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Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
No need to apologize at all! I think I'm starting to see where you are coming from, and agree that we're better off focusing on "the indwelling Christ" than the inner-life per se. I look at His indwelling as being central to the new covenant/NT, and therefore, all else proceeds out of His indwelling - love, life, long-suffering, patience, kindness, gentleness, peace . . . all the fruit of the Spirit.
So life is just an aspect of His indwelling . . . and I get that the LC may have over-emphasized that to the somewhat exclusion of Christ Himself. It's perhaps sort of like how I view the admonition to "turn to your spirit" in that it is an extra-biblical phrase that tends to depersonalize things. That is, "turn to the Lord" or "turn your heart to Him" is biblical, so why not stick with that?
With that said, life is also huge in the NT (but again, it is not to be separated from Christ)! For instance these familiar verses: "I am come that they might have life and have it to the full." "These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and in believing you may have life in His name." "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death." "He who has the Son has the life." And since He indwells us, we get to participate in His awesome life, which produces all the fruit of the Spirit in us.
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Originally Posted by Ohio
This is a great summary. Focusing on the "inner life" can degenerate into "we only care for life" and that "life" in the mind of the beholder can mean most anything. Just ask Philip Lee.
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Agreed, and agreed! Thanks for giving me the chance to fumble around with my words as I tried to put together what I was bumping up against!
Trapped