Austin Bible Church
As members of the royal family of God, we should bear a family resemblance. Gal. 3:26; 1 John 1:1.
"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26, NASB)
"What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—" (1 John 1:1, NASB)
Jesus Christ as God is the manifest person of the Trinity. John 1:18; John 6:46; 1 Tim. 6:16; 1 John 4:12.
"No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. " (John 1:18, NASB)
" "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. " (John 6:46, NASB)
"who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen." (1 Timothy 6:16, NASB)
"No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us." (1 John 4:12, NASB)
Jesus Christ as humanity set the pattern for the filling of the Holy Spirit. In His humanity, Jesus Christ was the most perfectly adjusted person. Luke 2:40; Luke 2:52.
"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;" (Ephesians 5:1, NASB)
"And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." (Luke 2:52, NASB)
Believers are commanded to become imitators of the manifest person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ. Eph. 5:1; Gal. 4:19.
"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;" (Ephesians 5:1, NASB)
"My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—" (Galatians 4:19, NASB)
This command can only be executed when the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit. Gal. 3:16-17; Phil. 1:20-21.
"Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise." (Galatians 3:16-17, NASB)
"according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:20-21, NASB)
This is compatible with the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age. John 7:39; John 16:14; 1 Cor. 6:19-20.
"But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." (John 7:39, NASB)
" "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. " (John 16:14, NASB)
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NASB)
The filling of the Holy Spirit produces the character of Jesus Christ in the believer. This fulfills the command to become imitators of Jesus Christ. Gal. 5:22-23; 2 Cor. 3:3.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23, NASB)
"being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." (2 Corinthians 3:3, NASB)