Christ Being Formed in Us VS Experiencing and Enjoying the All-inclusive Christ
Galatians 1:15-16 — "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me..."
Galatians 2:20 — "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me"
Galatians 3:27 — "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ"
Galatians 4:19 — "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you"
Aspect |
Christ Being Formed in Us |
Experiencing and Enjoying the All-inclusive Christ |
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Meaning |
Refers to Christ fully growing in us, saturating and permeating our entire being, becoming the outward expression of our inner being |
Refers to our experiencing and enjoying Christ as the life-giving Spirit, as our portion and inheritance |
Distinction |
Emphasizes the process of Christ's growth, constitution, and blending in us |
Emphasizes our experience, enjoyment, and partaking of Christ's riches |
Examples |
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Application |
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Interrelationship |
Christ being formed is the process and goal: Christ is first born in us, then lives in us, and finally is formed in us |
Experiencing and enjoying Christ is the pathway and means to Christ being formed: through constantly experiencing and enjoying Christ, He can gradually be formed in us |
Related Scriptures |
Ephesians 3:17 — "That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith" Ephesians 4:13-16 — "Until we all attain to... a full-grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" Colossians 3:4, 10-11 — "Christ who is our life"..."Put on the new man... where Christ is all and in all" 1 Corinthians 2:16 — "But we have the mind of Christ" 1 Corinthians 6:17 — "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him" |
Colossians 1:12 — "Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light" 1 Corinthians 1:30 — "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption" John 1:4 — "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" John 8:12 — "Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" |
Conclusion:
These two aspects are not independent of each other but are complementary and causally related: The more we experience and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ, the more He can be formed in us; and the more Christ is formed in us, the more deeply we can experience and enjoy His riches. The ultimate goal is for us to mature in the divine sonship and fully enjoy the Triune God as our inheritance.
*Please refer to the July 2024 Anaheim, California, USA training Experiencing, Enjoying, and Manifesting Christ (II) Week 20 The Way to Accept, Experience, and Enjoy the All-inclusive Christ as the All-inclusive Life-giving Spirit (who is the epitome of the all-inclusive blessings of God’s full gospel)