THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
God’s Complete Salvation
Message Three—God’s Complete Salvation—
the Judicial Redemption and the Organic Salvation
Scripture Reading: Rom. 3:21-26; 1 Pet. 2:24; John 3:6b, 15, 36; Rom. 15:16
I. The complete salvation of God has two aspects: the judicial aspect and the organic aspect—Rom. 3:21-26; 1 Pet. 2:24:
A. God’s judicial redemption is the judicial aspect of God’s complete salvation as the procedure of God’s salvation:
1. It is according to the righteousness of God—Rom. 1:17a; 3:21-26; 9:30-31.
2. It satisfies all the requirements of God’s righteous law on sinners through the redeeming death of Christ on the cross—Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:12.
3. It is accomplished by Christ in His flesh in the material realm of His earthly ministry.
4. Resulting objectively in God’s:
a. Forgiveness of the believers’ sins—Luke 24:47; Eph. 1:7.
b. Washing away the believers’ sins—Heb. 1:3.
c. Justifying the believers—Rom. 3:24-25.
d. Reconciling the believers as His enemies to Himself—Rom. 5:10a.
e. Sanctifying the believers in their position unto Himself as His holy people—1 Cor. 1:2; Heb. 13:12.
f. Qualifying the believers to have the position to enter into God’s grace to fulfil the goal of God’s salvation.
5. God’s judicial redemption is a procedure of the complete salvation of God for the believers to participate in God’s organic salvation as the purpose of the complete salvation of God—Rom. 5:21.
B. God’s organic salvation is the organic aspect of God’s complete salvation-Rom.5:21:
1. It is through the life of God—Rom. 1:17b; Acts 11:18; Rom. 5:10b, 17b, 18b.
2. It is the purpose of God’s salvation to accomplish all the purpose that God wants to achieve in the believers in His economy through His divine life.
3. Resulting subjectively in the believers’ regeneration, feeding, sanctification, renewing, transformation, building up, conformation, and glorification.
4. All the items of God’s organic salvation are carried out not by Christ in the flesh in His earthly ministry judicially and objectively but by Christ as the life-giving Spirit in His heavenly ministry organically and subjectively.
II. God’s organic salvation—John 3:6b; 1 Pet. 1:3; John 1:12-13:
A. Regeneration is the propagation of the divine life—John 3:6b, 15, 36; Rom. 15:16; 6:19; 12:2b:
1. Regeneration is the center of God’s entire salvation and the commencement of God’s salvation in its organic aspect.
2. The regeneration is that through the resurrection of Christ that He may impart the divine life into them as the authority for them to be the children of God, begotten of God as His species—1 Pet. 1:3; John 1:12-13.
3. Through regeneration the believers obtain the divine, eternal life in addition to their natural, human l life—John 3:15, 36.
B. Feeding in shepherding is the nourishment of the divine life—John 10:10-11; 21:15-17:
1. Feeding is the continuation of regeneration, shepherding Christ’s flock through His nourishing and cherishing so that His sheep might grow unto maturity in the divine life—Eph. 5:29; John 10:10-11, 14-16; 21:15-17; Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 5:4; 2:25.
2. Feeding gives the newborn babes (the new believers) nourishment that they might grow unto salvation by the supply of the milk in the word of God—1 Pet. 2:2.
3. Feeding is to supply the grown believers with the solid word, which is the Spirit of life—Heb. 5:14; 6:63.
4. The issue of feeding is for the believers’ maturity in the divine life unto transformation and conformation to the image of Christ—2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2; 8:29.
5. Feeding is also, through the mutual shepherding of the believers, for the building up of the Body of Christ to accomplish God’s eternal economy and to fulfill God’s eternal purpose—Eph. 4:11-16; John 21:15-17; 1 Pet. 5:2-3.
C. Sanctification is to constitute the believers with the divine nature of God—Rom. 15:16; 8:2; 2 Pet. 1:4:
1. Sanctification is the inward sanctification of the believes who grow in the divine life through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life, in their nature—Rom. 15:16; 8:2.
2. The believers are sanctified with the divine and holy nature of God that they may be made holy unto God for the fulfillment of God’s purpose in choosing them—2 Pet. 1:4; Eph. 1:4.
3. Sanctification implies transformation—Rom. 6:19, 22.
4. Sanctification is ultimately manifested in the New Jerusalem for it to become the holy city—Rev. 21:2, 10; 22:19.
D. Renewing is the process of God’s new creation—Titus 3:5; Eph. 4:23:
1. The believers are spontaneously renewed in their spiritual life when they are sanctified dispositionally by the Holy Spirit—2 Cor. 5:17.
2. Renewing is the continuation of the washing of regeneration, which also makes the believers new while sanctification is going on within them—Titus 3:5.
3. The completion of renewing:
a. By the renewing Spirit mingling with the believers’ regenerated spirit indwelt by Christ as one spirit to spread into the believers’ mind to renew their entire being as a member of the new man—Titus 3:5; Eph. 4:23.
b. By the believers’ walking in the newness of the divine life in resurrection—Rom. 6:4; Eph. 4:22-24; Phil. 1:19-21.
4. Renewing is through the consuming by the believers’ environmental suffering—2 Cor. 4:16.
5. The believers must be thoroughly and absolutely renewed that they may be practically the genuine new creation of God and for God—Gal. 6:15.
6. The believers should be renewed to be as new as the New Jerusalem—Rev. 21:2.
E. Transformation is the metabolic function in the divine life—Rom. 12:2b; 2 Cor. 3:18:
1. Transformation is not any kind of outward correction or adjustment, but a kind of metabolism, by the addition of the element of the divine life of Christ into their being, to be expressed outwardly in the image of Christ.
2. Transformation is accomplished by the Lord Spirit, transforming the believers into the image of the glory of Christ—2 Cor. 3:18.
3. The believers should live and walk by the Spirit and walk according to the mingled spirit, that the divine life of Christ may have the way to regulate them and transform them into the image of the Lord in glory—Gal. 5:16, 25; Rom. 8:4b.
F. Building is to be joined and knit together in the divine life—Eph. 4:16, Rev. 3:12; 21:10-11:
1. The building of God is brought forth through the joining and knitting by the transforming Spirit’s work on the believers—Eph. 4:16.
2. Building is the issue of the believers’ growing into the Head, Christ, in everything—Eph. 4:15.
3. This is the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the building of the holy city, New Jerusalem—Eph. 4:16; Rev. 3:12; 21:10-11.
G. Conformation is to maturity in the divine life—Rom. 8:29; Phil. 3:10; 1 John 3:2:
1. Conformation is the completion of the believers’ regeneration, feeding, sanctification, renewing, and transformation in the divine life—Rom. 8:29.
2. Conformation is that the believers mature in the divine life by the maturing Spirit in the believers’ spirit enriched with Christ to be a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ—Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13.
3. Conformation is to be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son—Phil. 3:10; 1:19-21a; 1 John 3:2.
H. Glorification is the full expression of God’s complete salvation— 2 Thes. 1:9; Eph. 1:13; 4:30; Heb. 2:10:
1. The matured believers will be glorified from within through the lifelong saturation with the glory of God and from without through their being brought into God’s glory—Eph. 4:30; 2 Thes. 1:9; Rom. 8:23, 30; Heb. 2:10.
2. The glorification of the matured believers is their top portion of their divine sonship in God’s organic salvation—which they received at the time of their regeneration—Gal. 4:5; Rom. 8:23.
3. The redemption of the believers’ body is the transfiguration of their body at the Lord’s coming back—Phil. 3:20-21.
4. The accomplishment and realization of God’s eternal purpose through glorification is the New Jerusalem—the crystallization of the union and mingling of God with man, the processed and consummated Triune God with His regenerated, transformed, conformed, and glorified tripartite elect.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE COMPLETE SALVATION OF GOD HAVING TWO ASPECTS
—THE JUDICIAL ASPECT AND THE ORGANIC ASPECT
The complete salvation of God has two aspects: the judicial aspect and the organic aspect. It is not that easy to understand what organic is and what judicial is. However, by the word judicial we know it has something to do with the law, and by the word organic we know it has something to do with life. Therefore, God’s complete salvation has both the judicial aspect, an aspect related to the law, and the organic aspect, an aspect related to life.
We all know that God so loved the people of the world that He gave His only begotten Son to them that they may have eternal life (John 3:16). God gave His only begotten Son to the people of the world that they may receive eternal life by believing into Him and receiving Him. In eternity God had a good pleasure, His heart’s desire, to be one with man, even to make man the same as He to be His species. Hence, in the creation of man He created man in His image and after His likeness for man to become a vessel to contain Him. He created the plants and the animals each after their own kind; when He created man, however, He created him in His image and after His likeness (Gen. 1:11-12, 20-21, 24-27). Image is something inward and likeness is something outward. Since God created man in that way, was the created Adam man or God? Yes, he was a man but he had God’s image and God’s likeness. Therefore, at the time of creation, the idea concerning a God-man was already there.
In the New Testament God came to regenerate man with Himself as life. John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name.” When we become children of God, we have God’s life and nature. Since goats beget goats and cows beget cows, surely God begets gods. If cows begot cows and goats begot goats yet God begot human beings, this would indeed be something strange. That which is begotten must be the same as its begetter. There is no such thing as a cow giving birth to a donkey or a goat giving birth to a dog. God’s heart’s intent is to make us the same as He is that we may be exactly like Him not only in the inward image and the outward likeness but also in His life and nature. We the regenerated people of God have the life of God and also the nature of God. This is really precious.
However, the God-created man sinned and fell by following Satan; thus, man violated God’s righteousness. God so loved the people of the world that He even wanted to make man the same as He is by His life. Yet man was seduced by Satan and became fallen by committing sin; thus, man violated the righteousness of God. What man violated was not God’s grace or God’s love but God’s righteousness. According to the entire holy Scriptures, God’s righteousness is God’s principle of doing things. Whatever God does is righteous, and His righteousness as the foundation of His throne (Psa. 89:14) is the strictest. Therefore, we see two things here: God’s love and God’s righteousness. According to His love, God wants to make man the same as He is. However, man sinned and violated God’s righteousness. God’s righteousness is strict; whatever God wants to do for man must meet the requirement of His righteousness. Whatever is required by righteousness becomes the law. Therefore, the Bible shows us that after God’s creation of man and man’s fall, after a period of time, God came to give man the law. The law of God was written and enacted according to His righteousness. Since God is righteous, every item of the law enacted by Him is righteous, and every item is a righteous requirement; hence, the law becomes the law of righteousness (Rom. 8:4a; 9:31).
Therefore, concerning all that God wants to do for man according to His heart’s desire, there is a great need judicially. All that God wants to do for man organically according to His life requires that God redeem the fallen sinners back judicially according to His righteous requirement. God’s righteousness requires that God redeem the sinners. It is as if God’s righteousness says to God, “O God, it is good that You love them, and it is also good that You desire to carry out many things in them organically. But You must first redeem them to satisfy the requirements of Your righteous law.” This is redemption. By redeeming the sinners judicially, God may freely do as He pleases by His life organically according to His heart’s desire. “To do as one pleases” does not sound very positive. How can we say that God may do as He pleases? Yes, indeed, because of His redemption, today our God may do as He pleases. If He wants to save a robber, He may do so; if He wants to save a prostitute, He may also do so. Hence, in the Bible we see a robber saved (Luke 23:39-43) and we also see harlots saved (Matt. 21:31-32; cf. Luke 7:37; John 4:17-18). Today God truly may do as He pleases. Thus, God’s complete salvation comprises the redemption required judicially and the salvation accomplished through God’s life organically. We need to distinguish between these three things: God’s redemption, which is judicial; God’s salvation, which is organic; and God’s complete salvation, which is the totality of God’s redemption and God’s salvation.
THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S JUDICIAL REQUIREMENT
AS THE PROCEDURE AND THE ACCOMPLISHMENT
OF WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO ORGANICALLY AS THE PURPOSE
In the complete salvation of God, what He does in the judicial aspect is the procedure, and what He does in the organic aspect is the purpose. In the aspect of procedure, that which God has fulfilled according to His judicial requirement is redemption, including forgiveness of sins, washing away of sins, justification, reconciliation to God, and positional sanctification. We were sinners under God’s condemnation and also enemies of God, but now we have been forgiven, washed from our sins, justified by God, reconciled to God, and sanctified unto God positionally. This is to be redeemed. However, the complete salvation of God is not just this much. If you have received only these five items of redemption, what you have received is but a one-sided salvation and not the complete salvation. The first aspect of God’s complete salvation is the judicial aspect, and what it accomplished is for us to be forgiven of our sins, washed from our sins, justified, reconciled to God, and sanctified positionally. These five items qualify and position us to enter into the grace of God. Romans 5:2 says, “We have obtained access…into this grace in which we stand.” How can a sinner obtain access into the grace of God? There must be the fulfillment of the judicial aspect so that the sinner may receive forgiveness of sins, washing away of sins, justification by God, reconciliation to God, and positional sanctification. All of these items are a matter of procedure, qualification, and position. The judicial aspect qualifies and positions us sinners to enter into the grace of God to enjoy the salvation which God has accomplished for us according to His life organically in the aspect of purpose (Rom. 5:10). Here we see that God has accomplished a salvation with two aspects: the redeeming aspect and the saving aspect. Redemption is accomplished judicially, and saving is carried out organically.
The second aspect of God’s complete salvation is the aspect of purpose. In the aspect of purpose, that which God has carried out by His life organically is salvation, including (1) regeneration for us to receive the eternal life of God, (2) shepherding for us to grow and exist in the divine life, (3) sanctification in our disposition, (4) renewing in our mind, (5) transformation in our image, issuing in (6) God’s building, (7) conformation to the image of God’s firstborn Son, that is, maturity in the divine life, and (8) glorification, which is the consummation of God’s eternal economy (Rom. 8:30). Whereas that which is accomplished judicially is the initial step as redemption with five items, that which is carried out organically is a further step as salvation, which is different from redemption and includes eight items. Redemption is accomplished judicially, whereas salvation is carried out organically. The eight items in the organic aspect issue in the church of God to constitute the Body of Christ which will consummate the New Jerusalem, which is the ultimate goal of God’s eternal economy, that is, an organism constituted with the processed Triune God and His regenerated, sanctified, transformed, and glorified elect joined and mingled as one to be the enlargement and expression of God in eternity.
The processed Triune God and His regenerated, sanctified, transformed, and glorified elect will be joined and mingled as one to constitute an organism as the enlargement and expression of God in eternity. In the beginning of Genesis, when God created Adam, Adam was all alone without a counterpart. Then God took a rib out of Adam and built it into a woman. Adam and this woman were joined as one (Gen. 2:21-24). This is the increase of Adam. In John 3, a chapter on regeneration, John said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom” (v. 29). The Bridegroom is Christ, and the bride is a living composition of all the regenerated people, who have the divine life and nature, as the increase of Christ, the corporate bride. Therefore, in verse 30 John went on to say, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The increase in this verse is the bride in the preceding verse, and the bride is a living composition of all the regenerated people. Eventually, Revelation 21 unveils to us that the entire New Jerusalem as the wife of the Lamb, Christ (vv. 2, 9), becomes the enlargement and expression of God.
Unfortunately, most of the believers through the generations have considered the redemption which God accomplished for us in procedure as the purpose of God’s salvation, stressing the five items which God has accomplished for us in the aspect of redemption according to His righteousness judicially, while neglecting the eight items which God will do for us in the aspect of salvation through His life organically. This is a great shortcoming of the majority of believers today in the salvation in God’s life. As a result, they neglect the pursuing and growing unto full growth in God’s life and hardly see anything concerning the building of the Body of Christ, much less the consummation of the ultimate goal of God’s eternal economy, which is the New Jerusalem. Moreover, even concerning the New Jerusalem as the conclusion of the entire Bible, nearly no one knows what it is, yet some consider the New Jerusalem as the heaven where the believers will go after their death. Because of the lack of knowledge concerning the universal oneness of Christ and the unique goal of God’s economy, they form different sects and establish their own churches according to the partial truths of their fragmentary seeing, thus resulting in the divided and confused condition of Christianity today.
THE JUDICIAL ASPECT OF GOD’S SALVATION
We need to be clear that the complete salvation of God is of two aspects: the judicial aspect and the organic aspect. The judicial aspect is according to the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:17a; 3:21-26; 9:30-31) as the procedure of God’s salvation to satisfy the requirements of God’s righteous law on the sinners. It is for sinners to be forgiven before God (Luke 24:47), washed (Heb. 1:3), justified (Rom. 3:24-25), reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10a), and sanctified unto God positionally (1 Cor. 1:2; Heb. 13:12), thereby entering into the grace of God for the accomplishment of the purpose of God’s salvation. However, redemption as the judicial aspect cannot carry out the purpose of God’s salvation, because it is merely the procedure, not the purpose. For example, a cook spends a great amount of time cooking in the kitchen to prepare a feast. However, the cooking is not his purpose but merely a procedure. Later when the guests are invited to enjoy the feast, that is the purpose of the cooking. Likewise, in the salvation of God we should not remain in the aspect of procedure, the judicial aspect; rather, we should go on to the aspect of purpose, the organic aspect.
THE ORGANIC ASPECT OF GOD’S SALVATION
The organic aspect of God’s salvation is through the life of God (Rom. 1:17b; Acts 11:18; Rom. 5:10b, 17b, 18b, 21b). Whereas the judicial aspect is according to the righteousness of God to accomplish God’s redemption, the organic aspect is through the life of God to carry out God’s salvation, including regeneration, shepherding, dispositional sanctification, renewing, transformation, building up, conformation, and glorification. This is the purpose of God’s salvation to accomplish all that God wants to achieve in the believers in His economy through His divine life. (The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation, ch. 1)