When I was young, I learned that in 2:5-11 there are seven steps in the Lord’s humiliation: emptying Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men, humbling Himself, becoming obedient, being obedient unto death, and being obedient unto the death of the cross. I was also taught that, as Christians, we should follow the Lord Jesus in these steps. However, the more I tried to follow Him and imitate Him, the more my fallen nature was exposed. I realized from my experience that the traditional teaching of imitating Christ does not work, for I simply did not have a nature that could follow the Lord in this way. The Lord Jesus was God incarnate, a God-man, a man with the divine element. How could I, a fallen human being, one who lacked even the proper human element and entirely lacked the divine element, follow this God-man? The Lord Jesus has both the divine element and the proper human element. Although He put aside the form of God, He never laid aside the nature of God. The reality, essence, substance, of the divine nature was still in Him. Thus, He was a man filled with the divine element. He could pass through the seven steps of His humiliation. However, I could not imitate Him.
Gradually I began to understand that to follow the Lord Jesus according to Philippians 2, we need to have God operating within us. In ourselves we are not able to follow the divine pattern or reach God’s standard. Praise the Lord that God is working in us! The very God who became incarnate in the Lord Jesus is now in us. This God is the infinite God, the eternal God, the One who created the universe by His word. Through incarnation, this eternal God came to live in the Lord Jesus. He made Jesus a pattern and uplifted Him according to the divine standard. Now this same God is operating in us. When I first realized this, I was overjoyed. Because God is operating in me, I am now a God-man. All genuine believers in Christ need to see that, as Christians, we are God-men. No longer need we live according to our fallen humanity, for God is now operating in us. Hallelujah, because God dwells in us and is operating in us, we are God-men! This inward operation of God is the second aspect of the divine and rich provision for constant salvation.
The third aspect is that we are children of God (2:15). Because we have proclaimed this truth, some have falsely accused us of teaching evolution into God. We certainly do not teach evolution into God. According to the Bible, we testify the fact that, as children of God, we have been born of God. Just as an offspring of a dog has the life and nature of a dog, and a child has the life and nature of his parents, so as children of God we have God’s life and nature.
If we were not children of God with the divine life and nature, we could not understand God’s operation within us or cooperate with it. Our cooperation with God’s operation can be compared to a three-legged race. In such a race, each person has one leg free and the other bound to one of his partner’s legs. It is impossible for a human being to run a three-legged race tied to an animal, because an animal does not have the life and nature to cooperate with a human being. Figuratively speaking, because we have the divine life and nature, we are running a three-legged race with God as our partner. Paul says, “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17). After our God came through incarnation, lived on earth to establish a pattern of salvation, was crucified, and was raised and exalted according to the divine standard, He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). As such a Spirit, He has entered into us and now dwells in us as the all-inclusive, processed God. His operation within us is based on the fact that He has regenerated us and deposited into us His divine life with the divine nature. This is the greatest wonder in the universe! After setting up the pattern and establishing the standard, God put His life and nature into us. Now He is motivating, operating, and energizing within by His divine life and nature according to the pattern with the standard. When we call on the Lord or pray to the Father, we experience this inner operation.
We have seen that the first aspect of the divine provision for our constant salvation is the pattern with the standard and that the second aspect is the inward operation of the God who became incarnate, died on the cross, and was resurrected and exalted. This God has come into us to live out this pattern in us. First He regenerated us, imparting His divine life with the divine nature into us to make us God-men, children of God. Now He dwells in us to operate in us continually. Because we have the indwelling God operating in us, Hebrews 8:11 says, “And they shall by no means teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me from the little one to the great among them.” Because God is operating in us, we know what He wants to do and what we should do. For example, when a brother’s wife gives him a difficult time, he does not need a pastor to instruct him. Through the operating God he knows that he should lay aside his headship and, according to the pattern of the Lord Jesus, be willing to serve her as a slave.