The topic we will consider in this book is Christ in His excellency, or Christ in His supreme preciousness. No person, matter, or thing in the universe is more precious than the Lord Jesus. The expression Christ in His excellency or Christ in His supreme preciousness is not my invention. This thought has long existed in the New Testament and is used in reference to the Lord Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul says that every saved one has a treasure within him. Who is this treasure? By reading the context of this verse, we can see that this treasure is the glorious Christ. He has come into us to be the treasure within us.
Furthermore, Paul said that he did not consider that only the Lord Jesus Himself is excellent, but even the knowledge of the Lord Jesus is the most excellent thing. The Chinese people appreciate the teachings of Confucius, but no one regards the knowledge of Confucius’ teachings as the most precious thing. When I was young, I really liked the principles of The Great Learning by Confucius, but I never considered them something very precious. However, when I was saved at the age of nineteen, I began to read the Bible, and my eyes were opened wide to know the Lord Jesus. At that time, I felt that in the Bible the words describing the Lord Jesus were not only sweet but also precious, and they were even excellent. Therefore, I truly liked to read the Bible, especially the New Testament. I delighted in it to such an extent that I was completely captured, especially by the words that I read concerning the Lord Jesus. The entire summer of that year I did not leave my house except to go to the Lord’s Day meetings; I just stayed home reading the Bible. Even my mother was astonished, wondering what it was that had captivated her son to the extent that he would not leave the house for an entire summer and that apart from the time spent eating and sleeping, all he did was read the Bible. Even while eating I was reading the Bible. Furthermore, I shut myself up alone every night to read the Bible. The more I read the Bible, the more I sensed its preciousness. I read it again and again, and even when I went to bed, I still laid there reading it.
In those days kerosene lamps were used instead of electric lights. I was always reluctant to blow out my lamp. I would read even one verse of the Scriptures over and over, and there would be a real sense of sweetness and preciousness within me. I read the Bible until I was so tired that I had to go to sleep, but I would leave the Bible open at the verse that I had enjoyed and place it beside my pillow. When I woke up, before I even lifted my head from the pillow, the first thing I would look at was that particular verse, and I felt that it was so precious.
I am really captivated by the words in the Bible concerning the Lord Jesus, so I can truly understand why Paul would say, “The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Paul was born into a Jewish family, and he was a genuine Judaizer. He had been under the training of Gamaliel, a famous teacher of Judaism at that time; therefore, he was influenced by the Jewish religion basically through Gamaliel. Furthermore, history tells us he was born in a big city-what Americans today would call a university town, because there was a Greek university there. Paul was educated there, so his Greek was very good. All the scholars acknowledge that the Greek Paul used in writing the New Testament was superb. Thus, Paul was one who had tasted the full flavor of the Jewish religion and also had been deeply soaked in the Greek culture with its profound philosophy and literature.
The so-called Western culture today evolved from a tripodal culture which includes first the Hebrew religion, second Greek philosophy and culture, and third Roman government and law. Among these three, Hebrew religion and Greek philosophy and culture are most important. Paul received a profound training in both of these aspects. Thus, he could boast that he was a Hebrew and also a Pharisee. (At that time, the Pharisees were the moralists and the cultured gentlemen.) As to the righteousness which was in the law, he was zealous to keep the law, and he might be considered a high level, genuine disciple of the Jewish religion. On the other hand, his Greek was very good, and he had a high appreciation for the Greeks.
It was at that time that he was zealously persecuting and killing the believers of Jesus. He thought that the believers of Jesus were a low class people, of the sect of the Nazarene of Galilee. He thought that all those people had been enchanted and deceived, so he had to eradicate them. He could not allow his countrymen to be deceived by these people, so he wanted to cut them off. We all know this story.
As Paul was on his way to bind and arrest the believers of Jesus, the Lord Jesus appeared to him from heaven. In Paul’s understanding, Jesus had been crucified and buried in the earth. Yet, on the day that Paul was on the road to Damascus with the intention to arrest and persecute the believers of Jesus, suddenly there was a voice from heaven and the flashing of a great light. When the great light flashed around him, he fell to the ground and heard a voice from the heavens saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Saul was very surprised. Knowing that this voice was coming from the heavens, he had the fear of God and cried out, “Who are You, Lord?” The Lord Jesus answered, “I am Jesus, whom you persecute.” This made him even more surprised. He may have thought, “I persecuted Stephen; I persecuted the believers of Jesus. Was Jesus not crucified? Was He not buried? How can He say that I am persecuting Him?” Here the Lord wanted Paul to know that He had resurrected from the dead and had ascended, so He could appear to Him from heaven. Paul not only heard a voice, but he also saw a great light with his own eyes; this was the Lord’s special grace to him. Hence, from that time onward Paul had a great change of concept. It was at that time that he received the revelation from the heavens.
I truly believe that after Paul met the Lord on the road to Damascus, he received a heavenly revelation and suddenly became clear. Previously, when he was under the teaching of Gamaliel, he was full of knowledge concerning the tabernacle, the altar, the ark, the golden lampstand, the showbread table, and other things, yet he could not understand their significances. It was not until the time the Holy Spirit came to him that he understood all these things. He now knew that the ark was Christ and that the altar was the cross. He understood what the golden lampstand and the showbread table were. He realized that the entire Old Testament was concerning Christ. Thus, he began to appreciate Christ. This was why he said in Philippians 3 that he regarded the knowledge of Christ as most excellent. The knowledge of the Jewish Bible and the Greek culture is good, but it is not most excellent. The knowledge of Christ as the Son of the living God and as the Lord of all is the most excellent thing. Therefore, in the Epistles which Paul wrote in the New Testament, he repeatedly used the word excellency.
The Greek word which is translated into excellency in English as a noun is rendered as most precious in Chinese. In Greek the word means to reach the zenith, that is, to be excelling to the utmost. This word is very close to super-excelling-unsurpassably excellent. In Paul’s knowledge, Christ surpasses everything. What Paul meant is that Christ excels not only in His position but even more in His virtues, His being, His substance, His nature, and all His attainments. As God, He is exceedingly divine. As man, He is the Man of men. He is the Holiest of the holy, and the Man of all men. Although these words are profound, they still cannot truly express Paul’s original meaning. What he meant to say was that he had studied the Hebrew religion and had received a deep training in the Greek culture, but to him the knowledge of these matters could not compare with the knowledge of Christ. Thus, the knowledge of Christ is supreme and ultimate.
Home | First | Prev | Next