Scripture Reading: Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; John 14:16-20; Eph. 1:4-14; Rom. 8:5-11; Eph. 4:3-6, 11-13, 15-16; Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 12:12; 3:4, Col. 3:10-11; 1:12, 1:27; 1 Cor. 1:24, 30; Col. 2:16-17; John 3:34b; 2 Cor. 12:9; Rev. 1:4b; 4:5b; 5:6b; 22:17; 1 Thes. 5:23; Rom. 12:5; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 15:16; 8:23, 30; 1 Cor. 6:17; John 15:1-5, 16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Eph. 1:3, 19-22, 23; 3:8-11, 14-19; John 17:6, 11, 14-24; 1 John 5:6; Acts 2:42; 1 John 1:1-3; Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5; Rev. 1:11-13; John 21:15; 1 Cor. 14:1-5, 23-26, 31
Today if we were to ask the saints, the leading ones, or even the co-workers, “What is the Lord’s recovery?” or, “What has been recovered in the Lord’s recovery?” I do not believe that many could answer adequately. Some might answer that the Lord’s recovery has recovered matters such as baptism by immersion, the presbytery (that is, the managing and administrating of the church by a group of presbyters, or elders), head covering, and the Lord’s table. Although items such as these may be included in the Lord’s recovery, all these are minor things. None of them directly touches God’s New Testament economy; none of them involves the divine dispensing or the divine mingling. In contrast, matters such as God’s New Testament economy, the dispensing of the Divine Trinity into the tripartite being of the believers, the mingling of divinity with humanity, and the building up of the organic Body of Christ are great matters.
The divine things of God have been with His New Testament people for almost twenty centuries. However, it seems that during this period there has been little improvement in Christian theology. When I speak of improvement, I do not mean that we can change the truth. To illustrate: no one can change the earth. The earth was created by God, and no human hand can change it. But transportation, the means of traveling on the earth, has been improving steadily for nearly six thousand years. History tells us that in order to travel on the earth, the human race first learned to use the wheel. The wheel is a basic element in nearly all forms of transportation. Wagons, bicycles, automobiles, and even jet airplanes utilize the wheel. From the wagon to the bicycle to the motor vehicle to the jet airplane, there has been a great improvement in the means by which man travels on the earth. Many people have studied diligently in the fields of transportation and computer technology, and great improvements have been realized in these fields. But few Christians have devoted their time and energy to study the divine things; consequently, there has been little improvement over the centuries in this field.
If we are faithful and mean business with the Lord, we must learn something. Matters such as God’s New Testament economy and the dispensing of the Divine Trinity are not my inventions; all these things can be found in the Bible. For example, by reading Romans 8:2-11 again and again, we will see the dispensing of the Divine Trinity. This dispensing takes place first in our spirit (v. 10); then from our spirit it spreads into our mind (v. 6) to saturate our soul, and eventually, it will permeate our body (v. 11). First this dispensing makes our spirit life, then it makes our soul life, and finally, it makes our body life. By this dispensing all three parts of our human being will be saturated and permeated with the Divine Trinity. Out of this kind of dispensing, a mingling takes place. When one element saturates and permeates another, the two elements become mingled. Such a dispensing and such a mingling are for the building up of the organic Body of Christ, which is composed of all the churches.
The first item of the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine revelation concerning God. There is no need to recover God Himself, but among Christians the revelation concerning God has been lost, missed, put aside, and even given up. Thus, there is a need to recover the divine revelation concerning God.
In His essence God is essentially one, the one unique God, that is, the one Spirit (Isa. 45:18b; 1 Cor. 8:6a).
In His economy God is economically three. Essentially, God is one, but economically, He is three — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14). An illustration of this principle can be seen in the lampstand. In the Old Testament the lampstand was placed in both the tabernacle and the temple (Exo. 26:35; 1 Kings 7:49). In the New Testament the lampstand is seen in Revelation 1:11-13 and 20. The lampstand is one stand, but it has seven lamps. The seven lamps do not refer to the essence of the lampstand; rather, they refer to its function. Function is a matter of economy. Hence, economically speaking, the lampstand has seven lamps for shining, and the shining of the lamps is to fulfill the function of the lampstand, that is, to carry out the economy of the lampstand. In essence the lampstand itself is one, but in economy it is seven. This is a very good illustration of our God’s divine being.
In His economy God is three — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The great theologians of the fourth and fifth centuries referred to the three of the Trinity as three hypostases. The primary sense of the Greek word for hypostasis is something that stands underneath, that is, a support or a foundation. To illustrate, one table has four legs supporting it, and the four legs of the table are its four hypostases. Likewise, there is one God, but He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. These three — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — are the three divine hypostases. The word hypostasis, which was used in the theological writings that appeared in the Greek language, can also be translated “substance.” Later, when theology entered into the Latin language, the word persona was used. Then in the English language the term became person. Thus, it is said that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three persons. However, we should not understand this to mean that They are three separate persons according to the common understanding of the word person.
The Father, as the origin, is the fountain; the Son, as the expression, is the spring; and the Spirit, as the transmission, is the flow. A fountain is the origin, the source, of a stream or a river; a spring is the emergence, the expression, of the fountain; and the stream or river is the flow. In Jeremiah 2:13 God refers to Himself as the fountain of living waters; in John 4:14 Christ is the fountain of water that springs up in the believers into eternal life; and in Revelation 22:1 the Spirit is the flow, the river of water of life. This shows that God is essentially one yet economically three.
It is wrong to say that the three of the Divine Trinity are three separate Gods; that is the teaching of tritheism. Likewise, it is wrong to say that there are two divine Fathers: one, the Father among the Trinity (Matt. 28:19), and the other, the eternal Father mentioned in Isaiah 9:6. We do not have two divine Fathers; we have only one divine Father. Thus, the eternal Father is the Father among the three of the Divine Trinity. Moreover, the particular teaching expressed in the term Jesus only is also wrong.
The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is realized as the Spirit. This is fully revealed in John 14:16-20. If we read those five verses, we will see that the Spirit is the realization of the Son, Christ.
The Father purposed (Eph. 1:4-6), the Son accomplished what the Father had purposed (vv. 7-12), and the Spirit applies what the Son has accomplished (vv. 13-14).
The Son came with the Father to accomplish redemption (John 6:46), and the Father was with the Son all the time while the Son was on the earth (8:16b, 29). In John 6:46 the preposition translated from carries the sense of from with. Thus, when the Lord Jesus came to the earth to accomplish redemption, He came not only from the Father but also with the Father. In John 8:16 and 29 the Lord Jesus said that He was not alone, but the Father was always with Him.
The Son also came in the name of the Father (5:43). This is why in Isaiah 9:6 the Son is called the Father. Moreover, the Father sent the Spirit in the Son’s name (John 14:26a). These two things are evidence not only that the Son and the Father are one but also that the Spirit is one with both the Father and the Son. The three of the Divine Trinity are one.
This kind of economy, arrangement, or plan is for the dispensing of the Divine Trinity into the believers. In Romans 8:5-11 we can see this dispensing.
This arrangement is also for the believers to experience and enjoy the processed Triune God (2 Cor. 13:14).
This arrangement is also that the processed Triune God and the regenerated believers may be mingled as one (Eph. 4:4-6) for the building up of the organic Body of Christ (vv. 12-13, 15-16). Ephesians 4:4-6 tells us that there is one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father of all. This indicates that the Triune God is mingled with the Body of Christ, that is, with us, the believers. This mingling is for the building up of the organic Body of Christ. Ephesians 4:12-13 and 15-16 are four verses that show us that the mingling of the Divine Trinity with the believers is for an organic building, the building up of the Body of Christ.
All the aforementioned items have been altogether missed by most Christians today. In the training received by most students of theology, they are told in a general way merely that God is triune — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Most Christians have not gone beyond this point in their understanding of the Divine Trinity. However, all the points mentioned above are clearly revealed in the divine revelation, especially in the New Testament.
The second major item of the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine revelation concerning Christ.
In eternity Christ was the Word of God and God Himself (John 1:1). He was not only the Word of God, but He was also God Himself. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word was not only with God, but the Word was God.
In time Christ as the Word of God became flesh to be a man and to tabernacle among men (v. 14), full of grace (God for men to receive as their enjoyment) and reality (God to be realized by men as their reality).
Hence, Christ is both the complete God and the perfect man, the Triune God and the tripartite man, possessing the divine nature and the human nature as well, to be the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 2:9).
Christ is the all-inclusive and all-extensive One (Eph. 1:23b). According to Ephesians 1:23, Christ is the One who fills all in all; hence, He is all-extensive. As the all-extensive One, surely He is all-inclusive.
This all-inclusive, all-extensive Christ is the only begotten Son of God from eternity (John 3:16a; 17:24b), and the firstborn Son of God from His resurrection in humanity (Rom. 8:29b; Acts 13:33). Christ as the Son of God has two statuses — the only begotten Son of God and the firstborn Son of God. Most Christians have no realization concerning this, and some may even say that this is heresy. However, this is not heresy, for it is clearly mentioned in John 3:16, which says that Christ is the only begotten Son of God, and in Romans 8:29, which says that He is God’s firstborn Son among many brothers.
As the Son given, Christ is called “Eternal Father” (Isa. 9:6); hence, He is one with the Father (John 10:30; 14:8-10). We can say that Christ is both the Father and the Son because He is all-inclusive. If He were only the Son and not the Father, He would not be all-inclusive.
In His resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). He is not only the Son and the Father; eventually, He became the life-giving Spirit as well. Hence, He is the Spirit and the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17-18).
In 1964, shortly after I came to the United States, a dear friend warned me, saying that although this kind of teaching is in the Bible, Christianity would not accept it. So he advised me to put this teaching aside. In response I told this brother that since this teaching is in the Bible, he should give me the liberty to speak this matter as the Lord had led me to do. I told him that if I could not speak on Christ as the Spirit, I would have nothing to speak. Now, twenty-six years later, it is common to hear the saints in the Lord’s recovery speak of Christ being the Spirit. In the Lord’s table meetings, many of the saints praise the Lord not only for dying for us on the cross and resurrecting from the dead but also for being the life-giving Spirit who indwells us. If we could praise the Lord only for dying for us on the cross, for resurrecting, and for now being seated in the heavens, our feeling would not be so sweet, for Christ would be far away from us. But, Hallelujah, today the crucified and resurrected One has become a life-giving Spirit indwelling us! No one can deny this. This is an important item in the New Testament. It is also a major item in the Lord’s recovery.
In His resurrection and ascension Christ became both the Lord of all and the Christ of God (Acts 2:36; Rev. 11:15). He became the Lord of us, and He became the Christ of God to carry out God’s economy. He is the Christ of God, the anointed One of God to carry out God’s economy.
Christ is the Firstborn of all creation and the Firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:15, 18). God has two creations, the old creation and the new creation. The old creation came into being by God’s creating work. Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is the Firstborn of the old creation. The second creation, God’s new creation, came into being by and in resurrection. According to Colossians 1:18, Christ is the Firstborn from the dead. Thus, Christ is the Firstborn of both creations.
Christ is the One who is worthy to open the seven seals of God concerning God’s administration in the whole universe according to God’s economy (Rev. 5:2-5). He is the only One who is worthy to open the sealed secret of God’s economy.
Christ is the Head of the Body (Col. 1:18), and He is also the Body of the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12). This means that He is both the Head and the Body.
Thus, Christ is all the members of the new man (Col. 3:10-11). The new man is Christ. Christ is all-inclusive.
Christ is the God-allotted portion of the believers (1:12) as their life and life supply today (3:4) and their glory in the future (1:27). Colossians 1:27 says that Christ in us is the hope of glory. As our God-allotted portion, Christ is our life today, and He will be our glory in the future.
Christ is the foundation stone (1 Cor. 3:11; Isa. 28:16), the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20b), and the topstone (Zech. 4:7) of God’s building.
Christ is resurrection, life, power, wisdom: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and the reality of all positive things (John 11:25; 14:6; 1 Cor. 1:24, 30; Col. 2:16-17; Gal. 3:27; John 10:9; 1 Cor. 10:3-4). Colossians 2:16-17 says that eating, drinking, feasts, the Sabbath, and new moons all are shadows, and that the body of these shadows is Christ. According to Galatians 3:27, Christ is our clothing; that is, we wear Him. In John 10:9 Christ is our door; through Him we go out of the religious fold and enter into the rich pasture. In 1 Corinthians 10:3-4 Christ is our spiritual food and our spiritual drink; He is also the spiritual rock that follows us. He is the reality of all positive things.
According to Ephesians 3:8, Christ’s riches are unsearchable.
Christ gives the Spirit not by measure (John 3:34b). Because He is all-inclusive and all-extensive, Christ is also immeasurable.
The grace of Christ is sufficient for us (2 Cor. 12:9).
All the above items concerning Christ are included in the Lord’s recovery. Nearly all of them have been lost, missed, or put aside by Christianity.
The third item of the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine revelation concerning the Spirit.
The Spirit is the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6b), the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9a), the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7), the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9b), the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19b), and the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2a). Although I was in Christianity for years, I never heard anyone speak concerning the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. However, the Spirit of Jesus is mentioned clearly in Acts 16:7, the Spirit of Christ is spoken of in Romans 8:9, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ is mentioned in Philippians 1:19. By reading these three books, we can see that today the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of God, has become something further: He is the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Not only so, He is also the Spirit of life.
The Spirit is also the compound Spirit as the anointing ointment (2 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 2:20, 27; cf. Exo. 30:23-26). The word anointed is used by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:21, and the word anointing is used by the apostle John in 1 John 2:20 and 27. This word is taken from Exodus 30:23-26, which speaks concerning the compound anointing ointment. That ointment was not merely olive oil but was compounded of olive oil as the base and four kinds of spices. The four spices were ground into powder and then compounded with olive oil to make an ointment. This ointment was for anointing the tabernacle, the altar, and all their furnishings and utensils.
I became familiar with this through the writings of the Brethren. In Exodus 30 the Scofield Reference Bible has a footnote telling us that the compound ointment is a type of the Holy Spirit. However, it does not go on to tell us that this ointment is a compound with oil as the base and with another four spices as elements for compounding. I myself spent much time over a period of more than fifty years to study this matter. Through my study I found out that the oil signifies the Spirit of God and that each of the four spices typifies Christ with His death and resurrection. The first spice, myrrh, typifies the precious death of Christ; the second, cinnamon, typifies the sweetness and effectiveness of Christ’s death; the third, calamus, typifies the precious resurrection of Christ; and the fourth, cassia, typifies the power of Christ’s resurrection. These ingredients have been compounded with the Spirit of God to become an ointment. This is the compound Spirit as the anointing ointment. The Spirit today is the compound Spirit, who is compounded with God the Spirit and with Christ’s humanity, with Christ’s death and the effectiveness of Christ’s death, and with Christ’s resurrection and the power of Christ’s resurrection. All these are now in the one Spirit. Eventually, this compound Spirit is referred to in the Bible as “the Spirit” (John 7:39; Rev. 22:17).
The Spirit is also the life-giving Spirit (2 Cor. 3:6b). We should not forget that today the life-giving Spirit is a compound Spirit.
As the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit is also the indwelling Spirit (Rom. 8:11).
In Revelation 1:4b; 4:5b; and 5:6b the Spirit is revealed as the sevenfold Spirit. In these verses the one Spirit of God is called “the seven Spirits.” However, here we do not have seven separate Spirits; rather, we have one Spirit who is sevenfold — one sevenfold Spirit.
Eventually, the Spirit in all the above aspects is simply “the Spirit” as the consummated Spirit to be the consummation of the processed Triune God (John 7:39; Rev. 22:17). In this Spirit we have God, Christ, man, Christ’s death, Christ’s resurrection, the power of Christ’s death, and the fragrance of Christ’s resurrection. In all of today’s Christianity, it would be difficult to find one person who has any knowledge of these things. This is the recovery of the divine revelation concerning the Spirit.
The fourth item of the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine revelation concerning the eternal life. Many Christians hold the concept that eternal life is a blessing given to the believers, in which they merely go to a heavenly mansion to enjoy a better life. When I was in Christianity, no one told me that eternal life is not a blessing but that it is simply life. In our physical body we have a biological life (bios), and in our soul we have a psychological life (psuche). We had these two kinds of life before we were saved. But when we were saved, we received another life, the eternal life (zoe).
The eternal life is the life that is not only everlasting but eternal both in time and in nature (John 3:16, 36; 1 John 1:2). This life is unlimited both in time and in nature; hence, it is eternal.
The eternal life is the uncreated life of God (Eph. 4:18), the indestructible life (Heb. 7:16), and the incorruptible life (2 Tim. 1:10). Concerning the definition of the eternal life, I received much help through the writings of Watchman Nee, Mary E. McDonough, Ruth Paxson, and T. Austin-Sparks. Through their writings I came to know that to be regenerated is simply to receive God into us as our life, to receive a life that is divine, a life other than our human life.
The eternal life is the life that is in the Son of God and that is the Son of God (1 John 5:11-12; 1:2; John 14:6). This life is not only in the Son of God, but it is the Son of God Himself.
The eternal life is the life with which the believers are regenerated and which becomes the believers’ life (Col. 3:4a), making the believers the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30).
In 1 Timothy 6:12 the apostle Paul charges us to lay hold on this eternal life.
The New Testament teaches us that the eternal life has three stages, and these three stages are in three ages — the present age, the church age; the coming age, the kingdom age; and the eternal age, in the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center. In the first age, the church age, we receive the eternal life. Thus, it becomes our life, and we enjoy this life and live by it. In the church age it is a matter of receiving the eternal life, but in the next age, the age of the kingdom, the eternal life is not for people to receive but for people to enter into. In Matthew 25:46 those among the nations who are judged by the Lord Jesus to be “sheep” will enter into eternal life in the kingdom age. Thus, in the coming age the eternal life will become a sphere for people to enter into. In that age the eternal life will be given as a reward. In this age the eternal life is for us to receive as a free gift (Rom. 6:23b), but in the coming age the eternal life will be for us to enter into, not as a free gift but as a reward. This reward will be given to both the overcoming believers and to the “sheep” in Matthew 25 who paid a price to take care of Christ’s brothers during the great tribulation. Then in the eternal age, that is, in the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center, the eternal life will eventually be the consummated gift for all of God’s redeemed people to manifest the Triune God for eternity.
If we have this view, we will be able to understand a number of verses in the Gospels. In the Gospels the Lord told people both to enter into eternal life and to receive eternal life. In Matthew 19:17 the Lord told the young man to enter into eternal life, but in John, especially in chapter 3, He spoke of receiving eternal life. We have received eternal life as a gift, but whether or not we will enter into eternal life as a reward in the future remains to be determined. We may receive the eternal life without doing any work, as a free gift, but to enter into the eternal life requires us to do the proper works, to have the proper virtues, and to pay a price. If we are not clear concerning this, we may feel that the New Testament contradicts itself by saying, on the one hand, that we can receive the eternal life as a free gift and, on the other hand, that we must pay a price to enter into it. We need to be clear that in the present age, eternal life is a gift given for us to receive, but in the coming age, eternal life will be a reward to recompense us for the price that we have paid for the Lord’s sake. Then in the eternal age the receiving and the entering will become one.
It is by this eternal life and in this eternal life that the believers have been brought forth. The eternal life is crucial for the producing of the believers and for the building up of the organic Body of Christ.
The fifth item in the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine revelation concerning the believers.
The believers are tripartite beings of spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes. 5:23).
The believers are redeemed, justified, and reconciled to God in Christ (Rom. 3:24; 5:10a). We have not only been saved; we have been redeemed, justified, and reconciled to God in Christ.
The believers have been baptized into the Triune God to have an organic union with the processed Triune God (Matt. 28:19). In his Word Studies in the New Testament, M. R. Vincent, writing on Matthew 28:19, says, “Baptizing into the name of the Holy Trinity implies a spiritual and mystical union with Him.” Such a thought, such a revelation, has been lost in Christianity. Baptism is to baptize us into the Triune God so that we may have an organic union with the processed Triune God.
The believers are regenerated in their spirit by the Spirit (John 3:5-6) with the divine life, which is Christ (Col. 3:4a), to be the children of God (John 1:12-13), having the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4b), and the members of Christ (Rom. 12:5) in the union of the divine life. Regeneration takes place in our spirit. It is carried out by the Spirit with the divine life, and it makes us, first, the children of God, and then, the members of Christ.
The believers have been crucified with Christ, being terminated in their old man (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6).
The believers have Christ living in them as the pneumatic Christ, the Spirit, indwelling them (8:11).
The believers have been sanctified positionally by the blood of Christ (Heb. 13:12) and are being sanctified dispositionally by the Spirit (Rom. 15:16; 6:19, 22), that they may be renewed, transformed in their soul (12:2a; 2 Cor. 3:18), conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29), and glorified (redeemed) in their body (v. 23) in the glory of the processed Triune God (vv. 30, 17-18). Although the believers have been regenerated in their spirit, their soul and body remain old. Thus, the believers need to be renewed, transformed in their soul, conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God, and glorified in their body in the glory of the processed Triune God. The believers are tripartite beings composed of spirit, soul, and body. First, their spirit is regenerated, then their soul is transformed, and finally, their body will be glorified. Thus the believers’ whole being will be saturated with God’s splendid life. God’s life is a life of splendor, and that splendor is the glory of the divine life. When we are permeated, saturated, and soaked with the splendor of the divine life, we will be in glory.
The believers are saturated with the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in their tripartite being (vv. 5-11) so that they are mingled with the processed Triune God.
The believers are joined to the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).
The believers are the branches of Christ as the vine tree, the organism of the Triune God, to express the processed Triune God in bearing fruit for the increase of Christ (John 15:1-5, 8, 16). As the branches of Christ, the believers should live a fruit-bearing life for Christ’s increase.
The believers are God’s New Testament priests of His gospel to offer the saved sinners as sacrifices to God (Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9). As the priests of God, the believers should have a sinner-saving service for offering sacrifices to God.
The sixth item of the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine revelation concerning the church.
The church is the church of God (1 Cor. 10:32), chosen and predestinated by God the Father (Eph. 1:3-6), redeemed by God the Son (vv. 7-12), and sealed by God the Spirit (vv. 13-14).
The church is the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all (v. 23), as His expression, united organically to the resurrected, ascended, and transmitting Head (vv. 19-23).
The church is the fullness of Christ, and it is also the fullness of the processed Triune God (3:14-19), filled with the riches of Christ and with the immeasurable Christ (vv. 8b, 17-19a). The church is filled with Christ Himself and with the riches of Christ. Such a church is the fullness of the processed Triune God.
The church is the counterpart of Christ, as Eve was to Adam (Gen. 2:21-23), as His increase (John 3:29-30), a glorious church, holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:27).
The church is the new man created in Christ, through His cross, with the Jewish and Gentile believers (2:14-16).
The church is the mingling of the processed Triune God with the believers (4:3-6), being built up as the organic Body of Christ by the gifted members (every joint of the rich supply) and by each functioning part through the growth in life (vv. 11-13, 15-16). The church as the organic Body of Christ is built up by two categories of persons: first, the gifted persons, who are the joints of the rich supply, and second, each functioning part. We should have and we do have these two kinds of persons among us. In the building up of the Body of Christ, the gifted persons perfect the saints so that the saints may do the work of the New Testament ministry, that is, that they may build up the Body of Christ.
The church is the house of God (2:19b; 1 Tim. 3:15), the dwelling place of God in our spirit (Eph. 2:22).
The church is the kingdom of God today, the reality of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 16:18-19). In Matthew 16:18 the Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” Then in verse 19 He said, “I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens.” This shows us that today the proper church life is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens.
The church exists universally as the unique universal church (Eph. 1:22-23), but it is expressed locally as many local churches (Rev. 1:4a, 11).
This is all according to the arrangement of God’s eternal economy (Eph. 3:9-11; 1:9-11).
Following the above six main items of the Lord’s recovery, I would like to add two more items, that is, the recovery of the church ground and the recovery of the practice of the local churches.
The word ground that we use in reference to the church ground does not carry the denotation of a foundation, like the foundation of a building; it bears the denotation of a site, like the site on which the foundation of a building is laid.
According to the divine revelation of the New Testament, the church ground is constituted of three crucial elements, as follows:
The first element of the constitution of the church ground is the unique oneness of the universal Body of Christ, which is called “the oneness of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3). This is the oneness that the Lord prayed for in John 17. It is a oneness of the mingling of the processed Triune God with all the believers in Christ. This oneness is in the name of the Father (vv. 6, 11), denoting the Father’s person, in which is the Father’s life. This oneness is even in the Triune God through sanctification by His holy word as the truth (vv. 14-21). This oneness is ultimately in the divine glory for the expression of the Triune God (vv. 22-24). Such a oneness was imparted into the spirit of all the believers in Christ, in their regeneration by the Spirit of life with Christ as the divine life; this oneness has become the basic element of the church ground.
The second element of the church ground is the unique ground of the locality in which a local church is established and exists. The New Testament presents us a clear picture that all the local churches, as the expression of the universal church — the universal Body of Christ — are located in their respective cities. Hence, we see the church in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1), the church in Antioch (13:1), the church in Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1), the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2), and the seven churches in Asia in seven respective cities (Rev. 1:4, 11). Every city, as the boundary in which a church exists, is the local ground of that church. Such a unique ground of locality preserves the church from being divided by many different matters as different grounds in the way that divisive denominations, such as the Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Lutherans, the Methodists, and the Episcopalians, are divided.
The third element of the church ground is the reality of the Spirit of oneness, expressing the unique oneness of the universal Body of Christ on the unique ground of locality of a local church. Briefly, the third element of the church ground is the reality of the Spirit, who is the living reality of the Divine Trinity (1 John 5:6; John 16:13). It is by this Spirit that the oneness of the Body of Christ becomes real and living. It is also through this Spirit that the ground of locality is applied in life and not in legality. And it is by this Spirit that the genuine ground of the church is linked with the Triune God (Eph. 4:3-6).
The above-defined ground of the church keeps, in practicality, the genuine oneness of the church both locally and universally (v. 3), without any division. This is the only way to avoid today’s situation of division and confusion among the members of Christ.
The above-defined ground of the church is also the base of the genuine and proper fellowship of all the believers, which is called “the fellowship of the apostles” in the divine revelation (Acts 2:42), a fellowship that is with the Triune God and with all the members of Christ (1 John 1:1-3). This is the unique fellowship of the Body of Christ locally and universally. Because of the many divisive grounds of today’s Christianity, the fellowship among the members of Christ also is divided into many divisive fellowships. The way to be saved out of all these divisive fellowships is to take and keep the unique, genuine, and proper ground of the church. This is not a matter of doctrine and regulation; it is a spiritual fact and a practical necessity.
The church of God, as the living Body of Christ, needs the local churches for its existence and function. Without the local churches the Body of Christ has no way to exist and to carry out its function in practicality. Actually, the local churches are the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is all the local churches.
The local churches are the many expressions in many localities of the one Body of Christ. The local churches, being the existence of the Body of Christ for its function, are the many expressions of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ may exist in the heavens, but to express itself, it must become the local churches.
A local church is one that exists in a locality as a city, the jurisdiction of the church being within the boundary of the city. We have seen that all the local churches are located, respectively, in different cities. To locate a church in a city is practical and convenient for its administration and its function. The jurisdiction of a local church for its administration is within the boundary of the city in which it exists, but its work and testimony should not be limited or restricted by any boundary. For its administration the jurisdiction of a local church is local, but the testimony of a local church through its work is both local and universal.
A local church is administrated by the eldership, composed of a group of elders (1 Tim. 3:1-5; 5:17) appointed by the gifted persons who have established the church (Acts 14:14, 23; Titus 1:5). A local church, being an organic expression of the Body of Christ as the organism of the Triune God, should not be administrated in any organizational way that makes it a worldly organization. It should be administrated by the eldership as an organic body, the components of which are all organic persons who have been regenerated by the living God with His divine life and who are living in and with that life (1 Tim. 3:1-4; Titus 1:5-9). Furthermore, its administration under its eldership should, in everything, be carried out in the organic way, not by any organizational method.
The administration of a local church should not be under the control of any high church. Among the local churches there is no center; there is no high church or low church; there is no archbishop above the bishops and no bishop over the elders. All the local churches are on the same level; all the elders, as the overseers, are also on the same level; and each eldership administrates only its own local church.
After being established by the gifted persons and having its elders appointed by the gifted persons, a local church still needs the ministry of the gifted persons who established it and appointed its elders, for its building up as a living testimony of Christ. This aspect is fully proven by the case of the church in Ephesus, which received the ministry of the apostle Paul (Acts 20:17-35) without any termination, until the apostle was martyred (Eph. 6:19-22; 2 Tim. 4:6).
Among the local churches there is no absolute autonomy in the administration of any local church, nor is there any federation among the churches. The business affairs of a local church are absolutely local, but all the other matters, especially its testimony for Christ and its fellowship, should be both local and universal and should be the same and common among all the local churches. This is strongly proved by the seven local churches in Asia (Rev. 2—3). Although they differed from one another in their localities, in their situations, and in negative things, they, as the seven golden lampstands, were absolutely identical for the testimony of Christ. The seven lampstands were absolutely identical in nature, in shape, in appearance, and in function (1:12-13). Thus on the one hand, the Lord treated them separately by writing an epistle to each one, respectively; on the other hand, He treated them corporately by addressing the seven epistles as one epistle to them all and charging each one of them to hear what the Spirit said in all the seven epistles.
A local church is built up by the functioning of all its members with the perfecting of the gifted persons, such as the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers (Eph. 4:11-12), through:
(1) the preaching of the gospel to get sinners saved and baptized (Matt. 28:19);
(2) the feeding of the new believers in their homes for the growth in life and in truth (John 21:15; 1 Pet. 2:2);
(3) the perfecting of the saints in the group meetings for the building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12); and
(4) the prophesying in the church meetings for the building up of the church (1 Cor. 14:1-5, 23-26, 31).
The gifted persons carry out their ministry in perfecting all the members of a local church in a locality so that all the members of that local church will be able to do what the gifted persons can do (Eph. 4:12) in the abovementioned four items, for the building up of that local church, issuing in the building up of the universal Body of Christ. The gifted persons do not build up the church directly; rather, all the members who have been perfected by the gifted persons build up the church directly.
The building up of a local church is not only for its own building up locally (1 Cor. 14:3) but for the building up of the entire Body of Christ universally (Eph. 4:12). Actually, the building up of the local churches is the building up of the Body of Christ because the local churches are the Body of Christ as its expression. Without the building up of the local churches, by what other way could the Body of Christ be practically built up?
