Being Sanctified unto Sonship by Living in, by, with, and according to the Spirit

Today we are being sanctified unto sonship by living in, by, and according to the Spirit.

Our becoming God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead was initiated by God the Father in eternity past: He chose us to be holy and predestinated us unto sonship; the divine sanctification for the divine sonship is the center of the divine economy and the central thought of the revelation in the New Testament. Amen!

The Bible speaks concerning one amazing matter, which can be considered the “diamond” in the “box” of the Bible – God became man to make man God in life and nature but not in the Godhead.

This is quite amazing, for the God the Bible reveals is not just someone who created all things and also made man to fellowship with Him; He created man in His image and according to His likeness so that man would become the same as God.

We men are made in the image of God and according to His likeness, and we have a human spirit, where the Lord as the Spirit comes to dwell.

But man fell, for he was deceived by Satan, God’s enemy; because man fell, he became mankind, no longer expressing God.

Actually, we can become God’s duplication, the same as He is, only by having His life.

So the first man, Adam, did not partake of the life of God, and therefore after fall, he bore the image of Satan, the one who corrupted and ruined his being.

Instead of expressing God, we now express Satan; even when we think we express ourselves, we actually express Satan.

But praise the Lord, He came to be a man and bring us back to Himself!

God became a man; He put on the human nature and was incarnated, and the four Gospels detail the wonderful God-man living and all-inclusive death of Christ on the cross.

When you read the Gospels, you cannot but be amazed and drawn to this wonderful Person.

God in Christ drew us with cords of a man, that is, through Christ’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.

These are the cords of a man, the bands of love, that God draws us with; we are drawn to Him, we open to Him, and we receive His life and nature.

Even from ancient times, the Triune God was preparing to come forth out of eternity into time so that He would bring His divinity into man’s humanity and become a man (Micah 5:2).

He wanted to move not only among man and with man but even more, in man. He made man as a vessel, and now He came to fill this vessel.

After the Lord Jesus resurrected, He became a life-giving Spirit to come into man’s spirit and fill man with God’s life.

Whoever believes into the Lord, that is, receives Him by faith, is forgiven of his sins, receives God’s life, and becomes a child of God.

We become children of God, born of God, to become the same as God – our Father – in every possible way, but not in the Godhead or in His person. Hallelujah!

God Chose us to be Holy and Predestinated us unto Sonship for us to be Deified

In eternity past, when God chose us and predestinated us, He chose us and predestinated us to become Him in life and nature, but not in the Godhead.

Our becoming God in life and nature but not in the Godhead was not initiated by us but by God the Father in eternity past.

In eternity past, God the Father chose us in Christ to be holy and without blemish before Him in love (Eph. 1:4).

God chose us to be holy, that is, to become the same as He is in His nature of holiness.

To be sanctified is to be made holy, which is to be separated unto God and saturated with God as the Holy One (1 Pet. 1:15-16; Eph. 1:4-5).

God is the only One who is different, distinct from everything that is common, and He chose us to be holy and without blemish before Him in love.

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy in order for us to become God in nature. Amen!

God is the only One who is holy, and for us to be holy, we need Him to be dispensed into us in His nature to make us holy as He is holy.

We are chosen to be holy even as God is holy; we are to be holy in all our manner of life.

We are partakers of the divine nature, which is holiness; we can partake of the nature of God to become the same as He is in His nature.

God is the only One who is holy; for us to be holy, we need God in His holy nature dispensed into us.

This holy nature, which is God in His nature being dispensed into us, becomes the holy element with which the Holy Spirit sanctifies us to make us holy even as God is holy (2 Pet. 1:4; Heb. 12:14).

Eph. 1:5 further says that God predestinated us unto sonship.

Even before we were created, God predestinated us unto sonship in order for us to become God in life. Wow!

On one hand, God chose us to be holy so that we may become the same as God in His holy nature.

On the other hand, He predestinated us unto sonship so that we may become the same as He is in life.

For us to become sons of God, we must be born of God by the dispensing of God’s life into our being (John 1:12-13; 3:6; 1 John 5:11-12).

When we have the Son of God, we have the life, for the Son of God is the life.

When we receive the Lord Jesus into us as life by believing into Him, we become children of God, those who have the life of God to be regenerated as God’s sons. Hallelujah!

Eph. 1:4-5 reveals that God chose us to be holy for the purpose of our being made sons of God. He chose us to be holy so that we may be the sons of God.

God chose us in Christ to be holy, predestinating us unto sonship.

This is not something of ourselves; it is of the Father’s choosing and predestination.

Even before we were born, God chose us in Christ to be holy, that is, to become the same as He is in His nature.

And He predestinated us unto sonship, that is, for us to partake of God’s life and become the same as He is in His life. Hallelujah!

We are now in the process of being made holy to be the same as God is in His nature, and we’re also in the process of becoming sons of God in full, that is, becoming the same as God is in His life.

To be made holy is the process, the procedure, whereas to be sons of God is the aim, the goal, so that our whole being – including our mortal body (Rom. 8:23) – may be “sonized” by God (Rev. 21:2, 9-11). Wow!

We are being sanctified day by day so that we may be sonized, that is, to enter into the full sonship; we are partaking of God’s life and nature to become the same as God in His life and nature!

Heb. 2:10-11 further reveals that the resurrected Christ as the Captain, the Author, of God’s salvation is leading us, the many sons of God, into glory by sanctifying us.

He is sanctifying us to sonize us and make us the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead.

We believers in Christ are sons of God, but those around us cannot see this, for all they see is men in flesh and bones.

But one day we will be fully led into glory to be sons of God in full; the consummation of the process of being sanctified is that we become the same as God in life and nature. Hallelujah!

Thank You, Father, for choosing us to be holy, predestinating us unto sonship! Hallelujah, God chose us in Christ to be holy and without blemish before Him in love. Praise the Lord, we have been chosen by God to partake of His holy nature and become the same as God is in His nature of holiness! Thank You, Father, for predestinating us unto sonship so that we may become the same as You are in life. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are sons of God, and one day we will be the same as God in life and nature, but not in the Godhead! Thank You, Lord, for dispensing Your life into us to make us children of God. We open to You today. Go on in us and sanctify us a little more today so that we may arrive at the full sonship. Hallelujah, the resurrected Christ is the Captain, the Author of God’s salvation, and He is leading the many sons into glory by sanctifying them! Praise the Lord!

Being Sanctified unto Sonship by Living in, by, with, and according to the Spirit

May the Lord grant us to see the revelation that God Himself initiated the process of deification; God chose us to be holy, He predestinated us unto sonship, and He will take care of this.

When we see this, we will do one thing: we will live in the Spirit, by the Spirit, with the Spirit, and according to the Spirit so that we may be sanctified unto sonship.

Both sanctification and the sonship are carried out by the Spirit. The Spirit sanctifies us, and the Spirit cause us to be sons of God in full.

This is why Eph. 1:3 calls this a spiritual blessing, a blessing by the Spirit. For us to be sanctified unto sonship, we need to live in the Spirit, by the Spirit, and with the Spirit (Rom. 8:4).

It is when we live according to the Spirit that the righteous requirement of the law is spontaneously and automatically fulfilled in us.

When we have our being by the Spirit and act according to the Spirit, we are ready to grow in the divine life.

And we will learn to be nourished spiritually by reading the holy word of God, by listening to the spiritual speaking, and by coming to the meetings to be under the hearing of the faith.

In this way, we will grow in life. For us to grow in life, we need to be right with the Spirit, deal with the Spirit, and do everything in the Spirit.

Many times we as parents may be unrestricted in what we tell our spouse or our children; instead of speaking according to our taste and feeling, we need to allow the Spirit to regulate us and adjust us.

Before speaking to our spouse or children, we need to contact the Lord and live in Spirit, even to let the Spirit speak in us and through us.

When we cooperate with the Spirit in a practical way day by day, when we allow the Spirit to regulate, correct, and adjust us from within, we will be in the process of being sanctified unto sonship.

The Spirit sanctifies us unto sonship.

He begets us to be born of God (John 3:6), for what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

May we learn to have our whole being in the spirit and live in, by, with, and according to the Spirit to be sanctified unto sonship (Rom. 15:16).

May the Lord save us from being a Christian for many years and not growing; may the Lord rescue us from remaining stagnant, not growing, and not advancing in the spiritual life.

It is sad to see some saints who have been in the church life for many years and who love the Lord, read the Bible, listen to messages, and regularly attend the meetings, but they do not grow in life, for they do not care for the Spirit. Oh Lord.

Instead of exercising their spirit and living in the mingled spirit, they speak freely, gossip, and they even criticize others.

May the Lord save us from only being in the church life in an outward way without being in the intrinsic reality of the church by living according to the Spirit.

May we take care of the Spirit so that we may be sanctified unto sonship. And for us to take care of the Spirit is to take care of our spirit.

Hallelujah for our mingled spirit – the Spirit mingled with our spirit as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).

If we see that God chose us to be holy and He predestinated us unto sonship, we will cooperate with Him by living according to the Spirit so that we may be sanctified unto sonship and therefore be deified.

May we remain in this process day by day, learning to live in the Spirit, with the Spirit, by the Spirit, and according to the Spirit.

Lord Jesus, we want to live in the Spirit, with the Spirit, by the Spirit, and according to the Spirit so that we may be sanctified unto sonship! May our whole being be according to the Spirit. Keep our being open to You so that we may be sanctified unto sonship. Sanctify us more today. May our daily living be in the Spirit and according to the Spirit. Oh Lord, may our speaking to our spouse and to those around us be regulated, corrected, and adjusted by the Spirit within. We want to say everything and do everything according to the Spirit. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we advance with You little by little, day by day. We do not want to remain the same. We want to exercise our spirit and take care of the Spirit by allowing the Spirit to regulate our living from within. Keep us in the process of being sanctified unto sonship today!

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, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 2, “The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ,” pp. 480-481, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery Before His Appearing (2023 July Semiannual Training), week 1, entitled, The Ultimate Goal of God’s Economy – God Became Man that Man Might Become God in Life and in Nature but not in the Godhead for the Building up of the Body of Christ to Consummate the New Jerusalem.
• Similar reading on this topic:
  – Preparation of the Bride Now and When the Lord Jesus Returns, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – God’s way of leading many sons into glory, a portion from, Life-Study of Hebrews, Chapter 67.
  – Christ’s Birth in Resurrection, article at, Living to Him.
  – Sanctification – the process of God’s organic salvation, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Sanctification for sonship in our daily life, a portion from, The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – God ordained us unto sonship, a hymn and commentary via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Predestinated unto sonship, a portion from, Basic Training, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – What’s the Difference between Sanctification and Transformation? Read more via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God before the world’s foundation / Chose the Church in Christ the Son, / That the Church might share the sonship, / Holy, blameless, with Him one; / That the Church be His possession / With the Spirit as the seal, / Of our heritage the earnest / While His Son He does reveal. (Hymns #823 stanza 1)
  – God ordained us unto sonship, / Ere creation’s work was done, / To conform us by His Spirit / To the image of His Son; / That His only dear Begotten / Might become the firstborn One, / And by Him with many brethren / His expression full be won. (Hymns #741 stanza 1)
  – Even we ourselves are groaning, / Till we reach maturity; / We are growing into sonship, / With Christ in conformity…Heirs with Christ in our full sonship, / We’ll His heritage possess, / Glorified with Him as brethren, / God’s full glory we’ll express. (Hymns #970 stanzas 3 and 7)