Even though we can enter into the church when we touch our spirit according to Ephesians 1, we can have the church life only when we live according to the person of Christ in our inner man according to chapter 3. In chapter 3 our spirit is not only an organ but also our inner man (v. 16). Before we were saved, our person was centered in our soul because our life was in the soul. At that time, both our spirit and our body were organs. Our body was an outer organ, and our spirit was a deadened inner organ (2:5). Consequently, our person was related to our soul. After we were regenerated, the Lord entered into our spirit to be our life. Now that our spirit has life, it is no longer just an organ but a person.
There are two persons within us: one that is related to our soul and the other that is related to our spirit. This creates a complication within every believer, because these two persons are in conflict with each other. The way to be delivered from this conflict is to allow the cross to deal with our soul-life, that is, with our old man. The only place for our old man, the person of our soul, is the cross (Rom. 6:6). Our old man has been crucified, and he needs to remain on the cross. When our soul-life is crucified, the inner man of our spirit will live. Regrettably, even though we have been saved and our spirit has become new, our inner man is not very strong; instead, the old man, our soul, is still very strong. This is the reason that Paul asked the Father to strengthen the believers with power through His Spirit into the inner man (Eph. 3:16).
A believer who loves to argue is strong in his soul but weak in his spirit. If I react to criticism of my speaking with defensiveness or even politeness, this is a sign that my soul is very strong and that my spirit as the inner man is very weak. Quarrelsome spouses are strong in their soul. If their spirit were strong, there would be no quarrels. If my spirit is strong, my soul will remain on the cross even if I am being criticized. Rather than reacting, there will only be an inner Amen and Hallelujah. If our spirit is strong, there will be no debates and no arguments. When we are strengthened with power into our inner man, the Lord will not only manifest His power but also make His home in our heart (v. 17).
Christ’s making His home in our heart is not a matter of experiencing His power but a matter of taking Him as our person. Making a certain place our home involves our person. Is the Lord Jesus making His home in us? Perhaps He is merely sitting in our living room. Although this is not equal to His making His home in our heart, it is better than forcing Him into a small corner of our living room. On the day of our salvation, the Lord Jesus entered into our being as His home, but since then, we have often confined Him to a small corner because we have given Him no consideration in any of our decisions. When the Lord nudges a new believer within concerning the purchase of an item, he can easily ignore the Lord and give no ground to the Lord. This means that the Lord cannot make His home in the believer’s heart. In order for the Lord to make His home in our heart, He must have access to every room in our being, and He must be allowed to speak and move in our being.
We need to be strengthened into our inner man so that Christ can make His home in our hearts. Our heart includes our mind, emotion, will, and conscience. Hence, the Lord’s making His home in our hearts means that He makes His home in our mind, emotion, will, and conscience. We should let Him be Lord in everything. As the Lord, He should rule over our mind, emotion, will, and conscience.
As the Lord Jesus makes His home in our hearts, we will enjoy His person. What does it mean to enjoy His person? This item of the truth is not easy to explain or to understand, but it can be illustrated with the matter of marriage. When a sister is single, she is her own person. If she likes salty food, she will eat salty food. If she likes bland food, she will eat bland food, and if she likes sweet food, she will eat sweet food. In addition, she can open and close her windows as it pleases her, and she can turn the lights on or off as it pleases her. In her living she takes herself as the person. When she gets married, however, her husband becomes her person because the two become one under the headship of the husband. This is signified by the fact that the head of the husband is exposed, but the head of the wife is covered. From the moment of her marriage, the sister no longer is her own person. It is quite marvelous that women cover their heads during both Oriental and Western weddings.
As the couple begins to live together, the wife should join herself to her husband. If the husband likes sweet soymilk, the wife should also drink sweet soymilk. If the husband wants to sleep with the window open, the wife should be willing to do the same. This is the meaning of a wife taking her husband as her person, and this is the way that we should take the Lord as our person. According to Galatians 2:20, it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. Although I live, I should not live according to myself but instead by Christ as my person. If we take Christ as our person, we will not only be strong in our spirit, but He will make His home in every part of our heart—in our mind, emotion, will, and conscience.
We have to learn to give up our tastes, preferences, and inclinations, and say, “O Lord, I take You as my person. Your taste is my taste; Your preference is my preference; Your inclination is my inclination.” This is much deeper than experiencing the Lord’s power. When we do this, we will be joined with all the saints in coordination and apprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ with them (Eph. 3:18). Then we will realize that Christ is limitless and immeasurable.
How broad is this breadth? How long is this length? How high is this height? How deep is this depth? None of these dimensions can be measured. The Lord Jesus is the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth that are immeasurable. When we take the Lord as our person, we will experience Him with all the saints and discover that He is without limit or measure. He is the breadth, length, height, and depth, who alone can fill us unto all the fullness of God (v. 19). When we take Christ as our person, we are not only brought into the church, but we will also live in the church and have the church life. At this point the church will become our living.
We often hear that the church is the Body of Christ, but we seldom hear that the church is a person. The church is not only the Body of Christ; the church is also a person. Ephesians 2:15-16 says, “Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace, and might reconcile both in one Body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity by it.” The Lord created the two—the Jewish and the Gentile believers—in Himself into one new man. According to verse 16, the new man is the Body of Christ. The church is the one new man, and the person of this new man is Christ.
In the church none of us is an individual person; we all are members. I am a member, and you are a member; we all are members. We are joined in one Body, and this one Body is a person. Even if there are five thousand people here today, are we five thousand persons or one person? We are one person, because even though we are many in number, there is only one person in the church—the Lord Jesus.
This is not easy to understand. In the church in Los Angeles there are many races and nationalities. The largest number of people are whites, but there are also blacks. There are Indians, Filipinos, Japanese, Mexicans, and Chinese. All kinds of people have been saved and are in the church, and everyone is a member of the one Body. In American society, however, there is a tension between blacks and whites. If the person of the church in Los Angeles is based on being either white or black, there surely will be trouble and division in the church. Instead, the church in Los Angeles should take only Christ as its person. In the church there should be no white or black, no Indian, Filipino, Japanese, Mexican, or Chinese. Everything of race and nationality should be buried, and only Christ should be our person. Praise the Lord that when the saints visit the church in Los Angeles, they do not see a white church or a black church, a Japanese church or a Chinese church. The church in Los Angeles is none of these. It is only a church with Christ as its person.
When Christ is our person and we live by Him, the life in our spirit enters into our mind and rules in our mind. As a result, we are renewed in the spirit of our mind. When our mind is renewed, we put on the new man, which is the church (4:23-24). When we put on the church as the new man, the church grows unto maturity, becomes the bride of Christ, and displays the victory of Christ unto the glory of God. At this point, the church is glorious, mature, and rich. The Lord is longing for this, and we are waiting for this. In these last days, the Lord will take an accelerated way in order to arrive at this goal. The church is the new man with Christ as our person.