In the previous chapter, we saw that the church is divine in life, nature, element, and essence. In this chapter we want to cover another three portions from the Scriptures to confirm this truth.
First Timothy 3:15 says, “But if I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.” This verse tells us that the church has two functions-to be the house or household of God and to be the pillar and base of the truth. The church is the household of God to function as the pillar and base of the truth. The pillar supports the building, and the base holds the pillar. The church is such a supporting pillar and holding base of the truth. The church functions in these two ways: to be God’s house and household for God to have a place to express Himself and to be a supporting pillar and a holding base for the truth, the reality.
First Timothy 3:16 says, “And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: / He who was manifested in the flesh, / Justified in the Spirit, / Seen by angels, / Preached among the nations, / Believed on in the world, / Taken up in glory.” The mystery of godliness is the manifestation of God in the flesh. The manifestation of God in the flesh has two aspects. First, the manifestation of God was by one person. This was the individual manifestation of God in the flesh by Christ Himself. No doubt, verse 16 first refers to God’s incarnation. Christ as the incarnated God manifested God in His flesh.
But if we read the context of 1 Timothy 3:15-16, we can see that this manifestation of God in the flesh has another aspect, that is, the corporate aspect. The corporate manifestation of God in the flesh is the church. The church as the Body of Christ is the corporate Christ, the enlargement of Christ. Christ was the manifestation of God in the flesh, and He was increased, enlarged. Thus, the manifestation of God in the flesh was enlarged. We know this because verse 15 speaks of the church as the house of the living God. The house is something corporate. The church is presented in verse 15 as a corporate entity for God. The mystery of the manifestation of God in the flesh must be something related to the church as the corporate expression of God.
Verse 16 says that Christ in His manifestation of God was justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and eventually taken up in glory. His being taken up in glory refers to His ascension into glory (Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9-11; 2:33; Phil. 2:9). According to the historical sequence, Christ was taken up in glory in His ascension to the heavens before, not after, He was preached among the nations. Verse 16 puts His being taken up in ascension after He was preached among the nations. Who or what will be taken up after the preaching of Christ? No doubt, the Body of Christ, the church, will then be taken up in glory. The Head was taken up to the heavens before the preaching of the gospel, but His Body, the church, will be taken after a long period of the preaching of the gospel. Therefore, verse 16 must refer to the rapture of the church. Here the manifestation of God in the flesh must be not only the individual Christ but also the church as the corporate Body of Christ. This means that the church is God manifested in the flesh.
We saw in the previous chapter that the church as the Body of Christ is the issue of the Triune God. God the Father is the source, the Son is the element, the Spirit is the essence, and the church is the issue. God in Himself is three in one, but He has now become one with His chosen people, making them the members of Christ. God has a desire and a good pleasure. He desires to dispense Himself into His chosen and redeemed people. He does not want to be alone. God does not like to be a bachelor. The Bible refers to God as the Husband and to His chosen and redeemed people as His bride, His wife.
In Genesis 2:18 God said that it was not good for man to be alone. Man needed a counterpart. A husband and wife are a complete person. The husband is one half and the wife is the other half. God created only one man. He considered Adam and Eve as one person (Gen. 1:27; 5:1-2). Genesis tells us that God created Adam. Eve, on the other hand, was a part of Adam. God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, opened his side, took one of his ribs, and built that rib into a woman by the name of Eve. Then God brought Eve to Adam to be his counterpart (Gen. 2:21-23). Before Eve was brought to Adam, God brought all the animals before him. However, Adam did not find one that matched him. Then God put Adam to sleep and used his rib to build up a woman in the same form as Adam. When he woke up he realized that this one was his counterpart who matched him (v. 23).
God in eternity past was also a bachelor, needing one to match Him, and that one had to be something out of Him. In the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament, God’s chosen people, His elect, are likened to His wife. In the Old Testament, Isaiah 54:5 declares that God was Israel’s Husband. In Jeremiah 2:2 the Lord speaks of the bridal love between Him and His chosen people. In the New Testament, the church is considered as the counterpart of Christ. Ephesians 5 says that the church is the wife of Christ. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:2, “I betrothed you to one husband.” At the end, the conclusion, of the Bible, Revelation 22:17 speaks of the Spirit and the bride. The Spirit is the Husband, and we, His elect, are His counterpart, His bride. The Triune God in Christ as the Spirit and the church composed of His chosen and redeemed people are a universal couple. As the wife of Christ, the church comes out of her Husband and goes back to her Husband to be one entity with Him. The church has the same life, nature, element, and essence as her Husband; therefore, in this sense, the church is divine.
Although we were sinners, we have been redeemed out of our sinful position and sinful situation. We are now redeemed ones. God has put Himself into us, making us one with Him and also making Him one with us. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” This is the great mystery of godliness-God manifested in the flesh. We are the same as God in the divine life, the divine nature, the divine element, and the divine essence, but not in the Godhead.
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