Christ’s work of sanctifying the church is accomplished by cleansing her with the washing of the water in the Word. According to the divine concept, the water in Ephesians 5:26 refers to the flowing life of God typified by flowing water (Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4; John 7:38-39; Rev. 21:6; 22:1, 17). The washing of such water is different from the washing of the redeeming blood of Christ. The redeeming blood washes away our sins (1 John 1:7; Rev. 7:14), whereas the water of life washes away the blemishes of the natural life of our old man, such as “spot or wrinkle or any such things” (Eph. 5:27). In sanctifying the church, the Lord first washes away our sins with His blood and then washes away our natural blemishes with His life. Spots are something of the natural life, and wrinkles are signs of oldness. Only the water of life can metabolically wash away such defects. All the spots and wrinkles in the church will be washed away through the inner cleansing of the water in the Word. We all need such an organic, metabolic washing to take away our defects and the marks of our oldness. As the church is washed organically and metabolically in this way, the church is renewed and is without blemish. We are now in such a washing process in order that the church may be holy and without blemish.
With Eve in Genesis 2 there was no need of cleansing because in that chapter she had not fallen. Rather, she was pure and without mixture. But because we are fallen, contaminated, and defiled, we need to be cleansed. Many things in us need to be purged away: the flesh, the self, the old man, the natural life. Furthermore, we have many spots and wrinkles from which we need to be cleansed.
In the process of sanctification, something of Christ is added to us, but in cleansing something of us, especially our natural disposition, is subtracted. As we are cleansed by the washing of water in the Word, our natural disposition is washed away.
Disposition is the most inward aspect of our constitution; it is the root of our being. We were born with a certain disposition. Disposition, therefore, is altogether inward. As Christ is adding His element into us, He is also cleansing us and subtracting our natural disposition. His cleansing washes away the natural element from the depths of our being. The washing away of our natural disposition cannot be accomplished by teaching but only by the impartation of the element of Christ into our being.
While the element of Christ is being added to us, something of ourselves is being carried away. Therefore, on the one hand, we have the addition of Christ; on the other hand, we have the subtraction of the natural disposition. Gradually, Christ is being added into our being, and our natural disposition is being subtracted. The result of this process is transformation, a metabolic change in which the new element is constituted into us and the old element is carried away. The more we open to Christ as the life-giving Spirit within us and tell Him that we are willing to take Him as our life and our person, the more He will work within us as the life-giving Spirit to add Himself to us to carry away our oldness and our natural disposition. This is the work of the living Christ in sanctification and cleansing.
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