Holding Forth Christ
HOLDING FORTH CHRIST
To hold forth Christ is to live out Christ, to express Christ, and to work out our salvation. To work out our salvation is to obey the Triune God who is operating within us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. Here we have five important, interrelated matters: working out our salvation, obeying God, living Christ, ex pressing Christ, and holding forth Christ. Chris tians commonly speak of obeying God. The other four expressions—living Christ, express ing Christ, holding forth Christ, and working out our salvation—are unusual and even extraor dinary. It would be helpful if we would make such expressions part of our conversation in fel lowship. As we speak to one another, we need to encourage one another to live out Christ and express Christ. We need to remind one another to hold forth Christ and to work out our sal vation. Using these expressions will help us in ministering Christ to others, especially to young ones who have just received the Lord. We should not merely talk about the gospel and salvation in a common, ordinary way. We need to use