In the previous chapters we saw how to experience Christ as our life and how to live out Christ in our human virtues. In general, Christians consider human virtues as the so-called ethics. However, from the Word of God we have seen that we are not speaking about ethics. Rather, we are speaking about Christ as our life being lived out of us, that is, Christ being lived out in our human virtues and becoming the expression of our perfect living. Therefore, we should not confuse Christian good behavior with man’s ethics. Christian virtues are altogether different from the conventional ethics taught by the Chinese people.
The book of Philippians is a book on experiencing Christ. This book speaks about how to magnify Christ in our body. In 1:20 Paul said, “In nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death.” Paul’s desire was that Christ, in whom he believed, after whom he followed, on whom he depended, and in whom he lived, would not only be expressed but also be magnified in his body. Eventually, he could say, “For to me, to live is Christ” (v. 21a). The perfect living of Paul was the expression of Christ; therefore, for him, to live was Christ. However, do not for a moment think that we have deified Paul. Paul was not God, but he was able to express God. We do not deify ourselves; rather, we have Christ as our life, and He is lived out and magnified through us.
For the past few decades, I preached about the truth concerning living Christ, but because I was still greatly influenced by my traditional background, I did not have the boldness to connect the matter of living out Christ as our life with the matter of our human virtues. However, for the past few years, after I had thoroughly studied the book of Philippians, I realized that, on the one hand, this book speaks about the Triune God as our life operating within us to be our everything, and on the other hand, it speaks about human virtues. From chapter four verse 8, we see that which is true, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, and well spoken of, as well as any virtue and any praise, all constitute our human virtues. However, these virtues are not the result of our own work but the issue of our experience of the Triune God as our life. Thus, the book of Philippians covers two aspects: One aspect is that the Triune God is our life and is lived out through us; the other aspect is that the good behavior that is lived out from us is our virtues.
We have said that our God is the Creator of the universe and all things. He was incarnated to be a man, the Lord Jesus, who died and shed His blood for us to be our Redeemer and was resurrected to become the pneumatic Christ to be our life. Such a God is love and light, and He is also holy and righteous. God is love, and this love is transcendent and powerful. He can love the unlovable; He can love beyond what man can love. Not only is He the Giver of love but His very nature is love. God’s nature consists of both love and light. Love is inward, and light is outward; love is hidden, and light is expressed. When God’s nature is hidden, it is love; when it is expressed, it is light.
The Bible also says that God is holy and righteous. God is not only holy, but He is holiness itself. God is not only righteous, but He is righteousness itself. Holiness is His inward nature, whereas righteousness is His outward expression. Holiness and love belong to the same category; both are the inward nature of God. Righteousness and light belong to the same category; both are the expression of God’s nature. God is holiness; this is in relation to Himself. God is light; this is in relation to man. Love expressed is light; holiness expressed is righteousness. These attributes are what God is. Our God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. Thus, love, light, holiness, and righteousness constitute God’s being, God’s image.
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