Having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of our salvation, we believed into Christ and now are entrusted with the gospel to speak to others the living word of God for them to receive Christ as their Savior and life.
The gospel we have been given has a solid, firm, and unshakable foundation: it stands not only on God’s love and grace (which can change) but on God’s righteousness. Because of God’s righteousness, which is the foundation of His throne, our salvation is secure and the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
Furthermore, based on the righteousness of God, we are justified by God simply by faith in Christ: we don’t need to DO many things to “redeem ourselves” or “appease God”, we simply need to believe into the Lord Jesus, and we are forgiven of our sins, washed, cleansed, and brought into God’s organic salvation to enjoy all the riches of His life. Amen, we are those believing into Christ!
The procedure of God’s salvation judicially is His righteousness, and the purpose of God’s salvation organically is the life of Christ (Rom. 8:10).
Why did Christ pay the ultimate sacrifice on the cross? It is so that we may be justified by God and receive the life of Christ, having an unshakable foundation for our salvation in the righteousness of God so that we may have the full enjoyment of God in Christ as our life.
Hallelujah, Christ’s saving life is now in us operating continually to accomplish the organic goal of God’s salvation in many ways through regenerating us, renewing us, sanctifying us, transforming us, conforming us to Christ’s image, glorifying us, causing us to reign, and building us up in the Body of Christ with all the saints.
God in Christ as the Spirit is in us as the living, operating, saving, renewing, sanctifying, transforming, conforming, glorifying, and building up divine life waiting for our cooperation to operate in us for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Hallelujah!
On the one hand we have the righteousness of God as the procedure of God’s salvation, on the other hand we have the life of Christ as the purpose of God’s salvation, and finally we have the faith of the believers, which is the substantiation of God’s salvation practically.
Our Believing into Christ is our Appreciation of Him as a Reaction to His Attraction
The righteousness of God (the procedure of God’s salvation) and the life of Christ (the purpose of God’s salvation) are spiritual facts, which to us as human beings may be quite abstract; however, there’s a third element: the faith of the believers, which is the substantiation of God’s salvation practically. Without such a substantiation, the life of God and the righteousness of God can be a doctrine to us but not something real.
As Christians, we are believers in Christ: we are those who believe into Christ, having FAITH as our banner, and calling ourselves the household of faith. All the spiritual realities and facts in the Bible can be substantiated by us through faith – not through our intelligent mind but through our believing ability.
However, the faith of the believers is actually not their own faith but Christ Himself entering into them to be their faith (see Rom. 1:12; 3:22). No one can say that he has faith from himself, and no one who tries really hard to believe will actually believe.
Faith doesn’t come from man: the source of faith is God Himself, and faith is of Jesus Christ.
[In Romans 3:22] faith refers to the faith of Jesus Christ in us, which has become the faith by which we believe in Him….Faith has an object, and it issues from its object. This object is Jesus, who is God incarnate. When man hears Him, knows Him, appreciates Him, and treasures Him, He causes faith to be generated in man, enabling man to believe in Him. Thus, He becomes the faith in man by which man believes in Him. Hence, this faith becomes the faith in Him, and it is also the faith that belongs to Him. (Rom. 3:22, footnote 1, Recovery Version Bible)
Our believing into Christ is actually our appreciation of Him as a reaction to His attraction (see Rom. 10:17; Heb. 12:1-2; Acts 14:27).
Some believers pray, Lord, I must believe, strengthen my faith, I do my all to believe… – as if they try to muster up faith. No, faith is a reaction to the Lord’s attraction, and all we have to do is to open to the Lord, come to the word of God, be under the hearing of the faith, and Christ will be infused into us to become our believing ability, the faith within us.
Just as a camera takes the scenery in front of it and imprints it subjectively on the film or memory card, so we can substantiate the wonderful Christ with His salvation by faith, thus He becoming subjective to us.
As we hear the word of God, we need to “open the shutter” (remove any veils or obstacles between us and the Lord), “clear up the lens” (apply the Lord’s blood to any sin or spot in our conscience), and not “close the camera” but “click” (not close ourselves but say Amen to His word) and He will be infused into us, we will have a reaction, and we will spontaneously believe!
When we hear the word of God, Christ as the Spirit accompanies His word and comes inside of us to operate in us; we repent, appreciate such a One, and something within us rises up as faith, our believing ability.
The way to have more faith is to be under the speaking of the word of God more with an open heart, so that there would be “click after click” – reaction after reaction to His attraction, and we are infused with faith.
The story of our faith is not us forcing ourselves to believe but having Christ infused into us again and again to become our faith. The more we see Christ, the more we appreciate Him and treasure Him, and it is because of our appreciation and love for this Christ that He comes into us to be the faith in us.
Lord Jesus, we admit that in ourselves we cannot believe into You neither can’t we produce faith from ourselves. Lord, shine on us, speak to us, and keep us open to You so that we may be infused with You as our believing ability. Oh Lord, our faith is not our own but Christ Himself entering into us to be our faith – amen, infuse us with Yourself much more today! Show us Your beauty, Your loveliness, and Your preciousness so that we may have appreciate You and have faith rise in us as a reaction to Your attraction! Hallelujah, we are those believing into Christ!
Coming to the Living Word in the Written Word to have the Applied Word of Faith to us
How can we have faith? Faith comes through the hearing of the word of God, and the hearing of the word comes through the preaching of the gospel.
When we heard the gospel and realized that Christ as the Son of God loved us, became a man, died for us, and now is the Spirit ready to come into us, we are infused with faith and we believe into Him, being full of appreciation for this wonderful Person as those believing into Christ.
Faith comes from hearing the word of God; faith is not an empty hope – it hinges on the word of God (see Rom. 10:17). There are three aspects of the word of God: first, there’s the written word of God, the Bible, God’s speaking written down and given to us (John 10:35); second, there’s the living word of God, which is Christ Himself (John 1:1); third, there’s the applied word of God, which is the Spirit (Eph. 6:17; John 6:63).
When we come to the living word of God (Christ) in the written word of God (the Bible), He becomes the applied word (the Spirit) of faith to us to us (see Rom. 10:8, 17; Gal. 3:2; Heb. 3:12).
Praise God for the written word of God, the Bible in our hands; the Bible is the book of books, conveying the word of God and lasting throughout the ages in all the mess and evil things around in the world. One day Christ Himself, God incarnated, came to the earth; He is the incarnated word of God to bring the word of God to man.
Christ as the living word of God explained, expounded, expressed, and defined God. Now Christ as the living word of God is embodied in His word, and when we hear the word of Christ, this word becomes right away the Spirit, the applied word, to generate faith in our being.
This is a process of faith: as we read the written word of God, we receive the living word of God which becomes the applied word of God to us. When we hear Christ, know Him, appreciate Him, and treasure Him, He causes faith to be generated in us, becoming the faith in us that enables us to believe in Him (see Heb. 12:2; Rom. 10:17; Gal. 3:2, 5; 5:6).
We need to daily come to the living word of God (Christ Himself) in His written word (the Bible) with the exercise of our spirit, and He will become the applied word of God (the Spirit) to be the faith in us.
If we need “more faith” we simply need to come to the Lord in His word, and He as the living word of God will be applied to us to be the Spirit, enabling us to believe into Him and thus be organically joined to Him. It is in this organic union by faith in the Lord that we enjoy all the riches of His life and His organic salvation is being applied to us.
Lord Jesus, thank You for the Bible, the written word of God conveying God and His purpose to us. We want to come to the living word (Christ) in the written word (the Bible) so that You would become the applied word (the Spirit) of faith to us. Oh Lord, keep us under the hearing of the faith, under the speaking and reading and hearing of the word of God so that we may be infused with faith! We want to hear Christ so that we may know Him, appreciate Him, and treasure Him and so that faith would be generated in us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, brother James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans, msgs. 7-8 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Gospel (2016 International Chinese-speaking Conference), week 3 / msg. 3, The Structure of the Gospel of God—the Righteousness of God, the Life of Christ, and the Faith of the Believers.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic:
# What glory! How attractive was this light! / How we appreciated such a sight! / Our first reaction was belief in Him— / This precious God has placed Himself within. (Hymns #1202)
# I couldn’t, Lord, believe, / But, Lord, You still appeared. / Your life in me conceived, / Dear Lord, I now believe. / You called not being as being / In me conceiving. / Your life transfusing, / I’m now reacting. (Song on believing into Christ)
# The Spirit is but Christ Himself, / He is the Lord applied / To generate the men of earth, / Transform them as His Bride. / The living Word is Jesus too, / God-breathed as life to us, / That we be wholly sanctified, / A Bride all-glorious. (Hymns #1228)
About aGodMan
The Bible is the written word, and Christ is the living word. Without the Spirit, however, the living word cannot be applied to us. The living word becomes the applied word through the Spirit. God has only one kind of word. First, He spoke, and what He spoke was written in a book. That is the Bible. There is only one book that is the word of God. The term Bible means “the book.” The Bible is the book of books. What a mercy and what a wonder that in human history such a book has been produced—the word of God! The world today is a mess. So many bad things are reported in today’s newspapers. Suppose the Bible were taken away from mankind. I do not think that mankind could exist without the word of God. (Witness Lee, Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans, pp. 69-70, 83)
Lord, everything that we are, everything is through You and in You. You are our everything. You are our faith! The more we eat you the stronger the faith in us! Nourish us Lord this morning fill our being with your being so we can walk today in faith!