The main items in Galatians are that Christ is revealed in us, Christ lives in us, we put on Christ, and Christ is formed in us. In principle, this means that we know Christ and live by Him in our spirit. In addition, the Spirit is mentioned several times in this book. The Christ who is revealed in us, who lives in us, whom we have put on, and who is being formed in us is the Spirit. This Spirit today is in our spirit. This is why at the close of this book Paul says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (6:18a). The grace of the Lord is nothing less than the Lord Himself, and this grace, which is Christ as the Spirit, is with our spirit. Verse 2 of chapter three tells us clearly that we have received the Spirit, and verse 14 says we have received the promise of the Spirit, that is, the Spirit promised by God. The Father is the source, the fountain of living water; the Son is the course; and the Spirit is the flow. The Father as the source is in the Son as the course, and the Son comes as the Spirit, the flow. This flow has come, has flowed, into us. When the Spirit of God comes into us, He comes with Christ and with the Father. The Father is in the Son, the Son is the Spirit, and this Spirit has come into us. Therefore, when verse 14 mentions the promised Spirit, it refers to God Himself dispensed into us.
God has dispensed Himself into us in His Son and through His Spirit. Today this wonderful Spirit is within our spirit. Therefore, what we need today is simply to walk by the Spirit and cooperate with this Spirit (5:16, 25). Galatians 6:1 tells us that even when we go to restore a fallen brother, we must do it in our spirit. We have to walk in the spirit, live in the spirit, and sow the seed in our spirit (v. 8). Whatever we are and whatever we do and work must be in the spirit, because the Triune God dwells in our spirit, and in our spirit we realize the very Christ as the Spirit. This is the way to contact Christ.
It is too easy for a seeking Christian to be distracted by doctrine. If someone is indifferent toward the Lord, he does not care for doctrine, but when he is raised up by Him to seek Him, it is easy to seek only after doctrine. When I was young, and even until today, I have heard many people say, “This is a good truth. I like this truth.” It is also easy to be attracted by gifts and functions. May the Lord be merciful to us. We need to be adjusted to say that we are seeking not truth or doctrine but Christ. I want to know and experience Christ in this way.
These four books-Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians-teach many doctrines. This is true, but what are the doctrines about? They are doctrines about Christ and the church, the Head and the Body, and also the Spirit. These are not mere doctrines or teachings, however, but a heavenly vision. In these four books there are no miracles, gifts, or healings. There must be a reason for this. All Bible students agree that what God does not say in His word is as meaningful as what He does say. Why, then, in these four books that are so significant concerning Christ and His church is there nothing of gifts, healings, tongues, or miracles? The phrase works of power is used only in Galatians 3:5, probably referring to something in the past, at the beginning of their experience. We need to be delivered from the distracting things.
I have the deep feeling that my word and language are not adequate to express what is on my heart. When we were in the world, we were indifferent to the things of God; we simply did not care for doctrines or gifts. Once the Lord raised us up to seek Him, however, two snares were before us. One snare is seeking after doctrines and knowledge. We wanted to learn the doctrines of dispensations, predestination, election, and the rapture. We wanted to learn Matthew, Corinthians, and Ephesians, what Luther taught, and what Darby says, and we may have bought many commentaries and books. I have had the thought to get rid of many books in my library. You cannot know how much of my time they wasted and how much distraction they offered. Now I have the secret. Whenever I come to the Word in my spirit and through the Holy Spirit, everything is living; everything is enlivening, full of light and life.
The other snare is seeking after the gifts. While someone is indifferent toward the Lord, he does not have these two snares. Because he is in the biggest snare-the world, the wilderness-there is no need for Satan to use another snare. But right away when this one is raised up by the Lord to seek Him, Satan puts these two snares in front of him to trap him. I have seen so many Christians who were trapped and are still trapped by the snare of knowledge, and so many others who have been trapped in the snare of the gifts. We need to be warned, and we need to be delivered from worldliness, from seeking after doctrines, and from seeking after gifts. We have to be kept by Christ and in Christ. Sooner or later, in this country and throughout the world, people will be raised up by the Lord to sound the trumpet that nothing is as important as Christ and His Body, the church.
We must be humble before the Lord to tell Him how much we are still outside of Him. We are still not on the right track because we are following something other than Christ. Someone may say that the things besides Christ are for Christ. I say amen to that, but the actual situation today is that they are not being utilized for Christ. We must be absolutely delivered from anything other than Christ.
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