THE INTRINSIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE Grafted Life

AS REGENERATED ONES, OUR NEEDING TO LIVE

A GRAFTED LIFE—A LIFE IN WHICH TWO PARTIES ARE JOINED

TO GROW ORGANICALLY

After We Have Been Grafted into Christ,

Our Needing to No Longer Live by Ourselves.

Rather, Our Needing to Allow the Pneumatic Christ

to Live in Us

As regenerated ones, we should live a grafted life—a life in which two parties are joined to grow organically ( John 15:1 , 4-5 ). After we have been grafted into Christ, we should no longer live by ourselves; rather, we should allow the pneumatic Christ to live in us ( Gal. 2:20 ). We need to be impressed with the matter of being an open vessel. An open vessel does not primarily do things to serve God, to do things for God; rather, a vessel is simply open. Brother Lee said that the summary of Paul’s fourteen Epistles may be expressed in two words: open vessel ( The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1980,vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” p. 241). The reality of Paul’s Epistles can be seen in this phrase. In these days may we really learn what it is to be open to the Lord.

We may think that to be open is simple, but we need to consider whether or not we are genuinely open. Are we open in our inward being so that the Lord can live and flow freely in us to renew our mind, renew our inward parts, and bring us through the process of transformation in order to make us the same as He is, or are we filled with concepts? The religious world loves to feed us with concepts. In today’s age the concepts that are constantly promoted on the Internet are not only devilish but also without restriction in terms of their availability and amount. We have to be very vigilant and guarded against picking up such concepts, which are products of darkness. Human concepts are not according to the divine life. We need to be those who live in the light as He is in the light. It is easy to pick up concepts, but how much we need to be open and poor in spirit, giving the Lord the ground daily! We need to pray, “Lord, cause me to be empty so You can fill me.” It is a spiritual principle that the emptier we are, the more opportunity there is to be filled with Him.

No Longer Needing to Live by Our Flesh

 or by Our Natural Being;

Instead, Our Needing to Live by Our Regenerated Spirit,

a Spirit Grafted with Christ

We should no longer live by our flesh or by our natural being; instead, we should live by our regenerated spirit, a spirit grafted with Christ ( Rom. 8:4 ).

Through This Grafting Our Being United with Him,

Mingled with Him, and Incorporated with Him

to Become the Body of Christ

Through this grafting we are united with Him, mingled with Him, and incorporated with Him to become the Body of Christ ( 12:4-5 ). Through the uniting, the mingling, and the incorporation, the Body is produced. This is the goal of the grafting. The goal is not that we would have individual spirituality but that the Lord could gain the Body of Christ. Grafting produces the Body. May we give ourselves to live a grafted life. We need to pray, “Lord, cause me to be open to You so that You can be lived out through me and so that You can gain Your Body.”

THE GRAFTED LIFE BEING NOT AN EXCHANGED LIFE

BUT THE MINGLING OF THE HUMAN LIFE WITH THE DIVINE LIFE

The grafted life is not an exchanged life but the mingling of the human life with the divine life ( Gal. 2:20 ). We may have the concept that the Christian life is an exchanged life. It is easy, even understandable, to have this concept, but it is a distraction from God’s economy. In God’s economy we do not have an exchanged life; instead, we are brought into the mingling of the human life with the divine life.

The Concept of the Exchanged Life

Being That We Yield Our Human Life to the Lord,

and His Replacing It with His Divine Life

The concept of the exchanged life is that we yield our human life to the Lord, and He replaces it with His divine life.

The Christian Life Being Not an Exchanged Life

but a Grafted Life—

the Mingling of the Human Life with the Divine Life

The Christian life is not an exchanged life but a grafted life—the mingling of the human life with the divine life ( Rom. 6:3-5 ; John 15:1 , 4-5 ). There is a great difference between an exchanged life and a grafted life. An exchanged life may sound reasonable to our ears, but it is a false concept. We need to be in the light of the divine word. In reality we are not living an exchanged life but a grafted life. When we are grafted into Christ, we are still present, but now we have the benefit of a much higher life.

There Being No Exchange, or Trade, of Lives

There is no exchange, or trade, of lives.

Instead of Exchange

There Being the Dispensing, the Infusing,

of the Divine Life into the Human Life

and the Mingling of the Divine Life with the Human Life

Instead of exchange there is the dispensing, the infusing, of the divine life into the human life and the mingling of the divine life with the human life. Our seeing this crucial point will be a help to us in understanding the grafted life and also in enjoying the benefit of the grafted life. The focus in this crucial point is on the Lord’s dispensing. We have been grafted into the Triune God. All He wants to do is to dispense His life into us. Hallelujah for God’s economy! It is no wonder that we talk about God’s economy all the time.

All the Lord wants to do is to add, infuse, and dispense Himself into us. The Bible repeatedly speaks about eating, drinking, breathing, and calling on the name of the Lord so that we can enter into the actual dispensing of Christ into our being. We must forget about having an exchanged life; instead, we need to enjoy this organic union, this grafted life. In the grafted life there is the dispensing and infusing of the divine life into the human life and the mingling of the divine life with the human life. Thus, the human life is not cast aside or discarded as being useless, but this divine life enters into the human life so that the human life is uplifted, renewed, transformed, and conformed to the image of the Son of God.