From Life-study of Luke, Message 63.
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….
Taking the Mind of Jesus Christ, the God-man
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.
Shining the Word of Life as Luminaries Reflecting
the Brightness of Jesus Christ, the God-man
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.
Found in Christ
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….
Expressed in Our Human Virtues
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 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.
Recent Comments