[Christ is God’s manifestation and embodiment; He is God becoming our experience. Therefore, all our experience of God is the experience of Christ and is in Christ.
To experience Christ is to let Christ live both within us and out from us; to take Christ as life and thus to live by Christ. To experience Christ means that all our living and actions are Christ Himself living out and acting out from us.]
[As Christ is the embodiment of God, so the Holy Spirit is the embodiment of Christ. God as life is in Christ, and Christ as life is the Holy Spirit. We experience God in Christ, and we experience Christ as the Holy Spirit. Thus, as the experience of life is the experience of God and Christ, so also is it the experience of the Holy Spirit.
It is this Holy Spirit of life who causes us to experience the indwelling of Christ, and it is this Holy Spirit of life who causes us to experience the resurrection power of God in Christ (Rom. 8:9-11). It is this Holy Spirit of life who leads us to put to death the evil deeds of the body, and it is this Holy Spirit of life who prays in us (Rom. 8:13, 26). All our experiences of life, whether deep or shallow, are produced by the Holy Spirit; therefore they are all experiences of this Holy Spirit of life.]
[We have seen what life is, and we have seen what the experience of life is. Now we come to see the first experience of life, which is regeneration. Regeneration is the first step of our experience of God’s life; therefore it is our first experience of God’s life. This experience is very fundamental and extremely important. We shall use several points to look into it. First let us see:]
[Why do we have to be regenerated? There are two reasons which make it necessary. First, speaking from the lower aspect, regeneration is necessary because our life has been corrupted and become evil (Jer. 17:9; Rom. 7:18), and it cannot be changed from evil to good (Jer. 13:23). This is the reason we usually give for regeneration. Because our life (1) is corrupt and wicked, and (2) cannot be improved, therefore we need to be regenerated. All the sages of the past and present have advocated the doctrine of self-improvement in order to improve man. But God’s salvation does not correct or improve man, but regenerates man, since our human life is already corrupted and cannot be made good by improvement. This is the first reason we must be regenerated.
Second, speaking from the higher aspect, there is another reason we need to be regenerated. When we were created, we obtained only created life; we did not obtain God’s uncreated life. God’s purpose for us human beings is that we may obtain His uncreated life and be transformed into His image to be like Him, as He is. Therefore, even if our human life had not been corrupted, we would still need to be regenerated.
God’s purpose in creating man is not only to obtain a good man, but even more to have a GOD-man, one who has God’s life and nature and is just like God. If God desired man to be only a good man, and man had not fallen and been corrupted, he would not need to be regenerated. But God’s desire is not that man should be only a good man, but, much more, a GOD-man, one who is the same as He is. Therefore, even a good man must be regenerated.
Do not take this second reason lightly. This is a very significant matter. Oh, the purpose of regeneration is that we may have God’s life and be like God! It is needless to say that we are corrupted and evil and cannot be improved; but even if we were absolutely good or could be improved to become perfect, we would still need to be regenerated in order to possess God’s life.]
Home | First | Prev | Next