Outline
Ⅱ
If we would minister life, we need to know, experience, and gain God as the God of resurrection—Rom. 4:17; 2 Cor. 1:9; John 11:25:
A
God is working through the cross to terminate us, to bring us to an end, so that we will no longer trust in ourselves but in the God of resurrection—2 Cor. 1:9.
B
When the God of resurrection works in us, His life and nature are wrought into us—4:16.
C
The killing of the cross results in the manifestation of resurrection life—vv. 10-12:
１
The putting to death of Jesus destroys the natural man, the outer man, and the flesh, with the result that the inner man is given the opportunity to develop and be renewed to live out the resurrection life—v. 16.
２
All the work that the Lord is doing on us is to destroy our outer, natural man so that we can live out the life of Christ from within us; this is the deepest thought in the New Testament concerning the life of a Christian—John 12:24-26; Phil. 1:21a.
３
Remaining in the death of Christ and being conformed to His death is a profound principle of the Christian life—Rom. 6:4-5; Phil. 3:10:
ａ
When we remain in the death of Christ, we experience the power of Christ’s resurrection—vv. 10-11; Rom. 8:11; 2 Cor. 1:8-10; 4:14.
ｂ
The more we die with Christ in this way, the more His resurrection power will be manifested in us and the more we will be able to minister life to the Body of Christ—John 11:25.
４
Our natural strength and ability need to be dealt with by the cross so that they may become useful in resurrection for the ministry of life—Phil. 3:3.
D
The budding, blossoming, fruit-yielding rod signifies the resurrection life of Christ for us to minister life to the Body—Num. 17:8.
Morning Nourishment
2 Cor. 4:10-12 Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 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.After Paul told us that he and his co-workers were so burdened that they despaired even of living, he said, “Indeed we ourselves had the response of death in ourselves, that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9). When the apostles were under the pressure of affliction, despairing even of living, they might have asked themselves what the issue of their suffering would be. The answer or response was “death.” The experience of death, however, ushers us into the experience of resurrection. Resurrection is the very God who resurrects the dead (John 11:25). The working of the cross terminates our self so that we may experience God in resurrection. The experience of the cross always issues in the enjoyment of the God of resurrection. Such experience produces and forms the ministry (2 Cor. 1:4-6). (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” p. 139)
Today’s Reading
Paul’s word shows us that we need to be terminated. We need to be brought to an end. Then we will learn not to trust in ourselves but in God. For us to say that we need to trust in God and not in ourselves is easy, but to be wrought through in this matter needs a certain amount of experience… We may trust so much in our spiritual attainment, but even that has to be terminated.When the cross has been working through us, this working brings in resurrection. Therefore, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 says that God has anointed us, has sealed us, and has given us the pledge, the foretaste, of the Spirit. If we are going to minister something of Christ to others, we have to experience Christ by the working of the cross, and the working of the cross is for the anointing, the sealing, and the pledge of the Spirit. The ministry comes out of this experience. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” pp. 139-140)
In 2 Corinthians 4:8 Paul says, “We are pressed on every side but not constricted; unable to find a way out but not utterly without a way out.” The Greek word rendered “pressed on every side” can also be translated “afflicted”…This description of the apostles’ life…shows that they lived a crucified life in resurrection, or the resurrection life under the killing of the cross, for the carrying out of their ministry.
The putting to death [v. 10]…means the killing, the deadening, referring to the working of death, the working of the cross, which the Lord Jesus suffered and endured. When the Lord was on earth, He was daily under the killing. The apostles [also] experienced this killing work “that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”…This daily killing is for the release of the divine life in resurrection. The life in verse 10 is the resurrection life, which the Lord Jesus lived and expressed through the working of the cross.
The continual daily grinding works for a specific purpose: that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. This life is resurrection life. The Lord Jesus lived resurrection life even before He was crucified. The life He lived on earth was a life of resurrection. This resurrection life is a life that can withstand being put to death.
When we are under the killing of the Lord’s death, His resurrection life is imparted through us into others. The impartation of life into others is always the issue of our suffering the killing of the cross. In verse 12 Paul seems to be saying, “We are dying, but you Corinthians are being made alive. Our dying infuses life into you and makes you alive. For us it is a matter of being put to death; for you it is a matter of the impartation of life.” (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 91-93)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1980, vol. 2, “The Mending Ministry of John,” ch. 11