Eph 320-323 7/3/86, Eph 363 8/26/86
A. Introduction.
1. Categorically, there are three ways to classify God’s plan for your life with regard to its emphasis.
a. The protocol plan of God emphasizes the modus operandi of the royal family of God inside the divine dynasphere, utilizing your portfolio of invisible assets prepared for you by God the Father in eternity past. The divine dynasphere is the means of utilizing God’s power for the execution of God’s plan. In other words, the protocol plan of God emphasizes mechanics, as taught by the eight gates of the divine dynasphere.
b. The lifestyle of wisdom emphasizes the believer’s epistemological rehabilitation after salvation through metabolized doctrine. Primarily, it is cogitation of Bible doctrine resulting in momentum in the three stages of spiritual adulthood. This category is very important, for it emphasizes that all I.Q. distinctions are erased at salvation.
c. The unique life emphasizes the fact that all three persons of the Godhead indwell your body as a Church Age believer.
(1) God the Father: Jn 14:23; Eph 4:6; 2 Jn 9.
(2) God the Son: Jn 14:20, 17:22-23,26; Rom 8:10; 2 Cor 13:5; Gal 2:20; Col 1:27; 1 Jn 3:24.
(3) God the Holy Spirit: Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 3:16, 6:19-20; 2 Cor 6:16.
d. While all three members of the Trinity indwell the body of the believer only during the Church Age, this doctrine will emphasize the indwelling of Jesus Christ, and in some aspects, its relationship to the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit.
2. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are each omnipresent, imminent, and transcendant. Yet each One, locally and individually, indwells your body to make your life unique. Never before in human history has such a phenomenon existed.
3. The purpose of the indwelling of God the Father is related to the glorification of His plan for the Church Age. His indwelling provides assurance in times of stress and difficulty regarding His work on your behalf in eternity past.
4. The purpose of the indwelling of Christ is to be:
a. A sign or badge of the royal family.
b. A guarantee of your portfolio of invisible assets.
c. A guarantee of your life after death or eternal security.
d. A guarantee of your escrow blessings.
e. Motivation for your momentum in spiritual adulthood when you face undeserved suffering and/or suffering for blessing.
f. The basis for God emphasis over people emphasis in the Christian life. 5. The purpose of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is:
a. To provide a temple for the indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah Glory inside your body.
b. To provide a base of operations for the glorification of Jesus Christ in your body.
6. The indwelling of Jesus Christ guarantees the availability of divine power to every Church Age believer who will live inside the divine dynasphere.
7. Three distinctions will be noted in this doctrine.
a. The indwelling of Jesus Christ versus the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your body.
b. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit (status quo) versus the filling of the Spirit inside the divine dynasphere, the experience of using God’s power to execute God’s plan.
c. The indwelling of Jesus Christ in our bodies (status quo) versus the glorification of Christ in our bodies (ultimate experience of maturity). Distinction will be made between the non-experiential indwelling of the members of the Trinity and the experiential aspect of the unique life.
8. The unique life falls into two classifications.
a. What is non-experiential, i.e., the status quo of the indwelling of the Trinity. b. What is experienced (in spiritual adulthood) as a result of knowledge about the indwelling of the Trinity.
9. The unique life is closely related to the three stages of spiritual adulthood. God the Holy Spirit, in His capacity of filling (Eph 5:18) and walking (Gal 5:16), does something very special for us in spiritual adulthood, beginning with gate #5 of the divine dynasphere or spiritual self-esteem, continuing through gate #6 or spiritual autonomy, and advancing to gate #8 or spiritual maturity. The Holy Spirit’s special ministry in spiritual adulthood is related to the experience of glorifying Christ in your life.
a. The experience of spiritual self-esteem is mentioned in Gal 4:19, which speaks of “Christ being formed in your bodies.” This is different from the indwelling of Christ which is not experienced.
b. The experience of spiritual autonomy is found in Eph 3:17, where Christ is said to be “at home in your right lobes.” This is not the same as Christ indwelling your body, which is non-experiential.
c. The experience of spiritual maturity is mentioned in Phil 1:20, “Christ glorified in your body.” This, too, is an experience; it is not the same as the indwelling of Christ.
10. The indwelling of Jesus Christ is related to the concept of the new spiritual species in 2 Cor 5:17, which provides a new motivation, a new emphasis, and a new priority in life.
11. The unique life is related to the indwelling of Christ, as taught in Rom 8:10. “In fact, if Christ is in you [and He is]; on the one hand, the body is dead because of the sin nature, but on the other hand, the Spirit is [unique] life because of [imputed] righteousness.”
a. The sin nature continues to reside in the believer after salvation and seeks to control through temptation.
b. The three indwelling factors found in this verse provide the basis for the believer’s unique life are:
(1) The indwelling of God’s perfect righteousness.
(2) The indwelling of Christ.
(3) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
B. Definition.
1. The unique life is related to the fact that all three persons of the Holy Trinity actually indwell the body of the believer.
a. God the Father.
(1) Eph 4:6, “One God, even the Fat
her of all [entire royal family of God], who is over all [sovereignty of God the Father] and through all [omnipresence of God the Father] and in all.” The final phrase “in all,” refers to the indwelling of the Father. Note the sequence here: God the Father functions as the planner, is sovereign over all, and even though He is omnipresent He also indwells the body of all Church Age believers.
b. God the Son, Jn 14:20, 17:22-23, 26; Rom 8:10; 2 Cor 13:5; Gal 2:20; Col 1:27; 1 Jn 3:24.
c. God the Holy Spirit, Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 3:16, 6:19-20; 2 Cor 6:16.
2. The emphasis of this doctrine is that never before in human history has there been such a spiritual phenomenon, for never before in human history has all three members of the Trinity indwelt the body of every believer. In fact, there has been no indwelling of God in a human body prior to the Church Age, and never again will there be the indwelling of God after the Rapture of the Church.
a. The reason for studying the unique life is because the indwelling of God has never occurred at any other time in history; it is unique to the Church Age.
b. Therefore, the point of this study is to try to discover from the Scripture why there exists the indwelling of the Trinity in our bodies.
c. The indwelling of the Trinity indicates that more is required of the royal family of God because more has been given to the royal family of God.
d. It also indicates that the Church Age is the crossroads of human history since it is the dispensation of the final settlement of the angelic conflict. It is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.
(1) The strategic victory of our Lord on the cross broke the back of Satan. When our Lord ascended and was seated on the right hand of the Father, He was given His third royal warrant, yet was without a royal family to accompany it.
(2) Therefore, the Age of Israel was halted for the insertion of the Church Age, in order to call out a royal family. Therefore to us, the royal family of God, is given unique spiritual factors that have never existed before and will never exist again. You have the greatest blessings ever given in the history of the human race!
C. The unique life means that God the Father indwells the body of every believer.
1. God the Father’s indwelling is related to the glorification of Himself through the execution of the protocol plan for the Church Age, Eph 1:3, 6, 12. God’s plan for the Church is absolutely unique; there’s never been anything like it in human history. You have equal opportunity with all believers to execute that plan and to fulfill your destiny as a member of the royal family of God. Eph 1:3-14 teaches that we are sustained by the grace of God the Father, by motivation from Christ, and by power from the Spirit to perform a task unprecedented in history: to glorify God.
2. Documentation for the indwelling of God the Father is found in Jn 14:23; Eph 4:6; 2 Jn 9.
3. The indwelling of God the Father in the body of every Church Age believer is unique and without precedent in all of human history. God the Father did not indwell any believer in the Old Testament or dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, nor will He do so in the Tribulation or in the Millennium. Therefore, the indwelling of God the Father is a part of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
4. The indwelling of God the Father is assurance, the guarantee of His personal ministry for every Church Age believer in eternity past. His indwelling guarantees:
a. That He is the author of our portfolio of invisible assets. He prepared all four categories in our portfolio in eternity past, and now He indwells as assurance that a personal portfolio exists for each of us personally.
b. That He is the grantor of our escrow blessings for time and eternity. He deposited these in Christ in eternity past. He indwells us to assure us of the existence of what He did for us in eternity past.
c. That He is the designer of your very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere, in eternity past. He indwells to remind you that everything necessary to fulfill His plan has been provided by grace.
d. That He is the mastermind and organizer of the protocol plan for the Church Age. He indwells us to encourage us to fulfill His mandates, and to execute His plan. The protocol plan can be viewed in two ways.
(1) Living and dying phases.
(2) The life beyond gnosis (the epignosis life beginning on day one of salvation to spiritual maturity) and the life beyond dreams (from the day of spiritual maturity until death or the Rapture), Eph 3:19-20.
5. In effect, God the Father said TETELESTAI in eternity past when His work was finished.
D. The unique life is characterized by the indwelling of Christ.
1. While the baptism of the Spirit is the means of forming the royal family in the Church Age, it is the indwelling of Jesus Christ which is the sign or the badge of the royal family. a. Every elite and royal organization has a badge.
b. Our badge is invisible because the impact of our life is invisible.
2. The indwelling of Christ is a guarantee of the availability of divine power or omnipotence to every Church Age believer who resides inside the divine dynasphere. This power is only available in two places.
a. The omnipotence of God the Father is available in the cognition and utilization of your portfolio of invisible assets.
b. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is available inside the divine dynasphere only.
c. The power of Jesus Christ, when mentioned in the Scripture, always refers to His humanity in the prototype divine dynasphere.
3. The indwelling of Christ is the guarantee of eternal security or of life after death. Since Jesus Christ indwells our bodies, He leaves our body at physical death and guides our soul and spirit to heaven.
a. Ps 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”
b. For the Church Age believer, this is the highest honor that can be given. And it is most fascinating that winners and losers alike receive this honor. All the members of the royal family receive this honor because they are royalty.
c. When we die, the first person we see in heaven in the Lord Jesus Christ, as stated in 2 Cor 5:8, “absent from the body and face to face with the Lord.”
4. Since Jesus Christ is both the depositary of our escrow blessings and the escrow officer, the indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah Glory and escrow officer is a guarantee of distribution and conveyance of our escrow blessings if and when we fulfill the escrow conditions.
a. The indwelling of Christ as the escrow officer is a reminder that every Church Age believer must fulfill the conditions of the escrow before there can be distribution of them.
b. The conditions for the conveyance of escrow blessings include the execution of the protocol plan of God through advance to spiritual maturity inside the divine dynasphere.
5. The indwelling of Jesus Christ is perpetual motivation for momentum when facing the three categories of suffering for blessing in the three stages of spiritual adulthood. In other words, we have the privilege of having that wonderful motivational virtue that develops from understanding the indwelling of Christ.
a. When you reach spiritual self-esteem, your personal love for the Son of God becomes the basis of awareness of His nearness to you, His indwelling, and is therefore the motivation for to pass suffering for blessing.
b. No believer can attain spiritual self-esteem, the first stage of spiritual adulthood, apart from personal love for God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who indwell his body. That means that the most important factor in your life is to learn about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
c. No believer can attain spiritual autonomy apart from impersonal love for all mankind. No believer ever attains spiritual maturity without understanding the implications of the indwelling of the person of Christ, and how this becomes the motivator through the various categories of suffering for blessing.
d. Many times, in the midst of suffering for blessing, you will come back to the doctrine of the indwelling of Christ and make application. For example, you may be undergoing unjust, unfair treatment; you are undergoing people, system, thought, or disaster testing. But you remember that while you are legitimately suffering, at the same time Jesus Christ indwells your body, “that the power of Christ may rest upon you.”
6. The indwelling of Christ establishes the basis for assigning #1 priority to relationship with God over relationship with people
. a. One of the most alarming trends in the client nation of the United States today is the fact that very few believers leave spiritual childhood. This means that in generations to come there will be no replacements for the pivot, and we will go down under the five cycles of discipline.
b. Because of wrong emphasis, believers remain in spiritual childhood. Therefore, they do not receive distribution of escrow blessings, although under logistical grace they are blessed magnificently in time. Therefore, their escrow blessings remain on deposit forever as a memorial to lost equal opportunity.
c. The present trend today among many believers is to emphasize experience and interaction with people. This sets aside the #1 priority of relationship with God, which can only be fulfilled through the daily perception and application of doctrine.
d. This is understandable from the human viewpoint, since all you see are people; you rub elbows with people all the time. Therefore, it is inevitable that you will be people-conscious.
e. But to assign #1 priority to God and relationship with Him requires a tremendous amount of perception of Bible doctrine. It requires that you spend every day of your life learning the Word of God. God is invisible, and you only see Him through the teaching of the Word of God.
f. Neglect, rejection, and resistance of doctrine results in giving #1 priority to people rather than to God, and this is disastrous.
g. People emphasize their relationship with people because this was the only thing that counted in spiritual death. In spiritual death, your priorities consisted of self first, then others. You first thought about yourself in relation to people and to experience.
h. As a result, there is a constant build-up of erroneous priorities which can never be straightened out as long as we live by the old life, i.e., the rule of the old sin nature. But since salvation, we are born again for a new life as the new spiritual species in Christ Jesus.
i. In spiritual death, Adam and the woman gave absolutely no thought to God. Spiritual death is incapable of giving accurate thought to God. They looked at each other and sought to adjust to each other, so for their interaction they put on fig leaves. The philosophy of Operation Fig Leaves or spiritual death is as follows.
(1) If I am right with my fellow man, I am right with God.
(2) If I am satisfied with myself, (if I can think of myself as being good, clean, moral, and better than so-and-so), then I assume that I have the approbation of God.
j. In spiritual death all Adam and the woman could do was try to adjust to each other, but in the presence of Truth (i.e., Jesus Christ), all they could do was hide.
k. Relationship with people is not the major issue in the Christian life! The priority is personal love for God.
l. Since the Trinity indwells the body of the Church Age believer, it follows that each person of the Trinity is closer to you than all the people in your periphery. God is inside of you; everyone else is outside of you.
m. If God does not have first emphasis and priority in your life, you will never be anything but a loser, and your relationships with self and people will be pitiful as long as you live.
n. Most believers today have very poor relations with the general public, with those in their periphery, and even with their friends and loved ones. There’s a very good reason for it! If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, people emphasis over God emphasis creates poor relationships with people. The only way this can ever be rectified is placing God emphasis over people emphasis, which is impossible apart from learning doctrine.
7. The indwelling of Christ is the basis for assigning top priority to the utilization of divine power in the divine dynasphere rather than the utilization of human power in Satan’s cosmic system. In other words, divine versus human power is always going to be an issue in your life.
E. The unique life is characterized by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 3:16, 6:19-20; 2 Cor 6:16.
1. Distinctions.
a. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit must be distinguished from the indwelling of Jesus Christ.
b. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit must be distinguished from the filling of the Holy Spirit.
c. The Church Age believer is never mandated to be indwelt by Christ. He already is; that’s his status quo. But he is mandated to glorify Christ who dwells in his body.
d. The Church Age believer is never mandated to be indwelt by the Spirit. He already is; that’s the status quo of the royal family. But he is mandated to be filled with the Spirit and to walk by means of the Spirit.
e. The filling of the Spirit refers to the indwelling Spirit controlling your life, especially your soul. “Walking by means of the Spirit” is the enabling power of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere.
f. Therefore, distinction between the indwelling of the Spirit and the experiential functions of the Spirit must be made.
g. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is not an experience. You cannot feel it, see it; it is not an emotion. It is a status provided by God.
2. The purpose of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is two-fold.
a. To provide a temple for the indwelling of Christ. Jesus Christ as the Shekinah Glory cannot indwell the body of the believer, because the old sin nature continues to exist in every cell of the body.
b. To provide a base of operations for the experiential ministry of the Spirit, which is related to “glorifying Christ in our bodies,” to having “Christ at home in our hearts,” and to “Christ being formed in our bodies.”
(1) These three stages of experience related to Christ have nothing to do with the indwelling of Jesus Christ which is a status quo and non-experiential. But the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, though also a status quo, applies more to these experiences because the Holy Spirit provides a base of operations for the filling of the Spirit and the enabling power of the Spirit.
(2) Therefore, it is the enabling power of the Spirit in the perception of doctrine that results in:
(a) “Christ being formed in you,” the experience of spiritual self-esteem.
(b) “Christ at home in your right lobes,” the experience of spiritual autonomy.
© “Christ glorified in your body,” the experience of spiritual maturity.
c. The experiential ministry of the Holy Spirit is mandated. It is not to be confused with the indwelling of the Spirit, though the indwelling of the Spirit provides the base of operations.
d. The experiential ministry of the Holy Spirit is mandated in Eph 5:18, “Keep on being filled with the Spirit.” That means the Holy Spirit controls your body, especially your soul.
e. The experiential ministry of the Spirit is also mandated in relationship to the Spirit’s residence in the divine dynasphere, “Keep walking by means of the Spirit.” The enabling power of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere results in the metabolization of Bible doctrine, for the Spirit is the teacher of doctrine.
f. Jesus Christ prophesied during His incarnation about the Church Age in Jn 16:14. “When He [Holy Spirit] comes, He shall glorify Me.”
g. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is not an experience. The filling of the Spirit is an experience which results in glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ.
F. The Experiential Nature of the Unique Life.
1. The unique life is both experiential and non-experiential.
a. The non-experiential part of the unique life is the indwelling of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is no experience or feeling related to this. It is nothing you can see, hear, taste, or touch.
b. The experiential part of the unique life is glorifying God in your bodies. 2. The negative experience, or what the unique life is not.
a. The unique life is not living in cosmic one, which is called “grieving the Holy Spirit” in Eph 4:30. Generally in cosmic one, the believer emphasizes relationship with self over relationship with God. You cannot live in cosmic one and fulfill any principle of the spiritual life or the unique life.
b. The unique life is not living in cosmic two which is called “quenching the Holy Spirit” in 1 Thes 5:19. Generally in cosmic two, the believer emphasizes his relationship with people and his intellectual achievements over relationship with God.
c. The unique life is not the life of the carnal Christian of 1 Cor 3:1-3. Generally the carnal Christian emphasizes sin over relationship with God.
d. The unique life is not living under the Mosaic Law, according to Gal 5:18, 23 and Rom 10:4. We are out from under the Law in a far greater plan than ever existed in the Old Testament.
e. So any Christian experience outside of the divine dynasphere is not a part of the unique life. The unique life emphasizes residence, function, and momentum inside your very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere.
3. The positive experience, or what the unique life is experientially.
a. Experientially, the unique life is glorification of our Lord Jesus Christ in your body. This is an experience, in contrast to the indwelling of Christ which is not an experience.
b. Non-experientially, the unique life is the status of every member of the Trinity indwelling your body. The indwelling of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is classified as a permanent status quo rather than something we could ever experience.
c. However, the experiential side of the unique life comes out of the non-experiential indwelling presence of the Trinity.
d. The unique life is Jesus Christ being glorified in our physical bodies during our time on this earth. Certain passages, like Eph 5:1 and 1 Cor 6:20, talk about “glorifying God in your bodies” without specifying which member of the Godhead is involved. Yet in each of those verses God must be identified.
e. Distinction must be understood between the indwelling of Christ and the Christian experience of glorifying Christ. Christ indwells your body; that is not an experience. Glorifying Christ in your body is an experience.
f. Distinction must be understood between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our bodies and the function of the Holy Spirit in glorifying Christ in our bodies. For the indwelling Christ doesn’t glorify Christ in our bodies; that is the function of the Holy Spirit.
G. The unique life has mandates.
1. In Eph 5:1a, we are commanded to “become imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in virtue-love.”
a. In this verse, God refers to our Lord Jesus Christ as the only visible member of the Trinity, Jn 1:18, 6:46; 1 Tim 3:16; 1 Jn 4:12.
b. With this understanding, it is obvious that the command to “become imitators of God” is a reference to the fulfillment of the protocol plan of God in the divine dynasphere. For our Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity lived inside the prototype divine dynasphere. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and walked by means of the Spirit. Now we are commanded to “imitate God” in the sense that we can live in our operational-type divine dynasphere, under the filling of the Spirit, walking by means of the Spirit, and executing God’s plan for the Church Age.
2. In 1 Cor 6:20, we are told, “For you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.” Again, God is a reference to our Lord Jesus Christ, though it can easily include God the Father who provided everything in eternity past necessary to fulfill His plan.
H. The indwelling of Christ is related to the unique life.
1. Rom 8:10 says that the indwelling of Christ has a definite relationship to the unique life. “In fact, if Christ is in you [and He is], on the one hand, the body is dead because of the sin nature, but on the other hand, the [Holy] Spirit is [the unique] life because of [imputed divine] righteousness.”
a. One of the two reasons why the Holy Spirit indwells your body is to function as a base of operations for your fulfillment of the protocol plan of God through the unique life. In other words, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is not in itself the means of executing the Christian life; that is done through two mandates related to the Spirit: “be filled with the Spirit” and “walk by means of the Spirit.”
b. Although these two mandates both refer to the divine dynasphere, they are different.
(1) “Be filled with the Spirit” is a reference to God the Holy Spirit controlling our body and especially our soul.
(2) “Walk by means of the Spirit” refers to functioning at each gate in the divine dynasphere.
I. The unique life is related to spiritual adulthood.
1. There are three stages of spiritual adulthood.
a. Spiritual self-esteem at gate #5.
b. Spiritual autonomy at gate #6.
c. Spiritual Maturity at gate #8.
2. Spiritual adulthood is attained by consistent residence inside your own palace, the divine dynasphere, under the enabling power of the Spirit and momentum from metabolized doctrine plus its application; or, the protocol plan of God plus the unique life plus the lifestyle of wisdom.
a. The protocol plan of God emphasizes residence, function and momentum inside the divine dynasphere.
b. The emphasis of the unique life is the fact that each member of the Trinity indwells your body.
c. The emphasis of the lifestyle of wisdom is epistemological rehabilitation. 3. The Holy Spirit is the teacher of Bible doctrine, Jn 14:26, 16:12-14; 1 Cor 2:9-16; 1 Jn 2:27, where the “anointing of the Spirit” is the teaching of the Word of God by the Spirit. The communicator of doctrine is the pastor-teacher, but without the ministry of the Holy Spirit you will never understand doctrine and therefore will lose out on your escrow blessings.
4. Each stage of spiritual adulthood is characterized by suffering for blessing or undeserved suffering, designed to intensify and speed up your advance to spiritual maturity.
a. Providential preventative suffering is combined with spiritual self-esteem to advance you to spiritual autonomy.
b. Momentum testing at gate #7 of the divine dynasphere is combined with spiritual autonomy to advance you to spiritual maturity.
c. Evidence testing is combined with spiritual maturity for the maximum glorification of God while on this earth; it is the ultimate in the unique life.
d. All this adds up to glorification of Jesus Christ in our bodies which is accomplished by the Holy Spirit.
5. Each stage of spiritual adulthood is characterized by an experience of the unique life. 6. The unique life is related to spiritual self-esteem. Gal 4:19, “My little children [believers too long in spiritual childhood, now in legalism], from whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.”
a. Spiritual self-esteem is the first stage of spiritual adulthood. Spiritual self-esteem was first attained at gate #5 by the humanity of Christ in the prototype divine dynasphere. Now we have the same privilege. Perception of doctrine (gate #4) plus the filling of the Spirit (gate #1) advances us to spiritual self-esteem.
b. When we attain spiritual self-esteem, from the standpoint of the unique life, Christ is “formed in our bodies.” For at gate #5 we have the same spiritual self-esteem that the humanity of Christ had in His earthly ministry.
c. “Christ is formed in our bodies” means that the characteristics of Jesus Christ in spiritual self-esteem now become the characteristics of the believer in spiritual self-esteem.
d. The spiritual self-esteem of our Lord was most dramatically illustrated in His prayer the night before the crucifixion. “Father, if it be Your will, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not My will but Your will be done.”
e. Spiritual self-esteem is the beginning of emphasis on relationship with God over relationship with people. It is characterized primarily by personal love for God, the highest motivation in life.
7. The unique life is related to spiritual autonomy. Eph 3:16-17, “I pray that He might give you on the basis of His riches in glory [portfolio of invisible assets], that you might become strong [spiritual adulthood] by means of His power [divine dynasphere] through His Spirit [enabling power of the Holy Spirit in divine dynasphere] in your inner being [indwelling of the Spirit is the base of operations for filling of the Holy Spirit]; so that Christ may be at home in your right lobes [function of spiritual autonomy] through doctrine [maximum metabolized doctrine] when you have been rooted [inculcation of doctrine] and grounded in virtue-love.”
a. Virtue-love has two parts:
(1) Gate #5, motivational virtue, personal love for God, which characterizes spiritual self-esteem.
(2) Gate #6, functional virtue, impersonal love for all mankind, which characterizes spiritual autonomy.
b. Since verse 17 makes virtue-love a prerequisite of “Christ being at home in your right lobe,” then this statement must refer to the believer in spiritual autonomy who has reached both gates #5 and #6.
c. The believer in spiritual autonomy is already motivated by personal love for God which occurred at gate #5. His impersonal love for all at gate #6 finishes out the function of being “rooted and grounded in virtue-love.”
d. The status quo of spiritual autonomy, being “rooted and grounded in virtue-love,” is the status quo of spiritual autonomy, and it occurred “through doctrine.” Therefore, Christ is now at home in the right lobe of the believer.
8. The unique life is related to spiritual maturity. Phil 1:20-21, “According to my intense concentration and resultant hope [Hope 2 and 3], that in nothing shall I be disgraced [failure to pass suffering for blessing], but with all integrity, even now as always [in spiritual maturity], Christ shall be glorified in My body [spiritual maturity], whether by living or by dying.”
a. “Intense concentration,” refers to God emphasis over people emphasis, i.e., giving #1 priority to relationship with God over relationship with people.
b. “Disgrace” is failure to pass undeserved suffering: providential preventative suffering, momentum testing, or evidence testing.
c. This is the highest experience of the unique life, that whether we are living or dying, Jesus Christ is glorified in our body. “Christ being glorified in the body” is not the indwelling of Christ, but is the attainment of spiritual maturity. Verse 21, “For me, living is Christ and dying is profit.”
a. “Living is Christ” is the ultimate experience of the unique life, the attainment of spiritual maturity, the passing of evidence testing, all of which results in the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ in your body.
b. “Dying is profit,” refers to the last escrow blessing on earth, which is dying grace. Dying grace includes anticipation of even greater escrow blessings for the eternal state which are distributed by the our Lord Himself at His Judgment Seat.
J. The unique life provides proper emphasis and determines priorities.
1. The unique factor of every member of the Godhead indwelling your body provides a different emphasis.
a. This means that you are not only a new creature in Christ Jesus, a new spiritual species, but it also demands a new #1 priority for the entire body of Christ: God emphasis over people emphasis.
b. As long as you emphasize your experience with people over your experience with God, your experience in life will be characterized by self-induced misery under the law of volitional responsibility, plus punitive suffering from the three categories of divine discipline (warning, intensive, and dying).
c. All too often, the problem of perpetual spiritual childhood exists because of wrong priorities. None of us can escape the consequences of putting people before our relationship with God.
d. The protocol plan of God emphasizes right experience with God before you can ever have right experience with people. But God is invisible, so that relationship with the invisible God can come only one way: your daily positive volition toward doctrine.
e. Right relationship with God can only come from the understanding of and consistent residence inside the divine dynasphere under the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit and momentum from metabolized doctrine.
f. You can only have a relationship with invisible God through epistemological rehabilitation, i.e., through cognition, which comes under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit when you’re positive, when you’re residing in the divine dynasphere, and when you’re concentrating on the teaching of the Word of God.
g. Invisible God only becomes real to us through the Word of God, which is the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16).
2. The principle of the unique life
. a. Right relationship with God is the basis for right relationship with self and people.
b. Negative experience (never exposing yourself to doctrine after salvation) with God (by Christians) results in wrong experience with people.
c. Wrong experience with God results in wrong experience with people. Wrong experience isn’t necessarily negative volition to doctrine; you just have too many other things to do.
d. Right experience with God results in right experience with people.
e. Right experience with God is consistent living inside your very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere, under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, and momentum from metabolized doctrine.
3. The indwelling of Jesus Christ is related to right emphasis in the protocol plan of God.
a. The indwelling of Christ demands that every believer give #1 priority to his relationship with God. As soon as you learn that you are indwelt by Christ, immediately there is a demand on your life!
b. The indwelling of Christ demands that every believer give #2 priority to his relationship with himself. This is the emergence of spiritual self-esteem as the first stage of spiritual adulthood. Obviously, if you straighten out your relationship with God, you will end up in spiritual self-esteem and so have a good relationship with self (which most believers do not have).
c. The indwelling of Christ demands that every believer give #3 priority to relationship with people. For until God has #1 priority of relationship, and then you straighten out your relationship with yourself, your relationship with people will be miserable, unstable, horrible, and monstrous. You will not only make yourself miserable, but others as well, since they must inevitably come into contact with you.
d. Relationship with self peaks out at gate #5, spiritual self- esteem.
e. Relationship with people peaks out at gate #6, spiritual autonomy. Note the order: gate #5 comes before gate #6; relationship with God must come first before relationship with people. As a result, you resolve relationship with self by placing relationship with God first.
f. Relationship with God peaks out at gate #8, spiritual maturity. 4. The principle of epistemological rehabilitation.
a. Epistemological rehabilitation is a never-ending function of the Christian life. As long as we are alive on earth, epistemological rehabilitation is absolutely necessary so that we can catch up with the fact of becoming a new spiritual species at salvation.
b. Epistemological rehabilitation means cognition, learning both principle and mechanics. The greatest issue in the Christian life is persistence in cognition.
c. The real key in epistemological rehabilitation is wisdom which is attainable by all believers.
d. Epistemological rehabilitation demands understanding many principles and mechanics, and how these principles work into your life to become your thinking, application, action, and motivation.
e. For example, cognition of virtue-love as the greatest problem solving device becomes very important. Understanding that Christ indwells you as “the hope of glory” becomes very important in relationship to virtue- love. Because even though you are indwelt by “the hope of glory,” you will never understand or experience that glory apart from advancing from gate #5 and gate #6 to reach gate #8. Spiritual maturity is the peak, the reality of the unique life experientially.
f. The communion service is the challenge to all this. We are mandated to “keep on doing this in memory of Me,” according to 1 Cor 11:24-25. This mandate can only be executed where epistemological rehabilitation has filled in the doctrinal gaps regarding Christology and Soteriology related to the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. No believer can fulfill the principle and mandates of the Eucharist until he has given #1 priority to his relationship with God.
g. The last thing Peter said before he died was in 2 Pet 3:18, “But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; to Him be glory, both now and in the day of eternity.” Before Peter died, he understood that God emphasis must precede people emphasis. Although Jesus Christ is the Shekinah Glory, only our advance to spiritual maturity gives Him the glory that belongs to Him from us as members of His royal family.
h. Heb 12:2-3, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you do not grow weary and become discouraged.”
(1) The meaning of the communion service is to “consider Him,” Jesus Christ, eternal God, who indwells your body.
(2) We can consider His life because, in His humanity, in the prototype divine dynasphere, Jesus Christ gave #1 priority to the will, purpose, and plan of God the Father for the incarnation. His prayer in Gethsemane illustrated that He gave #1 priority to His relationship with the Father and with the Spirit.
(3) The night before the cross, Jesus Christ anticipated the imputation of all sins in the human race, knowing full well their impact as perfect humanity and perfect God in one person forever. Yet at that very moment of realization, as it were, Jesus Christ prayed, “Father, if it be Your will, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not My will but Your will be done.”
(4) The humanity of Christ had the priority straight! He put God before mankind. So we are mandated to “consider Him.”
(5) If you put people first, you will be weary, bored, discouraged, bitter. You’ll have your moments of stimulation, but it’s the downs that inevitably follow that will get to you. Weariness, disillusion, and discouragement is exactly what happens when the believer gives #1 priority to people. And you can’t help but do this unless you take in Bible doctrine daily.
K. The function of the unique life depends on two factors, 2 Cor 3:1-3.
1. Accurate Bible teaching from whomever is your right pastor.
2. The teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the divine dynasphere.
3. 2 Cor 3:1, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?”
a. In other words, Paul is saying, “Do we need a new letter of recommendation now, since you have accepted the false teaching of legalism, since you’ve now permitted Judaizers to teach your congregation, since you’ve now opened the door to false teaching?” The peak of Paul’s sarcasm is the phrase “from you.” Paul is asking if he needs another letter of recommendation to enter their congregation.
b. Paul is suggesting that there are some in the Corinthian congregation who should have letters of recommendation before they are permitted to enter. Yet the Judaizers entered without letters of recommendation. The Judaizers have now misled the Corinthians, who have now become, in part, a very legalistic congregation. Paul is criticizing the Corinthians for permitting false teachers and legalists to infiltrate their church.
c. By rejecting Paul’s ministry, the Corinthians have invalidated Paul’s original letter of recommendation to them, though they have required no letters of recommendation from false teachers.
d. The peak of Paul’s sarcasm, “from you,” indicates that Paul is not requesting any letters of recommendation from them; Paul is asking for no favors! Principle: The minister of the Lord relies on the divine provision of grace and seeks no favors.
4. 2 Cor 3:2, “You yourselves are our letters, written by our right lobes, known and read by all men.”
a. “You yourselves are our letters” refers to the fact that Paul does not need a letter of recommendation to or from the Corinthians, because most of the Corinthian believers are his converts. They are living letters of flesh, manifesting the evangelism and the teaching ministry of the apostle Paul. So Paul introduces the concept of the walking letter of commendation or recommendation.
b. “Written by our right lobes” means that Paul had the doctrine in his right lobe and communicated it. The Corinthians were beneficiaries of doctrinal teaching located in Paul’s right lobe. The Corinthians are letters written by Paul, i.e., by his doctrinal teaching. When he first came to them, they were a blank piece of paper. When he left, they had the writing of doctrine in their lives.
c. “Known and read by all men” means that everyone in contact with you as a Christian is “reading” your life. What is written there is either doctrine or disaster, spirituality or legalism, grace or arrogance, Christ (divine dynasphere) or Satan (cosmic system). Your life is either a good or a bad letter, depending upon your attitude toward Bible doctrine taught by whomever is your right pastor.
d. Since we are indwelt by all three members of the Godhead, and since we have been provided with our very own portfolio of invisible assets, people should read Christ in our lives! Here is the challenge of the “living letter,” the “walking epistle.” Ask yourself: “How are you read by those in your periphery?”
5. 2 Cor 3:3, “Being revealed that you are a letter from Christ who has been ministered by us, having been written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone, but on the fleshly tables of the right lobe.”
a. “Being revealed that you are a letter from Christ” is Paul’s use of a reverse metaphor in his sanctified sarcasm. The Corinthians are not only Paul’s letter of recommendation of his teaching, but an open letter from Christ to the human race. This letter either calls attention to self, which is negative, or calls attention to Christ, which is positive.
b. “Who has been ministered by us” means that the teaching ministry of the pastor becomes the writing in the lives of the congregation. “Us” refers to Paul, Timothy, Titus, and Apollos, all who were pastors successively in the Corinthian Church. None of these men are ministering to the Corinthians at the present time because the church is under terrible legalistic teaching.
c. Being written “with the Spirit of the living God” refers to the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit. The indwelling of the Spirit is the base of operations. Only by the filling of the Spirit and walking by means of the Spirit is the teaching ministry of the Spirit operational.
d. “Not on tables of stone” refers to the Mosaic Law, which has absolutely nothing to do with the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. The Mosaic Law describes freedom related to morality and the modus operandi of establishment. But observing the Law is not the Christian way of life, Rom 8:1-4. Rom 10:4, “Christ is the end of the Law to all who believe.” Gal 5:18, “against such there is no law.”
e. “But on the fleshly tables of the right lobe.” The right lobe is the home of metabolized doctrine. “Fleshly” refers to the human body which is indwelt by God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So part of the unique life is the fact that we are a living epistle.
L. Summary.
1. The status quo of the unique life is the fact that each member of the Trinity indwells every Church Age believer.
2. The experience of the unique life is related to spiritual adulthood, not spiritual childhood.
3. Spiritual self-esteem of gate #5 in the divine dynasphere is characterized by Christ being formed in you, Gal 4:19.
4. Spiritual autonomy of gate #6 in the divine dynasphere is characterized by Christ being at home in your right lobes, Eph 3:17.
5. Spiritual maturity of gate #8 in the divine dynasphere is characterized by Christ being glorified in your body, Phil 1:20.
6. The indwelling of God the Father is the guarantee of His work on our behalf in eternity past. He is the author of our portfolio of invisible assets, the grantor of our escrow blessings, the designer of our palace, the divine dynasphere, and the mastermind of the protocol plan of God. Therefore, the indwelling of God the Father is a guarantee that He has a personal plan for you. 7. The indwelling of Jesus Christ is the badge of the royal family, the guarantee of the availability of divine power, the guarantee of life after death, the guarantee of the distribution of escrow blessings, perpetual motivation for momentum in spiritual adulthood, and establishes right priorities: God emphasis over people emphasis and divine power over human power.
8. The purpose for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to provide a temple for the indwelling of Jesus Christ and a base of operations for the ministry of the Spirit in the execution of the protocol plan of God, the lifestyle of wisdom, and the unique life.
9. The unique life is related to the fact that each person of the Trinity indwells your body, and it is related to the modus vivendi of the three stages of spiritual adulthood.
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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