As we live Christ as the God-man, we should “shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life” (Phil. 2:15b-16a). This is to shine as luminaries reflecting the brightness of Jesus Christ, the God-man. When we cooperate with the operating God within us by obeying Him, the God-man as the pneumatic Christ with His bountiful supply will enable us to shine the word of life as luminaries. Instead of merely teaching or preaching, we shall be shining the word of life. We shall be luminaries reflecting the brightness of the God-man.
If we live Christ as the God-man, we shall be found in Christ (Phil. 3:9). As one who was the reproduction of the God-man, Paul desired to be found in Christ by all his observers. He aspired to have his whole being immersed in Christ and saturated with Christ so that all His believers would discover him fully in Christ.
A condition for being found in Christ is that we have Christ as our subjective righteousness, as our surpassing righteousness. This is the righteousness referred to by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 5:20: “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” Righteousness here does not refer to the objective righteousness, which is the Christ we receive when we believe in Him so that we may be justified before God (1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 3:26). Instead, it refers to the subjective righteousness which is the indwelling Christ lived out of us as our righteousness. In Philippians 3:9 Paul calls this the “righteousness which is of God.” The Greek word for “of” means “out of” or “out from.” This righteousness is actually God Himself lived out of us to be our righteousness through our faith in Christ. Such righteousness is the expression of God, who lives in us. Therefore, the surpassing righteousness is God Himself living out of us. This is not our own righteousness; it is God as our righteousness.
In Philippians 3:10 Paul said, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” This verse indicates that Paul lived Christ in the power of His resurrection. Paul had been terminated and buried. Then in the resurrection of Christ he enjoyed the power of Christ’s resurrection.
The power of Christ’s resurrection is His resurrection life which raised Him from among the dead (Eph. 1:19-20). The reality of the power of Christ’s resurrection is the Spirit (Rom. 1:4). To know this power requires identification with Christ’s death. Death is the base of resurrection. If we would experience the power of Christ’s resurrection, we need to live a crucified life as He did. Being identified with Christ’s death affords a base for the power of His resurrection to rise up so that His divine life may be expressed in us.
In Philippians 3:10 Paul also speaks of being conformed to Christ’s death. To be conformed to Christ’s death is to take His death as the mold of our life. The mold of Christ’s death refers to His continual putting to death of His human life so that He might live by the life of God (John 6:57). Our life should be conformed to such a mold—dying to our human life to live the divine life. If we would be found in Christ and live Him as the God-man, we must be conformed to His death.