Message Four

The Reproduction of the God-man

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:31-32, 35; 6:35; John 3:6b;
2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 1:19b, 20b-21a; 2:5-8; 3:9-10; 4:8, 13;
Eph. 1:22-23; 4:24; John 14:20; Rev. 21:2, 7

1. The Man-Savior’s God-man living constituted a prototype; this prototype is for the reproduction, the mass production, of the God-man in the believers—Luke 1:31-32, 35, 6:35; Rom. 8:29.
2. Christ, the unique prototype, has become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as an extract of Himself—1 Cor. 15:45b; Phil. 1:19b:
   1. The all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is actually an extract of the all-inclusive Christ; thus, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit includes all that Christ is, all that He passed through, and all that He accomplished, attained, and obtained—Acts 16:7; Rom. 8:9; Phil. 1:19b.
   2. Christ’s becoming the life-giving Spirit is related to the reproduction of the God-man; the God-man is reproduced by the all-inclusive Spirit—2 Cor. 3:18.
3. The reproduction of the God-man requires that we be reborn of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit and that we be transformed by the pneumatic Christ in our soul—John 3:6b; 2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 1:21a:
   1. The first step in the reproduction of the God-man is that we must be reborn of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit with His divine life and nature—John 3:6b:
      1. The regenerating Spirit is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit—the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the extract of the all-inclusive, crucified and resurrected Christ—1 Cor. 15:45b; Phil. 1:19b:
         1. The essence, elements, nature, and substance of Christ are all in the all-inclusive Spirit; it is by this Spirit that Christ, the God-man, is reproduced—1 John 2:20, 27; cf. Exo. 30:22-30.
         2. This Spirit includes the element of the Lord’s life of expressing God, the element of the restored, recovered, strengthened, empowered, and uplifted human virtues, and the element of the Man-Savior’s enriched and uplifted human virtues—Luke 7:11-17, 36-50.
         3. The Spirit as the extract of Christ contains the element of the highest standard of morality—1:35, 75-79.
      2. All the elements in the all-inclusive Spirit have been born into us through the Spirit—Acts 16:7; Rom. 8:9; Phil. 1:19b; John 3:6b; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17.
   2. For the reproduction of the God-man we need to be transformed by the pneumatic Christ in our soul with His divine attributes to uplift, strengthen, enrich, and fill our human virtues for His expression in our humanity—2 Cor. 3:17-18; Rom. 12:2:
      1. Regeneration is with the divine life and nature, but transformation is with the divine attributes to uplift, strengthen, enrich, and fill our human virtues for the Lord’s expression in our humanity—Eph. 4:2, 20-21, 23.
      2. Transformation involves a metabolic change, an inward change in life—Rom. 12:2:
         1. Such a metabolic change requires the working within us of the element of the divine life—8:2, 6, 10-11.
         2. This produces a change not only in appearance and behavior but also a change in life, nature, and intrinsic essence—2 Cor. 3:18.
4. Those who are the reproduction of the God-man should live Christ as the God-man—Phil. 1:20b-21a:
   1. The Gospel of Luke records the history of the God-man living of the first God-man; now this history needs to be written into our being—6:35; 2 Cor. 3:3.
   2. The Christ who lives in us is still the One who possesses the human virtues strengthened and enriched by the divine attributes—Gal. 2:20:
      1. The Christ who is being dispensed into us is a composition of the divine nature with its divine attributes and the human nature with its human virtues—4:19.
      2. Christ is now seeking to live in the believers the kind of life that He lived on earth; within us He is still living a life that is a composition of the divine attributes and the human virtues—John 14:19b; 2 Cor. 10:1; 11:10.
      3. Whoever lives Christ, the God-man, is His reproduction—a duplicate of the unique God-man, a reproduction of the prototype—Rom. 8:29.
   3. In Luke we see how Christ was incarnated and lived the life of a God-man; in Philippians we see how Christ is lived out from us in order to have many duplicates of Himself—Luke 1:31-32; 6:35; Phil. 1:21a; 2:5-8; 3:9-10; 4:8, 13:
      1. Paul and Christ had one life and one living, living together as one person—1:21a.
      2. From the description in 2:5-8 we can see that the Christ in 1:21a is the God-man in 2:5-8; hence, to live Christ is to live the God-man.
      3. We live Christ as the God-man by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ—1:19b.
      4. In order to live Christ as the God-man, we need to take His mind; to have His mind requires us to be one with Christ in His inward parts—2:5; 1:8.
      5. As we live Christ as the God-man, we will “shine as luminaries in the world, holding forth the word of life”—2:15b-16a.
      6. If we would live Christ as the God-man, we must be found in Christ, know the power of His resurrection, and be conformed to His death—3:9-10.
      7. When we are found in Christ, living Him as the God-man, He will be expressed in our human virtues through His empowering—4:8, 13.
5. The ultimate issue of the reproduction of the God-man is the church as the reproduction of God—a corporate God-man and the universal incorporation, consummating in the New Jerusalem—Eph. 4:24; John 14:20; Rev. 21:2, 7:
   1. The church, the Body of Christ, is the reproduction of God—Eph. 1:22-23:
      1. The God-man, through His death and resurrection, has made a mass reproduction of Himself—John 1:1, 14; 12:24.
      2. The church is God’s expression, God’s fullness, God’s continuation, God’s life-increase, God’s spread, God’s full growth, and God’s rich surplus—Hymns, #203.
   2. The one new man is the corporate God-man—Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11:
      1. The first God-man, the firstborn Son of God, is the Head of this corporate God-man, and the many God-men, the many sons of God, are the Body of this corporate God-man—Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:18; 2:19.
      2. In Christ God became man to produce a corporate God-man for the manifestation of God—1 Tim. 3:16; Col. 3:10-11.
   3. Christ’s unlimited and infinite divine being with His divine life and glory was released through His death; the issue of this release was the producing of a universal incorporation of the consummated God and the regenerated believers—Luke 12:50; John 12:23-24; 14:10-11, 20.
   4. The New Jerusalem, as the consummation of the corporate God-man, is the aggregate, the totality, of the many God-men, who are the reproduction of the first God-man—the Man-Savior revealed in the Gospel of Luke—Rev. 21:2, 7.