THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Full Ministry of Christ in the Stage of Inclusion
Message One—Being Begotten as God’s Firstborn Son
Scripture Reading: 2Sam. 7:12-14a，Rom. 1:3-4，8:28-30，Heb. 2:10-11，1Cor. 15:31、36
I. To experience and enjoy Christ (to gain Christ) in His full ministry in His three divine and mystical stages—Phil. 3:8: (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
A. In the second stage, the stage of His inclusion, from His resurrection to the degradation of the church—Acts 2:24, 32; 1 Cor. 15:45b: (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
1. To be begotten as God’s firstborn Son—Rom. 1:3-4: (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
a. From eternity past without beginning, Christ was God’s only begotten Son—John 1:18: (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
(1) Possessing only divinity, without humanity. (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
(2) Not having passed through death into resurrection. (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
b. In incarnation the only begotten Son of God became flesh to be a God-man, a man possessing both the divine nature and the human nature—Matt. 1:18b, 20b. (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
c. Through death and resurrection Christ in the flesh as the seed of David was designated to be the firstborn Son of God—Rom. 1:3-4: (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
(1) In death His humanity was crucified—Acts 2:23, 36. (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
(2) In resurrection His crucified humanity was made alive by the Spirit of His divinity and was uplifted into the sonship of the only begotten Son of God—Acts 13:33. (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
(3) Thus, He was begotten by God in His resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God—Rom. 8:29. (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
II. The seed of David becoming the Son of God speaks of the process of Christ’s being designated the firstborn Son of God by resurrection— 2 Sam. 7:12-14a; Rom. 1:3-4; Matt. 22:45; Rev. 22:16: (2000 ITERO-F Morning Section, msg. 1)
A. Paul said that he was separated unto the gospel of God concerning God’s Son, which indicates that the gospel of God is a gospel of sonship for the reality of the Body of Christ—Rom. 1:1, 3-4; 8:28-30; 12:5. (2000 ITERO-F Morning Section, msg. 1)
B. Romans 1:3-4 is the fulfillment of the prophecy in typology in 2 Samuel 7:12-14a, unveiling the mystery of God becoming man to make man God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead: (2000 ITERO-F Morning Section, msg. 1)
1. By incarnation, Christ, the only begotten Son of God in His divinity, put on the flesh, the human nature, which had nothing to do with divinity; in His humanity, He was not the Son of God—John 1:18: (2000 ITERO-F Morning Section, msg. 1)
a. Jesus in His humanity was the seed of David, a human seed belonging to the old creation (the old man—Rom. 6:6) of God—Col. 1:15b. (2000 ITERO-F Morning Section, msg. 1)
b. When Christ died on the cross as the seed of David in His humanity, He crucified the old man with the old creation, destroyed the devil, condemned sin in the flesh, and judged the world—Rom. 6:6; Heb. 2:14; Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; John 3:14; 12:31. (2000 ITERO-F Morning Section, msg. 1)
III. In resurrection His humanity was deified, sonized, meaning that He became the Son of God not only in His divinity but also in His humanity—Rom. 1:3-4: (2000 ITERO-F Morning Section, msg. 1)
A. In resurrection He was designated the Son of God, made the firstborn Son of God, possessing both divinity and humanity—8:29. (2000 ITERO-F Morning Section, msg. 1)
B. Crucifixion was the best way for Him to be designated, glorified, resurrected—Acts 4:10; Rom. 1:3-4: (2000 ITERO-F Morning Section, msg. 1)
1. If a seed dies by being buried in the soil, it will eventually sprout, grow, and blossom, because the operation of the seed’s life is activated simultaneously with its death—John 12:23-24. (2000 ITERO-F Morning Section, msg. 1)
2. The divinity, the Spirit of holiness, in Christ became operative in His death, and in resurrection He “blossomed” as the Son of God—Acts 13:33. (2000 ITERO-F Morning Section, msg. 1)
3. According to His flesh, Christ was crucified, but in His resurrection God the Spirit as Christ’s divinity was made strong, very active, to put divinity into the humanity of Christ to make it divine; this is what it means to designate, and this is to sonize—1 Pet. 3:18. (2014 TGC, msg. 2)