Scripture Reading: Col. 1:13; Phil. 1:8; Col. 3:12; Philem. 7, 12, 20; Rom. 12:15; 1 Cor. 12:25-26
Ⅰ
The Father delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love—Col. 1:13:
A
The authority of darkness denotes the authority of Satan—Acts 26:18:
１
Darkness is Satan as death; thus, to be delivered out of the authority of darkness is to be delivered from the devil, who has the might of death— Heb. 2:14; John 17:15.
２
We have been delivered from the devil, Satan, by the death of Christ and by the life of Christ in resurrection—Col. 1:13; 2:14-15; John 5:24.
３
Whenever we are in the natural man or live in the self, we are under the control of the authority of darkness; the only thing we can do is go to the cross and allow the cross to deal with every aspect of the satanic authority of darkness—Matt. 16:24; Col. 3:5-9.
B
The kingdom of the Son is the authority of Christ—Rev. 11:15; 12:10:
１
The Son of God is the embodiment and expression of the divine life; hence, the kingdom of the Son is a realm of life—1 John 5:11-12; John 1:4.
２
The kingdom into which we have been transferred is the kingdom of the Son of God's love; this realm of life is in love, not in fear—Col. 1:13.
３
The kingdom in which we find ourselves today is a realm full of life, light, and love—1 Pet. 2:9.
４
The Son of the Father is the expression of the Father as the source of life— John 1:18, 4; 1 John 1:2:
ａ
The Son of the Father's love is the embodiment of life to us in the divine love with the authority in resurrection so that we may be in His kingdom as a realm of delight—Matt. 3:17.
ｂ
The Son, as the embodiment of the divine life, is the object of the Father's love—17:5:
⑴
The divine life embodied in the Son is given to us in the divine love.
⑵
The object of the divine love becomes to us the embodiment of life in the divine love with the authority in resurrection; this is the king-dom of the Son of the Father's love.
５
To be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love is to be transferred into the Son, who is life to us—1 John 5:12:
ａ
The Son in resurrection is now the life-giving Spirit, and He rules us in His resurrection life with love—1 Pet. 1:3; Rom. 6:4-5; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
ｂ
When we live by the Son as our life in resurrection, we are living in His kingdom, enjoying Him in the Father's love; here we have the church life—Col. 3:4; John 6:57.
ｃ
Because the Father delights in His Son, the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love is a pleasant thing, a matter of delight—Matt. 3:17; 17:5.
ｄ
The church life today is the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love, which is as delightful to God the Father as the Son of God is.
Ⅱ
We may live a church life in the inward parts of Christ Jesus—Phil. 1:8:
A
As a man, the Lord Jesus had the human inward parts with their various func-tions; Christ's experiences in His inward parts were His experiences in His mind, emotion, will, soul, heart, and spirit, including His love, desire, feeling, thought, decision, motive, and intention—Luke 2:49; John 2:17; Matt. 26:39; Isa. 53:11; 42:4; Mark 2:8.
B
Paul was a person who continually experienced Christ in His inward parts; Paul did not keep his own inward parts but took Christ's inward parts as his; Paul's inward being was reconstituted with the inward parts of Christ—Phil. 2:5; 1 Cor. 2:16b; Rom. 8:6.
C
To live Christ requires that we remain in the inward parts of Christ—Phil. 1:21a, 8:
１
Paul experienced the inward parts of Christ; he was one with Christ in His inward parts in longing after the saints—v. 8.
２
If we would be those who are in Christ, we must be in His inward parts, in His tender and delicate feelings—John 15:4a.
３
To live Christ is to abide in His inward parts and there to enjoy Him as grace—Phil. 1:7; 4:23.
D
In the book of Philemon we have a picture of the church life in the inward parts of Christ Jesus—vv. 7, 12, 20:
１
The inward parts signify inward affection, tenderheartedness, and compas-sions—Phil. 1:8; 2:1; Col. 3:12.
２
Paul's inward affection and compassions went with Onesimus to Philemon— Philem. 12.
E
The books of Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon reveal that Paul lived in the reality of the Body of Christ by taking Christ's feeling as his own feeling; Christ's feeling for the Body became his feeling for the Body:
１
Paul took the inward parts of Christ Jesus as his own inward parts in caring for the Body of Christ—Phil. 1:8; Col. 3:12; Philem. 7, 12, 20.
２
Like Paul, we should take the feeling of the Head as our own feeling; this is most necessary for our living the Body life—Phil. 2:1; Col. 3:12.
３
Since we are members of the Body of Christ, we need to have the conscious-ness of the Body and have a feeling for the Body by living in the inward parts of Christ Jesus, thereby living a church life in the inward parts of Christ Jesus—1 Cor. 12:25-26; Rom. 12:15; Phil. 1:8.