Basic Truths of God's New Testament Economy

 

Basic Truths of God's New Testament Economy

Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me"

Philippians 1:21: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain"

Romans 8:2: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death"

Galatians 2:20: "The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me"

Romans 8:13-14: "For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God"

Ephesians 2:5-6: "Even when we were dead in sins, He made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus"

 

Basic Truth	Meaning	Explanation	Application	Related Scriptures
Crucified with Christ	Believers have died with Christ in His death and have died to the law	This is not a replacement of life, but a profound mystery. Christ died according to the law's requirement for us, carrying us with Him in His death, freeing us from the law's demands and obligations	No longer trying to keep the law through fleshly effort, but living to God in Christ	Rom 6:6: "Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves" Col 2:20: "If you died with Christ from the elements of the world" Col 3:3: "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" Phil 1:21: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" Col 3:4: "Christ our life" John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" Rom 8:10: "If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness"
No longer I, but Christ lives in me	Believers no longer live in the old man and the natural man, but Christ lives in them	This is not a replacement, but an organic union. We have died in Christ, and now the one living is no longer the former self, but Christ living in us	No longer living according to our own preferences and will in daily life, but allowing Christ to live out His life in us
Dead to the law, alive to God	Being freed from the bondage of the law in Christ's death and living to God in His resurrection	Being dead to the law means being freed from the law that binds us; living to God means fulfilling our obligations to God in the divine life and being responsible to God in the resurrection life	No longer keeping any law (whether the law of Moses or self-made laws), but living to God in Christ, being naturally constrained by God	Gal 2:19: "For I through law have died to law that I might live to God" Rom 6:8-10: "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more; death lords it over Him no more. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God" Gal 2:20: "And the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me" Rom 1:17: "The righteous shall live by faith" Col 2:6-7: "Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been rooted and being built up in Him and established in the faith" 1 Thes 3:8: "For now we live if you stand firm in the Lord"
Living in the faith of the Son of God	Living in an organic union with the Son of God through faith	This is a way of living in organic union with Christ, a faith that comes from appreciating Christ, enabling us to have an organic union with Him	Appreciating the loveliness and preciousness of Christ, generating faith in Him through this appreciation, and having an organic union with Him
Walking by the Spirit	Living daily by the indwelling Holy Spirit	Not by the effort of the flesh, but by the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, living out the life of Christ	Following the leading of the Holy Spirit in every choice of daily life, rather than the will of the flesh	Gal 5:25: "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" Rom 8:13-14: "For if you live according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God"
Experiencing the resurrection life	Experiencing the power of resurrection in organic union with Christ	This is being responsible to God in the resurrection life of Christ, being naturally constrained by God, and fulfilling obligations to Him	Living by the power of resurrection life in daily life, overcoming the power of sin and death	Phil 3:10-11: "To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead" Col 3:1: "If therefore you were raised together with Christ, seek the things which are above" 2 Cor 13:14: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" Phil 2:13: "For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure" Gal 4:6: "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!"
Enjoying the processed Triune God	Experiencing the complete salvation of the Father, Son, and Spirit in daily living	This enjoyment is based on our appreciation of the loveliness and preciousness of the Lord Jesus, enabling us to have an organic union with Him	Enjoying the presence and operation of the Triune God in daily life, living out the divine life

 

Conclusion:

The core of the basic truths of God's New Testament economy lies in the believer's organic union with Christ. This is not a simple replacement of life, but a profound mystery: we have been crucified with Christ and have died to the law, and now Christ lives in us. Our living is no longer by keeping the law through the flesh, but by living in the faith of the Son of God, in organic union with Him. This way of life is in the resurrection life, walking by the Spirit, living to God, and enjoying the presence and operation of the processed Triune God.

 

*Please refer to the July 2024 Anaheim Training in California, USA Experience, Enjoy and Manifest Christ (II) Week 19 The One Formed in the Believer