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Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:16-18, 21-25; Eph. 2:14-15; Col. 3:9-11
In a previous chapter we saw that the church is out of Christ. The church comes out of Christ and is a part of Christ, just as Eve came out of Adam and was a part of Adam. Anything that was not of Adam was not Eve. In the same way, anything that is not of Christ is not the church. Eve was built out of Adam’s rib, a part of Adam (Gen. 2:21-23), and the church is built out of Christ’s resurrection life, a part of Christ (John 19:34-36). When Peter received a revelation from God that the Lord Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” the Lord told Peter that He would build the church upon Himself as the rock (Matt. 16:16-18). The Lord builds the church through His resurrection life, and the church that is built upon Him is one with Him because of His resurrection life. The resurrection life of Christ is just Christ Himself.
On the cross Christ released His resurrection life in order to produce the church. As a result, the church shares one life with Christ and is a part of Christ. This is the way that the church is built upon Christ and is one with Him. Eve was one with Adam because she was built from Adam’s rib, which was just Adam. Eve was part of Adam, out of Adam, and shared one life with Adam. Only that which was out of Adam could be joined to him, and only that which was of Adam could become one flesh with him. Likewise, only that which is out of Christ can be joined to Christ and built upon Christ, and only that which is of Christ can be one with Christ. Without Adam there would be no Eve, and without Christ there would be no church. A rib had to be taken out of Adam in order for Eve to be built. Similarly, Christ’s life had to be released in order for the church to be produced.
May God give us the spiritual vision to see that the church is absolutely out of Christ. The church is the fullness of Christ, the overflow of Christ, and, thus, a part of Christ. The church can be built upon Christ and joined as one to Christ because the church is built with the resurrection life of Christ. In order to know the church, the nature of the church, and the relationship between the cross and the church, we must see that the church is produced by Christ’s resurrection life and constituted with Christ. Then we will comprehend the necessity of the cross in relation to the existence of the church.
The life that produced the church was released through the cross. The church is out of Christ, and it is produced through the cross. The church was brought forth in Christ’s resurrection life, but the church was produced through Christ’s death on the cross. Christ produced the church with His life through His death on the cross. If we only had the life of Christ, the church could not come into being. In order for the church to come into existence, there was the need for Christ’s death on the cross. The life of Christ had to pass through death on the cross before it could be released to produce the church.
In Matthew 16, after the disciples heard that He was the Christ, the Lord told them that He had to pass through death on the cross in order for the church to come out of Him and be built upon Him (vv. 15-18, 21). After Peter confessed that the Lord was the Christ, the Lord said that He would build the church upon Himself. This means that the church would come out of Him, be joined to Him, and be one with Him. After this revelation the Lord spoke to the disciples about the cross on many occasions (20:18-19; 26:2). The church was born of Christ and built upon Him, but He had to pass through death on the cross in order for His life to be released for the producing of the church. In order for His life to be released, Christ had to die on the cross. This is the reason that He spoke of the cross after speaking of the producing and the building of the church. The church cannot be produced or built without the cross. In a sense, it is not sufficient to have Christ; we need the cross as well. For its existence the church needs Christ and the cross. Christ could produce the church because He released His life through His death on the cross.
Eve came out of Adam after he fell asleep and his side was opened. Eve was built from Adam’s rib, but Adam had to fall asleep, and his side had to be opened in order for a rib to be taken from him. Adam’s sleep typifies Christ’s death, but not in its redemptive aspect. Christ had to die, and His side had to be opened so that the church could be produced. Adam’s rib had to be taken out of him in order to build Eve, and Christ’s life had to be released from within Him in order to produce the church. Adam slept in order for Eve to be brought forth, and Christ died for the church to be produced. A rib was taken out of Adam so that it could be built into Eve, and life flowed out from Christ so that it could produce the church.
The church was produced by Christ through the cross. Without Christ there would be no church, but without the cross there still would be no church. The church cannot be separated from Christ, and the producing of the church cannot be separated from the cross. The church is out of Christ and dependent on Christ, but the church was produced through the cross. The church came out of the life of Christ, but this life had to pass through death on the cross. The church was produced by Christ’s life passing through death on the cross. In order to know the church, we need to know Christ, and we need to know the cross. In order to see the church and live in its reality, we need to know Christ and the cross.
Since the church came out of Christ, it is a new creation in the universe. This new creation is the new man, the corporate man, whom Christ created in Himself on the cross. According to Ephesians 2:11-12, the Gentiles in the flesh in the old creation were apart from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise. Through the cross, however, both the Gentiles and the Jews were reconciled in one Body to God through the cross, “that He might create the two in Himself into one new man” (vv. 15-16). Through the cross Christ terminated the old creation with its distinction between Gentiles and Jews, and through the cross Christ imparted His life into the Gentile and Jewish believers, making them one new man in Himself in the new creation. This corporate new man is the church as the Body of Christ. Hence, the church is a new creation, a new man, created in Christ through the cross. Everything in this corporate man is new because this man is of Christ, who is new. There is nothing old in the new man, because it does not have any element of Adam. All the believers are part of this new man, because the element of the old creation that belonged to Adam was terminated by the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ terminated everything of the old creation and everything that belongs to Adam, and the cross of Christ imparted the life of Christ, which is Christ Himself, making the believers a new creation, a new man, in Christ. Colossians 3:9-10 speaks of this, saying, “You have put off the old man with his practices and have put on the new man.”
In Colossians 3:9-10 Paul says that those who are in the church have put off the old man and put on the new man. In verse 11 he says that in the new man “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.” This verse clearly says that in the church as the new man there cannot be Greeks, that is, Gentiles, and Jews, barbarians, Scythians, slaves, or free men; there can be only Christ. In the church as the new man, there is nothing but Christ. The church as the new man is the overflow of the life of Christ. It is a part of Christ and therefore is just Christ Himself. All those who are in the church were terminated on the cross of Christ, and everything that belongs to them also was terminated on the cross of Christ.
Verse 11 does not speak of there being no distinction between Gentile and Jew, slave and free man, but of there being no Gentile and Jew, no slave and free man. The church is not a matter of there being no distinction but a matter of there “not being.” The church is not a matter of there being no distinction between Gentiles and Jews but of there being no Gentile and Jew. It is not a matter of there being no distinction between Chinese and foreigners, northerners and southerners, rich and poor, noble and base, but of there being no Chinese and foreigners, no northerners and southerners, no rich and poor, no noble and base. In the church there is only Christ. Everyone in the church has been terminated by the cross. The cross deals with everything and releases only the life of Christ, which is Christ Himself, to produce the church. Therefore, the church is just Christ. The church is Christ alone. In the church there can be only Christ. Anything that is of us or out from us is not of the church. Only Christ is the church.
A brother who knows the Lord said it well: “The cross is our entrance into the church. Everyone who comes into the church must pass through the cross.” Indeed, we cannot enter into the church in ourselves. When we bring ourselves and our things into the church, the church loses its nature and taste. The things of man cause the church to lose its nature and taste. The church is not of man but of Christ. In the church there can be only Christ. Both man and the things of man were dealt with and terminated on the cross. Christ is all in the church. In the church there can be only Christ. Whatever is not of Christ or is apart from Christ is not the church. As soon as the things of man enter into the church, whether it is the flesh, temper, opinions, practices, intelligence, capabilities, virtues, or strengths, the church loses its nature of being only of Christ. Thus, it is no longer the church of Christ but an organization of man.
Man and all that he has are enemies of the church, opposing the church and fighting against the church. Man and everything of man must be terminated by the cross, annulled by the cross, and blocked by the cross from coming into the church, so that Christ can be everything in the church. In this way the nature of the church, which is of Christ, can be preserved, and the characteristic of the church, which is Christ, can be manifested. Temperament and personality, whether good or bad, must be dealt with by the cross. Wisdom, ability, intent, and purpose, whether good or bad, must be removed by the cross. Ambition, aspiration, and everything of us, whether valuable or not, must be broken and eliminated by the cross so that Christ can be everything to us. Only in this way can we express Christ as the nature of the church and live out Christ as the reality of the church. Our experience of the cross is the practical living of the church.
The reality of the church is Christ. The practical living of the church is the living out of Christ. If we want to live out Christ, we must be broken and dealt with by the cross. Only the breaking and dealing of the cross can cause us to live out Christ, and only the breaking and dealing of the cross can cause us to live out the reality of the church. The breaking and dealing of the cross bring in Christ and the reality of the church. Christ lives out from those who have been broken and dealt with by the cross, and only such ones have the practical living of the church.
May the Lord show us that Christ is the reality of the church. To live out the reality of the church, we must live out Christ. To live out Christ, we must experience the cross. The cross terminates everything that is of us and imparts everything that is of Christ into us, thereby producing the church. From the time that we were saved and received Christ, God has been doing a breaking and terminating work in us through the cross so that Christ can grow and be formed in us and so that the church can be built up. When we were saved, the cross added Christ into us, but after we were saved, the cross has also been doing a subtracting work in us. The cross subtracts our flesh, our temper, our sins, the world, wisdom, power, human abilities, human methods, the old creation, our natural being, and everything of Adam. Although the cross has been doing a work of subtraction in us, the final issue will be a display of the life and riches of Christ as the reality and stature of the church. The cross subtracts everything that we are so that we can receive everything that Christ is. Only by our experiencing the cross can Christ increase in the church and cause the growth of the church practically.
For this reason, only the cross can enable us to live out Christ and to live out the reality of the church. The subtraction of the adamic life in our being opens the way for the addition of the reality of Christ. The more Christ’s death on the cross is applied to our adamic life, the more Christ will be lived out in the church. When we allow the cross to kill everything of Adam in us, Christ will become the reality of the church. However, if we continue to live in Adam, the self, and the old creation, the reality of the church — Christ — will be nullified by us, and the church will not be manifested. We must deny the self, condemn the old creation, and reject everything of Adam so that the reality of the church will be manifested among us. This reality is just Christ Himself. Zeal, love, and other good traits are not the reality of the church. Only Christ is the reality of the church. If we learn to reject the self and the old creation and allow the cross to terminate everything of the old man, the reality of the church will surely be manifested among us. Then, when we gather together and people come into our midst, they will touch Christ, the reality of the church.
