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Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:15-16
In this chapter we want to see that the Body of Christ builds up itself in love. We pointed out in chapter 1 that Ephesians 4:11-16 is the most crucial passage in Paul’s writings related to the building up of the Body of Christ. Verse 16 of Ephesians 4 is the greatest verse in the book of Ephesians. Throughout the centuries of church history, this verse has been missed, neglected, and even put aside. It is very hard for the human mind to apprehend the points that are covered in this verse.
Ephesians 4:15 and 16 say, “Holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” Does all the Body refer to the local church or to the universal church? The church has two aspects. It is both local and universal. But in our understanding of Ephesians 4:16, we need to forget about these two aspects. When we are in the new heaven and the new earth as the New Jerusalem, there will not be any consideration about the local or universal aspects of the church. The New Jerusalem is simply the church, the Body of Christ. With the New Jerusalem, the consideration about the local and universal aspects of the church is over. We need a foretaste of the New Jerusalem.
When the apostle Paul wrote Ephesians 4:16, he did not have the local or universal aspects of the church in mind. What was in his consideration was simply the Body of Christ. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:28 that “God has placed some in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then works of power, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.” Is this the local church or the universal church? In this verse Paul is not considering the local or universal aspects of the church. In 1 Corinthians 12 the church is considered the Body of Christ. In Ephesians 4:16 all the Body includes Peter, James, John, Paul, Barnabas, Ignatius, Martin Luther, and all of us. All of God’s chosen and redeemed ones in the past, in the present, and in the future are referred to by Paul when he says all the Body.
In John 14—16 the Lord Jesus revealed that His Body is constituted with the very essence of the Triune God. Then in John 17 He prayed that the believers would be perfected into one (v. 23) so that the church revealed in chapters 14 through 16 could be realized. In chapter 14 the church is signified by the Father’s house. In verse 2 the Lord Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many abodes.” The Father’s house in this verse is not the supposed heavenly mansion. The Father’s house is today’s church (1 Tim. 3:15). In the Father’s house there are many abodes, many members. The many abodes are the many members of the Body of Christ. Every member is an abode. The Father’s house is constituted with the essence of the Triune God. In chapter 15 is the vine tree with all its branches. This vine tree is the organism of the Triune God. The vine and the branches are an organism to glorify the Father by expressing the riches of the divine life. In chapter 16 is the newborn child. This is a corporate child comprising the Son of God in His humanity as the Head and all the chosen and redeemed ones as the Body. According to Acts 13:33 and 1 Peter 1:3, this child was born in Christ’s resurrection. Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God in His humanity was born in resurrection. That birth included all of God’s chosen and Christ’s redeemed ones. After the Lord unveiled the Father’s house, the vine tree with the branches, and the newborn child, He prayed for all of us to be one. For the house of the Father, for the vine tree with all its branches, and for the newborn child, there is the need of oneness.
In John 17:21-23 the Lord Jesus prayed, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us...that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one.” The oneness needs to be perfected in the Triune God. We need to be perfected in the Father, in the Son, and in the Spirit so that we can be one. We may declare or even sing that we are all in one accord, but is there the one accord among us today in the recovery? Practically speaking, where is the one accord? In February of 1986 I gave messages on the one accord to the elders, but today there is disaccord among us. When I spoke these messages, I did not have the expectation that all the saints in the recovery could be in one accord. During that time, I said that I was like Gideon sounding the trumpet for some to fight with me, just like Gideon and his men fought the war for all of Israel. It is not easy to have the one accord. To be in one accord we need to be worked into the very essence of the Triune God.
In the entire universe, on the earth and in the heavens, there is no one accord, no oneness. This is because in God’s creation there was a rebellion. First, there was a rebellion by the angels led by Lucifer, and this rebellion was contagious. The angelic rebellion was infused into mankind, so the entire universe became a universe of disaccord. The peoples of the earth may try to be united, but disaccord prevails. History tells us that the leaders of the earth tried unsuccessfully to form the League of Nations. Later, the United Nations was established. But the fact remains that the nations of the earth are not united but divided. War and disaccord prevail on the earth.
Our natural blood is a blood that can never be united. As long as we are natural, as long as we are in the old man, as long as we are in ourselves, as long as we are in our blood, there is no one accord. The one accord is in Jesus, who is the very embodiment of the Triune God. The Lord’s prayer in John 17 reveals that there is oneness only in the Triune God. It is impossible for us to be one in ourselves. There is no capacity for oneness in our natural man. Even in our family life, there cannot be oneness in our natural man. Oneness is in the Triune God. Only the Triune God is one. He is three, yet He is one. Oneness is in Him.
The little word in is actually a very big word in John 14—17. In John 14 the Lord Jesus said that He is in the Father and that the Father is in Him (v. 10). In verse 3 of this chapter He said, “I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be.” The Lord is in the Father, and He wanted His disciples also to be in the Father, as is revealed in John 17:21. Through His death and resurrection He brought His disciples into Himself. Since He is in the Father, they are also in the Father by being in Him. Hence, where He is, the disciples are also. In John 14 the Lord also revealed that in resurrection the Spirit of reality would be in us (v. 17). In verse 20 He said that in the day of resurrection the disciples would know “that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Our salvation is in the Triune God. Outside the Triune God, there is no salvation. Redemption, holiness, and every positive thing are in the Triune God. We need to be perfected into one in the Triune God.
According to Paul’s writing in Ephesians 4, we have to arrive at the oneness. The Head of the Body gives the gifts — the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers — to perfect the saints, to equip the saints, to furnish the saints, to supply the saints, and to support the saints with whatever they need so that they may do the same things that the gifted persons do. When there is this kind of perfecting, the church is on the track to arrive at the oneness. As long as the saints are not being perfected by the gifted persons, we are not on the way to arrive at the oneness. The perfecting by the gifts has to be continuously going on until we all arrive at the oneness.
How can we be one? We all need to be perfected. In John 17 the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father that we would be perfected into one in the Triune God, that we would be one as the Triune God is one. Paul told us that the Head gave the gifts to perfect the saints until we all arrive at the oneness. The Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul spoke the same thing. The saints in the Lord’s recovery are not on the way to arriving at the oneness, because we are in a situation and condition of needing to be perfected. We need to be perfected so that we may be on the way of arriving at the oneness. For the Father’s house in John 14, for the vine tree with the branches in John 15, and for the newborn child in John 16, there is the need of oneness. The Lord prayed for the oneness in John 17, and the apostle Paul aspired to have the oneness in Ephesians 4. Paul instructs us, teaches us, that there is the need of the perfecting of the saints so that all of us may be on the way of arriving at this oneness.
In the perfecting by the gifts, all the saints need to grow. The main thing in perfecting the saints is to nourish them. Mothers raise their children not just by teaching them but by feeding them. While the mothers are feeding their children, they may also teach them. If the children do not listen to their mother, the mother may tell them that she will not let them eat. If they behave, they can eat. If they do not behave, they do not get to eat. Feeding is the best way to train people. If we are the gifts — the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers — we must learn how to perfect the saints by feeding them. The hungry saints need to be nourished with Christ as their life supply. Whenever I give a message, I pray and look to the Lord that I can have something to feed the saints. The saints are happy when they have something to eat. The best way to perfect the saints is to feed them that they may grow. In Ephesians 4:13 Paul mentions a full-grown man. In verse 15 he says that we need to grow up into Christ in all things. Then in verse 16 he says that all the Body causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Paul emphasizes our need to grow.
When we feed the saints, our ministry is according to the tree of life. What we share with the saints should not be in the realm of good or evil, right or wrong, yes or no. This is in the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a symbol of God’s enemy, Satan. We just want to feed the saints. We do not care for what is right or what is wrong. The Lord did not send me to the United States to condemn people, to judge people, or to tell people who or what is right or wrong. He sent me to this country to present Him. In all the years that I have ministered in the United States, I have presented Christ to the saints. Let us all forget about who is right or who is wrong, about what is right or what is wrong. We need to forget about the past and go on together with the Lord and in the Lord according to the tree of life.
Because we are so closely related to one another in the church life, there is always friction among the saints. Love always creates problems. Because a husband and wife are close to one another, there are times of friction between them. Because we have been together in the church life for many years, there is also friction among us. This is why we need the Lord’s mercy and His sufficient grace. We should not care for who is right or who is wrong. I always make mistakes. Many times I feel that I am the totality of mistakes. My wife sees the mistakes that I make more often than anyone else. The husbands are frequently corrected by their wives. This is because the wives see all the mistakes that their husbands make. Actually, all of us are mistaken people. In the church life we have to take Christ as our person to forgive one another. We should not care for who is right or who is wrong. We should care only for life. Our living and our ministry must be according to the tree of life.
First, all the saints have to grow up into the Head in all things. Then out from the Head, the whole Body issues the life supply to all the members for the building up of the Body. Sooner or later, all God’s chosen ones, God’s redeemed ones, will arrive at the point where they all have grown up into the Head in all things. In this growth the life supply is dispensed to all the members for the building up of the Body. I have learned the secret of dispensing Christ as the life supply to the saints. I am still trying to learn more; then I can afford even more life supply. I do not have the burden to give the saints more teaching, more knowledge, and more biblical interpretations. My burden is to dispense more of Christ as the life supply. I hope that we can all take care of dispensing Christ as the life supply and forget about right or wrong, good or evil, yes or no. Let us forget about good or evil, right or wrong, and yes or no, and care only for Christ as our life and our life supply.
With the Head as the source, all the Body issues the life supply to all the members for the building up of the Body. When a member of our physical body gets hurt, the rest of our body supports that wounded part with the life supply. In the Body of Christ we should do the same thing. If a member of the Body is weakened or hurt, we should not talk about this member, criticize him, or condemn him. We should support that wounded member with the life supply. For us to dispense the life supply to the needy members depends upon how much we have grown up into the Head. The life supply that we dispense to others depends upon how much of the life supply we ourselves have received from the Head. If I do not receive the supply from the Head, how can I have anything with which to support the other members? We have to grow up into Him in all things so that we may receive the life supply. Then we will have the life supply to dispense to others and to support others with.
The members of the Body need to be joined closely together and knit together. We are joined closely together by the joints, and we are knit together by each one part. In our physical body we have two classes of members — the joints and all the parts. It is the same with the Body of Christ. For the joints of the Body, there is the need of joining. For the parts of the Body, there is the need of knitting. In a physical building of stones, there is also the joining and the knitting. The frames of the building need to be joined closely together. The knitting is the interweaving of the stones. The stones of the building are put together by being interwoven. The joints of the Body of Christ are joined closely together, and all the parts of the Body are interwoven together. We have to be rescued from the thought that we can be individualistic and separated. There is not such a thing in the New Testament.
For the joints to be joined closely together is for them to be articulated and fitted closely together in harmony. The joints of our physical body should be articulated and fitted closely together in harmony. If they are not, our physical body will be in pain. Some in the church are the joints. The Bible tells us that brothers such as Peter, James, and John were the pillars of the church (Gal. 2:9), the joints. The joints should be articulated in harmony. Then there is the possibility of the building up. If the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers are not one, how can the Body be built up? The joints must be joined closely together in harmony. Then the Body can act.
There is also the need for each one part of the Body to be knit together, which is to be compacted together solidly through the growth in life. To be knit together is to be interwoven to become one entity. Every piece of stone in a stone building has been interwoven together, knit together, by being compacted together in a solid way. In the Body of Christ we are being knit together, being compacted together solidly, through the growth in life. If certain members of the Body need healing, this healing will take place by the growth in life. The more we rebuke others, condemn others, reason with others, or argue with others, the more wounds there are. The best way to turn from our rebuking, condemning, reasoning, and arguing is to call “O Lord Jesus.” We need to forget about right or wrong, good or evil, and yes or no and come back to “O Lord Jesus!” If we come together to call on the name of the Lord, we will enjoy the tree of life and stay away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Calling on the name of the Lord to enjoy Christ as our life supply issues in the growth in life. The joining and the knitting come from the growth in life. We must learn to serve the saints with some nourishment with which they may grow.
The Body is fitted and knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in measure of each one part. Through every joint of the rich supply means through every gifted person, as listed in Ephesians 4:11. This rich supply is the particular life supply of Christ. For the joining of the joints and for the knitting of each one part, we need to minister, to dispense, the rich supply to all the joints and to each one part. By this rich supply of Christ, all the members of the Body will get the nourishment with which they will grow in life. The joining and the knitting come through the growth in life.
The knitting together is through the operation in the measure of each one part, that is, through the operation in the measure of every member of the Body of Christ. The joints are the gifted persons, and each one part refers to every member of the Body of Christ. Every member has a function, so every member has a measure. In our measure we have to operate, to function, to move, and to act in our spiritual life. The real knitting of all the members comes from the operation of each one part in his measure. We need to meet according to what is revealed in 1 Corinthians 14:26 so that each one part may be perfected and developed in his function. The way to meet in Christianity can build up only a congregation. It cannot build up the Body by all the members exercising their function in their measure.
Through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, all the Body, joined closely together and knit together, will cause the growth of the Body. All the Body causes the growth of the Body. This is also true with our physical body. If our physical body takes in the proper nourishment and functions in a healthy way, it will cause our body to grow in life. This will result in the building up of our body. A mother feeds her child, but she cannot cause her child to have the growth. The child’s mouth takes in the food, and his stomach digests the food. Then the food is assimilated by his body, and this causes the growth. The child’s body causes itself to grow. In like manner, the Body of Christ causes the growth of itself for the building up of itself.
We have pointed out that in Matthew 16:18 the Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church.” Some may think that because the Lord Jesus said this, there is no need of anyone else to build the church. But we need to realize that the Lord Jesus does not build the church directly. He builds His Body through the gifts given by Him as the Head. The gifts build the Body by their nourishment, their perfecting, of all the members. Then all the nourished members, the perfected members, build the Body directly. There are three levels of building: the Head’s building is to give the gifts, the gifts’ building is to perfect the saints, and then the perfected saints build the Body directly, thus causing the Body to grow. Because our situation does not match this revelation, we cannot be content.
I returned to Taipei in October of 1984 because I realized that we needed a change in our practice of the church life so that it could match what is revealed in the Scriptures. During the three and a half years that I was in Taiwan beginning in 1984, I gave many messages on the Triune God and on Christ. I also studied our situation in the recovery with a view that we could be brought into the scriptural way of meeting and serving for the building up of the Body of Christ. What I can release of what I have seen depends upon how much the saints can receive. What kind of food we serve a person depends upon the situation of his health. The patients in a hospital have different diets according to their situation. I cannot serve the saints with certain food if their condition is not healthy.
In the winter training of 1987 in Irving, Texas, I told the saints that we have to take the scriptural way gradually and positively (see chapter 29 of The Scriptural Way to Meet and to Serve for the Building Up of the Body of Christ). Gradually and positively, the Lord will work out His desire. He will perfect His church to serve, to act, to enjoy Him, and to meet together absolutely according to the Scriptures. We need to meet according to what is revealed in 1 Corinthians 14:26 for the building up of the Body of Christ.
The Body builds up itself in love. This is the divine love with which God and Christ love us. We love God and Christ in return with the divine love. We love the Lord with the very love with which He loves us. With this love we also love one another. All the members of the Body should love one another with the divine love. In the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus was very concerned for the oneness and for our loving one another. In John 13:34 the Lord Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” In John 15 the Lord revealed that the branches need to love one another to express the divine life in fruit-bearing (vv. 12-17). We must be one in the Triune God, and we must love one another with the divine love for the building up of the Body of Christ.
