Outline

«　WEEK 1　DAY 6　»

　　Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

　　In the New Testament the believers are also designated as Christians [Acts 11:26; 26:28]…In 11:26 Christian is a term of reproach. That the disciples in Antioch were given such a nickname as a term of reproach indicates that they must have borne a strong testimony for the Lord, a testimony that made them distinct and peculiar in the eyes of the unbelievers. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1146-1147)

　　The designation Christian is used again in 1 Peter 4:16, where it denotes those who are adherents of Christ, bearing His reproach. The context of this verse concerns sharing the sufferings of Christ [v. 14a]…”In the name of Christ” is actually in the person of Christ, in Christ Himself, because the name denotes the person. The believers, having believed into Christ (John 3:15) and having been baptized into His name (Acts 19:5), that is, into Himself (Gal. 3:27), are in Christ (1 Cor. 1:30) and one with Him (6:17). When they are reproached in His name, they are reproached with Him, sharing His sufferings. After speaking of being reproached in the name of Christ, Peter goes on to say in 1 Peter 4:16 that if a believer suffers “as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name.”

　　Whereas in the time of Peter and Paul Christian was a term of reproach, today it should bear a positive significance, that is, a man of Christ, one who is one with Christ, not only belonging to Him but having His life and nature in an organic union with Him, and who is living by Him, even living Him, in his daily life. If we suffer for being such a person, we should not feel ashamed, but be bold to magnify Christ in our confession by our holy and excellent manner of life to glorify, express, God in this name.

　　When we believed in Christ, an organic union took place between us and Him. By believing in Christ, we believed into Him and thereby became one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). This is what we mean by the expression organic union. Our organic union with Christ also involves our being baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:27). God’s intention in His economy is to put us into Him and to come into us and live in us. Therefore, to be baptized into Christ is to enter into an organic union with the embodiment of the Triune God, which is able to transform our whole being. Now as Christians, those who are of Christ and are one with Him, we need to live by Him, and even live Him, in our daily life…If we are living by Christ, we are still doing the living. To live Christ means that Christ is our life (Col. 3:4). When we live, He lives. When He lives, we live.

　　The central thought in the Bible is that Christ must be our life and that we must live Him as our living. The goal of being a Christian is to live Christ. Furthermore, the destiny God has ordained for us in His economy is that we live Christ. God’s economy is to dispense Himself into us and to work Himself into us that we may take Christ as our life and life supply in order to live Him. God’s desire is that we live Christ…Christ is to be our life, our daily walk, our everything.

　　In Galatians 2:20 Paul declared, “Christ…lives in me.” Paul could say not only that Christ lived in him, but also that to him to live was Christ [Phil. 1:21]. On the one hand, Christ lived in Paul; on the other hand, Paul lived Christ. Inwardly Christ was Paul’s life, and outwardly Christ was Paul’s living. Paul and Christ thus had one life and one living. Christ’s life was Paul’s life, and Paul’s living was Christ’s living. The two, Christ and Paul, lived as one…The organic union that has taken place between us and Christ causes us to be so close and intimate with Him that we are even one spirit with Him [1 Cor. 6:17]. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1147-1150)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Knowledge of Life,” ch. 14; Life-study of Philippians, msg. 29