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In this message we shall cover more aspects of the believers’ status after being saved.
We have seen that we are brothers of Christ as the firstborn Son of God. Now we need to see that we are members of Christ as the Head of the Body. In 1 Corinthians 6:15 Paul asks, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” Because we are organically united with Christ and because Christ dwells in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22) and makes His home in our heart (Eph. 3:17), our entire being, including our purified body, becomes a member of Him. To practice such membership we need to offer our body to Him (Rom. 12:1, 4-5).
First Corinthians 6:17 indicates that we are organically united with Christ. To be one spirit with the Lord is to enter into an organic union with Him, to be united with Him organically. This organic union makes it possible for our bodies to be the members of Christ. Christ indwells our spirit, and from our spirit He spreads throughout our entire being, thereby making His home in our heart. Furthermore, according to Romans 8:11, from our inner being He seeks to impart Himself as life into our physical body. Therefore, Christ spreads from the spirit to the soul and from the soul to the body. In this way our bodies become His members.
As members of Christ, we are produced out of Him to be His parts (Eph. 5:30-32). In Ephesians 5:30 Paul says that we are members of Christ’s Body. This indicates that we are members of Christ, parts of Christ. According to our natural constitution, we cannot be members of Christ’s Body. Christ Himself is the element, the factor, that makes us parts of Him. Hence, in order to be parts of Christ as members of His Body, we must have Christ wrought into our being.
In Ephesians 5:31 and 32 Paul goes on to say, “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.” Christ and the church being one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), as typified by the husband and wife being one flesh, are the great mystery. The first couple in the Bible, Adam and Eve, present a picture of this. According to the book of Genesis, God did not create man and woman at the same time and in the same way. First God formed man’s body from the dust of the ground. Then He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). Later, in order to produce a counterpart for Adam, “the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam” (Gen. 2:21). While Adam slept, the Lord took one of Adam’s ribs and used it for the building of a woman (Gen. 2:22, lit.). In life, nature, and form the woman was the same as the man. Therefore, when God brought the woman to Adam, Adam exclaimed that she was “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Gen. 2:23).
Because there was no counterpart for Christ in the created universe, God caused Christ to die on the cross. As He “slept” there, His side was opened, and blood and water came forth (John 19:34). Because in Genesis 2 the problem of sin had not come in, that chapter mentions only the rib that was taken out of Adam; it says nothing about blood. But John 19 speaks of blood, which solves the problem of sin. The water signifies the flowing life of Christ, the eternal life, which produces the church. This life is also typified by the rib. According to John 19, not one of the Lord’s bones was broken when He was on the cross. This was a fulfillment of the Scripture which said, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken” (see Psa. 34:20). The unbroken bone of Christ signifies Christ’s unbreakable eternal life. Hence, Adam’s rib typifies the unbreakable eternal life of Christ. It is with this eternal life that we are produced out of Christ to be His parts. The fact that Eve had the same life and nature as Adam signifies that, as members of Christ, we have the same life and nature Christ has. Furthermore, together Adam and Eve made a complete unit. In the same principle, Christ and the church make a complete unit. The church is Christ’s other half. Adam and Eve became one flesh, but Christ and the church are one spirit.
In the Body there is no place for our natural life and fallen human nature. The human life and nature are not adequate to match Christ. In order to be members of Christ as the Head of the Body, we need to be one with Christ in life and nature. Therefore, as portrayed in the type of Adam and Eve, we have been produced out of Christ to be His parts. In ourselves we are not members of Christ. It is the element of Christ in us that makes us His members. Hence, a member of Christ is a person produced with the element of Christ, who is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit. If we see this, we shall realize that only that which comes out of Christ can be recognized by Christ. Only that which is produced out of Christ can be part of Him.
As members of Christ produced out of Him to be His parts, we are composed and tempered together by God to be Christ’s Body (1 Cor. 12:24-27; Rom. 12:5). In 1 Corinthians 12:27 Paul declares, “You are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” In verse 24 he says, “God has tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked.” Literally, the Greek word translated “tempered” here means blended; hence, mixed, compounded, adjusted. God has blended all the different members of Christ together into one Body. For this we need much transformation (Rom. 12:2) by the Spirit.
It is not easy to be blended together in the Body. Nevertheless, in the Body we are blended, tempered, with many others. Furthermore, the Body is both local and universal. If we think that we have been tempered quite well with the saints in our locality, the Lord may bring someone from another part of the world to test how much we have been tempered. In the church believers of many races and nationalities meet together and experience the blending, the mixing, the compounding. Such a tempering of all the different members of Christ together in the Body requires a great deal of transformation. For the practical Body life we need to be transformed by the Spirit from the natural life to the spiritual life.
In writing chapter twelve of 1 Corinthians Paul was wise. After speaking of the indispensability of each member (vv. 14-22), he speaks of the tempering of the members (vv. 23-27). After speaking of those members who despise themselves (vv. 15-16), he says, “The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you; or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you” (v. 21). For the eye to say that it does not need the hand is pride. For the foot to say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body” (v. 15), is self-made humility. First, Paul deals with those who are humble, then with those who are proud. Both are wrong, and both need tempering. Thus, God has tempered the Body, uplifting the low ones and lowering the high ones. He causes the humble to be proud and the proud to be humble. As the Body is tempered together, eventually the lower ones will be tempered to be somewhat higher, and the higher ones will be tempered to be somewhat lower. Those who are higher need to come down to the level of the low ones, and the low ones need to learn to be uplifted. This is the tempering of the Body, the real practice of the Body life. In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul was tempering the Body. This tempering is the secret of the practical Body life. When this takes place, we all shall function, and the Body will come into existence in a practical way.
For the practical Body life we all need to be tempered. Those who do not function must learn to function, and those who function more than they should must learn not to function too much. All the members need to function. Instead of being either proud or humble, we need to be tempered so that we may have the actuality and practicality of the Body seen in the functioning of all the members.
Romans 12:4 and 5 say, “As in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another.” The many members of the one Body have different functions. If we realize this, we shall not think too highly of ourselves but will respect others.
Romans 12:5 reveals that though we are many, yet we are one Body. We are many members, not many separate units. As members we need to coordinate with each other so that we may be a living, functioning Body. If we do not cooperate with each other, we are detached members, and the Body life cannot be realized in a practical way.
Romans 12:5 tells us that we are “severally members one of another.” The word “severally” does not mean separately; it means differently. It means that you are one kind of member and that I am another kind. Severally we are members one of another, composed and tempered together by God to be the Body of Christ.
The divine life within us has the inclination to be joined with other members of the Body, the more the better, and to be tempered together with them. This life, the life of Christ, which is the divine life, is the life of the Body of Christ. This life connects us to all the believers and causes us to love them, no matter what their race or nationality may be. Not to love the other members of the Body is contrary to the law of the life of the Body. Because of the inclination of the divine life within us to be joined and tempered, in Christ we, who are of many races and nationalities, are composed together by God to be the Body of Christ.
This tempering took place during Paul’s time. In the church at Corinth there were Jews, Greeks, and Romans, all of whom were tempered together to be the one Body. Furthermore, when Paul wrote to the Colossians, he said that in the new man “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all” (3:11). In the new man there is room only for Christ. He is all the members and is in all the members. Actually He is the new man, His Body (1 Cor. 12:12). For this to be expressed in a practical way, all the members need God’s tempering. As members of Christ, we have been produced out of Him, and we are being composed and tempered together by God to be the Body.
The believers are also partners of Christ as God’s Anointed. Hebrews 3:14 says, “We have become partners of the Christ.” Christ is the Firstborn, and we are His brothers. Christ is the Head of the Body, and we are His members. Christ is the anointed One, and we are His partners. Christ has been anointed by God to carry out God’s commission. Now as Christ’s partners we share with Him in carrying out God’s commission.
God has a great “corporation” in the universe, and this corporation is a partnership. God’s operation in His corporation is to work out a glorious expression of Himself. The Son of God has been appointed to carry out God’s plan and to head God’s corporation, which is a corporation of glory. As partners of Christ in God’s corporation, we do the same “business” and have the same interest and concern.
The Greek word for “partners” in Hebrews 3:14, metochos, is the same word for “partakers” in Hebrews 3:1; 6:4; and 12:8. In those three places it means that we share in the heavenly calling, the Holy Spirit, and the discipline; so we use the word partakers. In Hebrews 3:14 and 1:9 the meaning is that we share with Christ; so we use the word partners. We are partakers of heavenly, holy, and spiritual things, sharing in the heavenly calling, the Holy Spirit, and the spiritual discipline. We are partners of Christ, sharing with Him the spiritual anointing as the members share with the Head the Spirit, and sharing with Him the heavenly rest as Caleb shared with Joshua the rest of the good land (Num. 14:30).
A partaker is very different from a partner. We are partakers of food; that is, we are those who enjoy food. But we may be partners of a corporation; that is, we may be joint-owners of that corporation. The King James Version made a big mistake in Hebrews 3:14, translating it as “partakers of Christ.” According to the context, here the Greek word should be rendered partners, not partakers. The portion from 3:7 through 3:14 deals with entering the good land. The type of this entering the good land was the entering of the land under the leadership of Joshua. Joshua was the leader, and Caleb was his partner, comrade, companion, in possessing the good land. Today Christ is the real Joshua, and we are His Calebs. In this matter we are not Christ’s partakers; we are His partners. When we enjoy Christ, we are His partakers. When we follow Him, we are His partners. As His partners, we are working together with Him and cooperating with Him to fulfill God’s desire to have a corporate expression of Himself. We are Christ’s partners in this enterprise. Our being partakers of Christ is for the purpose of being His partners in the divine corporation.
We are partners of Christ as God’s Anointed in God’s anointing with the oil of exultant joy. Hebrews 1:9 says that God has anointed Christ with the oil of exultant joy above His partners. Here we see again that in God’s economy Christ is God’s appointed One to accomplish God’s plan, and we are Christ’s partners in the divine interest. He was anointed by God, and we share with Him in this anointing for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
Christ was appointed by God in eternity past and anointed in time. God the Spirit poured Himself out as the anointing oil upon Christ, the appointed One, anointing Him to be the operator of God’s corporation. As the partners of Christ, we are partners in His anointing. Christ’s being anointed by God was His initial heavenly, divine inauguration. In this inauguration we are His partners. He has obtained the anointing, and we share it with Him because we are His partners. Therefore, we are not only partakers of Christ enjoying Him but also partners of Christ sharing in His operation under God’s anointing. The Holy Spirit is the oil with which God anointed Christ and also us, the partners of Christ.
Hebrews 3:14 tells us that we are partners of Christ by holding fast the beginning of the assurance firm to the end. We must hold fast what we have believed from the beginning and have no doubt concerning it. If we hold fast the beginning of the assurance firm to the end, we shall keep ourselves in the partnership with Christ.
The believers are also slaves of Christ. “He who was called in the Lord when a slave is the Lord’s freedman; likewise, he who was called when free is Christ’s slave” (1 Cor. 7:22). The Lord’s calling does not change the outward status of His believers, but it does change their inward reality. A slave outwardly is changed to a freedman inwardly, and a freedman outwardly is changed to a slave inwardly. Inwardly we all are Christ’s slaves.
As slaves of Christ, we have been purchased with a price. Paul tells us, “You were bought with a price” (1 Cor. 7:23). This price is the precious blood of Christ (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rev. 5:9).
In Ephesians 6:6 Paul says, “Not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul.” Here “from the soul” equals from the heart. This means to serve not only with the physical body but with the heart. We need to do the will of God from the soul, from the depths of our being. All believers should be such slaves of Christ.
The believers are not only priests of God (Rev. 1:6; 5:10) but also priests of Christ. “They shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:6b). As priests of Christ they will bring man in his need to Christ and minister Christ to man.
It is in the resurrection life that the believers are priests of Christ serving Him. Revelation 20:6a says, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection: over these the second death has no authority.” This indicates that the believers serve Christ as priests in resurrection life.
Revelation 20:6b speaks of the believers reigning with Christ a thousand years. This refers to the overcoming believers as co-kings with Christ to reign over the nations in the millennium (Rev. 2:26-27; 12:5). Therefore, the believers’ being priests of Christ matches their co-kingship with Christ. In other words, if we are not priests, we cannot be kings with Christ. Only when we are priests of Christ can we be His co-kings.
