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 |
Sorry to butt in, but I just cannot understand this interpretation of Head/Body in organic union indicating they form a single whole just from a conceptual point of view. Can a head exist without the body? Didn't God exist before/and doesn't he still exit outside Creation? Also, just like with my concern about mingling, when you combine one thing, the Head, with another, the Body, by definition a hybrid, third thing is produced. Just like when you graft onto a root-stock, a compound plant is produced. I don't understand how you can say that the root-stock, which has existed for a long time before grafting, is now the same root-stock even after a branch was grafted onto it, to produce its own fruit? Also, mind you, this grafting happens within Creation, but we also have to concern ourselves with the ontological God, outside Creation. Is He also grafted and if so to what? If not, are you claiming that the Trinity within Creation is different from that outside Creation? Wouldn't that be heretical?