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In this message we shall begin to cover the four designations of the believers given in the New Testament: disciples, believers, saints, and Christians.
First, the believers are designated as disciples. The term “disciples” is often used in the Gospels and in Acts, but it is not used at all in the Epistles. Matthew 5:1 says, “Seeing the crowds, He went up into the mountain; and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him.” When Christ sat down on the mountain, His disciples, not the crowds, came to Him to be His audience. Eventually, not only the believing Jews but also the discipled nations became His disciples. In Matthew 5:1 and 2 the Lord Jesus taught the disciples, not the crowds. The crowds that gathered around Him were the outer circle, but His disciples were the inner circle. These disciples were Jewish believers. However, when they were on the mountain listening to the decree of the kingdom’s constitution, they were representatives not of the Jewish people but of the New Testament believers. In Matthew 28:19 the Lord Jesus told His disciples to go and disciple the nations, that is, the Gentiles. This means that the nations would be converted into disciples. Therefore, both the Jewish and Gentile believers are disciples. The audience on the mountain, composed mainly of Jews, represented all the disciples.
Three other verses that refer to the believers as disciples are Matthew 28:16; Acts 6:1 and 21:16. Matthew 28:16 says, “The eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus appointed them.” Acts 6:1 tells us that the disciples were multiplying, and 21:16 speaks of disciples from Caesarea. All these verses indicate that one designation of the believers is that of disciples.
Disciples are those who follow Christ. In His ministry the Lord Jesus told people to repent, for the kingdom of God has drawn near (Mark 1:15; Matt. 4:17). When some repented, or had an inclination to go with Him, He said to them, “Follow Me” (Matt. 4:19; 9:9; 19:21; Luke 9:59). As disciples, the believers follow the Lord Jesus.
Disciples are also those who learn of Christ. In Matthew 11:29 the Lord Jesus says, “Take My yoke on you and learn from Me.” Discipline is required for both following Christ and learning of Him. We cannot follow Him or learn of Him without being disciplined. We especially need to be disciplined in order to learn of Christ.
Many verses in the New Testament speak of the believers. Acts 5:14 says, “Believers were all the more being added to the Lord.” In 1 Timothy 6:2 Paul gives a charge to slaves whose masters are believers, and in 4:12 he charges Timothy to “be a pattern to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
In 2 Corinthians 6:14 Paul exhorts the Corinthian believers not to be “unequally yoked with unbelievers.” Then in the next verse he asks, “What part has a believer with an unbeliever?” The word “unequally” in verse 14 means diversely; it denotes a difference in kind. This refers to Deuteronomy 22:10, which forbids yoking together two different animals, the clean and the unclean. Today we, the believers, are the clean ones, whereas the unbelievers are unclean. Hence, believers and unbelievers are diverse peoples. They should not be yoked together, because of the believers’ divine nature and holy standing.
In 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 Paul uses five illustrations to depict the difference between believers and unbelievers: no partnership, no share, between righteousness and lawlessness; no fellowship, no communion, between light and darkness; no harmony, no concord, between Christ and Belial; no part, no portion, held by a believer with an unbeliever; and no agreement, no consent, between the temple of God and idols. These illustrations also unveil the fact that the believers are righteousness, light, Christ, and the temple of God, and the unbelievers are lawlessness, darkness, Belial (Satan the Devil), and idols. We believers are of Christ, and the unbelievers are of Satan. If we have friendship with unbelievers, that means we are making harmony between Christ and Satan. A believer, however, does not have any part with an unbeliever.
The designation “believers” designates those who have believed in Christ as the Son of God according to God’s New Testament economy. This designation, of course, indicates the matter of believing. Anyone who does not have faith in Christ, who does not believe in Christ, is certainly not a believer.
Strictly speaking, in the New Testament we cannot find such expressions as “believe Jesus” or “believe in Jesus” or “believe Christ.” It is not accurate to say that we believe in Jesus or that we believe Jesus or Christ. We need to use a preposition after “believe” and say that we believe in Christ or on Christ. John 3:16 speaks of believing in the Son of God. Actually the Greek preposition here and in many other verses in the Gospel of John means “into” and signifies union with Christ by believing into Him.
When we believe in Christ, we believe in Him as the Son of God. Of course, Jesus Christ is also a man. However, the New Testament does not tell us to believe in Him as a man, but tells us to believe in Him as the Son of God. Everyone can easily realize that Jesus is a man. Therefore, we are not told to believe in Him as a man. But this man is the Son of God, and this we must believe. A believer is one who believes in Christ as the Son of God.
John 20:31 says, “These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” “Christ” is the title of the Lord Jesus according to His office, His mission. This title denotes His work to accomplish God’s purpose. “The Son of God” is the Lord’s title according to His person. His person is a matter of God’s life, and His mission is a matter of God’s work. He is the Son of God to be the Christ of God. He works for God by the life of God so that by believing in Him we may have the life of God to become children of God.
Because Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we need to believe in Him as the Christ and as the Son of God. We must believe in Him as the One who is the divine person coming to carry out God’s commission for His eternal purpose. This is the One in whom we believe.
Our believing in Christ as the Son of God is according to God’s New Testament economy of the faith. First Timothy 1:4 speaks of “God’s dispensation which is in faith.” This dispensation is an economical administration. Hence, it refers to God’s economy. In Greek the words “God’s dispensation” also mean God’s household economy (Eph. 1:10; 3:9). This is God’s household administration to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people that He may have a house, a household, to express Himself, which household is the church, the Body of Christ (1 Tim. 3:15).
In 1 Timothy 1:4 Paul tells us that God’s dispensation, His economy, is in faith. The dispensing of the processed Triune God into us is altogether by faith. The dispensation of God is a matter in faith, that is, in the sphere and element of faith, in God through Christ. God’s economy to dispense Himself into His chosen people is not in the natural realm, nor in the work of law, but in the spiritual sphere of the new creation through regeneration by faith in Christ (Gal. 3:23-26). By faith we are born of God to be His sons, partaking of His life and nature to express Him. By faith we are put into Christ to become the members of His Body, sharing all that He is for His expression. This is the dispensing of the Triune God according to His New Testament economy, carried out in faith.
In the New Testament, faith has both an objective meaning and a subjective meaning. When used in an objective sense, faith denotes the object of our belief. Used in a subjective sense, faith denotes our action of believing. Therefore, faith refers both to the truths which we believe and to the act of our believing, that is, the action and function of our believing.
Faith in Ephesians 4:13 refers to those things which all Christians believe. We believe in the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We believe that Christ, the Son of God, was incarnated, that He was crucified for our redemption, that He was resurrected from among the dead both physically and spiritually, that He has ascended to the right hand of God, and that He is coming again. Furthermore, we believe that the Bible is God’s Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit word by word. This is our faith, the “common faith” (Titus 1:4), “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
Subjective faith is not our natural ability or virtue. This faith is our reaction toward God, which results from God’s transfusing Himself into us and infusing His element into our being. When God’s element permeates us, we react to Him, and this reaction is faith. Therefore, faith is a reaction caused by the divine infusion, which permeates and saturates our being. Once we have such a faith, we can never lose it, for it has been infused into us and constituted into our being.
We need to be deeply impressed with the meaning of faith in the New Testament. First, faith is God being the word spoken to us. Through the word of God and by the Spirit of God we are infused with God in Christ. As a result, something rises up within us. This is faith. Faith then works in us to bring us into an organic union with the Triune God. Through this organic union God is continually transfused and infused into us. As a result, we have the divine life and the divine nature to become sons of God, members of Christ, and parts of the new man. As a totality we become the house of God, the Body of Christ, and the new man. This is God’s economy in faith.
Galatians 3:23 and 25 speak of the coming of faith. Verse 23 says, “Before faith came we were guarded under law, being shut up unto the faith which was about to be revealed.” This verse indicates clearly that there was a time when faith came and was revealed. Faith was not to be found in the Old Testament; it came with Jesus Christ. When Christ came, grace came, and faith came also. Faith has come to replace law. Thus, Galatians 3:25 says, “Faith having come, we are no longer under a child-conductor.” According to this verse, now that faith has come we are no longer under the law as our child-conductor. Faith and law cannot co-exist. Before faith came, we were under law. But now that faith has come and has been revealed, this faith replaces law. The law kept us and brought us to Christ, but now in our experience it should be replaced by faith. Faith characterizes those who believe in Christ and distinguishes them from those who keep the law (Acts 6:7; 1 Tim. 3:9). We are not keepers of law — we are believers in Christ.
Just as the law was the basic principle according to which God dealt with His people in the Old Testament, faith is the basic principle according to which He deals with people in the New Testament. All those who refuse to believe in Christ will perish, whereas those who believe in Him will be forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life. In John 16:9 we are told that the Spirit will convict the world concerning sin because of not believing in the Son of God. This indicates that the unique sin which causes people to perish is unbelief. God’s commandment to sinners is to believe in the Son of God.
In the New Testament faith has both a divine aspect and a human aspect. On God’s side the term “the faith” implies that God sent His Son to earth, that Christ died on the cross to accomplish redemption, that He was buried and was resurrected, that in resurrection He released the divine life and has become the life-giving Spirit — all that He might enter into those who believe in Him to be grace, life, power, and everything to them. On our side faith is related to hearing, appreciating, calling, receiving, accepting, joining, partaking, and enjoying. If we do not have faith, all that has been accomplished on God’s side will remain objective and will not be personally related to us. God’s economy to dispense Himself into us is in faith.
The believers are those who have received Christ as their generating life for them to become the children of God. Believing in Christ equals receiving Him. When we believe in Christ, we receive Him. We receive Him by believing in Him.
John 1:12 and 13 say, “As many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Here we see that believing in the Lord Jesus is equal to receiving Him. If a person truly believes in the Lord’s name, in some way or other he will say, “Lord Jesus.” As long as we call on His name from the depths of our being, we believe in Him. If we believe in Him by calling on His name, this proves that we have received Him. Furthermore, since we have received Him, we have received the authority to become children of God. This authority is Christ Himself as the generating life that makes us children of God for His multiplication and expression.
We have emphasized the fact that to believe in the Lord Jesus is to receive Him. The Lord is receivable. He is now the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), with His complete redemption, waiting for and expecting us to receive Him. Our spirit is the receiving organ. We receive the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18) into our spirit by believing in Christ. Once we believe in Him, He, as the Spirit, enters into our spirit. Then we are regenerated by Him, the life-giving Spirit, and become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).
The believers are those who have believed into Christ as the Son of God to have an organic union with Him. However, certain people believe Christ, but they do not believe in Christ. Genuine believers are those who believe in Christ, even into Christ. Those who merely believe Christ are not believers in the New Testament sense, for they take the Lord Jesus as a pattern, an example, a model, for them to imitate and follow to do certain works for the benefit of society. Because such people do not believe into Christ, they have not entered into the organic union with Christ. We, the genuine believers in Christ, have an organic union with Christ.
John 3:36 says, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life.” Literally translated, the phrase “believes in” in verse 36, as well as in verses 15, 16, and 18, should be “believes into.” When we believe in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, we believe into Him. By believing in Him, we enter into Him to be one with Him organically, to partake of Him, and to participate in all that He has accomplished for us. By believing into Him, we are identified with Him in all that He is and in all that He has passed through, accomplished, attained, and obtained. As we become one with Christ by believing into Him, we are saved and regenerated by Him as life. Therefore, it is by believing into Him that we partake of Him as life and are regenerated in Him.
The Lord’s word in John 3:15, 16, 18, and 36 tells us clearly and definitely that the way for us to be regenerated is to believe in the Lord Jesus, even to believe into Him. To believe in the Lord is the only way for us to receive salvation and to experience regeneration. It is absolutely a matter of faith. No matter how much we can work or how good our work may be, we cannot be saved and regenerated by our work. Our work does not count in this matter. Only faith counts. Salvation and regeneration must be by faith. It is by faith in the Lord, by believing into Him, that we receive forgiveness, the release from God’s condemnation negatively. It is also by faith, by believing into the Lord, that we receive eternal life, the life of God, the divine life, positively for our regeneration. The Lord Jesus has accomplished the redemptive work for us. By His redemptive death on the cross, He has met all of God’s righteous demands on us and has fulfilled all the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory for us. By His death on the cross in the form of the serpent, the Lord has even destroyed Satan, the Devil who usurps us and enslaves us, so that we may be delivered from the evil one’s slavery and power of death (Heb. 2:14). All negative things have been solved by Christ’s all-inclusive death on the cross. Therefore, we do not need to do anything except believe in the Lord Jesus and in what He has accomplished. He has not left any room for our work. There is no need of our work, only of faith in Christ’s finished, completed, and all-inclusive redemptive work.
After passing through death, the Lord, by resurrection and in resurrection, has released His life and has become the life-giving Spirit. Now in resurrection He is the Spirit of life, with all the virtue of His redemptive work, waiting for us to believe into Him. Once we believe into Him, we receive not only the forgiveness of sins and the deliverance from Satan’s evil power of darkness but also the Spirit of life, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, with the eternal life of God. In this way we are saved, regenerated, and enter into an organic union with Christ.
By believing into Christ as the Son of God we have an organic union with Him. When we believe in Him, we believe into Him and thereby become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). This is what we mean by the expression “organic union.” By faith we are brought into an organic union with the Triune God. Now the Lord is seeking to develop this organic union, and He will cause it to be developed to the uttermost. The more this union is developed, the more we shall enjoy the dispensing of the Triune God.
