From his Epistles we can see that Paul speaks of the cross in two different ways. First, he speaks of our having been crucified with Christ; this was accomplished by Christ. When Christ was crucified, He took us with Him so that we died in Him. This is an accomplished fact, and we simply need to believe and receive it. Romans 6:6 says, “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him,” and Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ.” Both of these verses speak of Christ’s accomplished fact. Paul speaks of the cross also in 5:24, which says, “They who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts.” Romans 8:13 says, “By the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body.”
Those who teach the truth concerning the cross make a mistake of speaking only about one side of this truth in the Bible. Some people speak only of the eternal accomplishment of Christ by His crucifixion on the cross. They say that we do not need to be crucified, because we need only to receive this accomplished fact. This is true, but this is only one side of the truth. It is not enough simply to have this side of the truth, because there is another side in Paul’s Epistles. Romans 6:6 says, “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him,” but Romans 8:13 says, “If by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” On the one hand, we have been crucified on the cross; on the other hand, we need also to put to death the practices of the body by the Spirit. To put to death the practices of the body by the Spirit involves cooperating with the Spirit to put our flesh to death, which is putting a part of our element to death. This involves putting ourselves to death and also the Spirit putting us to death.
Through the Holy Spirit we are enlightened concerning Christ’s accomplished fact. This enables us to pass through the gate. Then the Spirit executes and works this fact into us inwardly so that we condemn what the Spirit condemns, we criticize what the Spirit criticizes, and we put to death what the Spirit puts to death. In this way, we experience the death of the cross.
On the day I saw the light of the cross and the fact that I have died with Christ in Romans 6, I was full of joy, thanks, and praise. Nevertheless, I was only passing through the gate; it was one side of the truth. At that time, I did not see the other side of the truth, that I needed to take the way of the cross. I saw only that Christ’s death had terminated and solved everything. Nevertheless, even before I went downstairs the next morning, I saw that I was still alive. I did not realize that I needed to walk on the way after passing through the gate. I was helped by the Holy Spirit to pass through the gate, but I still needed to be led by the Holy Spirit to walk on the way. However, since the Holy Spirit wanted to apply the cross and daily shined the light of the cross in me, the light of the cross questioned, condemned, rebuked, and showed me what was of myself whenever I had a preference or opinion. When I was willing to obey, cooperate, and work with Him, I would bow and say, “Amen, Lord, I will put this matter on the cross.” I would condemn it and crucify it.
As I was daily put to death, enlightened, and led and as I was cooperating with the Holy Spirit’s continuing work of killing and putting me to death, the death of the cross was constituted into me. Thus, the work of killing and of being put to death in the Spirit, according to the Spirit, by the Spirit, and through the Spirit, was accomplished in me every day. This was not about putting others to death but about killing and putting my own inward element to death. This is the way of the cross and the life of the cross; this is the leading of the Holy Spirit in us every day.
A brother who has seen the light of the cross may still quarrel with his wife at home because quarreling is according to his natural being. When he quarrels with his wife, however, the Holy Spirit will shine the light of the cross in him and question, “Is this Christ or you yourself?” When the Spirit shines and questions him in this way, he will be punctured by the cross and be unable to continue to quarrel with his wife. As long as he quarrels, the Holy Spirit will continue to ask, “Are you a crucified person? Are you hanging on the cross? Where is the light of the cross that you have seen?” As the Holy Spirit questions him, he will lose his ability to quarrel. Whenever this situation arises, the Holy Spirit will ask, “Is this from you or from Christ? Are you a crucified person? Is this what it means to see the light of the cross?” Thus, even if he is riding on a bus, he will be able to confess, and when he comes home from work, the Holy Spirit will ask, “Does a crucified person care about his face? Are you going to keep frustrating the Spirit and not apologize?” After such questioning, he will submit to the Lord and apologize to his wife. If a person wants to save his face, he does not have Christ; if he has Christ, he will be able to apologize. When we cooperate with the living Spirit, the Holy Spirit will kill our face and any effort to save our face. This is the experience and living of the cross.
All of these Christian experiences are precious and cause us to pass through death. The more we pass through death, the more life will be expressed from us. For example, the same brother who quarrels with his wife also endeavors to express the Lord and to allow the Lord’s life to flow out. However, his natural strength is insufficient to express Christ and to allow His life to flow out. Once he is under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, however, the Spirit will enable him to cooperate with and submit to the Holy Spirit. Then his wife will sense a flavor of Christ coming from him, and she will see a little of Christ’s life in him because the death of the cross has been realized and is being carried out in him. The cross brings in both death and the expression of the resurrection life.
The Spirit will lead us into the death of the cross hour by hour and day by day. This is the leading of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in us wants to bring us into death every moment. The stronger the Holy Spirit’s work in us is, the stronger our experience of the cross will be. Without the death of the cross, there is no work of the Holy Spirit; wherever the Holy Spirit works, there is a putting to death by the Spirit.
From morning until evening and from evening until morning, the Holy Spirit is working in us. He requires that we receive the cross, and He puts us into the death of the cross. When death operates in us, resurrection life can be manifested (2 Cor. 4:11-12). The way of life is death, and death is the way of life. When we walk on the way of life, we walk on the way of the death of the cross. The Christian life is a living of the cross and a living of death. Every day we experience death in the Holy Spirit, and we live and walk under death. Death deals with our person. As we are dealt with and broken, the life of God in us will have a free and smooth way. May the Lord be merciful to us!