Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:26-27; John 5:26; Rom. 9:16; 2:4; Luke 6:36; Lam. 3:22-23
Ⅰ
God's eternal economy is to make man the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead and to make Himself one with man and man one with Him, thus to be enlarged and expanded in His expression, that all His divine attributes may be expressed in human virtues—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10; 3:9.
Ⅱ
For the carrying out of His eternal economy, the Triune God created man in His own image, according to His likeness—Gen. 1:26-27:
A
God's image, referring to God's inner being, is the expression of the inward essence of God's attributes, the most prominent of which are love (1 John 4:8), light (1:5), holiness (Rev. 4:8), and righteousness (Jer. 23:6).
B
God's likeness, referring to God's form (Phil. 2:6), is the expression of the essence and nature of God's person.
C
God created man in His image so that man may have the capacity to contain God and express Him.
D
Since God and man are of the same kind, it is possible for man to be joined to God and to live together with Him in an organic union—John 15:5; Rom. 6:5; 11:17-24; 1 Cor. 6:17.
E
God's purpose in the creation of man in His image and according to His likeness is that man would receive Him as life and express Him in all His attributes—Gen. 1:26-27; 2:9:
１
God created man in His image and according to His likeness because His intention is to come into man and to be one with man—Eph. 3:17a.
２
God created man in His own image so that through His economy man may receive His life and nature and thereby become His expression—1 Tim. 1:4; John 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:4; 2 Cor. 3:18.
３
God created man in such a way that man has the capacity to contain God's love, light, righteousness, and holiness—1 John 1:5; 4:8; Eph. 4:24; 5:2, 8-9.
４
Because we were created according to God's kind, our human virtues have the capacity to contain the divine attributes—2 Cor. 10:1; 11:10.
F
For God to create man in His image means that God created man with the intention that man would become the reproduction of God for His corporate expression; this reproduction makes God happy because it looks like Him, speaks like Him, and lives like Him—John 12:24; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:10; 1 John 3:1.
Ⅲ
For God to be enlarged and expanded in His expression means that, in a corporate way, God is expressed in His rich attributes:
A
The divine life may be considered the first and the basic attribute of God—Eph. 4:18; John 5:26; 1 John 5:11-12; Rom. 8:2:
１
According to the divine and eternal nature of the life of God, God's life is the unique life; only the life of God can be counted as life—John 1:4; 10:10b; 11:25; 14:6.
２
Life is the content of God and the flowing out of God; God's content is God's being, and God's flowing out is the impartation of Himself as life to us—Eph. 4:18; Rev. 22:1.
３
Life is Christ, and life is Christ living in us and lived out from us—John 14:6; Col. 3:4; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21a.
４
Life is the Holy Spirit—John 14:16-17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:2; 2 Cor. 3:6.
５
Life is the Triune God dispensed into us and living in us—Rom. 8:10, 6, 11.
B
"It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy"— 9:16:
１
Mercy is the most far-reaching of God's attributes, reaching farther than love and grace; this most far-reaching attribute of God causes our heart to respond to His love—Eph. 2:4.
２
If we know God's mercy, we will neither trust in our effort nor be disappointed by our failures; the hope for our wretched condition is in God's mercy—Heb. 4:16.
３
There must be a time when we touch God's mercy in a definite way and realize that everything depends on God's mercy; we are vessels of mercy— Rom. 11:32; 9:23.
C
"God's kindness is leading you to repentance"—2:4:
１
Kindness is a benevolent goodness that issues out of mercy and love; it is in such kindness that the grace of God is given to us—Eph. 2:7; 2 Sam. 9:1-3, 7, 13.
２
It is the kindness and love of our Savior God that saved us and made us different from others—Titus 3:4-5.
D
"Be full of compassion, even as your Father also is full of compassion"—Luke 6:36:
１
Compassion refers to the inward feeling that originates in the heart of the affectionate party; such a feeling is deeply affectionate, and it resides in the one who looks upon wretchedness—Rom. 9:15; 2 Cor. 1:3.
２
Compassion is the deepest of words showing the inward affection of God for man in his pitiful condition—Luke 7:11-15.
３
Jeremiah contacted the Lord as the compassionate One every morning; it was through his contact with the Lord that he received a word concerning God's lovingkindness, compassions, and faithfulness—Lam. 3:22-23.
E
"Great is Your faithfulness"—v. 23b; cf. 1 Cor. 1:9; 10:13; 2 Tim. 2:13.