coughing.” The death of Christ is the only antibiotic that can eliminate the germs that cause this illness.
The heavenly antibiotic not only crucifies us, but also resurrects us and renews the faculties of our mind, emotion, and will. This resurrection and renewing is the genuine growth and transformation.
The process of transformation is both organic and metabolic. It is organic because it is related to life, and it is metabolic because it is related to a process in which old elements are discharged and new elements are added. To change someone’s complexion by makeup is neither organic nor metabolic. But a change in complexion that comes through eating nourishing food is both organic and metabolic. Such a change may be considered a physical transformation.
If we would be transformed, we must constantly look to the Lord, pray, read the Word, and call on the name of the Lord. In this way we eat, drink, and breathe the rich supply of Christ into us. This supply will produce a metabolic change in which the old, negative elements are discharged and replaced by new, positive elements. This metabolic change is transformation.
In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul speaks of beholding and reflecting with an unveiled face the glory of the Lord and of being transformed into His image by the Lord Spirit. As we gaze upon Christ and reflect Him, we are transformed into His image from glory to glory, that is, from one degree of glory to another. This is from the Lord Spirit, the very life-giving Spirit mentioned in verse 6. Verse 17 clearly says that the Lord is the Spirit. In order to bring out the connection between verses 6 and 17, Darby places verses 7 through 16 in parentheses, indicating thereby that verse 17 is the continuation of verse 6. Hence, the Lord is the Spirit who gives life. As we behold and reflect the glory of the Lord, we are transformed by this Spirit. The more we behold Him, the more we receive His supply and are transformed metabolically.
Transformation includes growth and sanctification. As we are transformed, we grow and are sanctified. Eventually, transformation will issue in conformation. The more we are transformed, the more we are conformed to the image of Christ. Through this process of transformation and conformation, we are brought fully into the divine sonship to be members of the Body of Christ. As we have pointed out, to gain such a Body to express Christ is the goal of God’s eternal purpose.
I am burdened that all the saints may have the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive, divine life and experience transformation and conformation. We do not need teaching or self-effort — we need a vision. I pray that the Spirit will enlighten the saints and unveil these matters to them so that they may experience them in their daily living.
When we see the vision of transformation and conformation by the grafted life, 6:8 will become real in our practical experience. Our having died with Christ will no longer be a mere fact that we believe; it will become our daily experience through the operation of the divine life within. This life both puts us to death and resurrects us. In this way we grow, we are sanctified, and we are transformed.
Every kind of life has four basic features: the life-essence, the life-power, the life-law, and the life-shape. Every life has its own essence. Although the essence of a certain life may be abstract and mysterious, the life itself is powerful in a very substantial way. Consider a carnation seed. After a carnation seed has been sown into the soil and grows, it eventually breaks through the surface of the ground and begins to grow visibly. Every life has also its law, the principle that governs its function and development.
Because of the life-law that controls its growth, a carnation plant will not produce roses, but carnation flowers. There is no need for us to pray about it; the law of life in the carnation plant functions automatically to direct its development. Furthermore, every life has its particular life-shape. For example, a Washington apple has a characteristic form. Farmers need not teach apple trees to produce fruit with a certain shape. The life in the apples automatically forms them. This is true of every kind of life.
Conformation denotes the shaping of life. As the divine life grows within us and transforms us, it spontaneously shapes us into the pattern, the image, of the firstborn Son of God. Many Christians, blind to this reality, try to shape themselves into the likeness of Christ. Such self-effort never works. Concerning this, only one thing is prevailing — the divine life that grows in us, sanctifies us, transforms us, and shapes us. There is no need for us to shape ourselves, to perform, or to strive to improve our behavior. What we need is a fuller experience of the grafted life. The divine life has its essence, power, law, and shape. As those who are undergoing the process of transformation, we are being shaped gradually into the image of the Son of God by the function of the all-inclusive, divine life that has been mingled with our human life. Therefore, we can be at peace.
As the divine life works within us to transform and conform us, it discharges the negative element within us. For this reason, we do not need anyone to adjust us. The divine life works in us to gradually eliminate whatever is negative or natural.
Secondly, the divine life resurrects us. No matter how fallen we are, we are still God’s creation. Whatever God creates is good. Instead of giving up His creation, God will reclaim it and restore it by the resurrection power of the divine life. As the divine life discharges the negative things, it works to resurrect God’s original creation. God created us with a mind, emotion, will, soul, heart, and spirit, and He intends to bring all these aspects of our being into resurrection. Before we were saved, we may have been dull in the mind, unbalanced in the emotion, improper in the will. But the more we contact the Lord and experience Him, the more our mind becomes clear and sober, the more our emotion becomes properly balanced, and the more our will becomes adjusted. This is not our natural character, but a resurrected character. Praise the Lord that the divine life within us resurrects all the parts of our being created by God.
As the divine life resurrects our faculties, it uplifts them to the highest level. This will produce in us a highly developed character. Christians should not be of low character. Wherever we may be, we should display the highest character, because our natural faculties have been uplifted by the divine life. In order to experience this in a full way, we need to be faithful to contact the divine life within us. If we are faithful to do this, our character will be uplifted.
Furthermore, as the divine life discharges, resurrects, and uplifts, it supplies the riches of Christ to our inward parts. For this reason, many who love the Lord become very keen in their mentality. Although certain brothers and sisters may give themselves to attend all the meetings of the church, they are still outstanding students in school because their resurrected and uplifted faculties are supplied with the riches of Christ.
Finally, the divine life will saturate our whole being. This saturation is much better than inspiration. Eventually, our entire being will be soaked with the divine life. This brings about transformation. The riches of Christ saturate our being and cause a genuine metabolic change. By this saturation of the divine life we are conformed to the image of Christ.
The divine life is prepared and able to do such a work within us. But we need to exercise ourselves concerning what the Lord has shown us. We need to be faithful to contact Him, to pray to Him, to read the Word, and to breathe Him in. To do these things is to set our mind on the spirit (8:6). When our mind is set on the spirit, no part of our inward being will be separated from the spirit. This will give the divine life a freeway to discharge the negative element, to resurrect, uplift, and supply our faculties, and to saturate every part of our being. Concerning this, we need to pray for ourselves, for others, and for all the local churches. May we be faithful to live and walk according to what we have seen in these messages.
