Ⅲ
To live out and work out the New Jerusalem is to live out and work out God’s complete salvation according to the intrinsic essence and totality of the unique New Testament ministry, the ministry of the age, for the reality of the Body of Christ and a new revival—Phil. 1:19; 2:13; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 4:1; Eph. 4:11-12, 16:
A
The ministry of the Spirit is the ministry of the new covenant to deify us by inscribing our hearts with the Spirit of the living God as the divine and mystical “ink,” making us the living letters of Christ—this is the highest peak of the divine revelation—2 Cor. 3:3, 6, 8, 18; 4:1; Isa. 42:6; 49:6; Psa. 45:1-2:
１
By the ministry of the Spirit, we are “Christified” to become the city of life and the bride of Christ; thus, the Spirit as the consummated Triune God marries the bride as the transformed tripartite church to live a life that is the mingling of God and man as one spirit, a life that is superexcellent and that overflows with blessings and joy—Rom. 5:10; Rev. 2:7; 22:1-2, 17a.
２
In order to be constituted the ministers of the new covenant for the building up of the Body of Christ, we must experience all the aspects of the all-inclusive Spirit in 2 Corinthians—the anointing Spirit, the sealing Spirit, the pledging Spirit (1:21-22; 5:5), the inscribing Spirit (3:3), the life-giving Spirit (v. 6), the ministering Spirit (v. 8), the freeing Spirit (v. 17), the transforming Spirit (v. 18), and the transmitting Spirit (13:14).
B
The ministry of righteousness is the ministry of Christ as our objective righteousness for our justification and as our subjective righteousness “embroidered” into us by the transforming work of the Spirit for the living out and genuine expression of Christ—this is the God-man living—3:9; Psa. 45:13-14; Rom. 8:4; Psa. 23:3:
１
By the ministry of righteousness, we receive Christ as our objective righteousness and enjoy Him as our subjective righteousness to become the New Jerusalem as the new creation of righteousness in the new heaven and new earth—1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9; 2 Pet. 3:13; cf. Isa. 33:22.
２
Objective righteousness (Christ given to us) issues in grace (Christ enjoyed by us), and grace issues in subjective righteousness (Christ lived out of us)—Rom. 5:1-2, 17-18; Luke 15:22-23.
３
The power of grace operates in us and produces subjective righteousness, making us right with God, with others, and even with ourselves; it not only subdues sin but also overcomes Satan, sin, and death in our being, causing us to reign in life—2 Tim. 2:1; Rom. 5:17, 21.
４
The righteousness we receive for our justification is objective and enables us to meet the requirements of the righteous God, whereas the righteousnesses of the overcoming saints are subjective and enable them to meet the requirements of the overcoming Christ—Rev. 22:14; 19:7-8.
Morning Nourishment
2 Cor. 3:6 [God]…made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.8-9 How shall the ministry of the Spirit not be more in glory? For if there is glory with the ministry of condemnation, much more the ministry of righteousness abounds with glory.
In 2 Corinthian 3:3…the word with indicates that the spiritual ink, the Spirit of the living God, is an essence, an element, used by the one doing the inscribing or the writing…. The Spirit is neither the writer nor the instrument used for writing; rather, the Spirit is the essence, the element, the substance, used in writing. The Spirit of the living God, who is the living God Himself, is not an instrument, such as a pen, but an element…with which the apostles minister Christ as the content for the writing of living letters that convey Christ.
The ministry of the new covenant is not that of mere teaching. None of your teachers in school ever inscribed an essence into your being. They may have put concepts into you, but they did not deposit the essence of anything into you. However, the new covenant ministry does more than merely teach us; it inscribes us. Furthermore, this new covenant ministry inscribes us not with concepts, knowledge, or theology, but with an essence, with something real and substantial…. Through the new covenant ministry Christ has been inscribed into us. A divine essence has been written into our being, and this essence is the Spirit. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 216-217)
Today’s Reading
The Spirit is the anointing Spirit and the sealing Spirit. This Spirit is also in our hearts as a pledge, a foretaste (2 Cor. 1:21-22)…. In chapter 3 there are five aspects of this subjective Spirit. First, He is the writing Spirit (v. 3); then He is the life-giving Spirit (v. 6). He is also the ministering Spirit, who always ministers something of Christ into us (v. 8). He is the liberating Spirit (v. 17) to liberate us from all the things that bind us. He liberates us from the bondage of doctrines, the letter, the written codes and regulations. He delivers us by taking away all the veils so that we can behold and reflect Christ with an unveiled face. Then He is the transforming Spirit [v. 18]. This wonderful Spirit transmits all the riches of Christ with the fullness of the Father into us. (CWWL, 1969, vol. 1, “The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church,” p. 384)Objective righteousness is Christ as God’s righteousness given to us to be our righteousness, and this righteousness erases God’s righteous judgment on us, the sinners. Adam brought judgment to us through sin. Christ as righteousness erases this judgment. Judgment comes from sin, but righteousness comes from grace. Grace is also Christ. It is God in the Son to be enjoyed by us. Objective righteousness issues in grace, and grace issues in subjective righteousness. Eventually, all three—objective righteousness, grace, and subjective righteousness—are Christ Himself. Objective righteousness is Christ given to us, grace is Christ enjoyed by us, and subjective righteousness is Christ lived out of us. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” p. 264)
[In Revelation 19:8] the word righteousnesses refers to Christ as our subjective righteousness, Christ lived out of us. The righteousness (Christ) that we received for our salvation (1 Cor. 1:30) is objective and enables us to meet the requirement of the righteous God, whereas the righteousnesses of the overcoming believers are subjective (Phil. 3:9) and enable them to meet the requirement of the overcoming Christ. If we would have these righteousnesses, we must have Christ Himself lived out of us to be our subjective righteousnesses. (Life-study of the Psalms, pp. 265-266)
Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 25-29; CWWL, 1969, vol. 1, “The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church,” chs. 8-9