CHAPTER SIX

THE BUILDING UP OF THE BODY OF CHRIST
BY THE TRANSFORMATION IN LIFE

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Scripture Reading: Matt. 13:44-46; 1 Cor. 3:12; John 17:26b; Eph. 3:9-10; 1:9; Rev. 21:1-3, 9-23

OUTLINE

4. The consummation of the transformation in the building up of the Body of Christ:
1. Constituting the believers, who grow and mature in Christ's life, into precious materials for the building of God—Matt. 13:44-46; 1 Cor. 3:12:
1. Supplying the believers with the element of the all-inclusive Christ.
2. Applying the cross of Christ to the believers' peculiarity, individuality, independence, seclusion, self-deception, pretension, self-seeking, personal preference and taste, localism in church practice, and all kinds of divisive factors.
3. Supporting the believers with the power of Christ's resurrection in long-suffering, in the uniting bond of peace, and in all the positive needs for joining together and knitting together and for the rich supply of every joint and the operation in measure of each one part.
2. Issuing in the practical building of God:
1. Locally in every local church in the harmony of the one accord stimulated by the one Spirit in the one Body of Christ.
2. Universally in the oneness of the Divine Trinity, prayed for by the Lord (John 17) and accomplished by His lovers (John 17:26b) for the carrying out of God's eternal economy according to His good pleasure (Eph. 3:9-10; 1:9).
5. The ultimate consummation of the transformation for the composition and constitution of the New Jerusalem—Rev. 21:1-3, 9-23:
1. Purely of the originating God:
1. In His divine nature.
2. Signified by the pure gold of the base of the city—vv. 18b, 21b.
2. Exclusively of the redeeming Christ:
1. In the work of His all-inclusive death and His life-supplying resurrection.
2. Signified by the element of the pearls of the gates—v. 21a:
1. The pearls signifying the regenerated believers.
2. Produced by Christ's death and resurrection.
3. Absolutely of the consummating Spirit:
1. In His transformation work.
2. Signified by the essence of the precious stones of the wall and its foundations—vv. 11, 18a, 19-20:
1. The precious stones signifying the transformed believers—1 Pet. 2:5a.
2. Renewed by the Spirit's transforming work—Titus 3:5; Rom. 12:2a.
4. With the regenerated, transformed, and glorified human beings—vv. 12b, 14b.
5. No dust of humanity.
6. No plant of the human life.
7. No leaven of the enemy—Matt. 13:33; 1 Cor. 5:6-8.
8. As the pure, exclusive, and absolute expression in the corporate manifestation (v. 11) of the processed and consummated Triune God (vv. 22-23) mingled with the regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite men for eternity.