Scripture Reading: John 2:19-21; 12:24; Rom. 8:2, 29; 12:4-5
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 and build up the organic Body of Christ for the fulfillment of God's economy—John 1:12-14; 1 John 3:1-2; Rom. 8:3; 12:4-5:
A
God's economy is His intention to dispense Himself in His Divine Trinity into His chosen and redeemed people to be their life and nature so that they may be the same as He is for His corporate expression—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:3-23.
B
For the accomplishment of His economy, God created us in His own image with the intention that we would become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead—Gen. 1:26; Rev. 4:3; 21:10-11.
C
God redeemed us for the purpose of making us God in life and nature so that He can have the Body of Christ, which consummates in the New Jerusalem as God's enlargement and expression for eternity—Eph. 1:7; 4:16; Rev. 21:2.
D
It is only by God's becoming man to make man God that the Body of Christ can be produced and built up; this is the high peak of the divine revelation given to us by God—Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; 8:14, 16, 29; 12:4-5.
Ⅱ
The Scriptures reveal that God's intention is to make His chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people the reproduction of Christ for the temple of God— the Body of Christ—as the corporate expression of the Triune God—John 1:12-14; 12:24; Rom. 1:3-4; 8:3, 29; 12:4-5:
A
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; 12:4-5.
B
In Song of Songs we see that, as the reproduction of Christ, the loving seekers of the Lord become the sanctuary of God and a corporate Shulammite—6:4, 13.
C
The book of Hebrews reveals that through the function of the law of life, we become the reproduction of Christ as the firstborn Son of God to be the church, which is a living composition of the many sons of God—1:6; 2:10-12.
D
In Revelation the living person of Jesus is the expression and testimony of God, and the church is the testimony of Jesus, the corporate expression of Christ; as such, the church, the enlarged Christ, is the reproduction of the testimony and expression of God in Christ—1:2, 5, 9, 12, 20.
Ⅲ
According to the Gospel of John, Christ has a reproduction, and in His reproduction He is a grain of wheat—12:24:
A
As a grain of wheat, the Lord Jesus fell into the ground and died in order to produce many grains in resurrection as His reproduction—v. 24; Eph. 2:6.
B
In Christ's resurrection we are His reproduction; in His resurrection He imparted the divine life into us, making us, the many grains, the same as He is in life and nature to be His reproduction—John 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:3.
C
The first grain—the first God-man—was the prototype, and the many grains— the many God-men—are the mass reproduction; this is the reproduction of God—Gen. 1:26; John 20:17; Rom. 8:29.
D
The reproduction of Christ is for the church as the Body of Christ—the corporate expression of the Triune God—John 2:19-22; 14:2; 12:1-11:
１
In His resurrection the Lord Jesus rebuilt God's temple in a larger way, making it a corporate one, the mystical Body of Christ—2:19-21.
２
John 12:1-11 portrays a miniature of the church life produced by Christ's resurrection; here we see a real expression of the Body of Christ.
Ⅳ
God produces and builds up the church as the temple, the Body of Christ, by dispensing Himself into us as the law of the Spirit of life to make us the reproduction of the firstborn Son of God—Rom. 8:2, 29; Heb. 8:10:
A
The firstborn Son of God is the prototype, the standard model, for the mass reproduction of the many sons of God, who are His many brothers, to constitute His Body for God's corporate expression—Rom. 1:4; 8:14, 29; 12:4-5.
B
God makes us the reproduction of the firstborn Son of God by working Him, the living prototype, into our being; this indwelling prototype automatically works within us as the law of the Spirit of life to conform us to His image— Eph. 3:16-17a; Rom. 8:2, 29.
C
The function of the law of life is to make us God in life, nature, and expression but not in the Godhead, shaping us into the image of the firstborn Son of God so that we may become His corporate expression, and to constitute us the members of the Body of Christ with all kinds of functions—Heb. 8:10; Rom, 8:2, 29; 12:4-5; Eph. 4:11-12, 16.
D
The law of the Spirit of life functions to conform us to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God; in this way we become the reproduction of Christ for the corporate expression of the Triune God—Rom. 8:2, 29.
E
Eventually, through the function of the law of the Spirit of life, we all will become mature sons of God, and God will have the reproduction of Christ for His corporate expression—12:4-5; Rev. 21:7, 10-11.