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In his experience of God’s consuming and stripping, Paul was not constricted under the pressures on every side and did not perish despite his being cast down; Paul did not curse the day of his birth, and he did not say that he preferred to die rather than to live; on the contrary, after much consideration Paul said that he still preferred to live for the saints’ progress (their growth in life) and for their joy of the faith (their enjoyment of Christ)—2 Cor. 1:8-9; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21-25.
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When Paul was suffering distresses for the sake of Christ (2 Cor. 12:10), he was well pleased, he was happy, and he was even rejoicing in the Lord for his experiences (Col. 1:24; Phil. 2:17-18).
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Paul wanted to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings in order to be conformed to Christ’s death (3:10); he took Christ’s death as a mold for his life, and it was his great pleasure to be molded in the death of Christ.
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Paul magnified Christ by living Him, whether through life or through death, by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ; when God created man, this was the kind of life He wanted man to live—1:19-21a; Gen. 1:26.
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Paul said that he was always bearing about in the body the putting to death, the killing, of Jesus and being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his mortal flesh; when we are under the killing of the Lord’s death, His resurrection life is imparted through us into others—2 Cor. 4:10-12:
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The putting to death of Jesus in our environment cooperates with the indwelling Spirit to kill our natural man (our outer man), comprising our body and our soul; as our outer man is being consumed by the killing work of death, our inner man is being renewed day by day with the fresh supply of the resurrection life—v. 16.
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Paul said that he died daily (1 Cor. 15:31); daily he risked death, faced death, and died to self (2 Cor. 11:23; 4:11; 1:8-9; Rom. 8:36).
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The application of Christ’s death and its effectiveness is in the compounded Spirit, who dwells in our spirit to dispense Christ’s death and its effectiveness from our spirit to our soul and even to our mortal body—Exo. 30:22-25; Rom. 8:6, 9-11.
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This dispensing is the anointing (1 John 2:20, 27), and the anointing is the moving of the indwelling Spirit; our prayer activates the moving of the indwelling Spirit, and within this moving, there is the killing power.
Morning Nourishment
2 Cor. 4:11-12 For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death operates in us, but life in you.The putting to death of Jesus in our environment cooperates with the indwelling Spirit to kill our natural man (our outer man), comprising our body and our soul. This is mentioned emphatically in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12. Paul says that he was bearing about in his body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his body. Second Corinthians 4:16 says, “Our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” The word decaying means “being consumed, being wasted away, being worn out.”… As our outer man is being consumed by the killing work of death, our inner man is being renewed with the fresh supply of the resurrection life. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Christian Life,” pp. 438-439)
Today’s Reading
We all like to have a nice environment, with everything smooth, peaceful, sweet, and nice…. [Instead], we are under an environment of sufferings and pressures that works with the Spirit to kill our natural man. Brother Nee referred to this kind of environment as the discipline of the Holy Spirit…. In speaking about the application of Christ’s death, Romans 8 refers to the indwelling Spirit, and 2 Corinthians 4 refers to the outward environment. The outward environment cooperates with the inward Spirit to carry out the killing of our natural man.Second Corinthians 4:10 indicates that the death of Christ kills us. The apostle Paul always was under the killing of Christ’s death…. He was continually under the persecution of the Jews, the Gentiles, and the Judaizers…. Daily he risked death, faced death, and died to self (2 Cor. 11:23; 4:11; 1:8-9; Rom. 8:36). He was bearing about in his body the killing of Jesus so that the life of Jesus could be manifested in him.
Christ’s death and its effectiveness, with which the Spirit has been compounded, become prevailing in the Spirit…. If we enjoy and experience the Spirit, His death becomes prevailing in us. The death of Christ is in the Spirit.
The compounded Spirit dwells in our spirit to dispense Christ’s death and its effectiveness from our spirit to our soul and even to our mortal body (Rom. 8:6, 9-10). This dispensing is the anointing (1 John 2:20, 27), and the anointing is the moving of the indwelling Spirit. Those Christians who love the Lord and maintain fellowship with the Lord, always have the feeling and sensation that something is moving within them. That moving is the anointing, and that anointing is the dispensing of the Triune God, of the death of Christ, and of the resurrection of Christ. That dispensing comprises all these elements: divinity, Christ’s humanity, Christ’s death, the effectiveness of His death, Christ’s resurrection, and the power of His resurrection.
It is under this dispensing, this anointing, this moving of the indwelling Spirit, that we experience the death of Christ. When we are about to lose our temper, we may stop ourselves and go to pray. After our prayer, our anger is over. This is because our prayer activates the moving of the indwelling Spirit, and within this moving there is the killing power.
We should cooperate with the operating Spirit and accept the environment in our spirit, soul, and body. In every part of our being, we must be willing to cooperate with the indwelling Spirit and to accept the outward environment….This killing is carried out by the indwelling Spirit with the environment as the killing weapon. We need to experience the Lord’s killing, His putting to death, every day. Then we will daily have the victory and joy in Christ’s resurrection. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Christian Life,” pp. 438-439, 480-481, 437-440)
Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 33-35; Watchman Nee—a Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age, ch. 15; CWWN, vol. 5, “The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit,” ch. 6