I.　Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church are the crucial elements of the Bible— Matt. 16:16, 18; John 20:31; 7:39; Rom. 8:11; Col. 3:4; Eph. 1:22-23:

A.　Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church are the contents of the Bible.

B.　A principle that we must apply in our interpretation of the Bible is Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church—Rom. 9:5; 8:2, 11; 12:4-5; 16:1, 4-5, 16b.

II.　Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church are the extracts of the Bible:

A.　With Christ the emphasis is that Christ is the believers' life and is united and mingled with the believers—Col. 3:4; John 15:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:17:

1.　In addition to knowing Christ as the Savior and the Redeemer, we need to know Him in a deeper way—that He is our life and that He is in us to be united and mingled with us—Col. 3:4; 1:27; John 15:4-5.

2.　Because the Lord is the Spirit, we can abide in Him and the Lord can abide in us; we coinhere with the Lord; that is, we are in Him and He is in us—2 Cor.3:17a; John 14:20; 17:21.

3.　Our being united and mingled with the Lord can take place only in our regenerated spirit; hence, this mingling results in our being joined to the Lord as one spirit—1 Cor. 6:17.

4.　Christ is our life and our person, and He is united and mingled with us; He is also working in us to transform us until we are the same as He is in life, nature, and expression but not in the Godhead—2 Cor. 3:18.

5.　He and we are one; He is the Head of the Body, and we are the members of the Body—1 Cor. 12:12-13; Eph. 1:22-23.

6.　"O what a miracle, my Lord, / That I'm in Thee and Thou in me, / That Thou and I are really one; / O what a wondrous mystery!"—Hymns, #233.

B.　With the Spirit the emphasis is that the Holy Spirit of God has been compounded with Christ's divinity, humanity, crucifixion, and resurrection to be the compound, life-giving, indwelling, sanctifying, transforming, and sevenfold intensified Spirit— Exo. 30:23-25; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:11; 15:16b; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rev. 4:5:

1.　The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God after passing through various processes; in the Spirit there are the elements of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35; Heb. 9:14; Rom. 8:11.

2.　Today the Spirit is the compound Spirit (Exo. 30:23-25), compounded with the Spirit of God and Christ's two natures—the divine nature and the human nature—with His death and resurrection to be the compound, life-giving (1 Cor.15:45b), indwelling (Rom. 8:11), sanctifying (15:16b), and transforming Spirit(2 Cor. 3:18).

3.　Such a Spirit has the bountiful supply and even is the bountiful supply for our experience and enjoyment—Phil. 1:19.

4.　Economically, the compound Spirit has become the seven Spirits of God to supply us in a sevenfold intensified way so that we may accomplish God's economy concerning the church in this age of degradation—Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6.

C.　With life the emphasis is that God in Christ as the Spirit of reality is the believers' life so that they may live Him out as the processed Triune God—1 Cor. 1:30; John 14:17; Phil. 1:19-21a:

1.　Life is the Spirit, who is the Triune God Himself, and life is Christ—Rom. 8:2; John 11:25; 14:6; Col. 3:4.

2.　God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son; if we have the Son, we have the life—1 John 5:11-12.

3.　God in Christ has passed through His various processes and was consummated as the Spirit; now as the Spirit of reality He is life to the believers so that they may live Him out as the processed Triune God—John 7:39; 14:17, 19b.

4.　When we believed in Christ, the Son of God, He came into us to be our life and person and to live and move with us—3:15-16; Gal. 2:20.

D.　With the church the emphasis is that the believers are on the ground of oneness to be the testimony of the Body of Christ—Eph. 1:23; 4:1-6:

1.　The church is composed of a group of people who have been called out of the world by God; God has called us out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation and has gathered us together to be the church—Matt. 16:18; 18:17; Rev. 5:9; 7:9.

2.　As believers in Christ, we have been begotten of God with His life and we have the divine life within us; we have been regenerated to become people of the kingdom of the heavens and brothers and sisters in His universal family—John 1:12-13; 3:3, 5, 15; Eph. 2:19.

3.　The church is an entity of life, an organism, with a life and person; this life and person are the Triune God Himself, who is the element of the oneness of the church—4:3-6.

4.　The universal Body of Christ is expressed as local churches; the ground of the church is the oneness of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; 1:2; Eph. 1:23; 4:3-6.

5.　We were all baptized into one Body, and we all have one Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father; now we must stand on the ground of oneness to be the unique testimony of the Body of Christ and to live the practical church life—1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:4-6; Rev. 1:11.

III.　We must develop any biblical truth in the way of Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church—2 Tim. 2:15:

A.　Any message or development of the truth in the Bible without Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church is an empty shell with no content—1 Tim. 1:6-7.

B.　It is always safe to develop a biblical truth in the way of Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church; for example, we should develop the truth concerning holiness with Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church—1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 6:22; Eph. 5:26.