The central thought of the book of Romans is not justification, sanctification, or even glorification, but sonship – God desires to have many sons to bring into glory, and for this Christ Himself as a man in the flesh was designated the Son of God in power in His resurrection (Rom. 1:3-4) to be the Firstborn Son of God, and we are the many brothers (Rom. 8:28-29).
In accomplishing His heart’s desire to have many sons, the first step was for God to be incarnated as a man; through incarnation, God put on human nature, and through His death, He dealt with and terminated every negative thing related to humanity.
During His time on earth as a Man in the flesh, the Lord Jesus was the Only Begotten Son of God in His divinity, but His human part – His humanity – was not the Son of God. However, through His death on the cross, Christ entered into the process of being designated the Son of God in His humanity.
Through His crucifixion, Christ’s human part was put to death and His divine part – the Spirit within Him – was being made alive, strong, and operating to resurrect, uplift, and bring His humanity into His divinity.
In His resurrection Christ was glorified; just as a grain of wheat is “put to death” by being buried in the ground and is “glorified” by bearing fruit through sprouting, growing, and fruit-bearing, so Christ “blossomed” in His resurrection and was regenerated by God to be the Firstborn Son of God in His humanity. Wow, this is so amazing!
The first One to be regenerated by God to be His Son in Christ’s resurrection was Christ Himself; He became the firstborn Son of God, and we all were regenerated in His resurrection to be the many brothers of Christ and the many sons of God!
Now we all as believers in Christ and genuine sons of God are in the process of being brought into glory to be designated sons of God for His corporate expression and manifestation in the flesh. Hallelujah, God is now transforming sinners in the flesh into sons of God in power in resurrection through the Spirit of holiness!
In Resurrection Christ was Designated the Son of God in His Humanity
When Christ was being put to death on the cross, His human part was dying but His Spirit was very active, made alive, and operating (see 1 Pet. 3:18).
Through incarnation, Christ had two natures: the divine nature in His spirit and the human nature, the flesh (the likeness of the flesh of sin). In His divine part – His Spirit – Christ was the Son of God; He was the only begotten Son of God from eternity to eternity, possessing the divine nature (John 3:16). But in His human nature, Christ was not the Son of God but was the Son of Man, possessing humanity; this humanity had nothing to do with divinity.
When He was put to death in His flesh, the Spirit started to operate in Him to resurrect Him and make Him alive. His human part was crucified and put to death, but God the Spirit as Christ’s divinity was strengthened, released, and active, and He brought divinity into His humanity and brought His humanity into His divinity to make His humanity divine.
In Christ’s resurrection, His divinity as the Spirit was made strong to impart Himself into His humanity and make it divine; therefore, in His resurrection Christ became the Son of God in His humanity.
This is similar to how a carnation seed is “glorified” – it is by being put into the ground and “dying”; in the ground the life germ and life power is released and operates in the carnation seed, and it will sprout, grow, and eventually blossom – this blossom is its glorification. For the Lord Jesus, crucifixion was the best way to be designated, glorified, and resurrection.
Just as the seed dies by being buried in the soil and it sprouts, grows, and blossoms because of the operation of that seed’s life is activated simultaneously with its death, so the operation of Christ’s life was triggered by His death in His humanity and, in His resurrection, He sprouted, grew, and blossomed by being begotten of God in His humanity and by regenerating us as His much fruit.
The Spirit of holiness in Christ became operative in his death, and in His resurrection Christ “blossomed” as the Son of God! According to His flesh, Christ was crucified, but in His resurrection God the Spirit as Christ’s divinity was made strong, very active, to put divinity into the humanity of Christ to make it divine; this is what it means to designate, and this is to sonize (see 1 Pet. 3:18).
On the one hand, in His death everything negative in the universe was cleared up and terminated, and on the other hand, in His death His divine life started to operate and in His resurrection Christ was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness (Rom. 1:3-4), and He was made the firstborn Son of God!
Praise You Lord for the process You went through to be designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness. Thank You for becoming a man, putting on humanity – which had nothing to do with divinity – and then going to the cross, dying in Your human part, and being raised from the dead. Lord, how we praise You for Your marvelous resurrection in which You were designated the Son of God by bringing Your humanity into Your divinity and divinizing Your humanity! Hallelujah for Christ, the Designated Son of God in resurrection!
In His Resurrection Christ was Begotten to be the Firstborn Son of God in His Humanity
Christ was already the Son of God – He was, is, and forever will be the only begotten Son of God according to His divinity, from eternity to eternity. But through incarnation Christ put on human nature, having the likeness of the flesh of sin yet without sin; this human part was not the Son of God when He was on the earth, but was the Son of Man.
However, through His death His human shell was broken, and in His resurrection Christ’s humanity was designated, marked out, uplifted by the Spirit of holiness (the divinity of Christ) into divinity (Acts 13:33). In His resurrection Christ was begotten again by God in his humanity to be the firstborn Son of God; this is why the Father exclaimed, You are My Son: today I have begotten You (Psa. 2:7 as quoted in Acts 13:33).
Through His human birth Christ was born as a man, and that human part was not the Son of God, but through resurrection Christ uplifted His humanity and put His divinity into this humanity, being begotten thus by God in His humanity as the Firstborn Son of God!
The first One to be regenerated in Christ’s resurrection was Christ Himself: He became the firstborn Son of God in His humanity, and He also regenerated millions of believers to be the many sons of God and the many brothers of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3). So we all were regenerated not when we received the Lord in time after hearing the gospel but 2000 years ago together with Christ in His resurrection!
Christ Himself became the Firstborn Son of God, and He is also the prototype; we are His reproduction, duplication, and continuation to be the many sons of God, the members of the prototype to be His Body, which consummates in the New Jerusalem!
He released His activating and designating life in His resurrection not only for Him to be designated the Son of God in power in His humanity but also to make us the many sons of God and the many brothers of Christ!
Our hope today is that, as Christ was designated Son of God in His resurrection, we also will have our humanity brought into divinity and we will be designated sons of God – the same as Christ, our elder Brother as the prototype!
Lord Jesus, thank You for regenerating us with Your divine life in Your resurrection to make us the many sons of God, Your many brothers. Wow, Lord, how we appreciate Your resurrection through which Your humanity was designated, marked out, and uplifted by the Spirit of holiness into Your divinity, thus becoming the Firstborn Son of God in Your humanity. Lord, keep us in the process of being conformed to Your image as the firstborn Son of God until our whole being will be swallowed up and filled by Your divine life so that we may become Your sons in full, expressing You corporately!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans, msg. 18 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection and Ascension, week 2 / msg 2, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection (2) – The Seed of David Becoming the Son of God by Resurrection.
- All verses are taken from, Recovery Version Bible.
- Hymns to strengthen the burden in this article:
# Then Thou wast raised up from the dead, / Still with the human nature true; / And as a man in form divine, / Thou didst ascend to heaven too. (Hymns #61)
# 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)
# By Thy death and resurrection, / Thou wast made God’s firstborn Son; / By Thy life to us imparting, / Was Thy duplication done. / We, in Thee regenerated, / Many sons to God became; / Truly as Thy many brethren, / We are as Thyself the same. (Hymns #203)
The Son of God in resurrection is different from the only begotten Son of God. The only begotten Son of God was only divine, without humanity. But the Son of God in resurrection is both divine and human, so this Son of God is not the only Begotten but the Firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:29). Thus, we may say that Christ in His humanity was thefirst one regenerated, so He became our firstborn Brother, and we became His many brothers. He and we all were regenerated in His resurrection. (Witness Lee, Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans, p. 193)