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Ephesians 4:15 says that we grow up into the Head; the word Head here indicates that our growth in life by the increase of Christ should be the growth of the members in the Body under the Head.
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To grow in life is to grow with the growth of God; this means that true growth is the increase of God, the addition of God—Col. 2:19:
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God is eternal, perfect, and complete; therefore, with God Himself there can be no growth.
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The Body needs to grow with the growth, the increase, of God in us:
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It is necessary for God to grow in us; that is, we all need God to grow, to increase, in us.
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The way to grow spiritually is to have God added to us:
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The dispensing of the Triune God into us causes us to grow with the increase of God—2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 3:16-17a.
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God entered into us when we were regenerated, and now He is increasing within us by adding more of Himself to us.
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This is to grow with the growth, the increase, of God, by having God added into our being.
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What we absorb of Christ into us—the element of the riches of Christ as the soil—becomes the increase of God in us—Col. 2:6-7.
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We need to be permeated and saturated with Christ and to have Christ wrought into our being; then, in reality and practicality, Christ will be every member, every part, of the one new man—3:10-11.
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 4:15-16 But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body…causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.Col. 2:19 …Holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.
Head in Ephesians 4:15 indicates that our growth in life by the increase of Christ should be the growth of the members in the Body under the Head. (Eph. 4:15, footnote 4)
To grow in life is to grow into the Head, Christ, but to operate in the Body of Christ is to operate out from Him. First, we grow up into the Head; then we have something that is out from the Head for the building up of the Body. (Eph. 4:16, footnote 1)
The believers are one in Christ by His resurrection life and His divine nature to be the one new man, as mentioned in Ephesians 2:15….There is no room for our natural being, our natural disposition, and our natural character; in this one new man Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:10-11). This oneness in Christ is achieved through baptism, which terminates all the divisive distinctions and ushers the believers into the divine organic union with the processed Triune God, resulting in the believers' subjective assurance that they are one with one another. (Gal. 3:28, footnote 5)
Today's Reading
As we enjoy Christ and hold Him as the Head, we absorb His riches. According to Colossians 2:19, something proceeds out from the Head which causes the Body to grow with the growth of God. When we enjoy Christ in the heavens and in our spirit, we hold the Head and absorb His riches. Then out from the Head something will proceed to produce the growth of God in us. This means that more of the element of God is added into our being and thereby into the Body. This causes the Body to grow with the growth, the increase, of God.As we hold the Head, we absorb the riches of the extensive, all-inclusive Christ. These riches are the elements of God, the very elements that proceed out from the Head and become in us the increase of God by which the Body grows. Eventually, the Body will be the one new man in which Christ is all and in all. Because Christ is the unique constituent of the new man, He is every member of the new man and in every member.
Through holding Christ as the Head, we become conscious of the Body. Experiencing the Body life, we absorb the riches out from the Head. These riches are the very elements of God which become in the members of the Body the increase of God by which the whole Body grows. Therefore, the growth of the Body is the product of enjoying Christ, holding Him as the Head, and absorbing His riches. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 495-496)
The work of assimilation is a good illustration of dispensing. Immediately after eating, the fine work of dispensing begins in order to dispense the food into the cells, fibers, and tissues of our being. In the same way, the dispensing of the Triune God is to make the processed and consummated Triune God the very constitution of our being. This fine work of dispensing continues day by day and will be finalized when the sealing ink of the Spirit permeates our entire body (Eph. 1:13-14). This will be the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23) when we are glorified.
The dispensing of the Triune God into us causes us to grow with the increase of God (Col. 2:19). For anything to grow it must increase with some element or substance. Human beings grow by the food they take in. If you do not eat anything, you cannot grow. We Christians grow with the increase, the surplus, the addition, of God. God entered into us when we were regenerated. Now He is increasing within us by adding more of Himself to us. However, the amount of God that each brother or sister has differs. To have the Lord increase within us, we must come to the Word of God to eat each day. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 3, “The Divine Dispensing for the Divine Economy,” p. 241)
Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msg. 56