In John 14 the Father’s house is a corporate matter, comprising all the believers who are in Christ. Then in chapter fifteen is a vine tree, which is again a corporate matter showing us how we are in Christ, the vine tree, and how Christ is in us, the branches. In chapter sixteen we see a newborn child (v. 21). This newborn child is Jesus born as the firstborn Son of God in His resurrection (Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5; Romans 1:4). This newborn child includes Jesus as the Head and all His members who have been resurrected with Him. They become the members of this newborn child. Actually, this newborn child refers to the birth of the new man in Ephesians 2:15. In the concluding prayer in John 17 is the oneness. The very oneness in chapter seventeen equals the newborn child, which equals the vine tree, which equals the house. These are the same items in different aspects.
The house in chapter fourteen, the vine tree in chapter fifteen, the newborn child in chapter sixteen, and the oneness in chapter seventeen are realized by the Triune God wrought into the very being of all the believers as the very source and substance of their existence, as their entrance into this divine realm, as the very essences for their constitution, their building up, as their living, and as their enjoyment. By this the house is built, the tree is growing, the new child is born, and the oneness is practical. This is basically and intrinsically the very essence of the New Testament ministry.
The traditional Christian understanding is that Jesus as the Son of God was sent by the Father and died on the cross for our sins. He was resurrected and ascended to the heavens and the Spirit was sent down to inspire us to believe in Him. The believers believed and they were forgiven, justified, redeemed, and saved. These believers were also regenerated. Then when the believers die they go to the place which the Lord Jesus promised that He was going to prepare in John 14. This place is an absolutely objective, physical thing to them which has nothing to do with their present life. Eventually, according to this interpretation, that mansion will be the New Jerusalem, the holy city. This will be the eternal dwelling place of all the believers. We can see that this kind of understanding is altogether objective and nothing of it is related to life. In much of today’s traditional theology they do not even talk about life that much.
We need to check with ourselves in this matter. Are we preachers, teachers, and ministers of the Word in the Lord’s recovery in this way? Doctrinally you may say no, but practically you have never stayed away from that kind of objective theology. This kind of theology is altogether off from the New Testament ministry. The New Testament ministry does not minister such an objective theology. It ministers the Triune God passing through the necessary processes (incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension) and becoming the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit to impart Himself into our very being to give us a new existence, to become our entrance into a new realm, and to become our very intrinsic essence for our new constitution in the Body of Christ. Also, this very processed Triune God is now our life, our living, our way, and our enjoyment, and we have to grow in this life unto maturity, unto the ultimate consummation of the eternal life, which is the New Jerusalem. This is the New Testament ministry.
Traditional theology and the New Testament ministry are absolutely in two different realms, in two kingdoms with two lives. One is the kingdom of objective theology, which is in a line having nothing to do with life. The second one, which is the spiritual one, the one that is ministered by the New Testament ministry, is a kingdom of the Triune God as life and everything to His chosen people; this is altogether in the line of life.
We must realize that if we minister something of the first realm, the realm of objective theology, apparently what we minister is scriptural and there is nothing against the Bible, but this kind of ministry sows the seed of wrong understanding which delays the saints growth in life and which holds them back and distracts them. This kind of objective theology also misleads people. Actually, this is very, very serious. It may not be that you intentionally do something to sow the seed of wrong understanding. You may have no intention of doing that. Your intention is firstly to save people and then to edify them—“to help people to grow.” Actually, however, this kind of ministry is not the ministry of the New Testament.