In the foregoing message we began to consider the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the book of Romans. Although the word “dispensing” is not used in this book, the fact of the divine dispensing is nonetheless found in this Epistle. The fact of dispensing is indicated by the word “give” in 8:11. We have seen that Romans 8 includes the Divine Trinity, the process through which the Triune God has passed, and our experience of the divine dispensing. This dispensing involves our tripartite being, our spirit, soul, and body. We need to open ourselves to the divine dispensing so that we may be soaked with the Triune God,
The central thought of the book of Romans is that God is producing sons for the formation of the Body of Christ. This book reveals that God is making sinners into sons for the Body. All the members of the Body of Christ are sons of God. If someone has not been regenerated, born again, he is not a child of God, and he is not a member of the Body of Christ. An unregenerated person may be a member of a particular religious group, but he cannot be a member of the living Body of Christ. Christ’s Body is living and organic. Only through regeneration can we become the living, organic members of the Body of Christ, which is an organism, not an organization.
We may use dentures as an illustration to show that every member of the Body of Christ must be living and organic. Although a person may wear dentures, they are not an organic part of his body. Because the dentures are not living or organic, they may come out of place. Actually the dentures are a foreign article in the human body. However, every genuine member of a person’s physical body is living, organic, and attached to the body. Because the ears are such living members of the body, they do not fall away from the body. In a similar way, we who have been regenerated of the Spirit are not “foreign articles” in the Body of Christ. We are not “dentures” that have no life and that are not organic. On the contrary, as members of the Body, we are living and we are organic.
A living person with a body is very different from a robot. A robot may act in a mechanical way, but a person acts in a way that is living and spontaneous because he is full of life and every part of his being is living and organic. In like manner, all the sons of God have the divine life within them. This life makes us the living, organic members of the Body of Christ.
In Romans 8 Paul speaks concerning the sons of God. For example, verse 14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” But in chapter twelve of Romans Paul goes on to speak regarding the Body of Christ. In 12:5 he says, “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another.” The many sons of God in chapter eight are the many members of the Body of Christ in chapter twelve. The real church is this Body. The living, organic Body of Christ is the church of the living God. This church of the living God is produced by the dispensing of the Triune God into our being.
It will be helpful to give some practical illustrations of our need for the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in order to practice the church life. Suppose a group of brothers live together in a brothers’ house. These brothers will be tested as they live together. The brothers’ house may be called a house of testing. Suppose one of the brothers realizes that he is doing the dishes much more often than the others are. He begins to complain about the situation. However, when he complains, he has the sense deep within that, in a practical way, he is not in the church life, because the “switch” within him has been turned off and he is no longer experiencing the divine dispensing. Simply complaining about having to do the dishes so often causes this brother to lose the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. As a result, when the brother comes to the church meeting, he is not able to praise the Lord or even say “Amen.” This is a strong evidence that, in a practical way in his experience, he is not in the church life.
Let us also use married life as an illustration. Suppose a brother is not happy because his wife showed him a “long” face at home before the meeting. When he comes to the meeting, he is still bothered by what happened at home with his wife. The switch has been turned off within him, and he is not able to pray. This is an evidence that something within him has been disconnected and that in his experience the divine dispensing has been interrupted. This is not a mere teaching or doctrine; it is our actual experience.