21. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ
By the end of writing this lesson, I hope to have all of Romans completed in the JS2. I have added a second page to “I Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” for one page was not enough, and I see that I must re-write some of what I did. At the same time, I am continuing to fill in the empty spaces through the remainder of Paul’s letters. After this lesson, there will be only two more pages before beginning Peter.
Yet this present topic is doubly important right now, for in Our Glorious Salvation, Chapter 7 “Clothed with Christ Jesus” was the least clear. This lesson, then, must produce a clear and methodical explanation, rather then flowery expressions, so that I might improve that text.
A Driving Urgency. The truth is, I see that my point of view must be inside “The Science of Symmorphy,” that is, what exactly are we doing and how does it work.
On the first page, I had the ruling verse, the statements of faith, an Ask and Believe box, and a Jesus Secret box. I have moved these around for a better flow. I also had the box titled “The Command of the Gospel,” but my explanation did not satisfy the requirements for presenting such a topic. So we begin by redoing that box. I see now that “the command of the Gospel” requires a driving urgency, a vast NEED for us to get this obedience right. Let us be carried by the impact of that urgency.
Short-Circuited. This is the one commandment we MUST obey if we want to live and not die. Yet it is a commandment of the Gospel, not a commandment of law.
The commandment of law is “Hear and obey.” It is based upon the line from Leviticus, “The one who does these things shall live by them.” Solomon says it this way, “A child is known by his doings.” But it is expressed through lying lips in this way, “All that the Lord says, we will do.” Then God placed a short-circuit into this approach to “obedience,” as Jeremiah said, “It is not in man who walks to order his own steps.” And Jesus blew that whole thing apart with these words, “The Son of man (Me as well as you) can DO – NOTHING – of himself.”
Silence! This is Paul’s whole argument in Galatians 3. So – you heard God speak, you read your Bible, and you obeyed perfectly, you did exactly what God said. – Diddly Squat! You are still DEAD, and you are still trying to KILL Jesus.
Here’s the crazy thing. God is NOT unclear about His whole purpose in short-circuiting us in this way. Moses said it this way, “You will hold your peace.” Paul said it this way, “That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Solomon threw in, “Put a knife upon your throat.” SHUT UP about yourself, about how “good” you are or how “evil” you are. NOT one more word. You are toast. It’s over with. – SILENCE!!!
The Stakes. The command of the Gospel is not “Hear and obey”; it is “Hear and believe.” As Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe into Him whom He sent.” It is the obedience of faith. And faith sees what is not seen BY believing that God is telling us the Truth. Faith is not “blind,” faith sees Jesus by every specific Gospel Word.
Now, the stakes of this obedience are very high. As Paul said in Galatians 3, “There is no law given that is able to give Life.” The law of death is death. IF we successfully put the Lord Jesus Christ upon ourselves, as God means it, then we will know God and live. But if we fail, we will remain in darkness and die.
The Command of the Gospel. God has commanded me to put the Lord Jesus Christ upon myself. This is the command of the gospel, a command to obey through faith. It is not of the old, to hear and to do, but rather, to believe into Jesus. I know that as I obey this command through faith, I will possess and live in all the life of God. I know that if I fail to heed this command or give it little importance, I will remain in death, and I will continue being at war against Jesus. I receive this command from God with all sobriety.
Yet I know that of myself, I can do nothing. Of myself, I cannot even do this simple and one command of the Gospel. I do have one ability, given to me by God; I can open my door and receive Jesus, the One who is and who does all that God speaks. It is only as Jesus receives me into Himself that I can be enclothed with Him. I know that He initiates all; I surrender to Jesus, knowing that He fulfills all.
The First Critical Point. For the second page, now titled “I Put The Lord Jesus Christ Upon Myself,” I want only one large box. I will create headings here, but whether or not I will use them inside the box; we will see. I will not create an outline first, but rather begin with the first critical point. – SEE Jesus.
Looking with purpose into Jesus, the Source and the Completion of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). – Stand still and SEE the Salvation of God (Exodus 14:13). These passages in Hebrews and Moses are saying the exact same thing – Put the Lord Jesus upon yourself. – and begin by seeing Him alone.
Seeing Is Single. It is evident that seeing is one, or “single,” as Jesus said. To say, “See the Salvation of God” is to say, “See nothing else.” And so the contrast is always there, as it is in Romans 13:14 and Exodus 14:13. To see Christ alone is contrasted with what it is we are NOT to see, that is, the Egyptians now gone forever, or “sin in the flesh,” now gone forever.
But for both Israelites and Christians, the “Salvation of God” is just too small, too personally irrelevant. The contrast remains from Eden until now, the false appears vast and immediate, and what God speaks appears distant and small. Obedience to the Gospel must then begin with enlarging our seeing of Jesus as Savior, in those specific ways in which we clothe ourselves with Him.
The Father (Not) Plainly. Now, I have already written this as best I can – here: “2.1 The Father Plainly,” and “3.3 The Pattern that Is Jesus.” But then, “The Father Plainly” confronts us with the fact that how we “see” God, that is, the image or lens through which we look in order to define an invisible God, is even more important than seeing Jesus alone.
Here are some of the options for “images” of God. 1. The “God of the Old Testament.” 2. The devil in the garden, a “God” who knows evil and completes all things inside the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 3. The ministry and miracles of Jesus. 4. The contempt of one’s own heart. 5. The flighty fantasy of “spirit,” pantheism, or other new age concepts of a “God” without Jesus or blood. 6. The Nicene Creed and traditional Christianity. 7. The images of idols.
An Irrevocable Decision. In October of 2011, I made a final and irrevocable decision. I chose to see God, from that moment on, through ONE image ONLY, an image not in the above list. And John 16:25 was part of that final decision, that even Jesus’ ministry and miracles were “figurative.” The REAL deal, the only view of God that is True, is the Walk of the Lord Jesus through the Atonement, from the upper room to the ascension. I reject absolutely all other “images” of God.
When we see God THROUGH a man on his face in the mud under a cross he could not carry, carrying us, carried by Father, then we are seeing God as He is, the only God. And this is the God, our Father, who commands us with all urgency, to put the Lord Jesus Christ upon all that we are.
The Vast Meaning that Is Jesus. And so I included a list of what it is we see when we see such a Jesus, a list not meant to limit the VAST meaning that is Jesus.
We see a Jesus who is (1) Every Word God speaks, the all-speaking of God, now become flesh; (2) The all-now Sustainer in power of everything that exists in creation; (3) The shining forth of glory and the character and exact reproduction of God’s substance; (4) The becoming of all, the becoming of the entire cosmos; (5) The actual and active life force of every human being; (6) The full cleansing away of all falling short; and (7) The highest and most exalted meaning inside of God.
These are Jesus BIG, but Jesus must be all of this and more, utterly close, personal, and part of me. Thus we also must have – The One who loves me, who gives Himself in trade for me.
I See Jesus. I fix my eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Salvation of God, and I see Him alone. I ask the Lord Jesus to cause me to see Him as He is. As He does, I am confident in God that I am just like Him. I see Jesus as every Word God speaks fulfilled now become my heart of flesh. I see Jesus as my actual life force always carrying and sustaining me. I see Jesus as the full cleansing away of all my falling short. I see Jesus as the revelation and image of God to me. I see the One who loves me and gives Himself for me that I might live by Him.
The Hinge In-Between. Contrast these two translations of Romans 13:14, first from the KJV and second from the JSV.
– But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
– But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, enclothe yourself with, sink into the Lord Jesus Christ as into a garment, and do not give thought [one way or the other] regarding the desires of the flesh.
This all-encompassing COMMANDMENT hinges on the Greek word “pro-nous,” which means “think about beforehand.” The life or death question is, think about BEFORE WHAT? The KJV answers that question as “Do not think about how to do evil BEFORE you would do evil.”
Before What? But they are honest enough to tell you they are fudging the translation because they put “fulfill” in italics, meaning, “we are forcing the Greek words away from seeing Jesus and towards seeing the Great, the Mighty – Sin in the Flesh.
I am just too excited about this Jesus whom I see, whom I am privileged to place upon myself. And so my answer to the question is – BEFORE putting Jesus upon myself. – That is, I do not bring sin in the flesh into my mind before I practice putting the Lord Jesus upon myself. Both the one who serves the flesh and the one who subdues the flesh REJECT Jesus. And that is exactly what Paul actually wrote. He had zero idea of the wicked exaltation and worship of the flesh that would enter Christian thinking less than a century later.
Brutality. When I say, “Faith sees AGAINST the seeing of the eyes, and AGAINST the feelings and judgments of the human,” I am speaking of absolute BRUTALITY.
The gospel of the serpent says this, “Jesus is great, Jesus is good, back then, up there, someday, and you ought to be like Jesus, most certainly. BUT – look at yourself. It is clear to you, to me, and to everyone else, that you are NOT like Him at all. Your problem is your flesh, loser, and it’s your fault. So get your flesh under control BEFORE you could ever even think about ‘being like’ a faraway Jesus.”
Through nine months of 2009, every demonic voice of Calvinist theology screamed at me to LOOK at myself and my sin, that I had no right to see Christ my life alone. I was brutal. I CAST my enemy DOWN every day.
The Worship of Evil. For one to be born again and filled with the Spirit, to have Jesus written upon their hearts as every Word God speaks, connecting them with God by Blood Covenant, and then to stand in the very presence of the Lamb who ALONE already cleansed away all sin and who ALONE carries all sinfulness inside His empty grave, to turn their backs on such a One and to weep and cry over “sin in the flesh,” this is evil indeed.
This is exactly what Ezekiel saw by the Spirit, those dwelling in the Devoted Place, worshipping the image of evil, their backs turned against the Salvation of God. Most of our brethren are deceived as Eve was, but some are not. Some choose this travesty of teaching Christians to worship their own flesh filled with sin because of contempt in their hearts out from which flows all refusal to give thanks.
I Turn My Back Against Evil. As Jesus receives me into Himself, I see momentarily all my sin gone into His empty grave, I see all my sinfulness carried by Jesus alone, my scapegoat, even as He now lives as me. As I arise inside of Jesus, brand new, I see “sin in the flesh” no more forever. I neither serve the flesh nor subdue it; rather, I give my flesh always to Jesus, for it is His. I turn my back against and refuse all cries to look upon “my sin.” I never “see” evil to exalt it above Salvation, for the Lord Jesus fills all my seeing.
How? It is part of our apocalypse, the manifestation of the sons of God, that shows how truly evil the practice really is of Christians who turn their backs on Jesus in order to weep over “sin in the flesh.” Having done that, we turn with all JOY to the Jesus whom alone we SEE. Our next question is how. How do we “put” the Lord Jesus Christ upon ourselves?
That is such an easy answer – through faith! Define faith – faith is the simple human decision that God is telling me the Truth through Jesus who lives in my heart. For by grace you are saved, through faith… Not out from works (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Gospel Definitions. Let’s translate that phrase with Gospel definitions. – By the Spirit of Grace, by God sharing your life with you, having made the energeoing of His Spirit part of your human fabric, you put the Lord Jesus Christ as He is upon all that you are as you find yourself to be, through knowing with all confidence that the Jesus whom God Sent into your heart is the Truth in fulfilment of every Word God speaks, with zero reference or thought given to your human performance.
The Gospel always contrasts believing in Jesus versus human performance, boasting in the Lord versus boasting in self. Our eyes are filled with Jesus and our backs are turned against any thought of “me, myself, and I.” But what do we do that is, in fact “enduo,” to put Jesus upon ourselves?
Give Thanks, Ask & Believe, Speak Christ. I have taught you exactly how to put Jesus upon yourself right from the start. It begins with giving thanks, for it is in giving thanks alone that you counteract the contempt that turns so many towards evil. And it is in giving thanks that you acknowledge Jesus as Lord, Jesus as your all.
Second, you look straight at each Gospel Word that God speaks to you, you ask God to fulfill that Word in your life as He means it, and then you believe that you have received from God in completion all you have asked. And third, out from knowing Jesus as Lord, out from asking and believing you have received all, you speak Christ now made personal as you. You acknowledge God’s placement of Jesus upon and within yourself.
How I Put Jesus Upon Myself. I put the Lord Jesus upon myself through faith, through my irrevocable decision to believe that God is telling me the Truth, that Jesus has already received me into Himself. Out from knowing my full union with Christ, I give thanks inside of and for the sake of all, for Jesus is Lord and He does all things well. I look squarely at every Gospel Word, I ask God to fulfill that Word in my life and I believe that He has done so. Then, out from believing into Jesus, I speak that same word that is Christ now made personal as me. As I speak His Word as me, I know that God is True, that I am already inside of Jesus, already enclothed with Him.
All That I Am. The next question is – Upon what do I place Jesus? And I like the fact that Paul said “The Lord Jesus Christ,” that means you can’t get rid of Jesus or His place as Lord in order to take to yourself “the Christ within.”
I place the Lord Jesus Christ upon all that I am. I begin by acknowledging His active union with me. But then I proceed immediately to my “sinfulness.” I put the Sacrifice of Jesus and His Atonement upon all that I have known as sin, transgression, iniquity, trespass, and downright stupidity. I SEE the Atonement, and I SEE my sin vanish into no more. We do this FIRST before our stupidity lessens, for Christ is all first. Then, as those things lessen, this becomes a way of thinking that percolates in the background with certainty.
Actions through Time. The act of putting Jesus upon ourselves is momentary and continuous. Thus we apply it to time in three ways, to our present person, to our every next step, and to every past moment and circumstance, doing and interaction in our lives.
I put Jesus upon every aspect of my present humanity, good, not so good, and indifferent, gifts and liabilities, abilities and inabilities, doing, thinking, and speaking. That is, Jesus, by His active union with me shares all with me. I give thanks.
Then, I put Jesus upon every next step I take, the expectation of God arising with me. But the largest task is to put Jesus upon every memory of my life as I give an account of all my doings in the presence of God. Memories rule unnoticed. My present moment cannot be fully filled with Jesus until I have brought Him into every difficult moment of my past.
What I Place Jesus Upon. I place the Lord Jesus Christ upon myself, upon all that I am in my present humanity. I place His Atonement upon all sin and shame, for Christ is all first before not-Christ vanishes away. I put the Lord Jesus upon every part of my person, good and not-good, abilities and inabilities, all my doing, thinking, and speaking. I put Jesus upon every next step I take, the expectation of God arising with me. Most of all, I put Jesus upon every moment, circumstance, and interaction of my past. Not one not-Jesus moment remains in the account of my life. My story is Christ alone.
The Knowing of Our Consciousness. I have made the next section to be the definitions of the Greek word Paul used for “put” or “place,” enduo. Enduo means to enclothe yourself with, to be enclothed, yet it carries a sense of rest, not labor, as in “sinking into the covers of one’s bed.”
This is not something we “try to do,” for the moment we try to do something, our knowing switches from Jesus to ourselves. And so enduo must be a knowing, the knowing of our consciousness, affecting how we see everything. We could say, put the way Jesus is thinking upon the way you are thinking. Yet this goes in two directions. We know how Jesus thinks by speaking His Word as ourselves, AND we acknowledge that He already has given us His thoughts.
Gentleness and Confidence. We can see that enduo must be something very personal, to Jesus and to us, for we are two persons sharing the same form, the same bubble of self. We are two persons entwined together, yet retaining each our own persona that we might fellowship together. This entwining is real and substantial. It is how we are made to exist. We are made to KNOW Jesus Sent into us.
The gentleness of enduo, sinking into Jesus in Person, becomes the confidence upon which we stand – stand upon firm – inside the knowing of our consciousness. Then enduo becomes the same towards the Father, KNOWING that we are enclothed, inside and out, with ALL the Fulness of God.
Enduo. Enduo, “put on,” means to enclothe myself with, to be enclothed, yet it carries a sense of rest, not labor, similar to “as I sink into the covers of my bed.” Enduo is personal to Jesus and to me, two entwined together. I know Jesus Sent into me in all the knowing of my consciousness, in all gentleness, in the full confidence of God, who comes to me with Jesus.
The Soul Enclothed. Our final topic is “Enclothed with Christ Jesus.” This is, in fact, the entire chapter in Our Glorious Salvation. What does it mean to be fully enclothed with the Lord Jesus Christ? And we must assume that in saying such a thing, God means for it to be what we become in completion. God has already begun speaking to me concerning our upcoming study of Peter. I have added two pages to the JS2 for 1 Peter, “Faith and My Soul” and “Suffering and My Soul.”
Our spirit’s enclothing with Jesus happened when we were born again, our body’s enclothing with Jesus happens as the visible resurrection, but the in-between, the primary work of God in us now, is that our souls, our minds and thoughts, our desires and choices, and our emotions and feelings would be fully ENCLOTHED with the Lord Jesus Christ.
From Certainty through Gentleness. We could say it this way. Being enclothed with Christ Jesus means that my inner CERTAINTY shows itself in outward GENTLENESS.
I KNOW that I am safe, therefore I am not afraid. I know that I am kept and made devoted, enveloped by Christ Jesus Kept and Made Devoted, therefore the expression of my authority is rooted in quiet calmness.
I am forgiven, therefore I forgive. I am enclothed with all the abilities of Jesus, therefore my every next step is straight and True. I am enclothed with the agony of soul inside Jesus’ Atonement, therefore I am content to be filled with the One who carries all.
Goodness Shared Together. Then I know that Christ Jesus is a many-membered body, expressing Himself through the joy of many together. Enclothing myself with my brethren and our shared life together is also enclothing myself with the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am enclothed with Giving; I give. I am enclothed with Laughter and Sorrow; I share laughter and sorrow with you. I am enclothed with Love; I love. I am enclothed with God; I rejoice in the knowing that my Father is free to be Himself through Jesus and me together.
Then, out from my knowing and certainty, through gentleness and kindness, I enclothe all who belong to Jesus, and then all creation, with the seeing of God always good.
Enclothed with Christ Jesus. I am enclothed with the Person and Life of the Lord Jesus Christ. My spirit is one Spirit with Jesus; my flesh is one flesh with Him. My soul, my mind and thoughts, my desires and choices, my emotions and feelings, is fully enclothed with Christ Jesus. Thus, my inner certainty shows itself in outward gentleness. I am safe; therefore I am not afraid. I am kept and devoted, therefore my authority is rooted in calmness. I am enclothed with the heart of Jesus for His Church; I am enclothed with life together with my brethren. I am enclothed with Giving; I give. I am enclothed with Love; I love. I am enclothed with God. The certainty of my authority comes through the gentleness of my trust. I am enclothed with Jesus.
True Meekness. You can see how important it is to think methodically about a topic as important as this, for it forces us to slow down and to express what something really is.
What we have arrived at is the term “meekness,” as in, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” There is a definition that says, “meekness is power under the control of gentleness.” I would alter that just a bit. I don’t want power, for with power, I only hurt other people. This is why God reserves ALL power for His Gentle and Devoted Spirit.
Meekness, then, is the CERTAINTY of AUTHORITY coming through the GENTLENESS of TRUST. – Enclothed with Christ Jesus.
Reading for Next Time. We now have only two pages to go in the JS2 prior to 1 Peter. One of those is a page I added in Ephesians, “I Am Rooted and Grounded Inside of Love.” The second is a large box titled “The Gospel According to Hebrews,” which I will include as the last lesson in “Studies in Paul.” Meanwhile, I am proceeding through the remainder of Paul, filling in the blank spaces that opened up as I tightened the pages. That task is almost finished.
I now plan to order the first proof copy of The Jesus Secret II right after I have Hebrews done. I have the pages for 1 Peter already inserted and titled. I can put the text in those for the second proof copy. Meanwhile, I will have a lot of formatting work to do after I can see the printed pages.
Let’s Pray Together. “Lord Jesus, You are so beautiful to me. You have become so large in my sight, so pure and devoted, so capable and all. I love seeing You as You have shown me Yourself, as every Word God speaks written all through my heart, as coming always with Spirit outpoured, as the One who loves me and who actively enters into union with me in all.
“Lord Jesus, You have enclothed me with all of Your abilities; You have enclothed me with all of Your Confidence in God. I sink in full rest into You in every ongoing moment. I bring You into every moment of my past. You were always there, Lord Jesus; You always shared every moment of distress and every enjoyment with me to full measure. You always carried me through the darkness.
“Lord Jesus, we also comprehend together that vast extent by which You enclothe us with Your Heart and Father’s, that Your entire Church, all whom the Father has given to you, would KNOW You sent into them, joining them with God. Lord Jesus, we know that You have also enclothed us with Your deep intercession, Your joining of their humanity with the Father inside Your own Soul, now our soul as well. Lord Jesus, we share with You in all Your sufferings for each little one; we share with You in the glory of each entering into all the life of Christ.
“Lord Jesus, there is nothing else, nothing we would rather possess, than Your Heart, the Father’s Heart, shared with us. We know You as You know Father. Inside of Your name, Lord Jesus, our Father is coming through.”