While Christ lived on this earth as one person, on the one hand, He expressed God's divine attributes, such as love, light, holiness, and righteousness, and on the other hand, He expressed the human virtues, such as meekness, humility, and forbearance. Today we are His believers, and He is dispensing Himself into us in both His divinity and His humanity. When He was on this earth, He was both divine and human in the way of mingling. The New Testament first tells us that Christ as the Son of God was the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18). Eventually, in His resurrection He was born to be the firstborn Son of God (Col. 1:18; Rom. 1:4; 8:29). In the only begotten Son of God there is only divinity, but in the firstborn Son of God there is both divinity and humanity. Through incarnation God branched Himself out of His divinity into humanity. Thus, as a God-man who walked on the earth, He was both God and man, but His humanity had not yet been brought into divinity. Romans 1:4 tells us that through resurrection He was designated the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness. In resurrection the humanity of Christ was brought into divinity and was fully "sonized." It is in this way that He could become the Firstborn among many brothers.

Did we receive Christ while He was the only begotten Son or after He became the firstborn Son? Is the very Christ whom we have received the only begotten Son of God or the firstborn Son of God? The answer is that we all have received a Christ who is no longer the only begotten Son of God, but who has become the firstborn Son of God. In other words, the very Christ whom we have received is both divine and human. In His divinity He expresses God, and in His humanity He expresses man. In His divinity He expresses the divine attributes, such as the divine love, the divine light, the divine holiness, and the divine righteousness, and in His humanity He expresses the human virtues, such as meekness, humility, forbearance, and obedience.

As imitators of Christ, we imitate Him not in His divinity but in His humanity. We all need to be meek, humble, and forbearing. Regardless of how others treat us, we should still be happy; we should not complain but should still love others. Philippians 2:14 tells us to "do all things without murmurings and reasonings." Murmurings and reasonings are related not to divinity but to humanity. If in one day we do not murmur or reason, we are the most holy people. The fact is that we murmur in nearly everything. The husbands murmur to their wives, the wives murmur to their husbands, and the children murmur to their parents. Sometimes we murmur to the windows and even to the bed. Paul said that if we live Christ, we should do all things without murmurings and reasonings. This is the top humanity. When I look at my own experience regarding this matter, I realize that I am the same as others; I cannot do all things without murmurings and reasonings. Only Jesus can do this.

Philippians 1:19 says, "For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." The bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ can save us from our murmurings and reasonings. Our married life and our family life are a life of murmurings and reasonings. Only Jesus can live a life without murmurings and reasonings. We cannot do this, because we are not Jesus. This is why we need God's dispensing, little by little, into our being. Those who know me well can testify that my murmuring today has been greatly reduced from what it was twenty years ago. This is because I have received more dispensing from Christ.

To be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God is to be conformed to One who is both divine and human. As Christians, we need to express God in His divinity, and at the same time we also need to express man with the proper humanity. We are God-men. As such, we should always be meek and humble. This is not related to God's divinity, because God does not need to be meek and humble. On the other hand, sometimes we need to express God in His divinity. People may offend us to the uttermost, yet we would not hate them but would still love them. This is not human; this is divine. This is not love on the human level but love on the divine level. We can do things and express things that no one else can, because we have God's divine dispensing within us. We can forgive and forget. Only God can forgive by forgetting (Heb. 8:12); human beings cannot do this. When we human beings forgive people, we always remember the offense; we do not forgive by forgetting. However, when God forgives, He forgets. We are those who are under God's divine dispensing. Because of this dispensing, we can forgive as He forgives. When we forgive, we forget. This is not a human virtue; this is a divine attribute.

First, we need to be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God in His divinity. Then we need to be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God in His resurrected humanity to express the virtues of the uplifted man in the resurrection of Christ. On the one hand, we express the divine attributes, and on the other hand, we also express the human virtues. Both are in resurrection. Christ is the only begotten Son of God and the firstborn Son of God altogether to be our portion in resurrection. After He resurrected, we received a resurrected Christ with His divinity and also with His humanity. Hence, today we can express both His divinity and His humanity in His resurrection.