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Scripture Reading: Rom. 1:3-4
II. The center of the gospel of God — Jesus Christ the God-man — Rom. 1:3-4:
B. The work of Jesus Christ the God-man:
1. The preliminary steps:
а. His incarnation, implied in His becoming the seed of David (v. 3) — John 1:1, 14:
1) The eternal God, the complete God (the Father, the Son, and the Spirit), came:
a) From eternity into time.
b) In the Triune God’s divinity.
2) To be the flesh:
a) In its likeness but without sin (Rom. 8:3b).
b) Partaking of the human blood and flesh in which Satan with sin is involved (Heb. 2:14).
3) To bring God into man, making God and man mingled as one.
4) To be the God-man in the universe, as a model, a prototype, for the mass reproduction of the many sons of God, for the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy (1 Tim. 1:4b):
a) A particular item in the universe that has never been seen in God’s old creation.
b) This item is the initiation of God’s new creation.
b. His human living, implied in His being a man living on the earth for thirty-three and a half years (Rom. 5:15, 17, 19):
1) A living of obeying God — v. 19; Phil. 2:8; John 6:38.
2) A living through death — dying to live — Rom. 5:19; Phil. 2:8; John 7:6, 8.
3) A living of righteousness before God — Rom. 5:18.
4) A living that qualified Him to be the Redeemer of the unrighteous men — 3:23-24; 1 Pet. 3:18.
2. In His earthly ministry:
а. He consummated the all-inclusive death:
1) Through His death in His flesh (body) — Col. 1:22.
2) He took away the sin of the world — John 1:29:
a) Bearing the transgressions and iniquities of God’s chosen people — Isa. 53:5-6.
b) Dying for the sins of the believers by bearing their sins (the outward sins in their conduct) on the cross — 1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 2:24.
c) Condemning (the inward) sin (brought by Satan into man’s flesh) in the flesh — Rom. 8:3b.
d) For the believers’ redemption and justification — 3:23-26.
e) For the healing of the diseases of God’s people — Isa. 53:4-5; 1 Pet. 2:24.
f) Accomplishing God’s eternal redemption — Heb. 9:12.
3) He terminated the old creation signified by our old man (our natural man), including our flesh — Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20a; 5:24.
4) He destroyed Satan, who is involved in our old and fallen man — Heb. 2:14; John 3:14; Matt. 16:23; John 6:70-71.
5) He judged the world (the cosmos of Satan) and cast out Satan as the ruler of the world — 12:31.
6) He ended the old creation and cleared up all the negative things in the universe.
b. He carried out the life-imparting and the new-creation-germinating resurrection:
1) He, as the one grain of wheat, released the divine life within Him from the shell of His humanity — v. 24.
2) He, as the last Adam in His flesh, became (was transfigured — pneumatized — into) the life-giving Spirit (the Spirit of life — Rom. 8:2) — 1 Cor. 15:45.
3) He, in His humanity (v. 45b), was born (designated in the power of His divinity — Rom. 1:4) to be the firstborn Son of God in resurrection — Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 1:5-6.
4) He regenerated His believers in His resurrection with Him in one great, corporate birth to be the many sons of God and His many brothers (1 Pet. 1:3; Heb. 2:10-12; John 20:17), who, as the many sons of God, are to be conformed to the image of Him as the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29).
5) The life-giving Spirit is the germinating factor of the Body of Christ as the new creation of God — 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15.
6) Christ as the firstborn Son of God and as the Head is the element and the believers as His many brothers are the constituents for God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9b) — the Body of Christ as the new creation of God consummating in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-2).
3. In His heavenly ministry:
а. He, as the pneumatic Christ, the Spirit of life, indwells us in the heavenlies to give life to our mortal bodies (Rom. 8:2-16) to minister the divine life of the processed and consummated God into us, the dying ones (signified by mortal bodies), for the building up of the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem for the accomplishing of the eternal economy of God.
b. He, as the pneumatic Christ, intercedes for us in our weakness with groanings within us in the heavenlies that we may grow in Him unto maturity to reach our sonship in full, which is the redemption of our body, the glorification of our entire being (vv. 23-30).
c. In the meantime, He, as the ascended Lord of all, as the consummated and ascended God-man and as the Head of the Body, intercedes at the right hand of God in the heavens for us that we, His many brothers and members, who are the many God-men, could overcome the oppositions and any kind of circumstances and be kept in union with Him in His unconditional love so that we may be conformed to the image of Him, the firstborn Son of God, as the prototype, to be His consummated mass reproduction for the constitution of His corporate and organic Body (vv. 29-39).
4. Thus, His earthly ministry up to the end of His resurrection produced the many sons of God who are His many brothers as the constituents for the building up of His Body; and His heavenly ministry, from His ascension to His second coming, ministers the divine life to His members that they may grow unto maturity, unto the redemption of their body, the glorification of God’s redeemed people, and keeps all His members in union with Him that they may be conformed to the image of Him as the prototype for the mass reproduction of Him for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy.
Prayer: Lord, we thank You for Your presence all the time. Lord, Your presence proves that You are the Spirit. You are the Spirit, so You are present with us all the time. Your presence means everything to us in our life and in our work. Lord, we need You. We love You, dear Lord. You are so dear, so loving, and even, Lord, so sweet to us. Amen.
The Lord has brought us to the center of His gospel, and this center is Christ Himself. When we touch Christ, we have to realize that our Christ is mainly in two aspects: His person and His work. He is a wonderful, excellent person. He is also an all-inclusive person who is not so simple.
He is a person in two elements: the divine element and the human element. In the divine element He is God, possessing His marvelous divinity. We worship Him, admire Him, and adore Him because He is so divine. Then in His humanity He is a human being, but this human being is not that pleasant to us because in His humanity He belonged to the old creation. God’s original creation became old. This implies that it became corrupted. When new clothing becomes worn out and dirty, it becomes corrupted; that is, it becomes old. Christ became a part of the old creation, and spontaneously, He became an old man. In His incarnation, was He something new in humanity? John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh.” This means that God became flesh. Is flesh a positive term? It is altogether negative. Christ became an old man with the flesh.
In this flesh there are three involvements. First, this flesh is involved with Satan, the enemy of God. Satan is a poison, so this flesh is poisoned by Satan. Second, the flesh is involved with sin. Sin is a top evil in the whole universe; it is the evil nature of Satan. Sin is a poison that is contaminating and corrupting. Christ became flesh, which had been contaminated and corrupted with sin, but praise the Lord, He became flesh only in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3b). His being in the likeness of the flesh of sin is typified by the bronze serpent, which Moses lifted up in the wilderness (John 3:14; Num. 21:4-9). That serpent became Israel’s savior in life. A serpent is not a good thing. But that serpent, as a type of Christ, uplifted by Moses in the wilderness, was only in the likeness of a serpent, not in its nature. That bronze serpent had no poison. Christ became the flesh only in its likeness, but within Him there was no sin. This must mean something. Why did God in Christ become flesh? The flesh is negative. But He became this flesh only in the likeness of the flesh of sin without the poison of sin. Later, we will see that He did this with a purpose.
The third involvement with the flesh is the world. God did not create the world. God created an earth. But Satan came in to systematize the entire earth, making it a cosmos, which we call the world. This cosmos is full of Satan’s power and evils. It is the domain, the little monarchy, of Satan. The cosmos is Satan’s kingdom, which attracts and usurps people. So our flesh is attracted and usurped by the world. Such a flesh is poisoned by Satan, the enemy of God, contaminated and corrupted with sin, which is the nature of Satan, and also attracted and usurped by the world.
In this sense Christ, as a man, being in the old creation, was an old man in its likeness with the flesh, which is involved with Satan, sin, and the world. He was such a person. This is what I call the crystallization of this part of the Word. This is uttered only by Paul with such a simple expression — the seed of David. What I have mentioned to you is a crystallization of this one term in Romans 1:3 — the seed of David. Christ as God became the seed of David in His humanity. As such, He became a man of the old creation and was an old man with the flesh, which had been poisoned by Satan, corrupted with sin, and usurped by the world. These are all related to the man Jesus. God became such a person for the purpose of terminating all these things, to get rid of them for our redemption.
God would not, however, get rid of what He created. God would still keep it by the way of redemption. God became such a man in order to terminate all the negative things on earth, even in the universe. But He would redeem that part which was created by Him. Thus, there is termination along with redemption. Now let us go on to see the essence of the work of Jesus Christ the God-man.
In doing anything, one must have some preparations. One cannot do things directly; there is the need of some preliminary steps.
The first preliminary step for Christ’s work was His incarnation. This is implied in His becoming the seed of David (v. 3; John 1:1, 14). The eternal God, the complete God (the Father, the Son, and the Spirit), came from eternity into time in the Triune God’s divinity. Eternity has no beginning and no end. Suddenly, God inserted time into eternity, and time divides eternity into two parts — eternity in the past and eternity in the future. Christ as God once remained in eternity past. Then from that eternity past, He came out. Do not forget that this happened only about two thousand years ago. To our understanding, this was a sudden thing, but not to God’s understanding. To God’s understanding, this was something planned by Him in His economy before the foundation of the world, in eternity past. We do not know how long He remained in eternity, but we do know that about two thousand years ago, He came out of eternity into time.
He came as God in the Triune God’s divinity to be the flesh in its likeness but without sin (Rom. 8:3b). He partook of the human blood and flesh in which Satan with sin is involved (Heb. 2:14). This was to bring God into man, making God and man mingled as one person. Before His incarnation God was there in heaven, and men were here on the earth. But about two thousand years ago, to our understanding, there was a surprise. Suddenly God came with His divinity to be a man. He brought God into man. God was brought into the womb of Mary to be conceived there and remain there for nine months. Eventually, that conceiving became a birth to bring forth Jesus Christ, and this Jesus Christ is wonderful. He is both God and man. He was God conceived in a human womb, and after this conceiving He was born to be Jesus, the God-man. He is the God-man in the universe, as a model, a prototype, for the mass reproduction of many sons of God, for the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy (1 Tim. 1:4b). This model, prototype, is a particular item in the universe that had never been seen in God’s old creation. This item was the initiation of God’s new creation.
After being born as a God-man, He needed to live as such a person. His human living is implied in His being a man living on the earth for thirty-three and a half years (Rom. 5:15, 17, 19). This was a living of obeying God (v. 19; Phil. 2:8; John 6:38). It was a living through death — dying to live (Rom. 5:19; Phil. 2:8; John 7:6, 8). It was also a living of righteousness before God (Rom. 5:18). His human living qualified Him to be the Redeemer of the unrighteous men (3:23-24; 1 Pet. 3:18).
After the preliminary steps of His incarnation and human living, we come to the two sections of His work. The first section was in His earthly ministry. The second section is in His heavenly ministry.
After He walked through the preliminary steps of incarnation and human living, He began His earthly ministry. In His earthly ministry He did mainly two things. He consummated His all-inclusive death, and He carried out the life-imparting and new-creation-germinating resurrection.
Jesus Christ the God-man died a wonderful, marvelous, excellent death. Adam died a death that he did not like, but Christ died a death that He volunteered to accomplish. This is His all-inclusive death.
He consummated this all-inclusive death through His death in His flesh, body (Col. 1:22). In His death He took away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus died on the cross to bear the transgressions and iniquities of God’s chosen people (Isa. 53:5-6). He died for the sins of the believers by bearing their sins (the outward sins in their conduct) on the cross (1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 2:24).
He condemned (the inward) sin (brought by Satan into man’s flesh) in the flesh. Romans 8:3 says that sin was condemned in the flesh. This was for the believers’ redemption and justification (3:23-26). Without such a death dealing with sin, we could not be redeemed. Even the more, we could not be justified. His all-inclusive death was also for the healing of the diseases of God’s people (Isa. 53:4-5). The New Testament tells us that we were healed because of His suffering of death (1 Pet. 2:24). By this death He accomplished God’s eternal redemption to bring God’s people back to God (Heb. 9:12).
By His all-inclusive death He terminated the old creation signified by our old man (our natural man), including our flesh (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20a; 5:24). He also destroyed Satan, who is involved in our old and fallen man (Heb. 2:14; John 3:14; Matt. 16:23; John 6:70-71). He judged the world (the cosmos of Satan) and cast out Satan as the ruler of the world (12:31). His death was the death of the flesh, and this flesh is of the old creation, the old man. Within this flesh is Satan, the world, and sin. So by this one all-inclusive death He terminated all these things. He ended the old creation and cleared up all the negative things in the universe.
First, He did a work to accomplish His all-inclusive death to deal with all the negative things in the whole universe. Then He carried out the life-imparting and the new-creation-germinating resurrection. He accomplished a death and carried out a resurrection. The death is all-inclusive, and the resurrection is life-imparting and new-creation-germinating.
Jesus Christ, as the one grain of wheat, released the divine life within Him from the shell of His humanity (v. 24). His death was a termination of the old universe. Then His resurrection was a releasing of the divine life within Him. This is the life of God. When God became flesh, His life was contained in a shell of humanity. Christ’s death on the cross broke that shell, destroyed that shell. Then the divine life that was concealed in that shell was released. Thus, His death was the termination of everything negative, and His resurrection was the release of the divine life from the shell.
In resurrection He, as the last Adam in His flesh, became (was transfigured — pneumatized — into) the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2; 1 Cor. 15:45). He, in His humanity (v. 45b), was born (designated in the power of His divinity — Rom. 1:4) to be the firstborn Son of God in resurrection (Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 1:5-6). Christ has two parts: humanity and divinity. In humanity He died. Then in resurrection He, in His humanity, was born, that is, designated, sonized, in the power of His divinity, which is mentioned as the Spirit of holiness in Romans 1:4. The Spirit of holiness refers to the divinity of Christ. Christ was born, designated, sonized, in the power of His divinity to be the firstborn Son of God in resurrection.
He regenerated His believers in His resurrection with Him in one great, corporate birth to be the many sons of God and His many brothers (1 Pet. 1:3; Heb. 2:10-12; John 20:17), who, as the many sons of God, are to be conformed to the image of Him as the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29). This great birth was not just the birth of one or even ten children. It was a great birth that delivered the firstborn Son of God and millions of sons of God. In a sense, if you allow me to say so, you have to realize that you are a twin with Christ, because He is your firstborn Brother. You were born with Him as His following brothers. We all were born, regenerated, in Christ’s resurrection almost two thousand years ago. This is what we call our crystallization-study of the Bible.
The life-giving Spirit is the germinating factor of the Body of Christ as the new creation of God (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). Christ as the firstborn Son of God and as the Head is the element and the believers as His many brothers are the constituents for God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9b) — the Body of Christ as the new creation of God consummating in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-2). He is the element within us, the constituents, for God’s building.
Now we come to His heavenly ministry. Christ’s ministry is, first, on the earth and, second, in the heavens.
In His heavenly ministry He, as the pneumatic Christ, the pneumatized Christ, the Spirit of life, indwells us in the heavenlies to give life to our mortal bodies (Rom. 8:2-16) to minister the divine life of the processed and consummated God into us, the dying ones (signified by mortal bodies), for the building up of the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem for the accomplishing of the eternal economy of God. He indwells us in the heavenlies. This expression — in the heavenlies — is used by the apostle Paul in Ephesians (1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12). It refers to the heavenly nature, state, characteristic, and atmosphere. To be in the heavenlies is to be in the atmosphere of the heavens, the realm of the heavens, and with the heavens’ flavor, taste. We are in the United States, in the state of California, in the county of Orange, and in the city of Anaheim on Ball Road. But when we are singing, praising, and enjoying the Lord, we are in the heavenlies. We are neither in the heavens nor on the earth. We are in a kind of atmosphere just like that of the heavens but not really in the heavens. We experience the flavor, the taste, of the heavens.
In His heavenly ministry He, as the pneumatic Christ, intercedes for us in our weakness with groanings within us in the heavenlies that we may grow in Him unto maturity to reach our sonship in full, which is the redemption of our body, the glorification of our entire being (Rom. 8:23-30). While He is indwelling us, He is ministering life to us and also interceding for us.
We do not realize exactly how Christ prays for us, but all the real seeking Christians are always groaning — “O Lord. O Lord.” In the morning we may say, “O Lord, have mercy upon me. I know I have to be a vitalized member. I have to be an overcomer. I have to be one on Mount Zion. But You know my situation. I intended and decided to be such a person, but I failed. What shall I do, Lord?” This is your groaning. Do you not groan in this way all the time? This kind of groaning is our groaning, but in our groaning is Christ’s intercession. When you groan in this way for your failure, for your defeat, in your groaning is Christ’s praying for you. Christ is interceding for us in our weakness through our groaning.
If you were stiff-necked and hardened in your heart, you would say, “I don’t care. I want to be an overcomer, but I cannot do it, and I will never do it.” This is not groaning. This is to be stubborn and hardened. But the ones who would receive mercy and grace would groan, “O Lord, O Lord, what shall I do, Lord? How can I overcome all these failures, Lord?” In this is the indwelling Lord’s prayer for you in your weakness. Even in the meetings we may groan by saying, “O Lord Jesus. I don’t know what to say, Lord. O Lord, what should I say? I have much to say, but I don’t know how to start.” When you groan, right away Christ intercedes for you. Then you will have something to say.
He is groaning within us in the heavenlies that we may grow in Him unto maturity. I have the faith that regardless of how many times we are defeated, one day we will reach the goal of maturity. This is because Christ Himself is interceding for us that we may grow unto maturity to reach our full sonship, which is the redemption of our body, the glorification of our entire being. All these things are in Romans 8. The first section in Romans 8 is the pneumatic Christ indwelling us. The second section in Romans 8 is the pneumatic Christ interceding within us for us.
In the meantime, He, as the ascended Lord of all, as the consummated and ascended God-man and the Head of the Body, intercedes at the right hand of God in the heavens for us that we, His many brothers and members, who are the many God-men, could overcome the oppositions and any kind of circumstances and be kept in union with Him in His unconditional love so that we may be conformed to the image of Him, the firstborn Son of God, as the prototype, to be His consummated mass reproduction for the constitution of His corporate and organic Body (vv. 29-39). Christ has different statuses. In the status of the pneumatic Christ, He intercedes within us in the heavenlies. In the status of the ascended Lord, He is interceding for us in the heavens, not in the heavenlies. He intercedes for us so that we may overcome everything in our surroundings. If God is for us, who can defeat us? According to Romans 8:29-39, nothing can defeat us, and we can overcome. These verses are the third section of Romans 8.
Thus, His earthly ministry up to the end of His resurrection produced the many sons of God who are His many brothers as the constituents for the building up of His Body; and His heavenly ministry, from His ascension to His second coming, ministers the divine life to His members that they may grow unto maturity, unto the redemption of their body, the glorification of God’s redeemed people, and keeps all His members in union with Him that they may be conformed to the image of Him as the prototype for the mass reproduction of Him for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy. His earthly ministry prepared, and His heavenly ministry consummates. This is what I call the crystallization of the study of the Bible.
