Truth, holiness, light, and love are divine capabilities and functions and are manifested in divine acts and expressions outwardly, which are goodness, righteousness, kindness, and forgiveness. The reason He is such a God is that He has such a life. Hence, His being God rests in His life. In other words, He is such a God with these capabilities and functions inwardly and these acts and expressions outwardly because He has such a life.
The fullness of the Godhead and the nature of God Himself are contained in the life of God because the life of God is the content of God. Therefore, when we receive the life of God, we receive the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 2:9-10) and the nature of God (2 Pet. 1:3-4). When we receive this life, we receive all that God has and all that God is because all that God has and all that God is are in the life of God. The life of God enables us to have the same divine capabilities and functions in us. God’s life enables us to be what God is and do what God does, which means that we can be like God and live out God because all that God is and does come from His life.
With the life of God in us, we have all the capabilities and functions that are in God’s life. Because we have the life of God in us, we can be what God is and do what God does. In God there is the capability of holiness and the function of light; therefore, we also have the capability of holiness and the function of light in us. Just as God can live out His holiness and shine forth His light, we can live out the holiness of God and shine forth His light because the life of God is in us. God is love, and His ways are righteous; consequently, God’s love and righteous ways can be ours because the life of God is in us. We can love according to God’s love and be righteous according to His righteousness. Thus, we can be like God and live out God.
The life of God is the great power that resurrected the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus was resurrected, He cast off death and overcame death. Death is very strong (S. S. 8:6); in the universe, besides God and the life of God, there is nothing stronger than death. When the Lord Jesus entered into death, all of its power tried to hold Him, but He broke through the holding power of death and arose (Acts 2:24). The Lord arose because the powerful life of God was in Him. The great power of God’s life enabled the Lord to break through the mighty holding power of death. Regeneration gives us the great and powerful life of God. Just as God overcame death, this great and powerful life is the power of resurrection that enables us to cast off death and overcome all that belongs to death.
The Bible shows that God has two kinds of power: one is the great power of creation, and the other is the great power of resurrection. God’s great power of creation calls things not being as being, and His great power of resurrection gives life to the dead. This is what Abraham believed (Rom. 4:17). God’s great power of creation, resting in the hand of God, is able to create all things for man, but God’s great power of resurrection rests in the life of God. One involves the hand of creation, and the other involves the resurrection life, which is also the life of God. This great power of resurrection is the life of God, which enables us to be delivered from all the dead things which are outside of God and thus live out God Himself.
The life of God that we receive through regeneration is the great resurrection power of God. Through regeneration, God has wrought His life into us, which means that He has wrought His great resurrection power into us. The life which is in us today can make us as strong and transcending as God. Just as God is able to overcome death, we also are able to overcome death because of the great power of this life within us. This life can make us like God to such an extent.
The life of God is not only rich but also powerful. As far as His riches are concerned, all the fullness of the Godhead is in this life. As far as His power is concerned, the great power of this resurrection life can overcome death and surpass every negative thing. This life is as rich and as powerful as God. This is the life that we have obtained; this life is God Himself.
Since regeneration gives us the life of God, it also gives us the law of life. Because the life of God has entered into us, the law of life that is contained in this life has also been brought into us. Every kind of life has its own innate ability, its natural function. The natural function of a life is its natural law. In other words, the natural function of a certain life is its law of life. The life that is in a creature causes it to have a natural law or a law of life.
Likewise, we need to see that the life of God has a divine ability, which is its natural function. The natural function of the life of God is its natural law or its law of life. When the life of God enters into us, it brings the natural law that is contained in it, and this law becomes the law of life within us. Thus, when the life of God enters into us, the law of life contained in it also enters into us. Since we have gained the life of God through regeneration, we have also gained the law of His life through regeneration.