ADAM’S DEATH BEING THE WAY TO DEATH
AND CHRIST’S DEATH BEING THE WAY TO LIFE
Adam’s death is the way to death; Christ’s death is the way to life (1 Cor. 15:21-22). If you die in Adam, you go into death, but if you die with Christ, you go into life. There are two kinds of death among mankind. One is the death of Adam, and the other is the death of Christ. Because we were in Adam, our destiny was to die. But by believing in the Lord Jesus, we received a transfer out of Adam and into Christ. Today we have nothing to do with Adam, because we are now in Christ. Christ’s death is now our transit through which we enter into resurrection.
Today we are living to die. To die is to enter into the cross, but the cross is not our destination. The cross is just a transit for us to enter into resurrection. A believer lives to die, that is, he lives to enter into the death of Christ, which is the cross. Then the cross becomes a transit to enter into the realm of resurrection. The cross is the center. On one side of the cross, we live to die. On the other side of the cross, we die to live. This is the Christian life, and all of our work in the gospel is a part of our living unto death.
The cross of Christ is central and universal. It is the centrality of the way to live the Christian life. We need to live under the cross from the beginning of our Christian life to the end. This is what it means to live to die. After being crucified, we die to live. Morning to evening, all day long, day after day, throughout our Christian life, we live to die and we die to live.
WE CHRISTIANS HAVING BEEN
CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST THAT WE MAY
LIVE BY HIM, IN HIM, AND WITH HIM
We Christians have been crucified with Christ that we may live by Him, in Him, and with Him (Gal. 2:19-20). We were crucified about two thousand years ago with Christ, but we are also being crucified today. Whenever we have a problem with other brothers or sisters, we must realize at that moment that we are crucified with Christ. Then we are living to die. When we have the realization that we have been crucified, the outcome is that we live by Him, in Him, and with Him. First, we go into His death through the cross of Christ. Second, we go out of His death into His resurrection. When we live in resurrection, we die to live but we still live to die. Then as we die in the death of Christ, we enter into resurrection once again that we may live by Him, in Him, and with Him. Thus, there is a cycle. We live to die, and we die to live.
WE CHRISTIANS LIVING TO DIE
THAT WE MAY LIVE CHRIST
We Christians live to die that we may live Christ (2 Cor. 4:10-11). To live to die means we have been crucified with Christ. Since we have been crucified with Christ, we now live to die that we may live by Him, in Him, and with Him. To live by Him, in Him, and with Him simply means to live Him. To live Christ means to live by Him, not by yourself. You still live, but you no longer live by yourself but by another One. You live in Him and with Him. You are in the transit of His death and resurrection. You live, yet not by yourself but by Him. You live, yet not in yourself but in Him. You live, yet not with yourself but with Him. This is what it means to live Christ.
(The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee)
