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Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:4, 6; Col. 1:27; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 1:23
In this chapter we want to see the fourth great mystery in the Bible — the mystery of Christ. However, before we fellowship about the mystery of Christ, I feel that I have the responsibility to fellowship in detail with you the truth concerning the person of Christ. It is only when we see this truth that we can enter into the subjective experience of Christ and live out the mystery of Christ, which is the church. This truth is neglected by Christianity today. The mystery of Christ is the church; the content and expression of Christ are the church. If we have only the objective knowledge but not the subjective experience of Christ, this mystery will become an empty doctrine. Dear brothers and sisters, we cannot be deceived. We must know the truth. In order to fellowship about this truth, I cannot avoid referring to certain things in our “family history” that can serve as a background and provide a contrast to this truth.
I started to correspond with Brother Nee in 1925. In 1932 Brother Nee went to my hometown to hold a special conference, and we started to have face-to-face contact. In the following year I left my work, and he wrote me a letter that confirmed my leaving my job to serve the Lord full time. Hence, after I left my job, I went to Shanghai particularly to see him. In the beginning of 1933 we began to work together until the political situation in mainland China changed in 1949. At that time he called an emergency co-workers’ meeting to decide on how to cope with the changes. Two times in the co-workers’ meetings he suggested that I leave mainland China and go overseas. Therefore, in April or May of 1949 I went to Taiwan. The following year Brother Nee went to Hong Kong and brought in a revival. Then he wanted me to go there to arrange all the church services of the co-workers, elders, and deacons. After staying there for one and a half months, I returned to Taiwan. Just before I left for Taiwan, Brother Nee went back to mainland China. In 1952 he was put into prison, and after twenty years of imprisonment he was taken by the Lord in 1972.
I worked with Brother Nee for almost twenty years and had a very close relationship with him in the work. We had much time together. He and I never engaged in any idle talk; we always talked about the truth and the Lord’s work. I knew the burden within his heart for the Lord, his view concerning the church, and his way of carrying out the work. Brother Nee absolutely believed that the Triune God is simply Christ Himself. Hymns, #490 was written by Brother Nee himself, and two lines of the hymn say, “Thou, Lord, the Father once wast called, / But now the Holy Spirit art.” This hymn was first printed in Shanghai and was included in the hymnal with one thousand fifty-two selections that Brother Nee had published before he went into prison.
At the end of 1933 a certain Mr. Hsueh, who was a Chinese traveling preacher from the China Inland Mission, was invited to speak in our meeting in Shanghai. He said, “Never think that the Father is the Father, the Son is the Son, and the Spirit is the Spirit, and that the three are separated. Never think that the Lord Jesus is not the Holy Spirit; the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit Himself.” Brother Nee was sitting at the back listening. When Brother Hsueh mentioned this point, Brother Nee responded far from the back, “Amen!” Even we who were seated in front heard it. After the meeting when he and I were strolling together, he said, “We all must see that the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit.” Beginning with Brother Nee up until now, the belief among us concerning the Triune God is that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one and not separated.
In 1954 I was invited by the church in Hong Kong to hold a conference. For at least seven days I spoke with much emphasis on this truth. Every time after I spoke, the brother who accompanied me on the platform prayed to conclude the meeting. His prayer completely confirmed what I spoke. The emphasis of my speaking was that the Triune God had become the indwelling Spirit. I also especially selected some hymns in this category for the congregation to sing. However, after Brother Nee was imprisoned, that brother who had accompanied me changed and said that this was heresy, thereby stirring up contention, which eventually led to division.
In 1963 I began to compile an English hymnal with the help of an American brother, and I wrote a hymn that says, “O Lord, Thou art the Spirit now.” I also wrote another hymn that says, “O Lord, Thou art the Spirit! / How dear and near to me!” In 1964 I went to New York to lead a conference and training, and this American brother also went. There was a dissenting brother who, upon seeing this American brother polishing these hymns, said to him, “Don’t work on these hymns.”
After a few days I sat down to fellowship with this dissenting brother. He said, “The Bible does say that Christ is the Spirit, but today Christianity cannot accept this. If you speak this, you will stir up opposition from Christianity.” Then I said, “Brother, my burden today is mainly to speak on Christ as the Spirit. If I do not speak this, I have nothing to speak. I ask that you and the other brothers give me the liberty. If we are afraid of opposition, then what will the Lord’s recovery do? When Martin Luther spoke on justification by faith during his time, he was very much opposed by the Catholic Church. Did he stop speaking because he was afraid of people’s opposition? If he did not speak, from where would the Reformation have come? Today the Lord’s recovery is still not completed; we cannot stop speaking simply because we are afraid of people’s opposition.”
Isaiah 9:6 says, “A child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; /... And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.” These two terms — Mighty God and Eternal Father — are placed next to each other. On the one hand, He is the mighty God; on the other hand, He is the eternal Father. We need to read the subsequent portions in Isaiah for an explanation of the term Eternal Father. To interpret every verse of the Bible, we need the entire Bible.
Isaiah 63:16 says, “You are our Father, / Since Abraham does not know us, / And Israel does not acknowledge us. / You, Jehovah, are our Father; / Our Redeemer from eternity is Your name.” Here our Father and our Redeemer are put together. Both our Father and our Redeemer are Jehovah. Jehovah in the Old Testament is Jesus in the New Testament. Je- refers to Jehovah, and -sus, which was added, means Savior. Jehovah becoming the Savior is Jesus. Here it says, “You, Jehovah, are our Father; / Our Redeemer from eternity is Your name.” This One is Jesus. Here it does not say, “You, God, are our Father” but “You, Jehovah, are our Father.” This Father is Jehovah our Savior, who is Jesus. Could it be that Isaiah was telling us about two Fathers: one Father — the eternal Father — in 9:6 and another Father — Jehovah — in 63:16? This is impossible!
Isaiah 64:8 says, “Now, Jehovah, You are our Father.” Then 63:16 says, “You, Jehovah, are our Father; / Our Redeemer from eternity is Your name.” This implies that Jehovah is our Father from eternity. Jehovah being our Father from eternity equals His being our eternal Father. From eternity means existing eternally. The eternal Father, the Redeemer, from eternity, is the One who is our Father from eternity. Then 64:8 says, “Now, Jehovah, You are our Father.” Jehovah is our Father from eternity, and now He is still our Father. According to what is recorded in the entire book of Isaiah, we can conclude that “Eternal Father” in 9:6 is both Jehovah and Jesus. Hence, 9:6 says that although He is the Son, His name is called Eternal Father. This means that He is the Son as well as the Father.
There is a group of opposers near Orange County, California, who studied Isaiah 9:6. In the record of their studies there was a conversation like this: One said, “Isaiah 9:6 surely said that Jesus is the Father!” Another said, “Yes, but we dare not say so. If we say so, then we contradict the traditional teaching.” These words were all printed in the booklet we wrote in rebuttal. Up to today, however, at least five or six years have gone by, and they still have not published a book to refute our rebuttal. This is because they have no ground to refute. The truth is the truth.
In Isaiah 9:6 there is another proof that the Son is the eternal Father. This poetic prophecy was written in couplets. In the Hebrew language, couplets are often employed to refer to the same thing. “A child is born to us, / A Son is given to us” is a couplet. Then it goes on to say, “And His name will be called /...Mighty God, / Eternal Father.” The child being called Mighty God and the Son being called Eternal Father are also a couplet. The mighty God is simply Jehovah God; the eternal Father is just another way of saying it. This means that the mighty God and the eternal Father form a pair poetically. This is to say that the eternal Father is the mighty God, just as the child is the Son and the Son is the child in the previous line.
As to His becoming a man, He is the child who was born of Mary in a manger. But as to His eternal divinity, He is the Son of God. This One who is the child and the Son is the mighty God and the eternal Father. Since Jesus is the child and the Son, He is the mighty God and the eternal Father. The infant Jesus who was born in a manger is the mighty God and the eternal Father. The child and the Son are one; the mighty God and the eternal Father are also one. Whether it be the child, the Son, the mighty God, or the eternal Father, They are all only one person; They all refer to the all-inclusive Christ.
In 1934 Brother Nee held the third Overcomer Conference in Shanghai on Christ having the preeminence in all things. Both that dissenting one and I attended. I was the one who took notes of the messages. Brother Nee asked me to organize my notes and publish them in the issue of The Present Testimony of March-April 1934. There was even a note printed at the end of the messages: “Spoken by Watchman Nee; recorded by Witness Lee.” In this issue of The Present Testimony was an article entitled “God’s Center or the Centrality and Universality of God.” [Editor’s note: This message has been included in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, volume 11, published by Living Stream Ministry.] This message contains the following paragraph:
The first thing in Christ’s redemption is His incarnation. Christ was incarnated to be a man in order to come from the position of the Creator to the position of the creature. He had to take on a created body before He could die for man and for all things. There must first be Bethlehem before there can be Golgotha. There must first be the manger before there can be the cross. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 11, p. 740)
In this paragraph there is a line that says “to come from the position of the Creator to the position of the creature.” This means that He is the Creator but that in incarnation He as the Creator became a creature. Later, that dissenting brother translated these messages into English and translated this part as, “In becoming a man He steps down from the position of the Creator to the place of the created.” In his translation he completely changed the meaning of Brother Nee’s words. What Brother Nee meant may be compared to a king who steps down from his royal position to a commoner’s position; this means that the king becomes a commoner. However, the translator would not translate it this way. Rather, he changed it to say that the king steps down from his royal position to the place of the common people. This may be compared to the Queen of England, who, when she goes to Hong Kong, goes to the place of the common people for a little visit. However, when the Lord Jesus became a man, He did not merely come to the place of the common people; rather, He came to the position of the common people to become a common person. The way that brother translated this portion was not faithful to the original writing.
Now we come to the subject of this chapter: the mystery of Christ. The universe is a mystery, man is a mystery, and even more, God is a mystery. The Bible reveals these things very clearly, and there is no need for man to infer or grope. Then the Bible reveals another great mystery, which is the mystery of Christ. The mystery of Christ is the church. Colossians shows us that the mystery of God is Christ, while Ephesians shows us that the mystery of Christ is the church. These two books may be called sister books; one is on Christ, and the other is on the church. All the “stories” of God are related to Christ, and all the “stories” of Christ are related to the church. The church came out of Christ; the church is also the expression of Christ. This is an exceedingly great mystery in the universe.
In the New Testament we have the four Gospels, which record the things of Christ’s human life on the earth, showing us what kind of person Christ was. These four Gospels are biographies of Christ. After the four Gospels the church began in the book of Acts. However, in the book of Acts we still cannot see the revelation and the story of the church. Only in the Epistles does Paul show us clearly how the church is the mystery of Christ and the story of Christ. This revelation is mainly written in the book of Ephesians.
From Ephesians 1 we can see that the church was chosen and predestinated by God before the foundation of the world. In time, because of man’s fall, Christ came to redeem us who were chosen and predestinated by God. After Christ redeemed us, the Spirit came to seal us; that is, the Spirit seals us with God’s life and nature and all that God is. The beginning of this sealing is our regeneration. When we believed in the Lord, the Spirit of God came to seal us. The first part of this sealing is regeneration. When the Spirit of God regenerated us, He sealed us with God’s life so that we have God’s life and nature within us. From that time the Spirit of God has been continuously sealing us within. This part of the sealing sanctifies us, makes us spiritual, and causes the elements of God to increase in us until we grow and mature in the divine life. This sealing of the Holy Spirit causes us to have an organic union with God. In this organic union we enjoy God’s rich life, which is Christ Himself, and we become the Body of Christ.
This Christ was God who became flesh and who passed through death and resurrection. His resurrection was a work of God’s power because it was God’s power that raised Him from the dead and brought Him into ascension in the heavenlies, highly exalting Him to be far above all and giving Him to be Head over all things to the church.
This resurrection power of Christ not only enabled Him to ascend to heaven, to be far above all, and to become Head over all things; it also operates within us today. Because the Spirit of God operates in us, this power operates in us along with the Spirit of God. This power not only regenerates and sanctifies us but also transforms us, bringing us into an organic union with God. In this organic union we enjoy Christ’s powerful life for us practically to become members of the Body of Christ. The aggregate of all the members of Christ is the Body of Christ, which is the church, the fullness of Christ, who fills all in all. This fullness is the expression of the Christ who fills all in all (Eph. 1:23).
The church is not an organization, nor is it merely an assembly formed by a group of the Lord’s believers joining together. That may be a religious body but not the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is an organism. As such, we have the life of God within us and the Spirit of God sealing us, step by step, with all that God is in Christ, that we may be sanctified and transformed and that we may experience the power that enabled Christ to rise from the dead, ascend to heaven, transcend all things, and be Head over all things. It is not in our natural life or in our natural disposition or in our own abilities and power and much less in our own merits, goodness, or good points that we become the Body of Christ. It is altogether through the sealing by the Spirit of God with God’s life and nature that we are regenerated, sanctified, and transformed, thereby being fully united with Christ. Individually speaking, we have become the members of Christ; corporately speaking, we have become the Body of Christ. Therefore, the Body of Christ is not an organization but an organism.
All the stories of God are in Christ. God is in Christ, and Christ is the embodiment of God. After Christ’s death and resurrection, all the stories of Christ are in the church. Today the church is the Body of Christ; Christ lives in this Body and is expressed through this Body. Hence, the church is a matter of Christ’s life. The church has Christ as her life and everything. Just as God lived in Christ and was expressed through Christ, so Christ also lives in the church and is expressed through the church. The Head is Christ, and the Body is the church. The life of the Head is the life of the Body. All that the Head has is all that the Body has. In the Head there is God, and the Head is the expression of God; in the Body there is also God, and the Body is also the expression of God. All the stories of God are in Christ, and all the stories of Christ are in the church. In Christ we are not scattered; rather, we are one Body. There is nothing other than the Body that can express how intimate and inseparable our relationship is. This is an organic union.
Ephesians 2:14-16 shows us that Christ’s death on the cross abolished the barriers between the Jews and the Gentiles, breaking down the middle wall of partition between them, that in the salvation of the power of His life the two may become one Body, which is the one corporate new man, the church. In this new man, only Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:10-11).
Christ is also every part of this corporate new man (1 Cor. 12:12) and lives in every part (every member). He is the content and reality of this new man. This new man is the mystery and story of Christ, the all-inclusive One.
Ephesians 3 shows us that God wants to dispense the unsearchable riches of Christ into us to be our enjoyment day by day. Therefore, the apostle Paul prayed that God would grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man. Our inner man is our regenerated spirit, which has been mingled with the Holy Spirit into one spirit. God will strengthen us with power through His Spirit into our inner new man. This means that God wants us not to live by our outward, natural man or by our soul — our mind, will, and emotion. God wants our whole being to enter into our regenerated spirit, into our spirit which has been mingled with the Holy Spirit as one, into our inner new man.
When we live in this way, Christ can then make His home in our hearts. When Christ thus makes His home in our hearts, His unsearchable riches become our enjoyment. Then we will be able to apprehend with all the saints how wide, long, high, and deep Christ is and how immeasurable He is. Therefore, at this stage the riches of Christ are received and experienced by the church. Hence, all the stories of Christ are in the church, which enjoys all His riches. For this reason, the church becomes the mystery of Christ.
Verse 19 shows us that when we enjoy all the riches of Christ by being strengthened into our inner man and allowing Him to make His home in our hearts, the result is that we are filled with everything of God so that we become the fullness, the expression, of God.
The word fullness means to overflow and thereby become an expression. For example, when I pour milk into a cup, if I do not fill the cup, the milk will not be expressed. But if I continue to pour the milk until it fills the cup and even overflows the cup, this overflow will be the expression of the milk through the cup. Today if the church has Christ without an overflow, the church cannot express Christ or God. We need to let the riches of Christ fill us completely even until they overflow. At this time we will be not only the expression of Christ but also the expression of God. We will be not only the fullness of Christ but also the fullness of God.
In chapter 4 Ephesians goes on to speak of the oneness of the Spirit. There it says that the Body is one and the Spirit is one, so the hope is also one. Now this Spirit is in the Body, and we are this Body. However, our bodies have not been transfigured yet. Therefore, we have a hope, which is that one day even our body of humiliation of the old creation will also be changed into a body of glory of the new creation. This means that at the Lord’s coming, our body will be redeemed and transfigured into a glorious body. This is our hope. We have this hope of glory because of the Spirit, the Lord Himself, who is within us.
Ephesians 4 goes on to say that this one Body, which is made up of us, has only one Lord. We are joined to the Lord through faith and baptism. Through faith we receive the Lord into us, and through baptism we are immersed into Him. To believe is to enter into and have an organic union with the Lord. To be baptized is to end, to terminate, our all. Finally, this passage speaks of one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.
All these matters show us that our being saved to become the church is altogether a matter of being completely mingled with the Triune God — the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father. For this reason, the church is the mystery of Christ, just as Christ is the mystery of God. Christ is one with God; also the church is one with Christ. The God in Christ has become the God in the church. The church is mingled as one with the Triune God.
In chapter 5 Ephesians goes on further to show us that the church is not only the new man to fulfill God’s will but also the bride, the counterpart, for Christ’s satisfaction. To be sure, such a church will have been possessed by and saturated with the Triune God. At this stage we enjoy the Triune God not only as grace and reality but also as love and light. We live in and enjoy God’s love; we also live in and enjoy God’s light. In this way all our living and our walk become fully normal.
In chapter 6 the book of Ephesians shows us from another side that the church is also a warrior. As the mystery of Christ, the church is a warrior fighting for God’s kingdom to destroy and trample on God’s enemy, Satan. We become God’s warriors not by ourselves but by being in Christ and by His power to take up the whole armor of God. Every part of the whole armor of God is Christ. We have the girdle of truth to gird our loins; this truth is Christ. We have the breastplate of righteousness to cover our conscience, and we also have the gospel of peace to shod our feet. This righteousness and this peace are also Christ. Then we have the shield of faith to protect our whole being. This faith is also Christ. Furthermore, we have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, for us to attack the enemy. This word is also Christ. Christ is the whole armor of God for us to put on that we may be able to withstand the enemy, and having done all, to stand.
In conclusion, the book of Ephesians shows us that as the mystery of Christ, the church has Christ’s life and nature and was raised up together and ascended together with Him. Furthermore, the church has the power of Christ operating within her, causing her to be far above all and become the Body of Christ, enjoying the unsearchable riches of Christ to become the fullness of Christ, the expression of Christ, which is also the fullness of God, the expression of God. This church is the new man to fulfill God’s purpose, and she is also the bride to satisfy Christ’s heart’s desire. Furthermore, she is the spiritual warrior to withstand God’s enemy and bring in God’s kingdom. This is the mystery of Christ. The mystery of Christ is such a marvelous church.
