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Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:23; Gal. 3:27-28; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12; Acts 9:4-5; 1 Cor. 1:13a
In this chapter we will speak directly about the Body. We must first ask, “What is the Body?” We may say that there is only one verse in the entire New Testament that tells us what the Body is, and that is Ephesians 1:23: “Which [the church] is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” The phrase the fullness of the One who fills all in all is very difficult to understand and explain. Of course, we all know that the One who fills all in all refers to the unlimited Christ. Here all is used twice, successively, once referring to Christ’s filling all and another time referring to Christ’s being in all. All comprises all persons, all matters, and all things and includes every person, every matter, and every thing. In Greek, the word for all is pan, encompassing persons, matters, and things. It is not wrong to translate that Christ is “the One who fills all in all,” but the meaning is very broad. After studying this phrase for many, many years, I still do not understand it. According to its meaning, all is the correct translation, but according to its usage, it is very difficult to understand.
Some people have translated this verse as “the fullness of the One who fills all people in all people.” This translation is also correct, and it is easy to explain and apply. Christ truly is the One who fills all people and is in all people. All people does not refer to the unsaved; instead, it refers to all those who belong to Him. This is similar to Colossians 3:11: “Where there cannot be Greek and Jew...but Christ is all and in all.” All here is the same as all in Ephesians 1:23. Hence, the translation of this word requires a great deal of consideration. At this time I do not want to use the broad explanation of all, because it is too difficult to define accurately. I want to use the narrow definition of this word and thus explain it as referring to all men, to all of us.
The church is the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all men in all men. All of us saved ones, as the members of Christ, are the “all men” mentioned here. Christ is in all of us, and He fills every one of us. Therefore, what is the church? The church is the Body of Christ. What is the Body? The Body is the fullness that issues from Christ’s filling us within. Simply stated, the Body is the fullness of Christ. The church is the Body of Christ, and this Body is His fullness. To say that the Body is the fullness is very meaningful.
Suppose we have a strong, husky brother here who does not have a body but who only has a head hanging in the air. Even though his head is very big, he is without a body. Would you consider him full or not? He is not full; rather, he is poor and empty. We must know that the fullness of a person is not in his head but in his body. A person’s body is his fullness. The Body of Christ is the fullness of Christ. Do not forget that Ephesians 1:23 says, “[The church] is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” In brief, the Body of Christ is the fullness of Christ. Where is this Christ? This Christ is the One who fills all the saints in all the saints. His Body is the issue of such a filling.
Now we must go one step further to see where the fullness comes from. When a brother is born, he is just a little baby who is not so full. How then does he become so full? It is by eating. He eats chicken, beef, bread, and other things for many months and many years. Then all the food as the riches is assimilated and constituted into his organic body to become his fullness.
In the past seventeen or eighteen years I have stated several times the fact that Ephesians chapter 1 and chapter 4 both mention fullness, while chapter 3 mentions the riches of Christ. What is the difference between the riches of Christ and the fullness of Christ? Please remember that if you put a big pile of food here, it would not be called fullness; it would be called riches. However, once you have eaten these riches item by item and have digested them, they become your cells and the elements of your body. Consequently, your body is constituted with what you have eaten and digested. This constituted body is a fullness. After the riches have been digested and constituted into a body, they become the fullness of the body. The riches of Christ are boundless, immeasurable, and unsearchable, but you still need to eat and assimilate these riches of Christ. The more Christ you eat and the more Christ is assimilated into you, the more element of the fullness you will gain. I believe that you all are clear what the fullness of Christ is. It is Christ experienced by you, assimilated by you, and constituted into your being to become your element; this is the fullness, which is the Body of Christ.
Someone may say, “Since I am a believer, I am a member of Christ.” Generally speaking, this saying is right. Strictly speaking, however, as a natural man, you are not a member of Christ. It is only when the life of Christ, the nature of Christ, and everything of Christ have entered your being to regenerate and reconstitute you that you become a member of Christ. Originally, you were altogether a natural person and not a member of Christ. In order to be a member of Christ you must be reconstituted. How can you be reconstituted? Christ has to enter into you to regenerate you, and He has to continue to enter into you, to dispense His element into you, in order to constitute you. As a result, your entire being, from the inside to the outside, will pass through a process of thorough reconstituting so that you will no longer be what you were originally, but you will be a regenerated and transformed person. Only this regenerated, transformed person can be a member of Christ.
The Body of Christ is the fullness of Christ, and the fullness of Christ is the issue of our being constituted with the riches of Christ that we have enjoyed. At this point His riches are no longer objective but subjective. The objective riches have become the subjective fullness; this is the Body of Christ. The Body is this fullness. Therefore, Colossians 3 and Galatians 3 say that in this Body there cannot be Jew and Greek.
Suppose there is a Jew here, and there is also a Greek, a Gentile. The Jew was born a Jew and the Greek was born a Greek, but now they have both believed in the Lord Jesus; their sins have been forgiven, and they have been saved. Nevertheless, their original Jewish and Greek persons have not yet been touched, so one is still a Jew and the other is still a Greek. When they come together, can you say that here there is neither Jew nor Greek? No, you cannot because both the Jew and the Greek are still here.
When I was young, I read Colossians 3 and Galatians 3, which say that there cannot be Jew and Greek, and I said, “How could this be! I am a Chinese who has believed in Jesus, and I have been saved for four or five years; how can I say that I am not a Chinese? I am still a Chinese.” Gradually, I understood and realized that each of us saved ones has a dual status: the outward status, which is our old status, and the inward status, which is our new status. According to our outward status, there are Chinese, Germans, British, Americans, and even some Jews among us. In our natural being we are certainly these people. As we come together, if everyone still lives in his natural being, can we say that this is the Body of Christ? No, we cannot because in the Body of Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek.
Today we must know the revelation of God to such an extent that we see that the church is the Body of Christ and that this Body is not our natural man. Our natural being is not a constituent of this Body. Galatians 3:28 even says that there cannot be male and female. These words were not written by me; they were written by Paul and are the words of the Bible. Galatians 3:27 says, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” This sentence is not very simple. The first meaning of baptism is burial, and its second meaning is resurrection. To be buried is to put off something, whereas to be resurrected is to put on something. What are we putting off in our burial? We are putting off our natural man: the Jew and the Greek, the free man and the slave, the male and the female. The person you were formerly was buried in your baptism. I would ask you, “Have you truly been buried?” If you have been buried, then leave your former person in the grave. This is the putting off. This is the first aspect of the significance of baptism. The second aspect of its significance is resurrection, which is a putting on. What are we putting on? We are putting on Christ. In Greek, to put on Christ is to be clothed with Christ. We who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. We have put off the natural man and buried him in the tomb. Then we put on something new, which is Christ. In this Christ, whom we have put on, there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free man, neither male nor female, because we all have become one. This is the church, and this is the Body.
The condition of most Christians today is very different from this. They are not in this oneness but in so many other things. Today in the Lord’s recovery, however, we all need to see that we can let go of everything, but we cannot let go of this oneness, which is Christ. We have clearly seen that the Body of Christ is the fullness of Christ, which comes out of our enjoyment of the riches of Christ. Therefore, the fullness is Christ Himself enjoyed by us, assimilated by us, and constituted into us as our element. This fullness is absolutely subjective to us. We may say that the riches of Christ are objective and outside of us, but the fullness of Christ is altogether subjective to us and is in the element of our entire being. This means that when we are the Body of Christ, it is no longer we, but it is Christ who lives in us, just as Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” When we allow Christ to live in us, we have put Him on and have put off our old man, our natural man. We have put on Christ Himself. It is in this Christ that we all are one. It is in this Christ that we all are His Body, His fullness. It is in this “oneness,” this fullness, that there is no natural man: no Chinese, no foreigner, no Honanese, no Hopeinese, no male, and no female. In this fullness everything is Christ.
The Lord’s recovery today is mainly a recovery of the oneness of the Body. It is not a recovery of a certain truth or of a certain doctrine; the Lord’s recovery today is a recovery of this oneness in Christ. Hence, if we see this vision, this revelation, then we will not have any arguments about anything. You will not say that you disagree with foot-washing, neither will I say that I disagree with head covering. These both will become topics of little significance. You need to see that we both have been baptized into Christ and that in this baptism our old creation, our natural being, and our former person have all been buried and put off. Today we are living in Christ and by Christ. We are one here, and nothing can touch us. We are one not only with Christ, but we are also one with one another in Christ. We are not one in anything outside of Christ; we are one in Christ. We are one not because we all have the same doctrine or opinion. No, we are one because we all are in Christ. Our mentality, our thoughts, and our opinions may be different, but by the Lord’s grace we all must deny these differences. Are you for head covering? You must tell the Lord, “O Lord, I let head covering go!” Are you for foot-washing? You must tell the Lord, “O Lord, I let foot-washing go!” In the same principle, do you like to pursue spirituality? I hope you will also have the boldness to tell the Lord, “O Lord, I will let even spirituality go! I want to live in this ‘oneness.’ What I need is not head covering, foot-washing, holiness, or spirituality; I care only for this ‘oneness,’ this one Body.”
When I was between the ages of twenty and twenty-five, I read a little of the Bible, gained some knowledge of the Bible, and was very particular about biblical doctrines. I tried to do everything according to the biblical doctrines. At that time I saw some people who took the Lord’s supper by cutting up pieces of bread, and I condemned them greatly. Moreover, whenever I met someone, I would always ask how he was baptized. Was it by sprinkling or by immersion? If it was by sprinkling, I would say that that was not right; it had to be by immersion. I ask you, Was it right for me to do that? It is hard to answer. From the standpoint of doctrines, it was right because we all need to be scriptural. Please remember, however, that from the standpoint of the Body, it was wrong. Why? Even if we have only a few words of argument concerning sprinkling and immersion, the Body is divided. Gradually, by the Lord’s grace, I came to know that sprinkling is not a main issue. This is not to say that today I agree with sprinkling but to say that this is not an important point. The important thing is that someone is in Christ and that he lives in Christ. Today we must abandon the doctrinal disputes of the last four hundred years since Luther’s Reformation.
I would say a little more on this. In 1968 among us there were numerous times when many brothers and sisters jumped into the water to be buried. When news of this went out, there were rumors that I was speaking heresy, teaching multiple baptisms. Actually, I myself did not get buried, because I did not feel that there was any oldness in me that needed to be buried. I did expect from the beginning that the opposers would oppose this; however, this is not my point. My point is that whether you have been baptized once or twice, regardless of how many times you have been baptized, if you are still living by your natural life, if you are still you, then your baptism is not effectual. As long as you still live by your natural life, there is no value in getting baptized or in not getting baptized; it is worthless to be baptized once and likewise worthless to be baptized many times. The entire matter does not rest upon this kind of issue. Today in the Lord’s recovery we all must be delivered from doctrinal arguments. If you are still stuck in these matters, it proves that you have not yet seen what the Body is.
Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that you should not be baptized, nor am I saying that when you are baptized, it is all right for you to be baptized by sprinkling. I would say absolutely that according to the Bible you should be baptized by immersion, but you should not consider this a major topic. I have seen that some people are very particular about baptism. Some say that you must be baptized forward, whereas others say that you must be baptized sideways. If we are still paying attention to these methods of baptism, it proves that our eyes are darkened and we have not seen the light. These things do not matter; what matters is that you are a person living in Christ and not living according to your natural person. If you are living in Christ, whether you are baptized forward, backward, or sideways is all right. Some people would argue with me and say, “Since this is the case, then we do not need to be baptized.” This also is too much, because the Bible clearly tells us, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). Baptism is necessary, but when we baptize, we do not need to be so particular in letter about the ways of baptism. Therefore, you should never argue. This is true about any matter.
When I was young, I also thoroughly studied the matter of the sisters covering their heads. I studied this matter to such an extent that I looked even into the color, size, style, thickness, and material of the covering, and I even studied how it should be worn. Strictly speaking, the coverings used by the sisters today are all inadequate; I do not agree with any of them. However, I do not care for these things. I attended a month of meetings in London and saw that the hats worn by the Christian women in England were different one from the other, and they were of diverse, new styles. That is not covering one’s head; that is being fashionable. Nevertheless, I was not bothered, and I still fellowshipped with them because I did not care for these things. Whoever has been baptized into Christ has put on Christ. It does not matter how many times one has been baptized, nor does it matter what style of head covering one wears; living Christ is what matters. This is why there has not been any dispute among us in these past several years. Only those who have not seen the Body of Christ would pay attention to these matters. Those who have seen the Body do not care for these things. What is the Body? It is the fullness of Christ. What is the fullness of Christ? It is your inward enjoyment and experience of Christ; it is your living in Christ and your allowing Christ to live in you. This is the Body.
The matters I have spoken about here are very shallow, but now I would like to describe a few deeper matters. Some pursue holiness, some pursue spirituality, and some even pursue the subjective experience of Christ. Nevertheless, I would like to say that you must be delivered even from pursuing the subjective experience of Christ. What the Lord wants is not merely the subjective experience but the church that is produced through the subjective experience. What the Lord wants is the church. If your subjective experience makes you so individualistic that you cannot be blended with others, then that is a big mistake. Everything is good about you, and this is right. However, this is not the final test; the final test is whether you can be blended with others. If your spirituality, your holiness, and your subjective experience make you individualistic, then you have to put a question mark on them. When a drop of water falls into water, it is immediately blended into that water. However, if a drop of oil falls into the water, it remains a drop of oil; it does not blend with the water even though it is in the water. According to value, oil is worth more than water, but in the overall picture, oil is troublesome. Some brothers are very good, yet they do not go along with the flow, get along with others, blend with others, or coordinate with others. I am afraid that this kind of brother will become a “good” problem. You are very good, yet you become a problem.
After visiting many places and observing many kinds of Christians in the past twenty-five years, my heart truly grieves. Those who love the world, love the world; those who love sin, love sin; those who do not know the flesh, do not know the flesh. Some, like the Pentecostals, play with the spiritual gifts. Moreover, the so-called spiritual ones cannot get along with one another. According to my observation, the more spiritual a person is, the more he does not get along with others. I once visited a so-called spiritual group and saw that all of them were individualistically spiritual, not getting along with one another and even criticizing others before my face. Their criticism of others was civil and polite, but the Holy Spirit did not confirm their speaking. This is the reason their work did not bear any fruit. Thus, today it is not a matter of how spiritual or how holy we are; it is a matter of the oneness, of the Body, of the fullness.
Dear brothers and sisters, we all need to have the grace and mercy to see the vision that it is not a matter of the interpretation of doctrines or even a matter of being spiritual and holy. Rather, it is a matter of Christ’s living in us and of our living in Christ. It is a matter of there not being Jew and Greek, slave and free man, male and female, because we all are one in Christ. Nothing matters but this oneness. This is the Body.
Brothers and sisters, this is the testimony the Lord wants today. We need to go to every place to testify this one thing: We are one in Christ. Three of us coming together are one; thirty of us coming together are one; three hundred of us coming together are still one. We are one when we come together in one locality; we are still one when we come together from ten localities. When we come together from ten countries, we are one; when we come from all the countries, we are still one. This is the Body of Christ: one Body and one Spirit. I do not believe that we are all exactly the same, but I thank the Lord that we are one in spirit. Now, whenever anyone comes to speak to me about how to practice head covering or baptism, I do not have the heart to get into it. I would like to testify that I have been delivered from these matters. This does not mean that we do not do things according to the Bible. On the contrary, we do everything according to the Bible, but even more importantly, we walk according to the Spirit. Galatians 3:27-28 says, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there cannot be slave nor free man, there cannot be male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” It is here that we have to ask, “Is Christ divided?” No! We do not care for doctrines; we are the Body. The Body is Christ, and Christ cannot be divided.
