In the New Testament, there are four main verses-two in the Gospels and two in the Epistles-which reveal the matter of living Christ. The first verse, John 6:57, says, “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me shall also live because of Me.” This is the first verse in the New Testament that directly touches the matter of living Christ. The second verse is also in the Gospel of John. John 14:19 says, “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you shall live also.” The phrase “because I live” means that Christ lives in resurrection. “Yet a little while” indicates His death and that He will live again in His resurrection. The clause “because I live, you shall live also” indicates that because He lives in resurrection, we also shall live with Him and by Him. In the New Testament, John 6:57 and 14:19 are the most basic verses in unveiling to us how we can live because of Christ and with Christ. The third verse, perhaps the best in the Epistles concerning our living because of Christ and with Christ, is Galatians 2:20. It says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith.” The fourth verse is Philippians 1:21 which says, “For to me to live is Christ.”
By these four verses, we can learn how to live Christ. In this matter, I do not use the phrase live by Christ because the word by does not convey the proper thought. In John 6:57 the word “because” implies that there is a factor. The word by (used in the KJV), however, indicates an instrument, not a factor. To walk by Christ implies that Christ is the instrument for walking, as a cane is used for walking. To walk because of Him indicates that He is the factor of our walking. This understanding is also the meaning in the Greek. John 14:19 reveals that we live Christ in His resurrection. After His resurrection He lives, and we live also. We do not merely live by Him but because of Him.
We do not live by Christ, taking Christ as our instrument; rather, we live because of Christ, taking Christ as a factor of our living. The food that we eat is not an instrument, but a supplying factor. We live not by food but because of the food. Food supplies us so that we can live because of its supply. In using a cane as an instrument to walk, there is no need to eat the cane; but to live because of food, we must eat the food. Without eating, food cannot become a factor of our living. We live Christ in His resurrection, and we live Christ by eating Him. Eating brings in a factor to our being. When we eat a good breakfast in the morning, the nourishment we receive energizes us. The energizing element of Christ is a supply, a factor, for us to live Christ.
Galatians 2:20 says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Christ has been eaten by us, and now He is within us, living within us. While He is living within us, He is being digested by us. The way Christ lives in us is by being digested by us. He now has become the supply, the very factor, with which we live. We live with Christ as the supplying factor. The clause “it is no longer I who live” means that we are finished. Yet the later clause “the life which I now live” indicates that we continue to live. In order to describe this experience, we may say, “Christ lives for me.” However, it is better to say that Christ lives within us to be the factor for us to live with Him. According to Galatians 2:20, there seems to be two who live. There are two subjects, “Christ” and “I,” and these two subjects act on one predicate-live. “I live” and “Christ lives.”
In order to describe one living with two lives, Paul used the illustration of grafting (Rom. 11:24; 6:5). The uncultivated branch has been cut off from the uncultivated tree, and this uncultivated branch is grafted into the cultivated tree, the good tree. The uncultivated branch is cut off from the original tree, and the cultivated tree is cut open. These two cuts are put together and grafting takes place. These two now become one, yet the branch is still the branch, and the tree is still the tree. They are two things, yet they live together. The branch and the tree live, but the two live together as one. The living of the branch and the tree is a mingled living. Their living is a mingling. To say that the grafted branch lives by the cultivated tree is not very accurate. The grafted branch lives in the cultivated tree and with the cultivated tree. Thus, the cultivated tree lives, and the grafted branch lives in the cultivated tree’s living.
Some have mistakenly said that we Christians live an exchanged life. According to this concept, we exchange our poor life for a good life from Christ. This, however, is absolutely wrong. If our Christian life is an exchanged life, then our poor life is finished after being exchanged with the life of Christ. Although the Bible does say that we have been crucified, it also says that we still live (Gal. 2:20). When the Bible says that we have been crucified, this means that we have been cut off from Adam, the uncultivated tree. Through crucifixion we have been cut off from Adam, and in resurrection we have been grafted into Christ. We have been crucified, cut off, from Adam, and we have been put into the resurrected Christ. Therefore, we are not finished; we are still living. However, we are not living in ourselves, we are living in Christ, with Christ, and because of Christ, taking Christ as the factor for our living. When He lives, we live in Him. Our living is within His living; thus, our living and His living are mingled together as one living.
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