10.2 Symmorphic Man
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
Christianity says that Jesus is God, yet they envision Him as neither omnipresent nor eternal, neither all here nor all now.
But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12). God says that Jesus is a Man seated at the right hand of God, a Man who, because God is all here and all now, must also be all here and all now, that is, omnipresent and eternal.
There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man, Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). A Mediator is one who fits in fullness both parties; Jesus fits God as much as and in the same way that Jesus fits man. Jesus is the pattern by which you and I are designed.
Already Symmorphic
Know that I am in the Father and you in Me and I in you. Humans were created for symmorphy. Humans were created to be filled with other persons, that these other persons would share the same form with humans, person inside of person.
We know, however, that humans do not “have the potential to be” symmorphic; rather, humans ARE symmorphic. ALL humans contain in their form other persons that are not human. Either those other persons are Father and Son or they are angelic spirits. The prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2b). Other persons live inside all who do not hear Christ.
Some Questions
Let’s list some questions raised by this simple line Jesus spoke.
1. How can Jesus’ Person be inside of my person such that Jesus and I are one, yet that we never lose our individuality?
2. How can persons be IN each other without contention, or without one dominating the other?
3. How can God be sovereign AND humans be free?
4. How can my will be IN Jesus’ will and Jesus’ will be IN my will with complete symmetry on the one hand and with no violation of the integrity of our persons on the other hand.
If we can understand my will IN Jesus’ will and Jesus’ will IN my will, then we can understand every other part of being IN.
What Is a Person?
But first we start with person. What is a person? Let’s bring in a condensed statement from Lesson 4.3 God Is a Person. A person is an individual and unique sentient being, that is, a being with full self-awareness including a mind that thinks one’s own thoughts, a heart of desire, and the freedom to make personal choices. We are persons because God is a Person.
Much of the idea that people call “oneness” does not come from the Bible: “Everything’s one, brother, everything’s cool.” Jesus said, “ONE,” most certainly, but He also defined ONE very specifically – “You in Me and I in you.” Person inside of person, with each person acknowledged and honored, yet also together as one, just as Jesus and the Father.
Always Together; Always One
In speaking of Christ as my life, I never see myself as anything other than my own person honored in all ways by Jesus. And I never see Jesus as anything other than His own person, my Savior, the One upon whose breast I always lean my head. I always see both of our persons, AND I see us always together as one – both ways of seeing without contradiction. I sink myself into Him and He into all that is me in my thinking and heart on a regular basis.
Godly symmorphy NEVER violates the integrity of any individual person; demonic symmorphy always does. The “oneness” of the evil one seeks to eliminate the person of Jesus so that it might eliminate your person as well.
One Life, Not One Person
Unfortunately, Norman Grubb used the word “person” when He should have used the word “life.” And thus so many who ascribe to his teaching abandon Jesus and see themselves ALONE as an extension of God’s “person.”
I cannot be alone; it’s no good, no good at all, as God said.
Now, the LIFE of Jesus IS my life, but life and person are two different things. Father and Son honor one another as individuals: Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. Yet Jesus said: One, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You (John 17:1 & 21). One, yes, but NOT the same one, with each individual Person highly honored by the other.
What Does IN Mean?
First, we note that it is one person IN another Person, and the second Person IN the first person, both “IN’s” together. And second we note a complete absence of qualifying words on either side of either “IN.”
Here is the Greek:
| Hymeis | en | emoi | kagÅ | en | hymin |
| You | IN | Me | and I | IN | you |
Notice the unqualified and absolute infinity of the word IN. Describe ANYTHING that is part of Jesus and I am IN that; describe ANYTHING that is part of me and Jesus is IN that. Paul goes so far as to say that if a believer puts his member into a prostitute, he is putting Christ into that prostitute! (in an ungodly, non-life way) (1 Corinthians 6 – check it out).
Two Mighty Giants
Two mighty giants confound all who seek to walk with God, separation and collectivism, two giants that seem to be opposites yet that always work together with the same result. Separation isolates God, Jesus, Salvation, the cross, the blood, and you and me and everything else from each other. Jesus is “up there,” a tiny impotent far away thing. The blood and cross are “back then.” And salvation is “far in the future.” Collectivism calls you a “Christed one” all by yourself one moment, BUT merges you into the ether the next, claiming that there is no personal “you.” Separation places massive walls between Jesus and us, and collectivism eliminates “you” and “me,” leaving only “IN” remaining – “Everything’s IN, bro.”
Two Lanes and Two Ditches
I in you. If you don’t exist, Christ can’t be in YOU.
Every road has two ditches, and most roads have two lanes. You in Me is one lane, and I in you is the other; Godly symmorphy always goes in both directions at the same time.
| ^ Separation ^ _______________________________ |
| You in Me –> |
| <– I in you ____________________________________________________ |
| v Collectivism v |
We Are NOT Alone
New age “Christedness” and Church-group collectiveness place the requirements of salvation upon the individual. Isolating God far from us and “get right with God” separation place the requirements of salvation upon the individual. The primary result in our own hearts of both collectivism and separation is the intense weight of self: I am alone. Both ditches are pits of loneliness.
It is NOT good to be alone. And we are not; we are not alone. We know that the lines of the highway are Christ Jesus Himself, His cross, and that He utterly keeps us safe. Christ is WITH us, and Christ is One with us. You and I rest entirely upon His mighty shoulders, yet we call Him our life.
Pitting God against God
What about our will versus God’s will? How can God be absolutely sovereign yet humans be utterly free. How can a God “in charge” never push anyone around?
There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all (1 Corinthians 12:6). – It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). Paul clearly places God Himself IN all that we are and IN all that we do, including our will.
The sovereignty of God is 100% Biblical and Godly; the freedom of each individual is 100% Biblical and Godly. Yet Christianity always pits these as one OR the other, pitting God against God, convinced that both cannot be true.
Acknowledgement
The key word for us is acknowledgement, or actively knowing by speaking what God says, otherwise known as faith. Although trust is receptive, faith itself is never passive. Faith is always actively knowing that God is always HERE and NOW working in me to Will and to Do His good pleasure.
More than that, unbelief, faith turned in the wrong direction, is also just as active; we could call unbelief “anti-faith.” Anti-faith is always speaking and acknowledging that our will is separate from God’s will, and thus anti-faith sees ourselves as contrary to, always at war with, God.
Let me be plain-spoken. Symmorphy is a miracle.
I Believe in Miracles
And if it is a miracle that God orders all my steps and thoughts and decisions by His almighty power exercising absolute dominion AND, in equal measure, I am 100% free in the making of all my decisions with God never ever imposing Himself on me, then, Hey, I guess I believe in miracles! And yes, this is exactly how I see my symmorphy with Jesus.
Because I see Jesus as a Man – ALL HERE NOW and Personal in me. I see Jesus and me as one in union; I see Jesus and me as two in communion; and I see Jesus and me as one in expression. I see this BECAUSE I speak Christ Jesus as my only life and BECAUSE I always NEED someOne bigger than me.
Two in Communion
Symmorphy means one in union, two in communion, one in expression. One in Spirit, two in person, yet with Jesus as my only self, person inside of Person, Person inside of person, one in Body. “Two in communion” never means anything outside of me tucked utterly into Jesus.
Yet I make stupid decisions all the time. Just last night my son called me to invite me to join him for a Father’s day gift. Except I heard something totally different than what he said. Awhile later he called again and said, “Where are you?” He was forgiving, but my foolishness disappointed my son.
Do We Know God?
There is great argument that claims that “If God were the One making your decisions for you, then all your decisions would be perfect and you would make no mistakes.” They say that because they DO NOT KNOW God.
Here is God, can we see Him? - God always reveals Himself through weakness, swallowing up into Himself all that we are including our sin and rebellion, becoming us in our present state, limiting Himself by our weakness. Thus, carrying us inside Himself, stumbling and falling along the way, He arises out of death into life, ascending on high, and we inside of Him. -
Most people use an angel (the serpent) to define God.
Inhuman Means Un-Godly
I watched a show recently that showed an army of slaves that had been stripped of all self-identity and had become absolutely obedient without question. I was struck with how inhuman AND un-Godly such a condition was.
God is life and life is that which arises from beneath and turns what appears to be a mistake into unending goodness regardless. A serpentine “God” is always focused on outward appearance. Our Father is always arising from beneath of us, carrying our griefs and sorrows, turning all things into goodness, utterly together with us.
Opposing Concepts Always Together
Our symmorphy is always taking place inside this Father who is always arising from beneath of us and inside this Jesus who utterly carries us. I never see myself any other way BECAUSE I speak what God speaks made personal in and as me.
Now, having two seemingly opposing concepts, always together as one, works in so many different directions. I am crucified with Christ; Jesus lives now as me. – YET I am born again, a being entirely of my Father! God is symmorphosing me together with Jesus, two persons sharing the same form – YET He is also transforming me into the same image as Jesus.
Because God Says
I am found always inside of Jesus with no sufficiency in myself, YET I am made just like Him as well. Jesus said “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but only what He sees the Father doing,” YET He also said, “He that has seen Me has seen the Father – the Father and I are one.” Jesus always connects me with Father and Father with me, YET Jesus also constructs me by the very same genetic code that is Father.
Because most Christians are convinced that God cannot do the impossible, they imagine that these contrary propositions must cancel each other out. I just believe both – because God says.