Part 15 of 25

The Seeded Secret

Many people suppose that they will be saved or lost according to how good or bad we have been. This of course is not so. It is not a question of how good or bad we have been, but of whether or not we have sinned. We have all sinned because of the fallen nature that entered humanity by Adam’s sin in the Garden. Thus, all of us come into this world hopelessly lost in sin. Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Our own sins are reflective of the Sin infection we received as the offspring of Adam. A man need commit only one robbery to be a robber, burn only one house to be an arsonist, kill only one human being to be a murderer - and commit only one sin to be a sinner. This is why the Word of God says that all are sinners. Here in James 2:10 we see our hopeless state. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” All humans are guilty and separated from God. Only God can bridge the gap for us.

A chain is no stronger than its weakest link. If one link in a chain will hold one hundred pounds, another fifty, and another ten, the chain as a whole will hold ten pounds, no more. Humans all have a weak link - they all sin and thus they all fail the righteous standard of God. How wonderful to know that in grace “Christ died for our sins” and that by simple faith in Him we may be saved and fully justified before God (Rom 5:6, 8, 10).

The born-again Christian needs to learn that the above principle of the weakest link is just as true of them as it is of the unbeliever. None of us is any stronger than his weakest point. Frightening, isn't it, especially when we consider that Satan constantly attacks us at our weakest point. Here is where the believer can rejoice that “the Spirit ...helpeth our infirmities” (Rom. 8:26). The operation of “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” dwells within every believer to guide and help us, so that we need not fail (Rom. 8:11, 12).

Romans 8:2 For the law (the normal operation) of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law (the operation) of sin and death.

Yes, I am already free from the power of Sin. But this does not mean, however, that Christ will just take control of me without being relied upon. What God provides by grace and we must appropriate by faith. Thereby, “God is able to make him stand” (Rom. 14:4).

We must learn to turn from self-reliance to rely upon His indwelling “Spirit of life.”

When we were saved it is likely that nobody told us the two crucial and even deeper aspects of what I call the “seeded secret.” Paul called the gospel related to “the mystery (secret) which hath been hid from ages and generations” ( Col 1:26). Paul says his mystery gospel was preserved, therefore it was NOT prophesied; rather it was “kept secret since the world began” (Rom16:25).

The secret was not that Jesus would come and suffer and die; that was fully prophesied, but that the resurrected Christ-Seed (1Pet 1:23, Gal 3:16b) would come and live within human Gentile believers. This secret is the key to the construct of believers becoming “the body of Christ,” which is called “the Church” (Eph 1:22b-23a).

The seeded secret goes yet further to entail all that Christ brought to man in reality. The deposit of Christ’s seed in us includes two key elements that may be seen in this verse.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me… (Gal 2:20a)

1.) We see the believer’s termination by the phrase “I am crucified.” This speaks of the believer’s death as the Old Man, who died with and in Christ on the cross. (See Romans 6:6a).

2.) We also see the believer’s germination to new life by the phrase “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” This speaks of the believer having new life by Christ’s resurrection life indwelling the believer’s spirit as their new and eternal life.

Our “full salvation” is better understood by coming to see that the literal life of Christ is birthed into our human spirit, and that He desires to flow His life to through our yielded soul. Thereby a man becomes a partaker of Christ’s divine life and nature (2Pet 1:4) in his soul, as well as in his spirit.

This is the enlargement of our sanctification; spreading from our spirit to our soul. This is beyond being reconciled to God in Christ. It is what Paul means to be “saved” as spoken here in Rom 5:10 “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. The Greek for “saved” here is “sozo,” meaning “completed.” Our completion begins by first by partaking of Christ’s divine life and nature in our spirit at salvation – spirit to spirit (John 3:6a). At that moment Christ became one with our spirit (1Cor 6:17). Now He desires and is working in our lives to flow His life into our freely yielded soul.

This is also the kind of salvation Paul references when he says the believer is to “work out your own salvation.” Some think this is man’s work but if we read the context of Philip 3:12-13 in the Amplified Bible we will see that it is God’s work in you - “[NOT in your own strength] for IT IS GOD WHO IS ALL THE WHILE EFFECTUALLY AT WORK IN YOU”

Philippians 2:12-13 (AMP) Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).

¹³ [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.

It is by regeneration in our spirit that we’ve already received everything that Christ is to us, including peace. Christ does not give peace; “Christ Himself is made unto us peace, rest, wisdom, and sanctification (holiness)” (1Cor 1:30). He Himself, as peace, indwells our spirit.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me (in union with me) ye might (may) have peace (Greek. eirene, meaning “rest”). In the world ye shall (will) have tribulation (Gk. thlipsis – “pressure”)” (John 16:33).

We enjoy Christ as our peace and rest by abiding, not in the world, but in Him who is always there, abiding in our spirit. The “ye,” in John 16:33 above, which is called to abide in Him is the “ye” of our soul-self, our self. We have a part in living by His life, we are called to abide in our inherent union we have with Him in our spirit. Thus our soul self is called to “walk in the spirit,” that is to remain in union with Him and subservient to Him in our spirit.

Since Christ now indwells the believer’s spirit (2Tim 4:22, Rom 8:8-9) and Paul says Christ is “all” (Col 3:11b), then the believer has no need of anything more. In the light of these facts one might ask, “So then, why don’t I live overcomingly, with His peace and rest?”

An admission of recognized failure to live overcomingly with rest and peace is necessary and usually produced by the situation we may be suffering; it is “good” for us. It is good because the suffering exposes us and revealed to us the gap between our rock solid “standing” or position “in Christ,” and that of our present feeble “state of being.” Recognizing the failure of “our way” is a necessary Christian crisis and a blessed realization that we must have if we are to let go of self-reliance and choose to live by relying upon His love, grace, and life within us.