Life is God Himself, and anything that is not an outflow of God cannot be considered life. Based upon this, we should be very careful to realize that any virtue or goodness, whether humility, meekness, or patience, that is not an outflow of God, manifesting the element of God and bearing the flavor of God, is merely human behavior, not life. It may be good behavior, but it is not life. This includes even our love. If our love does not give people the feeling of the presence of God and the flavor of God, then it is merely good behavior, a human virtue. Life is God Himself. When we see some brothers and sisters who are meek, humble, loving, and forbearing, we always think that they are advanced in their growth in life. We should not think in this way; rather, we should touch these virtues with our spiritual sense and smell them according to our spiritual “nose.” If we cannot sense the element of God and smell the flavor of God, then only man’s good behavior is being manifested, not life.
We should know that life is God Himself. All our goodness, virtues, and merits cannot substitute for God, because anything that is not of God is not life. Just as life is God Himself, life is also Christ. Anything that does not measure up to Christ is not life. Since Christ is the expression of God, He is also the expression of life. When we have life, we have God, and when we live out life, we live out God—that is, we live out Christ. All our goodness and virtues are life only if they have the flavor of God; likewise, they are life only if they have the flavor of Christ. If our goodness and virtue do not cause people to sense Christ and God, they are not life. Our walk is life only if it causes others to sense Christ.
Life is the Triune God Himself—the Father is the source, the Son is the expression, and the Spirit is the entering. The Father is the source of life, the Son is the expression of life, and the Spirit is the entering of life. The Gospel of John shows how the Triune God becomes our life. It speaks first in 1:1 of the Word, which was in the beginning, being God. He was in the beginning. Then verse 4 shows that in this Word was life, and verse 12 says that those who have received this Word have been given the authority to become children of God, and this authority is life. Verse 13 continues by saying that these ones have been begotten not of the will of man but of God.
When we put these four verses together, we see that in order for God to come to be our life, He must regenerate us. The God who was in the beginning was manifested in the Word and was manifested as the Word. We all know that words are the expression of man; all of man’s thoughts and desires are expressed in words. The word of God is God Himself; thus, the word of God is the expression and explanation of God. Because of the word of God, He is no longer hidden. He has been manifested to us. God as the Word came to be our life, and He was manifested so that He could be our life. Once we receive him, He regenerates us so that we may receive life. This life is the authority which enables us to have a life relationship with Him and become His children.
From John 3:5 and 6 we can see that in order to be begotten of God, we must be born of the Spirit. If God were only God and not the Spirit, He would have no way to enter into us and beget us, and neither would He be able to be our life. In order to regenerate us and be our life, God must be the Spirit. Only as the Spirit can He enter into us and regenerate us. As the Word, He is manifested among us, and as the Spirit, He comes into us to beget us. If God were not the Word, He could not come among us, and if He were not the Spirit, He could not come into us. He became the Word so that He could be manifested among us, and He became the Spirit so that He could enter into us.
John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The first Spirit is the Spirit of God, and the second spirit is our human spirit. God’s begetting of us is the Spirit’s begetting in our spirit; therefore, God comes into our spirit to beget us. This can also be seen in Ezekiel 36:26, which says, “A new spirit I will put within you.” John 4:24 says that God is Spirit and that our contact with Him must be in spirit; we must worship and touch Him in spirit. This is the light we found by following the line of life in the Bible, and this is the way to read the Bible.
God is Spirit, and we also have a spirit within us. As the Spirit, He comes into our spirit to regenerate us. This word is easy to speak, but it involves many verses: John 1:13, 3:5-6, and 4:24. The Word that was in the beginning was God. In order to be our life, He enters into our spirit as the Spirit to beget us; hence, all our contact with Him must be in our spirit.