CHAPTER THREE

CHRIST IN THE EPISTLES

Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:2, 6, 9-11; 1 Cor. 12:13; 3:16; 6:17; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 3:17-18; 13:14; Gal. 3:14; 1:16; 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:8, 17-19; Phil. 1:19-21a; 1 John 2:27; Heb. 7:25; 8:6

OUTLINE

1. Christ, the last Adam, passed through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45.
2. Christ, the life-giving Spirit, as the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ, who is Christ Himself, first enters into the believers’ spirits to make their spirit life. He then spreads from their spirit to their mind, making their minds life also, and finally gives life to their mortal body, so that their whole being—spirit, soul, and body—is saturated by Him as the Spirit of life, and is sanctified and conformed to the image of Him as the firstborn Son of God, to become the many sons of God, being His living members to build up His Body to be His corporate expression—Rom. 8:2, 6, 9-11; 15:16; 8:29; 12:5.
3. After His ascension, He baptized all His believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, in Him as the all-inclusive Spirit into one Body, and made them to drink of one Spirit. In this way they become the temple for Him to dwell in them as the Spirit and are joined to Him as the Spirit to become one spirit, that He may become wisdom to them from God: power, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and everything—1 Cor. 12:13; 3:16; 6:17; 1:24, 30.
4. With this all-inclusive Spirit He anoints His believers, sealing them and giving them this Spirit within them as the pledge of their enjoyment of God as their inheritance. This Spirit also becomes the ink (the essence and element) with which is written into them the all-inclusive Christ. As the all-inclusive Lord in resurrection, who is the all-inclusive Spirit, He releases us from the bondage of law and ordinances, that we, with an unveiled face, may behold His glory, may be transformed into His image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. In this way we can enjoy the riches of the Triune God—the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit—2 Cor. 1:21, 22; 3:3, 17, 18; 13:14.
5. He as the pneumatic Christ, being the blessing of the gospel promised by God, has been revealed in the believers, lives in them, and is being formed in them, that they may live to God by Him as the Spirit—Gal. 3:14; 1:16; 2:20; 4:19; 2:19; 5:25.
6. He as the pneumatic Christ who has ascended to the heavens and has been exalted by God as the Lord, being the Head of the church, will make His home in the hearts of the believers with His unsearchable riches, that they may be strong to apprehend with all the saints His breadth, length, height, and depth, that they may be filled unto all the fullness of God— the full expression of God, the built up church, as the Body of Christ who fills all in all. This becomes the holy temple of God, the dwelling place of God in our spirit, the universal new man accomplishing God’s eternal purpose, the counterpart of Christ satisfying Christ’s desire, and the spiritual warrior withstanding God’s enemy—Eph. 1:20-23; 3:8, 16-19; 2:21-22; 4:24; 5:31-32; 6:11-13.
7. He as the pneumatic Christ is also the Spirit of Jesus Christ who was incarnated, put on humanity, passed through human living, died, and resurrected. As such, He has the bountiful supply to enable those who believe in Him and who live in Him to suffer with Him under all kinds of circumstances by His resurrection power and in conformity to His death that they may live Him and magnify Him and be able to do all things in Him through His empowering, gaining Him as the righteousness of God manifested in them—Phil. 1:19-21a; 3:10; 4:13; 3:8-9.
8. He as the compound Spirit of such a processed, all-inclusive, life-dispensing Triune God, being typified by the holy ointment in Exodus 30:23-25, abides in us as the anointing of the Triune God, for the purpose that we would abide in the Son and live in the fellowship of the Father, receiving the anointing of this all-inclusive, compound Spirit to enjoy the eternal life, overcoming sin, the world, and Satan, to live out God’s inward love and outward righteousness— 1 John 2:20, 23-28, 6; 1:5; 3:9; 5:4, 18; 4:7; 5:1; 2:29, 6, 24, 28.
9. At the same time, He as the ascended Christ is the High Priest in the heavenly tabernacle, interceding for the believers that they would be saved to the uttermost, and being Mediator of the new covenant, executing the testament of the new covenant, supplying the believers with the heavenly life, that they may live a heavenly life on earth and may cooperate with Him as the heavenly Christ to carry out His heavenly ministry on earth—Heb. 4:14-16; 7:25-26; 8:1-2; 7:22; 8:6; 9:15-17.

There are twenty-seven books in the New Testament. In addition to the four Gospels, the Acts, and Revelation, there are twenty-one Epistles. What do these twenty-one Epistles speak about? Bible readers may have read them many times without apprehending the crucial points. However, we must not forget that the subject of the New Testament is Christ. He is a mysterious God-man. These Epistles speak of this God-man in seemingly simple words. The words in these Epistles seem simple, but in their simplicity are hidden deep truths.