To Be One in Christ: We Have Treasure in the Jars of Clay (5)

To Be One in Christ: We Have Treasure in the Jars of Clay -- the Series of Explanation and Analysis of Scripture (5)

The Explanation and Analysis of Some of the Verses in GALANTIANS

Holy Spirit reveals Christ in us. What the Christians preach, is not laws and regulations, but is the Son of God -- Christ; not only to preach the doctrine of Christ, but also preach Christ of the resurrection.

We Christians have been crucified on the cross together with Christ. We no longer live, but Christ lives in us. In the experience of the Christians, firstly, one was crucified together with Christ; secondly, one comes to life together with Christ. Without the experience of being crucified together with Christ, there won’t be the experience to come to life together with Christ. “Deny oneself, and take up his cross daily,” is the knack of following LORD and walking on His road. The cross is the judgment by God. The judgment is that I should die. However, if I am not absolutely obedient to the judgment from God, I can never achieve “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Firstly, “I no longer live,”; secondly, “ but Christ lives in me.”. Whenever the old self is willing to give up the authority completely, Christ will start to work.

A Christian’s life starts after being reborn by the Holy Spirit and with the dwelling in of Holy Spirit. The beginning of a Christian’s life is by Holy Spirit; the continuance of a Christian’s life must also rely on Holy Spirit. In the beginning, one was reborn and got the new life by trusting in God; after that, one must also do what is good and righteous and become a saint by trusting in God and living in accordance to Holy Spirit.

All of us who were baptized into Christ have clothed ourselves with Christ. All of us have received the promised Holy Spirit. To be one in Christ, there is no worldly difference on the believers’ race, social positions and gender and so on.

The dwelling in of Holy Spirit enables us to commune with God closely so that we can have a close relationship with God in life.

In many Christians’ life, the new life of Christ is just as an egg before being hatched; there is life inside, but can’t see the shape of the chicken yet. When the cross works on a believer, makes him to take off the old self with its practices and put on the new self little by little, he will be more and more like LORD. That is, Christ is formed in us.

We Christians are reborn through faith in Christ Jesus according to the promise of God. The redemption by Christ has set us free in spirit from the yoke of slavery to sins and laws. With such blessings, We must stand firm in the freedom of Christ so that we won’t take again the yoke of slavery to sins that we used to have for a long time.

The way guaranteed to defeat the sinful nature is to live by Holy Spirit. However, this requires the attitude of willingness to suffer, the determination to deny oneself and carry the cross, and the efforts to break the jars of clay. We should live by the Spirit and produce the fruit of the Spirit, that is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Live a life according to the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit means that, Christ in us through the work of Holy Spirit are digested and absorbed by us; and turn into our own characters; this is called the fruit of the Spirit.

Between the world and LORD is the cross. Therefore, one must go through the cross to come to the side of LORD. Our attitude towards the world is picking up and carrying the cross. If one does not love the cross, he can not love God; if one does not boast about the cross, he can not win all the time. A new creation won’t look upon the written code outwardly, but the Spirit inwardly. In our life, whatever have not been through the test of the cross, belong to the old creation; whatever have been through the work of the cross, are part of the new creation.

It is edited and compiled under the guidance of Holy Spirit. All thanks, praises and glories be to God!

(GALANTIANS 1:16; 2:20; 3:2-3,14,26-29; 4:6,19,22-23,28-29,31; 5:1,16-26; 6:8-10,14-15)

GALANTIANS 1:16 “ (God was pleased) to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, ”

(NOTES)

“in me”:

shows that Paul not only saw Christ after the resurrection, but Christ (in the way of Holy Spirit) also entered his innermost being.

“I did not consult any man”:

This means that he did not consult any common and natural man. It indicates that he had complete certainty; God not only called him to preach the Gospel, but also gave him all the necessary knowledge and truth.

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) To reveal His Son -- Christ, is the joy and will of God.

(2) God are pleased to reveal His Son to us.

(3) God reveal His Son to us, in most of the time, not by the direct vision outwardly, but by the subjective understanding and sight inwardly.

(4) Preaching comes from the revelation; a preaching without revelation is in vain.

(5) What is preached, is not laws and regulations, but is the Son of God -- Christ; not only to preach the doctrine of Christ, but also preach Christ of the resurrection.

GALANTIANS 2:20 “ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ”

(NOTES)

This verse tells the mystery of “live by faith”:

(1) The faith in what? “faith in the Son of God”.

(2) Why has the faith? It is because “who (Christ) loved me and gave himself for me”.

(3) What is the result of the faith? From the passive aspect, the old selves “have been crucified with Christ”; from the positive aspect, the new self --“Christ lives in me.”

(4) What is the true meaning of living? “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) The word of “have been” shows that “we have been crucified with Christ” is a fact accomplished already in the past. When Christ was crucified on the cross, God had put us in Christ to die with him.

(2) The problem is that we might have not turned this objectively accomplished fact into our subjective experience.

(3) If we want to have the experience of being crucified with Christ on the cross, we must be desperate at ourselves first, and say “Amen” to the fact accomplished by God already.

(4) In the experience of the Christians, firstly, one was crucified together with Christ; secondly, one comes to life together with Christ. Without the experience of being crucified together, there won’t be the experience to come to life together.

(5) “deny himself, and take up his cross daily,” is the knack of following LORD and walking on His road (Luk 9:23).

(6) The cross is the judgment by God. The judgment is that I should die. However, if I am not absolutely obedient to the judgment from God, I can never achieve “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

(7) Firstly, “I no longer live,”; secondly, “ but Christ lives in me.”. Whenever the old self is willing to give up the authority completely, Christ will start to work.

(8) “live by faith in the Son of God”, implies that believing that the Son of God lives in us; believing LORD has been our life.

GALANTIANS 3:2 “ I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? ”

(NOTES)

“Did you receive the Spirit”:

The dwelling in of Holy Spirit might be sensed from the changes of the mood and life after believing in LORD.

“by believing what you heard?”:

They received Holy Spirit. It resulted from they heard the word of God through faith (Rom 10:14-17).

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

Holy Spirit is not granted to people based on their good characters, deeds or achievements; but on their faith in Gospel by the grace of God.

GALANTIANS 3:3 “ Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? ”

(NOTES)

“After beginning with the Spirit, ”:

refers to starting a Christian’s life after being reborn by the Holy Spirit and with the dwelling in of Holy Spirit.

“attain your goal by human effort? ”:

that is, depend on the body of themselves to restrain the sensual indulgence and to accomplish the work of a Christian. We should deny ourselves, let the worldly old self give up the authorities, live in accordance to Holy Spirit, let the Holy Spirit from Christ change our life completely, and let the life of Christ show from us.

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) The beginning of a Christian’s life is by Holy Spirit; the continuance of a Christian’s life must also rely on Holy Spirit. In the beginning, one was reborn and got the new life by trusting in God; after that, one must also do what is good and righteous and become a saint by trusting in God and living in accordance to Holy Spirit.

GALANTIANS 3:14 “ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. ”

(NOTES)

If we believe in the redemption by Christ Jesus, the curses will be away, and what we will receive are: (1) the blessing given to Abraham because of his righteousness through faith; (2) the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

GALANTIANS 3:26 “ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,”

(ORIGINAL MEANING)

“sons” only present a relationship, but do not imply the division of gender.

(NOTES)

“are all”:

shows that whoever “through faith in Christ Jesus” are all the “sons of God”, and are not the slaves to sins any longer.

GALANTIANS 3:27 “ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

(NOTES)

“were baptized into Christ”:

refers to being baptized in Christ’s name to show the faith so that to be in Christ.

“have clothed yourselves with Christ”:

refers to putting on Christ and being in Christ.

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

The Christians should be clothed with Christ -- show the glories of Christ in our life, let Christ’s life show from us; should not be like the Pharisees who put the articles of the law on the clothes, let others see their appearance of godliness, but are filled with the corruptions in their mind.

GALANTIANS 3:28 “ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ”

(NOTES)

This verse talks about being one in Christ. And we are set free from the division and difference among people: (1) race: “Jew, Greek”. (2) social positions: “slave, free”. (3) gender: “male, female”.

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

If we still hold the discrimination on the believers’ race, social positions and gender and so on, we have not yet experience and know what “in Christ” means.

GALANTIANS 3:29 “ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. ”

(NOTES)

If we are in Christ through faith and are one in Him, we are Abraham's seed. No matter Jews or Gentiles, we are heirs of the promise to Abraham -- the eternal inheritance, which is also ours.

GALANTIANS 4:6 “ Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." ”

(NOTES)

“Because you are sons”:

Since the Galatians are Christians, they are also sons of God.

This verse indicates that the status of the believers received from LORD is not only a objective fact, but also a subjective experience; the dwelling in of Holy Spirit enables us to commune with God closely so that we can have a close relationship with God in life.

GALANTIANS 4:19 “ My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, ”

(NOTES)

“My dear children”:

Here, Paul compared himself to a mother in labor.

“again”:

shows that the servants of LORD are in two kinds of pains of childbirth:

(1) Regardless of the cold manner and opposition of others, work hard to lead others to believe in LORD Jesus.

(2) Regardless of the ignorance and childishness, work hard to build up others and help their life to grow up, “until Christ is formed in you”, that is, conform them to the likeness of Christ.

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) In many Christians’ life, the new life of Christ is just as an egg before being hatched; there is life inside, but can’t see the shape of the chicken yet.

(2) When the cross works on a believer, makes him to take off the old self with its practices and put on the new self little by little, he will be more and more like LORD. That is, Christ is formed in us.

GALANTIANS 4:22 “ For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.”

(BACKGROUND)

Here it is about the account of Abraham having sons (Gen 16,17). “slave woman” is maidservant, refers to the Egyptian maidservant Hagar; her son’s name is Ishmael. “free woman” refers to Abraham’s wife Sarah; her son’s name is Isaac.

(NOTES)

This verse uses the different status of the two mothers to show the different status of the two sons; one was born to be a slave; one was born to be a free man. The two women represent two covenants. (Gal 4:24)

“slave woman” represents covenant on Mount Sinai -- covenant of the law; “son by the slave woman” represents man under the law.

“free woman” represents covenant of the promise; “son by the free woman” represents the believer of the new covenant.

GALANTIANS 4:23 “ His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.”

(NOTES)

“in the ordinary way”:

refers to giving birth in the way of human’s normal physiologic process.

“as the result of a promise”:

refers to giving birth because of the marvelous deeds of God.

This verse uses two different ways of giving birth by the two mothers to show that the essence of their sons are different (Gen 17:15-21; 18:9-15; 21:1-8).

GALANTIANS 4:28 “ Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. ”

(NOTES)

How Isaac was born by the promise, so we Christians are reborn through faith in Christ Jesus according to the promise of God to be the children of God (Gal 3:26).

GALANTIANS 4:29 “ At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now.”

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

Now the sons of promise are persecuted by the sons born in the ordinary way. Now the true Christians are laughed at and persecuted by the non-Christians and the nominal church members.

GALANTIANS 4:31 “ Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. ”

(NOTES)

The Christians are free because it is for freedom that Christ has set us free(Gal 5:1). The Christians are not slave to sins, but the sons of promise and live in the freedom of Christ through faith.

GALANTIANS 5:1 “ It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. ”

(NOTES)

The redemption by Christ has set us free in spirit from the yoke of slavery to sins and laws. With such blessings, We must stand firm in the freedom of Christ so that we won’t take again the yoke of slavery to sins that we used to have for a long time.

There is no the word of “the” before the word of “freedom”. It indicates that this “freedom” is not the freedom as the worldly people define. It is a freedom because of the redemption by Christ and only Christians can have this freedom.

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) A livestock has no freedom under the yoke; in the like manner, one has no freedom in the sinful life of the old Adam and under the law.

(2) Freedom in Christ will lead us into the freedom of life; The status with the freedom in Christ, must bring out the experience of freedom in one’s conduct and behavior.

GALANTIANS 5:16 “ So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ”

(NOTES)

If one chooses to live in spirit and let Holy Spirit manage his daily life, he won’t gratify the desires of the sinful nature and live in sins any more.

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) The way guaranteed to defeat the sinful nature is to live by Holy Spirit. However, this requires the attitude of willingness to suffer, the determination to deny oneself and carry the cross, and the efforts to break the jars of clay.

(2) Living by Holy Spirit will give true freedom to the believers.

(3) If we live according to the sinful nature and gratify its desires and passions, it will lead to sins, and we are not living according to Holy Spirit.

GALANTIANS 5:17 “ For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ”

(NOTES)

The sinful nature makes one to follow its desires and indulge in the worldly pleasure; the Holy Spirit requires one to be self-controlled and do what is good and righteous, be self-disciplined and holy. The sinful nature of the believer and the dwelling in Spirit are in conflict in us -- When the believer wants to do good, evils are right there with him that he can’t carry out the good deeds. (Rom 7:18-23)

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) Here it talks about the confliction of Holy Spirit and the sinful nature. We must live by Holy spirit and beat our body to be the winner.

(2) The reason that we won’t love the world and be controlled by the world, is because we let Holy Spirit be in charge of our life in us so that we love God more than any gifts He grant us.

GALANTIANS 5:18 “ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. ”

(NOTES)

“are led by the Spirit” means that let one’s will be obedient to Holy Spirit and follow His guidance.

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

The Christians are not under the outward law; but abide by laws through the love inside.

GALANTIANS 5:19-21 “ The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. ”

(NOTES)

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious”:
the sinful nature can be seen from the behaviors obviously.

“sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery”:
these are against the number 6 commandment of the “ten commandments”.

“idolatry and witchcraft”:

these are sins against the commands of God that do not turn away from God and follow the false idols.

“hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy”:
these are the sins and evils among people. In the group life of human beings (including the believers), a common problem is that one always wants to exalt oneself, get benefit for oneself, and oppress others. Here, “factions” is also listed as the worldly thing. Many Christians know that we can’t worship idolatry, do witchcraft and hold hatred and so on, but do not know that the “factions” and “divisions” among the believers are also the worldly things by the judgment of God.

“drunkenness, orgies”:

these are the sins because of self-indulgence, being out of control and self-humiliating.

If the believers are used to living according to the sinful nature, they must not be able to enjoy the good things and rights in the coming kingdom of God.

GALANTIANS 5:22-23 “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ”

(NOTES)

“the fruit of the Spirit”:

“fruit” is the product of the life; “the fruit of the Spirit” is produced when the believers live by Holy Spirit. These are not the spiritual gifts that Holy Spirit distributes among us, but is a whole fruit produced by the mature life of Holy Spirit in us. The whole fruit has all the characters and can’t be divided. The fruit of the Spirit means that, Christ in us through the work of Holy Spirit are digested and absorbed by us; and turn into our own characters; this is called the fruit of the Spirit.

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) All the good deeds of the Christians are produced by Holy Spirit. Every true Christian should always produce the fruit of Spirit (Joh 15:1-8).

(2) Love, joy, peace, are what God give us to enjoy; patience, kindness, goodness, are what we should do to others in our daily life; faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, are the lessons to ourselves.

(3) <1> “love“ is the first fruit above all the fruit of Spirit: only with love, other fruit is meaningful; without love, other fruit is meaningless (1Co 13:1-7). Obviously, love is above all and is the primary rule for all things. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity(Col 3:14): joy is the emotion of love; peace is the mood of love; patience is the strength of love; kindness is the compassion of love; goodness is the motive of love; faithfulness is the word of love; gentleness is the attitude of love; self-control is the arm of love.

The fruit of the Spirit is produced by Holy Spirit, not by man himself. It shows the life of God: joy is the delight of love; peace is the tranquility of love; patience is the tolerance of love; kindness is the fining of love; goodness is the action of love; faithfulness is the trust of love; gentleness is the humbleness of love; self control is the true self-love.

There are nine fruit of the Spirit, but not one; they are the spiritual appearance from all aspects: joy is the pleasure of love; peace is the confidence of love; patience is the calmness of love; kindness is the sympathy of love, goodness is the nature of love; faithfulness is the firmness of love, gentleness is the elegance of love; self-control is the conquest of love.

<2> When the believers were reborn, they have tasted “the joy of thy salvation”(Psa 51:12). Now they should keep the “joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17).

<3> The peace of the believers is the fruit of Holy Spirit. It has nothing to do with the environment. No matter in the adversities or sufferings, we still have the peace in mind (Joh 16:33). Our true peace comes from the peace between God and us. Therefore, if we want the peace, we must always obey the words of God and live in harmony with God.

<4> The patience from a man is temporary, can not endure for a long time; the patience from Holy spirit endures to the end (Mat 10:22), is mature and complete(Jam 1:4).

<5> The worldly people are kind to themselves and severe to others; the believers are severe to themselves and kind to others.

<6> No one is good--except God alone (Mar 10:18). Therefore, the worldly people live a life of sins and evils. However, the believers have Holy Spirit in them and can be good and faithful (Mat 25:21). The believers should live by Holy Spirit, do good and what is righteous and lead others to LORD.

<7> If a Christian is unfaithful, it will be the sin that is most difficult to be forgiven by the worldly people.

<8> A gentle one won’t be easy to get hurt and also won’t hurt others easily.

<9> The believers can be self-disciplined and self-controlled on everything, and be away from doing the evils.

GALANTIANS 5:24 “ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”

(NOTES)

The sinful nature is most troublesome and is very difficult to overcome. However, God had overcome it for us already. Because God had crucified it on the cross. This “been crucified” does not refers to the subjective experience now, but the objective fact that have been accomplished already. Therefore, we must rely on Holy Spirit to put to death the misdeeds of body (Rom 8:13) so that to turn the accomplished fact into the experience in the reality continuously and all the time.

GALANTIANS 5:25 “ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

(NOTES)

Here, we, those who have had the new spiritual life from Holy Spirit already, are encouraged to follow the guidance of our leader -- Holy Spirit to go forward.

“live by the Spirit”:

That is living a life according to the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit.

GALANTIANS 5:26 “ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. ”

(NOTES)

“conceited” means doing things “ through strife or vainglory” (Php 2:3). It is from the sinful nature and results in “provoking and envying each other”; One origin of the conflicts in the church is because of “ being conceited”

GALANTIANS 6:8 “ The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ”

(NOTES)

(1) Everything we have done is to “sow” and also to “reap”. The problem is that we will reap whatever we have sowed.

(2) The spiritual life has spiritual laws: the one who live a life according to his sinful nature, will reap destruction and death; the one who live a life by Spirit, will reap life and peace. (Rom 8:6)

GALANTIANS 6:9 “ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ”

(NOTES)

One should keep on living by the Spirit and doing good, and do not become weary. When the time comes, one will reap a harvest.

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) By doing good, the believers show the life of Christ. That is what the true children of God should do. One should not expect a repayment at present.

(2) The higher level of life needs more time to breed. Sowing to please the Spirit needs longer time to reap compared with sowing to please one’s sinful nature. By persevering produce a crop.(Luk 8:15)

GALANTIANS 6:10 “ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. ”

(NOTES)

“have opportunity”:

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act (Pro 3:27) and when others are in need.

“all people”:

refer to average people including those outside the church.

“the family of believers”:

the believers are one family in LORD. (Eph 2:19; 1Ti 3:15).

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) The believers should take care of their own families, and also try their best to help others in need especially the brothers in LORD.

(2) “have opportunity” implies that one looks for the opportunities. The Christians not only do good at their convenience, but also look for the opportunities to do good.

GALANTIANS 6:14 “ May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ”

(NOTES)

As to Paul, and actually also to the believers, the cross is the way to get the life, and the cross is the biggest glory. The relationship between the world and him changed completely because of the redemption through the cross. From the first day on, after he accepted the redemption through the cross, the world does not attract him anymore. He considers everything rubbish and a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus the Lord (Php3:8). From the viewpoint of the corrupted world, he seems to lose his value and is regard as the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world and being not worthy of the world.

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) Between the world and LORD is the cross. Therefore, one must go through the cross to come to the side of LORD. Our attitude towards the world is picking up and carrying the cross.

(2) The worldly man likes exalting oneself; the spiritual man only boasts about LORD and the cross with praising LORD as the only purpose.

(3) Whenever a Christian loves the cross, he won’t love the world; whenever he loves the world, he will escape from the cross.

(4) One who escapes from the cross will consider the world glorious and boast about the world; one who does not love the world will consider the cross glorious and boast about the cross.

(5) If one does not love the cross, he can not love God; if one does not boast about the cross, he can not win all the time.

GALANTIANS 6:15 “ Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. ”

(NOTES)

The circumcision on the flesh only gets rid of a piece of skin, but does not get rid of the sinful desires and corruptions in him. Therefore, after the circumcision, one is still the old creation. Only though faith in Christ, one become a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2Co 5:17).

(LIGHT IN WORDS)

(1) A new creation won’t look upon the written code outwardly, but the Spirit inwardly (Rom 2:28-29).

(2) In our life, whatever have not been through the test of the cross, belong to the old creation; whatever have been through the work of the cross, are part of the new creation.

Reference:

1. Jiale Huang: “Christians’ Digest of the Scripture Analysis Series”.