FELLOWSHIP AND RELATIONSHIP
THIS IS ANOTHER of the lost teachings of the Word. For years I wondered why the largest percentage of those who have accepted Christ and have joined the church were failures. I used to ask myself, “Has Satan more ability than God? Has he outwitted God in the fight?” I didn't believe it. Then one day a man listening to me said, “I see you make a distinction between union and communion.” I said, “Thank you.” Then as he turned to go away, it flashed through my mind that I had been teaching beyond my classified knowledge. The Spirit had unveiled to me something that I didn't recognize, the difference between union and communion.
Our union with Christ in the New Creation, and our communion with Him, are based on two other words, “fellowship” and “relationship.” I had been very strong on relationship. I had been magnifying the New Birth.
Let us study it for a moment. John 10:10, “I am come that ye might have life and have it in abundance.” What was this Life? It was the Nature of God. Who was to have it? The man for whom Christ died. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have Eternal Life.”
But the question is, how are we going to get that Eternal Life? Jesus illustrates it in His talk with Nicodemus in John 3. He said, “Except a man be born from above, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and he that is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say ye must be born again.” Now, if we haven't Paul's revelation, we don't understand that, for we have nothing in Jesus' teaching that explains the nature of the New Birth. Jesus merely tells us that He is bringing us Eternal Life and that we must be Born Again.
2 Corinthians 5:17, “Wherefore if any man is in Christ (or if a man has accepted Christ and confessed him as his Lord) that man is a new creation: the old things (of sin, of spiritual death, and of union with Satan) have passed away; and behold, all things have become new; and all these things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Christ.” That is tremendous! The Father has reconciled us unto Himself. The things that stood between us and the Father have been eliminated. A New Creation has come into us. The old nature is driven out, and we are New Creations in spirit, just as Adam was a physical new creation in the Garden. That spiritual New Creation has come into being, imparted to us in Eternal Life that Jesus said He was bringing to the world.
"Advanced Bible Course"
E. W. KENYON
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| Armando P. Mariano |
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