The Bible reveals that the word of the Lord, as the seed of life, contains the life of God (1 Pet. 1:23). A seed is something tangible, yet it contains life, which is intangible. Consider, for example, a flower seed. We can see the seed but not its life; nevertheless, life is hidden in the seed. Like a seed, the word of the Lord is tangible, but within it is the intangible life of God; wherever it is sown, it will blossom.
The Bible likens the heart of man to a field (Matt. 13:3, 8). When the word of God, which can be compared to a seed, is sown into the field of the heart of man, the life of God will grow. This growth is God’s regeneration of man. First Peter 1:23 says, “Having been regenerated not of corruptible seed but of...the living and abiding word of God.” We have been regenerated through the living and abiding word of God. The word of God has been spread for many centuries both in the East and in the West, and as long as it is sown into the field of the heart of man, a life which is intangible yet real will grow forth. This is God’s regeneration of man.
John 6:63 says, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Although life is hidden in the Lord’s words, the Spirit must be in the words in order for the words to have life. Without the Lord’s Spirit, the Lord’s words are without life; the Lord’s words must have the Lord’s Spirit to have the Lord’s life. God’s life is with His Spirit, and His Spirit is in His words.
Furthermore, we need to be clear that the Spirit does not follow life but rather that life follows the Spirit. Life is within the Spirit; we can touch life only through the Spirit. We can know life only when we know the Spirit, and we can touch life only when we touch the Spirit. What is life, and how can we touch life? Life is the Spirit. To touch the Spirit is to touch life, and to know the Spirit is to know life. For us to learn the lesson of the fellowship of life, we must touch the matter of the Spirit and know the Spirit based on a foundation of the knowledge of life. Otherwise, we will have no way to know the matter of life and no way to experience the fellowship of life.
The Gospel of John speaks about God becoming flesh to be our life. If we truly know the Gospel of John, we will see that it begins with life. Then it turns from life to the Spirit in chapter 3, and in chapter 20, on the evening of the Lord’s resurrection, He came into the midst of the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). This shows that where the Spirit is, there is life; without the Spirit, there is no life.
John 1:4 says, “In Him was life,” showing that for God to be man’s life is for Him to regenerate man (vv. 12-13). God being man’s life to regenerate him is a matter in the Spirit. Hence, in chapter 3 the focus turns from life to the Spirit. Verse 6 says, “That which is born of the Spirit”; then verses 15 and 16 say that those who are born of the Spirit have the eternal life of God. Here we see life and the Spirit. In chapter 4 the Lord spoke with the Samaritan woman about the matter of the living water which issues from the eternal life. The Lord particularly said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness” (v. 24). Here the Lord clearly turned from life to the Spirit. To touch life by drinking the living water of life, one must contact and worship God, who is Spirit, by being in spirit.
In 6:63, the Lord said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Obviously, life is in the Spirit. Where the Spirit is, there is life. In 7:38 the Lord said, “He who believes into Me...out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” The rivers are the flowing of the Spirit of the resurrected Christ from within man. In other words, after Christ’s death, resurrection, and glorification, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of resurrection, enters into man and becomes rivers of living water flowing out of man. Therefore, we cannot separate life from the Spirit; life is with the Spirit. When we know the Spirit, we know life. So far, we have seen four main points: life, the Spirit, the Word, and resurrection. The Gospel of John speaks first of life, then turns from life to the Spirit, and then goes on to say that the Spirit is in the word and that, in resurrection, this Spirit becomes rivers of living water flowing out of man.
John 1 starts with “in the beginning was the Word.” The Greek term for Word here is logos, which can be likened to “great words,” but the Greek term for words in chapter 6 is rhema, which can be likened to “small words.” Logos may be likened to a lamb, and rhema to a small piece of meat cut off from the lamb. We cannot eat the lamb in its entirety, but we can cut the lamb into small pieces and cook them for eating. As a whole lamb, the Word who became flesh in chapter 1 is slaughtered and cut in chapter 6. In verses 50 and 51 the Lord said that He is the bread which came down out of heaven, indicating that He is man’s food. In verse 55 He also said, “My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.” The separation of blood from the flesh signifies death, indicating that there is a process of being slain. If the Lord was a “complete” lamb, there would be no way for Him to be eaten by man; He had to be slain and processed in order to be eaten by man to become man’s life.
When the Lord told the Jews, “My flesh is true food...he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (vv. 55, 57), they were puzzled. They wondered how the Lord could give His flesh for man to eat and how man could have life by eating His flesh. The answer is in verse 63: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” The Lord was referring to the fact that His words, rhema, are spirit and that it is the Spirit who gives life. The Lord’s words are spirit and are life. Hence, in this chapter the Lord’s words can be compared to “meat” cut into small pieces for eating; hence, they are “small words,” rhema, which are different from the “great words,” logos, in chapter 1. Through the process of the Lord’s death, logos became rhema. A complete lamb became small pieces of meat, and the great words became small words. In this way He could enter into man to be man’s life.