As Christians, we differ in the measure of Christ we have within us. Some have given more ground to Christ; others have given Him less room to grow in them. No doubt Paul’s measure of Christ was full. This means that Christ had been fully formed in him. In Philippians 1:21 Paul could even declare, “To me to live is Christ.” Christ had been wrought into Paul and had actually become his constituent. Therefore, Paul was a man completely constituted of Christ. This was the reason he could say that to him to live was Christ.
Dietitians often tell us that we are what we eat. The food we eat eventually becomes our constitution. It is wrought into our fibers and even our cells. If a person eats a great deal of a certain food, he will eventually become constituted of that food.
By the time Paul wrote the book of Philippians, he had been a believer in Christ for nearly thirty years. Throughout those years, Christ had been more and more wrought into Paul’s inner being. Paul was continually eating Christ, partaking of Him. Eventually, having been constituted of Christ, he became a Christ-man. As one who was constituted of Christ, he could testify, “To me to live is Christ.”
We today should be the continuation of Paul’s testimony. We are here to live Christ, to have Christ wrought into us until our mind, emotion, and will are constituted of Him.
In Romans 12:2 Paul charges us not to be conformed to this age, but to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. To be conformed to this age is to be fashioned outwardly according to the style of the age, according to the trend of the world. To be transformed is to be inwardly and organically renewed. Some have defamed us, accusing us of bending people’s minds. We utterly repudiate this false accusation. By the Lord’s grace we seek to minister something divine and spiritual which can transform a person’s mind. Mind bending is the result of an outward influence on a person’s mind, but mind renewing involves inward, organic, metabolic transformation in life. The longer we stay in the Lord’s recovery, the more our mind is transformed metabolically. Automatically our thinking is renewed and changed. This happens because a new element is added into our being to discharge the old element and to replace it. This is transformation. Day by day and meeting by meeting, something divine, spiritual, holy, and heavenly is being transfused into us. This element is Christ with His unsearchable riches. As the riches of Christ are infused into us, they become the new element within us which discharges the oldness and causes an intrinsic, inward, metabolic change.
The more we are transformed, the more Christ is given room to settle down in us. In fact, the process of transformation is the process of being occupied and possessed by Christ. For our mind to be transformed means that Christ has taken possession of it and saturated it with Himself. Likewise, when our emotion and will are saturated with Christ, He becomes the very constituent of these inward parts. In this way Christ becomes subjective to us.
For centuries, the subjective Christ has been ignored by the believers. Many devoted Christians have directed their love to the objective Christ. They believe in Him, respect Him, exalt Him, and take Him as the object of their worship. However, in many cases, they regard Him as One who is far away in heaven. Although they may love Him, they may not experience Him abiding in them. They may work diligently for Christ, but not realize that Christ is not only in heaven, but also dwelling within them. Some have even received the wrong teaching that Christ does not dwell in the believers, but is merely represented in them by the Holy Spirit. They think of the Holy Spirit as an agent sent by Christ to represent Him, to work in them, to move in them, and to inspire them. However, according to the Word of God, the indwelling Spirit is not an agent of Christ; He is actually Christ Himself. According to Christian experience, the Christ who dwells in us is identical to the Spirit who indwells us. The indwelling Spirit is the practical Christ, the subjective and experiential Christ. If we have a proper realization of this, we shall not try to separate the Spirit from Christ. The Three of the Godhead are one. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is realized as the Spirit. When the Spirit reaches us and comes to live in us, all Three of the Godhead come to dwell in us. How wonderful that Christ is in us! Our Christ is subjective and experiential.
If we would live Christ, we must realize that He is subjective as well as objective. As the mighty God, the Lord of all, the One who has ascended to the heavens, and who has been enthroned and crowned with glory, Christ is objective. Of this we should not have any doubt. But Christ is also subjective. He dwells in us, He lives in us, He is seeking to settle Himself in us, and He is also working to saturate our entire being with Himself.