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Knowing the church is a very practical matter. Today everyone would admit that the situation in Christianity is chaotic. After believing in the Lord, we must know the church and the proper way of the church. We cannot know the church merely by studying the truth but rather by taking the proper way to follow the Lord after we are saved. We will cover this matter in a clear and concise way in six lessons. First, we will cover what the church is.
Christians often have the incorrect concept that a chapel is the church and that going to a chapel is going to church. In the Western world the word church is often understood to be a chapel. This is an erroneous concept. Chapels, gospel halls, evangelistic halls, and assembly halls are not the church. According to the Bible, the church can fear and pray (Acts 5:11; 12:5); therefore, the church is a living entity, not a dead structure. Considering a dead structure to be the church is not only wrong but also very nearly heretical. Hence, we should not think that this is simply a matter of speech and that it is a small thing.
The church is not a physical building; neither is it an organization or a group in Christianity. It is not a mission, evangelistic society, or a denomination. In any large city there are many denominations, such as Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran, Wesleyan, etc., and numerous missions and evangelistic societies. These Christian groups and organizations are not the church. The Bible says that the church is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18). A body is an organism with life, a living organism, not a dead organization. The numerous groups in Christianity are religious organizations that emphasize formalities and neglect life. Considering these organizations and religious groups as the church is also wrong.
The Greek word for church in Matthew 16:18 and 18:17 is ekklesia, which is composed of two words. The first is ek, meaning “out of,” and the second is klesia, meaning “calling.” When these two words are combined to form one word, the meaning is “the called-out congregation” or “the assembly of the called-out ones.” Thus, according to the literal meaning, the church is the congregating, the gathering together, of a group of people whom God has called out of the world.
Although the Old Testament does not speak of the church explicitly, using the Israelites, it presents a picture of the condition of the church. The children of Israel left Egypt, arrived at Mount Sinai, and were arranged and grouped by God. Thus, they were coordinated together and gathered before God. They formed a corporate body with the Tent of Meeting at the center and the twelve tribes encamped around the Tent of Meeting (Num. 2). That was the ekklesia, the gathering of the called-out ones. Therefore, the New Testament also calls the children of Israel an ekklesia in Acts 7:38. The word assembly in this verse is ekklesia in the original text. On the one hand, God called them out of Egypt, which typifies the world; on the other hand, they were a congregation gathered before God. Of course, the children of Israel did not have the nature of the church. They were only a type, a picture, showing that the church is an assembly of people whom God calls out of the world to gather before Him through His redemption and the power of His salvation. This is one aspect of the meaning of the church.
The book of Ephesians is the one book in the Bible that speaks specifically concerning the church. Ephesians 1:22-23 says that the church is the Body of Christ. This is a divine revelation showing what the church is in a thorough and distinct way. We will cover this in six points.
Ephesians 1:22-23 says that the church is the Body of Christ and that the church is “the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” This shows that the church as the Body is the fullness of Christ. We all understand that the human body is the fullness of a human being. We identify a person mainly by his face. Without seeing the head of a person, it is not easy for us to identify him. Hence, the distinction of a person is in the head and the face. However, the fullness of a person is his body. If a person has only a head without a body, he will have no fullness. A person’s fullness is manifested in his body.
Fullness and body are not two items but one item. The fullness equals the body, and the body equals the fullness. When people speak of the church being the Body of Christ, they usually emphasize ability and function. Rarely do they realize that the Body is the fullness. But when Ephesians, which is a book on the church, speaks of the church as the Body of Christ, it emphasizes fullness and building, not ability and function. Fullness is the expression of the Body, and building produces the fullness. If there is no building, there will be no expression of the fullness.
May the Lord intensify our feeling so that whenever we speak concerning the church as the Body of Christ, our first feeling would be that of the fullness. The Body of Christ signifies not only that the church is spiritual, living, heavenly, and functioning, but it also signifies that the church is the fullness of Christ. The church as the Body of Christ is the fullness of Christ. Christ is full, and the overflowing of Christ from His fullness is the church. If Christ does not have the church, there would be no way for His fullness to be expressed in the universe. When the fullness of Christ is expressed, it becomes His Body, which is the church.
When the Bible says that the church is the Body of Christ, the primary significance of the church is its fullness, not its functions. Whereas our emphasis on function is often according to a natural human understanding, the emphasis on fullness is according to God’s revelation. Without the revelation of God, man has no way to realize that the Body is a matter of fullness.
The first thing people see when they look at a person is not his ability and function; rather, they see his proper appearance. This is a matter of fullness. If we take a photograph of only a person’s head, there is no fullness. If it were possible for four people to place just their heads side by side on a bench, would it look nice? It would scare people away. However, it would be a pleasant sight to have the four of them sitting on the bench as complete persons. Therefore, a man without a body lacks something. He does not look like a man. The church is the same to Christ. The church is the fullness of Christ, just as a man’s body is his fullness.
Ephesians 1:23 says that Christ fills all in all. Sometimes people translate this word all as “pan.” For example, pan in Pan American Airlines is Greek for the word all. Christ is the One who is “pan” in “pan”; He is all in all. This shows how rich Christ is.
The verses prior to Ephesians 1:23 also show how great and high Christ is. Verses 20 and 21 say that God raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand, far above all rule, authority, power, lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. This is His greatness, His height, and His transcendence. Not only so, God subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church. He is above all, and all things are under His feet. He is the Head over all things. We cannot fully realize His greatness and His transcendence.
Brothers and sisters, we need to know our great and surpassing Lord. Only when we realize His surpassing greatness will we know His fullness. His fullness requires a large vessel in order to be expressed. This vessel is the church. However, because the church has not been built up, it does not completely express His fullness. When the fullness of the times comes and God’s chosen ones have been filled, the church will truly be the fullness. Today the church is still being filled. The church needs more saved ones and more local churches. Christ is so full that He needs an immeasurably large vessel to express Him. This vessel is the church. Therefore, the church as the fullness of Christ is a tremendous matter.
Even though Satan has damaged the church and done a divisive work, we can still see the great matter of the fullness of the church. In spite of Satan’s dividing and damaging work, we cannot deny the greatness of the church in its nature and condition. This is the fullness of Christ.
The church as the Body comes out of Christ. In the Bible God uses the type of the building of Eve in Genesis 2:21-24 as a clear and definite illustration of how the church as the Body of Christ, the fullness of Christ, in Ephesians 1:22-23 is brought forth in 5:30-32. These verses show that Adam and Eve are a type of the relationship between Christ and the church. Just as Eve came out of Adam, the church also comes out of Christ. Just as Adam and Eve are one flesh, Christ and the church are also one. Although Eve came out of Adam, she was not separate from Adam. She belonged to Adam, because she was a part of Adam. This also applies to Christ and the church.
Today people have a poor view of the church. They think that the church is merely an organization or an association for a multitude of people. This concept is absolutely wrong. We need to see that the church is something that came out of Christ. When God wanted to build a counterpart for Adam, He opened Adam’s side, took out a rib, and formed Eve. Hence, Eve came out of Adam. Likewise, when the Lord was nailed to the cross, His side was also opened and out came blood and water (John 19:34). Blood is for redemption; water is for life-impartation. The life that the Lord released and imparted into us produces the church.
As believers, we all have Christ within us. If we do not have Christ within us, then we do not belong to Christ, and we are not saved. Since we are saved, we all have Christ within us. The church is the Christ within you and me. When the Christ within you, the Christ within me, and the Christ within others is added together, that is, when the Christ within all who belong to Him is added together, this equals the church. The church is the new man, and in this new man there cannot be Greek, Jew, or any other kind of people (Col. 3:10-11). In the church as the new man, there is only Christ. The church is not you plus me plus others; the church is the Christ within you plus the Christ within me plus the Christ within others. This is the church.
We cannot bring our natural man into the church because there is neither you nor I in the church. In the church there is neither Chinese nor Japanese. In the church there is only Christ. In the Chinese Union Version of the Bible Colossians 3:11 says, “There is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man.” However, the original text does not say “no distinction”; rather, it says, “there cannot be.” In the church there cannot be this or that; there can be only Christ.
If the new believers have such a realization of the church, the following subjects on the ground of the church and the way of the church will be easily understood. People are not clear about the ground and the way of the church because the things of man have been mixed with the church. Through the cross of Christ we must eliminate the things of man. A brother rightly said that though the cross looks like the mathematical sign of addition, the work done by the cross for the church on the believers is always one of subtraction. The cross eliminates man’s old creation so that it has no place in the church. If the element of Adam was put off from the saints and only the element of Christ within them was present, the result we would see would be the church. Hence, the church is only that which comes out of Christ.
Although the church comes out of Christ, the church and Christ are not separate. Just as Eve came out of Adam, returned back to him, and became one flesh with him, so is the church in relation to Christ (Eph. 5:31-32). We should never consider that after coming out of Christ, the church is separate from Christ. No, we are still one. Christ and the church are one. Even though this is incomprehensible to man, if we have God’s revelation, we will realize that this is true.
The church comes out of Christ and returns to Christ; hence, Christ and the church are one. Any condition, action, or work in the church that is apart from Christ is not the church. Whenever we touch the church, we need to test it by asking whether Christ is in it. Is it something out of Christ? Is it something in Christ? Is it something joined to Christ? This is a serious test. If a church cannot pass this test, it is not the church, not the Body of Christ, but it is merely an organization in Christianity. As the Body of Christ, the church comes absolutely out of Christ and also returns to Christ, being joined to Him as one and becoming one entity with Him.
First Corinthians 12:12 clearly speaks of the church as the Body of Christ; however, it does not say that this Body is the church but that this Body is Christ. Actually, the church is the enlargement of Christ. Christ enlarged is the church. Therefore, the church is Christ. A proper determination of the ground of the church and the way of the church must be based on this understanding.
The church on the earth today is Christ Himself. This is a sobering matter. If a person has this light and this vision, do you think that he will still bring elements other than Christ into the church? Absolutely not! A person who has this vision touches the cross whenever he touches the matter of the church and the things concerning the church. The cross separates the things belonging to Adam from the things belonging to Christ and the things that are of Adam from the things that are of Christ. The cross keeps the things that are of Adam and all things that belong to Adam apart from the church, allowing only the things that are of Christ and the things that belong to Christ into the church. As a result, everything of the church is just Christ Himself.
If we have this light, we cannot acknowledge that the Catholic Church is the church, and neither can we acknowledge that the Protestant denominations are the church. No denomination is the church; rather, they are Christian organizations or religious groups. Although there may be some who belong to Christ in these denominations, these denominations, groups, or organizations do not belong to Christ. These are of man and of the world.
We did not leave the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, or any of the other denominations in Christianity simply because they were unscriptural, but because they were not of Christ. I can testify that when I left the denominations thirty years ago, my feeling was simply that there were errors among them. However, after seven or eight years I saw that even if there were no errors in the denominations, I would still leave because their ground was wrong. Their sectarian ground was the ground of division. Slowly, after a few more years, I saw that the Protestant denominations were not only wrong related to their ground, but their organizations were not of Christ and did not have Christ. Yes, there were some among them who were saved, and these saved ones had Christ in them. However, there was no Christ within these denominations. Christ had no ground in these denominations. The organization of these denominations was full of man’s arrangements and worldly things. Hence, around 1935 we frequently said that we left the denominations, the sects, of organized Christianity not only because they were not according to the truth but also because there was no Christ in them. They were not the Body of Christ, not the organism of Christ, but mere organizations.
We need to see that the church is Christ Himself and that it is also the Body of Christ, an organism of Christ. In the church we can neither depend on organization, arrangement, nor on methods and regulations. Rather, we depend only on the living Christ. If a condition in the church prevents us from being spiritual and manifesting our spiritual function, that church is wrong and is degraded. In the church there should be opportunities for us to manifest our spiritual measure and function. Even though there should be coordination, there should not be any restriction. The Holy Spirit must have absolute freedom, and the saints must be able to manifest their spiritual condition and function. Such a situation proves that the church is an organism, not an organization. This organism is the Body of Christ and also Christ Himself.
The church is composed not only of one person or several persons but of millions of people. These millions have become one Body not only because they are of Christ but also because they have all been baptized in one Spirit into one Body (1 Cor. 12:13). The life of Christ within you causes you to be of Christ, and the life of Christ within me also causes me to be of Christ. The life of Christ in every believer causes them to be of Christ. Furthermore, we who are of Christ have been baptized in one Spirit into one Body. The divine life causes us to be of Christ, and the Holy Spirit causes us to be mutually joined together. Having the divine life, we are of Christ, and being in the Holy Spirit, we are mutually joined together. Thus, we become one Body.
The church as the one Body is formed by coming out of Christ and by being baptized in the Holy Spirit. By coming out of Christ and being baptized in the Holy Spirit, the church becomes one Body. Both are indispensable. Without the life that comes out of Christ, there would be no church, and without the Holy Spirit who baptizes the saints into the Body of Christ, there would also be no church.
We often say that we need to be in life. This is not enough. Being in life mainly emphasizes our relationship with Christ. We also need to learn to live in the Holy Spirit. It is only by being in the Holy Spirit that we can be joined mutually with all the saints. On the one hand, we need to have the life that comes out of Christ; on the other hand, we also need the Holy Spirit who baptizes us into the Body of Christ. This coming out and baptizing into cause the Body of Christ to be formed. Therefore, to live in the church in reality, we need to live by Christ as life, and we also need to live in the Holy Spirit. Our walk and work need to be in the Holy Spirit. We should now have a general understanding concerning the church. The church is something high, mysterious, heavenly, living, and spiritual.
The church as the Body expresses Christ. Christ expresses Himself in the Body. For us to express ourselves, we must use our body. If we do not have a body but have only a spirit and soul, we cannot express ourselves. Likewise, Christ expresses Himself in the universe, on the earth, among men, and in this age entirely by the church as the Body. Where the church is, there is Christ. Where the church is, there is the expression of Christ. The expression of Christ cannot be separated from the church. Since the church is the fullness of Christ, the Body of Christ, it is the expression of Christ.
However, Roman Catholicism is not the expression of Christ, and every denomination in Protestantism is not the expression of Christ. They are but human organizations and religious groups, not the Body of Christ. Because there is little element of Christ and little ground for Christ within them, they are not the expression of Christ. The Body of Christ is full of Christ within and is entirely Christ. Only such a Body and such a church is the expression of Christ.
First Timothy 3:15 speaks of the church as the house of the living God. The Bible mentions the house of God in many places. The Chinese Union Version translates each instance as the temple of God. The tabernacle and the holy temple in the Old Testament were the house of God (Judg. 18:31; 1 Kings 6:1); thus, they typified the church. This shows that in relation to God, the church is the house of God, just as the tabernacle and the holy temple in the Old Testament were the house of God. There are at least two important significances here.
A house is a person’s dwelling place, his place of living. It is the place where a person prefers to live. The church is the house of God, the dwelling place of God on earth where He can dwell in peace and where He can entrust Himself. Hence, Ephesians 2:22 says that the church is the “dwelling place of God in spirit.” In order to identify, distinguish, and discern whether a gathering is the church, we need only to see whether God can make His home, dwell in peace, entrust Himself, and be at rest there. If He is able to do this, such a gathering is the church and has not lost the nature of the church. If He is not able to do so, such a gathering is not the church. Very likely, it is only a religious organization.
A house is also the best place for a person to express himself. A person cannot be fully expressed in any place other than in his own house. There are certain things a person cannot say, will not say, and dare not say in a place other than his home. He cannot express certain intentions in other places, but he can once he is in his home. It is inconvenient to do certain things if he is not at home. Hence, a home is the place where man can best express himself.
A house occupied by a person from China expresses the ways of the Chinese; if it is occupied by a person from Japan, it expresses the ways of the Japanese; and if it is occupied by a person from America, it expresses the ways of the Americans. Simply by looking at the condition of a house, we can determine what kind of person lives there. We can look at the house and tell whether a clean person lives there or a messy person lives there. We do not need to see a person in order to know whether a person of high class or low class lives there; we only need to look at his house. In order to fully know a person, we often need to look at his house. For example, someone may dress neatly, but his house may be a mess. Someone may be dignified in appearance, as if he is a rich man, but his house may be in utter poverty. Therefore, we must look at a man’s house in order to know a person. His house is an expression of himself.
The church is the house of God, and it is also the place where God expresses Himself on the earth. First Timothy 3:16 speaks of the church as the great mystery of godliness, that is, God manifested in the flesh. God not only desires to make His home, settle down, and gain a place of rest, but He also desires to express Himself in the church. God desires to carry out His plan, express His desire, and manifest His glory in the church. All He is, all He has done, and all He desires to obtain must be expressed in the church as His house.
On the one hand, the church is the Body, the fullness, and the expression of Christ. On the other hand, the church is a house, a dwelling place, for God to express Himself. Both God and Christ are expressed in the church. This is the church.
