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Scripture Reading: John 1:14, 16; Col. 2:9; Eph. 1:22-23; 3:17-19; 4:11-13
In the last chapter we covered the riches of Christ. Now we come to see the fullness of Christ. When we enjoy the riches of Christ, the result is that we become the fullness of Christ. We can say that the fullness of Christ is the most profound subject in the New Testament, and its profoundness lies in the fact that the riches of Christ become the fullness of Christ. Many people cannot understand how the riches of Christ can become the fullness of Christ. Many people cannot even clearly distinguish between the riches of Christ and the fullness of Christ.
Let me give an illustration. I may hold an empty glass in one hand and a pitcher full of water in the other hand. Since there is no water in the glass, it is empty. The pitcher, however, is full of water, so it is rich. I can pour the water from the pitcher into the glass until the glass is full of water and overflowing. We can say that this overflow is the fullness, the expression. The rich source of water has become the overflowing stream of water. From the riches to the overflow and expression — this is the fullness.
The “fullness” in the New Testament comes out of the riches of Christ and is for the expression of God. The source of the fullness is the riches. The continuous supply of the riches as the source produces the fullness as the expression. Thus, the riches are the source, and the fullness is the issue.
When we studied the history and the publications of Christianity, we found that nearly no one had spoken anything concerning the riches of Christ and the fullness of Christ. However, these two terms are in the Bible. In Ephesians 3:8 Paul says, “To me...was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.” This is the only verse in the Bible that mentions the riches of Christ, whereas the term fullness is mentioned many times. The first time is in John 1:14, where it says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality.” Here full is the adjectival form of fullness. Verse 16 says, “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” Fullness here implies the riches. Why did John use fullness instead of riches ? It is because John was speaking about God being incarnated and thereby having an expression, which is the expression of His riches. These were the riches that He brought in with His incarnation to express Himself and for us to receive. When we receive Him as the expressed God, we receive His expressed riches. This is what is meant by of His fullness we have all received. Therefore, the incarnated Christ was the expression of God’s riches and the fullness of God. When we receive Christ, we receive the fullness of God. All the fullness of God dwells in Christ bodily (Col. 2:9).
The Gospel of John is a book that speaks of the depths of scriptural truth. It not only tells us that Jesus the Nazarene is our Lord, but it also tells us that He is God, the incarnated One. The Word was God, and the Word became flesh; this means that God became a man, and this man was our Lord Jesus. God is the mystery of the universe and the center of all mysteries. One day, through His Spirit, this mysterious God entered into the womb of a virgin to be born of her, and He was called Jesus. In this way God became a man. He was the unique, true God, yet He became flesh and took on humanity to become a real man. As a man He was tempted in all things like us, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). When this God-man came, it was the Lord Jesus coming. His coming brought grace and reality.
Before the Lord Jesus came, everything in the universe — the heavens, the earth, and man — was in existence, and there were many promises in the Old Testament. The first promise was that the seed of woman would come to bruise the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). There were also many prophecies in the Old Testament, such as Isaiah 7:14, which says that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. This seed of the woman was the Savior of the human race, and He is typified by the lamb in Exodus, which was offered for the redemption of sins. Moreover, in the Old Testament there was the type of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the means and the center for the meeting of God and man. However, all the things in the universe and all these types are still not the reality; they are only shadows. Without God, the heavens and earth are empty; without God, man is also empty; the lamb, the tabernacle, and the offerings are all shadows and are all empty. No wonder the Old Testament rarely uses the word grace, and even when it does, the meaning is unclear. Strictly speaking, before the birth of the Lord Jesus, grace and reality were not in the universe, because the One who is grace and reality had not yet come. This is why John 1:17 says that the law was given through Moses, but grace and reality came through Jesus Christ. Before the Lord Jesus came, grace and reality had not yet come. When the Lord Jesus came, grace and reality also came. This is because He is grace and He is reality.
Before the birth of the Lord Jesus, there was no reality on earth, neither was there any grace; everything on earth was merely a type or a shadow. It was not until the Lord Jesus came that grace and reality came. Actually, He was grace and He was reality. Grace is God in Christ as our enjoyment. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” God gave His Son freely to us as a gift, and this is grace. Grace is not what most people understand it to be; they think it is having a high position, making a lot of money, living in a beautiful house, being surrounded by many sons and daughters, and having many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Paul says that these things are not grace. He says that because of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, he considered all people, all matters, and all things as refuse, but he counted only Christ as the excellent One (Phil. 3:8). Grace is the excellent Christ Himself. When grace is gained by man, that is reality. Now we have gained God and Christ, so we have gained life and the reality of life. He is not only life but also the reality of life. If we do not have Him, life is merely a term; if we have Him, we have life and the reality of life. Thus, grace is Christ freely enjoyed by us, and reality is Christ actually gained by us.
Based on John 1:16 we can say that the fullness of Christ is the overflow of grace and reality. God became man and dwelt among us, full of grace and reality. Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. Our receiving is not a once-for-all matter; rather, it is a continual receiving, a receiving of grace upon grace. The phrase grace upon grace in Greek implies that grace is like the rolling waves of the sea that come in wave after wave without ceasing. Beginning from the time we are saved, we receive grace and reality from His fullness, and it is a receiving without end until we grow up to be a full-grown man with the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
God has given Himself to us to be our grace and reality with a goal in view, that is, to produce the church. John 12:24 says, “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” This “much fruit” is blended together to become one loaf — the church. God became flesh and brought grace and reality for the purpose of producing the church. The church does not only have the riches of Christ, but it is also the fullness of Christ. The church is the overflow of His riches, and this overflow is His expression.
Genesis 1:27 tells us that God created male and female according to His image. But in practicality when God used dust to create man, He created only a male, Adam; He did not create the female, Eve (2:7). God did not create two people. Later, God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, so He created a female to be his counterpart. How did God create the woman? God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and took out one of his ribs, and He built that rib into a woman. Then God placed this woman before Adam. As soon as Adam saw her, he said, “This is bone of my bones / And flesh of my flesh” (v. 23). The two were a perfect match, so they were joined together to become one flesh. This proves that Eve flowed out of Adam, that she was an overflow of Adam. In the New Testament, in Ephesians 5, Paul says that the story of Adam and Eve refers to Christ and the church. This also tells us how the church was produced: It was by Christ’s “sleeping” on the cross and His side being pierced to flow out blood and water. The blood was for washing away our sins, and the water was for giving us life. Then in resurrection He entered into us as the Spirit and thereby regenerated us. Thus, all of us are built up together to become the church as the counterpart of Christ. Therefore, the church is the overflow of the riches of Christ, and it is the fullness of Christ. The church is the result produced from the riches of Christ, and it is the overflow and expression of Christ.
The fullness of Christ is the fullness of God. Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” This verse speaks not of riches but of fullness. If we say riches instead of fullness, it is not correct, because all the riches of God have become the fullness of God as His expression. All this fullness dwells in Christ bodily. Therefore, this fullness becomes the fullness of Christ, and the fullness of Christ is the fullness of grace and reality. These three fullnesses — the fullness of God, the fullness of Christ, and the fullness of grace and reality — all refer to the same fullness.
When we enjoy the riches of Christ, we become His fullness, and this fullness is His expression. Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “...and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” Christ is the Head over all things to the church. The church is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Who is the One who fills all in all? It is Christ. The church is His Body, and this Body is the fullness of Christ. Three things are spoken of in these two verses: first, the church; second, the Body; and third, the fullness. These three things all refer to the church. The church as the Body of Christ becomes the fullness of Christ for the expression of Christ. A person with a head and a body appears full and perfect. What is this? This is his expression. Even if he wants to hide, he cannot, because the expression of his fullness cannot be covered. Today the church has Christ as the Head and Christ as the Body, so it is the expression of the fullness of Christ. If day by day we have grace upon grace, receive in full the riches of Christ, and enjoy all the fullness of the Godhead, which is in Christ, then we will become the expression of the fullness of Christ, which is the church.
The fullness is produced by our enjoyment of the riches. For example, when we go to an American supermarket to buy food, we walk in the door and see fish, meat, vegetables, and fruit, which are abundant and rich. These foods, however, have not yet become the fullness; they are only the riches of America. How do the riches of America become the fullness of America? By eating. We must ask everyone to eat these riches of America. If we eat steak every day, eventually each one of us will be a tall, strong, full person, and then we all will be the fullness of America. By eating the riches of America, we become the fullness of America. If we want to become the fullness of Christ, we must enjoy the riches of Christ as food and be filled with these riches so that the element of the divine life may become our riches. In this way we will constantly enjoy and absorb the riches of Christ, and the result will be that we become the full expression of Christ, which is the church.
The riches of Christ are very abundant, but unfortunately many Christians are not willing to enjoy Christ as food every day. Therefore, despite the fact that the riches of Christ are in them, they do not express Christ’s fullness outwardly. The riches of Christ are not doctrines but are grace and reality. Twenty-two years ago in Palo Alto in Northern California was the first time I spoke in English about the riches of Christ becoming the fullness of Christ. At that time many young Americans received my speaking and rose up to enjoy the riches of Christ. The more we enjoy, the more we digest; and the more we digest, the more we absorb. The result is the fullness, which is the church. Today the churches in different localities in America have truly become the fullness of the One who fills all in all, the expression of the fullness of Christ, and the manifestation of God in the flesh. We should give glory to God, because today God wants to obtain a church that expresses Him to deal with His enemy. Therefore, God wants us to enjoy the riches of Christ, to be constituted and saturated with the riches of Christ, and to become the Body of Christ for His expression in each locality that is on the ground of oneness.
Perhaps some would say that we should not speak about the church and that it does not matter how we meet. However, I know deep within that it is necessary to speak about the church. In the past sixty years in mainland China, in Taiwan, and now in America, some were with us but later were influenced by others to refrain from speaking about the church and to reject the ground of the oneness of the church. I saw with my own eyes that these ones had a hard time growing strong in Christ. Some were not building up but dividing the Body of Christ. Once they abandoned the ground of oneness, they did not and could not keep the oneness of the Spirit, and the result was division after division. This is a historical fact.
I hope that especially you young people who hear this word would from now on always see the church, know the church, and remain in the church. The church is the place where you are fed and where you can dwell securely. In the church you are supplied. This is because what the Lord wants is the church. This is a way not of man’s choosing; it is the Lord’s way. We cannot give up this testimony, nor can any person destroy this testimony. This is the testimony of the oneness of the Body of Christ. The Head is one, the Body is one, and the expression is one; they are all Christ. We must preserve this oneness in order to escape all errors. Then our relationship with the church will be like the proper relationship between a husband and wife. A husband and wife must be one flesh; they cannot divorce. Neither the husband nor the wife can change his or her standing because of dissatisfaction; otherwise, all kinds of corrupt things will be brought in. May your vision of the church be with such a proper and clear view.
The expression of Christ is the expression of God. Because the fullness of Christ is the fullness of God, the expression of Christ is also the expression of God. Ephesians 3:17-19 says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you...may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are...that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.” The universe has its dimensions, but no one is able to measure its breadth and length and height and depth. The dimensions of the universe are Christ. Christ is the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth of the universe.
In our experience we first experience the breadth of what Christ is, and then the length. Then we advance and experience, in the church, the height and depth of His riches. From the horizontal aspect of breadth and length to the vertical aspect of height and depth, we are going from a plane to a cube. When we experience Christ together with the brothers and sisters in the church and together apprehend the dimensions of Christ, we discover that the riches of Christ are limitless and immeasurable. Through the bountiful supply of the indwelling, life-giving Spirit, the riches of Christ are constantly being dispensed into us that we may be filled and saturated unto all the fullness of God. The fullness of God refers to the expression of the riches of what God is, and this makes us the expression of God, which is the church of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” We are here perfecting the saints unto the work of the ministry. The work of the ministry is not just the preaching of the gospel, nor is it just the teaching of the Bible or the setting up of a meeting. The work of the ministry is to build up the Body of Christ. According to the Greek grammar, using the word unto twice here is in apposition and implies that the work of the ministry and the building up of the Body of Christ are not two different matters but two ways of saying the same thing. Therefore, unto the work of the ministry equals unto the building up of the Body of Christ. Our work is not merely to preach the gospel, to set up a meeting, or to teach people about the Bible. These are all things that we should do, but they are all for the building up of the Body of Christ — the church. If any activity is not for the building up of the Body of Christ, it is a work of division, and it is not for the work of the ministry. The work of the ministry has only one goal, that is to build up the Body of Christ — the church.
Verse 13 says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” This does not refer to three different kinds of arriving but to one arriving with three aspects. The first aspect is arriving at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. The second aspect is arriving at a full-grown man. Although we have the church here today, we must confess that we are still immature, that we have not arrived at a full-grown man. We are still in the process of being built up until we arrive at a full-grown man. The third aspect is arriving at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This fullness of the stature is the church. To arrive at the full-grown stature of the church is to arrive at the stature of the fullness of Christ.
We have seen this Christ in His excellency. His surpassingness, His transcendence, His glory, and His riches are all for one unique goal — His fullness. His fullness is His expression, and His expression is His church.
The work we are doing here is a spiritual warfare. We are not beating the air in vain with empty fists, nor are we running without a clear aim or goal. Our goal is the same goal as that of the apostle Paul and all those who have ministered throughout the ages: to build up the Body of Christ. We cannot have any work that divides the Body of Christ. If we preach the gospel, teach the Bible, or set up meetings, but this leads to the division of the Body of Christ, we should not do it. All our work should be a part of the work of the ministry and should all have the goal of building up the Body of Christ.
I deeply believe that this is the proper way. The more we go on, the more we will have faith; the more we speak, the more we will have to speak about; the more we preach, the more capacity and boldness we will have to preach. The trumpet we are sounding here is the same trumpet sounded by the apostle Paul and by the saints throughout the ages. Our trumpet sound is in one accord. From Taiwan to America, we have been sounding this trumpet for more than twenty years, and we will continue to sound this trumpet without changing our tune. We do this because the excellent Christ has become our all, and we do it for the expression of His fullness — His church. This is God’s unique goal.
