The exchanged life is a principle that is at the very heart and is foundational to Ed’s teachings – Jesus living His life in us, for us, and through us. According to John 15, abiding in the vine is the only way to bear fruit. What is fruit? It’s not only here in John, but later in the epistles as they begin to unfold this; if the vine is Christ, if the Life is the Holy Spirit, Christ in terms of the Life of God, what do you think the fruit is? “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” (Galatians 4:19) Fruit - Christ formed in you - The exchanged life!
The scriptural time of this series is the 40-plus days between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. The plus refers to the appearance of our Lord Jesus to the Apostle Paul seven years later. The Apostle Paul, Ed believes, in this event is the model conversion, demonstrating for us the difference between believing that our natures can be changed and seeing that, instead, our lives become exchanged—Jesus’ life living in us for us.
If ever a portion of scripture gives a progressive revelation of Christ, it’s Jesus’ first thirty years. He starts off implanted in a person in the womb, and then we see Him as an infant in the manger, and then we see Him as a little boy, and then we see Him as a young adult, growing and maturing and developing until finally He matures, and then His ministry begins. Christ was growing; Christ was maturing. As you come to the gospel record, you see a representative man, a perfect representative and our substitute, progressively revealed, until He’s revealed and can carry out His redemptive ministry to all the earth through us. He’s living in us, instead of us as an exchanged life. He comes in to live and do the work now. The way He does it is by being progressively formed in us.
My name is Ed Miller.I, with my dear wife Lillian, have had the privilege of directing this Bible teaching ministry since its beginning in 1975. I will attempt to express the direction of our hearts and teaching by stating the burden of Bible Study Ministries.
It is our burden that every Christian would possess a heart-knowledge of God by the Holy Spirit’s progressive unveiling of the Lord Jesus through the fervent study of the Bible. It is only as we behold Him that we are changed into His likeness. The entire Christian life consists in a personal faith-union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord manifests His reputation on the earth through those who have an intimate relationship with Him.
We have prayerfully sought, since Bible Study Ministries began in 1975, to express this burden in every Bible study we offer by audio tape, in all of the policies of our ministry, in our overall emphasis and especially in our personal walk before Him. Our spirits rejoice when God’s children hunger to grow in “grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We desire to see the Living Word Himself as He is revealed in the written Word! You will find that our Bible study tapes are devotional in the sense that they are designed to help stimulate heart devotion to our Lord and Savior. We do not study the Bible primarily to know the Bible, but we study the Bible so that we might better know the Lord. You will discover that we endeavor to state the truth of Christ in a non-sectarian way, stressing the common denominator foundations of our precious faith. We emphasize spiritual principles. We trust the Holy Spirit to apply the life principles we have gleaned from the Scriptures.
If your heart responds positively to this burden, we pray that we might, in some small way, be able to minister to you through our teaching audios and transcripts. Browse through the site and see the expositions we offer. Feel free to contact us with any requests you may have.
