Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
Weekly Review
102520
The Lord desires to take the hardness of man’s heart and transform the hardness into Theandric Action –God alive in man.
In our study of the first miracle by our Lord, we began with the fact that it is important to note that the six waterpots or vessels represented our Lord’s new followers because they signify that empty vessels, made of stone, are about to be changed.
Remember that the Lord desires to take the hardness of man’s heart and transform the hardness into Theandric Action –God alive in man. The word “theandric” comes from two Greek words, theos—which means God, and anthropos which means man.
Theandric Action is the fullness of God’s divine nature overflowing in a human vessel which is surrendered to the plan of God.
2PE 1:2-3, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these [God’s glory and excellence] He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of {the} divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Partaking of the divine nature is theandric action in which God is alive in all of us as Church-age believers. They are rebounding and recovering when necessary. They are making progress by means of the Perception, Metabolization, and Application (PMA) of the word of God (JOH 17:17). And so, it was the serious students of the word of God who, when they were pushed back by Satan and his kingdom, they simply came back stronger than ever and they did not get discouraged.
EXO 1:12, “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.”
And remember this principle, no matter how many times you have a setback, if you're still alive, God has a purpose and that's for you to advance. And this leads us to what I believe this first miracle was really all about which is: The Hypostatic Union and Theandric Action.
The Hypostatic Union refers to God living in the Lord Jesus Christ as undiminished deity and true humanity, in one person forever, which is another manifestation of Theandric Action which means God is living in man.
There are very few Christians that even know anything about the Hypostatic union and Theandric Action. Ever since the beginning of the Church, Christians have struggled with the dilemma of representing the infinite God to finite mankind through vessels of clay. Infinite means an unlimited extent of time, space, or boundlessness, that goes from eternity past to eternity future. On the other hand, we are finite which means being limited and dependent upon infinity for guidance and direction.
The process of Theandric Action is the only provision whereby Christians are able to manifest the true nature of God in their mortal bodies within the Body of Christ and to a lost and dying world. When the life of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is operational in the believer's life, through the filling of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, which is the mind of Christ, the possibilities of experiencing Christ's victory are limitless. In fact, when the apostle John said in JOH 2:11, This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. This miracle performed by the Messiah was to manifest His glory and it was also a glimpse of the Hypostatic Union of our Lord and the principle of Theandric action in us. When the life of God the Father is operational in the believer's life, through the filling of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, which is the mind of Christ, the possibilities of experiencing Christ's victory are limitless.
All of this is because Jesus, in His humanity, was the exact reproduction of the image of God (HEB 1:3). Describing His disposition, Jesus said in MAT 11:29, “I am meek and lowly in heart”. The Church of Jesus Christ will only manifest the power of Christ when it takes on His disposition. This is why the disciples were described as having turned the world upside down because of their tremendous influence in evangelizing the nations.
This sheds light on the heart attitude of Jesus as He prayed, JOH 17:21, “That they all may be one; as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. It is the desire of the Father that all men would know Christ and experience the very same life that He derived from His Father, through the provision of rebound and recovery for their growing process (1JO 1:9).
It is my intention to teach all of you and to present to you the practical but devastating results of failing to live in Theandric Action. If you do so, you will share the eternal benefits of being established with God's disposition through the power of the Word of God as we are becoming rooted and grounded in His love.
It must be emphasized that Theandric Action does not mean losing our individuality or our creative capacity, nor does it imply that our sin nature can ever be eradicated. In 1CO 15:l0b Paul said, “I labored more abundantly than them all, yet not I, but the grace of God that was in me.” Paul never lost his individuality, yet he operated in the power of God's disposition throughout his ministry.
Truth concerning the invisible God can only be imparted to natural men by those Christians who understand and live in the appropriation of the principle of Theandric Action. As the Christian faces every situation in life in the power of Theandric Action, the nature of God will be revealed to the world. And through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, all human problems and failures can be transformed into victories for the believer who, in courage and faith, applies this principle.
Listen to me, this is not a game! This is not being a church hopper so you can find a date. This is not a place where you can expect to have a dog and pony show to entertain you. All of you have a challenge to experience the victory of Christ in every detail of life through the process of Theandric Action. This is when God's nature merges with our human nature through the intake of doctrine, the partaking of Christ's nature, and the continual filling of the Holy Spirit.
Paul revealed how it would according to PHI 2:5-8, Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Theandric action refers to the Divine union of God or Deity dwelling inside of humanity, with emphasis upon the divine nature. We are told that the divine nature and the human nature can co-exist between deity and humanity; ROM 1:20, For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. Both deity and humanity can be intimate with each other if a believer desire.
Now, that describes Theantric Action with emphasis on the deity of our Lord working both the divine and the human natures actions by one theandric (Godly) operation—that is God, in man. Theandric Action emphasizes our humanity at work with the Trinity inside of the believer manifesting all three Members of the Trinity conforming believers into the image of God’s uniquely born Son; ROM 8:29.
One way or another there is an action that must take place between God and man or between true humanity and deity. Theantric Action = Action from God with emphasis on the deity of our Lord. Theandric Action = Action from man with emphasis on the humanity of our Lord working together with man.