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Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:9-11; 3:9-11; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Eph. 1:5; Rom. 8:3; Gal. 4:4, 6; John 3:6; 4:24; 14, Rom. 8:16; John 17:2; 2 Pet. 1:4; Eph. 2:19; John 14:2; 1 Cor. 1:30; Acts 2:38; Matt. 28:19b; Rom. 6:3b-4a; Eph. 2:5-6; John 20:22; Acts 1:8a; Rom. 11:17-24; 1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 5:30; 1:22-23; 2:15; Rev. 1:11; Acts 26:18; Heb. 2:11; 1 Pet. 1:3a; Rom. 9:21; Eph. 5:27; 1 Pet. 2:5
In the previous chapters we saw the revelation concerning the Divine Trinity. In order to understand the matter of the Trinity, on the negative side, we must see the fifteen shortages of the creeds. The Bible has no shortage; rather, it is full in contents. The creeds, however, are very inadequate. This is why after the formulation of the creeds, people throughout the ages were always adding items to them. However, despite the additions, the creeds are still inadequate. I hope that you would exert much effort to study, enter into, understand, and remember the fifteen items which I listed so that you may be able to apply them when the occasion arises. This is an assignment for you.
On the positive side, we also need to see the all-inclusiveness of Christ. Colossians 2:16-17 says, “In eating and in drinking or in respect of a feast or of a new moon or of the Sabbath, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ.” Food, drink, feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths are not persons but things, which are just shadows; but the real body is Christ. This means that Christ is our real food, real drink, real feast, real new moon, and real Sabbath. Furthermore, Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “The church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” This indicates that Christ is so inclusive that no human words can describe Him in full; He is all-inclusive.
More than twenty years ago when I first went to America to speak about these truths, there were opposers who slandered me, accusing me of being a pantheist. They said that I am from the Far East, where most of the people believe in pantheism. This really shows the ignorance of the opposing ones. If they had truly been enlightened, they would be able to see that the Lord Jesus is One who is so inclusive, extensive, and unlimited.
Some theologians, failing to see the inclusiveness of Christ, are just like the blind men feeling the elephant, touching only a particular part. Yet they would cling to it, engage in unending arguments about it, and use it to condemn others. This is exactly what happened to me in America. On the one hand, these theologians rely too much on the creeds as a basis, not realizing that the creeds are short in many aspects and therefore are not qualified to serve as a standard or basis. On the other hand, they lack the view of Christ’s inclusiveness and therefore become very shallow and shortsighted. For example, based on Colossians 1:15b we say that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. Our critics then say that we teach Arianism. Yet they have not seen that Christ is not only a creature but also the Firstborn of all creatures—He is the man among all men. The Bible does not speak about Christ’s being a man in a brief and simple way. Rather, it says that Christ was a man in form, in likeness, and in fashion and that He also was in the likeness of the flesh of sin. All these descriptions are very particular.
In the past few years a certain theologian published a study Bible based on the King James Version. For John 1:14, he wrote a note on “the Word was made flesh,” saying that the Lord Jesus joined Himself to sinless humanity in His incarnation. This is because the general human concept is that when the Lord Jesus became flesh, it could not be that He became a flesh of sin. However, since the author of that study Bible is a Doctor of Divinity, after carefully studying the context, he must have felt that his statement had no standing ground. Therefore, in the revised edition he said that the Lord Jesus joined Himself to sinful humanity in His incarnation. Hence, if theologians hastily decide on doctrinal matters without a full view of Christ’s all-inclusiveness, they will make big mistakes.
According to the type, or figure, the Lord Jesus died on the cross in the likeness of the flesh of sin. When He was crucified, on the one hand, He was in the form of a lamb because He was the Lamb of God (1:29); on the other hand, He was in the form of the bronze serpent, having the form of the serpent but without the serpent’s poison. He said that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so He, the Son of Man in the flesh, would be lifted up (3:14). This means that He Himself acknowledged and implicitly told us that the bronze serpent in the Old Testament was a type, a figure, of Himself. In the Bible, records such as these are too numerous to recount.
In Revelation 5 the apostle John wept much when he saw that no one in the universe was able to open the mystery of God’s economy. Then one of the angels said to him, “Do not weep; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals.” What the angel introduced was a Lion, yet what John saw was a Lamb (vv. 1-7). Is Christ a Lion or a Lamb? We can only say that He is a Lion-Lamb. Christ is not only a Lion-Lamb but also a Stone-Lamb. This is based upon the fact that in Revelation the Lamb has seven eyes, yet in Zechariah 3 and 4 the seven eyes are upon a stone. From these verses we can see that the Lord Jesus is not so simple.
I am giving you these illustrations to let you know that to understand the truth concerning the Divine Trinity you need to see the inadequacy of the creeds and the inclusiveness of Christ. There are two major items with eighteen points concerning Christ’s inclusiveness. The major items are His divinity and His humanity. If you study these two aspects thoroughly, you will be able not only to avoid theological errors but also to enter into the enjoyment of the riches of Christ. You will be able to see and experience that Christ is the Triune God. He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, yet He is three-one. He is definitely one, yet in the oneness there is still a distinction but no separation. You can say that the Father is distinct from the Son, the Son is distinct from the Spirit, and the Spirit is distinct from the Father and the Son. Their distinctions, however, are in oneness. This is where the mystery lies. Once your eyes are enlightened to know the inclusiveness of Christ, only then can you see that the three in the divine Godhead are distinct, yet They are always one. They are one God, not three Gods.
We can say that the all-inclusive Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God. When we see Him, we see the Triune God. The Spirit is the ultimate consummation, the ultimate manifestation, of the processed Triune God. Therefore, when we have the Spirit, we have the Triune God—not just the simple Triune God but the processed Triune God. Today the Christ whom we enjoy is such a One. When you have a real knowledge of the inclusiveness of Christ, it will help you to enjoy Him.
I have recommended the book Concerning the Person of Christ for your reading. Although it is just a booklet, its discussion is comprehensive. It shows you both the wrong interpretations and the proper knowledge of men throughout the centuries concerning the person of Christ, and it also cites numerous Scripture verses. It is truly worth your reading. The matters that it covers are not my own teachings. Rather, they are all based upon the Bible with the pertinent verses excerpted. You should read the book carefully. For example, in the Old Testament, one of the designations of the Lord Jesus is a “Shoot.” As the Shoot of David (Jer. 23:5; 33:15; Zech. 3:8; 6:12), He sprouted out of David. And as the Shoot of Jehovah (Isa. 4:2), He sprouted out of God. This means that as a Shoot, Christ has two origins: one origin is David, the human origin; the other origin is God, the divine origin. All these things are in the Bible and require your painstaking study. I have already done the foundational work on these items, and they are all listed in the booklet Concerning the Person of Christ.
Your training here may be compared to graduate school. There is no need for the professor to say too much; you just need to study carefully on your own according to the reading list, and if necessary, the professor will give you a little guidance. Moreover, there is no need for you to go to a “library” far away. The “library” in our midst is very convenient. As long as you are willing to spend your time and energy, you will be able to get all these things into you. I hope that all the young brothers and sisters who have the desire to serve the Lord full time permanently could learn an initial outline of the truth within a short period of a few months. At least you should learn and know which books you can go to so that you can find the material you need. This does not mean that you will be fully trained after four months. You still have a long way to go, and there are too many things that you need to study. What I hope is that after four months your field of vision will be widened to know a little bit about the way and at least know where to go to find the proper materials. Hence, in these four months I am trying to lead you only to the beginning of the road. But whether or not it will be a thoroughfare leading to great success depends on how you press forward on your own. You must continue to learn more and more.
In this chapter we will go on to see the second item of the vision, and that is the economy of God. In the recent ten or so years we have released many messages and published a number of books concerning this matter. If you really have the heart, you should spend time to study those books. In this training the outlines that I give you will serve only as a guide so that you may know which route to take in order to know the economy of God. You need to spend more time to dig and find the rest of the riches.
There are over three hundred passages in the Bible referring to the economy of God either directly or indirectly. In this chapter we will mention only three passages: Ephesians 1:9-11; 3:9-11; and 1 Timothy 1:3-4. What is mentioned mainly in these three portions is the matter of “economy.” Ephesians 1:10 says, “Unto the economy of the fullness of the times”; Ephesians 3:9 says, “To enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things.” First Timothy 1:4 says, “God’s economy, which is in faith.” The Greek word for economy in these three passages is oikonomia, which means “household law”; it denotes “a household management,” “a household administration,” and derivatively, “a dispensation,” “a plan,” or “an economy for administration.”
I would like to call your attention to some of the crucial vocabulary used in Ephesians 1:9-11 and 3:9-11, such as will, good pleasure, economy (or, dispensation, plan), and eternal purpose, which are all included in the matter pertaining to the economy of God; this indicates that what is implied in the economy of God is very rich.
The Greek word oikonomia is made up of two words: oikos, denoting a “house” or “household,” and nomos, denoting a “law” or “principle.” The meaning of these two words combined is “household administration.” This house is the house of God, including all the saved ones in the whole human race, all those who were chosen by God and have received God as their life (2:19). They are a group of people who became the new creation by receiving God’s life through God’s selection. They are a big family of God. Furthermore, in this big family we the believers are the masters, and all the angels are the servants who wait upon us, ministering to us as those who inherit so great a salvation (Heb. 1:14).
In this universal house there is the need for a household administration to arrive at a specific purpose. Whenever there is a household administration, it is necessary to have a dispensation and a plan. This is not a small matter. With the household administration there is a dispensation; with the dispensation there is the need for a plan. Hence, when God makes His dispensation, He designs a number of administrative procedures for the carrying out of His economy. For this reason oikonomia may also be rendered “dispensation,” which means “arrangement” or “plan,” referring to God’s plan for His administration. In God’s administration, God’s plan, there are many dispensations and many ways.
At the end of the last century, Bible scholars found from the Scriptures the so-called seven dispensations. Actually, these seven dispensations are not seven ages but God’s seven administrative procedures. In each procedure God has a different way of dealing with man. For example, in the Old Testament age after the time of Moses, God’s way of dealing with man was according to the law; hence, that was “the dispensation of law.” In the New Testament age God’s administration is according to grace, and He deals with man according to grace; hence, it is called “the dispensation of grace.” In the millennial kingdom God will take the kingdom as His administration and as His way of dealing with man; hence, it is called “the dispensation of the kingdom.” Therefore, the word dispensation does not denote an age; it denotes a plan, an arrangement, a procedure. In all the dispensations and plans there are many administrative procedures. This somewhat explains the meaning of God’s economy.
The purpose of God in His economy is to work Himself, in His Divine Trinity, into His chosen ones. This God who has a plan, an economy, wants to do only one thing, that is, to work Himself into His chosen ones through all the processes and procedures that He went through in His Divine Trinity. The entire Bible reveals that God wants to work Himself into His chosen ones by passing through various processes in His Divine Trinity.
Christians read Ephesians 1 and accept what it says. At the outset this chapter says that God chose us before the foundation of the world and then He predestinated us. When I was with the Brethren in my youth, I heard their proper teaching and obtained a clear knowledge as well concerning God’s selection and predestination. Yet I never heard them tell me what the purpose of God’s selection and predestination was. They said only that God chose us and predestinated us that we may receive an inheritance. And the inheritance that they spoke of, according to my understanding, is a heavenly blessing in the future, which may be a very pleasant dwelling place. This corresponds with the traditional concept of the Chinese, which is that the children will receive some material things from their father as an inheritance. Thus, the impression that I had from listening to the messages in the Brethren assembly was that God chose us and predestinated us so that we may enjoy the eternal blessing and receive an inheritance. However, they did not see that the same chapter clearly speaks of the purpose of God’s predestination, saying that it is “unto sonship” (v. 5).
The Brethren also taught about sonship, but the sonship they taught is not by birth but by adoption. What they meant is that we are not genuine sons of God but adopted sons of God; hence, we have obtained sonship through God’s adoption. However, we must see that the phrase predestinating us unto sonship is included in the outline above as: “To work Himself, in His Divine Trinity, into His chosen ones.” How can God cause us to have sonship? He has to work Himself into us. How does He carry this out? It is through His Divine Trinity. Hence, Ephesians 1 begins by telling us how God works Himself into us through His Divine Trinity in order that we may obtain sonship (vv. 3-14).
If we carefully study Romans 8 and Galatians 4 again, we will see that God’s enabling us to receive sonship is not a simple matter. First, God the Father had to send His beloved Son to accomplish redemption for us that we may be qualified to receive sonship (Rom. 8:3; Gal. 4:4-5). Next, God the Father sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” (v. 6; cf. Rom. 8:15) and that in this Spirit we may live out the reality of the sonship. Sonship in Ephesians 1:5 implies the Triune God’s working Himself into us. How can we be qualified to be sons of God unless the Triune God works Himself into us? Do not think that God has merely adopted some of us, who were captives of sins, to be His sons by capturing us out of Satan’s hand and cleansing us with His precious blood. No, God has begotten us (John 1:13; 1 John 5:1) that we may be His children; this implies that the Triune God has wrought Himself into us.
We know it is very spontaneous for us who are children to call our own parents “father” and “mother” because we are born of them, but it is not so spontaneous to call our parents-in-law “father” and “mother” because we do not have a life relationship with them. When our parents begot us, they wrought themselves into us; that is, they passed on their life and nature to us. We are Chinese not by adoption but by birth because our ancestors were Chinese. Likewise, we must have the assurance that we are the real sons of God in life because we are born of Him with His life; thus, we have a life relationship with Him. Since we are not adopted sons, it is normal and sweet when we call God “Father.” We must realize that the central move of God in His economy revealed in the Bible is that God wants to work Himself into us, His chosen ones, through His Divine Trinity.
In order to work Himself into His chosen ones, God must be the Spirit. Moreover, the ultimate consummation and manifestation of the Triune God must also be the Spirit. The Divine Trinity has been processed. God the Father is the source of the Divine Trinity (John 13:3; 1 Cor. 6:19). God the Son is the embodiment of the processed Triune God (Col. 2:9); He passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension and eventually became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God. All that the Divine Trinity has is consummated in the Spirit—the processed, compounded, all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, sevenfold intensified, and ultimately consummated Spirit.
The Bible says that God is Spirit (John 4:24); moreover, the ultimate manifestation of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). God can come into us because He is Spirit. On the other hand, He had to create us with a spirit. God is not only Spirit in His Divine Trinity but also ultimately became the Spirit. He created us also with a spirit so that He as God who is Spirit may come into us human beings with a spirit so that the two spirits—our spirit and His Spirit—may be joined as one spirit.
There are three places in the New Testament that mention both the Spirit of God and our human spirit. The first place is John 3:6: “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This shows the Spirit begetting the spirit. The second place is John 4:24: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” This speaks about the spirit worshipping the Spirit. The third place is Romans 8:16: “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” This is the Spirit with the spirit. The Spirit begets the spirit, the spirit worships the Spirit, and the Spirit witnesses with the spirit. We have a human spirit within us. When our human spirit is regenerated by the Holy Spirit, we can worship God as Spirit with our regenerated spirit. Moreover, the two spirits witness as one spirit.
This is the way that God works Himself into us. In His Divine Trinity, in His ultimate consummation, God reaches us and comes into us as the Spirit. Not only the Spirit comes, but the Son and the Father also come. Furthermore, when He comes, He does not come into our body of blood and flesh, into our internal organs, such as the stomach. Neither does He come into our mind, emotion, or will. Instead, He comes into our spirit, which is the innermost part, the center, the most sincere part, of our being, to be joined with us. Eventually, these two spirits are joined and mingled as one. Hence, 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” This is the primary matter in God’s economy. At this point God has wrought Himself into His chosen ones in His Divine Trinity.
When God works Himself into us, He makes us His children as His sons. According to the Greek, in the New Testament there is only one place—2 Corinthians 6:18—that says we are God’s sons and daughters. There are many places, however, that say we are God’s children (John 1:12; Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:16; Gal. 4:28; Phil. 2:15; 1 John 3:1-2, 10). Logically, only sons are sons; daughters are not sons. Strictly speaking, God has sons only; He does not have daughters. We are all His children. As such, we must exercise to be led by His Spirit continually that we may grow in life and arrive at the stage of being His sons (Rom. 8:14). Sisters, when you live and act in spirit, you are sons of God. Ultimately, when we are fully matured, we become God’s legal heirs to receive our inheritance (v. 17).
By being born of God we have our Father God’s life and nature (John 17:2; 2 Pet. 1:4) to become His house. Both in Greek and in Chinese, the word house has two denotations. On the one hand, it denotes the family, the household (Eph. 2:19); on the other hand, it denotes a habitation, a dwelling place (v. 22). On the one hand, we are God’s household as members of God’s house, God’s family; on the other hand, we are God’s dwelling place on earth, and we have God dwelling in our spirit. God obtains a dwelling place for His rest within us.
We must realize that if there were not a group of people who allowed God to work Himself into them, God would become homeless. In the Old Testament time God sighed through the prophet, saying, “Heaven is My throne, / And the earth the footstool for My feet. / Where then is the house that you will build for Me, / And where is the place of My rest?” (Isa. 66:1). Neither heaven nor earth is God’s house. It is true that some passages in the Bible say that God’s dwelling place is in heaven (1 Kings 8:39; 2 Chron. 6:21; Isa. 26:21; 63:15), but heaven is only His temporary dwelling place, His temporary tabernacle. Why does God still dwell in His heavenly tabernacle? It is because the building of His dwelling place has not yet been completed. Therefore, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, God voices His longing for a dwelling place. At the most He has only a throne and footstool; He does not have a home. He is longing to have a home as His dwelling place. As one who knew God’s desire, David wrote a psalm to God, saying, “I shall not go into the tent of my house; / I shall not go up onto the couch of my bed; / I shall not give sleep to my eyes, / Slumber to my eyelids; / Until I find a place for Jehovah, / A tabernacle for the Mighty One of Jacob” (Psa. 132:3-5). David desired to find a resting place for God; only then could he have peace deep within. It is the same in the New Testament—God’s house has yet to be completed. Therefore, in John 14 the Lord Jesus said that He had to go to build an abode (vv. 2, 23). This means that through His death and resurrection (that is, His going and coming) He would bring man into God that man may be prepared to become God’s dwelling place. This dwelling place is the church, the unique habitation of God, the living habitation built by God with His redeemed people.
God works Himself into us that we may have an organic union with the Divine Trinity in Christ to become the members of Christ that constitute His Body as the corporate expression of the Triune God in Christ. We need at least thirty Scripture passages to explain this matter. I intentionally omitted the Bible references pertaining to “in Christ,” “Divine Trinity,” and “organic union” because I want you to study and find them. In our organic union with the Divine Trinity we become the members of Christ; that is, we become His bone and His flesh (Eph. 5:30-32). Collectively, as members of Christ we are constituted into one Body as a corporate expression of the Triune God in Christ.
We, the regenerated believers, can become God’s house and God’s dwelling place because first we have been chosen by God in Christ (1:4). That we are in Christ refers not only to a change in our position in our being transferred by God out of Adam into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30; 4:15; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 8:1). It also refers to the daily subjective and continual experience in our regenerated spirit; that is, through our organic union with the Divine Trinity we share His life and His nature and have one living and one move with Him.
The believers are joined to God the Father by repenting unto Him (Acts 2:38; 26:18), by being baptized into Him (Matt. 28:19b), and by being born of Him to become His children (John 1:12-13; James 1:18; 1 John 3:1). The believers are joined to God the Son by being identified with Him in His death (Rom. 6:3b, 6a; Gal. 2:20a; Col. 2:20a), in His burial (Rom. 6:4a; Col. 2:12a), in His being made alive (Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13b), in His resurrection (Eph. 2:6a; Rom. 6:4b; Col. 2:12b; 3:1a), and in His ascension (Eph. 2:6b). On the one hand, the believers are joined to God the Spirit by receiving Him essentially as the Holy Spirit (John 20:22), the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), for their existence, their being, their life, and their living; on the other hand, they are joined to God the Spirit by being baptized into Him economically to receive Him as the Spirit of power (Acts 1:8a; Luke 24:49b) for their spiritual work and function that they may witness for the Lord and spread forth His gospel. Hence, the believers need to be joined to God the Spirit essentially as the Spirit of life and also economically as the Spirit of power. The union we have with the Divine Trinity in different aspects is as organic as the grafting of a branch to the tree.
We are a wild olive tree (Rom. 11:17-24), and the Divine Trinity is the cultivated olive tree. Originally, the two—He and we—are two different trees, each having its own life. But now these two trees are grafted together so that two lives have become one life. This enables us to continually enjoy the riches of the Divine Trinity. As a result, we become the members of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 5:30), the branches of the true vine (John 15:1, 5), to constitute His Body, which is the church. Ephesians 1:22b-23 says, “The church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” The church as the Body of Christ is an organism constituted with all those who have been regenerated by God with the divine life to be the fullness of Christ for His expression. Since Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, when He is expressed, the Triune God is also expressed. Eventually, the church becomes the corporate expression of the Triune God in Christ. This is the economy of God.
Brothers and sisters, you all must clearly see the economy of God. In the outline I did not mention anything about sin, sinners, the devil, or Satan. Today if you ask Christians, “What is the economy of God?” some who have studied theology will say, “There are two great needs of man today. First, as sinners, we need God’s salvation; second, we have been ensnared and troubled by the devil, so we need God to destroy the works of the devil. Therefore, the first step of God’s plan is to save sinners, because 1 Timothy 1:15 says, ‘Faithful is the word and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’ The next step is to destroy the works of Satan, because 1 John 3:8 says, ‘For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.’” This is what most Christians know concerning the economy of God.
When I was young, I thought about human life and considered it to be a real suffering. But I did not, nor did I dare to, blame God. I only blamed myself that I was born a sinner. Who taught me to lie? I knew how to lie by birth. My mother always taught me to tell the truth, yet the more she taught me, the more I lied. Who taught me to hate? I knew how to hate by birth. My mother taught me to love my brothers and sisters, but the more she taught me, the more I had jealousy and hatred instead of love. Because the financial situation of our family was not so good, sometimes our relatives or friends would give us some gifts. When my mother was distributing candies to us, I wished I could get at least half of them; I was unhappy when I received less. Who taught me this? I knew it by birth. Therefore, it is troublesome to be a sinner, and it is truly not easy to be freed from the entanglement of sin. Not only so, the devil also follows us. We are not able to do good things, but we are fully able to do bad things without being taught. Whose work is this? How is it done? We all have a heart to go upward, and we resolve in our hearts to excel by strenuous efforts, yet our feet are always going downward. Who is doing this in us? It is the combined work of two parties, the sinner and the devil.
You cannot deny that the sinner is you, but you can also say that the sinner is not you. This is really difficult to discern. Ancient Chinese scholars debated whether human nature is good or bad. Mencius advocated that man is naturally good, whereas Hsun-tzu advocated that man is naturally evil. Actually, we are both good and evil. Speaking of our good nature, we human beings are truly good; we like to honor and obey our parents. In the morning we may love them, yet in the evening we may provoke them to anger. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether man is good or evil. This is the result of the trouble brought in by sin and the devil.
Christianity pays much attention to these two things. They preach that Hebrews 2:14 tells us that since we have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the devil. They consider that this is the economy of God. However, this is not the economy of God; this is only the procedure to reach the goal of God’s economy. In order to accomplish His economy, God has to deal with the sinner and destroy the works of the devil. The economy of God is that He wants to work Himself as the Triune God into us that we may become His house so that He may have a home, a dwelling place for His rest, and that we may become the Body of Christ for His own expression. This is what Christianity has not seen. This is my burden; I have not spoken enough about this matter. Although I have published many books about this, I still have many messages within me ready to be released.
Most people in Christianity not only do not see the economy of God, but they do not even see clearly the truth about the sinner and the devil. Some even oppose me for saying that there is sin within man (Rom. 7:17, 20), because they believe that within man there is no sin. This is really pitiful. A peach tree is a peach tree because it has the element of the peach. Likewise, man is a sinner because he has sin within him. How can man be a sinner if he does not have sin in him? I went further to say that the sin within man is the sinful nature of Satan (cf. John 8:44). In Romans 7 Paul personifies sin, saying that it is revived (v. 9) and very active and that it can deceive and kill people (v. 11). Therefore, sin is not only living, but it is also a person. Who is this person? Sin cannot be Adam; it is the evil nature of Satan, the evil one. When I said this, it caused more to oppose me. They said that the reason I said Satan is in man is that I am demon-possessed. When I heard that, I was annoyed and amused at the same time. They said this because they have been deceived by Satan and therefore do not recognize that Satan is in them.
This does not mean that today we should not speak about sinners or forgiveness of sins, but our goal is the economy of God. To illustrate, before we can meet in the meeting hall, first we must sweep the floor, clean the yard, wipe the table, and arrange the chairs in an orderly fashion. However, our purpose is not cleaning but meeting. The economy of God is very lofty. How lofty is it? It is lofty to such an extent that we are being made God. Some will say, “You are speaking heresy again; you are teaching polytheism. How can we become God?” But this is a fact. God’s desire is to work in us to the extent that we are as honorable and glorious as He is; we have His life and nature, but we have no share in His Godhead. Now He is doing a transforming and conforming work within us; in the future He will come again to glorify our body. The Bible says clearly that we do not know what we will be, but one thing we know is that at His coming back we will be like Him because He will make us exactly like Him (1 John 3:2). Of course, we do not participate in His Godhead to become the object of worship; this is the difference between us and Him. I hope that you all can have a proper understanding concerning this matter.
