THE GOD-MAN, THE CROSS,
AND THE LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT
Today we are blessed because we are in the age of the God-man, the cross, and the life-giving Spirit. Between the God-man and the life-giving Spirit is the cross, the greatest matter in the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose. Christ is the God-man and the life-giving Spirit. He is the centrality and universality of God’s economy, and the cross is the centrality and universality of the way to accomplish God’s economy.
The words centrality and universality were first used by T. Austin-Sparks. He used these two terms in reference to the cross of Christ but not to Christ Himself. We received much help from Brother Sparks concerning the cross of Christ being the centrality and universality of the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose. Christ is the person of the divine economy, and the cross is the way to carry out God’s economy. Thus, the cross is the greatest work achieved by Christ. Today we have Christ as the God-man and the life-giving Spirit, and we also have the cross.
THE LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT
IN THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST—
THE GERMINATION OF THE NEW CREATION
ACHIEVED BY THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
God’s intention in His economy is to make the new creation from His old creation. The way He does this is to work Himself into a part of the old creation. The part of the old creation into which God works Himself is His chosen people. Not everyone born into Adam was chosen. We were chosen (Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:1-2) out of millions of human beings to become His new creation. Through Christ’s resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit, we, the chosen ones of God, were germinated to be the new creation (1 Pet. 1:3). The life-giving Spirit in the resurrection of Christ was the germination of the new creation achieved by the resurrection of Christ. By working Himself as a new element into us, He made us His new creation. Second Corinthians 5:17, the first mention of the new creation, says, "So that if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, they have become new."
THE LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT
BEING THE COMPOUND SPIRIT
In order to work Himself into His creation, God had to go through a process. Before His incarnation, God was merely the Triune God in His divinity. After going through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). The life-giving Spirit has humanity as well as divinity. He also has the element of human living within Him. All the elements of God’s process have been compounded into the life-giving Spirit. This compound Spirit is typified by the compound ointment in Exodus 30:23-25. In Exodus 30 the anointing oil was a compound of five elements: myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, cassia, and olive oil. These five elements denote the divinity, humanity, death, and resurrection of Christ. The hin of olive oil signifies the unique God as the base of the compound Spirit. The four spices signify the humanity of Christ. Myrrh typifies the precious death of Christ. Cinnamon typifies the sweetness and effectiveness of Christ’s death. Calamus signifies the precious resurrection of Christ, and cassia signifies the power of Christ’s resurrection (For further reading, see Life-study of Exodus, Messages 157 through 166, pp. 1679-1776.) These four spices were added into the olive oil signifying that the elements of Christ’s humanity, death, and resurrection were added into the Spirit of God. Eventually, Christ as the last Adam, the God-man, became the life-giving Spirit with all the elements of His divinity and humanity. This Spirit is the consummation of the processed Triune God. Thus, when we say the life-giving Spirit, we must remember all the elements which have been compounded into this Spirit—His divinity, humanity, human living, death, and resurrection. The life-giving Spirit is such an all-inclusive person as the totality of the processed Triune God.
(The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee)
