TWO PERSONS BUT ONE LIFE LIVED
Does 5:26 mean that the Father has the life and lives, while the Son also has the life but with a separate living? How many Persons are mentioned here? There are two, one the Giver and the other the Receiver. How many livings? Only one. How there could be two Persons but only one living is too mysterious for us to understand; all we know is what the Bible says.
AN ILLUSTRATION
I have seen a few marriages which demonstrate this principle. In such cases, the husband and wife have only one living. Though two people are involved, the wife’s living is her husband’s. When there are two livings in married life, the result is separation and divorce. Do you and your spouse have only one living?
Marriage is not only a human living arrangement, but also a picture of the divine relationship. Christ is the husband and the church is the wife, as Ephesians 5 makes plain. Should the church, the wife of Christ, have a living separate from Him?
The key to married life is not found in Ephesians 5 but in John 5, 6, and 7. Too many Christians study the black and white instructions in Ephesians 5 without ever getting the secret of such a wonderful life. When a couple has only one life and one living, that is heaven.
Perhaps I may illustrate with my own marriage. Most of the time there is harmony in our home, with one life and one living. Sometimes, however, my wife lives her life and I live mine. One cause of trouble between us is her concern for my health. I am very fond of American desserts, but she thinks they are bad for my health. Sometimes some older sisters will bring a cake to the house. My wife tries to hide this from me, but on some occasions I can hear the talking when I am working in my study. Later I ask her where the cake is, only to find out that she has already passed it on to our grandchildren! Here you can see there are two lives and two livings.
It is a mystery how the Father and Son can have one life and one living. The life is the Father’s and the living is the Son’s. The Son’s living is by the Father’s life. “The living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father.…The Son can do nothing from Himself except what He sees the Father doing.…I can do nothing from Myself.…If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know…whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but He Who seeks the glory of Him Who sent Him, this One is true…(6:63; 5:19, 30; 7:17-18). The speaking and the doing of the Son—that is, His whole living—was the Father’s. Because He lived the Father’s life, His living was the living of the Father.
(Life Messages, Vol. 1 (#1-41), Chapter 39, by Witness Lee)
