Called Unto Holiness # 3

Oneness with Christ

Two Trinities

The position of the world is clearly stated. It is in satan.

The flesh. The flesh is all that one is without Christ. He has only a sinful nature that originated in satan and entered into Adam as he yielded to the serpent's temptation in Eden. The flesh is the satanic spirit in the sinner.

Let us turn now to a moment's study of the other trinity.

Christ. He is the Head of God's Kingdom, the One to whom all power in heaven and on earth has been given. Christ is the Saviour of the World who has been exalted to be Lord over the universe and Head over all things to the Church. Christ is the Servant of God and the Saviour of men.

The Church. Have you thought of the Church as the local church to which you belong? Sometimes I am asked if I belong to "the Church." I come from the United States where we do not have a state church and, of course, everyone there believes that the denomination of which he is a member is "the" church. Well, what is "the" Church? There is but one.

"Gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all" (Ephesians 1:22-23).

The Church is a divine society in Christ. It is regenerated mankind in the possession, control, and use of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Spirit. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit. He is the very same Spirit who indwelt, infilled, and  empowered Christ when He lived and worked on earth. On the day of Pentecost He was sent to indwell, infill, and empower each Christian who formed the Church.

The Two Trinities: Exact Opposites

These two trinities are the exact opposite of one another. satan is the very embodiment of evil and hate. His names and works show this. He is the "wicked one," "the adversary," "the tempter," "a liar," "a murderer," "a deceiver." Everything that he is and does is a manifestation of hate toward Christ and the Christian.

The world partakes of the nature of satan as Christ Himself says:

"The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil" (John 7:7).

"If we were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19).

The flesh is both evil and irreconcilably hostile toward God.

"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (Romans 8:7).

Everyone has within him a traitor to God. It is that awful sinful nature, the very essence of which is hostility to God.

But to turn to the other trinity, we find Christ the very embodiment of holiness and love. All His names and works show it. He is "the Holy One and the Just"; "the good shepherd"; "a merciful and faithful high priest", the "bread of life", "the Saviour of the world". Everything that He is and does is the manifestation of love toward God and toward man.

The Church partakes of the nature of Christ and He is living within it now through the power of the Holy Spirit to make it holy and loving as He is. He will one day present it unto Himself perfected in holiness and without blemish.

"But we all ... are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18).

"That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27).

The Spirit is the Holy Spirit who is revealed as the Spirit of love in all His manifold operations.

~Ruth Paxson~

(continued with # 4 - "Two Pictures")