Christ My Sanctification by Watchman Nee

Watchman Nee writes on sanctification being Christ,

To say that my righteousness before God is not my works does not suggest that I need not be careful of my conduct or works while living on earth. My problem of righteousness before God is indeed solved, but how about my conduct and my living? Here must you and I see that God has not only made Christ my righteousness but has also made Him my sanctification. This sanctification is not a thing, nor a condition, but again, it is a person—even Christ.

One

Some Christians entertain a kind of mental ideal about sanctification. They envisage sanctification to be Christ helping us, then transforming us into holiness. Formerly we were unholy, now through the help which Christ gives us we become holy. 1 Corinthians 1.30, however, tells us that God has made Christ our sanctification. We do not rely on our own strength to be holy, nor do we count on the help of Christ to be holy, we trust Christ himself to be our holiness. Our sanctification is the person of Christ, not the help of Christ.

Some Christians think that Christ gives us strength to be holy. Hence they pray to the Lord for strength. They reckon that by receiving strength they will be holy. However, the word of God never says we can be holy, nor does it say Christ gives us strength to be holy. It plainly tells us that God has made Christ our sanctification. Our sanctification is a Gift, our sanctification is a Person; our sanctification is not the result of some God-given strength. If we do not see with our spiritual eyes, we will not know what immense difference exists here. This is something our brain can never comprehend. Had there been no revelation, and even if our brain could somehow grasp it, it would still be of little use. We must ask God to show us that Christ has not come to help us to be holy, nor does He give us strength to be holy, but He himself becomes our holiness.

Two

With respect to this subject of sanctification, many believers understand it in two regards: one is called the power of sanctification and the other is called the fruit of sanctification. What they mean is that one must possess the power of sanctification in order to produce the fruit thereof. According to this concept, where will Christ be—is He on the power side or is He on the fruit side? The way 1 Corinthians 1.30 presents it is totally contrary to man’s concept. It teaches us that Christ does not come to be the power of our sanctification, instead He himself is our sanctification. He does not come to be the power of our sanctification so as to cause us to produce sanctification. No, it is simply that because we have Christ we therefore have sanctification. If we view holiness as a thing, then the word of God tells us that Christ is that thing. Our thing is a living Person, our holiness is a living Person. The thing we have is Christ, for our sanctification is Christ.

Let us use humility as an illustration. Suppose I am very proud. Not that I am not conscious of my pride, but that I just cannot be humble. So I ask God: "O God, have mercy on me. Send the Lord Jesus to me to help me that I may be humble." Do see here that I am taking Christ as help towards humility because, as I conceive it, with the help of Christ I can be humble: yet this is my idea, not God’s salvation. God has not given Christ to me to help me to be humble; what He gives to me is Christ as my humility. God has not given us Christ as the power of humility to cause us to produce humility in our lives; rather has He given us Christ to be our humility.

Just reflect for a moment: Does the Lord have the power? We all know He has the power. Has He given this power to us? Yes, He has given us this power. Why, then, are we so weak and feeble? Let it be known that even were the Lord to give us all His power, we would not know how to use it. His power is real, but we do not know how to utilize it. We fancy we can be humble through the power of the Lord, nonetheless we find we still are not humble. The work we can accomplish is to have an outward behavior called humility, though within us there is no such thing as humility. The word of God shows us that our humility is Christ, not the power of Christ.

What does it mean to say that our humility is the Lord himself? It means I have no humility, and I cannot be humble; even if the Lord gives me power, I still do not know how to be humble. I can only say to Him: "Lord, you are my humility, I allow you to be my humility." For Christ to be my humility simply means to let Him manifest His own humility in my stead.

When we ask God to give us power to be humble, we may perhaps be able to be humble for a short while, yet this humility is but a good work, a good attitude, a good intention, a good deportment. It is not Christ. But when we ask the Lord to be our humility, we look up and say to Him: "Lord, there is no humility in me. Even if you give me power I still cannot be humble. Therefore, O Lord, You be my humility, you be humble for me." After you have looked to the Lord in this way and you begin to be humble, you immediately discover how natural is this humility. Your humility is not a work but a living person, even Christ himself.

The same is true with patience: I have no patience, I am not able to be patient, my patience is Christ himself. It is also true of meekness: I have no meekness, I do not know how to be meek, my meekness is Christ himself. Have you now seen that God has made Christ my patience and my meekness? All our virtues are Christ. Christian virtue is quite different from commonly know virtue. The latter is one thing after another, whereas the former is not in fragments but is a living person, Christ himself. Our virtue is not in plural but in singular number; our virtue is not in many fragmentary things; it is a Person. Simply stated, if we do not know Christ, we will have nothing at all.

Three

Christ in us as our life reacts on our behalf against all outside demands. Life itself is one, but it produces all kinds of reaction to meet all sorts of outside requirements. When there is pride, Christ will be my humility if He is released at that hour. When there is impatience, Christ will be my patience in His direct manifestation. When there is jealousy, Christ will be my love in His immediate expression. From this one Life comes forth many virtues. Due to a variety of circumstantial demands the manifestations of this Life are also various. Daily do we meet all kinds of situations; in all of them Christ manifests himself as many virtues. Hence the virtues of a Christian are not his works but are the reflections or manifestations of Christ. This we call Christ our sanctification.

For this reason, our entire living as Christians depends on how much we know Christ. It is not a matter of whether I am humble or not, patient or not, meek or not; it is totally a matter of Christ. The more I know Him the more will the manifestations of the virtues of a Christian be Christ. And thus will we see that our virtues are simply Christ being released through us. The patience of brother Chen is Christ. The love of brother Chow is also Christ, so too are the meekness of sister Wu and the humility of sister Liu. All these various virtues are Christ. People are different, the manifestation of virtues varies, but the source of all is Christ.

Hallelujah, all our virtues are Christ; whatever issues forth from us is Christ. The love that flows from brother Chow is Christ, the meekness which comes out of sister Wu is Christ, and the humility which is manifested in sister Liu is also Christ. The demands of environment are not the same, yet the inward supplies are identical. The outward expressions are many, but the substance is one. None of the virtues of a Christian is his own work but is the outflow of Christ within. These virtues are the reflections of Christ through us. And once you and I perceive this we will look up to the Lord and say, "Formerly I relied on myself to be a Christian, and I was wrong. Lord, I thank You, for now I know You are my sanctification. I will let You live through me."