CHRIST IS ALL AND IN ALL FOR THE CHURCH AS THE NEW MAN

Message Two

The Subjective Christ

Scripture Reading: John 1:14; 14:16-17, 20; 15:4-5; Gal. 1:15-16; 2:20; 4:19; Col. 1:27; Eph. 3:17b; Col. 1:9, 12; 3:4, 10-11

I. All the truths in the Scriptures have two aspects—objective aspect and the subjective aspect: (Life-study of Luke, msg. 70)

A. The objective side is the base. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “The Centrality and Universality of Christ,” ch. 2)

B. The all-inclusive Christ is more subjective than objective to us. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “The Centrality and Universality of Christ,” ch. 2)

II. Some key verses on the subjective Christ:

A. “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.”—John 1:14.

B. “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality… you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.”—14:16-17.

C. “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”—14:20.

D. “Abide in Me and I in you…I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him…”—15:4-5.

E. “But when it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me.”—Gal. 1:15-16.

F. “…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me…”—2:20.

G. “My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.”—4:19.

H. “To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”—Col. 1:27.

I. “That Christ may make His home in your hearts…”—Eph. 3:17.

III. The will of God is that the all-inclusive, extensive Christ be our portion—Col. 1:9, 12: (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 55)

A. In Colossians 1:9 God’s will refers to Christ; the will of God is profound in relation to our knowing, experiencing, and living of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ. （Life-study of Colossians， msg. 3）

B. God’s will is that we know Christ, experience Christ, enjoy Christ, be saturated with Christ, and have Christ become our life and person—3:4. （Life-study of Colossians, msg.3）

C. The allotted portion in Colossians 1:12 refers to the lot of the inheritance, as illustrated by the allotment of the good land of Canaan given to the children of Israel as their inheritance—Josh. 14:1; cf. Gen. 13:14-15, 17; 1 Chron. 4:9-10. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Incarnation, Inclusion, and Intensification,” ch. 3)

D. The New Testament believers’ allotted portion is not a physical land; it is the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit—Col. 2:6-7; Gal. 3:14; 5:16; Rom. 8:4: （Life-study of 2 Peter, msg. 1）

1. The riches of the good land typify the unsearchable riches of Christ in different aspects as the bountiful supply to His believers in His Spirit—Deut. 8:7-10; Eph. 3:8; Phil. 1:19. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 2, “Enjoying Christ as the Spirit and Caring for the Oneness and Increase of the Body of Christ,” ch. 5)

2. By enjoying the riches of the land, the believers in Christ are built up to be Christ’s Body as the house of God and the kingdom of God—Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15; Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 50)

IV. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ dwells in us as our hope of glory—Col. 1:27: (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Crucial Principles for the Proper Church Life,” ch. 2)

A. We worship the enthroned Christ in the heavens, but we experience, enjoy, and partake of the indwelling Christ in our spirit; we are one with Him in a very subjective way—3:1; 1:27; 1 Cor. 6:17. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 51)

B. The Christ who indwells us is not a small, limited Christ but the all-inclusive, extensive Christ— Col. 1:15-16, 18-19. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 36)

V. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is our life—Col. 3:4: (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 55)

A. The expression our life is a strong indication that we are to experience the all-inclusive Christ, the One who is the reality of every positive thing—2:16-17. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 37)

B. The extensive Christ has become our life; universally, He is extensive, but in our experience, He is our life, our being. （Life-study of Colossians，msg. 45）

C. Because Christ is our life, all He has and all he has attained and obtained become subjective to us— Rom. 8:34, 10. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 39)

VI. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the unique constituent of the one new man—Col. 3:10-11: (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “The Recovery of Christ as Everything in the Church,” ch. 7)

A. The content of the church as the new man is Christ alone; in the new man there is room only for Christ, for He is everyone and in everyone. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 9)

B. In the church as the new man we are in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ, and we subsist together in Christ to be God’s expression in Christ—1:16-17. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 10)

C. God’s ultimate goal in His economy is to gain the new man constituted with the all-inclusive, extensive Christ—Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “Crucial Aspects of God’s New Testament Economy Missed in Today’s Christianity,” ch. 1)

VII. We need to be infused, saturated, and permeated with the all-inclusive, extensive Christ until in our experience He is everything to us—1:27; 2:16-17; 3:4, 10-11: (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 1)

A. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is in us, but we need to see Him, know Him, be filled with Him, be saturated with Him, and be absolutely one with Him. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 9)

B. We should allow the all-inclusive, extensive Christ to fill our whole being and to replace our culture with Himself—Eph. 3:17a; Col. 3:10-11: (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 49)

1. The more Christ replaces our natural life and culture with Himself, the more we will be able to declare, “To live is Christ”; to us to live will be the Christ who takes full possession of us, occupies us, and fills us with Himself—Phil. 1:21a. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 49)

2. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ desires to replace every element of our natural life and culture with Himself so that we may be the one new man as His corporate expression. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 49)