THE INTRINSIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHURCH
Scripture Reading: John 16:21-22, 8-11, 13-16
I. The first aspect of the incorporation of the consummated God with the regenerated believers is the Father's house, the second aspect is the Son's vine, and the third aspect is the Spirit's child; the Father needs a house for His dwelling, the Son needs a vine for His spreading, and the Spirit needs a child for His moving—John 14:2; 15:1; 16:21.
II. "A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her hour has come; but when she brings forth the little child, she no longer remembers the affliction because of the joy that a man has been born into the world"—v. 21:
A. The child here refers to Christ as the firstborn Son of God, who was born, begotten, in His resurrection—20:17; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 1:6:
1. This woman is the whole group of disciples, the child is Christ, and the birth is His resurrection—John 16:21.
2. The bringing forth in verse 21 is the begetting in Acts 13:33, which reveals that the Lord Jesus was born, begotten, in resurrection to be the Son of God with respect to His humanity:
a. Although Christ was already the only begotten Son of God in eternity, it was still necessary for Him to be born in resurrection as the firstborn Son of God—Rom. 8:29.
b. The human part of Jesus as the Son of Man had nothing to do with His being the only begotten Son of God, and it was necessary for this human part of Him to be born into the divine sonship through resurrection; hence, Christ's resurrection was a new birth for Him—1:3-4.
c. After His resurrection He was the "child" with both divinity glorified and humanity "sonized"—Acts 13:23, 33; Rom. 1:3-4.
d. The Christ who returned to the disciples in His resurrection was the newborn child, and the disciples as the mother rejoiced at the birth of this wonderful child—John 16:21-22; 20:20.
B. The child in John 16:21 is not only Christ Himself but Christ with His believers to be His many brothers—20:17; Rom. 8:29:
1. The incarnated Christ, including all His believers, was begotten in His resurrection to be the Son of God; thus, He has become the firstborn Son of God, and all His believers have become God's many sons as His brothers to constitute His church as His multiplication, His increase, and His Body, which is His fullness, His expression—1 Pet. 1:3; Rom. 8:29; John 20:17; Heb. 2:10-12; John 12:24; 3:29-30; Eph. 1:23.
2. The birth that took place through Christ's resurrection involved the birth not only of an individual but of a group that includes the firstborn Son and the many sons of God—Heb. 1:6; 2:10-12.
3. This birth was a universal delivery of a corporate child, which included the firstborn Son of God as the Head and His many brothers as the Body—Col. 1:18; Rom. 8:29; 12:4-5.
4. The birth of a new corporate child, comprising Christ and His believers, was the birth of the corporate new man as the increased Christ—Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10-11; John 3:30.
5. This corporate child, the new man, was born by the consummated Spirit (16:14-15, 21); the new man was created by Christ on the cross (Eph. 2:15), regenerated by the Father with the resurrected Christ in His resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3), and born by the Spirit in the believers' spirit (John 3:6b).
6. The function of the new man as the Spirit's child is to carry out God's eternal economy through the move and work of the consummated life-giving Spirit in building up the Body of Christ for the consummation of the New Jerusalem— 1 Tim. 1:4; 1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; Eph. 4:16; Rev. 21:2.
III. The accomplished fact of the birth of Christ and His believers as the corporate child, the new man, is applied to us in our experience by the work of the Spirit of reality so that we may become the many brothers of Christ, the members of Christ—John 16:8-11, 13-16; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 5:30:
A. This accomplished fact is applied by the conviction of the Holy Spirit—John 16:8-11:
1. The Spirit works to convict the world in the preaching of the gospel and to transfer people out of Adam into Christ—vv. 8-11.
2. The first category of the Spirit's work is to convict the world—mankind— concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (v. 8); sin entered through Adam (Rom. 5:12), righteousness is the resurrected Christ (John 16:10; 1 Cor. 1:30), and judgment is for Satan (John 16:11), the source of sin (8:44).
3. The only way to be freed from sin is to believe into Christ, the Son of God (16:9); if we believe into Him, He is righteousness to us, and we are justified in Him (Rom. 3:24; 4:25).
B. The accomplished fact is applied through the transmission of the Holy Spirit— John 16:13-16:
1. The second category of the Spirit's work is to edify the believers and to build them up by revealing to them the Son with the fullness of the Father— vv. 12-15.
2. The Spirit of reality dwells in the regenerated believers to reveal Christ, to glorify Christ, and to make Christ real in the believers—v. 14.
3. For the Spirit of reality to declare what the Father and the Son have is to transmit the riches of the processed Triune God into our being—vv. 14-15:
a. Now whatever the processed Triune God is and has may become our element, our essence, our being, making the processed Triune God the essence of our being—Eph. 3:16-17a.
b. In this way we become God-men, the many brothers of Christ, living a life of truthfulness in the divine reality that has been revealed to us and constituted into us and putting on the new man, "which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality"—Eph. 4:24; Rom. 8:29; John 4:23-24; 2 John 1; 3 John 1.