The last aspect of the believers’ experience and enjoyment of Christ as the Son in His grace is that He lives in them for them to be built up in Him. In Colossians 2:7 Paul says, “Having been rooted and being built up in Him.” As we grow in Christ, we are being built up in Him. The building up here is not the building up with the saints. Rather, the meaning of “being built up in Him” is that we ourselves need to become built up. The building up of the Body depends on the individual and personal building up of all the members. If a particular member has not been built up, it will not be possible for him to be built up in the Body. To be built up in the Body we must first be built up ourselves. When we have become built-up members, we shall then be able to be built up with others in the Body. Therefore, the building up in 2:7 is not that of the Body corporately but that of the building up of the members individually. In Ephesians 4:16, on the contrary, we have the building up of the Body in a corporate way.
It is significant that in Colossians 2:7 Paul puts being rooted and being built up together. The reason for this is that being rooted is for growing, and growing is genuine building. Growth is not only for the building-it is actually the building itself. For example, the more a tree grows, the more it builds itself up by absorbing into itself nourishment from the soil. As those who have been rooted in Christ, we need to remain in our spirit absorbing the rich nourishment of Christ. As we absorb this nourishment, we shall grow, and by this growth we shall be built up. Then it will be possible for us to be built up with others in the Body.
We need to be impressed with the fact that the words “being built up” in 2:7 do not refer in a direct way to the building up of the Body of Christ. Rather, this expression denotes an increase in our spiritual stature, which can be compared to a person’s increase in stature as he grows physically. The only way a child can grow physically is by assimilating nourishing food. In the same way, we grow spiritually by assimilating the rich nourishment of Christ. This is what it means to be built up in Christ, as mentioned in 2:7.
If we are lacking in spiritual stature, it is of no avail to speak of the building up of the Body. In Ephesians 4:13 Paul says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” The Body of Christ has a stature, and this stature has a full measure. We all need to grow until we arrive at the full measure of the stature of the Body of Christ. For us to be built up does not first mean that we are built as the church, the Body. It means that we are built up in the Lord and experience an increase of stature. Hence, in Colossians 2:7 to be built up actually means to grow up. First we are rooted into Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit, and then we grow up in Him. We build ourselves up by growing up. Our being built up depends on our assimilating into our being the riches of Christ as the soil. Having assimilated these riches into us, we shall grow and be built up. When we are fully grown, we shall be built up. Therefore, to be built up simply means to grow up. Our growth depends on how much nourishment we assimilate into us by being rooted in Christ. Because we are rooted in Him, we absorb into us the riches of the all-inclusive Spirit. Then we grow with the nourishment we derive from these riches, thus enjoying Christ as our divine grace.
In the progressing stage of God’s full salvation the believers experience and enjoy the Spirit as the consummation of the divine Trinity in His fellowship. The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. However, this is not the Triune God apart from the process through which He has passed. The Spirit is the Triune God after He has passed through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Having passed through this process, the Triune God is now the consummate Spirit for the believers’ experience and enjoyment.
Second Corinthians 13:14 speaks of “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” The love of God the Father is the source, and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is the flow, the expression, of love. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is a matter of communication, transportation, transmission.
Love is the source, grace is the flow, and fellowship is the transmission of the flow with the source. Therefore, we have the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit-the full enjoyment of the Triune God. In the divine dispensing of the processed Triune God, the grace of the Lord, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit are for our experience and enjoyment.
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