I. THE ISSUE OF THE UNION OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD AND THE SPIRIT OF THE BELIEVERS IS
THE BUILDING UP OF THE BODY OF CHRIST
Now we need to see the issue of the union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of the believers. We have already seen the union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man in the six great matters of regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification. God is united with us to regenerate, sanctify, renew, transform, conform, and eventually glorify us that we may be the same as God in life and nature, without sharing in His Godhead. These six matters—regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification—are the cream and crystallization of my more than sixty years of studying the Bible. All of you, whether you are elders, co-workers, or ordinary brothers and sisters, must study the union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man in these six matters. The issue of this union is the building up of the Body of Christ.
II. THE BUILDING UP OF THE BODY OF CHRIST
IS NOT OF HUMAN WORK, NOR IS IT
THE FORMING TOGETHER OF A GROUP
OF PEOPLE BY MAN’S NATURAL WAY
According to Ephesians chapter four, the issue of the union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of the believers is the building up of the Body of Christ. This building is not of human work, nor is it a forming together of a group of people by man’s natural way. Hence, it has nothing to do with man’s work, effort, ways, ideas, moral teachings, philosophy, or any religious system or activities. God’s eternal economy is to obtain the Body of Christ. Any work outside of this is not on the central lane of God’s eternal economy.
Most of the work in today’s Christianity is human work, is natural, and has nothing to do with the building up of the Body of Christ. Some people may say that Christianity also preaches the gospel and saves sinners. However, preaching the gospel and saving sinners are not simple matters; they involve many important matters. Christianity preaches the gospel by human work, human effort, human doing; but Paul preached the gospel by supplying the person being saved by him with the Spirit of God, so that within him he might have God, the life of God, and also Christ. After that, Paul immediately told the person that his first life had already been crucified with Christ; now he needed to be buried, which is to be baptized. Not only so, Paul also told him that he was already resurrected with Christ, and his every move and action needed to have the newness of life (Rom. 6:4). Nevertheless, today people’s preaching of the gospel and saving of sinners are not like Paul’s. Today in their preaching of the gospel, people preach mainly that man must have something to rely on, that man must have religion, and that among the many religions, the best is Christianity. They also preach that Christians living on the earth have consolation and hope, and that after they die they will go to heaven. The religionists like to go to heaven, but our God likes to tabernacle among men on the earth (John 1:14; Rev. 21:3). At the end of the Bible we are told that the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven to the earth (Rev. 21:2). Hence, we can see that what Christianity preaches today is according to man’s thought, morality, and philosophy and differs greatly from what Paul preached. The gospel that Paul preached was according to the revelation of God for the building up of the Body of Christ. We are not merely preaching the gospel and saving sinners; we are saving sinners to become members of Christ, living members of the Body of Christ.
(The Issue of the Union of the Consummated Spirit of the Triune God and the Regenerated Spirit of the Believers, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee)
