CHAPTER FOUR

THE CONSUMMATION
OF THE BELIEVERS’ EXPERIENCE
OF THE GRACE OF GOD IN HIS ECONOMY

Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:6-8, 22-23; 1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:18-21a; John 17:11, 21-23; Eph. 4:3-4a; 1 Cor. 1:13a; Eph. 2:7, 10

OUTLINE

1. The consummation being the church as the Body of Christ—Eph. 1:6-8, 22-23:
   1. As the organism which God in His economy intends to obtain for the Divine Trinity.
   2. As the ultimate goal of God’s creation of man in His image and His intention for man to take Him as life.
   3. As the final purpose of the law of God in His economy in guarding God’s chosen people and bringing them to Christ.
   4. As the accomplishment of man’s experience of the grace in the economy of God, which is Himself as the processed Triune God, ultimately consummating in the New Jerusalem.
2. Every part of the organic Body of Christ being an issue of the grace in the economy of God:
   1. With God the Father in His nature as its substance, as pure gold—1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:18b.
   2. With God the Son in His redemption as its element, as pearls—1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:21a.
   3. With God the Spirit in His transforming work as its essence, as precious stones—1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:18a, 19-20.
   4. Having absolutely neither man’s natural element nor man’s work by his own effort.
3. The organism of the Divine Trinity taking the attribute of the oneness of the Divine Trinity as its attribute:
   1. The unique attribute of the Divine Trinity being oneness—John 17:11, 21a, 22b.
   2. In the unique attribute of the Divine Trinity the organism of the Divine Trinity also having the same unique attribute—John 17:21b, 22b-23.
   3. The attribute of the oneness of the Divine Trinity being called the oneness of the Spirit in the organic Body of Christ—Eph. 4:3-4a.
   4. The creating of any divisions in the organic Body of Christ being an insult to and a contempt for the Triune God, whose attribute is oneness—cf. 1 Cor. 1:13a.
4. The product of the grace in God’s economy being a poem—Eph. 2:10a:
   1. To exhibit the surpassing riches of the grace in God’s economy—Eph. 2:7.
   2. To carry out the good works that God prepared beforehand that the believers may walk in—Eph. 2:10b.