THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Divine and Eternal Life
Message Four—The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man
Scripture Reading: Rom. 1: 3-4; 8:2-3, 6, 10-11; 9:21, 23; 10:13; 12:4-5
I. 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: (2006 FTTA-F, msg. 8)
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 reconciled to God and justified by Him in order to receive eternal life and thus become children of God—8:3,16. (2009 WT, msg. 1)
B. Jesus Christ our Lord, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead—1:3-4. (2009 WT, msg. 1)
C. The firstborn Son of God, the first God-man, is the prototype for the production of the many sons, the many God-men, who, as members of the Body of Christ, are exactly the same as the firstborn Son in life, nature, and expression—8:14, 29. (2009 WT, msg. 1)
D. The purpose of God’s salvation is to have Christ reproduced in millions of believers so that they may become the members of His Body—12:4-5. (2009 WT, msg. 1)
E. Through God’s organic salvation carried out by the divine dispensing of the Triune God as life to the tripartite man, the children of God are growing in life to become sons of God led by the Spirit—5:10; 8:2, 6, 10-11, 14. (2009 WT, msg. 1)
II. We are one Body in the organic union with Christ—vv. 4-5: (2009 WT, msg. 1)
A. The will of God is to obtain a Body for Christ to be His fullness, His expression—Rev. 4:11; Eph. 1:5, 9; Rom. 12:2, 4-5. (2009 WT, msg. 1)
B. We are one Body in Christ, having an organic union with Him; this union makes us one in life with Christ and with all the other members of His Body—vv. 4-5: (2009 WT, msg. 1)
1. The Body is not an organization or a society but is altogether an organism produced by the union in life that we have in Christ—John 15:1. (2006 ST, msg. 4)
2. The actuality of the Body is in our remaining in the organic union with Christ—Rom. 12:4-5. (2006 ST, msg. 4)
C. If we would live the Body life, a life in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need To live a grafted life—a life in which two parties are joined and grow organically—6:5; 11:17. (2006 ST, msg. 4)
III. The divine intention, as conveyed in the deep, divine thought in Romans, is carried out by the divine dispensing of the Triune God as life into the tripartite man—8:2, 6, 10-11: (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
A. The Triune God created a tripartite man to be a living vessel to contain Him as life so that He may express Himself in humanity—Gen. 1:26; 2:7; Rom. 9:21, 23. (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
B. Man was created in the image of God to receive God as life and contain God as life for the reproduction, the duplication, of God in life—Gen. 1:26; 2:7, 9; John 12:24. (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
C. The basic teaching of the Scriptures is that we are vessels created in the image of God to receive and contain God as our unique content—Gen. 2:7; 2 Cor. 4:7; Rom. 9:21, 23: (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
1. We need to be vessels open to the Lord, continually receiving the divine dispensing; if the vessel is open, God can fulfill His purpose, but if the vessel is closed, God’s purpose is frustrated—2 Cor. 13:14. (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
2. We need to love the Lord and keep ourselves open to Him, giving Him every opportunity to do everything He wants to do—Mark 12:30; 1 Cor. 2:9; Eph. 3:16-17a. (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
IV. Romans 8 unveils to us how the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—dispenses Himself as life into our tripartite being—spirit, soul, and body—to make us His sons for the constituting of the Body of Christ—vv. 2, 6, 10-11; 10:9-13: (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
A. In verse 11 we have the Triune God, the process required for His dispensing, and the dispensing of Himself as life into the believers. (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
B. Through the dispensing of the Triune God as life, our spirit is life—v. 10. (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
C. Through the dispensing of the Triune God as life, our soul (represented by the mind) becomes life—v. 6. (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
D. Through the dispensing of the Triune God as life, the indwelling Spirit gives life to our mortal bodies—v. 11. (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
E. The way to experience the dispensing of the Triune God as life into our tripartite being is to call upon the name of the Lord: (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
1. In the Christian life nothing is more crucial than the constant receiving of the Spirit by opening to the Lord and calling upon His name—Gal. 3:2, 5. (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)
2. The Spirit is the heavenly air for us to breathe; by exercising our spirit to call upon the name of the Lord, we breathe in the Spirit and thereby receive the Spirit, experiencing the dispensing of the Triune God as life into our tripartite being—John 20:22; Gal. 3:2; 1 Thes. 5:17. (2013 FTTA-S, msg. 6)