When we have the Triune God, we have the eternal life of God. John 3:15 and 1 John 5:12 state this clearly. God in us is life. We should not separate the eternal life of God from God Himself; instead, we must see that God is life. The phrase life of God is spoken of once in the New Testament in Ephesians 4:18. Apart from this verse, the Bible speaks only of God being life or God as life. We often speak of “the life of God,” and people may understand this to mean the life in God coming out to become our life. This, however, is not completely accurate. God Himself comes into us to be our life. The life of God is God Himself. Therefore, the New Testament rarely refers to the “life of God”; rather, it speaks of God being life or God as life.
The Triune God who indwells us is the eternal life that we receive. As the Father, the indwelling Triune God is great; as Christ, powerful; and as the Holy Spirit, full of vitality and living. The Triune God within us is our life, enabling us to live, walk, and work.
A person’s living, activities, and work all depend on his life. The kind of life a person has determines the kind of man he is, the living he has, and the work he does. The Triune God is in us to be our life. What a transcendent life this is! Therefore, we can also be transcendent men, living a transcendent life, and doing a transcendent work!
The importance of eternal life is not related to receiving eternal blessings in the future but in being our life today, in leading us in our conduct, living, work, and walk. Once we are saved, the eternal life lives in us, enabling us to live the life of God in heaven on earth today. This is real, and it is for us today. Concerning this point, we are not afraid of speaking too strongly or too much, for the more we stress this point, the better. We must impress new believers that the Triune God within them is glorious and great; He is very great, very strong, and very living. He is great because He is God, He is strong because He is Christ, and He is living because He is the Holy Spirit. He is great, strong, and living. He is in us as our life, living for us and enabling us to live on earth the life of God in heaven. Oh, this is such a glorious matter! This is what it means to be a Christian!
Hence, no Christian should have a sad face. We do not need to wait until we “go to heaven” in the future to enjoy the eternal blessings. This is the concept in Catholicism and degraded Christianity. No! While we are still on this earth, we can enjoy the glorious God within us as the glorious life. Even though we are in a body of humiliation, we can live a glorious life and be a glorious people. On the one hand, Christians are lowly and insignificant, as if they are the scum of all things (1 Cor. 4:13). Yet on the other hand, Christians are great. We have the Triune God in us as life, we can live a glorious life, and we are a glorious people.
Is this a theory and doctrine to us? Praise God that this is true in our experience. We are higher than the people in society who have the highest positions. We are not lower than them. Outwardly, our clothing may not match theirs, our position may be lower than theirs, we may not be as well known as they are, and our wealth may not match theirs, but inwardly they cannot match us. Therefore, Christians are weighty. We should not be proud, but God lives in us as our life. This is glorious and honorable. If we realize this, we will spontaneously express this weightiness in our living.
Second Peter 1:4 says that as believers, we are partakers of the divine nature. Since we have the life of God, we also have the nature of God. The emphasis on life is on the capacity to live, and the emphasis on nature is on the inclination of our living. We desire to be heavenly because the nature of God, the inclination of God, is heavenly. We desire to be holy because God’s nature and inclination are holy. We feel uneasy when we are proud and comfortable when we are humble because this is the nature and inclination of God. We feel uneasy when we take advantage of others and very happy when we share with others because this is God’s nature and inclination. These are all matters of nature and inclination. The life of God within us is the capacity to live, and the nature of God within us has become the inclination of our living.
Some people like to eat sour things. They feel good when they eat sour oranges, sour grapes, or sour vinegar. I, however, cannot eat sour food; for me, sweet things are better. Therefore, I will readily eat something sweet, but something that is sour I will eat only with difficulty. This is a matter of taste. Brothers and sisters, if we realize that the divine nature within us has a particular taste, we will see that it is easy to be freed from the world and not love sin and evil. God is in us not only as our life but also as our nature. Within us He is the capacity to live, and He has also become our taste in our living. His life and nature in us make it very easy for us not to love the world and to overcome sins and evil.
Hebrews 8:10-11 and Romans 8:2 reveal that in addition to having the capacity to live and having a taste in our living, we also have a natural law. The law of life in us enables us to spontaneously know what is wrong and what is right. We spontaneously know what is of God and what is not of God. We have a spontaneous ability to stay away from wrong and draw near to what is right, to choose what is of God and forsake what is not of God. This is a natural law.
All laws are related to some natural ability. For example, according to the natural law of gravity, an object thrown up into the air will fall down. We do not need to bring an object down from the air; it will come down by itself. Here is another example: if we wave our hand in front of a person’s eyes, he will blink. This is in response to a natural law. A law is a natural ability that causes a person to spontaneously feel or behave in a certain way. Every believer has the Triune God, God’s life, God’s nature, and the law of life within him. This law is the life and nature of God, and God’s life and nature are the Triune God. No matter how we say it, God Himself, the Triune God, is in us as our life, nature, and law of life.
The anointing involves more than just the Holy Spirit, because there is not only ointment but anointing. First John 2:27 says that we have an anointing. According to the original text, the word anointing is a verbal form of the word ointment. This means that the ointment is moving. Therefore, this verse does not merely say that the Holy Spirit is in us but that the operating, the moving, of the Holy Spirit is in us. Every believer not only has God’s life, nature, and the law of life within him; he also has the continuous operating of the anointing. The law in us spontaneously regulates and empowers, and the anointing constantly enables us to know how God is leading and teaching us. We are so blessed! We have seven items in us—God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, life, nature, the law of life, and the anointing, but these seven items are just one. God is Christ, Christ is the Spirit, the Spirit is life, life is nature, and nature is the law of life. When the law operates within us, it is the anointing. These are all the working of God in us.
Romans 8:1 says, “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” As a result of the eight “beings,” three “belongings,” and seven “havings,” we are in Christ as soon as we are saved. A thorough knowledge of the thirty-eight points in this and the previous lesson form a firm foundation for our salvation. We will know clearly and solidly that we are saved.