In the foregoing messages we have considered the New Testament and God’s New Testament economy and also God in His person, nature, attributes, good pleasure, manifestation, and work. With this message we shall begin to cover Christ’s person, and in later messages we shall cover Christ’s attributes, virtues, and work. As we shall see, concerning Christ’s person there are a great many aspects.
We all need to have the vision that the God who is dispensing Himself into our being is Christ. All that God is, is in Christ. This means that we cannot separate what God is from what Christ is, for God is embodied in Christ. When we say that God is dispensing Himself into us, we need to realize that this dispensing God in His economy is Christ. Without being Christ, God could not dispense Himself into us. God is Christ for the purpose of His dispensing. For this reason, in the Bible we have God and also Christ.
Some Bible students have a superficial understanding of why we need Christ as well as God. Some may think that besides God we have Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. They may give the impression that God is not our Redeemer and Savior and that Christ is someone besides God who is our Savior and Redeemer. This understanding is not accurate. It is more accurate to say that without being Christ God could not be our Savior, and that without being Christ God could not be our Redeemer. In order to be our Savior and Redeemer, God must be Christ. This is why the New Testament reveals that both God and Christ are the Savior and the Redeemer. This does not mean that we have two Saviors or two Redeemers. On the contrary, we have one Savior and one Redeemer. The fact that we have one Savior and one Redeemer and that both God and Christ are the Savior and the Redeemer indicates that God and Christ are one. Apart from being Christ, our God could not redeem us. Apart from being Christ, He would not have a way to save fallen sinners.
In the same principle, in order to dispense Himself into our being, God must be Christ. If God were not Christ, He could not dispense Himself into us. Christ, therefore, is for God’s dispensing. This is a matter that has been neglected by many Christians.
In order for us to enjoy God’s dispensing, we need to consider all the aspects of who Christ is and what Christ is. No doubt, we all desire to enjoy the dispensing of God. If we would have this enjoyment, we need to see who and what Christ is in His person. In this message we shall begin to consider who Christ is in the Godhead.
Who is Christ in the Godhead, and what is He in the Godhead? First, in the Godhead our Christ is the complete God. For Christ to be the complete God means that He is the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Those who argue with this and say that Christ is only the Son are mistaken. On the one hand, the New Testament reveals that Christ is the Son; on the other hand, the New Testament reveals that Christ is God, even the complete God. We should not say that Christ is only partially God. On the contrary, He is the entire God, the whole God, the Triune God.
Regarding Christ being the complete God, John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In the beginning, that is, from eternity past, the Word was God. It is not, as supposed by some, that Christ was not God from eternity past and that at a certain time Christ became God. Christ’s deity is eternal and absolute. From eternity past to eternity future, He is God. This is the reason that in the Gospel of John there is no genealogy regarding Him as in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. In this Gospel Christ is “without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life” (Heb. 7:3). We all need to be very clear that our Christ was God from the beginning, from eternity.
John 1:1 declares that the Word, Christ, is God. This God, whom the Word is, is not a partial God, not only God the Son, but the entire God—God the Son, God the Father, and God the Spirit. The New Testament does not say that the Word was God the Son. Rather, the New Testament says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was the entire God. As the Word who is the complete God, Christ is the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
In Romans 9:5 Paul speaks of “Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever.” When Paul came to this point in his writing, he was so filled with the glorious person of Christ that he poured out what was in his heart and declared that Christ is over all, God blessed forever. We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is the very God who is over all and blessed forever. He is the infinite God. Concerning Him, Isaiah 9:6 says, “Unto us a child is born...his name shall be called...The mighty God.” We praise Christ for His deity, and we worship Him as God, the complete God, blessed forever.
Hebrews 1:8 also indicates that Christ is God: “But as to the Son, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” Because Christ the Son is God Himself, He is addressed in this verse as the very God. Hebrews 1:8 clearly reveals that the Son is God Himself.