In Philippians 1:20 Paul speaks of his magnification of Christ in his body. In verse 21 Paul continues, “For to me, to live is Christ.” The little word for at the beginning of this verse is important. It indicates that what is to follow is an explanation of the preceding verse, which speaks of Paul’s magnification of Christ in his body. Christ could be magnified in Paul’s body because Paul lived Christ. In order to magnify Christ, we must live Him. Although the matter of living Christ is of such tremendous importance, not many Christians have paid adequate attention to it. In Paul’s chained body Christ was exalted, extolled, praised, and appreciated because Paul lived Christ. To live Christ means that no matter what our circumstances may be, Christ is magnified in us, and we are not put to shame in anything. Furthermore, to live Christ also means that in our daily life we are saved from murmurings, reasonings, crookedness, and perverseness and that we present our living Lord as the word of life to those whom we meet day by day (2:14-16). To live Christ for His magnification is to participate in Christ’s salvation in life (Rom. 5:10), in which we are saved from the failure of not living Christ and from the defeat of not magnifying Christ.
Paul could say not only that Christ lived in him (Gal. 2:20) but also that to him to live was Christ. On the one hand, Christ lived in Paul; on the other hand, Paul lived Christ. Inwardly Christ was Paul’s life, and outwardly Christ was Paul’s living. Paul and Christ thus had one life and one living. Christ’s life was Paul’s life, and Paul’s living was Christ’s living. The two, Christ and Paul, lived as one. First Corinthians 6:17 refers to such a living. In this verse Paul says that we are one spirit with the Lord. The organic union that has taken place between us and Christ causes us to be so close and intimate with Him that we are even one spirit with Him.
To live Christ is deeper than to live by Christ or to live out Christ. We can be helped to know what it means to live Christ by reading the Gospel of John. This Gospel reveals that Christ, the Word, is God (1:1). One day, the Word became flesh (v. 14); that is, God was incarnated. Referring to the Word made flesh, John the Baptist declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (v. 29). The third chapter of the Gospel of John speaks of regeneration. Here we see that we must be born of God through the Spirit in our spirit (v. 6).
In John 14 the Lord Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (v. 9). The Lord also went on to say, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (v. 11). The Lord Jesus was one with the Father. To see Him was to see the Father. In this chapter the Lord Jesus also spoke of the Spirit of reality, telling the disciples that the Spirit of reality abode with them and would be in them (v. 17). The Lord Jesus indicated that when the Spirit of reality came, He Himself would come also. Verse 19 says, “Because I live, you also shall live.” Verse 20 continues, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Here we have our living together with Christ. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. This means that we and He live together. He lives, and we live also. We live in Him, by Him, and with Him. We even live Him. In John 15 the Lord gave the very impressive illustration of the vine and the branches. He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (v. 5). The branches are the living of the vine.
If we magnify Christ by living Him, we will become strong factors, channels of supply, to enable the saints to grow in life and enjoy the Lord (Phil. 1:22-26). When Paul wrote to the Philippians, he was living in prison and not outwardly working. Yet he speaks of “fruit” for his “work” (v. 22). This indicates that his work was actually his living. The fruit of this work was Christ lived out, magnified, ministered, and transfused into others. The fruit of this work was the issue, the result, of Paul’s living in prison. Paul’s living work was to minister Christ to others and to transfuse the Christ whom he magnified into them. Through Paul’s magnification of Christ, even some in Caesar’s household were saved (4:22). Possibly Paul’s enjoyment of Christ in prison was a factor in bringing Onesimus, a runaway slave, to salvation (Philem. 10).
Paul also says to the believers in Philippi, “I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of the faith” (1:25). Here progress refers to the growth in life, and joy, to the enjoyment of Christ. This indicates that Paul was a factor of the saints’ growth in life and of their enjoyment of Christ. Whether or not we are such factors of the progress and joy of others depends on whether or not we magnify Christ by living Him. If we live Christ, He will surely be magnified in us. Then we will become factors to enable the saints to grow in life and enjoy the Lord.
Because Paul lived and magnified Christ to the uttermost, he could transfuse Christ into the saints and minister Christ to all the churches. It should matter to the church whether we remain or go to be with the Lord, but this depends on our living Christ, magnifying Christ, ministering Christ, and transfusing Christ from the depths of our being into that of the saints (cf. 2:25-30). In the Body life there is the urgent need of certain ones to function as channels of supply (cf. Zech. 4:12-14; Judg. 9:9). We need members of the Body like Paul. When such members die, the transfusion of Christ is in a very real sense interrupted, but as long as such ones are with us, the transfusion continues unabated.