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Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:2; 2 Pet. 1:1-4; 1 Pet. 2:2, 5, 9; 2 Pet. 1:5-7; 3:18; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Cor. 12:13b; 3:6-7; Eph. 4:12-13, 15-16; Rom. 8:23b, 30
II. The believers’ growth in life unveiled in the writings of Peter:
А. Its base:
1. The sanctification of the Spirit — 1 Pet. 1:2b.
2. The redemption of Christ through His vicarious death on the cross — 2:24a.
3. The sprinkling of Christ’s blood, as the precious blood of the Lamb without blemish and without spot — 1:2c, 19.
4. The regeneration through Christ’s resurrection — v. 3b.
5. The God-allotted, equally precious faith — 2 Pet. 1:1b.
6. The divine power which has granted to us all things relating to life and godliness — v. 3a.
7. The precious and exceedingly great promises and the divine nature — v. 4.
B. Its way:
1. By drinking the milk of the word — 1 Pet. 2:2a.
2. By enjoying the grace of Christ and the all grace of God — 2 Pet. 3:18; 1 Pet. 5:10.
C. Its progression:
1. From babyhood growing into the priesthood — 2:2, 5.
2. From faith to virtue, from virtue to knowledge, from knowledge to self-control, from self-control to endurance, from endurance to godliness, from godliness to brotherly love, and from brotherly love to the divine love — 2 Pet. 1:5-7.
D. Its issue:
1. To enjoy the continual and daily salvation — 1 Pet. 2:2b.
2. To be fruitful — 2 Pet. 1:8.
3. To be transformed into living stones (1 Pet. 2:5a) as materials for the building up of the spiritual house of God (v. 5b), consummating in the priesthood for offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through the telling out of the virtues of the Lord who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light, that is, through the preaching of the gospel of God (vv. 5c, 9).
E. Its consummation:
1. To enter into the eternal kingdom of their Lord Jesus Christ richly and bountifully — 2 Pet. 1:11.
2. To be glorified with God’s eternal glory as the redemption of their body in the New Jerusalem — 1 Pet. 5:10; 23, Rom. 8:30b; Rev. 21:1-3, 10-11.
III. The believers’ growth in life unveiled in the writings of Paul:
А. Its base:
1. The righteousness of God — Rom. 1:17.
2. The redemption of Christ — 3:24b.
3. The justification by God — v. 24a; 8:30b.
4. The reconciliation to God — 5:10a.
5. The washing of regeneration — Titus 3:5.
6. The renewing of the Holy Spirit — v. 5.
7. The complete salvation of God — Rom. 1:16.
8. The salvation of God in the life of Christ — 5:10b.
9. Putting us into Christ — 1 Cor. 1:30; Col. 3:4.
10. The identification with Christ in His death, resurrection, and ascension — Rom. 6:3-6; Eph. 2:6.
11. The abounding grace of God — Rom. 5:20.
12. Making us the church as the Body of Christ — Eph. 1:3-23.
13. Creating both the Jews and the Gentiles into one new man — 2:13-16.
14. Making all the believers in Christ a new creation — 2 Cor. 5:17.
15. Making the believers one spirit with the Lord — 1 Cor. 6:17.
B. Its way:
1. By drinking the spiritual milk — 3:2a; Heb. 5:12b.
2. By eating the spiritual food — v. 14a.
3. By drinking the Spirit — 1 Cor. 12:13b.
4. By being watered — 3:6b, 7b.
5. By God operating in us — Phil. 2:13.
6. By Christ living and making His home in us — Gal. 2:20a; Eph. 3:17a.
7. By the Spirit of Jesus Christ supplying bountifully in us — Phil. 1:19b.
8. By the growth of God — Col. 2:19.
9. By the supply out from the Head, Christ — Eph. 4:16a.
C. Its progression:
1. From the fleshly man to the soulish man, and from the soulish man to the spiritual man — 3:1, 1 Cor. 3:3; 2:14a.
2. From infancy to maturity — full growth — v. 1b; Col. 1:28b; Eph. 4:13b.
3. From dust to plants, and from plants to precious stones — 1 Cor. 3:6a, 7a, 12a.
D. Its issue:
1. Growing into Christ, the Head, in all things — Eph. 4:15.
2. Growing unto a full-grown man — v. 13b.
3. Growing unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ — v. 13c.
4. Growing unto the building up of the Body — vv. 12b, 16c:
а. By being perfected — v. 12a.
b. By being joined together and knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part — v. 16.
c. In love — v. 16c.
E. Its ultimate consummation:
1. To be transfigured in the body in the completion of the full redemption — Phil. 3:21; Rom. 8:23b.
2. To be glorified with the glory of God in the corporate expression of the New Jerusalem — v. 30c; Rev. 21:2, 10-11.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we do worship You. We worship You that You are the speaking God. You have been speaking from the first age until this age. We believe that in this meeting You will speak Your word again to us. We look to You for new light, new enlightenment, and up-to-date, instant, inspiring utterance. Lord Jesus, stand with us; be one spirit with us in our speaking. In our speaking, do speak Your word. We desire to be one with You. How we thank You that You have worked and have accomplished and consummated everything so that You can be one with us and we can be one with You! And in fact, we really are one with You. We believe that even at this moment, while we are here waiting on You and looking unto You, You are really one with us. We have the assurance that we are here one with You and one with one another. Thank You for Your prevailing blood that counters the enemy. Lord, we hate Your enemy. We accuse him before You. Lord, put him to shame, glorify Yourself, and bless all the saints. Amen.
In the Bible there are three main writers of the Epistles. The first, no doubt, is Paul; then there is John, and then Peter. In the previous chapter and in this chapter our intention is to cover in the writings of these three main writers of the New Testament the matter of the growth in life for the building up of the Body of Christ. In the previous chapter we covered this matter in the writings of John. In this chapter we will see this same matter in the writings of Peter and Paul.
John’s writing is very divine and mysterious, yet the words and the sentences that he wrote are very simple. In John’s writings we can see that the Triune God became a man to live on the earth (John 1:1, 14). Eventually, this One is life to us (v. 4), and He is also the life supply to us. He is even our food (6:57b-58a, 51, 68; Rev. 2:7b; 22:2; 2:17b), our drink (John 7:37-39; 4:10, 14; Rev. 21:6b; 22:17b), and our breath (John 20:22). He is all the necessities of our daily spiritual life. We need Him as our food, our bread, our drink, and our breath. Every morning we need to take some time to enjoy Him. Without enjoying Him, I could not live Him and I could not speak Him. Hallelujah, we have Him and we can partake of Him!
To consider the matter of the growth in life for the building up of the Body of Christ in the writings of Peter and Paul, we need a sober mind. It is very interesting to see that all these three great writers — John, Peter, and Paul — touched the matter of the growth in life. Furthermore, their touching of the growth in life is for the building up of the Body of Christ. In the entire universe there is only one building of God. It is true that God created the heavens and the earth, and He even did some remodeling of His creation, but God does not have two buildings. We may think that the old creation, composed of the original heavens and the original earth, is one kind of building and that the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center are another kind of building. Thus, we may consider that God has two buildings. However, we need to realize that God’s building in the new creation is something worked out of the old creation.
First, God created the old creation. The last item created by God in the old creation was man. God first created the heavens with the angels (Isa. 42:5a; Zech. 12:1a; Job 38:7). Then God created the earth with myriads of items on the earth (Zech. 12:1b; Job 38:4; Isa. 42:5b). Finally, the last item created by God was man. After man, God did not create anything else; He stopped His creating work. Man is the consummation of God’s creation because God’s intention is not to have the stars or the mountains or the animals; God’s intention is to have a man who bears His image and has His likeness. Man was created not according to man’s kind but according to God’s kind. Genesis 1 tells us that God created all the plants and animals according to their own kind (vv. 11-12, 21, 24-25). Eventually, God created His last item — man (vv. 26-27). God did not create man according to man’s kind. God created man according to God’s kind. As men, we all bear God’s image and walk in God’s likeness. So we as man are of God’s kind.
First, we need to see the believers’ growth in the divine life unveiled in the writings of Peter. Although Peter was a fisherman who wrote awkwardly in Greek, his writing is very high and very solemn, with no lightness.
The believers’ growth in life has a base, and this base is unveiled in Peter’s writings.
In Peter’s writings the first item as the base for the believers’ growth in the divine life is the sanctification of the Spirit (1 Pet. 1:2b). To sanctify something means to separate it and make it holy unto God. When something is sanctified, it is separated unto God for God’s purpose; hence, it becomes holy. We were born as Adam’s descendants. As such, we were not holy. But one day as we were listening to the gospel, the Holy Spirit of God came to sanctify us, to separate us unto God and make us holy. This is the first step of the Spirit’s sanctification.
The sanctification of the Spirit, the seeking of us, the lost sinners, by the searching Spirit is based upon Christ’s redemption accomplished by Him through His vicarious death on the tree (the cross — 2:24a). In that vicarious death Christ, the Righteous, died for the sins of us, the unrighteous (3:18). This is a base for us believers to receive the eternal life of God (John 3:15) and to live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24b).
Based upon the blood-shedding redemption of Christ, right after the sanctification of the Spirit, the sprinkling of Christ’s redeeming blood, as the precious blood of the Lamb without blemish and without spot (1:2c, 19), is applied to us. The sprinkling of Christ’s blood indicates redemption. Some may think that the sanctification of the Holy Spirit should not be before the redemption of Christ.
In Luke 15 the Lord Jesus spoke three parables that correspond to the Divine Trinity in God’s saving of sinners. The first parable concerns a man seeking a lost sheep (vv. 3-7), the second concerns a woman seeking her lost coin (vv. 8-10), and the third concerns a father receiving his prodigal son (vv. 11-32). In these three parables the father signifies the divine Father in the Trinity, the man signifies Christ the Savior, and the woman signifies the Holy Spirit. The woman’s work in seeking the lost coin was the Spirit’s sanctification, which transpired before our repentance and led us to believe in Christ that we might participate in the sprinkling of Christ’s blood.
Without the sanctification of the Spirit, the prodigal son in Luke 15 could never have been awakened to realize his pitiful condition and make a decision to rise up and return to his father’s house (vv. 16-21). Before he returned home, the Spirit as the seeking “woman” had done the seeking work already.
After the prodigal son returned home, the father told the servants to put the best robe on the son. That is a sign of justification, implying redemption. Hence, at that time the son was redeemed, approved, and accepted. According to Luke 15, that occurred after the Spirit as the seeking woman found the prodigal as the lost coin. Therefore, before redemption was applied to the returned prodigal, the Holy Spirit first did something to sanctify, to separate, the sinner and cause him to repent.
The Holy Spirit’s sanctification is not once for all. According to the New Testament, the Holy Spirit’s sanctification occurs in three steps (2 Thes. 2:13 and footnote 3, Recovery Version). The first step takes place before the sinner’s repentance in order to stir up the sinner’s repentance, to separate and sanctify the sinner and bring him to Christ. This is the sanctification referred to in 1 Peter 1:2 and Luke 15. Then after the sinner repents and receives Christ, at that moment the sinner receives Christ’s redemption. At the same time, the sinner is regenerated and experiences the second step of the Holy Spirit’s sanctification, which is mainly a positional sanctification (Heb. 13:12; 1 Cor. 6:11). Later, in the course of his Christian life, such a saved sinner will be sanctified dispositionally (Rom. 6:19, 22). This is the third step of the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.
As presented in Peter’s writings, the first item as the base of the believers’ growth in the divine life is the Spirit’s sanctification. Since the Holy Spirit has sanctified us, we all have this base, and we can all grow in life upon it. Because we all have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we are willing to forsake the pleasures of this world and enjoy Christ in the church life so that we can gain more of Christ.
The sanctification of the Spirit ushered us to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, which refers to redemption and issues in life (5:10, 17-18). Such a redemption through the shed blood of Christ (Eph. 1:7) has been applied to us for our enjoyment. We all need to realize and be fully assured that we have been sprinkled with the blood of Christ. Because we have been sprinkled with the precious blood of Christ, we have been redeemed. We are the blood-sprinkled people. How good this is! First, we were sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and then we were sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. Therefore, God can justify us, receive us, and accept us because we have been redeemed and sprinkled with the blood. Now there is no problem between us and God. All the problems are covered under the blood. This is a strong base for us to grow in the divine life.
The next item in Peter’s writings as the base of the believers’ growth in life is the regeneration through Christ’s resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3b). Christ not only shed His blood for our redemption; He also rose from the dead to regenerate us. It may seem strange to say that we were regenerated through the resurrection of Christ. According to our view, we were regenerated at a certain time after we were born. However, 1 Peter 1:3 tells us that we were regenerated together, as a group of God’s chosen people, not one by one. When Christ resurrected, millions of believers in Christ throughout all the centuries were regenerated together as a group.
The Bible tells us that when Christ died, we died with Him and in Him (Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 5:14b; Gal. 2:20), and when Christ rose, we were resurrected with Him and in Him (Eph. 2:5-6). In that resurrection we were all regenerated in Christ.
Nevertheless, it may still seem illogical to say that two thousand years ago we were regenerated through Christ’s resurrection, when at that time we were not yet born. How could we be regenerated before we were born? How could we be reborn, born a second time, before we were born the first time? To our small mind this may not be logical, but to God’s great mind it is quite logical. This is because with God there is no time element. God sees only the facts; He is not concerned with the time. The time is not important to Him. What is important to Him is the fact that we are regenerated. We were sanctified by the Spirit, sprinkled with the blood, and regenerated through Christ’s resurrection. These items are a strong base for our growth in life.
Another item in Peter’s writings that constitutes the base of the believers’ growth in life is the God-allotted, equally precious faith (2 Pet. 1:1b). We Christians are a particular people, a people who are particular in our faith. Our faith is a mystery. It is common for people to say, “If I cannot see something, I cannot believe.” But we Christians believe in what we have never seen. Although we have never seen Jesus, we believe in Him (1 Pet. 1:8). Although we have never seen Him, we have the full assurance that Jesus is real. In the whole universe there is such a person named Jesus who is both God and man. We know that such a One is real because the Bible tells us so. It is by our faith that we believe that the Bible is true.
Second Peter 1:1 says that our faith is allotted to us by God. It is a portion given to us by God. In ourselves we cannot produce faith, but God has given us faith as a portion. The expression allotted faith equally precious as ours in 2 Peter 1:1 indicates that in the whole universe there is only one faith as a portion allotted to all of God’s redeemed people. In the Old Testament the land of Canaan was the unique good land allotted by God as an inheritance to His people Israel. When the people of Israel entered into the good land and possessed it, that one good land was divided into portions and allotted to each family of the twelve tribes of Israel (Num. 33:51-54). Similarly, in the universe there is one great matter, which is called faith. God has allotted a portion of this unique faith to each of His chosen people. Thus, we all have the same unique faith. We all have an allotted portion of this one faith. We did not receive this faith from others; God allotted this faith to us. The way in which God allotted this faith to us is a mystery of mysteries.
At the juncture when we believed, it was not we who were believing; it was God who was allotting a portion of the unique faith into us. The name of that unique faith is Jesus Christ. The faith that we have to believe in Christ is Christ Himself (Rom. 3:22 and footnote; Gal. 2:16a and footnote 1, Recovery Version). At the time that we heard the gospel and repented, we appreciated the Lord Jesus. At that very juncture this hidden Jesus, this mysterious Jesus, secretly entered into us and became our faith in Him. The more we said, “Jesus,” the more we believed in Him, and the more He became lovable to us. What a sweet, precious Jesus we have! In the universe there is only one Jesus who is faith to us. Therefore, our faith is uniquely one. We have such a faith as our base so that we can grow in Him.
Another vital item as the base for our growth in life is the divine power which has granted to us all things relating to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3a). The divine power has given us all things which relate to life and godliness. We desire to be holy, and we also aspire to be like God, that is, to be godly, because all things concerning these matters have been sown into us. Jesus as the Sower has sown Himself into us as the seed of holiness and godliness. The desire and aspiration for these things are included in that one seed. The tiny seeds of flowers are sown into the earth, and when they grow, they produce flowers of many different colors. In the same way holiness, godliness, and all things which relate to life and godliness have been given to us. These things are all in us. If we do not seek holiness and godliness, we do not feel happy. But as long as we are seeking holiness and godliness, we are very happy because within us we do have such a base.
The last items in Peter’s writings as the base for our growth in life are the precious and exceedingly great promises and the divine nature (v. 4). In the New Testament there are hundreds of precious and exceedingly great promises. One such promise is found in Matthew 28:20: “Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.” Another great and precious promise is 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you.” There are many promises like these given to us in the New Testament.
In addition to these promises, we also have a share of God’s divine nature. According to 2 Peter 1:4, it is through the precious and exceedingly great promises that we have become partakers of the divine nature. The matter of nature is very important. Hens lay eggs because it is according to their nature. The apple tree and all fruit trees bring forth fruit also by and according to their natures. This means that if we have a particular nature, we are able to do things that are by and according to that nature, and if we do not have a certain nature, we are not able to do things that are according to that nature. As believers in Christ, we have God’s nature. How wonderful this is! We not only have God’s life, but we also have His nature. We desire to be holy, godly, and spiritual because these things are according to God’s nature, of which we partake. Because we have God’s nature, to do the things of God is natural to us, because the divine things are according to our divine nature.
The way of the believers’ growth in life is also revealed in the writings of Peter.
As revealed in Peter’s writings, the believers grow in life by drinking the milk of the word (1 Pet. 2:2a). Every word in the Bible is a bottle of milk. The milk for our growth in life is in the holy Word.
The believers grow in life also by enjoying the grace of Christ and the all grace of God (2 Pet. 3:18; 1 Pet. 5:10). The grace of Christ is just Christ Himself distributed to us through His redemption for our enjoyment, and the all grace of God is simply the processed and consummated Triune God to be our life supply in all aspects. God is a God of many aspects, and every aspect of God is grace to us. Whenever we contact God, call on Him, drink Him, eat Him, and breathe Him in, we receive grace.
The way for us believers to grow in life is to drink the spiritual milk of the word, to breathe in Christ as our grace, and to take in God in His Divine Trinity as the all grace to us.
Peter’s writings also unveil to us that the believers’ growth in life has its progression. When we are growing, we are progressing.
In the progression of our growth in the divine life, from babyhood we believers grow into the priesthood (2:2, 5). We need to go on in our growth from the nursing babyhood to the serving priesthood. Whenever we pray, we function as priests. By our praying we can grow out of our babyhood into the priesthood. This is the progression in our growth in life.
According to 2 Peter 1:5-7, the progression of the believers’ growth in the divine life is from the God-allotted faith to the divine love of God through the six steps of virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, and brotherly love.
Virtue is our sweet Christian conduct. Love is a virtue. Kindness and humility are also virtues. Our Christian virtues in our growing in the divine life are the spiritual expressions of the divine attributes of God.
First, we have the God-allotted faith as a base, and then we progress in our growth in the divine life from faith to virtue. From virtue we need to progress further to knowledge. We need to know the Bible, to know God according to the Bible. We need to know God in the Old Testament and also in the New Testament. We need to know God in the four Gospels, in the fourteen Epistles of the apostle Paul, and in all the other books of the New Testament. Therefore, we must learn to study the Bible to get the divine knowledge in the proper and full way.
From knowledge we need to progress in our growth in life to self-control. A foolish man is always free in everything. If you are a man full of the divine knowledge, full of the knowledge of the divine truth, you will know how to restrict yourself, that is, how to control yourself. Some of the saints do not know how to restrict their speaking. Those who do not have the proper spiritual knowledge may behave in a very foolish way. They may be like a truck without brakes. We need to progress by our growth in life from knowledge to self-control, self-restriction.
Then, we need to progress from self-control to endurance. Whereas self-control is to deal with ourselves, endurance is to bear with others and with circumstances. These two items should be the fragrant virtues of those who have seen Christ as the centrality and universality of God’s eternal economy and who are pursuing Christ, growing Christ, living Christ, and magnifying Christ. Then they would progress in the growth of the divine life into the state of godliness, God-likeness, to express God in Christ in all His attributes as their virtues. We all need to progress in this way to the next step, that is, brotherly love in warm affection, characterized by delight and pleasure. Our godliness needs to be supplied with such a brotherly love.
From this brotherly love we still need to progress until we reach the climax, the divine love, which is God Himself. Every item in this progression is Christ expressed in our living of Him. The base, the foundation, of this progression is the God-allotted faith, and its capstone, its topstone, is the divine love of God.
In Peter’s writings, the believers’ growth in the divine life also has its issue.
In the writings of Peter the first issue of the believers’ growth in life is to enjoy the continual and daily salvation (1 Pet. 2:2b). We need to drink the milk of the word so that we may grow unto salvation. This is not the salvation from perdition, from hell; rather, it is the salvation in our daily life. To overcome our temper, especially in relation to our spouse, we need salvation. To be a husband or wife requires a great deal of salvation every day. Without experiencing salvation in many aspects, we cannot be a proper Christian husband or wife.
Every husband is a trouble to his wife. Every husband is a particular person who has particular traits. How much salvation the wives need! Every wife needs to learn to rely on God’s salvation, not on her own cleverness, in dealing with her husband. We all need salvation.
Another issue of the growth in life is to be fruitful (2 Pet. 1:8). When we grow in life, we will bear fruit.
Peter in his first Epistle unveils to us that the Lord is a living stone and that we, by contacting Him, also become living stones (2:4-5a). We were created as pieces of clay in nature (Gen. 2:7a; Rom. 9:21), but by growing in Christ we become stones, transformed metabolically in our nature. These stones are suitable as materials for the building up of the spiritual house of God (1 Pet. 2:5b), which consummates in the New Testament priesthood of the gospel for offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God in our gospel preaching (vv. 5c, 9). To preach the gospel is to tell out the sweet virtues, in a sweet way, of the Lord, who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
This kind of gospel preaching, as an issue of our transformation through our growth in the divine life, should be by a group of believers (not by some individualistic believers) built up into a priesthood (not some individualistic priests) as a corporate body of priests, carrying out the spreading of the Lord’s glad tidings as a corporate testimony to the sinners in the world, in telling out the sweet virtues, such as love, lovingkindness, grace, light, forgiveness, redemption, salvation, etc., of the Lord in a sweet and delightful way. Surely this kind of victorious, vital, and corporate trumpeting of the good news from the heavens would be triumphant and successful. This is the goal that our vital groups should reach.
Peter also tells us that the believers’ growth in the divine life has its consummation.
The believers’ growth in the divine life consummates in their entering into the eternal kingdom, that is, first the thousand-year kingdom and then the eternal kingdom, of the Lord Jesus Christ richly and bountifully (2 Pet. 1:11). We all will eventually enter into the kingdom of Christ, but some will enter richly and bountifully, whereas others will enter poorly and scarcely. We need to grow in life so that we can enter into the kingdom of Christ richly and bountifully.
The believers’ growth in the divine life will also consummate in their being glorified with God’s eternal glory as the redemption of their body in the New Jerusalem (1 Pet. 5:10). Our spirit has been regenerated, and our soul is now being transformed. When Christ comes, our body will be transfigured, that is, redeemed into God’s glory. That will be our glorification in the coming age. All this depends on our growth in the divine life. Thus, our growth in the divine life is good not only for the building of God’s house but also for our enjoyment in the kingdom and in the New Jerusalem for eternity.
The believers’ growth in life is unveiled more in the writings of Paul.
In the writings of the three main writers of the New Testament concerning our growth in the divine life, the base unveiled in Paul’s writings is the fullest and the strongest.
The gospel preached by the apostle Paul is based upon the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:17) for God’s full salvation in Christ. Hence, the righteousness of God becomes the first base for the growth in the divine life of the believers, who have participated in Christ’s salvation based upon God’s righteousness.
Christ’s complete redemption (3:24b) is accomplished according to the requirements of God’s righteousness in full and has fulfilled those requirements up to the full satisfaction of God. Hence, it becomes the most solid base for Christ’s redeemed people to grow in the divine life.
Based upon the complete and full redemption of Christ, God has justified all the believers in Christ (v. 24a; 8:30b) and reconciled them all to Himself in the next item. These are also solid bases for the believers in Christ to grow in the divine life.
God has reconciled to Himself those whom He has justified in Christ based upon the redemption of Christ (5:10a).
God has regenerated us following His reconciling of us to Himself to wash away the old creation from us (Titus 3:5). Both this item and the next item are vital bases for us to grow in the divine life.
Going along with His regeneration, God has renewed us by the germination of His Holy Spirit to have a new beginning in His new creation (v. 5).
The salvation of God mentioned in Romans 1:16 comprises all the different aspects in the full salvation of God, which is very basic to the believers’ growth in the divine life.
The complete and full salvation of God comprises one particular aspect, that is, to save us by the life of Christ (5:10b) in all the matters of our daily life in the entire course of our Christian life, especially in regenerating, transforming, conforming, and glorifying us. This is the crucial base for us to grow in the divine life, which is Christ Himself.
In God’s complete and full salvation, the all-inclusive item is God’s putting us into Christ in an organic union with Him, making Him our life, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and every positive thing (1 Cor. 1:30; Col. 3:4). This is the all-inclusive base to our growth in the divine life.
Our identification with Christ in His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension (Rom. 6:3-6; Eph. 2:6), making His story our history, is also a crucial base to our growth in the divine life.
In addition to all the above items, Paul in his writings assures us of the abounding, multiplying grace of God (Rom. 5:20), which is the grace of Christ that is sufficient to meet all our needs in our Christian life (2 Cor. 12:9) and leads us to reign in life in Christ (Rom. 5:21). Such an abounding grace is needed as a base for our growth in the divine life.
The dispensing of the blessing of the Divine Trinity to make us the church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:3-23) is a great base to our growth in the divine life.
Christ has created the Jewish and the Gentile believers into one new man through His crucifixion (2:13-16) and has made Himself every member of this new man (Col. 3:10-11). This is a base for our growth in the divine life.
Christ has made all His believers a new creation out of the old creation (2 Cor. 5:17). This is also a vital base for our growth in the divine life.
God’s complete and full salvation has made all the believers in Christ one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). This is the climax of the base to our growth in the divine life.
In Paul’s writings the way of the believers’ growth in life is revealed in much more detail than in Peter’s writings. According to Paul’s writings, the believers grow in life by drinking the spiritual milk (3:2a; Heb. 5:12b), by eating the spiritual food (v. 14a), by drinking the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13b), by being watered (3:6b, 7b), and by God operating in them (Phil. 2:13). The believers also grow in life by Christ living in them and making His home in them (Gal. 2:20a; Eph. 3:17a). Christ is not only living in us but is also making His home in us. He desires to get Himself settled within us.
The believers grow in life also by the Spirit of Jesus Christ supplying bountifully in them (Phil. 1:19b). With the Spirit of Jesus Christ there is a rich and bountiful supply in everything.
The believers grow in life also by the growth of God (Col. 2:19). As we grow in the divine life, God also grows in us. Since God is complete and perfect in Himself, we may wonder why God needs to grow. It is true that God is complete and perfect in Himself, but He is not complete and perfect in us. In most of us God is too little. How much God do you have within you? Only God knows the answer to this question. Nevertheless, we all need to allow God to grow in us.
Finally, in Paul’s writings the believers grow in life by the supply out from the Head, Christ (Eph. 4:16a). We are members of the Body of Christ. While we as members are growing, Christ the Head is supplying. Out from the Head we receive the supply for us to grow in life. In our spiritual life, day by day we need to eat sufficiently, rightly, and properly to receive the supply from Christ the Head. We all need to practice eating, drinking, and breathing. We also need to learn how to rest. To be healthy we need five things: eating, drinking, breathing, resting, and exercising. If we do these five things in our Christian life, we will be spiritually healthy and will surely grow in life.
In Paul’s writings we also see the progression of the believers’ growth in life.
In our growth in life, we the believers progress from the fleshly man to the soulish man and from the soulish man to the spiritual man (3:1, 1 Cor. 3:3; 2:14a). We need to ask ourselves what kind of man we are: a fleshly man, a soulish man, or a spiritual man? A fleshly man is one whose behavior is under the influence of his fleshly nature and partakes of the character of the flesh. Such a person may become angry and lose his temper easily. A soulish man is a natural man, one who allows his soul (including the mind, the emotion, and the will) to dominate his entire being and who lives by his soul, ignoring his spirit, not using his spirit, and even behaving as if he did not have a spirit (Jude 19). Such a person may not anger easily, but he is full of thoughts and reasonings in his mind. A soulish person has no capacity to receive the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14). A spiritual man is one who denies his soul and does not live by his soul but allows his spirit, that is, his regenerated spirit, which is occupied and energized by the Spirit of God, to dominate his entire being. A spiritual man lives by such a spirit, moving and acting according to it (Rom. 8:4).
If you lose your temper easily, you are a fleshly man. If you are always reasoning in your mind and murmuring in your emotion (Phil. 2:14), you are a soulish man. If, regardless of what happens to you, you simply call on the name of the Lord, remain in your spirit, and do everything according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:4b), you are a spiritual man. Instead of reasoning and murmuring with our spouse, with the saints in the church, or with the elders, we should simply call “O Lord” all the time, living in our spirit. Then we will be a spiritual man.
We should not think that calling “O Lord” is an easy thing. It is not easy. Sometimes when you are in the flesh, you may try to say “O Lord,” but you may not even be able to say “O.” To say “O Lord” requires a great deal of strength. We need to grow in life to the extent that whatever happens to us, we will respond by calling “O Lord,” without murmuring, reasoning, complaining, or arguing. If we are such spiritual persons, we will be suitable for the building up of the Body of Christ. Otherwise, if we are fleshly or soulish persons, we will not be able to be built up with others.
According to Paul’s writings, the believers also progress in their growth in life from infancy to maturity, that is, to full growth (1 Cor. 3:1b; Col. 1:28b; Eph. 4:13b). Through our growth in life we the believers mature with Christ as the element of the divine life unto full growth.
We the believers also progress in our growth in life from dust to plants and from plants to precious stones (1 Cor. 3:6a, 7a, 12a). Originally, man was made by God of the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7). In order for dust to become a plant, there is the need of some seed to be sown into the dust. Then the dust and the seed join together to grow, thus becoming a plant. Christ has been sown into us as the seed of life, and we are the dust, the earth, as the soil. As we cooperate with Christ to grow together with Him, a sprout comes out, and that sprout is the plant.
Then according to 1 Corinthians 3, the believers as plants all need to be transformed from plants to minerals, that is, into precious stones, for the building up of the Body of Christ. Thus, first, we need growth, and second, we need transformation. In the beginning of our Christian life our primary need is to grow. Our growth in life is very important. Eventually, our growth brings in transformation, a metabolic change in which God’s divine life and nature spread throughout every part of our being, particularly our soul, bringing Christ with His riches into our being as our new element and causing our old, natural element to be gradually discharged. We need to grow from dust to plants, and we need to grow further and be transformed from plants into precious stones for the building of God.
In the writings of Paul the issue of the believers’ growth in life also is richly revealed.
In our growth in the divine life we the believers grow into Christ, the Head, in all things (Eph. 4:15). For the sisters, combing their hair and clothing themselves may be two small problems in their daily life. If we ask some sisters to have morning revival for ten minutes, they may say that they do not have time, but they may have time to spend twenty minutes before the mirror to comb their hair. This means that these sisters may be growing into Christ in many things but not in the combing of their hair. Shopping may be another area in the sisters’ daily life in which they need to grow up into Christ. Many sisters read the newspaper, not for the important items of the news but to locate the sales in the department stores. If the sisters can overcome in the matter of shopping, they will grow very much in Christ.
In our growth in life, we the believers also grow unto a full-grown man (v. 13b). We should not remain as infants or merely as adolescents in the divine life; we must grow unto a full-grown man. This is the issue of our growth in life.
The believers also grow unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (v. 13c). The fullness of Christ here denotes the expression of Christ, and the expression of Christ is just the Body of Christ. Like a man’s physical body, the Body of Christ has a stature, and this stature has a measure. We all need to grow unto the proper measurement of the stature of the Body of Christ, which is actually the stature of Christ.
In our growth in life we the believers also grow unto the building up of the Body (vv. 12b, 16c). The building up of the Body of Christ is entirely a matter of our growth. If we do not grow, there can be no building. If we all grow, there will be much building.
We grow unto the building up of the Body by being perfected (v. 12a). This is why we need to have the small group meetings: to carry out the mutual perfecting of all the saints as members of Christ’s Body.
We grow unto the building up of the Body also by being joined together and knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part (v. 16). The word joined implies the thought of being joined by fitting, and the word knit implies the thought of interweaving. In the Body we are not only joined together but also knit together. The Body is built up through the rich supply of every joint and through the operation in the measure of each one part. The joints are the specially gifted members of the Body, such as the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers (v. 11). The parts are all the members of the Body. Through these two kinds of members the entire Body is joined together and knit together for the building.
The Body builds up itself in love. This is not our own love but the love of God in Christ, which becomes the love of Christ in us, by which we love Christ and the fellow members of His Body. We must love one another with the divine love for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Like the writings of John and Peter, the writings of Paul also reveal the ultimate consummation of the believers’ growth in life.
Our growth in life will consummate ultimately in our being transfigured in the body in the completion of the full redemption (Phil. 3:21; Rom. 8:23b). We have been redeemed in our spirit through regeneration, and now we are being redeemed in our soul through growth and transformation. Ultimately, we will be redeemed in our body through glorification. Hence, the redemption of our body is the consummation of the full redemption, which includes regeneration, transformation, and glorification.
In the ultimate consummation of the believers’ growth in life, the believers will be glorified with the glory of God in the corporate expression of the New Jerusalem (v. 30c; Rev. 21:2, 10-11). The New Jerusalem is the final, ultimate sign in God’s economy (1:1 and the first paragraph of footnote 2, Recovery Version) and the final, ultimate goal of all God’s redeemed people (Heb. 11:10, 16; 12:22; Gal. 4:26). As such a great sign in God’s economy, the New Jerusalem signifies all of God’s redeemed, justified, regenerated, sanctified, transformed, transfigured, and glorified people. All the aspects of the New Jerusalem need our growth and transformation. Therefore, by His mercy and grace I would urge you to do your best to grow in Christ and to be transformed in His life by the Spirit. Then He will have a way to build up His Body today to consummate in the upcoming New Jerusalem.
