I received your very good letter today. It was a real joy to read it. More than ever it contained many truths that are full of insight. Pauline was in complete agreement with you, as was Br. Berg when I read your letter to him.

It’s good to reason independently. We can draw one conclusion from another. Wisdom is experienced in the things that have already happened and can thereby draw conclusions concerning things to come.

You spoke about the light and the shadow. The closer we get to the light, the more sharply defined the shadow becomes. When we are in darkness, there is no shadow, and when we are in the midst of the light, no shadow is cast there either. We agree about this. But now we ask: What is between the light and the shadow? It is the body of sin, or if you will, Christ on the cross when He was made to be sin for us. And what is the shadow itself?? Simply the image projected by Christ on the cross, or the body of sin. And how can we see the light itself?? He has prepared a new and living way for us through the veil—that is, His flesh. We know that when an opening appears in the object that casts the shadow, an opening also appears in the shadow. So the shadow gradually disappears as the opening grows.

This brings us to another matter which is well worth considering. The law is only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of those things. The law has been our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. But once we come to Christ, we are no longer under the law or a schoolmaster; we have entered into a new process: namely, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” We know that we were crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed and that we might be made like Him in His death. Now the root itself is to be destroyed! The jurisdiction of the law extended only to sinful acts, but the work of Christ on the cross crushes the very source of these sinful acts—or, as it is called, the body of sin. The law could only pick the evil fruit from the tree; but what the law was powerless to do, God did when He tore the tree up by the roots.

Now, to go back to the shadow: Remember that all the sin a person commits is outside the body.

You see, the image of the cross is the shadow. Around the shadow is the light. The light can only expose the transgressions that are outside the body, but not the very shadow of the body of sin—isn’t that so? In order to get rid of the entire shadow, we have to destroy the entire body of sin. Then—and only then—will the shadow disappear. Again we see that what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did when He sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, and condemned sin in the flesh. The law could condemn sin outside the flesh, but in the flesh it was powerless.

Please write, dear brother, if you have grasped this precious truth. If you have grasped it, you will also realize that in His grace God has given me insight into the mysteries of Christ. This is my only boast in this world, but I regard God’s wisdom to be more precious than gold and precious stones. I have asked God for insight and understanding, and my prayer has been answered, for He Himself has said through James, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” I rejoice that you have sought the same thing. You haven’t said so explicitly, but I can see from your last letter that the Spirit of wisdom has come upon you. This Spirit is easily recognized by those who possess it. You have made a good choice, dear Aksel. Always obey its counsel and take heed to its promptings, and it will be your precious partner in life.

Now you don’t have to believe just because of what some person has said. Now you have a fountain of wisdom within to draw from. Don’t be afraid of those who oppose you, because wisdom will unravel every matter and put everything on the right track. God gives me opportunities to speak to people here and there, and I fervently urge them above all else to seek God’s wisdom.

Everything has an opposite, as you said; that is the way God made it. Therefore we must not murmur about our tribulations, for we know that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope; and hope does not disappoint. A mature man in Christ Jesus has senses that are exercised to discern between good and evil. Before the Fall, Adam knew only good, but God knew both good and evil. So we are in a more glorious position than Adam before the Fall.

Just as a battery has a positive and negative terminal, so it is in our spiritual life. The one life decreases in proportion to the increase of the other, and their reciprocal relationship is one of hatred. He who does not hate even his own life in this world cannot be Jesus’ disciple.

God said to Adam, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Christ had to suffer death for us. He died—that is, His body died. But surely another death also took place in Him, because the body of sin was destroyed and died. Hallelujah! Satan’s head was crushed. Satan can only make contact with human beings through the flesh (the body of sin), but when the body of sin is dead, Satan is also dead—crushed under our feet.

Christ is the wisdom of God. In other words, God has revealed all His wisdom in the work He did in and through Christ. That is why all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge dwell bodily in Christ. This glory now fills His body, but on the cross sin filled His body. When we are always carrying about the death of Christ, we need to understand that when this death is the death of Christ, then Christ has also taken upon Himself the cause of death, namely, sin. But He was never the servant of sin.

I’ll close for now with a brotherly greeting. Greetings to those who are at home, and greet Ludvig.

Your brother, bound in Christ,