Hebrews 1:9 and 3:14 reveal that Christ is our Partner. Hebrews 1:9 says, “God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy above Your partners.” In God’s economy Christ is God’s appointed One to accomplish God’s plan, and we are Christ’s partners in the divine interest. He was anointed by God, and we share with Him in this anointing for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
God’s operation in the universe is to accomplish a glorious expression of Himself. For the accomplishment of this plan, Christ was appointed in eternity past and anointed in time. God the Spirit poured Himself out as the anointing oil upon this appointed One, anointing Him to be the accomplisher of God’s operation. As partners of Christ, we are partners in His anointing. He has obtained the anointing, and we share it with Him. Therefore, we are partners of Christ, sharing in the accomplishment of God’s operation. Christ will accomplish a full expression of God in glory, and we are cooperating with Him in this operation.
Hebrews 3:14 says, “We have become partners of the Christ.” The Greek word for “partners” here as in 1:9, is metochos, the same word for “partakers” in Hebrews 3:1; 6:4; and 12:8. In those three places it means that we share in the heavenly calling, the Holy Spirit, and the discipline; therefore, we use the word partakers. In 3:14 and 1:9 it means that we share with Christ; therefore, we use the word partners. A partaker is different from a partner. We are partakers of heavenly, holy, and spiritual things, sharing in the heavenly calling, the Holy Spirit, and the spiritual discipline. We are partners of Christ, sharing with Him the spiritual anointing as the members share with the Head the Spirit, and sharing with Him the heavenly rest as Caleb shared with Joshua the rest of the good land (Num. 14:30).
According to the context, metochos in 3:14 should be translated partners. The portion from 3:7 through 3:14 deals with entering into the good land. The type of this entering was the entering into the good land under the leadership of Joshua. Joshua entered into the land of Canaan, and Caleb was his comrade, companion, and partner in entering into and possessing this good land. Today Christ is our Joshua, and we should be His Calebs. In this respect, we are Christ’s partners, not His partakers. When we enjoy Christ, we are His partakers. When we follow Him, we are His partners. As His partners, we are working together with Him, cooperating with Him. Being a partaker is for the purpose of being a partner. As partakers of Christ, we partake of His riches and nourishment. After we have enjoyed Him in this way, in our experience He becomes the Captain who takes the lead, and we follow Him as His partners. When He marches, we march with Him. He is the Captain, and we are the army. By following Christ as His partners, we shall enter into His rest (Heb. 4:8-9) and shall be brought into His glory (Heb. 2:10).
The Lord’s word in Matthew 9:12 reveals that He is our Physician: “Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill.” According to the context, the Lord was telling the Pharisees that the tax collectors and sinners were patients, sick ones, and that to them He was not a judge but a physician, a healer. In calling people to follow Him, Christ ministered as a physician. The judgment of a judge is according to righteousness, whereas the healing of a physician is according to mercy and grace. Had the Lord visited the people as a judge, all would have been condemned and rejected, and none would have been qualified, selected, and called to be His followers. Therefore, He came to minister as a physician, to heal, recover, enliven, and save them so that they might be reconstituted to be the members of His Body.
As our Physician, the Lord heals us mainly in our spirit and our soul, not in our body. The tax collectors and sinners in Matthew 9 were not physically sick; they were spiritually sick. While the Lord Jesus was feasting with them, He was healing them spiritually. Likewise, although the Lord may or may not heal us in our body, He is always ready to heal us in every part of our spirit and soul.
Paul’s experience in his later ministry helps us to have a proper appreciation of Christ as the believers’ Physician. In 2 Timothy 4:20 Paul says, “Trophimus I left at Miletus sick.” Why did the apostle leave such an intimate one in sickness without exercising healing prayer for him? Why did he not also execute his healing gift (Acts 19:11-12) to cure Timothy of his stomach illness rather than instruct him to take the natural way for healing (1 Tim. 5:23)? It may appear to some that in caring for Timothy’s ailment and Trophimus’ sickness in a human way Paul acted as if he were an unbeliever. There is no record that he prayed for healing, and he certainly did not exercise the gift of healing. Instead, Paul encouraged Timothy to take a little wine, and he left Trophimus at Miletus. Paul cared for his co-workers in a very human way. The reason Paul cared for them in this way is that, in a time of suffering, Paul and his co-workers were under the discipline of the inner life rather than under the power of the outward gift. The former is of grace in life; the latter of gift in power, miraculous power. Paul’s experience should help us to see that, for the most part, Christ’s healing today is for the spirit and the soul. Christ is the believers’ Physician, the Healer of our spirit, our soul, and at times, also of our body. If we see this vision we shall trust in Him and experience Him as our Physician.
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