Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:4; 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:17; 12:12-13, 27; Eph. 2:22; 4:16
Ⅰ
God's unique purpose is to mingle Himself with us so that He becomes our life, our nature, and our content and so that we become His corporate expression— John 14:20; 15:4-5; Eph. 3:16-21; 4:4-6, 16:
A
The mingling of God and man is an intrinsic union of the elements of divinity and humanity to form one organic entity, yet the elements remain distinct in the union.
B
The will of God is the mingling of God with man, and the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose depends on the mingling of divinity and humanity—1:5, 9; 3:11.
C
The Lord Jesus Christ is the mingling of God and man—Luke 1:31-35.
D
The Christian life is the mingling of divinity and humanity; to be a Christian means to be mingled with God, to be a God-man—2 Tim. 3:17:
１
In His economy God mingles Himself with us to become one entity with us— 1 Cor. 6:17.
２
We may be saved to the extent that we and God are completely mingled as one, having one life and one living—John 15:4-5; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a.
E
The Body of Christ is the enlargement of Christ, the enlargement of the One who is the mingling of God and man—Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16:
１
We need to understand the Body of Christ from the perspective of the mingling of divinity and humanity—vv. 4-6.
２
In the Gospels the mingling of God and man produced the Head; in Acts the enlargement of the mingling of God and man produced the Body of Christ— Eph. 1:22-23; 4:15-16.
３
In Ephesians 4:4-6 four persons—the Body, the Spirit, the Lord, and God the Father—are actively mingled together:
ａ
The Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit is mingled with the believers.
ｂ
This mingling is the constitution of the Body of Christ.
４
The processed and consummated Triune God mingles Himself with His chosen people in their humanity, and this mingling is the genuine oneness of the Body of Christ—v. 3; John 17:21-23.
F
The true meaning of building is that God is building Himself into man and building man into Himself; this is the mingling of God and man—Eph. 2:21-22.
G
The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation of the mingling of God and man—Rev. 21:2.
Ⅱ
We need to see a vision of the mingled spirit—the divine Spirit mingled with our regenerated human spirit—1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:4:
A
The Father is in the Son, the Son is the Spirit, and the Spirit is now mingled with our spirit—John 14:9-10, 16-18; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; Rom. 8:16.
B
The union of God and man is a union of the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man (1 Cor. 2:11-16); the union of these two spirits is the deepest mystery in the Bible.
C
The focus of God's economy is the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit; whatever God intends to do or accomplish is related to this focus— Eph. 3:9, 5; 1:17; 2:22; 3:16; 4:23; 5:18; 6:18.
D
The mingled spirit is both the Spirit of the Lord and our spirit—Rom. 8:4; 2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17.
E
The mingled spirit is a spirit that is one spirit with God and that is the same as God in His life and nature but not in His Godhead—1 John 5:11; 2 Pet. 1:4:
１
The divine Spirit and the human spirit are mingled as one within us so that we can live the life of a God-man, a life that is God yet man and man yet God—Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a.
２
The God-man living is the living of the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man, joined and mingled together as one—1 Cor. 6:17.
F
The mingled spirit is the key to the Christian life—Rom. 8:4; Eph. 2:22.
G
To be proper Christians, we must know that the Lord Jesus today, as the embodi-ment of the Triune God, is the Spirit indwelling our spirit and is mingled with our spirit as one spirit—2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17.
H
By being one spirit with the Lord, we can experience Christ as the all-inclusive One and take Him as everything—1:2, 24, 30; 2:8, 10; 3:11; 5:7-8; 10:3-4; 11:3; 12:12; 15:20, 45, 47.
I
God's unique requirement of us as believers is that we live and walk by the Spirit in our spirit—Gal. 5:16, 25; 6:18.
J
Ultimately, the Bible requires only one thing of us—that we walk according to the mingled spirit—Rom. 8:4:
１
The key to everything in the Christian life is found in the wonderful Spirit who is in our regenerated spirit and who has become one spirit with our spirit—Phil. 1:19; 4:23; 2 Tim. 4:22.
２
To live in the spirit is to let Christ fill and saturate us until He permeates our whole being and is thereby expressed through us—Eph. 2:22; 3:16-21.
Ⅲ
The Body of Christ is absolutely a matter in the mingled spirit; thus, to be in the reality of the Body of Christ is to be in the mingled spirit and to live in the mingled spirit—Rom. 8:4-6; 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:17; 12:12-13, 27:
A
The church as the Body of Christ is a group of people who allow God to be mingled with them and who are mingled with God—Eph. 3:16-21.
B
The reality of the Body of Christ is a corporate living by the God-men, who are united, mingled, and constituted together with God by the mingling of humanity with divinity and divinity with humanity—4:1-6, 15-16.
C
In actuality and practicality, the Body of Christ is the mingled spirit—1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; 6:17:
１
The Body of Christ is the corporate Christ composed of the Head and the Body with many members; this corporate Christ is the mingled spirit—12:12; 6:17.
２
To live, act, and move in the mingled spirit is to live, act, and move in the Body of Christ—Rom. 8:4, 14; 12:4-5.
３
To be in the mingled spirit is to be the Body of Christ actually and practically— 1 Cor. 6:17; 12:27.