THE KING’S BUSINESS
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Holy Ghost, and we allow Him to live His own life out through us. Christ in us is the whole secret o f holy living, and being strengthened with power by the Holy Spirit in thé inner man is the whole secret of Christ in us. Wednesday, July 17 . Eph. 3 : 18 , IQ. In these verses we have the third and fourth result o f being strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner man : (3) They would be made- “ strong to appre hend” “what is the breadth and length and heighth and depth, and to know the love o f Christ which passeth knowledge/’ All thf language here points to the incomput able able vastness in every direction o f the love of Christ. But though it “passeth knowledge,” still by the Spirit’s power we may know it. W e may not fully “compre hend” it, but we may “apprehend” it, i. e., to lay hold upon it. It is “ with all the saints” (i. e., in fellowship with other saints, and not in separation by ourselves), that we apprehend this love. •Our appre hensions o f the love of-Christ will enable others to “apprehend” it, and the appre hension o f others will ..help us to “appre hend” it as we would not “apprehend” it by ourselves alone. (4) Finally, as the result o f this being “strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inward man,” they would be “filled unto ali the fullness o f God.” The Authorized Version reads, “filled with all the -fullness of God,” but that is not what,Paul said, and it is not nearly as vast a thought as, his-is. To fill a thimble with all the fullness of the ocean is easy ; it could be done in a moment ; but to fill a thimble “ unto” all the fullness- o f the océan, that is, until all the ocean’s full ness is in the thimble, |is an impossibility, but it is just this impossibilty, that God proposes to do through His Spirit with us: He proposes to fill us until all His infinite fullness has been poured into us (cf. 1 Cor. 13:12, R. V .; Col, 2 :9 ; Rom, ,8 :17 ; John 17:22, R. V .). But when will it be that all, the fullness o f God is poured into us.?,. The tense- o f the verb indicates some-
dwell.” There is a point of time when Christ comes to. dwell in our hearts, but He is ever coming more and more fully, there are constantly new entrances of Christ into our hearts. The question arises, are we to judge from Paul’s prayer that Christ did not as yet dwell in any one of them ? Certainly not. This may have been true o f many (cf. Gal. 4:19), but surely not o f all. But even when Christ.does dwell in the heart we may still pray that He may “ dwell down” deeper and ever deeper. The heart, the whole inner being, mind, feelings and will, are to be the abode of the Christ, “the anointed” o f God, “ Prophet, Priest and King.” This indwelling is “ through faith.” Christ is ever ready to come in and dwell, but faith opens the door, lays hold on Him and brings Him in. (2) They would be "rooted and grounded in ' love.” Whose love? First, the love of Christ to them is suggested by the context, but furthermore, love would lie at the'root and foundation o f their life. If we wish “love,” the Spirit must work it (cf. Gal. 5:22; Rom. 5:5). Paul in this phrase, “ rooted and grounded in love,” uses a double figure: first, o f a tree sending down its roots into love; sec ond, o f a building with its foundation laid in love. The “ in love” is very emphatic in the Greek. In the indwelling of Christ which was to be the result o f their being strengthened with power in the inner man, is the secret of Christ-like living. There is nothing in all this world more impossible o f attainment and therefore more discour aging in attempting, than to try to live like Christ by simply imitating a Christ with out us. The phrase, “the imitation of Christ” is alluring, but let any one with really serious intent and open eyes attempt to imitate Christ and he will Soon discover how futile is that attempt, and if he is really in earnest he will be plunged in the depths o f despair. But while it is impos sible for us to attain to a Christ-like life by any Self-effort in imitation o f a Christ with out us| it is the simplest thing in the world to become like Jesus Christ if only Christ is formed within us- by the power off the
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