Romans 8:9b says, “Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him.” This verse indicates that having the Spirit of Christ, we are of Christ. In other words, because we have the Spirit of Christ in us, we are of Christ. This shows that our being of Christ depends on His Spirit. If there were no Spirit of Christ, or if Christ were not the Spirit, there would be no way for us to be joined to Him and to belong to Him. However, Christ is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17), and He is in our spirit and is one spirit with us (2 Tim. 4:22). Thus, 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” This verse reveals not only that the Lord, the resurrected Christ, is the Spirit but that a believer who is joined to the Lord is also a spirit. In our organic union with Christ, what He is, we are.
That we are of Christ refers to the unchangeable source and position rather than to the changeable condition and experience. We have the Spirit of Christ according to the source, the new birth; hence, we are of Christ and belong to Him. In our present experience and spiritual condition, however, we need to be not only of Him but also in Him.
Romans 8:17 goes on to say, “If children, heirs also; on the one hand, heirs of God; on the other, joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him.” This verse reveals that Christ is the Heir of God. It also unveils that we too are the heirs of God, for we are the joint heirs with Christ to inherit God Himself in His glory as our inheritance.
Christ was designated as the legal Heir to inherit all things in God’s economy (Heb. 1:2). He, as Isaac, the son of Abraham, will inherit the earth (Psa. 2:8), the kingdom (Dan. 7:13-14), the throne (Luke 1:32), and all things (Matt. 11:27). Since He is the Heir of God, even the legal Heir of God, all that God the Father is and has is for His possession (John 16:15). Christ, the firstborn Son of God, is the appointed Heir of God, and we, the many sons of God, have been saved to be joint heirs with Christ.
Romans 8:17 shows that there is a condition for us to be heirs. It is not that we are heirs simply because we are children of God. Rather, after being born as children, we must grow in life to become sons, and then we must pass through suffering that we may be glorified to become legal heirs. If we suffer with Him, we will be glorified with Him. Genuine growth in the divine life requires suffering. The more we suffer with Christ, the more we grow and the faster we are matured to be joint heirs with Christ.
Romans 8:29 continues, “Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.” In this verse we see Christ as the Firstborn of God. Most Christians have heard of Christ being the only Begotten of God, but very few have heard of Christ being the Firstborn of God. Today a vast majority of Christians enjoy Christ as the only begotten Son of God, but only a few truly enjoy Christ as the firstborn Son of God. However, Romans 8 stresses that Christ is the Firstborn of God.
Christ was the only begotten Son of God from eternity (John 1:18). When He was sent by God into the world, He was still the only begotten Son of God (1 John 4:9; John 1:14; 3:16). By His passing through death and entering into resurrection, His humanity was uplifted into His divinity. Thus, in His divinity and with His humanity that passed through death and resurrection, He was born in resurrection as God’s firstborn Son (Acts 13:33). At the same time, all His believers were raised together with Him in His resurrection and were begotten together with Him as the many sons of God (1 Pet. 1:3). Thus, they became His many brothers to constitute His Body and to be God’s corporate expression in Him.
From eternity to eternity, Christ in His divinity is the only begotten Son of God. After He became a man with humanity in His incarnation, He, as the Son of Man, was born to be the firstborn Son of God in His resurrection. His resurrection was a great delivery in which Christ was begotten to be the firstborn Son of God, and we His believers were all born with Him to be the many sons of God (v. 3). This was the greatest corporate delivery. Because through His resurrection the disciples of Christ were regenerated with the divine life to be the many sons of God, after His resurrection He began to call them His brothers (John 20:17; Matt. 28:10). Hebrews 2:11-12 confirms this: “For 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, saying, ‘I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise to You.’” These verses indicate that after Christ resurrected from the dead, He came back to His disciples and called them brothers. He also considered them the church, indicating that the church is a corporate composition of the many brothers of the firstborn Son of God.
As the only begotten Son of God, Christ had divinity but not humanity; He was self-existing and ever-existing, as God is. His being the firstborn Son of God, having both divinity and humanity, began with His resurrection. With His firstborn Son as the base, pattern, element, and means, God is producing many sons, and the many sons who are produced are the many believers who believe into God’s firstborn Son and are joined to Him as one. They are exactly like Him in life and nature, and, like Him, they have both humanity and divinity. They are His increase and expression in order that they may express the eternal Triune God for eternity. The church today is a miniature of this expression (Eph. 1:23), and the New Jerusalem in eternity will be the ultimate manifestation of this expression (Rev. 21:11).