Gal 1:14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries in my race, being more abundantly a zealot for the traditions of my fathers. (15) But when it pleased God, who set me apart from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, (16) To reveal His Son in me that I might announce Him as the gospel among the Gentiles, immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood.
The Bible shows us clearly through this contrasts the fact that Christianity is not a matter of outward regulations, forms, and ceremonies but a matter of the inner life. Christianity is not an outward religion or a product of the human mind; Christianity is an inward revelation and a religion of life. What is it to be a Christian? A Christian is one who has the life of the Lord within him. Some people were baptized when they were young; they attend church services regularly and carry a Bible with them. They can recite the Lord's Prayer and know the Ten Commandments. They can sing hymns and say amen to others' prayers, and they are very familiar with the stories in the Bible. They even consider themselves to be Christians. But are they? The Bible says that "he is not...who is one outwardly." Therefore, a Christian is not a Christian by teaching or by learning. A Christian becomes a Christian inwardly; he is a person who has the life of the Lord within him. The Lord Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly" (John 10:10). A Christian is a person who has something to do with life. He is not one outwardly but one inwardly. Life comes from the Lord Himself. In fact, life is the Lord Himself. A man receives this life through knowing the Lord Jesus and through knowing Him as the Son of God and as the Christ of God. This knowledge comes from God's revelation. Paul had been instructed in the law according to the strict traditions of his fathers. He persecuted the church greatly and thought that by so doing he was zealously serving God. When the Lord appeared to him, he repented and was saved. He testified in Galatians 1 that his gospel was not received from men nor taught by men; it came from the revelation of Jesus Christ. If a man has not received any revelation from God, his zeal is vain. He may be able to keep all the traditions of his fathers, but these traditions can never give him God's life. Paul did not become a Christian through men. He became a Christian because it pleased God to reveal His Son in him.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, General Messages, Vol. 37, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, pp. 227-228. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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