Christ’s living in us is also for us to be saved in His life. “If, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in His life” (Rom. 5:10). This verse speaks of both the reconciling death of Christ and the saving life of Christ. Although we have been saved already through Christ’s death, we still need to be saved in His life. On the one hand, we have been saved from hell and the judgment of God. This was accomplished once for all through the death of Christ on the cross. On the other hand, we still need to be saved in Christ’s life from many subjective problems.
To be saved in Christ’s life is actually to be saved in the person of Christ Himself. As long as we are in Him, we are in the process of being saved in His life. To live in Christ is to be saved in His life. As Christ lives in us, dispensing Himself into our being, we live in Him and are saved in His life. Christ lives in us to save us continuously in His life.
Christ’s living in the believers is also for them to live through Him by eating Him as the bread of life. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48), and “He who eats Me shall also live because of Me” (v. 57b). The bread of life is the life supply in the form of food. Christ is not only life to us; He, as the bread of life, is our life supply to sustain our spiritual life in Him. Hence, as He lives in us, we live through Him by eating Him as the bread of life.
If we eat Christ as the bread of life, we shall live through Him. Eating is to take food into us to be assimilated into our body organically. Hence, to eat the Lord Jesus is to receive Him into us to be assimilated by the regenerated new man in the way of life. Then we live through Him whom we receive.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:10 Paul says that Christ “died for us that, whether we watch or sleep, we may live together with Him.” The Lord Jesus died for us not only that we may be saved from eternal perdition but also that, through His living in us, we may live together with Him. We may live together with Him whether we watch or sleep, that is, whether we live or die. On the one hand, the Lord Jesus is away from us and we are awaiting His coming back; on the other hand, He is with us (Matt. 28:20), and we can live together with Him (Rom. 6:8). Therefore, in the divine dispensing Christ’s living in us is for us to live with Him.
In Galatians 2:20 Paul says, “Christ lives in me,” and in Philippians 1:21a he says, “To me to live is Christ.” This indicates that Christ lives in us that we may live Him. You may have heard of living for Christ, living out Christ, and living by Christ but not of living Christ. To live by Christ and for Christ and to live out Christ are all somewhat different from simply living Christ. Adding a preposition changes the denotation. If we are living by Christ, we are still doing the living. To live Christ means that Christ is our life (Col. 3:4). When we live, He lives. When He lives, we live. We do not merely live out Christ, live by Christ, live with Christ, live in Christ, and live for Christ-we live Christ. Christ’s living in us is for us to live Him.
On the one hand, Christ lives in us; on the other hand, we should live Christ. This means that inwardly Christ is our life and outwardly Christ is our living. We and Christ thus have one life and one living. Christ’s life is our life, and our living is Christ’s living. Therefore, we and Christ live as one.
To live Christ is not merely to live a holy life, and it is not simply to be spiritual and victorious. To live Christ is to live a person. This is to live a life that is Christ Himself. Because Christ lives in us, we, through the divine dispensing, should live Him and thereby be one with Him both in life and in living. Day by day we need to practice living Christ, taking Him as our life and person. This is the Christian life.
The central thought in the Bible is that Christ should be our life and that we should live Him. The goal of being a Christian, therefore, is to live Christ. This is the destiny God has ordained for us in His economy. Today the processed Triune God is dispensing Himself into us so that we may take Christ as our life, our life supply, and our person in order to live Him.
Home | First | Prev | Next