Quote:
Originally Posted by Thankful Jane
Please take note of this: I get the fact that Lee “hinged the term mingling on ‘one spirit.’” There is no need for you to keep saying this. It is very clear that this is what he did.
I’m glad you are focusing on this because this is the problem with what Lee did. He made his “mingling” interpretation of “one” by using only the last part of the verse. He did not take into account the true meaning of the first part. This is sloppy handling of the Word. The word “joined” in the first part negates and excludes his interpretation of “one” in the last part. It actually proves that his “mingling” interpretation of “one” is wrong.
In other words, you cannot say that two things that become one by being glued or cleaving together are now mingled with each other. This is simply not possible. The very fact that two things are glued together makes it plain that the two are distinct from one another and are not mingled with each other. So in light of the whole verse, His interpretation is not rational and is wrong.
As for the oneness we have with the Father and Son, it is not mingling—it is indwelling, as you so clearly pointed out in the rest of your post. Your argument actually supports mine because indwelling is not mingling. To dwell means to reside in or inhabit, like I reside in my house. I have made my house my home (similar to Scripture that says that Christ makes His home in our heart). My house has not and will not ever become me. I am distinct from my house, yet I dwell in it. God knew we would easily understand the concept of dwelling in this way. John 1:14 says the Word dwelt (tented, encamped, tabernacled) among us. The scripture also says we are His temple and that the Spirit of God dwells in us (I Cor. 3:16). This is a good picture of our oneness with Him, and indwelling is clearly not mingling.
Thankful Jane
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You're discounting the biblical definition of the divine-human co-inherence by considering only the picture of a house while ignoring the many other pictures in the Bible to explain the mysterious and complex relationship between God and man. Using only the picture of a physical structure one would have to conclude as you do, but, that would be shorting the complete revelation in the Bible.
For instance, John 17 shows the nature of the oneness between the Father, Son, and the believers. It is a co-inherence just as that between the Father and Son in eternity.
It cannot be said that the Father and Son have only an indwelling equivalent to that of a house with each other but nothing more. By using the illustration of house and going no further you leave out relevant facts that would aid in understanding this great mystery. Furthermore, applying your logic and definition to the Trinity would place you outside the pale of orthodoxy (well into into tritheism).
Besides, how does one understand or explain how two dwelling places inhabit each other if not by some other biblical examples?
You said:
"...you cannot say that two things that become one by being glued or cleaving together are now mingled with each other. This is simply not possible."
Of course it is possible! These are two apects of one thing.
The first aspect is the joining and the second is condition of having been joined. The Bible provides us such an illustration of the wild olive branch grafted into a cultivated olive tree. When the wild olive branch is "joined" or grafted into the cultivated olive tree it begins to absorb the life sap supply from the cultivated tree. The life essence of the cultivated olive tree becomes the life of the grafted branch. In the same way the believer is initially grafted or joined to Christ and in that position is now able to draw through his own being the life essence from the cultivated olive tree. The fruit is a result of the sap of the cultivated olive tree saturating the grafted branch, becoming its very life, and expressing that life in olives. This also is an illustration of the divine-human mingling confirming that the joining and the mingling are perfectly congruent in 1 Cor 6:17. Being joined and glued to Christ starts the process as without that no mingling can begin. Once joined, absorbing the essence of the divine life is the mingling.