Let us consider the matters of the Spirit and righteousness in the light of our experience with the Lord. When, as one who loves the Lord and seeks Him, you live Christ, do you not have the sense that within you there is something substantial, living, and active? This living substance is not any kind of doctrine, teaching, or theology. On the contrary, this living, active substance is the Spirit.
Through the ministry today, we all have had the Spirit inscribed into our being. Many times after a meeting we realize that inside we have something living, substantial, and active. This living substance is the Spirit in us, the Spirit who has been inscribed into us. In other words, the divine essence has been added into our being. If a certain person has never experienced this, I would doubt that he has truly been saved and regenerated. I believe all of us in the church life can testify that we have experienced the Spirit inwardly in a way that is living, active, and substantial. Along with this inward substance, we also have an outward expression. This expression is righteousness.
Anyone who has been inscribed with the Spirit of the living God will have an expression of righteousness in his daily living. For example, a married brother may experience the Spirit as the living substance within him through the inscribing that comes from the new covenant ministry. Spontaneously his wife will realize that something has happened to her husband. She may say to herself, “Something has happened to him, but I don’t understand what it is. He seems to be right in every way and right with everything. Formerly, he was wrong in the way he did many things. He was wrong even in the way he put things away, for he never put them back in the proper place. But now he takes care of everything in the right way. I also see a difference in the way he speaks to me. When it is time for him to go to work, he tells me in such a nice way that he is leaving. He says, ‘Dear, I’m going to work now.’ My husband is even right in the way he takes care of the dog. I don’t know what is going on with him.” Because the brother is experiencing the Spirit inwardly as the substance, he expresses righteousness in his life at home.
When we do not live Christ, we are wrong in many things. We may be wrong in the way we close a window or a door. Instead of closing a door in a proper way, we may slam it. But when we live Christ and experience something in us that is substantial and active, we become right in closing windows and doors. In fact, anything we do will be done in a right way.
Some may be very careless in putting away their shoes or their clothes. If you could see their bedroom, you would find that many things are out of order. But if those ones experience the Spirit as the substance within them, they will become right even with their shoes and clothes. Everything will be put in the right place.
If you experience the Spirit inwardly and express righteousness outwardly, others will realize that something is different about you. This is the result of the new covenant ministry. This ministry inscribes an essence into our being, an essence that has an inner aspect and an outer aspect. The inner aspect is the living Spirit moving in us; the outer aspect is righteousness as our expression.
The Spirit and righteousness are both related to our expressing the image of God. The reason for this is that the Spirit and righteousness are actually God Himself. God as the Spirit is moving in you as a substance and living in you as an essence, for He Himself has been added into your being by the new covenant ministry. Thus, inwardly you have the Spirit. The righteousness you express outwardly is also God Himself. Therefore, you are not only right in so many ways, and you are not only righteous, but you have God Himself as your righteousness. God as righteousness becomes your appearance, your expression. First, God Himself is the life-giving Spirit who lives, moves, and acts within you. Then God Himself becomes the outward expression, the appearance, of righteousness. This is the essence of the new covenant ministry.
The work of the new covenant ministry is altogether different from that of most of today’s preachers and teachers. The work of the new covenant ministry is not merely to teach us to improve our behavior. Rather, this ministry inscribes us with the Spirit. To inscribe is to add more of the essence of God into us. Inwardly this essence is the Spirit; outwardly it is righteousness. But as we have seen, both the Spirit inwardly and the righteousness outwardly are God Himself. Therefore, the ministry of the new covenant, a ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness, is simply a ministry of God. To say that the ministry of the new covenant is of the Spirit and of righteousness is equal to saying that the new covenant ministry is of God. However, to say that this ministry is of God is to speak in a general way, whereas to say that it is of the Spirit and of righteousness is to speak in a more particular way. Praise the Lord that the Spirit is God within us living, moving, and acting, and righteousness is God expressed to become our appearance outwardly!
The central vision of the Bible is related to the image of God expressed by the life of God. Regarding this, the first two chapters of Genesis are very important. In Genesis 1 we have the image of God: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness....So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (vv. 26-27). God’s intention is that we express Him with His image. However, if we would express God in this way, we need to have His life. The life of God is signified by the tree of life in Genesis 2:9. The life within is the Spirit, and the image outwardly for expression is righteousness. Praise the Lord for the new covenant ministry with the two aspects of life and expression! Inwardly we have the Spirit as life, and outwardly we have righteousness as our expression.
Among all the people on earth, the most righteous persons are those who live Christ. Whenever you live Christ, you will be right in every way. You will not need anyone to teach you to be right, for the Christ who lives within you will make you right in everything and right with everyone. If we are careless with our things or in the way we close a door, this is an indication that we are not living Christ. If we truly live Christ, we shall close a door in a right way. We shall also be proper when we knock on someone’s door or ring the doorbell. Once again I say that it is not necessary for someone to teach us how to close a door, how to knock on a door, or how to ring a doorbell. The Bible does not contain such instructions. If the Bible contained a rule for every aspect of our daily living, it would be too big for any of us to carry. It is the Spirit within us who makes us righteous in our living. What we need is more inscribing of the Spirit. The ministry of the new covenant is a ministry of the Spirit.
When we are inscribed with the Spirit, the divine essence is imparted into our being. This essence causes the process of spiritual metabolism to take place within us. As a result of this process, we are transformed into the Lord’s image.
We have seen that to be transformed into the Lord’s image from glory to glory is to be transformed from the Spirit to the Spirit. If we experience such an inward transformation, spontaneously we shall have righteousness as our outward appearance. Then we shall be right with God, with others, and with ourselves. However, many people are not right with God, with others, or with themselves. Daily they offend God and those around them. Furthermore, because they are short of the divine essence, they are not right with themselves. Therefore, they need the ministry which inscribes the divine essence into them. Inwardly, this essence will be the Spirit in them, and outwardly it will be expressed as righteousness.
This understanding of 2 Corinthians 3, especially of verse 18, is not merely according to doctrine; it is according to experience. For years I have been seeking to understand 3:18. Now from my experience with the Lord I realize that the Spirit is the essence of God living, moving, and acting within me, and righteousness is the essence of God manifested outwardly as God’s image to express Him. As a result of having the Spirit inwardly and righteousness as the image of God outwardly, I become right with God, with man, with myself, and with so many aspects of my daily living. Because we are right in every way, we have peace, joy, rest, and faith. This is the issue, the result, of the ministry of the new covenant.