Quote:
Originally Posted by Drake
Hi Bible-believer,
You don't see how my argument relates to the topic of the post because of one very important reason........ I haven't done a very good job of explaining it! But be patient and maybe I'll get there. 
I Corinthians 12:12 in and of itself does not explain the phrase "the Processed, Four-in-One God". It does however by way of analogy show how Christ has a Head and a Body just like our head and body. The phrase " ...so also is..." confirms that. v12 does not use the words "life" but it is understood ...for the body without life is a corpse. Just as John 15 speaks about the Vine and branches, the word "life" is not mentioned but it is understood that the branches are organically one with the vine... it is a life union. So with the Christ - the Head and the Body.
You mentioned chapters 12-14 and said "That is individual members growing so that the Body will grow into “maturity” (in the sense of Christ-likeness)"
Okay, ... but how?
I Corinthians 12: 4-11
"But there are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit; And there a distinctions of ministries, yet the same Lord; and there are distinctions of operations, but the same God, who operates all things in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable. For to one through the Spirit a word of wisdom is given, and to another a word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to a different one faith in the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing in the one Spirit, and to another operations of works of power, and to another prophecy, and to another discerning of spirits; to a different one various kinds of tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues. But the one and the same Spirit operates all these things, distributing to each one respectively even as He purposes."
The Body grows to maturity by the Spirit, carries out its ministries by the Lord, and it is God who operates all things in all. The Body of Christ functions through and according to the same Spirit in the one Spirit. It is the one and same Spirit that operates all these things by that operation becomes the Spirit is manifested.
By these verses it is clearly stated that the Spirit, the Lord, and God operate in His many believers in an organic union to bring the many members of the Body of Christ into their God-given functions (gifts). The "Christ-likeness" you mention is really a manifestation of the Spirit and not just an imitation. It's not just something outward but something that issues out from God's operation within.
Do you concur with that explanation, Bible-believer?
Thanks,
Drake |
Hi, Drake,
Rom.8:17 "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. "
A pastor said if we did any good, it's not because of ourselves, but the indwelling Spirit who guided us into goodness. We should give the credit to Him, and I Amen to that.
I appreciate your explanation and understand your points.
However, every saved Christian has God's operation within doesn't mean every Christian is God. That's two different things. Things different are not equal.
My question is not aimed at Br. Lee, but the teaching. I notice the method of his teaching, sometimes, was radical. i.g. "Four-in-one God".
In an LSM publication, A Deeper Study of the Divine Dispensing (p. 54), Lee states, ”My burden is to show you clearly that God’s economy and plan is to make Himself man and to make us, His created beings, God.” On page 53 we read, “We are born of God; hence, in this sense, we are God.”
To make radical statements and then balance them elsewhere in his teachings is not a good way, it's against the idea of “say what you mean and mean what you say.”
We can apply Bible verses to daily life devotionally,
but when comes to the doctrines,
we have to be careful not to make the Bible say things it doesn't say.
Br. Lee said that's his burden.
Is his burden equal to God's burden? I am not sure. So I'd better ask the indwelling Spirit, the Spirit of truth, for the answer. He will guide me into all truth.