THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Ministry of John
Message Four—Practicing the Divine Righteousness
Scripture Reading: 1 John 2:28—3:10a, 1 Cor. 1:30; Matt. 5:20, Phil. 3:9
I. The fellowship of the divine life and the teaching of the divine anointing should have an issue—the expression of the righteous God—1 John 2:29; 3:7.
II. The word righteous in 2:29 refers to the righteous God in 1:9 and to Jesus Christ the Righteous in 2:1:
A. The righteousness of God is what God is in His actions with respect to justice and righteousness—Rom. 1:17; 3:21-22; 10:3:
1. Righteousness is related to God’s actions and activities—Rev. 16:7; 19:2.
2. God is righteous in His ways—His governing principles by which He does things; righteousness is the nature of God’s acts—15:3; Psa. 103:7.
3. God is righteous in the blood of Jesus His Son, which has fulfilled God’s righteous requirements so that He may forgive us our sins—1 John 1:9.
B. In ascension Jesus Christ is the Righteous as our Representative, or Attorney, in the heavenly court—2:1.
III. There are two aspects of Christ being righteousness from God to the believers—1 Cor. 1:30; Matt. 5:20:
A. The first aspect is that Christ is the believers’ righteousness for them to be justified before God objectively at the time of their repenting unto God and believing into Christ—Rom. 3:24-26; Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27.
B. The second aspect is that Christ is the believers’ righteousness lived out of them as the manifestation of God, who is the righteousness in Christ given to the believers for them to be justified by God subjectively—Rom. 4:25; 1 Pet. 2:24a; James 2:24; Matt. 5:20; Rev. 19:8.
IV. To practice the divine righteousness is to do righteousness habitually, continually, and unintentionally as a way of life in our daily living—1 John 2:29; 3:7:
A. With the divine birth as the basis and the divine life as the means, we can live a life that practices the divine righteousness—2:25, 29; 3:9.
B. The practice of the divine righteousness is a spontaneous living that issues from the divine life within us, with which we have been begotten of the righteous God—1:1-2; 2:29; 5:1.
C. The practice of the divine righteousness is a living expression of God, who is righteous in all His deeds and acts—Rev. 15:3.
D. The practice of the divine righteousness is not merely outward behavior but the manifestation of the inward life; it is not merely an act of purpose but the flow of life from within the divine nature, of which we partake—2 Pet. 1:4; Rev. 22:1-2.
E. As the result of being saturated with the Triune God, we become His expression; in particular, because God is righteous, when we express Him, we express His righteousness—3:7.
F. Because we abide in the righteous God and He is saturating us with what He is, we express His righteousne4 by living a righteous life habitually and unintentionally—2:29.
G. To practice the divine righteousness—to live a righteous life that is the expression of the righteous God—is to purify ourselves—3:3.
H. To practice sin (lawlessness) is to live a life which is not under the ruling principle of God over man; to practice righteousness is to live rightly under the principle of God’s ruling—vv. 4, 7.
V. To practice the divine righteousness is to live out and express the righteousness of God in a full and complete way—Matt. 5:20; Rom. 8:4; 2 Cor. 3:9; 5:21; Phil. 3:9; Psa. 89:14; Rev. 19:7-8; 2 Pet. 3:13:
A. To practice the divine righteousness is to live a life that is right with God, persons, things, and matters before God according to His righteous and strict requirements—Matt. 5:20.
B. To practice the divine righteousness is to live out the subjective righteousness of God, which is actually God Himself in Christ lived out through us to become a daily living that is right with God and man—Phil. 3:9.
C. To practice the divine righteousness is to live Christ; if we live Christ, we will be the most righteous persons, for the Christ who lives within us will make us right in everything and with everyone—1:20-21a.
D. To practice the divine righteousness is to have the righteousness that is the outward expression of the Christ who lives within us as the life-giving Spirit; as Christ lives in us as the life-giving Spirit and we live Him out, our living will express the divine righteousness—1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; 2 Cor. 3:6, 9, 17-18.
E. To practice the divine righteousness is to express the image of God; the Spirit is the essence of God living, moving, and acting within us, and righteousness is the essence of God manifested outwardly as God’s image—Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10.
F. To practice the divine righteousness is to be right with God in our being; this is to have an inner being that is transparent and crystal clear, that is in the mind and will of God, and that is the righteousness of God—2 Cor. 5:21.
G. To practice the divine righteousness is to live in the reality of the kingdom of God and under the throne of God, which is established with righteousness as the foundation—Rom. 14:17; Psa. 89:14.
H. To practice the divine righteousness is to be clothed with righteousnesses to be the bride of Christ adorned with bright, shining righteousness—Rev. 19:7-8.
Ministry Excerpts:
PRACTICING THE DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS
A Charge to All Believers
In 2:28 John says, “And now, little children, abide in Him, that if He is manifested, we may have boldness and not be put to shame from Him at His coming.” This word is addressed to the “little children,” that is, to all the believers (2:1). This charge begins (2:28), continues (3:6), and ends (3:24) with “abide in Him.” If we abide in Him, we may have boldness and not be put to shame from Him at His coming, at His parousia. This means that at His coming back we shall not be put to shame from His glory. But if we do not abide in the Triune God, continually living the divine life, then at the Lord’s coming back we shall suffer shame, which will be a kind of discipline exercised upon us. Then we shall be kept away from His glory.
Knowing and Practicing
In verse 29 John continues, “If you have known that He is righteous, you know also that everyone who practices righteousness has been begotten of Him.” The first mention of the word “known” in this verse is the translation of the Greek word eidete, from oida, which means perceive with a conscious knowledge, a deeper inward seeing. We need to know in such a way that God is righteous. If we perceive this, then we shall know that everyone who practices righteousness has been begotten of God.
Practicing righteousness is a matter that is habitual and unintentional as a common daily life. Hence, to practice the divine righteousness is to do righteousness habitually and unintentionally as our daily living. However, if we do righteousness intentionally with a purpose, that is not a matter of our common daily life. Rather, it is to behave in a political way. Someone may do righteousness with a purpose of gaining a position or a name for himself. That is to behave in a political way. But we Christians, as children of God, should be saturated with the righteous God so that spontaneously we live a life that practices righteousness habitually and unintentionally. Instead of doing a particular act of righteousness for a certain purpose, we practice righteousness as our common daily life. This is an issue of the fellowship of the divine life and the anointing of the Divine Trinity. Furthermore, this is an expression of the righteous God. Through abiding in the righteous God, we are infused and saturated with Him. Then our living becomes an expression of the righteous God with whom we have been infused and saturated. This righteous God then becomes our righteous living, our daily righteousness. This practice of righteousness is not merely outward behavior, but the manifestation of the inward life. As we have pointed out, this is not an act done for a purpose; it is the flow of life from within the divine nature of which we partake.
CHRIST MANIFESTED TO TAKE AWAY SINS
Verse 5 says, “And you know that that One was manifested that He might take away sins; and sin is not in Him.” The Greek word for “take away” here is the same as that used in John 1:29. There Christ as the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world, the sin which came into the world through Adam (Rom. 5:12). Here He takes away sins, which are committed by all men. John 1 and Romans 5 deal with sin itself that dwells in men (Rom. 7:17-18). This chapter deals with the fruits of sin, that is, the committing of sins in men’s daily life. Both are taken away by Christ.
In that One who takes away both sin and sins, there is no sin. Hence, He did not know sin (2 Cor. 5:21), He did no sin (1 Pet. 2:22), and He was without sin (Heb. 4:15). This qualified Him to take away both the indwelling sin and the sins committed in men’s daily life.
NOT SINNING HABITUALLY
In verse 6 John continues, “Everyone who abides in Him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen Him nor known Him.” To abide in Him is to remain in the fellowship of the divine life and to walk in the divine light (1:2-3, 6-7).
The words “does not sin” mean not to sin habitually. This is also a condition of the life that abides in the Lord. It does not mean that the children of God do not commit sin at all; they may commit sin occasionally. It means that the regenerated believers who have the divine life and live by it do not practice sin. Their character and habit is not to sin, but to abide in the Lord.
Abiding in the Lord is a believer’s living; sinning is a sinner’s life. In this verse John says that everyone who practices sin, living a sinful life, has not seen Him or known Him. Not to have seen or known the Lord is not to have received any vision of Him or to have any realization of Him. This is the condition of an unbeliever. But if we have experienced the Lord, then we have seen Him and known Him. To see and know the Lord is to experience Him.
LIVING A RIGHTEOUS LIFE
In verse 7 John says, “Little children, let no one lead you astray; he who practices righteousness is righteous, even as that One is righteous.” To practice righteousness is to live a righteous life, living uprightly under God’s ruling principle. This, according to the following verse, means not to practice sin, and, according to verse 4, not to practice lawlessness.
According to the context, “righteous” here equals “pure” in verse 3. To be righteous is to be pure, without any stain of sin, lawlessness, and unrighteousness, even as Christ is pure. The emphasis of the apostle John is that as long as we are children of God having the divine life and the divine nature, we certainly will habitually live a life of righteousness.
THE DEVIL SINNING FROM THE BEGINNING
In verse 8 John goes on to say, “He who practices sin is of the Devil, because the Devil sins from the beginning. For this the Son of God was manifested, that He might undo the works of the Devil.” This verse indicates that “practices sin” (v. 4) and “sins” in this book are synonymous, denoting to live in sin, to commit sin habitually. Such a life is of the Devil, whose life is one of sin and who sins habitually from the beginning. Sin is his nature, and sinning is his character.
In verse 8 the preposition “from” is used in the absolute sense, that is, from the time when the Devil began to rebel against God, attempting to overthrow God’s rule.
CHRIST MANIFESTED TO UNDO THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL
In this verse John says that the Son of God was manifested for the purpose of undoing the works of the Devil. The Greek word translated “for this” literally means unto this, that is, to this end, for this purpose. The Devil sins continually from ancient times and begets sinners to practice sin with him. Hence, for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might undo and destroy his sinful deeds— that is, condemn, through death on the cross in the flesh (Rom. 8:3), sin initiated by him, the evil one; destroy the power of sin, the sinful nature of the Devil (Heb. 2:14); and take away both sin and sins. On the cross Christ condemned sin, took away sin and sins, and destroyed the power of the Devil.
THE REASON A CHILD OF GOD CANNOT PRACTICE SIN
Verse 9 says, “Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin, because His seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.” To not practice sin does not mean that we do not commit sin in occasional acts; it means that we do not live in sin. A child of God may sin occasionally, but he does not practice sin habitually.
The reason a child of God does not practice sin is that “His seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.” The seed here denotes God’s life, which we received of Him when we were begotten of Him. This life, as the divine seed, abides in every regenerated believer. Hence, such a one does not practice sin and cannot sin. The words “cannot sin” in this verse mean cannot live in sin habitually. A regenerated believer may fall into sin occasionally, but the divine life as the divine seed in his regenerated nature will not allow him to live in sin. This is similar to a sheep who may fall into the mud, but whose clean life will not allow it to remain and wallow in the mud as a swine does.
Verse 9 speaks of the habitual living of the children of God. As God’s children, we have the divine life, a life that does not sin. Therefore, when we live by this life, we do not practice sin. But why do we sometimes still sin? The answer to this question is that we commit sin occasionally because our body is still in the old creation. Our body is not only the body created by God, but also the body that has become the flesh because it has been poisoned and corrupted by the Devil through sin. We still have sin in our flesh. If we live by the spirit, that is, if we live by the divine life in our spirit, we shall not sin. But if instead of living in the spirit we live in the flesh or do things according to the flesh, we are likely to commit sin.
ABIDING IN THE TRIUNE GOD
ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF THE ANOINTING
If we would enjoy the divine life, we need to remain in the fellowship of the divine life. In order to remain in this fellowship, we need to abide in the Lord, who is the Triune God. Furthermore, if we would abide in the Triune God, we need to abide in Him according to the teaching of the divine anointing. If we do not care for the anointing, we shall lose the fellowship.
Because many Christians do not care for the anointing, they do not remain in the fellowship of the divine life. Some do not even understand what the fellowship of the divine life is. Instead of caring for the anointing, the chrisma, in their spirit, they care for doctrines and theology. Because they do not care for the chrisma in their spirit, they are not in the fellowship of the divine life and therefore do not have the enjoyment of the divine life. But in the Lord’s recovery we care for the anointing, the chrisma. Through this anointing we enjoy the virtues of the divine life.
LED BY THE ANOINTING INTO THE VIRTUES OF THE DIVINE LIFE
We have seen that the first virtue of the divine life we enjoy through the anointing is the practice of righteousness or the living of a righteous life. We have a righteous nature within us, a nature that is not something of our natural man. This righteous nature, which is the nature of the divine life, is of our new man. As we take care of the inner anointing, the moving of the Triune God, we shall live habitually according to this righteous nature.
The anointing is the moving of the Triune God within us. This means that our God has become subjective to us. The Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—is within our spirit. Day by day this processed Triune God as the anointing leads us into the virtues of the divine life, the virtues we have received through the divine birth. These virtues include living a righteous life, loving the brothers, and overcoming all negative things. To live a righteous life is to have a life that is right with God and with man. Righteousness is a matter of being right with both God and man. Therefore, to practice righteousness is to have a life that is right with God and man. (Life-study of First John, msg. 26)