To the believers Christ is also the Master as their Sovereign Lord. Second Peter 2:1 speaks of Christ as the Master who bought us, referring both to Christ’s person and His redemption, by which He purchased the believers. Jude 4 speaks of “our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” The Greek word translated “Master” in this verse is despotes, which denotes one who is the absolute owner and who has unlimited power over another.
The Lord’s word in John 15:15 indicates that He is a Friend to the believers: “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his lord is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things which I have heard from My Father, I have made known to you.” John 15:13-15 indicates that as branches we have an intimate relationship with the vine. The branches are not the Lord’s slaves; they are His friends, and He is a Friend to them. Because the branches are the Lord’s friends, they can know the Father’s desire to be expressed, glorified, in a corporate Body. What the Lord has heard directly from the Father He has made known to His friends.
As believers in Christ, we have Christ as our Brother. Romans 8:29 says that those whom God foreknew “He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He should be the Firstborn among many brothers.” God’s purpose is to produce many brothers of His firstborn Son. Therefore, we have been predestinated by God to be conformed to the image of the Son so that He may be the Firstborn among many brothers. Christ, the believers’ Brother, is the model and pattern for all His brothers, who will be conformed to His image. He, the Firstborn, is the prototype, and we, the believers as His many brothers, are the mass production.
God’s purpose is to have many brothers of His firstborn Son. When Christ was the only begotten Son, He was unique. But God desires to have many sons who will be the many brothers of His Son. In this way the only begotten Son of God becomes the Firstborn among many brothers. He is the firstborn Son, and we are the many sons. God’s purpose in having many sons is that we express Him in a corporate way. God’s kingdom is built up with His many sons, and the Body of Christ is built up with His many brothers. Without the many sons God cannot have a kingdom, and without the many brothers Christ cannot have a Body. Thus, the many sons of God are for the kingdom of God, and the many brothers of Christ are for the Body of Christ. The kingdom of God is the Body life, and the Body life in the church is God’s kingdom where He is expressed and where His dominion is exercised on earth. This is God’s purpose in producing us as the brothers of Christ.
Through the process of conformation, the firstborn Son will have many brothers. As the Son of God in eternity, Christ was the unique, only begotten Son. Now through His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, Christ has become the Firstborn, and the believers have become His many brothers who are being conformed to His image for God’s expression.
On the day of His resurrection the Lord Jesus said to Mary, “Go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God” (John 20:17). Before His resurrection, the Lord never called His disciples brothers. But now, after His resurrection, they have become His brothers. Through His resurrection the disciples have been regenerated (1 Pet. 1:3) with the divine life released by His life-imparting death, as indicated in John 12:24. First Peter 1:3 says that we were regenerated through Christ’s resurrection. It was through His resurrection that Christ imparted Himself as the Spirit into His disciples. By receiving His life, they were reborn and became His brothers. Now the believers are brothers of Christ because they have the same life as He.
In His resurrection Christ, the only begotten Son, became the Firstborn among many brothers. These many brothers are those who have been regenerated through the Lord’s resurrection. This was the reason the Lord said to Mary, “Go to My brothers.” These many brothers are the propagation of the Father’s life and the multiplication of the Son in the divine life. Hence, in Christ’s resurrection God’s purpose is fulfilled.
Hebrews 2:11 says, “Both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers.” He who sanctifies is Christ as the firstborn Son of God, and those who are being sanctified are the believers of Christ as the many sons of God. The “one” here refers to the Father. The Son, who is the Sanctifier, and we, who are being sanctified, are all of one Father. Both the firstborn Son of God and the many sons of God were born of the same Father God in resurrection. Both the firstborn Son and the many sons are the same in the divine life and nature. Therefore, Christ is not ashamed to call them brothers. Because Christ and the believers are of the same source and have the same life with the same nature, He is not ashamed to call us brothers.
Through His life-imparting death and resurrection, Christ has made the believers one with Him. Now His Father is also the believers’ Father, and His God is their God. Through Christ’s resurrection we have received the Father’s life and nature. By making us His brothers, Christ has imparted the Father’s life and nature into us. By making His Father and God ours, He has brought us into His position-the Son’s position-before the Father so that we may partake of the Father in resurrection. Therefore, in life and nature inwardly and in position outwardly, Christ and His many brothers are the same. The Father is not only the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ; He is also the Father of the believers. We, the many brothers, are the same as the Firstborn, and He is the same as we are.
Christ, the firstborn Son of God, is our elder Brother. As such, He is our model and example. Because He is our elder Brother, He takes the lead in everything, and we follow in His footsteps.
Home | First | Prev | Next