1. Introduction


1-1 A question.

Let me ask you a question.
Romans 8:30 says:

When, do you think, this event did occur? Did it occur when you believed in Jesus?
If so, how about "glorified", were you glorified when you believed in Jesus? No, you were not.
By the way, there are parallel verses in the New testament.
For instance, they are Eph. 2:4-6.

Verses 5-6 say,
(God) … made us alive together with Christ and raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
In Romans 8:30, there are being called, justified and glorified. These events resemble these in Ephesians.
Let us arrange them according to time series, below.

We were dead in offenses -> God called us ->He justified us -> He made us alive together with Him -> He glorified us ->He seated us together with Him in the heavenlies

Underlined ones are of Rom.8:30. These may be the order from death to glorification of us. These two lines of events might be set up by Paul according to his intention.
Rom. 8:30 was written according to sin, and Eph.2:4-6 according to life.(br. Lee)
And when Jesus was crucified, raised up and sat in the heavenlies, we were “together with Christ” and were called, justified and glorified .

Therefore the event of Romans 8:30 occurred not when you believed in Jesus as generally undestood, but at the time of crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Christ 2000 years ago. And this is the answer to the question above.


1-2 Were we with Christ 2,000 years ago?


According to the words above, we existed with Christ 2,000 years ago.
What does it mean? Yes, this is the testimony of the Bible. The Bible is full of mystery.
Please recall the following word of our Lord.

Our Lord Jesus said that He would draw all the people to Himself when He was lifted up.
If you put these verses Rom.8:30, Eph.2:4-6 and John 12:32 together, something may be clear.
On the stages of His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, we were called and drawn near to Him, given life, justified, raised up, glorified and seated together with Him in the heavenlies.
Is it all right? I think OK.
We were drawn near to Christ on the cross 2,000 years ago.
But from where?
From the open air?
Impossible!
We all had been in His body the flesh.
Look the veil of the tabernacle.
The veil shows the flesh of Christ.(Heb. 10:20) And on it cherubim was woven which means all things(Exo.36:35).

When this curtain was made, the cherubim was woven at the same time.
It means, in His incarnation, Christ involved all things into His body the flesh.
Br. Lee says in his message of the life study of Ephesians message24:

Yes, the Cherubim on the veil shows that all things were involved in His body.
Then, what does it mean, that at His being lifted up He would draw all men to Himself?
When we were taken into the flesh of Christ we were sinners(Eph.2:1-3), and we were dead in offenses(v.5). I understand that these we were drawn unto Him and called, justified and glorified in Him through His death and resurrection.
I call these we who had been involved into His body in His incarnation and took these steps in Him above, "objective we ", and, we who live on earth "subjective we".
You who are reading this writing is one of the “subjective we”.
The “objective we“ are already completed. For they are glorified and now sitting in the Heavenlies.
They are ourselves actually. And the nature and position that the “objective we“ received are all through the Spirit dispensed unto us on earth the “Subjective we”.
When you read the Bible, it is important to distinguish “objective we“ and “subjective we”. Otherwise, you cannot understand the New Testament correctly.


2. One New Man

Now we consider about the one new man.
V13 says about the gentiles who were once far off.
They were made near in His blood in Christ Jesus.
And these gentiles were, of course, the members of “objective we“.
Now I rewrite v14 and v15 as follows. Please watch the difference.

The Greek original is below.

○ The enmity in His flesh（th;n e/cyran e]n th#j sarki; au]tou#)

The law of the commandments in ordinances, the ritual law which was the middle wall of partition had been involved in the flesh of Christ. Therefore He could abolish it in His death on the cross.
From the words “break down” and “abolish”, we bring up the image of His crucifixion.

Christ created the two in Himself unto one new man.
As a result, in His resurrection, "one new man" came into existence and peace was made.
We must remember that these events were under the process from His cross to His resurrection. Not yet the Church exists.
One more thing was necessary for both to reconcile to the Father which is spoken in verse 16.

○"Both in one Body"（tou.j avmfote,rouj evn e`ni. sw,mati）：　

"Both" are Jews and Gentiles. "in one Body" is "in Christ’s private body", not the Church.
In his message 26, br. Lee says this one body is the Church(below underlined).

But No!, this body is not the Church. For, this body was to be crucified and the enmity must be killed in the body in His private body. How could the body of Christ be the Church? If the one body were the Church, many saints in the church would be killed on the cross. Impossible!
In essense one new man is same as the Church on earth. So, you should say, one new man is a prototype or a seed of the Church on earth.

This is a story of Christ together with the “objective we“ in His body on the cross unto His resurrection. Not of the Church!
If “objective we“and ”subjective we” are not distinguished, bizarre and awful reasoning begins.

○The enmity by it（th.n e;cqran evn auvtw ）：　

The enmity by it must be the enmity in it.
This it does not mean the cross but the one body. For through the cross is mentioned already, the cross need not be described for two times in one verse.
And so, verse 16 is rewritten as follows.

When both Jews and Gentiles the “objective we“ in one private body of Christ were killed, the enmity against God were also killed and it completely disappeared.
In this way, both the Jews and Gentiles were completely reconciled to God.
And one new man came into being. These events occurred in the private body of Christ, not in the Church. This one new man is an extremely unique person who came into being through the resurrection of the Christ. A union of Christ with Jews and Gentiles the “objective we“ in Himself. Unprecedented existence.
Not mentioned here, all things in resurrection are also included in this union(see Col.1:19-20). The one new man is an ultimate consummated union of Christ with all things including the “objective we“.


3.One Spirit

Eph.2:13-16 are the events of the union of Christ with the “objective we“ in the private body of Christ on the way from crucifixion to resurrection.
Verse 17 is a peace preaching by the Lord in His resurrection to us who were far off and to those near, the “Subjective we” on the earth and not “objective we“.
This is a story for the “subjective we”. This is a big difference with the story of v.13 to 16. Verse 18 is a church life where Jews and Gentiles are meeting together.
And, we both have access to the Father in one Spirit. Why can we have access to the Father in one Spirit? Isn’t it because the one Spirit has the element to make the access possible? Because the reconciliation to the Father is included in the one Spirit?
Exactly! "One" in the "one Spirit" and the "one" in the "one new man" are the same, isn’t it? In Christ, Jews and Gentiles were made one and one new man came into being.
And the Spirit of the one new man came. And so, I believe, we can say, one new man became one Spirit. And we also can say,

“One Spirit is the Spirit of the one new man.”

One Spirit is the Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit. Therefore, “objective we“ the Jews and Gentiles are now input in this one Spirit. Aren’t they? Yes, in the Spirit the Jews and Gentiles are involved and included.
Gor-blimey!
In the Holy Spirit, can the element of human being exist? Doesn’t it blaspheme God?
No, it doesn't blaspheme God. This is the teaching of the Bible.
Actually, someone is outrageous to me saying, it’s to blaspheme God to say that the human being is included in the Holy Spirit.
You can throw your word to Paul.
This is the teaching of the Bible. This is not the heresy.
“One new man” became “one Spirit”.


End

The Spirit
New understanding and General understanding

(this chart added in 2017/2/23)

(this Figure added in 2018/7/7)

2017/1/6
東 信男(Higashi Nobuo)
ftmp2009(atmark)gmail.com