In the first message, we fellowshipped concerning the definition of the Christian life. We saw that the Christian life is the life in which the believers of Christ live Christ and magnify Him (Phil. 1:20b-21a). It is also the life in which the Christians live Christ and magnify Him corporately in their locality as a local church to be a local expression of Christ as a part of the universal Body of Christ. The Christ whom the believers are living and magnifying is the center of the Divine Trinity. Why do we say that Christ is the center of the Divine Trinity? He is the center, on the one hand, to express the Father, and on the other hand, to be realized as the Spirit (John 14:6-20).
These two phrases—to express the Father and to be realized as the Spirit—are short, but they are crucial. To arrive at the second phrase, to be realized as the Spirit, took me probably more than fifty years. It was not until these past fifteen years of my ministry that I began to use this phrase. The phrase to express the Father was used not only by us but also by others. Many fundamental theologians would agree that Christ the Son is the expression of the Father. But to say that Christ the Son is realized as the Spirit brings us into a big war. Some have said that this is heresy, but this is the truth revealed in the holy Word. This truth is very mysterious. To say that the Second of the Divine Trinity is realized as the Third is the ultimate understanding of the Divine Trinity.
In this message we want to see the contents of the Christian life. The contents of the Christian life is not a simple matter. To know the contents of the Christian life, we have to know the sixty-six books of the entire Bible. Now I would like to ask, "What is the content of the Christian life?" The content of the Christian life is the entire Bible. I want to help us realize this in a very simple way. The first verse of the Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1—ASV). The last verse of the Bible says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen" (Rev. 22:21). The Bible is one book. It begins with God, and it ends with the Lord Jesus. Are God and the Lord Jesus two or one? If you say they are two, this is not logical. How can a book start with God and end with another person?
The Bible as the content of the Christian life is the autobiography of the Triune God. The Triune God has written a record of His own history, which we should call the autobiography of the Triune God. Who is God? What is God? What has God done, what is He doing, and what will He do? Where was God, where is God, and where will God be? There is only one autobiography which speaks of God, and this autobiography is the content of the Christian life. Thus, the content of the Christian life is altogether not simple.
When I was very young, I read the Old Testament, including the minor prophets. But I did not spend much time to study these minor prophets. In the upcoming summer training of 1992, we will have a life-study of these minor prophets. There are twelve minor prophets, but we will cover eleven of them since we have already covered Zechariah. Recently, I was working on the outlines for Hosea. Hosea is a very difficult book to read. Most of his writing is in poetic form. Verses 4 through 7 of Hosea 7 speak of the symbols of an oven and a baker. These symbols are particularly difficult to understand and interpret. I am sharing this so that we can realize that the Bible is altogether not that simple. It is too high, too deep, and too profound. The Bible is an autobiography, not a history. It is not a compiled book of theological doctrines and teachings. The Bible is an autobiography of a wonderful person—the processed and consummated Triune God. This wonderful person comprises many things.