God’s Economy: recovered by Witness Lee, enjoyed by local churches

The Steps of God’s Economy

Resurrection

Following His marvelous death, Christ did not remain in the tomb. As prophesied and testified throughout the Scriptures, He resurrected in triumph on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4; Acts 2:24; 3:15; 5:30). Through His resurrection, Christ accomplished a number of crucial steps for the carrying out of God’s economy. First, Christ’s resurrection indicated that God accepted His death as the propitiating payment for man’s sins. Christ was “raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25b). Thus, based on the resurrection of Christ, the believers can have the assurance that they are fully justified before God.

In resurrection, Christ also became the life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45b). The Holy Spirit of God had existed before the resurrection of Christ (Genesis 1:2; Hebrews 9:14), for the Lord Jesus was Himself conceived of the Holy Spirit and anointed with the Spirit (Matthew 1:18; 3:16). However, the Holy Spirit was not able to enliven sinful man until the redeeming death and the life-imparting resurrection of Christ had been accomplished. In resurrection, then, Christ was transfigured to become the Spirit in order to impart the divine life into all His redeemed believers. The apostle Paul therefore declares in 2 Corinthians 3, “the Spirit gives life” and, “the Lord is the Spirit” (vv. 6, 17).

You are My Son; today I have begotten You
(Psalm 2:7)

Furthermore, Christ in resurrection was also begotten by God to be the firstborn Son of God; the process of resurrection was in fact a birth to Christ. Speaking concerning the resurrection of Christ in Acts 13:33, the apostle Paul cites Psalm 2:7: “You are My Son; today I have begotten You.” Similarly, he states in Romans 1:4 that Christ was “designated the Son of God…out of the resurrection of the dead.” A footnote on this verse from the Recovery Version of the New Testament helps to clarify this matter.

Before His incarnation Christ, the divine One, already was the Son of God (John 1:18; Rom. 8:3). By incarnation He put on an element, the human flesh, which had nothing to do with divinity; that part of Him needed to be sanctified and uplifted by passing through death and resurrection. By resurrection His human nature was sanctified, uplifted, and transformed. Hence, by resurrection He was designated the Son of God with His humanity (Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5). His resurrection was His designation. Now, as the Son of God, He possesses humanity as well as divinity. By incarnation He brought God into man; by resurrection He brought man into God, that is, He brought His humanity into the divine sonship. In this way the only begotten Son of God was made the firstborn Son of God, possessing both divinity and humanity. God is using such a Christ, the firstborn Son, who possesses both divinity and humanity, as the producer and as the prototype, the model, to produce His many sons (8:29-30)—we who have believed in and received His Son. We too will be designated and revealed as the sons of God, as He was in the glory of His resurrection (8:19, 21), and with Him we will express God. (Lee 603)

By incarnation He brought God into man; by resurrection He brought man into God.

In addition, in Christ’s resurrection all His believers were regenerated. First Peter 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who...has regenerated us...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” When Christ was resurrected, all of His believers were raised together with Him (Ephesians 2:6), and His divine life was imparted into them. Even though most of His believers had not yet been born, in God’s eyes they were regenerated at the moment Christ was resurrected. Christ’s resurrection was a great “delivery,” including Christ as the firstborn Son of God and millions of believers as the many sons of God and the many brothers of Christ (Romans 8:29).