The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee
The Cross of Christ
Note: See the Answer Key at the bottom of this page to fill in the blanks.
According to Watchman Nee, in his book The Normal Christian Life, the Blood of Jesus Christ deals with what we __________ ___________. The Apostle Paul covers this reality in Romans chapters 1-5 (which we have already covered during our time in class together.) On the other hand, the CROSS of Jesus Christ deals with what we ______. We need the Blood for ________________. We need also the Cross for _________________.
While the distinction between the Blood of Jesus, and the Cross of Jesus cannot be made completely, since after all, it was on the Cross where Jesus shed His blood to purchase the forgiveness of our sins, we shall look at them independently in this section so as to point out the distinction between our forgiveness and our deliverance. This distinction is seen throughout Paul’s letter to the Romans. For example, as Nee points out:
When Paul speaks of the resurrection of Jesus, he refers to it in two separate manners in chapters 4 & 6. In Romans 4:25 the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is mentioned in relation to our justification:
“Jesus our Lord…was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.” (Here the matter in view is that of our standing before God.)
But in Romans 6:4 the resurrection is spoken of as imparting to us new life with a view to a holy walk: “That like as Christ was raised from the dead….so we also might walk in newness of life.” Here the matter before us is behavior.
Application Point: Every spiritual truth has both a __________________ or ___________________ (our standing with God) and a _________________ (our living out or practice of the truth in daily life) component. The test of our understanding of spiritual truth is that it moves from the relational or positional reality to being lived out behaviorally in our daily lives. As with all habits or disciplines in life, these spiritual truths take time through a repeated process in order to become “natural” in our lives. The difference between the development of spiritual truths into behavioral realities and natural habits and disciplines is that the Holy Spirit is present in believers to empower and expedite the process.
When Paul speaks of peace in chapters 5 & 8, we see that once again the two separate applications of this spiritual reality. In Romans 5:1 we read:
“Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Nee tells us that this means that, now that I have forgiveness of sins, God will no longer be a cause of dread to me. I who was an enemy to God have been “reconciled…through the death of His Son.”
But as Nee tells us “I very soon find, however, that I am going to be a great cause of trouble to myself. There is still unrest within, for within me there is something that draws me to sin. There is peace with God, but there is no peace within myself. There is in fact civil war in my own heart. This condition is well depicted in Romans 7 where the flesh and the spirit are seen to be in deadly conflict within me. But from this argument leads in chapter 8 to the inward peace of a walk in the Spirit.” The mind of the flesh is death, because it is enmity against God, but the mind of the spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:6-7)
To sum up the distinctions made in Romans 1:1-5:11 and those made in Romans 5:12-8:39 we see that the first section deals with our justification, while the latter portion deals with our sanctification. In justification, Jesus does ALL the work. He is the one who pays the penalty for our sins so that before God we are both relationally and positionally justified. In sanctification the Holy Spirit is at work in us—but we must work in cooperation---to complete God’s work in our lives and make us holy, even as He is holy. To be holy is to ACT like God.
Application Point: In each of these cases the second step MUST follow the first, and if we know only the first, then we are still leading what Nee calls a ______-_____________ Christian life. Nee’s key question is, “How then can we live a normal Christian life? How do we enter upon it?” He answers his own questions like this:
We must, of course, initially have forgiveness of sins, we must have justification, we must have peace with God: these are our indispensable foundation. But with that basis truly established through our first act of faith in Christ, it is yet clear from the above that we must move on to something more. So we see that objectively the Blood deals with __________ ___________. The Lord Jesus has borne them on the Cross for us as our Substitute and has thereby obtained for us forgiveness, justification and reconciliation. But we must now go a step further in the plan of God to understand how he deals with the _______ _______________ in us. The Blood can wash away my sins, but it cannot wash away my “old man.” It needs the Cross to crucify me. The Blood deals with the sins, but the Cross must deal with the ______________.” (The Normal Christian Life, pg. 34)
This distinction between the Blood of Jesus dealing with our sin, and the Cross of Jesus dealing with our sin nature is the key truth to living the “normal” Christian life. The “normal” Christian life is a life of transforming power. It is a life of personal holiness, and corporate relatedness that results in a community of people who know that God loves them, and who share that love with one another and with the lost. Once we have moved to what Nee calls the “second step”—sanctification, claiming the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ, others will notice the difference in us. Our faith will no longer be just words spoken, but a life lived to the fullest for God!
As we move to the Cross of Jesus Christ, and its impact as Paul points it out in Romans 5-8, we sin that Paul moves from addressing __________, to addressing ________________. (Yes, I realize that I have mentioned this two times in the last three paragraphs! It is such a key distinction.) We need to review for a moment here, since we have already covered Romans chapters 1-5. The key verses that sum up Romans chapters 1-5 are these:
Romans 3:23-25a: “23For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24Yet now God in His gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. 25For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.”
It is Jesus Blood being poured out that cleanses and covers our sins, and gives us a new relationship and standing before God. He sees us as ________________.
KEY QUESTION: Are we sinners, because we sin? or Do we sin, because we are sinners?
Paul tells us that we are born as sinners. Therefore, we sin because we are sinners. This is do to our “heritage.” Because Adam and Eve sinned and we are of their “lineage” we are all sinners. An American may be born in Mexico, and even grow up speaking Spanish, but that person is still an American. In the same way we may not sin in any recognizable way when we’re first born. We may be “very good” people, but we are still sinners.
Thus, the Blood of Jesus deals with the sin, while the Cross of Jesus deals with our sin nature, our identity as sinners. As Nee puts it, “The Blood of Jesus procures our pardon for what we have done; the Cross procures our deliverance from what we are.” (pg. 36).
KEY DISTINCTION: Are you more concerned with what you have done or with what you are?
Nee tells us that at the outset, most Christians are more concerned about what they have done, than what they are. They think that if they could just change a few habits all would be well. The problem is that after trying to change for a period of time, we find that the problem is not ________________, but ________________. The problem isn’t what we do. The problem is what we are. Nee sums it up with these words:
"We try to please the Lord, but find something within that does not want to please Him. We try to be humble, but there is something in our very being that refuses to be humble. We try to be loving, but inside we feel most unloving. We smile and try to look very gracious, but inwardly we feel decidedly ungracious. The more we try to rectify matters on the outside the more we realize how deep-seated is the trouble. Then we come to the Lord and say, “Lord, I see it now! Not only what I have done is wrong; I am wrong.” (pg. 37)
If you are still having trouble with being a sinner because of your heritage in Adam, Nee has a great illustration that proves the point: if your grandfather had died when he was three, where would you be right now? Obviously you wouldn’t exist. In the same way, because we are descendants of Adam, our lives are inextricably tied up in his. We are sinners whether we are “basically” good or bad. Thus, our problem is not our behavior but our heritage. Unless we can change our parentage there is no deliverance for us. Thus, our _____________ is in Adam, and our ________ is in Jesus Christ!
HOW does the Cross of Jesus Christ “crucify” our sin nature and put an end to our heritage as sinners?
This is the key question for us all, if we truly desire to be all that Jesus died for us to be! Here Nee uses The example from Hebrews seven of Abraham offering a tithe to Melchizedek. In that example, Melchizedek is seen as greater than the Levites (and thus the Mosaic Law), because Abraham is the “father” of Levi, and thus, when Melchizedek gave the tithe to Melchizedek, his offspring—still unborn—gave it to him as well. Obviously, Melchizedek is greater than Abraham (and Levi), because the lesser offers the tithe to the greater. Melchizedek is not in the line of Adam, because he has no beginning and no end. Jesus is seen as being a priest in the order of Melchizedek, and thus, His heritage and heredity are not impacted by Adam. Jesus was NOT born as a sinner. If we want to end our status as sinners, all we have to do is be born of Jesus or to be “in” Jesus as the Apostle Paul often puts it. The latter half of Romans five makes this point clear: as in Adam all sinned, so in Christ all shall be made alive!
Using this line of reasoning, when Christ died—we died with Him. When He was crucified—we were crucified with Him. We are therefore—dead to sin, and alive to all that is good. Paul starts Romans 6 with three important questions, all emphasizing this reality of our being _________ to sin:
“1Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? 2Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him?
Application Points: Paul makes it clear that we HAVE died to sin. Paul makes it clear that in baptism we are made one with Jesus in his death. This is an obvious reference to immersion baptism, for as we are immersed we are “buried” and when we come out of the water we “rise again.” Thus, in the early church new believers were always baptized to demonstrate their “death” to sin, their identity with Jesus Christ, and as an act of obedience. While infant baptism has become the norm in much of the Christian world, the image portrayed here is lost in that ritual. Baptism is obviously NOT a “salvific event” that it is, it doesn’t save us. However, it was seen clearly by Paul as being an image that drives home our “death” to sin, and our “resurrection” to new life.
The key is: we cannot TRY to live a sinless life, or even a better life. The blood of Jesus takes away the Penalty for our sin, but will not change what we do. It is only as we claim what Jesus has done on the Cross and resurrection for ourselves, as we identify with Him, and receive our new “heredity” in Him, that our lives will change. We can be forgiven of our sins, and not be changed. However, we cannot identify with Jesus Christ and the cross and not be changed!
This is not an instantaneous reality. Each of us must commit daily (moment by moment actually) to letting the completed work of Jesus work in us. It is not about us. It is always about Jesus, and in this case about letting the Holy Spirit work out the reality of our resurrection life in us. In this case the harder we try, the more frustrated we will become, because we can only receive the reality of Jesus’ crucifixion (and thus the crucifixion of our sin nature) as a gift, and live “into it” day by day, letting the Holy Spirit do the work. Our part is to let go of our need to control everything, and to give the Holy Spirit free reign in our lives. In the next several weeks we will turn to Romans 6-7-8 to see how the reality of the Cross of Jesus and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, becomes the key to a truly transformed life every day!
Answer Key: have done, are, forgiveness, deliverance, relational, positional, behavioral, sub-normal, our sins, sin principle, sinner, sin, sinners, righteous, external, internal, despair, hope, dead
Back to the study guide for Nee's The Normal Christian Life.