THE
FULL MINISTRY OF CHRIST IN THREE STAGES PART II
A. In His resurrection, Christ was begotten as God’s firstborn Son - Acts 13:33.
1. From eternity past without beginning, Christ was God’s only begotten Son, possessing only divinity, without humanity, and not having passed through death into resurrection. In eternity past He was already resurrection (John 11:25) just as He was life, but He had not yet entered into the experience of resurrection. For example, you may be a professor but still lack of experience of being a professor. It was not until after He had accomplished His ministry in the flesh through His death that He entered into resurrection.
a. In incarnation the only begotten Son of God became flesh to be a God-man, a man possessing both the divine nature and the human nature.
b. Through death and resurrection Christ in the flesh as the seed of David was designated to be the firstborn Son of God - Rom. 1:3-4:
1) In death His humanity was crucified. His divinity was not crucified; rather, it became very active (I Pet. 3:18).
2) In resurrection His crucified humanity was made alive in the Spirit of His divinity (I Pet. 3:18) and was uplifted into the sonship of the only begotten Son of God. John 12:24 says, "Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." To bear much fruit is to be made alive and this takes place at the time of dying. The grain of wheat on the one hand is dying but on the other hand, is being made alive. The outward shell is broken and dies, but the life within is activated and begins to germinate and grow. This germination, this growth, is resurrection. The same is true with Christ when He was on the cross. Although His humanity, His flesh, as His outer shell, was crucified on the cross, the Spirit as the essence of His divinity was greatly activated so that His crucified humanity was uplifted into the divine sonship.
3) Thus, He was begotten by God in His resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God. The "only begotten son" means there is only one son, whereas the "firstborn son" means that there are at least two sons. Those who were begotten with Christ in His resurrection were not just two, but millions. Eph. 2:5 says that God "made us a alive together with Christ", and verse 6 says that He "raised us up together with Him." Thus, we were made alive with Him and were resurrected with Him. His resurrection was His birth, in which He was begotten to be God’s firstborn son (Acts 13:33). Our resurrection was also our birth, in which we were born to be God’s many sons (I Pet. 1:3). He is God’s firstborn Son; we are God’s many sons (Rom. 8:29).
B. In His resurrection, Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit - I Cor. 15:45b:
1. Christ, the Son of God as the second of the divine Trinity, after accomplishing His ministry on the earth became (was transfigured into) the life-giving Spirit in resurrection. This "becoming" made Him the Christ of inclusion, with the divine element and the human element included in Him, with the element of His death and its effectiveness included in Him and with the element of His resurrection and its power included in Him.
2. This life-giving Spirit "was not yet" before the resurrection of Christ - the glorification of Christ (John 7:39). Before Jesus was resurrected, that is, before He was glorified, the Spirit was not yet. Before the resurrection of Christ, the Spirit of God could move upon the face of the water, and could contact people, and could sanctify people, but He could not impart life into people, because he was not yet the life-giving Spirit.
3. Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit was for the release of the divine life that was confined in the shell of His humanity and for the dispensing of this life into His believers, making them the many members which constitute his Body (John 12:24). John tells us that blood and water flowed out from the Lord’s pierced side (John 19:34). The blood signifies redemption and the water signifies life-imparting. The water signifies Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
4. The life-giving Spirit, who is the pneumatic Christ is also called the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7), the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19), and the Lord’s Spirit (II Cor. 3:18). The "pneumatic Christ", means that Christ is the Sprit. The pneumatic Christ supplies our needs in every way that we may gradually grow in His life and nature unto maturity.
C. In His resurrection, Christ regenerated the believers for His Body - I Pet. 1:3
1. The pneumatic Christ became the firstborn Son of God and the life-giving Spirit for the regenerating of the believers, making them the many sons of God born of God with Him in the one universally great delivery.
a. For the composition of the house of God, even the household of God.
b. For the composition of the Body of Christ to be His fullness, His expression and expansion, to consummate the eternal expression and expansion of the processed and consummated Triune God.
2. The Christ in resurrection gives Himself as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit without measure through His speaking of the words of God - John 3:34.
3. All believers in Christ are built up into a dwelling place of God in their spirit indwelt by Him as the Spirit (Eph. 2:22) through dispositional sanctification, (Rom. 15:16), renewing (Titus 3:5), transformation (II Cor. 3:18), and conformation (Rom. 8:29).