In the previous three chapters we saw the matter of our living with the Lord and our mutual abiding with the Lord. In this chapter, we want to see the matter of walking according to the spirit. Apparently, this chapter is unrelated to the previous chapters, but in actuality it is the issue of the previous chapters. The Bible is the most wonderful book, in which the most wonderful matter is that the Spirit of God is mingled with our human spirit and that we should live and walk according to such a mingled spirit.
Among the Chinese people The Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Golden Mean, two of the Confucian Four Books in the Chinese classics, may be considered the highest books. The Great Learning says that the doctrine of great learning lies in developing the bright virtue, whereas the teaching of the Bible lies in the spirit and in walking according to the spirit. The phrase develop the bright virtue seems very profound in wording, but actually there is nothing mysterious in it. While the phrase walk according to the Spirit is simple in wording, the mystery within cannot be exhausted. The Bible is wonderful in that, first, it reveals a wonderful person and, second, a wonderful salvation. Although this wonderful person in the Bible has passed through two thousand years of human research, He remains mysterious and unfathomable. Isaiah 9:6 says that the name of this wonderful person is called “Wonderful Counselor.” This wonderful One, Jesus, is wonderful not only in the Bible but also in the six thousand years of human history. Not only is His person wonderful, but His deeds, His might, and His transcendence are also difficult for us to comprehend.
Napoleon occupied a dominant position for a period in history, but eventually he was banished to an island for imprisonment. Before he died, he confessed that Jesus was the Lord of heaven and of earth. Even the atheistic communist countries use the calendar of Jesus Christ. According to Chinese history, whoever was in power, his calendar would be used. Thus, the communist countries also admit today that the whole earth is under the ruling of Jesus. Jesus Christ is so wonderful that He is unsearchable and unspeakable.
Another wonderful thing in the Bible is the matter of the Triune God. In these past two thousand years, among theologians, Bible scholars, and Bible-studying preachers, there have been many debates concerning the Trinity—the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy Spirit. Is Jesus Christ the Father or the Son? Of course, most Christians would say that He is the Son, not the Father. However, the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the Son and also the Father. In John 14:9, the Lord Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Some say that to see the Son is to see the Father because the Son represents the Father, but this does not prove that the Son is the Father. However, in verse 10 the Lord Jesus went on to say, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” This cannot be explained simply by saying that the Son represents the Father.
John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This statement involves a great deal. John initially said that the Word was with God; therefore, They must be two. But John also said that the Word was God, indicating that the two are one. Then, are God and the Word one or two? To this day, no one can fully explain this. In reality, He was the Word, and He was also God. Then John said that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (v. 14). Furthermore, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (v. 29). He was the Word, God, the flesh, the tabernacle, and the Lamb. Doctrinally speaking, since He was God, how could He be the Lamb? Not only so, He was the complete God, not the partial God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. This Word was the Lord Jesus; hence, the Lord Jesus was God, even the complete God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Some may ask, since God is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and since the Lord Jesus is the Son, then is the Lord Jesus only one-third of the Triune God, being neither the Father nor the Spirit but only the Son? However, in his Gospel, John clearly stated at the outset that the Word was God, and this God was the complete God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Hence, the statement “the Word was God” refers not only to the Father, only to the Son, or only to the Spirit, but to the entire God, that is, the Father and the Son and the Spirit. Since the Word was God, this Word must be the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as the complete Triune God. We cannot say that the Lord Jesus as the Word was only the Son but not the Spirit or the Father; otherwise, we would contradict the truth in the Bible. This is why Isaiah 9:6 says that a son is given to us and His name is called the Eternal Father. Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” All these verses show us that the Lord Jesus is too wonderful. We cannot use our limited mind to restrict Him. He is all in all.
Colossians 1:15 tells us that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. Some may argue that since Christ is the Creator, He cannot be a creature. But both the Bible and history tell us that this Creator at one time became a man with bones, blood, and flesh. Having a body of blood and flesh proves He was created. He is not only the Creator but also a creature. It is illogical to say that a man is not a creature. The Lord Jesus is a genuine man with genuine human blood. His blood is not the blood of goats and calves which cannot obtain redemption for man’s sins. The blood of goats and calves cannot accomplish redemption for man’s sins because it is only a type and a shadow. In the first and second centuries, there was a group of people called the Docetists, who said that since Jesus Christ is holy, He could never have had the defilement of human flesh. They also said that His body was not real flesh and blood but was merely a deceptive, transient phantom, and therefore He did not suffer, die, and resurrect. Such a great heresy was condemned by the apostle John in his first Epistle (4:1-3 and note 1 of verse 3).
The Bible tells us not only that the Lord Jesus was a man when He was on the earth but also that He was still a man even after His resurrection. In the evening of the day of His resurrection, He showed His body to the doubting disciples because they thought He was an apparition. The Lord Jesus told them that He had bones and that they could put their finger into His side to touch the wounds. To this day, our Lord Jesus is still a man in the heavens. When Stephen was stoned to death, he lifted up his eyes and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). This One spoken of in the Bible is so wonderful; therefore, we must not limit Him or visualize Him according to our imagination. We should speak according to the Bible and believe what the Bible says. We should speak, believe, and receive whatever the Bible says.