CHRIST AS THE ELEMENT OF THE CORPORATE BREAD
The wheat is ground into flour, the flour is made into bread, and this bread denotes Christ as the individual bread, which after being eaten by us, constitutes us a corporate bread. What we eat spontaneously becomes what we are. When we eat bread, we spontaneously become bread. Therefore, Paul said that although we are many, we are one Body, one bread. As the one large, corporate bread, we have exactly the same elements as Christ, the individual bread. As the corporate bread, we are just the enlargement of Christ as the individual bread. there is no change in element, and the element is nothing less than Christ Himself.
THE ELEMENTS OF THE ALL-INCLUSIVE CHRIST
Now we will see what the elements of Christ are. The elements of Christ comprise all that the Father is in His divine nature and all the elements that Christ obtained in passing through His process. In other words, Christ possesses both the divine element and the human element. He went through a process not only with the divine and human elements, but He also had many other elements added to Him. He was God incarnated. Thus, incarnation is an element. He passed through thirty-three and a half years of human living. thus, human living is also an element. When He died on the cross, the elements of His death and the effectiveness of His death were added. When He was resurrected, the elements of His resurrection and the power of His resurrection were added. What He passed through was quite a process. This can be compared to a grain of wheat falling into the ground, dying, sprouting and growing, and finally bearing grains to be ground into powder and made into bread for our enjoyment.
From this we see that Christ Himself has the element of God, the element of man, the element of incarnation, the element of human living, the element of death, and the element of resurrection. Moreover, in His ascension He has obtained the element of ascension. After His ascension He has obtained glory. In His ascension and glorification He has obtained the crown, the throne, and the kingship. all these elements have been added to the all-inclusive Christ of God. Hence, Christ is not merely the Triune God but the processed Triune God. Today, the One in whom we believe is such a One, and the One whom we eat and enjoy is also such a One. He is not merely the Savior who gives us eternal life and the hope of eternal life, but He is also the processed Triune God. Jesus, in whom we believe, is such a One! He is too mysterious, too wonderful, too rich, and too all-inclusive!
CHRIST BECOMING ONE WITH US BY BECOMING THE SPIRIT
The Bible teaches us that when the Lord Jesus died, we died in Him; when He was buried, we were buried in Him; when He was resurrected, we were resurrected in Him; and when He ascended, we ascended in Him. These four great things—co-death, co-burial, co-resurrection, and co-ascension— are truly marvelous. But how do these four things become our reality? The only way is for this One—with whom we died and were buried, resurrected, and ascended—to become the Spirit to enter into us, so that He and we, we and He are united and joined together. Previously, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His ascension were merely His own and had nothing to do with us. However, since He became the Spirit, once he enters into us, all that He passed through becomes ours, we become Him in life and in nature (but not in the Godhead), and all these items are related to us.
This is not just to be united but to become one. We are not just united with Christ; we are one with Christ. This is the oneness we have with Christ. Before He became the Spirit, He was He, and we were we, but after He entered into us as the Spirit, He and we have become one. Since He and we are one, His death is our death, His burial is our burial, His resurrection is our resurrection, and His ascension is our ascension. We truly died with Him, were buried with Him, were resurrected with Him, and were ascended with Him. On the day we believed in the Lord Jesus, at the very moment we called on Him, this pneumatic Christ entered into us, and He and we, we and He, became one. As a result, we died with Him, were buried with Him, were resurrected with Him, and were ascended with Him.
In church history a group of saints involved with the inner-life school saw this matter clearly. However, the Lord has opened us further to see that not only have we died and been buried, resurrected, and ascended with Christ, but we even passed through all the processes with Him, so that whatever He is and has passed through is all ours. As the God in eternity, He passed through incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. Moreover, He ascended, was enthroned, and obtained glory, kingship, and the kingdom. We are one with such a One. The inner-life people taught us co-death, co-burial, co-resurrection, and co-ascension. Today in the Lord’s recovery, however, we not only speak about co-death, co-burial, co-resurrection, and co-ascension, but we also teach that the One whom we have received, whom we have gained, and with whom we have become one is the processed Triune God.
THE PROCESSED TRIUNE GOD BECOMING ONE WITH US
We cannot overlook these eight verses: John 14:16-20, 23, 26, and 15:26. These eight verses speak of the Triune God who passed through all the processes and enters into us to be one with us. these verses are the basis of the divine revelation that He becomes us and we become Him in His life and in His nature, but not in His Godhead. This revelation includes God’s economy, God’s dispensing, God’s union with us, and God’s corporate expression. Today if people ask who you are, you should say, “I am so much, I am so great, I am so mysterious and extensive; I do not know how much I am. I am part of the expression of the processed Triune God.” Even the word expression cannot fully describe who we are; in fact, we are becoming the very One who is true in life and in nature, but not in the Godhead.
(The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
