I.　The book of Acts reveals that the apostle Paul lived the life of a God-man, a life with the highest standard of human virtues expressing the most excellent divine attributes—Acts 27:1—28:10; note 1 on 28:9:

A.　This was Jesus living again on the earth in His divinely enriched humanity.

B.　This was the wonderful, excellent, and mysterious God-man, who lived in the Gospels, continuing to live through one of His many members.

C.　This was a living witness of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and God-exalted Christ—Phil. 1:20-21a.

II.　The Epistles reveal that Christ lived within Paul as Paul's life and Paul lived Christ, taking Christ as his living—Gal. 2:20; 6:17:

A.　Paul lived the life of a God-man by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ to live Christ for His magnification—Phil. 1:19-21a:

1.　Not living by his natural human life but by the divine life of Christ in resurrection—v. 21a; Col. 3:4.

2.　Living Christ to magnify Him to participate in the salvation of Christ in life—Rom. 5:10.

3.　Experiencing a continual salvation by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and the operation of the indwelling God—Phil. 1:19-21a; 2:12-16.

B.　Paul lived the life of a God-man, being found by others to be in Christ and having the righteousness of God through faith in Christ—3:7-9; Gal. 2:19-20:

1.　Aspiring to have his whole being immersed in and saturated with Christ that all who observed him might find him fully in Christ—Phil. 3:9a.

2.　Not living in his own righteousness but in the righteousness of God, and being found in such a transcendent condition expressing God by living Christ, not by keeping the law—v. 9b.

3.　As such a person, Paul was not a man in culture, religion, philosophy, ethics, or morality but one who was absolutely in Christ and who lived God as his daily life.

C.　Paul lived the life of a God-man, gaining Christ by experiencing the power of resurrection—vv. 10-16; Rom. 1:4; 8:11:

1.　Pursuing to know and experience not merely the excellency of Christ but the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings—Phil. 3:10.

2.　Being conformed to the mold of Christ's death, dying to his human life to live the divine life—v. 10.

D.　Paul lived the life of a God-man, being full of forbearance and without anxiety—4:4-7; 1 Thes. 5:16-18; 2 Cor. 12:7-9:

1.　Forbearance being reasonableness, considerateness, and consideration in dealing with others, the sum total of a life that lives Christ.

2.　Being one with the Lord, Paul was not anxious about anything, for he was not only under the Lord's sovereign hand but was in the Lord Himself.

E.　Paul lived the life of a God-man, manifesting the excellent virtues of the humanity of Christ—Phil. 4:8:

1.　Christ being true, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, well spoken of; He is the reality of these praiseworthy virtues.

2.　Christian humanity being a life lived out through the mingling of the divine attributes and the human virtues with the proper human flavor.

F.　Paul lived the life of a God-man, having learned to take Christ as his secret and power—vv. 11-13:

1.　Learning how to take Christ as life, how to live Christ, how to magnify Christ, and how to gain Christ in every matter and in all circumstances.

2.　Being able to do all things in Christ through the empowering of Christ within him.

III.　Paul was shown mercy and was graced by the Lord that he might be a pattern to those who are to believe on Him—1 Tim. 1:16 and note 2:

A.　We should practice the things that we have learned, received, heard, and seen in the apostle—Phil. 4:9 and note 3.

B.　Because Paul was an imitator of Christ, we should imitate him that we may also become imitators of Christ and a pattern to all the believers—1 Thes. 1:7 and note 1; 2 Thes. 3:7-9 and note 1 on 3:7.