(not original copy)

Thank you for your good letter, which shows that God has given you grace to be sensitive to and abide in the realm of the Spirit. I believe we will learn wonderful and amazing things from God when our faces are turned toward Jerusalem and we serve before Him. Those were beautiful truths you wrote concerning spiritual qualities. The more we are perfected, the more our human traits will diminish, and we will show forth only Christ, just as Christ showed forth only the Father. Or, to put it another way:

“‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Eph. 5:31-32.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Thereafter, Christ was justified in the Spirit. It is the Spirit that comes to us first, and then the Word. The Word corresponds to the flesh. The Father draws to the Son; the Spirit draws to the Word. The Word became flesh; therefore Jesus could say, “My flesh is food indeed.” Jesus was the Word personified; that is to say, His flesh was the Word. What He spoke was the Word of God, and everything He did was the will of God.

We read that Christ and the church (the bride) shall become one flesh. This means that God’s Word has become flesh in us. The bride is not only one spirit with Him, but also one flesh.

Through hearing, believing, and obeying, our life will become so exact, our speech so perfect, and our relationships so pure just as though the Word had become flesh in us.

When the Word becomes flesh, we can win others without using words, just as the wife does by her pure conduct, or as Jesus did when He was silent before Pontius Pilate.

Here we can understand more clearly how the bride is to become one flesh with Christ. This mystery is great, Paul writes, and now we can understand how very well this truth has been hidden.

In other words, the more the Word becomes flesh in us, the more the qualities of Christ will come forth in us. This is the same as what you wrote. I have just expressed it in another way and given it a basis in the Scriptures.

Christmas is approaching. It will be wonderful to be able to speak together about the things that are closest to our hearts.

Warm greetings from your brother,