The depths of God are among the things predestined by God for our glory. Paul speaks of these things in verse 9: “But even as it is written, Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not come up in man’s heart, how much God has prepared for those who love Him.” Although eye has not seen them and ear has not heard them and although they have never arisen in man’s heart, God has revealed them to us (v. 10), and freely given them to us (v. 12). Day by day, we see something further and deeper regarding Christ as our portion. I can testify that throughout the years, especially in the last few years, Christ has truly become the depths of God to me.
When we enjoy Christ, He becomes our righteousness. Furthermore, from experience we know that whenever we enjoy Christ, Christ becomes God’s joy to us. But when we do not experience Christ, God is not happy with us, and we do not have the joy of God. Whenever we enjoy Christ in a practical way, we have God’s joy. In fact, the Christ whom we enjoy is Himself the joy of God. At first, when we enjoy Christ, we realize that we are not righteous. Then, spontaneously, Christ becomes the righteousness we need. Then as we continue to enjoy Him, we realize that God is happy with us and that we have God’s joy. This experience is somewhat deep, but it is still not the experience of the depths of God.
When we enjoy Christ continually, we eventually enter into the depths of God’s being. Then we realize that we are in the very heart, the depths, of the almighty God and that He becomes our inner element. Those who oppose the truth that we who believe in Christ are mingled with God will call this heresy because they have not experienced it. Nevertheless, I cannot deny the fact that when I enjoy Christ, I touch the depths of God and God becomes the element within me.
Christ is practical to us in our experience. He is not only our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, but also the depths of God. In chapter one, we see that Christ is something to us, and in chapter two, that He is something of God. Because our experience is limited, we are not able to explain adequately what it means for Christ to be the depths of God. But one day we shall advance in our experience and we shall truly know Him as God’s depths.
The way to experience all the aspects of Christ revealed in chapters one and two is through the two spirits, the divine Spirit and the regenerated human spirit. In verse 10 Paul speaks of the divine Spirit, and in verse 11 he goes on to speak of the human spirit: “For who among men knows the things of man, except the spirit of man which is in him? So also the things of God no one has known except the Spirit of God.” This verse indicates that if we would know the things of man, we must use our human spirit, and if we would know the things of God, we must do so by the Spirit of God.
No matter how educated worldly people may be, they do not know the things of man. The things of man in verse 11 do not refer to matters such as marriage, housing, food, and transportation. It is not necessary to use the human spirit in order to know such things. These are not the things of man to which Paul refers.
According to the Bible, what are the things of man? When the Bible first speaks of man, it tells us that man was made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26). The first aspect of the things of man is that man was created by God in His image in order to express Him. But the man created by God to be His expression became fallen and sinful. Most philosophers do not realize that they are fallen. But the fall of man is an important item of the things of man. As those who were created by God and who became fallen, we need to repent, we need to be saved, and we need to be regenerated. These also are things of man. Now as saved and regenerated ones, we must love the Lord, live Him, express Him, and fulfill His eternal purpose. These are more aspects of the things of man.
Worldly people do not know any of these things, because they do not exercise their spirit. If you talk to an unbelieving professor about these things of man, he will not have any understanding of them. He may know mathematics or science, but not the things of man. In like manner, medical doctors know about disease, medicine, and vitamins, but they do not know the things of man. Before we were saved, we also had no understanding of the things of man, for our spirit was deadened. We did not even know that we had a human spirit, and we never used our spirit. Apart from the human spirit, how can we know the things of man? It is simply impossible to know the things of man without exercising the spirit of man.
To be saved is to be enlivened and stirred up in our spirit. All the truly saved ones, no matter where they may be, have been stirred up in their spirit. This is a fact of their experience, even if they have no realization concerning it.
As soon as a person’s spirit is stirred up in this way, he begins to know the real meaning of human life and also the source of human life. This means that he begins to know the things of man. However, after they were stirred up in their spirit at the time they were saved, many Christians are influenced to turn from the spirit and to exercise their natural mind. Probably the only place where Christians today hear messages on the development of the regenerated human spirit is in the Lord’s recovery. Elsewhere, Christians are encouraged to develop the natural mentality. That development destroys the proper knowing of the things of man and of man’s situation. Again I say, if we would know the things of man, we must use our spirit.