2025年8月11日星期一

Christ as God's Fullness VS Christ as Rich Soil

 

Christ as God's Fullness VS Christ as Rich Soil

Col 2:6-7 "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him"

Col 2:10 "You are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power"

Col 2:19 "From whom all the body...grows with the increase that is from God"

Phil 1:19 Abundant supply so we lack nothing

 

Item

Christ as God's Fullness

Christ as Rich Soil

Definition

All the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Christ, and Christ is the expression of God's riches—not merely God's riches, but the expression of the riches of what God is

Christ as our living land and rich soil, in whom we are rooted, enabling us to walk in Him and absorb Him, so that we may grow by the elements absorbed from this soil

Nature & Characteristics

Static state of being

• Emphasizes what Christ is in His fullness

Theological ontological description

Eternal unchanging fact

Complete expression of divinity

Dynamic supply system

• Emphasizes Christ's functional role for believers

Practical functional description

Continuous ongoing experience

Living vital supply

Core Distinctions

Perspective: From God's viewpoint of Christ

Focus: Christ's identity and being

Relationship: God and Christ's relationship

Tense: Eternal fact

Function: Reveals God's glory

Emphasis: Christ's completeness and richness

Perspective: From believers' viewpoint of Christ

Focus: Christ's function and supply

Relationship: Christ and believers' relationship

Tense: Continuous experience

Function: Supplies believers' growth

Emphasis: Christ's supply and nourishment

Examples

Incarnation: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth"

Divine Expression: Christ fully expresses the image of the invisible God

Fullness Dwelling: All fullness dwells in Him

Complete Expression: Christ is the exact expression of God's being

Rooted and Built up: Believers rooted in Christ like plants rooted in soil for growth

Absorbing Nourishment: Believers absorb spiritual nutrients from Christ as soil

Element Supply: Christ contains elements like death, burial, resurrection, life

Lacking Nothing: In this soil believers lack nothing, being perfected and completed

Rich Elements

Content of Fullness:

All fullness of the Godhead

Complete expression of what God is

God's history and mystery

Riches of His Person and process

Unsearchable riches

Eight Elements of the Soil:

1. Circumcision Element: Power to put flesh to death

2. Burial Element: Causes us to be buried

3. Resurrection Element: Causes us to be resurrected

4. Life Element: Makes us alive

5. Blotting Element: Blots out ordinances written against us

6. Victory Element: Overcomes evil spirits in the air

7. Headship Authority: Head over all principalities and powers

8. Complete Supply: Makes believers filled, perfected, completed

Related Scriptures

Col 2:9 "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"

Col 1:15 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation"

Col 1:19 "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell"

Eph 1:23 "The church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all"

John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth"

Eph 3:8 "The unsearchable riches of Christ"

Col 3:10-11 Range of God's rich expression

Col 2:11 "In Him you were also circumcised...by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh"

Col 2:12 "Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him"

Col 2:13 "God has forgiven you all trespasses, having made you alive together with Christ"

Col 2:14 "Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements...nailing it to the cross"

Col 2:15 "Having disarmed principalities and powers...triumphing over them in it"

1 Cor 3:6,9 "I planted...you are God's field"

Practical Applications

Cognitive Level:

Establish correct knowledge of Christ's divinity

Build faith foundation of Christ's complete divinity

Understand depth and height of Christology

Know and worship Christ's fullness

Worship Focus:

Worship Christ as God's complete expression

Praise God's fullness dwelling in Christ

Life Practice:

Draw supply from Christ in daily life

Learn to walk in Christ

Build solid spiritual foundation

Experience the working of Christ's various elements

Growth Exercise:

Continuously draw life supply from Christ

Let Christ's elements work in us

Root deeper in Christ as soil

Dealing with Negative Aspects

Victory through Fullness:

Christ's fullness overcomes all emptiness

God's riches transcend world's poverty

Christ's completeness overcomes human lack

Soil's Killing Power:

• Deal with flesh: circumcision element kills flesh

• Deal with ordinances: blot out accusations against us

• Deal with evil spirits: overcome principalities and powers in the air

• Bury old man: buried with Christ in baptism

Positive Supply

Giving of Fullness:

We are made full in Him

Filled with all divine riches

Become His expression of fullness

Nourishment from Soil:

Supply of resurrection life

Life-giving elements make us alive

Makes us filled, perfected, completed

Thoroughly supplied, lacking nothing

Integrated Relationship

Foundational Position:

Christ must first be God's fullness before He can be our rich soil. His fullness is the foundation and source of His ability to supply us.

Experiential Pathway:

Our absorption from Christ as soil is the concrete way and practical method of experiencing His fullness.

Ultimate Goal

God's Glory:

Express God's glory, manifest God's fullness in Christ, so that God receives complete expression

Believers' Growth:

Believers grow to maturity in Christ, built up as God's dwelling place, corporately expressing Christ

 

Summary Points:


Complementary Relationship:

"Christ as God's Fullness" and "Christ as Rich Soil" are not opposing concepts but complementary aspects:

  • Fullness explains Christ's essential identity - He is the dwelling of the Godhead's fullness
  • Soil explains Christ's functional role - He is the supply source for believers' growth


Complete Picture:

Together they present Christ as both the full God and the supplier of believers' life, moving from static theological knowledge to dynamic life experience, from objective truth facts to subjective spiritual experience.


Practical Balance:

Believers should both know what Christ is in His fullness, establishing a solid faith foundation, and experience what Christ gives as soil, continuously growing in spiritual life, ultimately reaching completeness and maturity in Christ.

 

*Please refer to the 2025 June Semi-Annual Summer Training, General Topic: Experiencing, Enjoying, and Manifesting Christ (Part 3), Part 2: Knowing Christ as Our Model and Taking Him as Our Model

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