Christ, The Life
By Arthur J. Licursi
1
John 5:11-12 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son. 12He
that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life.
So many Christians are distracted
by the religious teachings and traditions they have heard. They believe
they need to imitate Christ, but on that basis they miss the most crucial
and critical point of it all. The issue is LIFE, Christ’s
life in the believer. The issue is Christ as real life in the
believer (Col 1:27). The issue for the Christian is to receive genuine
life, and to come to know intimately by experience, to trust and abide in
the one who is the life, the real life, the Zoë
life, the eternal spirit of life Himself – Jesus Christ, the One who
became the life-giving Spirit of Life (2Cor 3:17, 1Cor
15:45b, Rom 8:2). Christ is the bearer of the Father’s life in seed form
(1Pet 1:23, Gal 3:16).
What about expressing Him, as a
Christian? Some ask, “What will the Christian life look like?” It is
in our trusting Him who is our life, that Christ will
spontaneously be manifested, as He wills. After all, “as He
is, so are we in the world” (1John 4:17). Do you see it? We are
as He is. So many Christians are concerned as to how they appear to
the world. Actually, its none of our business what we look like, so long
as we remain in our union with Him who is our life. The issue for
us is not appearances, but rather it is to live our daily life
according to the indwelling Life. Every kind of life has it nature,
whether of a dog, cat, lion, or Christ’s life. The nature of a life will
automatically be expressed. We, as a self, automatically express Him as we
remain in union with Him, by abiding in Him.
"I
am … the Life"
In
the Gospel of John, Jesus Himself is quoted saying, "I
am … life" many times, as the light of life, the bread of life,
the water of life and simply "the life" (John
11:25). His "I am" was
always related to Himself as who He is as life. The word “life”
in Greek is "Zoë",
for "God’s life" which is spirit (John 4:24). He is the one
source and the sustainer of life for man, to be in man as man’s eternal
life to be gained in this day while we are on earth.
In
the synoptic gospels we see the record of things that Jesus of Nazareth
did. In the Gospel of John we see who Jesus is - Life. In
John we see that the things He did were all "signs" of
life coming out of death. This is most clearly seen in Jesus’ brief
parable of Himself as a grain of wheat going into the ground to die, to
produce us, the many more grains, which is of His life in us coming
out of His death.
Note
that "miracles"
in John 2:11, in Greek, is better transliterated as "signs".
All sickness may be seen as a degree of death. The remedy for death is His
life. These miracles in John are signs, all pointing to that which Jesus
was and is as the outflow of the Father’s fountain of Life (Psa. 36:9),
flowing to mankind. The Father gave the Son that we might have His eternal
life (John 3:16). The Father’s life is made available to via Christ as
the life-giver (1Cor 15:45b).
When
Jesus spoke in John 10:10 of coming to give life more abundant, He
was not speaking of improving our human life, physical situation, or
fallen nature in its ability to be good versus bad or to in any way
improve our self-life. Rather, it by His incarnation, death and
resurrection, that Jesus became "the life-giving spirit" (1Cor 15:45, Jn. 12:24), called
the “Spirit of Life” in Rom
8:2. Thus the Apostle Paul only wanted to know “Him crucified” (1Cor
2:2) and resurrected, as the life-giver. This process of death and
resurrection resulted in Jesus taking the form of the “Spirit
of life” (2Cor 3:17), in order to permit the deposit of Himself, as
Spirit, into our human spirit, as true life (Zechar.12: 1, Jn. 3:6, 1Jn.
5:11-12).
Religious
Confusion
It
easy for us to confuse “the acts of Jesus of Nazareth” (what He did)
with the resurrected Christ, whom He became (Act 2:36b), and whose prime
purpose in coming to earth was to become available to be the bearer of the
God-life to indwell man. Hence, we often find ourselves trying to emulate
that which Jesus of Nazareth did, in what we think may be a noble effort;
effort to gain the acceptance of and/or to please God – but this is the
essence of “doer religion”. None of us are called to imitate
Jesus' works. Christians should never ask, “What would Jesus do?”
This is because the core issue is not
what we do, but rather who He is (life) and who we are (alive) as the
rebirthed offspring of the Father, by Christ in us as the Father’s seed
of life (1Pet 1:23). He is our “new life” (Col. 3:4). Later some
Christians will go onto learn that He’s their “only life” (Gal
2:20).
We must ultimately come see
that some wonderful things of the Christian life, given by God Himself,
are not in themselves LIFE. Bible scripture, keeping
God’s commandments, abiding in religious doctrine and tradition, and
following Biblical principles (all of which may or may not be good) are NOT Life, because
they are not Christ who is our life. Only “the Spirit (of
Christ) giveth
life”(2Cor 3:6b). We do not seek to be good,
but rather we seek to live by His inherently righteous life.
Bible Scripture Is Not Life
Jesus
said in John 5:39-40 "(Ye)
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they
are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might
have life". So often we pursue the things of God but do not
abide, live by, or stay in union with the indwelling Son of God, who is
our very life. Many Christians confuse the precious scriptures with the
most precious "Word”,
which is Christ Himself (Jn 1:1, Rev. 19:3).
When
Jesus says that His words "are
spirit and life" He is speaking of Himself, the “Word”, which
in Greek is the “rhema”, meaning the instant, living, spontaneous
quickened word of His life, speaking by the Holy Spirit within our
spirit to quicken the word to us. The Scripture also may
likewise be quickened to be the word to us, as the Spirit wills. Thus the
"Word" is far greater than scripture, which may at one time be
“rhema” to us and at other time be mere ink on paper.
We must admit that every cult and
denominational division is built upon a collection of Bible scriptures.
Obviously then, scripture in itself is not always life – it must be
combined with the anointing of the Holy Spirit to be life to us. Thus
there is an element that we cannot control. Our Heavenly Father is the One
who controls revelation that we might gain by the spirit. Thus we see that
Apostle Paul praying for one thing consistently, “I
Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto
you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know
what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints,
Ephes. 1:16-18
When we come to the
scripture we should be seeking revelation of the One who is the living
Word and the real life in us.
Keeping the Law Does Not Yield Life
The
Apostle Paul said in Galatians 3:21b ":
for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the law." Remember the issue is
life. What we do cannot yield life - only who we are as
Christ-persons, by the life of Christ in us, is the life and able to yield
the fruit of that life. The "who’, which we genuinely are in
Christ, flows out that which is of Christ’s life. It is "our own
self-doing" that is a misuse of Christ’s life in us. What we do out
of our self-seeking effort can never gain, give or enhance Christ's life
in us - it only can flow out as death. Hence, many who are Bible thumping
legalistic Christians may well be right, but they are “dead right”
in their doing.
The
Apostle Paul said that our trying to keep the law actually results in our
inability to keep from sinning “…
the strength of sin is the law”
(1 Cor.
15:56) Our
efforts in Law-keeping also result in our spiritual death (Rom
5:20). “… for the letter killeth,
but the spirit giveth life.” (2 Cor. 3:6). Our self-effort to find,
serve and please God results in our being cut-off from our living
relationship; our communion with Christ as our life in our spirit is
cut-off (Gal. 5:4).
Grace
has replaced the law for all who are in Christ. “…
for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
Romans 6:14b
Religious Doctrine Does Not Yield Life
But, "He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he
hath both the Father and the Son."
(2 John 1:9b). Here, to abide in the doctrine (Gk. didasko, living
instruction) of Christ is to abide in or walk according to life of the
Father and the Son (1John 1:3), with His living, intimate, momentary,
spontaneous instruction within. We all hear, but few of us listen to the
sense of His prompting or restricting in our spirit where He dwells. Every
life has its own nature and spontaneous outflow of expression; dog’s
bark, bird’s fly, but Christians have the content of Christ’s life and
nature in them to be genuine Christ persons as He is (1Jn 4:17b, 2Pet
1:4). Doctrine, as found in the hierarchical church setting, is a creation
of men, seizing Scripture, mixed with their understanding of God, usually
to fit or accomplish a organizationally prescribed agenda (e.g.,
self-perpetuation, reputation, maintaining appearances). This explains why
there are so many varying doctrines and divisions among Christians, while
using the very same Scriptures. Man’s doctrine is something quite apart
from Christ who is the life within. Man’s doctrine at best, it is built
upon man’s interpretation of Scripture, not the living and speaking of
Christ within by the Spirit. Man’s doctrine and tradition places God in
a box, limiting man’s view of God, being built upon a static
(non-living) understanding, not allowing the living and limitless Christ
to flow out spontaneously from the believer. Thus, religion’s offerings
often prevent God’s children from growing in their knowledge
(experiential knowledge) of Christ, who lives and speaks within their
spirit.
Bible Principles Are Not Life
Many Christians site Psalm
103:7 “He made known
his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.” implying that they are wise like Moses, because they have
figured out how to apply and "use" God’s principles or ways.
This is not the life. God’s principles are actually laws, as gravity is
a genuine but lifeless law of God. This is quite apart from Christ as the
life in and to man. In the Old Testament God is outside of man, BUT in the
New Testament Christ come to dwell in man. Many Christians live their live
as an extension of Old Testament Judaism, which according to Paul has
nothing to do with those in Christ “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all,
and in all. (Col. 3:11)”. It is far better to know and live in Christ, by an
intimate, inward, experiential, spontaneous, intuitive knowing and
governing from within.
Any
knowledge that prompts us to do something, apart from the indwelling
Christ’s leading, is not a function of His life in us. Again, this is
why WWJD is anathema to the intimate walk that we are meant to have in
Christ. As we’ve seen, we can only "know about" the Jesus who
walked in Galilee, so imitation of Jesus is not the issue. We were no
doubt taught about Jesus in our past church experience, but such knowledge
is NOT an experience of Christ,
because it is of a Jesus who is historical and outside of us. In fact, the
only Christ we can experientially know is the Christ in us, since He is
the only one near at hand to be experienced, tasted and enjoyed.
Revelation
Knowledge
"And this is life eternal (God’s
life), that they might know (Gk. ginosko) thee
the only true God, and Jesus Christ" (John
17:3).
We
come to a fuller enjoyment and appreciation of this genuine “life” as
we by come to know God. To "know"
in this verse is "ginosko’, Greek for "coming to an
absolute knowledge by experience".
But
how can we come to know God? Consider this statement by Jesus of Nazareth.
“All
things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth
who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.” Luke
10:22
Thus
we see here that it is the
Son that reveals the Father.
Having come to know Christ’s life within our own
spirit, as our new life, enables to know God. After we come to know Christ
in us we then may soon come to know the Father as never before. The Son
reveals the Father to those whom He wills. Again, this is revelation that
cannot be controlled by man.
We
may read scripture and do good works till hell freezes, and yet not know
Christ within until He is revealed by the work of the Father by the Holy
Spirit. Thereby, Christ’s life becomes known and realized within us as
our life. Christ, the Son, makes the Father known to us (Luke 10:22).
Hence Paul spoke of his personal experience "when
it pleased God, ...To reveal His Son in me" (Gal. 1:16). My
prayer is that we also may have that very same and continuing revelation
of Christ and Our Father. <End>
