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Scripture Reading: John 3:5-6, 3:15-16; 1:12-13; Matt. 16:24; Rom. 6:19, 22; 15:16; 2 Pet. 1:4; Titus 3:5b; Rom. 12:2a; 2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 6:4; 2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 3:21; 23, Rom. 8:29-30; Eph. 4:30; Col. 3:4b; 1 Pet. 5:10a; 2 Tim. 2:10; Heb. 2:10
I. The union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of the believers brings God into man that God and man may be joined and mingled together — divinity and humanity blended as one, without a third nature being produced.
II. In regenerating the believers:
А. The Spirit of God regenerating the believers in their receiving spirit with the life of God that they may become children of God — John 3:5-6; 1:12-13.
B. That, in addition to their natural life, the believers may have the eternal life of God and live by it while denying their natural life — 3:15-16; Matt. 16:24.
III. In sanctifying the believers — Rom. 6:19, 22; 15:16:
А. Dispensing God’s holy nature into the inward parts of the believers to gradually sanctify every inward part with the element of God’s holy nature.
B. That the believers may in substance partake of and enjoy God’s nature of holiness and thus become holy — 2 Pet. 1:4.
IV. In renewing the believers — Titus 3:5b; Rom. 12:2a:
А. Infusing the inward parts of the believers with God’s attributes, which are forever new, can never become old, and are everlasting and unfading.
B. That by passing through the death of Christ on the cross, the discipline of the Spirit of God in the environment, and the metabolic dispensing of the Spirit as life, the believers may be renewed day by day by putting off the oldness of the old creation and living out the newness of life of the new creation — 2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 6:4.
V. In transforming the believers — 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2a:
А. Transforming the believers metabolically with the life element of the firstborn Son of God, the first God-man, who passed through death and entered into resurrection, until they are transformed into His image from one degree of glory to another higher degree of glory and are raptured and transfigured to enter into His glory — Phil. 3:21.
B. This is the mass reproduction of the firstborn Son of God as the prototype to make every believer a God-man just like Christ, the firstborn Son of God.
VI. In conforming the believers — Rom. 8:29:
А. Conformation is the consummation of the transformation of the believers in the life of Christ as the firstborn Son of God, the first God-man.
B. Conformation is also the preparation of the believers before the transfiguration and glorification of their body.
VII. In glorifying the believers — vv. 30, 23; Eph. 4:30; Col. 3:4b; 1 Pet. 5:10a; 2 Tim. 2:10; Heb. 2:10:
А. The work of the Spirit of God in glorifying the believers begins with His regenerating the believers with the life of God’s glory.
B. After regenerating the believers, the Spirit of God continues, step by step, with His work of sanctifying, renewing, transforming, and conforming to transfuse the believers with the Triune God Himself as glory, until the glory of God’s life saturates the believers and is manifested in their body. Thus the work of the Spirit of God in glorifying the believers reaches its consummation.
VIII. The above six steps are accomplished by the joining of the Spirit with our spirit (Rom. 8:16) as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). If this were not so, even though the gospel of God is powerful (Rom. 1:16), it still would not have any power or accomplish anything in the believers.
In this chapter we will consider the union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of the believers. This is the central point of this series of messages. We have used this term union quite much, but concerning the union of God and man, we do not have adequate knowledge. The union of God and man is altogether a matter of the union of the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. God is Spirit and man has a spirit; thus, these two spirits can be united together as one. But how does the union of these two spirits occur? This is the deepest mystery in the Bible, and it is difficult for man to comprehend.
The Bible in total has sixty-six books. The first thirty-nine books are the Old Testament, which has nothing to do with the union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. In the New Testament the four Gospels record the greatest thing that ever happened in the universe, that is, God coming to be a man. After God created man, for a period of four thousand years, besides speaking some prophecies and presenting some types, He did not do anything as far as the union of God and man is concerned. It was at the beginning of the New Testament that He did a great thing; that is, He was begotten in the womb of a virgin and remained there for nine months. This begetting was the union of God and man. It was also the joining and mingling of God and man. We have a new hymn that says, “What miracle! What mystery! / That God and man should blended be!” This joining and mingling began in the womb of the virgin. God did not merely stay there temporarily but remained there for nine months. Matthew 1:20 says that what was begotten in Mary was of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it was God who was begotten in Mary. He remained there for nine months; then He was born with the human flesh and the human nature. He was God, but He was born to be a man. He was God, but He became in the likeness of a man and was found in fashion as a man (Phil. 2:7-8). In Genesis 1 God merely created man in His likeness. However, when He came forth from the womb of the virgin Mary, He Himself became in the likeness of a man. When God created man, He created him according to His likeness. When He came forth from the virgin’s womb, He became in the likeness of a man.
God became a man and lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. During that time many things took place concerning Him. That was His human living. The four Gospels as the first books of the New Testament specifically speak about God’s living on the earth as a man. That is the story of the union of God and man. God was on the earth, yet He was not expressed in the image of God; rather, He was manifested fully in the likeness of man. He lived and walked on the earth in the likeness of man, yet within He was united with God. He was man and also God. From the outside, it appeared that He was merely a man, but in actuality, He was God. He was the union of God and man.
After the four Gospels, from Acts to Revelation there are a total of twenty-three books, all of which present the story of the union of God and the believers. The union of God and man, causing the two to be one, is a matter that is most difficult to study and understand in the Bible. Hence, the portions of the Bible that speak of this union are also the most difficult to translate. To translate the Gospels is relatively easy, but to translate the Epistles is rather difficult because the things spoken of in those twenty-three books are not matters that belong to human culture but things that had never occurred in human culture. Because of the absence of the culture of the union of God and man, there is a shortage of language to express it. This forced the translators of the Bible to create some new terms. In the ancient Chinese classical writings we cannot find things such as regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification. Even if those writings contain similar terms, they refer to matters in the old culture that have nothing to do with the revelation in the Bible concerning the union of God and man.
We common and sinful men are made God through the six big steps of regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification. Regeneration is the initiation; glorification is the consummation; sanctification, renewing, transformation, and conformation are the process between these two ends. The twenty-three books from Acts to Revelation speak of these six big steps. After these six big steps are completed, an issue is produced, which is the holy city, New Jerusalem. This New Jerusalem is the great issue of the union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man in these six big steps. In this chapter we will consider these six big steps and the wonderful things that happen in them. All these steps are also what we, the believers, must pass through today.
The union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of the believers brings God into man that God and man may be joined and mingled together. This causes divinity and humanity to be blended as one, yet without producing a third nature. This is the crucial significance of joining and mingling. This thought is very deep. This is something that the Lord has shown us in His recovery. Outside the Lord’s recovery, in Catholicism, Protestantism, and the Muslim religion, nearly no one teaches this matter. They do not know this mystery of the two natures of God and man blended to become one yet without producing a third nature.
The union and blending of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man has altogether six big steps. The first step is the regenerating of the believers. The Spirit of God regenerates the believers in their receiving spirit with the life of God that they may become children of God (John 3:5-6; 1:12-13). After I was saved, I paid much attention to this term regeneration. I checked with the pastors. In general, they told me that regeneration, as the Chinese say, means that everything of the past died yesterday, and everything from this day forward is born today. I could not accept their explanation. That is a cliché among the Chinese. The Chinese people had spoken about this for thousands of years; why was there the need for foreign missionaries to come to China to teach this to us? Later, I attended the Brethren meetings. They published a book called The Meaning of Regeneration. After I read that book, I was very disappointed because it did not explain at all what regeneration is. One day I read a book by T. Austin-Sparks, who said that regeneration is for man to have another life, the life of God, in addition to the human life he already has. I responded to that explanation. Once a person is regenerated, he has two lives; in addition to the human life, he has obtained another life.
Through regeneration the believers have the eternal life of God in addition to their natural life, that they may live by this life while denying their natural life (3:15-16; Matt. 16:24). Although we have spoken concerning this matter quite thoroughly in the Lord’s recovery, in our living we do not practice it thoroughly or experience it adequately. It does not matter whether a person is gentle or rough or whether his natural disposition is quick or slow; his salvation does not depend on improvement or refinement. Some consider that because the Lord Jesus once said, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens” (5:20), the believers should improve their behavior. The rough ones should not be rough anymore. The gentle ones should be more gentle. This kind of interpretation of the Bible is according to the natural concept. According to the truth in the Bible concerning the union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of the believers, it is altogether wrong for the believers to improve their behavior. To increase gentleness is wrong; to improve roughness also is wrong. This is because the natural life, whether gentle or rough, must be completely denied. When we speak of denying the life that is rough, everyone agrees; but when we speak of denying the life that is gentle, some will strongly disagree. The regeneration revealed in the Bible is not a religion, nor is it a set of moral teachings for improving oneself. Regeneration is to have God as life in addition to our original, human life. Hence, we should not live by our original life, our first life; rather, we must deny our first life and live by our second life.
To practice denying our natural life and living by the life of God is not easy. I have been learning this lesson for nearly seventy years. Although many times the words I spoke were right and good, after I spoke them, I had a feeling within, which may be considered as a voice that adjusted me, saying, “Did you speak those good words by yourself, or was it the Lord as life within you leading you to speak?” What the Lord desires is that we would not speak out of ourselves but out of the life of God that is within us. Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). We may be very familiar with this word, but in our daily life we nearly have not allowed Christ to live. Instead, we allow our self to live. Even in our church life today, our evaluation of the brothers and sisters is often not according to the principle of regeneration but according to the principle of improvement. Any stress on the improvement of behavior is contrary to the truth of regeneration.
Paul says, “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed crucified?” (3:1). The cross is the center of all of God’s operation in His economy. Hence, Paul wanted to bring the believers who were distracted by the law back to the cross. God’s New Testament revelation is not that man should keep the law but that man should deny himself and accept the one matter accomplished by God in His processes, that is, the cross. This cross has fully terminated our old man so that we will no longer live by our life.
The union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man is seen also in the sanctifying of the believers. The Spirit of God dispenses God’s holy nature into the inward parts of the believers to gradually sanctify every inward part with the element of God’s holy nature (Rom. 6:19, 22; 15:16). Very few in Christianity speak about sanctification in a clear and full way. They speak mainly about becoming holy and pure. However, in the original language the word sanctification has the meaning of being separated or set apart in a strong way. Hence, we created a Chinese term that means “being made holy by being separated.” According to my knowledge, the equivalent of the word sanctification is not found in the Chinese dictionary, since there is not such a language without such a culture. What God is doing is first sanctifying us by separation and then sanctifying us by transformation. God not only sets us apart but also sanctifies us by transforming us.
Sanctification by separation is for sanctification by transformation, and the latter is for the transformation of our entire being. In the matter of our sanctification, the Spirit of God first comes into our spirit to separate us in order to make us holy. Then God’s nature of holiness begins the process of transformation within us to sanctify us. Neither of these significances of sanctification is brought out in Chinese theology. Instead, Chinese theology puts a particular emphasis on purity. Of course, we may say that sanctification in its broad sense includes the meaning of purification, since separation plus the process of transformation for sanctification equals purification. However, this kind of teaching is somewhat far-fetched. What the Bible speaks about is sanctification by separation and transformation. Regeneration requires the life of God; sanctification also requires the life of God. Regeneration requires the life of God to beget us, whereas sanctification requires the nature of God in His life to separate and transform us.
The life of God has its holy nature. It is this nature of the life of God that sanctifies us by separation and transformation. After we are saved, we have Christ as our life (Col. 3:4) and can partake of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). To partake of means to enjoy. We believers who are in Christ have His life and can enjoy His nature. The holy nature of God is an element that is added into our being, that enters into our various inward parts, such as our mind, emotion, and will. This causes our various inward parts to be separated from all things outside of God.
Not only so, the life of God also sanctifies us to transform us. It sanctifies us by transforming every part of our being so that every part of our being may be like God. Our mind becomes like the mind of God, our emotion becomes like the emotion of God, and our will becomes like the will of God. Hence, one who has been sanctified by being separated and transformed becomes like God in the attitude of his speaking and in his actions and gestures, even in his judgments and views. He becomes God in life and nature but not in His Godhead.
It is not simple for God to become man in order to make man God. For God to make us God, the first step is that He has to regenerate us by putting His life into us. The second step is that He has to sanctify us by separating and transforming us with the divine nature in His life. This causes us to be the same as God not only in life and nature but also in every part of our entire being.
The union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man is also seen in the renewing of the believers (Titus 3:5b; Rom. 12:2a). The Spirit of God renews the believers by infusing the inward parts of the believers with God’s attributes, which are forever new, can never become old, and are everlasting and unfading. God has many attributes, such as love, light, holiness, and righteousness. Besides these, God’s attributes also include His being forever new, never becoming old, and being everlasting and unfading. We all know that in the old creation, anything, even if it is not used, will become old and decrepit after a period of time. Hence, we who are in the old creation need to be renewed by allowing God to infuse into us His attributes, which are forever new, can never become old, and are everlasting and unfading, in order to transform our old creation into the new creation. All the experienced ones know that in our fellowship with God, there is always an infusion taking place within us, that is, the attributes of God are being infused into our nature, which belongs to the old creation, to renew it.
The Spirit of God renews the believers by causing them to pass through the death of Christ on the cross, the discipline of the Spirit of God in the environment, and the metabolic dispensing of the Spirit as life, that they may be renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16) by putting off the oldness of the old creation and living out the newness of life of the new creation (Rom. 6:4). We live out the newness of life by being renewed. The Spirit of God infuses into us the divine attributes, which are forever new, never become old, and are everlasting and unfading, that we may pass through the death of Christ on the cross and the discipline of the Spirit of God in the environment, plus the metabolic dispensing of the Spirit as life, to be renewed day by day by putting off the oldness of the old creation and living out the newness of life of the new creation.
The union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man is also seen in the transforming of the believers. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we, the believers, will be transformed gradually into the same image as the Lord from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” To be renewed is to have a new essence added into us to cause a metabolic transformation. Transformation is the intrinsic and metabolic process of the working of God, which on the one hand is gradually eliminating our old and natural element and on the other hand is spreading the life and nature of God throughout our entire being to be the new element of our entire being.
The Spirit of God transforms the believers metabolically with the life element of the firstborn Son of God, the first God-man, who passed through death and entered into resurrection, until they are transformed into His image from one degree of glory to another higher degree of glory and are raptured and transfigured to enter into His glory (Phil. 3:21). Here we do not say “Christ” but “the firstborn Son of God,” because we are being conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29). The firstborn Son of God is the prototype, and we, the many sons, are His mass reproduction.
The transformation of the believers is the mass reproduction of the firstborn Son of God as the prototype of a God-man to make every believer a God-man just like Christ, the firstborn Son of God. Hence, the Spirit of God transforms the believers into the likeness of God. Therefore, we can see that in the four steps of regeneration, sanctification, renewing, and transformation, the Spirit of God is working step by step in our human spirit to make us God-men.
The union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man is also seen in the conforming of the believers (v. 29). Conformation is the consummation of the transformation of the believers in the life of Christ as the firstborn Son of God, the first God-man, which is just the consummation of the four steps of regeneration, sanctification, renewing, and transformation. The issue of being conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God is that we are made God-men.
Conformation is also the preparation of the believers before the transfiguration and glorification of their body. Philippians 3:21 says that when Christ returns, He “will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself.” This is what is mentioned in Romans and Ephesians as the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14; 4:30). The transfiguration of our body is the redemption of our body. The transfiguration of our body, or the redemption of our body, is not something accomplished instantly; it is the issue of the gradual working of the Spirit of God within our spirit. This working begins with regeneration, passes through sanctification, renewing, and transformation, and arrives at conformation. This is the consummation of our transformation in life. Conformation can be likened to a college graduation; glorification can be likened to the graduation ceremony. If a person does not grow and is not transformed, when the Lord comes back, it will be impossible for him to be transformed instantly to arrive at conformation and glorification. Hence, conformation is the consummation of our transformation in life as well as the preparation before the transfiguration and glorification of our body.
The union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man is seen consummately in the glorifying of the believers (23, Rom. 8:30; Eph. 4:30; Col. 3:4b; 1 Pet. 5:10a; 2 Tim. 2:10; Heb. 2:10). The work of the Spirit of God in glorifying the believers begins with His regenerating the believers with the life of God’s glory. After regenerating the believers, the Spirit of God continues, step by step, with His work of sanctifying, renewing, transforming, and conforming to transfuse the believers with the Triune God Himself as glory, until the glory of God’s life saturates the believers and is manifested in their body. Thus, the work of the Spirit of God in glorifying the believers reaches its ultimate consummation. The consummation of this work is to make man God in life and nature, with no share in His Godhead.
The above six steps are accomplished by the joining of the Spirit with our spirit (Rom. 8:16) as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). If this were not so, even though the gospel of God is powerful (Rom. 1:16), it still would not have any power or accomplish anything in the believers. Only through the union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man in these six steps can the transforming work of making man God be fully accomplished.
