THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Believers
Message One—Believers in the Household of the Faith
Scripture Reading: Acts 5:14; 1 Tim. 4:12; 2 Cor. 6:14-15; John 3:16; 20:31
I. The believers are the members of the family, the household, of the faith; the house of God, the eternal Bethel as the desire of God’s heart, is the house of faith—Gal. 6:10; Gen. 28:11-12, 16-19a:
A. Faith bears two denotations—objective and subjective—1 Tim. 1:19; 2 Pet. 1:1:
1. In the objective denotation, “the faith” refers to the things in which we believe; “the faith” is the contents of the complete gospel according to God’s New Testament economy, the entire revelation of the New Testament concerning the person of Christ and His redemptive work—Acts 14:22; 1 Cor. 16:13; Jude 3, 20; Eph. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:7.
2. In the subjective denotation, “faith” refers to the believing action of the believers, the act of believing—Gal. 2:20; Rom. 1:17.
B. We may use the illustration of a camera to see these two denotations of faith; the believing action, the “click,” of “faith” shines the objective, divine scenery of “the faith” into our being; this makes the divine scenery of Christ as the reality, the truth, of God’s economy subjective to us in our experience to become our reality, our truth; thus, “faith” causes everything substantiated by it to become subjective to us in our experience—John 14:6; 8:32, 36; 2 Cor. 4:6-7, 13; 5:7.
II. The believers are those who have believed in Christ as the Son of God according to God’s New Testament economy of faith—1:4; John 3:15-16, 36; 20:31:
A. A believer is one who believes in Christ as the Son of God—John 9:35-38.
B. Because Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we need to believe in Him as the Christ and as the Son of God—John 20:31.
C. Our believing in Christ as the Son of God is according to God’s New Testament economy of the faith—1 Tim. 1:4:
1. Faith is to stop our doing and to trust in the Lord—Gal. 2:16.
2. The principle of God’s salvation is that of believing in God and in all that He has done and intends to do; this principle of faith should govern our entire Christian life—Heb. 11:6.
3. God’s economy to dispense Himself into His chosen and redeemed people is in the spiritual sphere of the new creation through regeneration by faith in Christ—Gal. 3:23-26.
4. Faith is our reaction toward God caused by the divine infusion, which permeates and saturates our being—Heb. 12:1-2.
5. We believe in Christ by the Lord Jesus Himself as our faith—Rom. 3:22.
III. The believers are those who have received Christ as their generating life for them to become children of God—John 1:12-13; Rom. 8:16:
A. Believing in Christ equals receiving Him—John 1:12-13; 1 John 5:10.
B. The authority for us to become children of God is Christ Himself as the generating life that makes us children of God for His multiplication and expression—3:1, 23; 5:13.
C. As the life-giving Spirit, the Lord is receivable—1 Cor. 15:45b; 4:7; John 7:37-39; 20:22.
IV. The believers are those who have believed into Christ as the Son of God to have an organic union with Him—John 3:15-16, 18, 36:
A. John 3:16 speaks of believing into the Son of God; the preposition into here signifies union with Christ by believing into Him:
1. When we believe in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, we believe into Him—John 3:15-16, 18, 36.
2. By believing into Christ as the Son of God, we enter into Him to be one with Him organically, to partake of Him, and to participate in all that He has accomplished for us.
3. By believing into Christ, we are identified with Him in all that He has accomplished, attained, and obtained—Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 2:11-13; 3:1-3.
B. The way for us to be regenerated is to believe in the Lord Jesus, even to believe into Him as the Son of God—John 3:3, 5-6, 15-16.
C. By believing into Christ as the Son of God, we have an organic union with Him, becoming one spirit with Him—1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Cor. 5:17:
1. Faith works to bring us into an organic union with the Triune God in Christ, and through this union God is continually infused into us.
2. The Lord is now seeking to develop this organic union, and He will cause it to be developed to the uttermost.
3. The more the organic union is developed, the more we will enjoy the dispensing of the Triune God as life into our tripartite being—Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE FAITH
In Galatians 6:10 the church is called the household of the faith. In Paul’s completing ministry here is yet another revelation of what the church is. The household of the faith is a specific term; it means the family of the faith.
In Galatians Paul sets the law and faith in contrast. The Judaizers are people of the law, while the believers are the family of the faith. One belongs to the Old Testament, the other to the New. This term, the faith, indicates God’s New Testament economy. It is a comprehensive way of saying that what God is doing now is nothing less than dispensing Himself into His chosen people. We may say that faith is a bundle, wrapping up God’s New Testament economy.
This faith comes into us by our knowing and appreciating Christ. As we hear of Him, we begin to know Him and, correspondingly, to appreciate Him. Out of this appreciation, faith is produced within us. We thus receive Christ and have the Triune God dispensed into our being. All of this thought is included in “the faith.” We belong to this faith, not to the law. The law cannot give life; thus, it has no family. The people of the law are without life. The faith, in contrast, imparts life, even God Himself, into us. Thus, faith has a family. We believers are the household of the begetting faith! We are the members of a family that is spread throughout the earth. This family has a name: the household of the faith. We are members of this great family of the faith—the church! (The Completing Ministry of Paul, ch. 6)
BELIEVERS
Many verses in the New Testament speak of the believers. Acts 5:14 says, “Believers were all the more being added to the Lord.” In 1 Timothy 6:2 Paul gives a charge to slaves whose masters are believers, and in 4:12 he charges Timothy to “be a pattern to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
Those Who Have Believed in Christ as the Son of God
according to God’s New Testament Economy of the Faith
The designation “believers” designates those who have believed in Christ as the Son of God according to God’s New Testament economy. This designation, of course, indicates the matter of believing. Anyone who does not have faith in Christ, who does not believe in Christ, is certainly not a believer. Strictly speaking, in the New Testament we cannot find such expressions as “believe Jesus” or “believe in Jesus” or “believe Christ.” It is not accurate to say that we believe in Jesus or that we believe Jesus or Christ. We need to use a preposition after “believe” and say that we believe in Christ or on Christ. John 3:16 speaks of believing in the Son of God. Actually the Greek preposition here and in many other verses in the Gospel of John means “into” and signifies union with Christ by believing into Him.
In the New Testament, faith has both an objective meaning and a subjective meaning. When used in an objective sense, faith denotes the object of our belief. Used in a subjective sense, faith denotes our action of believing. Therefore, faith refers both to the truths which we believe and to the act of our believing, that is, the action and function of our believing.
Faith in Ephesians 4:13 refers to those things which all Christians believe. We believe in the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We believe that Christ, the Son of God, was incarnated, that He was crucified for our redemption, that He was resurrected from among the dead both physically and spiritually, that He has ascended to the right hand of God, and that He is coming again. Furthermore, we believe that the Bible is God’s Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit word by word. This is our faith, the “common faith” (Titus 1:4), “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
We need to be deeply impressed with the meaning of faith in the New Testament. First, faith is God being the word spoken to us. Through the word of God and by the Spirit of God we are infused with God in Christ. As a result, something rises up within us. This is faith. Faith then works in us to bring us into an organic union with the Triune God. Through this organic union God is continually transfused and infused into us. As a result, we have the divine life and the divine nature to become sons of God, members of Christ, and parts of the new man. As a totality we become the house of God, the Body of Christ, and the new man. This is God’s economy in faith.
Those Who Have Received Christ as Their Generating Life
for Them to Become the Children of God
The believers are those who have received Christ as their generating life for them to become the children of God. Believing in Christ equals receiving Him. When we believe in Christ, we receive Him. We receive Him by believing in Him.
John 1:12 and 13 say, “As many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Here we see that believing in the Lord Jesus is equal to receiving Him. We have emphasized the fact that to believe in the Lord Jesus is to receive Him. The Lord is receivable. He is now the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), with His complete redemption, waiting for and expecting us to receive Him. Our spirit is the receiving organ. We receive the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18) into our spirit by believing in Christ. Once we believe in Him, He, as the Spirit, enters into our spirit. Then we are regenerated by Him, the life-giving Spirit, and become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).
Those Who Have Believed into Christ as the Son of God
to Have an Organic Union with Him
The believers are those who have believed into Christ as the Son of God to have an organic union with Him. However, certain people believe Christ, but they do not believe in Christ. Genuine believers are those who believe in Christ, even into Christ. Those who merely believe Christ are not believers in the New Testament sense, for they take the Lord Jesus as a pattern, an example, a model, for them to imitate and follow to do certain works for the benefit of society. Because such people do not believe into Christ, they have not entered into the organic union with Christ. We, the genuine believers in Christ, have an organic union with Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 105)