Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; 8:4-6, 9-11, 14-16, 26-27; 12:2, 4-5, 11
Ⅰ
The high peak of the divine revelation is that God became man so that man may become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead to produce the organic Body of Christ for the fulfillment of God's economy to close this age and to bring Christ back to set up His kingdom—John 1:12-14; 3:15; 2 Pet. 1:4; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16; Rev. 11:15.
Ⅱ
In Romans we can see the high peak of the divine revelation: God became man (8:3) so that man may become God (1:3-4) for the producing and func-tioning of the Body of Christ (12:4-5) as the organism of the Triune God.
Ⅲ
The deep thought in Romans is that God became man so that, in God's complete salvation, sinners may be redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, renewed, transformed, conformed, and glorified to become the sons of God, who are the same as God in life and nature, to be the members of the Body of Christ—8:3; 1:3-4; 3:24; 5:10; 8:14, 29-30; 12:2, 4-5:
A
God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and condemned sin in the flesh so that sinners—serpentine beings, children of the devil—could be recon-ciled to God and justified by Him in order to receive eternal life and thus become children of God—8:3, 16.
B
Jesus Christ our Lord, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, was designated the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead—1:3-4.
C
The firstborn Son of God, the first God-man, is the prototype for the production of many God-men, who, as members of the Body of Christ, are exactly the same as the firstborn Son—8:14, 29.
D
The will of God is to obtain a Body for Christ to be His fullness, His expres-sion—Rev. 4:11; Eph. 1:5, 9; Rom. 12:2, 4-5.
E
The life-giving Spirit is the germinating factor of the Body of Christ as the new creation of God—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 8:9-11; 12:4-5.
F
The mingled spirit is the unique organ for God to bring forth and build up the Body of Christ—1:9; 7:6; 8:4-6, 14, 16; 12:4-5.
Ⅳ
We are one Body in the organic union with Christ—vv. 4-5:
A
Romans 12 speaks about the function of the Body because it talks about the Body based upon the organic union with Christ.
B
If we do not see the organic union that we have with Christ, we cannot under-stand what the Body of Christ is.
C
In order to be in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to fully experience the organic union in Christ, with a thorough realization that we are organi-cally one with Christ in life.
D
As we remain in the organic union, abiding in Christ as branches in the vine, we are actually living in the Body of Christ—John 15:1, 4-5.
Ⅴ
The Body of Christ is an organism composed of a group of people who live and walk according to the mingled spirit; they are persons in the mingled spirit living Christ:
A
We must serve God in the regenerated spirit by the life-giving Spirit, not in the soul by the power and ability of the soul—Rom. 1:9.
B
The reality of all spiritual matters depends on the mingled spirit—2:28-29.
C
God's organic salvation is carried out by Christ as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit—5:10; 8:10, 16.
D
In order to reign in life, we must be in the mingled spirit—5:17, 21.
E
Our regenerated spirit is a source of newness; everything that is related to or comes out of the mingled spirit is new—7:6.
F
The Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God—8:16.
G
Our regenerated spirit is life itself—v. 10.
H
We should walk according to the mingled spirit—v. 4.
I
Our being should be according to the mingled spirit—v. 5.
J
The mind set on the mingled spirit is life—v. 6.
K
The mingled spirit is the spirit of sonship—v. 15.
L
If we are led by the Spirit in our spirit, we are sons of God in reality—v. 14.
M
We need to pray in the mingled spirit—vv. 26-27.
N
We live a grafted life in the mingled spirit, no longer living by ourselves but allowing the pneumatic Christ to live in us—6:5; 11:17; Gal. 2:20.
O
We need to be burning in spirit with God as the divine fire—Rom. 12:11; Heb. 12:29.
P
In the mingled spirit we live a life of the highest virtues for the Body of Christ— Rom. 12:9-21.
Ⅵ
In actuality and practicality, the Body of Christ is the mingled spirit— 8:4, 16; 12:4-5:
A
Christ is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit mingled with our spirit; in the mingled spirit, we live Christ and we are the Body of Christ—8:9-11.
B
The Body-Christ, the corporate Christ, is composed of the Head and the Body with its many members; this corporate Christ is the mingled spirit—1 Cor. 12:12; 6:17.
C
When we are living, acting, and moving in the mingled spirit, we are living, acting, and moving in the Body of Christ—Rom. 8:4; 12:4-5.
D
To have our being in the mingled spirit is to be the Body of Christ actually and practically—1 Cor. 6:17; 12:12-13, 27; Rom. 8:4; 12:4-5.