Seeking for further help in understanding the fact of our crucifixion with Christ, I read books which encouraged me to reckon myself dead. However, in my experience reckoning did not work. The more I tried to reckon myself dead, the more alive I became. Years later, my eyes were opened to see that the very Christ who was crucified on the cross became in resurrection the life-giving Spirit. When we believed in Christ, the life-giving Spirit came into our spirit. Now the two spirits are one (1 Cor. 6:17). Whenever we call “Lord Jesus,” the life-giving Spirit comes. This indicates that Jesus is the name and the Spirit is the Person. The Spirit as this Person is now in our spirit. Whatever He has experienced is now our history. He has passed through crucifixion and has entered into resurrection. Having come into our spirit to make us one with Him, He causes even these experiences to become our history. Hence, it is in the spirit that we participate in Christ’s death on the cross. This is not a matter of reckoning; it is a matter of union, of identification. When the Spirit came into us to become one with us, the Spirit brought with Him the effectiveness of Christ’s death. Therefore, through the compound Spirit in our spirit, we participate in the death of Christ. Day by day, we may experience the effectiveness of Christ’s death.
The compound, life-giving Spirit is an all-inclusive drink containing many elements. By drinking the Spirit, we spontaneously take in all the elements included in the Spirit. The effectiveness of Christ’s death is one of the elements in this Spirit. This is what enables us to experience Christ’s crucifixion. As the Head, Christ today is the all-inclusive Spirit in our spirit. In order to hold Him as the Head, we must be in spirit.
In Colossians 2 Paul speaks of being rooted and of holding the Head, and in John 15 the Lord Jesus speaks of abiding in the vine. Abiding in the vine is equal to being rooted in the soil, and being rooted in the soil is equal to holding the Head. On the one hand, Christ is the vine in which we abide; on the other hand, He is the soil in which we are rooted. But He is also the Head. Christ is the vine, the soil, and the Head. We abide in Him as the vine, we are rooted in Him as the soil, and we hold Him as the Head. In every case the principle is the same: we absorb Christ’s riches into us. As branches, we absorb the life juice from the vine; as plants, we absorb the riches of the soil; as members of the Body of Christ, we absorb the nourishing element from the Head. By absorbing the riches of the Head, the Body grows with the growth of God (2:19). As we have indicated, the riches we absorb include crucifixion, being buried, and being raised up with Christ. When we hold Christ as the Head, we absorb all these elements into us.
In 2:20 Paul says, “If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why as living in the world do you subject yourself to ordinances?” The Greek word rendered “if” may also be translated “since.” Since we have died with Christ, we should not live in subjection to ordinances. It is a fact that we have died with Christ. But although Christ died more than nineteen hundred years ago, our participation in this death takes place moment by moment in the present as we are enjoying Christ, holding Him as the Head. Our experience of Christ’s crucifixion is not once for all. On the contrary, it is a moment by moment matter. Perhaps last night you experienced Christ’s crucifixion. But today you are not happy with your husband or wife, so you purposely come down from the cross in order to argue and vindicate yourself. You have been provoked, and you can no longer bear to remain silent. Last night you were in the death of Christ, but now you are very much alive in yourself. In one of his hymns, A. B. Simpson says, “Oh! It is so sweet to die with Christ.” Last night this was sweet to you, but now you do not wish to remain in Christ’s death. This indicates that whenever we are not in the spirit, we are not in the experience of the death of Christ. But when we are in spirit, we are dead with Christ. Whenever we are not in the spirit, we are in ourselves, living according to our natural life. From our experience we know that when we hold Christ as the Head in spirit, we have the experience of being crucified with Him. At such a time, we can declare to all, even to the Devil, that we have died with Christ.