Seeing how Both Peter and Paul Participated in the Ministry of the New Testament

In 1 Peter we see the operation of the Triune God to carry out His threefold salvation; Peter spoke of the same things as Peter, for both were ministers in the same ministry, the ministry of the New Testament, dispensing the things of God’s economy into people. Amen!

If we come to the Lord’s word with an open heart, even being poor in spirit and pure in heart, He will have a way of speaking to us and unveiling to us the deep and hidden things God has prepared for us, those who love Him.

When we come to the Epistles of Peter, we may be amazed at the government of God with His judgment, and we may realize that, clearly, the Christian life is a life under the government of God.

This is true, and we need to know this. However, these Epistles have a certain basic structure and main focus, which is nothing else but God’s economy.

Yes, Peter speaks of the judgment of God beginning from His house, and he definitely speaks concerning the judgment of God over everything and everyone so that He may gain a new heaven and new earth where righteousness dwells.

But his emphasis and main focus is not these things; rather, what we see in his writings is that the government of God with His judgment are to bring us back to the Triune God as our full enjoyment to carry out the economy of God.

The energizing Triune God is operating in His economy in order to bring us, His chosen ones, into the full enjoyment of the Triune God.

And the way we can enter into the full enjoyment and participation of the riches of the Triune God is our human spirit – the hidden man of the heart – and the divine Spirit, who is the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of Christ.

God went through a process in order to become the Spirit, and this Spirit came into our spirit to mingle Himself with us.

Now we as believers in Christ have not only the outer man but even more, the inner man, even the hidden man of our heart.

In our heart, there’s our spirit, our human spirit indwelt by the Spirit of God. Our mingled spirit is the hidden man of the heart; by means of the hidden man of the heart, we can partake of God’s divine nature and enjoy all the riches of the Triune God.

May the Lord unveil us to see the central focus and basic structure of 1 and 2 Peter, which are that the Triune God is operating to accomplish His complete salvation so that we may be regenerated, feed on His word, grow in life unto salvation, be transformed into living stones, and be built up for Him to have a dwelling place for His corporate expression. Hallelujah!

Seeing the Operation of the Triune God to Carry out His Threefold Salvation and Not being Distracted from this Wonderful Operation

If we read the Epistles of Peter, we will be quite impressed with many things, for Peter has a unique style of presenting things and dealing with particular subjects.

However, if we do not have the glasses of God’s economy on as we read these Epistles, it will be easy for us to be distracted by the many things that Peter speaks of.

The heart of Peter’s epistles, especially his first epistle, is the operation of the Triune God to carry out His threefold salvation, which includes the Father’s regenerating us, the Son’s redeeming us, and the Spirit’s applying of all that God is to us (1 Pet. 1:18-19, 23). Hallelujah!

We believers in Christ have become children of God through regeneration; the Spirit sanctified us to bring us to know the Lord and His redemption, to be sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and to be regenerated by the Father with His life.

The entire Triune God operates in His Divine Trinity to seek us out, find us, enlighten us, cause us to return to God, see God’s salvation, be sprinkled by the blood of Christ, and be regenerated by the Father with His divine life.

And this is not the end: the operation of the Triune God continues for Him to carry out His threefold salvation.

After we are regenerated, we feed on the word of God (1 Pet. 2:2) in order for us to grow unto salvation, for we have tasted that the Lord is good (v. 3).

As we drink the milk of the Word and partake of the riches of Christ in His word, we grow unto salvation, and we are transformed into precious stones, living stones, for God’s building (vv. 4-5).

We come to Him in His word, and He as a living stone transforms us into living stones suitable for the building up of God’s dwelling place, His spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood offering up sacrifices for His satisfaction.

What a wonderful operation and economy!

May we see the operation of the Triune God to carry out His threefold salvation – regeneration, redemption, and application – and may we not be distracted from God’s economy!

For God to carry out such an economy and accomplish His operation, the God of all grace will perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us (1 Pet. 5:10). Hallelujah!

This is the basic structure of the books of Peter, and nothing should distract us from this.

In 1 and 2 Pet and Jude we see the Triune God operating to accomplish a threefold salvation so that we may be regenerated, we may feed on His word, we may grow in life unto salvation, we may be transformed, and we may be built up in order for Him to have a dwelling place for His corporate expression.

This is God’s economy, which is seen in the entire Bible; God’s economy is that God dispenses all that He is into us in order to become our life and our everything for Him to obtain a corporate building, a dwelling place for God and man.

This is what the entire New Testament speaks about, this is what Paul writes about in his fourteen epistles, and this is also what Peter and Jude speak of in their epistles.

May we not be distracted by the many other things in these epistles and may we not overemphasize certain matters but not care for the central focus and basic structure of these epistles.

Praise the Lord for the operation of the Triune God to carry out His threefold salvation! Wow, Hallelujah, the Father foreknew us and chose us, the Father sprinkled us with His blood for our redemption, and the Spirit sanctifies us and leads us to salvation! Amen, Lord, we open to Your operation for You to carry out Your threefold salvation, including the regeneration of the Father, the redemption of the Son, and the application and the sanctification of the Spirit! Hallelujah, the Triune God operates in order to work Himself into us, the believers in Christ, to obtain His spiritual house, the church as the Body of Christ. Thank You, dear Lord, for regenerating us so that we may feed on the word of God, grow in life unto salvation, be transformed, and be built up in order that You may have a dwelling place and that we may express You! Hallelujah!

Both Peter and Paul Participated in the Same Ministry, These Things, the Ministry of the New Testament

What Peter wrote in his epistles may be quite different in style than what Paul wrote in his epistles, but they essentially wrote the same thing, focusing on one thing: God’s economy.

In 2 Pet. 3:15-16 Peter recommended Paul and commended him and his writings, saying that God gave him wisdom to write in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these things.

Peter and Paul wrote concerning our need to feed on the Lord and grow in order to be built up into a spiritual house so that God may have a corporate expression.

These two apostles ministered the same thing and participated in the same ministry, speaking these things, the ministry of the New Testament.

Though they used somewhat different terminology, Peter and Paul had the same focus.

May we not be distracted from the central focus and basic structure of the apostles’ ministry revealed in the New Testament. Amen!

Peter was bold in admitting that the early apostles – such as John, Paul, and himself – participated in the same, unique ministry, the ministry of the New Testament (2 Pet. 1:12-21; 3:2, 15-16; 2 Cor. 3:6, 8-9; 4:1).

Admittedly, their style, terminology, utterance, certain aspects of their views, and the way they presented their teachings differed, but they spoke the same things and carried out their part of the ministry of the New Testament.

Peter referred to Paul’s writings in order to strengthen his own writings, especially those concerning God’s governmental and disciplinary judgment upon the believers.

How beautiful and how excellent it is to see such a commendation! Here we see an apostle who was with the Lord Jesus and who seemed to take the lead among the other apostles, but he commended another apostle and his writings.

In 1 Cor. 1:11-12 it seems that the Corinthian believers attempted to divide Peter and Paul according to their own divisive preference, but Peter was one with Paul and even commended his writings.

Peter said that Paul wrote the same things as he did, and both Peter’s and Paul’s writings were the Scriptures, the word of God.

Peter admitted that Paul was given wisdom by God to write the same things as Peter in his writings, and some things written by Paul were hard to understand, so the unlearned and unstable twisted, as also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. What a word!

It was not a small thing for Peter to make such a commendation, especially since Paul said that he rebuked Peter to his face regarding the New Testament faith (Gal. 2:11-21).

So Paul rebuked Peter to his face because he withdrew from eating with the Gentile believers once some Jewish saints came from James; however, Peter was not offended but rather, he commended Paul and his writings, for he realized they both spoke “these things” – the ministry of the New Testament. How beautiful! How excellent!

Peter was bold in admitting that the apostles such as Peter, John, and Paul, participated in the same unique ministry – the ministry of the New Testament (2 Cor. 3:8-9; 4:1).

If you read the writings of Peter, John, and Paul, you will see that they have different styles of writing, each uses a different terminology, each has their own utterance, and even some aspects of their views are different, but they share in the same unique ministry! Praise the Lord!

Such a ministry ministers the all-inclusive Christ to people to be their unique portion of life for their life supply and everything so that the church may be built up as the Body of Christ.

The focus of the ministry of the New Testament is the all-inclusive Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God who, after passing through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, dispenses Himself through the redemption of Christ and by the operation of the Holy Spirit into His redeemed people as their unique portion of life and as their life supply and everything, for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the full expression, the fullness, of the Triune God, according to the eternal purpose of the Father (Acts 2:36; 3:13, 15; 10:36; 1 Pet. 1:2-3, 18-19, 23; 2:2-5, 7, 9, 25; 3:7; 4:10, 17; 5:2, 4, 10; 2 Pet. 1:2-4; 3:18). Wow!

One unique ministry – many ministers, all sharing in the same ministry, having the same goal, and having the same central focus and basic structure!

May we all be in this ministry, be constituted with the New Testament ministry, and speak the same one thing – even though our style, terminology, utterance, and certain aspects of our views may differ – for the building up of the church!

God doesn’t want a uniform group of people who think the same thing – He wants to work Himself into us and for us to be constituted with the truth so that, when we speak, we speak God’s economy, but through and based on what God has constituted into us. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, thank You for the unique ministry in the Bible – the ministry of the New Testament, of which we all are ministers, having our unique portion in this ministry! Hallelujah, Peter, Paul, and John all spoke these things, the ministry of the New Testament! Amen, Lord, may we feed on the Lord to grow and be built up into a spiritual house so that God may have a corporate expression. And may we speak the wonderful things of God’s economy according to what the Lord has worked in us. Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to minister the all-inclusive Christ to others for their life and life supply so that they may grow in life, be transformed, and be built up to be the church as the Body of Christ! Praise the Lord, Christ came as the embodiment of the Triune God and passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to dispense Himself into us through the redemption of Christ and by the operation of the Holy Spirit! Amen, Lord, we open to You and we take You as our life and life supply. We want to be in these things, the New Testament ministry, so that we may minister Christ to others for the building up of the church!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 2 Peter, msg. 13, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living a Christian Life and Church Life under the Government of God for the Economy of God (2024 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 1, The Government of God for the Economy of God.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The fishing ministry, the building ministry, and the mending ministry, a portion from, The One New Man, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee.
  – Jude (Program #6) – The Basic Structure of the Epistles of Peter and Jude (2), via, Bible Study Radio.
  – Beginning and ending, a portion from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 1) Vol. 19: Notes on Scriptural Messages (3), Chapter 3, by Watchman Nee.
  – The History of the Bible, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The Triune God processed to become our enjoyment, a portion from, Life-Study of 1, 2, & 3 John, Jude, Chapter 48.
  – The Ministry of the New Testament (1), via, Living to Him.
  – The threefold dispensing of the Divine Trinity, a portion from, The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – The Triune God’s Dispensing, Mingling, and Expression, Now to New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Message 1: The Entire Speaking of God in the New Testament, video message via, LSM Youtube.
  – The One Unique New Testament Ministry, via, Shepherding Words.
  – The Triune God not for our doctrinal understanding but for our enjoyment, a portion from, The Subjective Experience of the Indwelling Christ, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – How rich the source, the Father as the fountain, / And all this wealth He wants man to enjoy! / O blessed fact, this vast exhaustless portion / Is now for us forever to employ! / How wonderful, the Son is God’s expression / Come in the flesh to dwell with all mankind! / Redemption’s work, how perfectly effective, / That sinners we with God might oneness find. / The Spirit is the Son’s transfiguration / Come into us as life the full supply. / Amazing fact, our spirit with the Spirit / Now mingles and in oneness joins thereby! (Hymns #608 stanzas 2-4)
  – Holding Christ, as members growing, / Each his function must observe; / Christ receiving, Christ partaking, / To His Body Christ we serve. / Fellowship and testimony, / Ministry and worship too, / In all helps and ministrations / Christ is all our service true. (Hymns #912 stanzas 4-5)
  – Many gifts the Lord has given, / That His Body He may build, / That the saints may be perfected / And their ministry fulfilled. / Thus we must put off the old man / That we may put on the new; / Thus, renewed in mind and spirit, / We will bear God’s image true. (Hymns #823 stanza 7)