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Scripture Reading: Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; 2 Cor. 12:7-10
When we minister Christ as the life and content of the church and the church as the expression of Christ, we need to say something based upon the healthy teaching of the Scriptures. For such a reality, we need the solid foundation of teaching. Then we can go on from this foundation to share something of our experience.
If we speak from the book of Romans about Christ as the life and content of the church and the church as the expression of Christ, we need to show people the whole structure of the book of Romans. Romans is a full record of the entire Christian life, including the inner life and the church life. It starts from our being sinners under God’s condemnation (1:18—3:20). This is why we need Christ’s redeeming blood so that we can be justified before God (3:21—5:11). Thus, the first part of the book of Romans shows us that we were sinful under God’s condemnation, but we have been justified by God through the redemption of Christ. We have been justified, saved, redeemed, and brought back to God.
Then Romans goes on to tell us how God works in us for our sanctification, transformation, conformation, and glorification. On the negative side, God gets rid of our old nature, our old man, to make Christ our new nature, our new man. This work is done through the cross on the negative side and the Spirit on the positive side. We have to experience the cross, to be identified with the death of Christ. The cross must do away with all the old things of the old nature, all the things of the self, and all the natural things. This is pointed out in chapter 6 of Romans.
Then chapter 8 tells us that after the work of the cross, we are living and walking in and by the Spirit. This means that we are living in Christ and walking by Christ. In this way we are daily and gradually conformed to the image of Christ. In other words, we are gradually made the image of Christ to be the expression of Christ. Our old nature, our old self, the “I,” has been done away with by the cross, and all of what Christ is has been wrought into us. Christ has been made our life and even our daily walk, our living. Now we are persons who are not living by ourselves but by Christ. We are not walking in ourselves but in Christ. There has been a transfer from the old nature into the new nature and from the old man into the new man by the cross and the Spirit. We have been transferred into Christ through the working of the cross and the moving of the Spirit.
God is doing a work of transferring us out of Adam into Christ, out of the self into Christ. This transferring work is the sanctifying work, the transforming work, the conforming work, and the glorifying work. Now we are under the process of sanctification. The more we are sanctified, the more we are transformed, conformed, and glorified. When we are fully sanctified, that will be the day of our glorification. This is the content of the section of Romans 5:12 through 8:39.
Holiness is God Himself. The more God works Himself into us, the more we become holy. We can see this in the type of the tabernacle. All the boards of the tabernacle were made of wood overlaid with gold. The wooden boards were sanctified, made holy, by being overlaid with gold. To be sanctified does not mean to be cleansed or to be kept away from filthy and worldly things. To be sanctified means to be overlaid with gold, signifying the divine nature. The more we are overlaid with the divine nature, the more we are sanctified. The divine nature is not only the holiness but also the glory. When the boards were overlaid with gold, they became holy and were in the glory. They were glorified by being overlaid with gold. The more we are overlaid with the divine nature of God, the more we are sanctified and glorified.
Sanctification, transformation, conformation, and glorification are actually one thing. We have been justified, but we need to be transferred from the old being into the new being, from the old nature into the new nature. We have to be overlaid with the divine nature, to be sanctified. All that we are has to be swallowed up by Christ. Then we will be transformed, conformed to the image of Christ, and glorified to become the expression of Christ.
Now we come to the last part of Romans (chs. 12—16). This section shows us that we will be built up together as the Body of Christ, the church, to express Christ. We express Christ because Christ is wrought into us. We have been not only justified but also transferred out of Adam into Christ. Because Christ has been wrought into us, what we have and what we are is Christ. We have been sanctified, that is, saturated and permeated by and with Christ. Now we live by and in Him, so we become His image. As those who are conformed to His image, we become His expression. Then we are built together, not in ourselves but in Him. This is like the wooden boards of the tabernacle being framed and built together in the overlaying gold. We are built together not in ourselves but in Christ.
From chapters 12 through 16 we see the real expression of Christ in the functions of the different members. The functions are the gifts, which are the expression of the grace deposited into us. Romans 12:6 says that we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. This is because the gifts are the outward expression of the inward grace. The inward grace is Christ deposited into us. Christ has been wrought into us as a deposit. We have a portion of Christ within us as the grace, and this grace expressed is the function, the gift. Thus, all the gifts are the expression of the inward grace, which is Christ deposited into us.
The gifts mentioned in Romans 12 are absolutely different from the miraculous gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. The gifts in Romans 12 are the expressions of the inner grace, which is Christ. The inner, deposited grace is expressed outwardly, and this outward expression is the gift. This gift is manifested in different ways.
As those who are justified by God, we should be sanctified daily by being overlaid with His divine nature. Then we are under the process of transformation and are being conformed to Christ’s image. We have a certain amount of Christ within us as grace deposited into us. Perhaps a certain brother, out of the measure of Christ within him, has a burden to give hospitality to many traveling saints (v. 13b). When the saints come to his home, he spontaneously serves them, takes care of them, and displays love, which is Christ expressed through him. This hospitality is a gift, and this gift is an expression of the inner grace which is Christ deposited and wrought into him.
Let us consider the experience of another brother, who is being gradually sanctified, overlaid with the divine nature of God. A certain amount of Christ has been wrought into him, so gradually he has the burden to give material things to others (v. 13a). In his giving you can sense the flavor of Christ, the reality of Christ, and the presence of Christ. This giving of material things is an expression of inner grace, so this gift expresses Christ.
Another brother who has been justified and sanctified to a certain extent may have the heart to always show mercy to others (v. 8b). But others do not sense that he is merely a merciful person. In his showing of mercy, others sense the flavor and the tenderness of Christ. Even this showing of mercy is an expression of the inner grace, which is Christ.
In this way the members are built together and express Christ in many aspects. They become a living Body expressing Christ in many ways. Christ is expressed in the way His members minister, serve, show mercy, give material things, show love (v. 9a), and give hospitality to meet others’ needs. Because they have been justified and sanctified, Christ has been wrought into them to a certain extent, and they have a certain amount of Christ as the deposited grace. Gradually, something will come out of this inward grace, and this coming out is the outward gift, the function, with the expression of Christ in their gift.
Thus, the whole book of Romans shows us that Christ must be wrought into us as our life and content, and the church must be the expression of Christ. In this book, which is a full record of the Christian life, there is the expression of Christ and nothing else. There is the expression not of any doctrine but of Christ, who is the Redeemer and our portion within to be wrought into us to conform us to His image. The grace is deposited into us that it may become the very outward function, and this outward function is the expression of Christ in reality.
Whenever and wherever we come together, we come as such an expression of Christ. We are not here to express anything else. We are not standing for anything but Christ Himself. I have a real burden that all the dear brothers and sisters would be helped to realize this one thing — to know Christ as the life and content of the church. We need to experience Christ to such an extent and learn to minister Christ as the life, the content, and everything to the church.
Now we want to see something concerning Christ as the life and content of the church and the church as the expression of Christ from 1 and 2 Corinthians. The end of Romans reveals the church as the Body expressing Christ, but the church in Corinth was expressing something else. We may express things which are quite spiritual, but even these things can become a distraction. The church must be the expression of Christ as revealed in the book of Romans. But the church in Corinth was distracted from Christ, not by evil things but by something apparently spiritual. They were distracted from Christ by the gifts.
Thus, the apostle Paul, the writer of 1 and 2 Corinthians, did his best to bring the distracted church back to Christ. The opening of 1 Corinthians tells us that Christ is the power and wisdom of God and has been made everything to us as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1:24, 30). The church is God’s cultivated land to grow in and with Christ and God’s building, the dwelling place of God to be built up as God’s temple (3:9-17). Thus, the church is a corporate vessel, a corporate container, to contain the Triune God. This church, which is the Body of Christ, is a part of Christ. First Corinthians 12:12 reveals that the church, as the Body, is Christ. This is because the church is a part of Christ, so the church must be the expression of Christ.
We also need to stress 1 Corinthians 15:45b, which reveals that Christ is the life-giving Spirit. This book does not show us that Christ is the gift-giving Spirit but that He is the life-giving Spirit. The church in Corinth overemphasized the gifts, so Paul somewhat restricted and restrained them from exercising the gifts too much. They went to an extreme, so Paul brought them back to be balanced. Some think that chapters 12 and 14 encourage us to exercise the gifts, but if we read these two chapters carefully, we can see that they actually restrict the overexercise of the gifts and bring the distracted Corinthians back to Christ. Of course, Paul did not say that the gifts are wrong or bad, but he did indicate that we need to be limited in exercising the gifts. We have to be brought back to Christ to make Christ the reality of the church life.
This Christ is the life-giving Spirit, and we have to learn how to contact Him by exercising our spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b shows us that Christ is the life-giving Spirit, and chapter 2 shows us that we need to exercise our spirit. This chapter tells us that the soulish man is unable to apprehend spiritual things (v. 14). This means that the soul is not able to contact Christ. The soulish man cannot apprehend spiritual things, and Christ as the life-giving Spirit is the reality of all spiritual things. We cannot apprehend and realize Christ by our soul. We must exercise our spirit to contact Him. A spiritual man discerns all things (v. 15). This shows us the great difference between the spirit and the soul. It is absolutely wrong to say that the spirit is the same as the soul. The soul is absolutely unable to contact Christ. We must exercise our spirit to contact Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” The Lord is the life-giving Spirit, and we have a spirit within, so we must be one spirit with the Lord. When we exercise our spirit, we can contact and experience the Lord. Then Christ will be made real to us, and we will be made real in Christ. As the members of Christ, we will be built up with others to be the church as the living expression of Christ, who is the life-giving Spirit.
Second Corinthians follows the first Epistle to give us a full revelation of how Christ is wrought into us. This is why the second Epistle does not mention the gifts. Instead, it brings us into another realm, another world, another field. It brings us further into Christ by telling us how Christ is wrought into us through all kinds of sufferings, through the different aspects of the working of the cross. One of the key passages in 2 Corinthians is 12:7-10. Here Paul said that there was given to him a thorn in the flesh, which caused him to suffer all the time. He prayed three times for the Lord to take away this thorn, but the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness” (v. 9a). The Lord indicated that Paul needed this suffering so that Christ as the sufficient grace and strength might be wrought into him.
Thus, in this second Epistle to the Corinthians, the inwrought Christ is revealed. The second Epistle is a record of the Christ wrought into us. The persons with Christ wrought into them will be easily built up to be the real and living expression of Christ and nothing else. This is why this second Epistle does not speak of any gift or of any miraculous, supernatural things. Instead, it speaks of the inner work of the indwelling Christ, the Christ wrought into us by the killing, the “burning,” of the cross. This is what we need today. We need to know Christ in an inner way and have Christ wrought into us.
After this fellowship I believe we have some vision of Romans and the Epistles to the Corinthians. From these three books we can see that originally we were sinners under the condemnation of a righteous God. As such sinful persons, we were justified by this righteous God through the redemption of the Lord Jesus. After this justification, the Lord starts within us to do a transforming work, to transfer us out of the old realm of Adam into the new realm of Christ. We are transferred from our self into Christ through sanctification, transformation, conformation, and glorification. Then we will have the image of Christ to express Him from within by being built together as His living Body. We will have the inner grace and the outward gifts as the expression of Christ.
This is the normal situation, but it is easy for us to be distracted, to be abnormal. We can be distracted from Christ even by good and spiritual things. We have to be brought back from all distracting things to Christ, taking Him as our reality. He is the life-giving Spirit within us, and we have a regenerated spirit. Now we have to exercise our spirit to contact Christ as the living Spirit. Then He will be wrought into us and expressed through us.
