All-Inclusive Christ — New Testament Reality

Resurrection

In resurrection Christ attained a particular designation as the Son of God (Rom. 1:4). Of course, long before His incarnation—in eternity past—Christ was already the eternal Son of God according to His divine nature. However, by putting on the flesh through incarnation, His divinity was concealed. Only once during His human life was this concealed divine glory revealed (Matt. 17:1-8). Then in death the “shell” of his humanity was broken and in resurrection His divinity was manifested. (Witness Lee, Conclusion, 324-326)

Christ had two distinct births.

Also in resurrection Christ’s humanity, His human nature, which prior to His death had nothing to do with divinity, was uplifted, transformed, and brought into His divinity. For this reason Acts 13:33 speaks of His being begotten, or born, in resurrection. Christ then had two distinct births. Until the moment of His incarnation Christ had been the Son of God according to His divinity. His first birth, His incarnation was thus needed in order to bring the divine nature into humanity. In the “birth” of His resurrection, however, His sanctified, uplifted human nature was brought into divinity. Thus, after death, and resurrection, He was fully qualified to be designated the Son of God according to both His divinity and His humanity. (Witness Lee, Conclusion, 326-328).

Finally, in resurrection this divine-human Christ became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). In His resurrection He was transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit in order to enter and dwell within His believers. With this intention, on evening of His resurrection the Lord Jesus came as the Spirit to the disciples and breathed into them (John 20:22). He Himself thus entered into them as the holy pneuma, or breath. Therefore, we can say that in resurrection He is the “pneumatic” Christ, the Christ who is the Spirit indwelling His believers. Thus, just as a tire needs to be filled with air in order to function smoothly, so the believers need to be filled with the Spirit in order to live a normal Christian life. (Witness Lee, Conclusion, 329-331)