Let me tell you also some of the experience of the Brethren. At the end of the last century and the beginning of this century it may be that Andrew Murray was one of the top among the inner life people. He put out a number of very helpful books in life such as The Spirit of Christ and The Holy of Holies, a study on Hebrews, and a number of other books. Many Brethren teachers never recommended Andrew Murray. They said he quoted the Bible and used it in a wrong way. Second Timothy 2:15, concerning cutting straight the word of the truth, is very much used by the Brethren teachers. But if you pay attention only to the cutting of the Word straightly and you don’t care for the real experience of the living Christ, you will be trapped. So even to read the Bible, to pay attention to the Bible, to know the Bible, and to collect knowledge from the Bible may be traps.
Today many Christians have been trapped by the charismatic things. Many have been trapped by healing. Some have been trapped by the lengthening of legs and other miracles. You may laugh at them, but how about yourself? You may not practice leg lengthening or healing or other miracles, but you do practice a lot of Christian, religious things which are small traps to you. Even today a number of you are probably still walking by stepping into traps. Everywhere you step is a little trap. Your prayer is a trap; your reading of the Bible is a trap. If you say, though, I would give up the prayer; I would give up the Bible reading, even your giving up of these things is a trap.
This is the problem today. Many Christians have gotten trapped in Christian, religious, biblical things. Actually, to live Christ is very simple. The most simple thing is life, but at the same time life is the most complicated thing. No one can finish the study of the science of life. It is too complicated. To study life for the sake of knowledge is very complicated, but for experience it’s very simple. Even a little baby can live. After being conceived a little baby can live even before it is born. To live is easy. We have never taught any child to breathe, yet right away after birth they breathe. To live is simple. Why is it so hard to live Christ today? Because we all have been trapped, entangled, wrapped up, and bound with so many “Christian” things.
In this Perfecting Training I have been speaking for at least three months on living Christ. I realize that some of you are really bothered and puzzled. The more I speak, the more you are puzzled. I must say that I do not bear the blame. In my speaking I am trying my best to untie you. You have been tied by this and by that because you have picked up a lot of things. Tonight I would like to repeat a word: you had better let everything go. This is the best way—let everything go. Just remember that our Triune God desires to be your life; He desires to live in you and with you; and He desires that you will just take Him as your life and live Him. In a sense you have to forget what is prayer, what is Bible reading, what is this and what is that. Just remember that God wants to live in you, and He wants you to take Him as life and live Him. Today you have to consider where He is and what He is. When you come to this matter you have to forget about the so-called systematic theology. You have to realize that our God, our Savior, after all, is just the Spirit. He is in the heavens, but He is also within me and within you.
Titus 2:13 says, “Awaiting the blessed hope, even the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior, Christ Jesus.” Here, four titles, the great God, our Savior, Christ, and Jesus are compounded together to be a long title—the great God and our Savior, Christ Jesus. Through the centuries Christian teachers began to debate concerning this verse. Even up to this day the problem has not been settled. Out of so many debates two schools came. One school says this title indicates two persons; the great God, that is, the Father, and our Savior Christ Jesus, the Son. The other school says that this title indicates that Christ Jesus is both the great God and our Savior. Even the authorities on the Greek New Testament disagree on this point. Dean Alford stands with the first school, whereas M. R. Vincent follows the second. Vincent says the verse should have a comma after Savior: “The great God and our Savior, Christ Jesus.” This means that Christ Jesus is both the great God and our Savior. The Concordant Version, the Wuest translation, and the New American Standard Version all put a comma in that place.
Concerning the Trinity, many like to systematize the Father away from the Son and to systematize the Son away from the Father. But the Bible doesn’t systematize this way. The Bible says our Savior God. In 1 Timothy and Titus, this title has been used six times (1 Tim. 1:1; 2:3; Titus 1:3; 2:10, 13; 3:4). When J. N. Darby interpreted this term, he called it Savior-God with a hyphen between Savior and God. The point is: He is our God; He is our Savior; He is Jesus Christ; He is the Lord; He is the Spirit. We need to make it so simple. The Berkeley Version of the Bible says our Savior is not only Christ but God Triune. This is good. However it goes on to say God Triune represented by Christ. We can agree with the first part but not with the second. In the Triune God there is no representation. How could the Son represent the Father? How could the Father be represented by the Son? Our Savior God is not only Christ but God Triune embodied in Christ as indicated in Titus 2:13 which has this long compound, divine title, “The great God and our Savior, Christ Jesus.” Don’t fall into the snare of the so-called systematic theology. They only care for theology, but we care for the living Theos. We don’t care for the ology. We only love and treasure and appreciate the living Theos, the living Person of the living God who is Triune.
You don’t need to ask, Is this the Father? Is this the Son? Who is the Savior God? Who is the God Savior? No! On His side the Triune God is for dispensing, and on our side He is for enjoyment. Even we don’t need to say that we don’t have an objective God but a subjective God. This too is a kind of theology. Today, Christianity has made the experiential God absolutely an objective object for worship. Their God is altogether objective. They don’t care a bit for the experiential enjoyment of God. To them there should not be verses such as: “To me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21) or “Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). There should not be verses like John 15:4 and 5 which say for us to abide in Him and He in us. Some have even said that to abide in Christ and to let Christ abide in us simply indicates a kind of intimate relationship. Because they insist that Christ is there high in the heavens, they ask how you could abide in Him? And how could He abide in you? He is so far away, and this is just an intimate expression indicating how close you and He are. This is their interpretation; they just annul these verses in the Bible. Yet they like to speak in tongues. This is not logical. If you ask them what kind of Spirit they have received, they cannot tell you explicitly. Three hundred years ago people spoke of the spirit as a kind of instrument, a kind of power, a kind of channel. Today, because they have more scriptural knowledge, most of them would not say this. But it is so strange! They would say the Spirit is upon them, yet God Himself is not there. They would say the Spirit is upon them, yet Christ is not there. Then, of course, they use the word represent, saying that the Spirit represents the Father and the Son.
When John 14:9 says: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” they say this is a kind of representation. Why? They annul all the experiential enjoyment of the Triune God. So whenever we apply these verses to our experiential enjoyment, they say it is heresy. They say we are making ourselves God, that we are deifying ourselves into God. For them to speak in this way indicates blindness. Today a line has been drawn between dead theological historical Christianity and the living Christians. We shouldn’t be bothered by all these things. We should only remember that our God today is the Triune God who has passed through all the necessary processes, and today He is so ready for us to enjoy Him. He is a ready God, a processed God. He is the Spirit. Now the Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). Then they argue that the Lord in 2 Corinthians 3 is not Jesus Christ but God the Lord. But according to the text of 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, the Lord refers to Christ. This problem comes from the source of the systematic theology. Jesus Christ is the Lord, and the Lord today is the Spirit that gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).
We need to forget about the theological talk and simply remember that He wants us to take Him as life, and He wants us to live Him, and today He is the Spirit. He passed through creation, through incarnation, He lived on this earth, He passed through crucifixion, and He entered into resurrection. In His resurrection, He is the Spirit, and the Spirit must be the Holy Spirit who gives life. Don’t be trapped into caring for the knowledge; just care for the experience of life.