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The three in ONE refers to the godhead, right? The ONE being god in completeness.
No.
But there is the oneness of the Triune God with the church for an eternal expression in glory.
Jesus' mighty petition will be answered as He made intercession to the Father
"That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; . . . And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.
Father, concerning that which You have given Me, I desire that they also may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." (See John 17:21-24)
As one and united and blended and mingled as this prayer is about, it is not the Godhead in the future being the church.
The Godhead can only be eternal from eternity past. He can have a plan to be dispensed into a corporate vessel for an expression of God one with man for eternity future.
God’s goal is not merely to have many individual believers. He wants to have a corporate man, the church, as His counterpart, His Body, for His corporate expression. This is God’s eternal economy, His plan, His purpose, and His arrangement. It is also the desire of God’s heart. This matter is clearly revealed in the Bible.
Let's see if we can see this more clearly expressed in the same publication, that the Godhead is the Triune God.
In the same way, our God is triune for the purpose of working Himself into us. He is the Father, the whole “melon.” He is also the Son, being “cut into pieces.” He is also the Spirit, being “pressed into juice.” In order for a big melon to enter into man, it must pass through all these processes. These steps are the stages of the dispensing. Not only does the melon need to be dispensed, but it must also be digested and assimilated into the constitution of man. In the same way, the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—has been processed to become the life-giving Spirit so that we can drink Him and so that He can become our element. This is the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
This is the same as the Apostle Paul praying that "to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever. Amen." (Eph. 1:21)
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Could Lee have meant the church will be the Godhead? No.
" The ultimate purpose of God is to work Himself into us in order that He may be our life and everything to us so that one day we can become Him. But this does not mean that we can become part of the Godhead and be the same as the unique God. We have to know that although we are born of God and have God’s life to become God’s children, His house, and His household, we do not have a share in His sovereignty or His person and cannot be worshipped as God.
The word is the Spirit (John 6:63). While the Lord Jesus was on earth, not only did He speak for God, but He also came to dispense the Spirit (3:34). The Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. Through this dispensing, which is without measure, the processed Triune God is injected into us to become our all.
Lee doesn't say that the church is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.
He says the Holy Spirit is.
This Triune God had a pleasure and a desire in eternity past before the creation of the world. According to this pleasure and desire, the Divine Trinity had a conference of the Godhead and made the decision to create man in His image and according to His likeness so that from one created man He could propagate many men.
It is not that the church acted or can act in the creation of the universe or of man.
Only The Godhead from eternity past can have the position to be Creator no matter how God dispenses Himself as Spirit into the church.
In other words, we receive the life of God in addition to our life in the flesh. From that point on, we are born of God and become God’s children (1:12-13). God is our Father, and we are His household.
God's children do not become Creator of the universe.
God's household does not become the uncreated Creator of man.
Fifth, we will become the organism of the processed Triune God to express the Triune God Himself (15:1, 5, 8). This is our Christian life. It is also the church life.
The Triune God will express Himself. It does not say the Quadune God will.
These statements have to be examined with the other about "four-in-one".
Hence, the Spirit is the totality of the Divine Trinity and is also the ultimate consummation of the Divine Trinity. The Father is expressed in the Son. The Son is realized as the Spirit. The Spirit is the reality of the Triune God coming to us and entering into us to be our life. He is mingled with us and shares with us the same living.
So four in ONE refers to the same ONE, the same godhead who is now FOUR not THREE.
Only three are the Godhead. Throughout the publication the term "Triune God" or/and "Divinity Trinity" is used. That He is dispensed and one with the church is making a great oneness. It is not making the Godhead include the church.
The children of the Father do not occupy the status of the one unique Father.
So yes, Lee is saying, stating, claiming, that man will be in the godhead.
No he did not.
My bolding on this quotation and spacing this time from the SAME BOOK.
The ultimate purpose of God is to work Himself into us in order that He may be our life and everything to us so that one day we can become Him. But this does not mean that we can become part of the Godhead and be the same as the unique God.
We have to know that although we are born of God and have God’s life to become God’s children, His house, and His household, we do not have a share in His sovereignty or His person and cannot be worshipped as God.
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-Removed-Same publication [my spacing for clarity, my bolding.]
" The ultimate purpose of God is to work Himself into us in order that He may be our life and everything to us so that one day we can become Him. But this does not mean that we can become part of the Godhead and be the same as the unique God.
We have to know that although we are born of God and have God’s life to become God’s children, His house, and His household, we do not have a share in His sovereignty or His person and cannot be worshipped as God." - Witness Lee
https://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?n
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@divegeester
The evidence of what Witness Lee DID NOT MEAN is right there in front of your blinded prejudicial "cult" calling eyes.
Its right there in the same book for crying out loud.
I spaced it. I bolded it.
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"The ultimate purpose of God is to work Himself into us in order that He may be our life and everything to us so that one day we can become Him.
But this does not mean that we can become part of the Godhead and be the same as the unique God.
We have to know that although we are born of God and have God’s life to become God’s children, His house, and His household, we do not have a share in His sovereignty or His person and cannot be worshipped as God."
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@ghost-of-a-duke saidSonship why have you chosen to ignore this when I specifically pointed it out for your attention?
@sonship
Really try and focus on believers becoming the "organism of the Triune God Himself."
@ghost-of-a-duke saidBecause the man is liar and a deceiver.
Sonship why have you chosen to ignore this when I specifically pointed it out for your attention?
@sonship saidWhy are you ignoring this :
@divegeester
The evidence of what Witness Lee DID NOT MEAN is right there in front of your blinded prejudicial "cult" calling eyes.
Its right there in the same book for crying out loud.
I spaced it. I bolded it.
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"The ultimate purpose of God is to work Himself into us in order that He may be our life and everything to ...[text shortened]... ereignty or His person and cannot be worshipped as God."
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'The Triune God and the church are four-in-one. .. These four are the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the Body.'
FOUR IN ONE.
WHY DID LEE SAY IT.
WHY ARE YOU IGNORING IT.
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At this point in this discussion I have no doubt that Witness Lee did not teach man becomes the Godhead. This case is closed as far as I am concerned by QUOATATIONS from the very book.
The book being A Deeper Study of the Divine Dispensing.
A remaining question to me is WHY did Lee say "four-in-one"?
I think he said it to emphasize the theme of his messages - A Deeper Study of the Divine Dispensing. I think he said "four-in-one" to focus on a deeper look at the divine DISPENSING of God into man in God's eternal purpose and His full salvation.
@sonship saidThe only thing that is closed is your brain. Lee said:
This case is closed as far as I am concerned by QUOATATIONS from the very book.
.. the “four-in-one God.” These four are the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the Body.'
The four in one God :
- God
- Christ
- the Spirit
- the Body.
[Clearly he placed the body in the Godhead]
You are a stupid and deceitful man, promoting false doctrines and without a conscience.