By the baptism in the Holy Spirit, we were all put into Christ. Thus we were put into a position that fits His work. His intention is not merely to put us into Himself, but to put us into Himself for His working within us. After putting us into Himself, He started His work within us. It is just like a school. First of all we are enrolled, then we enter into the school. The admission into the school is to put us into the position that the school may work on us.
First Corinthians 12:13 says that we have all been baptized in one Spirit into one Body. This is to be put into Christ. Also we have all been made to drink of one Spirit. This means that we have all been put into a position to drink. To put us into Christ is one thing; to make us to drink Christ into us is another thing. The main purpose is not only to put us into Christ, but to get Christ more and more wrought into our being. What we eat and drink is assimilated into our being and becomes something organic that belongs to our constitution. Eventually what we drink becomes us. So to be put into Christ is to be positioned for Christ to work Himself into us day by day. To enter into school is for at least one semester, but to let the school work on you is a day by day matter. To be put into Christ is a matter once for all, and this has been accomplished through the baptism. Now we are positioned for Christ to be wrought into us.
Christ is working Himself into us, and He is working by dwelling in us. In a sense He is in us, and in another sense He is getting more into us. He is adding Himself into us more and more. Today we may only have a little of Christ, but after two months we may have more of Him. Day by day He is adding Himself into us and multiplying Himself within us. This is why we have both peace and bothering at the same time. We have real peace by the indwelling Christ, yet we do not have peace, because He is constantly bothering us! If there is no bothering and troubling, there is no growth. Praise the Lord that we have all been baptized into Christ and have put on Christ! Now we are in Christ. This is our position and our standing. Christ is now the indwelling One, constantly working Himself into us.
In the last chapter, we saw that it pleased God to reveal His Son in us (Gal. 1:15-16). God has revealed His Son in us! This is a great thing. Next we saw through Galatians 2:20 that we have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless we live, yet it is not we, but Christ who lives in us. This is really a strange language. We live, yet it is not we; it is Christ. Marvelous! He is the One living in us. Many Christians know this verse, but I am afraid that they do not see that this verse shows us that Christ is our person. It does not say that it is no more I, but the life of Christ that lives in me. It says that Christ, the person Himself, lives in me. Many Christians take the life of Christ, but they do not take the person of Christ. There is a big difference. By itself life does not bother us a great deal, but a person is always a problem.
Marriage is a very good illustration of taking another person. Marriage is wonderful; however, you not only get a helper, but a person. Your husband is a person; he is not just a machine to take care of you. If he were a machine, that would not bother you. But he is a person; so when he takes care of you, he takes care of you in his way. And his way is not your way. A machine does not have a will. You can irritate it, and it will never lose its temper because it does not have a temper to lose. But your husband is a person with feeling, emotion, and temper. The only way for you not to have any trouble with your husband is for you to take him as your person. If you do this, there is no problem. Marriage is a big responsibility, because you get a person who gives you a lot of problems. There is no doubt that we do get help from our wives and husbands, but at the same time there is a real suffering in order to get the help. The only way is to take your wife or your husband as your person. Then whatever they do will be all right. This is why in all the weddings, Western or Eastern, the wife has a veil to cover her head. Most people think that this is just a formality, but there is a deep significance. It means that in marriage there can only be one person; the other one is gone. There can only be one head; otherwise there will be a divorce. The main reason for all divorces is the fact that one couple has two heads, two wills, two minds, two emotions, and two persons. No wonder they fight! One couple must have only one person. Then there will be peace in the marriage. If the young people are not ready to take another one as their person, they should forget about marriage. Otherwise they will suffer.