that we read `present your bodies a living sacrifice'. He speaks of bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord

Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in the body. At the close of the epistle to the Galatians Paul

cried `I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus'.

In Philippians Paul contrasts the present `vile body', or, better, `this body of our humiliation', with the future

resurrection body which will be changed like unto His glorious body (Phil. 3:21). In this body of humiliation, said

the apostle, I would exalt and magnify the Lord, in blessed anticipation of that day without tears when suffering for

Him will have for ever passed.

Even so, we have not yet descended to the depths with Paul, for he goes on to say `Christ shall be magnified in

my body, whether it be by life or by death'. In some contexts, life and death are in opposition, but here they are

united. In this passage they are united in a common category, they are modes of service, and hence, it is a matter of

indifference to such an one as Paul, whether the Lord should elect to be manifested in the continuance of his life, or

whether He should elect to be magnified by a martyr's death. He who exhibited indifference as it concerned others

so long as `Christ is preached', and brushed aside as of no account any extra hardship which the preaching of some

might add to his bonds, exhibits the same blessed disregard here.

To the apostle, Christ was Lord both of the dead and of the living. Redemption and resurrection were such

realities that the natural fear of death or clinging to life had been exchanged for a mind like that which characterized

Christ (Phil. 2:4,5), a mind indeed `at leisure from itself', as we have already observed.

The apostle sums up his attitude and motive in the words :

`For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain' (Phil. 1:21),

the implications of which shall now occupy our attention.

These words of the apostle have so great a challenge and indicate so important a line of teaching that we must

continue our study and consider their bearing upon doctrine and practice a little more particularly.

In the first place we must be on our guard against a false spirituality, which would ignore the rightful place of the

body, and secondly we must be clear in our understanding as to the place that the body is intended to occupy in the

disciplinary pilgrimage of the believer as he presses on to the glory of the future day.

We might at first have felt that the apostle would have said `Christ shall be magnified in my spirit', leaving the

body out of the question as being too advanced as an instrument of evil, to be considered in such a context.

However, a moment's consideration will enable us to perceive that it should be comparatively easy for a believer

to magnify Christ in his `spirit', for the spirit belongs to the new creation. It is the first fruits of complete

emancipation :

`For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2).

`They that are after the spirit (do mind) the things of the spirit' (Rom. 8:5).

Those who have risen with Christ to walk in `newness of life' find that they can also serve in `newness of spirit'.

We have been given `the earnest of the spirit', and the believer who walks in the spirit will not fulfil the lusts of the

flesh (Gal. 5:16). The reader, however, knows that we could continue to add reference to reference that teach the

believer's emancipation and new power in the realm of the spirit.

The apostle prefaces his reference to `the body' by a reference to `the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ' (Phil.

1:19); and this supply was an all sufficient justification for his triumphant and challenging claim `Christ shall be

magnified in my body', for `the spirit of Jesus Christ' which he here refers to, is exemplified in Philippians 2:6-10,

and is set before the believer as an example, `let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus'.

To the Philippians the apostle addressed the hope that they would `stand fast in one spirit' and with `one soul'

(`mind' in A.V.) (Phil. 1:27). The apostle lovingly reasoned with the Philippians that `if' there were `any fellowship

of the spirit', that they would be `one soul' (`accord' A.V.) and mind one thing (Phil. 2:1,2). The mind, the spirit, the