[Footnote 77: 1 Pet 2. 2.]
[Footnote 78: 1 John 2. 12.]
They, who are considered as the young men in this state, are said to be [79] "spiritually strong, and the word of God abiding in them, to have overcome the wicked one."
[Footnote 79: 1 John 2. 14.]
They, who have attained a state of manhood, are called fathers, or are said to be of full age, and to be capable of taking strong meat. [80] "They come, in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto perfect men, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. They arrive at such a state of stability, that they are no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine; but speaking the truth in love, grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." [81] "The old man with his deeds being put off, they have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." [82] "They are washed, they are sanctified, they are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the spirit of our God." The new creation is thus completed, and the sabbath wherein man ceases from his own works, commences; so that every believer can then say with the apostle, [83] "I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life, which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
[Footnote 80: Eph. 4. 13.14.15.]
[Footnote 81: Col. 3.9.10.]
[Footnote 82: 1 Cor. 6.11.]
[Footnote 83: Gal. 2.20.]
But this state of manhood, [84] "by which the man of God may be made perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, does not take place, until Christ be fully formed in the souls of believers, or till they are brought wholly under his rule and government. He must be substantially formed in them. He must actually be their life, and their hope of glory. He must be their head and governor. As the head, and the body, and the members are one, according to the apostle, but the head directs; so Christ, and, believers in whom Christ is born and formed, are one spiritual body, which he himself must direct also. Thus Christ, where he is fully formed in man, or where believers are grown up to the measure of the stature and fulness of sonship, is the head of every man, and God is the head of Christ. Thus Christ the begotten entirely governs the whole man, as the head directs and governs all the members of the body; and God the Father, as the head of Christ, entirely guides and governs the begotten. Hence, believers [85] 'are Christ's, and Christ is God's;' so that ultimately God is all in all."