Outline

«　WEEK 2　DAY 3　»

　　2 Cor. 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

　　Rom. 8:23 And not only so, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan in ourselves, eagerly awaiting sonship, the redemption of our body.

　　The God-men have the divine right to participate in God’s being…Paul’s word in 2 Corinthians 3:18…indicates that the work of transformation is done not by something of the Lord Spirit but by the Lord Spirit Himself. Hence, we are being transformed with God’s very being.

　　[In Ephesians 3:8] the unsearchable riches of Christ are the riches of Christ’s being, the riches of what Christ is. For the unsearchable riches of Christ to be dispensed into us means that we participate not only in God’s life, nature, and mind but also in His being. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Incarnation, Inclusion, and Intensification,” pp. 215-216)

　　As God-men, we also have the divine right to participate in God’s image [2 Cor. 3:18]…This is the image of the resurrected and glorified Christ. In God’s creation man was made in God’s image in an outward way, but the image into which we are being transformed is something inward. To be transformed into the same image is to be conformed to the resurrected and glorified Christ, as the firstborn Son of God, to be made the same as He is (Rom. 8:29).

　　We Christians, who are God-men, all have the Lord Spirit within us, and the Lord Spirit is in the process of carrying out a metabolic change in our being, transforming us into the image of Christ. To be metabolically transformed into the image of the resurrected and glorified Christ is to participate in God’s image.

　　Eventually, we will be brought into God’s glory to participate in His glory. Hebrews 2:10 says that God is leading many sons into glory. Paul refers to this in Romans 8:30: “Those whom He predestinated, these He also called; and those whom He called, these He also justified; and those whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Glorification is the step in God’s complete salvation in which God will completely saturate our body with the glory of His life and nature. In this way He will transfigure our body, conforming it to the resurrected, glorious body of His Son (Phil. 3:21).

　　Another aspect of the God-men’s divine right to participate in God’s divinity is the right to participate in God’s sonship (Eph. 1:5; Rom. 8:23). We can have God’s life, God’s nature, God’s mind, God’s being, God’s image, and God’s glory because we are God’s sons…Before the foundation of the world, that is, in eternity past, God predestinated us, marked us out, unto sonship. Before time began, God intended and determined that we would participate in His sonship.

　　As God-men, we will participate also in God’s manifestation (Rom. 8:19). When Christ our life is manifested, we will be manifested with Him in glory (Col. 3:4). Today God is hiding, but one day He will be manifested to the whole universe. Romans 8:19 indicates that when God is manifested, revealed, we, the sons of God, will participate in that revelation, in that manifestation. God will be manifested with His sons, who will be the same as He in life, in nature, in mind, in being, in image, and in glory.

　　The God-men’s divine right to participate in God’s divinity includes the right to bear God’s likeness. First John 3:2 says, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been manifested what we will be. We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.”…We will not only participate in God’s life and nature but will also bear God’s likeness. To bear God’s likeness will be a great blessing and enjoyment. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Incarnation, Inclusion, and Intensification,” pp. 216-217)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, pp. 487-502