Message Six

Becoming a Reproduction of Christ
and Being Holy in All Our Manner of Life

Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:15; 2:12, 21;
Rom. 8:29; Gal. 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:16-17a

1. As believers in Christ, we may become a reproduction of Christ as our model—1 Pet. 2:21:
   1. The living of the Lord Jesus under the government of God is a model so that we may follow in His steps by becoming His reproduction—vv. 21-23; Eph. 4:20-21.
   2. The Greek word for model in 1 Peter 2:21 denotes a master copy used in the teaching of writing—a writing copy, an underwriting, for students to use in tracing letters as they learn to draw them:
      1. The Lord Jesus has set His life before us as an underwriting for us to copy by tracing and following His steps—Matt. 11:28-30.
      2. It is not God’s intention that we try to imitate Christ by our own effort; what we need is not imitation but reproduction—Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18.
   3. We need to become Christ’s reproduction, copies of Christ, by a process that involves the riches of the divine life; when this process is completed, we will become a reproduction of Christ—John 3:15; Eph. 3:8.
   4. The making of Xerox copies may be used to illustrate what Peter means by Christ being a model for us:
      1. As a model, Christ is the original used in spiritual Xeroxing to make us a reproduction of Himself—Rom. 8:29.
      2. In this process the Spirit of Christ is the light, and the riches of the divine life are the inking substance.
      3. As the “paper” we are put under the light of the Holy Spirit, and we pass through the inking substance to become a reproduction, a living copy of the original, a reproduction of Christ.
   5. In order to become a reproduction of Christ as our model, we need to experience Christ as the One living in us, being formed in us, and making His home in our hearts—Gal. 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:16-17a:
      1. The New Testament reveals that Christ is deeply related to our inner being—Gal. 1:16; Col. 3:10-11.
      2. The pneumatic Christ—Christ as the life-giving Spirit—is living in us—1 Cor. 15:45b; Gal. 2:20:
         1. God’s economy is that the “I” be crucified in Christ’s death and that Christ live in us in His resurrection—John 14:19.
         2. We are one spirit with the Lord, we have one life with Him, and we should now be one person with Him—1 Cor. 6:17; Col. 3:4; Phil. 1:21a.
         3. Since Christ dwells in us as the Spirit, we need to let Him live in us—John 14:16-19; Gal. 2:20.
      3. To have Christ formed in us is to have Christ fully grown in us—4:19:
         1. Christ was born into us at the time we repented and believed in Him, then He lives in us in our Christian life, and finally, He will be formed in us at our maturity—John 1:12-13; 3:15; Gal. 2:20.
         2. To have Christ formed in us is to allow the all-inclusive Spirit to occupy every part of our inner being, to have Christ fully grown in us—Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15-16.
         3. To have Christ formed in us implies that we are being constituted with Christ organically—Col. 3:10-11.
         4. Formed in Galatians 4:19 corresponds to image in 2 Corinthians 3:18; Christ will be formed in us so that we may express Him in His image.
      4. The Christ who lives in us and who is being formed in us is making His home in our hearts—Eph. 3:16-17a:
         1. Christ wants to make His home deep down in our being; He desires to spread from our spirit to all the parts of our heart.
         2. The more Christ spreads within us, the more He settles down in us and makes His home in our hearts; in this way He occupies every part of our inner being, possessing these parts and saturating them with Himself so that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God—v. 19b.
      5. As Christ lives in us, is formed in us, and makes His home in our hearts, we become a reproduction of Christ for the corporate expression of God—Rom. 8:29; 12:4-5; Rev. 21:2.
2. As we become a reproduction of Christ, we will have a manner of life that expresses the Triune God, and we will be holy in all our manner of life—1 Pet. 1:15; 2:12:
   1. The expression of the Triune God from within a believer indicates that such a believer has become a reproduction of Christ—Phil. 1:20.
   2. The excellent manner of life—a life beautiful in its virtues—is the holy manner of life and the good manner of life in Christ, a life not only for God but filled and saturated with God—1 Pet. 2:12; 1:15; 3:16.
   3. A holy manner of life is a life that expresses the holy nature of God—1:15.
   4. According to 1:15, we should not merely be holy and live a holy life—we should become holy in all our manner of life.
   5. If we would be holy in all our manner of life, we ourselves, the persons, must become holy; our being, our disposition, our entire person, should become holy.
   6. If we would be holy in all our manner of life, we need to be habitually holy; we need to become a certain kind of person, a person who is holy in constitution.
   7. In order to be holy in all our manner of life, we need the impartation of the Father’s holy nature into us, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to make us holy, and God’s discipline so that we may partake of His holiness—vv. 2-3, 15; Heb. 12:10:
      1. When we were regenerated, the Father imparted His holy nature into us as the basic factor for us to be holy in all our manner of life—1 Pet. 1:3, 15.
      2. We become holy in all our manner of life through the sanctification of the Spirit; with the Father’s holy nature within us as the basis of operation, the Holy Spirit is working on us to make us holy—v. 2.
      3. Because we are often disobedient, we need God’s discipline; for this reason, Hebrews 12:10 says that God the Father disciplines us so that we may partake of His holiness and become holy even as He is holy—1 Pet. 1:15-16.