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In this message we shall consider further details regarding the church as the Body of Christ.
Christ is the Head of the Body. In Ephesians 5:23 Paul says, “Christ is Head of the church, being Himself the Savior of the Body.” The Savior is a matter of love, whereas the Head is a matter of authority. We love Christ as our Savior, but we must also be subject to Him as our Head.
As the Head of the church, the Body, Christ is joined to the Body. Just as in one’s physical body the head and the body are one, so Christ, the Head, and the church, His Body, are joined and therefore are one. The Body is one with the Head in the divine life and in the divine Spirit.
All that Christ has accomplished, obtained, and attained as the Head is not only for the Body but also to the Body (Eph. 1:22-23). This means that what the Head has gained now belongs to the Body, for it is transmitted to the Body. The Body, therefore, comes into existence from the transmission of the Head. Whatever Christ has passed through, obtained, and attained is now being transmitted into the Body.
Christ is the Head of the Body in resurrection. This is indicated by Paul’s word in Colossians 1:18. “He is the Head of the Body, the church; who is the beginning, Firstborn from among the dead.” The fact that Christ is the Firstborn from among the dead indicates that He is the Head of the Body in resurrection. Before His resurrection, Christ was not yet the Head of the Body. Ephesians 1 indicates that after His ascension, Christ was made the Head over all things to the church. Hence, Christ’s headship is in resurrection. Because Christ’s headship is in resurrection, the experience and enjoyment of Christ spontaneously brings us into resurrection and saves us from our natural being.
Christ is the Head of the Body in resurrection and with preeminence. Colossians 1:18 reveals that Christ, the Head of the Body, is the Firstborn from among the dead “that He might have the first place in all things.” In both the old creation and the new creation, Christ is the first and occupies the first place, the place of preeminence. Both in the universe and in the church, Christ is the preeminent One. If we see this as a vision, not as a mere doctrine, our living and our church life will be revolutionized. We shall realize that in all things Christ must be first, that He is the Head of the Body with preeminence.
Because Christ is the first both in the universe and in the church, He must be all things in the universe and in the church. As the first, He is all. God’s way of reckoning in this matter is different from ours. According to our estimation, if Christ is the first, then something else should be the second, third, and others in sequence. However, from God’s point of view, for Christ to be the first means that He is all. Hence, for Christ to be the Firstborn from among the dead means that He is everything in the new creation, the church, which is His Body.
Because Christ is the Head of the Body, we need to hold the Head so that the Body may grow with the growth of God (Col. 2:19). For the Body to hold the Head means that the Body does not allow itself to be separated from the Head. If we truly hold Christ as the Head, we shall not be separated from Him by anything. We shall remain in Him without any insulation between us and Him.
The growth of the Body depends on what comes out of Christ as the Head. If we do not receive the supply that comes from Christ as the Head, the Body cannot grow. But when the Body is supplied by holding the Head, the Body grows with the growth of God. The Body grows out from the Head, for all the supply comes from the Head.
In the Bible “Christ” sometimes refers to the individual Christ, the personal Christ, and sometimes to the corporate Christ, to Christ and the church (1 Cor. 12:12). The Bible considers Christ and the church as one mysterious Christ. Christ is the Head of this mysterious Christ, and the church is the Body of this mysterious Christ. The two have been joined together to become the one mysterious Christ, a universal great man. All the saved ones in all times and in all space added together become the Body of this mysterious Christ. Individually speaking, we, the saved ones, are particular members of the Body (1 Cor. 12:27). Corporately speaking, we are the mystical Body of Christ. Every saved one is a part of the Body of Christ.
First Corinthians 12:12 says, “As the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body being many are one body, so also is Christ.” Christ here is not the individual Christ but the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ. In Greek “Christ” in this verse is “the Christ,” referring to the corporate Christ, composed of Christ Himself as the Head and the church as His Body with all the believers as its members. All the believers of Christ are organically united with Him and constituted of His life and element to become His Body, an organism, to express Him. Hence, He is not only the Head but also the Body. As our physical body has many members, yet is one, so is this Christ.
As a vine includes not only the stalk but also the branches, so the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ, includes not only Christ Himself but also the members of Christ’s Body, who are the 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. Therefore, in order to be parts of Christ, as members of His Body, we must have Christ wrought into our being.
In order to become the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ, Christ had to pass through the steps of a process. First He, the very God, became flesh for our redemption. Then in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit to come into us and work within us. In this way He becomes the Body-Christ. Now in the church life we enjoy not only God, the Redeemer, and the life-giving Spirit but also the Christ who is the Body.
The church can be the Body of Christ only as the members are constituted of Christ, possessing His life and nature. If we consider our physical body, we shall realize that anything that does not have our life and nature cannot be part of our body. Just as our body is part of us, so Christ’s Body, the church, is part of Him. As members of the Body, we are parts of Christ, constituted of Him.
Because the reality of Christ is the Spirit, the way to be constituted of Christ to be His Body is to drink the Spirit. The Body has been formed by the baptism in the one Spirit. In one Spirit we have all been baptized into one Body (1 Cor. 12:13). The baptism into the one Body has positioned us all to drink, and by drinking of the Spirit we are constituted to be the Body. By drinking the Spirit we experience the dispensing of the divine Trinity into our being and are constituted to be the Body.
The building up of the Body of Christ is altogether a matter of constitution. The Body is an organic entity constituted of the divine element of the processed Triune God. It is through such a constitution that we become the Body of Christ. Therefore, what the Body of Christ needs is not organization but a unique constitution, a constitution which consists of the divine element wrought into our inner being through our drinking of the one Spirit. The more we drink the one Spirit, the more the divine element becomes our constituent to make us the one Body, the corporate Christ.
The Body as the corporate Christ is the new man (Col. 3:10). The book of Ephesians reveals that the church is the Body of Christ, the kingdom of God, the household of God, and the dwelling place of God. This book reveals further that the church is the new man (4:24). The Greek word for church, ekklesia, means those called out for a gathering; hence, an assembly. This is the initial aspect of the church. From this, Paul goes on to the aspects of fellow citizens of the kingdom of God and members of the household of God. These are higher than the initial aspect but not as high as the aspect of the church as the Body of Christ. Yet the new man is still higher than the Body of Christ. Thus, the church is not merely an assembly of believers, a kingdom of heavenly citizens, a household of God’s children, nor even a Body for Christ. In an even higher aspect the church is the new man to accomplish God’s eternal purpose. As the Body of Christ, the church needs Christ as its life, but as the new man, the church needs Christ as its person. This new corporate man should live a life as Jesus lived on earth, that is, a life of truth, expressing God and causing God to be realized as the reality by man.
The desire of God’s heart is to have the new man, which is constituted of the Christ who is our life (Col. 3:4). If we take Christ as our life and person and live Him, the new man will be expressed to satisfy God’s desire. Ultimately, the Christ we experience and enjoy becomes the constituent of the new man. In this new man, the Body, the church, Christ is all and in all.
The new man has Christ as all the members and in all the members. In Colossians 3:11 Paul, referring to the new man, says, “Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” Because the new man has Christ as all the members and in all the members, there is no room for race, religion, culture, or social status. In the new man there is room only for Christ. Since He is everything in the new man, He actually is the new man.
In Colossians 3:11 the word “all” refers to all the members who make up the new man. This verse first reveals that Christ is all the members of the new man. For us to experience the reality of Christ being all the members of the new man, we need to take Christ as our life and person and live Him, not ourselves. When we all live Christ, Christ will be all of us, every member of the new man.
Colossians 3:11 also reveals that Christ is in all the members of the new man. Because Christ is all the members, there is no room in the new man for any natural person. Nevertheless, the members of the new man continue to exist, for Christ not only is all the members but is in all the members. The fact that Christ is in all the members of the new man indicates that the members continue to exist. The members exist not without Christ but with the Christ who dwells in them as their life and person.
The church as the Body of Christ is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:23 says that the church “is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” Grammatically, “the fullness” is in apposition to “His Body.” This indicates that the Body is the fullness and the fullness is the Body. The Body of Christ is His fullness. The fullness issues from the enjoyment of the riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8). Through the enjoyment of Christ’s riches, we become His fullness to express Him.
This fullness is the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Christ, who is the infinite God without limitation, is so great that He fills all things in all things. Such a great Christ needs the Body to be His fullness for His complete expression.
It is in the divine transmission from the Head to the Body that the Body of Christ is the fullness of the One who fills all in all, because the Christ who fills all in all is in this transmission. The transmission connects us to the all-filling Christ. In this way the church becomes the Body, the fullness, of the all-filling Christ.
Ephesians 4:10, referring to Christ, says, “He who descended is the same who also ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things.” The thought here is profound. First, Christ was in the heavens. In His incarnation He came to earth as a man and lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He died on the cross and descended into Hades, ascended in resurrection from Hades to earth, and then ascended to the third heaven. By means of such a descending and ascending He fills all things. Now Christ is everywhere, on the earth as well as in the heavens. The Body is the fullness, the expression, of such an all-filling Christ.
Since the Body is the fullness of Christ as the One who fills all in all, we, the members of the Body, need to arrive at “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). Christ has a fullness, the fullness has a stature, and the stature has a measure. We must arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This is our goal, and we must diligently press toward it until we all reach it together.
The fullness of Christ is simply the expression of Christ. As Christ’s fullness, the Body is Christ’s expression. Christ’s fullness, the Body, has a stature, and with this stature there is a certain measure. To arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is to arrive at the full building up of the Body of Christ. It is to arrive at the full completion of the building up of the Body.
To be the fullness of Christ, who fills all in all, is to “be filled unto all the fullness of God.” If we get into the depths of Ephesians 3:19, we shall see that the fullness of God is the church. The highest definition of the church is that the church is the fullness of God. In verse 21 Paul says, “To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus.” According to the context, the church in verse 21 is the fullness of God in verse 19. When in our experience we are filled unto all the fullness of God, the church comes into being in a practical way. It is at such a time that Paul says, “To Him be the glory in the church.” This glory is the expression of God. Hence, in the fullness of God there is the expression of God. The fullness of God is the church as God’s expression.
Some translations of verse 19 say, “filled with all the fullness of God.” According to this rendering, the fullness of God would have to be the element, the essence, with which we are filled. But this is a mistaken understanding of this verse. Here Paul is saying that we shall be filled unto all the fullness of God, that is, we shall be filled to be the expression of God.
Chapter three of Ephesians is concerned with the constitution of the church. The church is metabolically constituted in us through our experience and enjoyment of the riches of Christ. In order for the church to be constituted in a practical way, we need to be strengthened into our inner man. Then Christ must make His home in our hearts, occupying all the parts of our inner being and saturating them with His riches. Then we need to be rooted and grounded in love, rooted for growth and grounded for building. Following this, we must grasp the dimensions of Christ, experiencing Christ in His universal dimensions both horizontally and vertically. Along with this, we come to know in our experience the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ. As a result of all these experiences, we are eventually filled unto all the fullness of God. Therefore, being filled unto the fullness of God is the outcome of the deeper, higher, and richer experiences of Christ described in Ephesians 3.
In the New Testament the fullness is the expression through the completeness of the riches. This is the reason that in 3:8 Paul speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ and then in 1:23 and 4:13, of the fullness of Christ. As we enjoy the riches of Christ, these riches are assimilated into our being metabolically. Then they constitute us into the fullness of Christ, into the Body of Christ, as His expression. Therefore, the fullness of Christ in 1:23 is the very fullness of God in 3:19. The fullness of God is the issue of the believers’ being constituted metabolically through their experience and enjoyment of the riches of Christ.
We need to be impressed with the fact that the fullness of God is the expression of God. According to John 1:16, the fullness of God came with Christ, who is the embodiment of God’s fullness (Col. 2:9; 1:19). With Christ the expression was an individual matter. This expression, therefore, needed to be enlarged, to be expanded, from an individual matter to a corporate matter. The church as the Body of Christ today is to be the fullness of God in a corporate way. In the church the Triune God is not expressed through an individual; He is expressed corporately through the Body, through the believers who have been filled to the brim with the riches of Christ. In this way, the fullness of God is embodied in the church. Therefore, the church, the Body of Christ, the embodiment of the fullness of God, is the expression of the Triune God.
