I.　God's unique purpose is to mingle Himself with us so that He becomes our life, our nature, and our content and so that we become His corporate expression— John 14:20; 15:4-5; Eph. 3:16-21; 4:4-6, 16:

A.　The mingling of God and man is an intrinsic union of the elements of divinity and humanity to form one organic entity, yet the elements remain distinct in the union.

B.　The will of God is the mingling of God with man, and the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose depends on the mingling of divinity and humanity—1:5, 9; 3:11.

C.　The Lord Jesus Christ is the mingling of God and man—Luke 1:31-35.

D.　The Christian life is the mingling of divinity and humanity; to be a Christian means to be mingled with God, to be a God-man—2 Tim. 3:17:

1.　In His economy God mingles Himself with us to become one entity with us— 1 Cor. 6:17.

2.　We may be saved to the extent that we and God are completely mingled as one, having one life and one living—John 15:4-5; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a.

E.　The Body of Christ is the enlargement of Christ, the enlargement of the One who is the mingling of God and man—Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16:

1.　We need to understand the Body of Christ from the perspective of the mingling of divinity and humanity—vv. 4-6.

2.　In the Gospels the mingling of God and man produced the Head; in Acts the enlargement of the mingling of God and man produced the Body of Christ— Eph. 1:22-23; 4:15-16.

3.　In Ephesians 4:4-6 four persons—the Body, the Spirit, the Lord, and God the Father—are actively mingled together:

a.　The Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit is mingled with the believers.

b.　This mingling is the constitution of the Body of Christ.

4.　The processed and consummated Triune God mingles Himself with His chosen people in their humanity, and this mingling is the genuine oneness of the Body of Christ—v. 3; John 17:21-23.

F.　The true meaning of building is that God is building Himself into man and building man into Himself; this is the mingling of God and man—Eph. 2:21-22.

G.　The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation of the mingling of God and man—Rev. 21:2.

II.　We need to see a vision of the mingled spirit—the divine Spirit mingled with our regenerated human spirit—1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:4:

A.　The Father is in the Son, the Son is the Spirit, and the Spirit is now mingled with our spirit—John 14:9-10, 16-18; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; Rom. 8:16.

B.　The union of God and man is a union of the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man (1 Cor. 2:11-16); the union of these two spirits is the deepest mystery in the Bible.

C.　The focus of God's economy is the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit; whatever God intends to do or accomplish is related to this focus— Eph. 3:9, 5; 1:17; 2:22; 3:16; 4:23; 5:18; 6:18.

D.　The mingled spirit is both the Spirit of the Lord and our spirit—Rom. 8:4; 2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17.

E.　The mingled spirit is a spirit that is one spirit with God and that is the same as God in His life and nature but not in His Godhead—1 John 5:11; 2 Pet. 1:4:

1.　The divine Spirit and the human spirit are mingled as one within us so that we can live the life of a God-man, a life that is God yet man and man yet God—Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a.

2.　The God-man living is the living of the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man, joined and mingled together as one—1 Cor. 6:17.

F.　The mingled spirit is the key to the Christian life—Rom. 8:4; Eph. 2:22.

G.　To be proper Christians, we must know that the Lord Jesus today, as the embodi-ment of the Triune God, is the Spirit indwelling our spirit and is mingled with our spirit as one spirit—2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17.

H.　By being one spirit with the Lord, we can experience Christ as the all-inclusive One and take Him as everything—1:2, 24, 30; 2:8, 10; 3:11; 5:7-8; 10:3-4; 11:3; 12:12; 15:20, 45, 47.

I.　God's unique requirement of us as believers is that we live and walk by the Spirit in our spirit—Gal. 5:16, 25; 6:18.

J.　Ultimately, the Bible requires only one thing of us—that we walk according to the mingled spirit—Rom. 8:4:

1.　The key to everything in the Christian life is found in the wonderful Spirit who is in our regenerated spirit and who has become one spirit with our spirit—Phil. 1:19; 4:23; 2 Tim. 4:22.

2.　To live in the spirit is to let Christ fill and saturate us until He permeates our whole being and is thereby expressed through us—Eph. 2:22; 3:16-21.

III.　The Body of Christ is absolutely a matter in the mingled spirit; thus, to be in the reality of the Body of Christ is to be in the mingled spirit and to live in the mingled spirit—Rom. 8:4-6; 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:17; 12:12-13, 27:

A.　The church as the Body of Christ is a group of people who allow God to be mingled with them and who are mingled with God—Eph. 3:16-21.

B.　The reality of the Body of Christ is a corporate living by the God-men, who are united, mingled, and constituted together with God by the mingling of humanity with divinity and divinity with humanity—4:1-6, 15-16.

C.　In actuality and practicality, the Body of Christ is the mingled spirit—1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; 6:17:

1.　The Body of Christ is the corporate Christ composed of the Head and the Body with many members; this corporate Christ is the mingled spirit—12:12; 6:17.

2.　To live, act, and move in the mingled spirit is to live, act, and move in the Body of Christ—Rom. 8:4, 14; 12:4-5.

3.　To be in the mingled spirit is to be the Body of Christ actually and practically— 1 Cor. 6:17; 12:27.