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We have seen the purpose of God in chapter 1, and we must now see the expression of Christ. God planned the church for the purpose of expressing Christ; thus, the church is the expression of Christ. But how can the church be the expression of Christ? In what way can the church express Christ? The only way is by the church being the Body of Christ.
If you consider yourself, you will realize that your body is your expression. Without a body we cannot express ourselves. In like manner, there is no way for Christ to be expressed by the church except by it being His Body. In saying that the body is the expression, we must realize that the body is always one with the head in life and in nature. Our body is one life and one nature with our head. This tells us that the church is one with Christ in life and nature. In other words, according to life and nature, Christ is the church. Christ is not only the Head, but He is also the Body, because the Body’s life is Christ, and the Body’s nature is Christ. The Body is Christ, and Christ is the Body.
In the Bible there is an excellent type regarding Christ and the church. It is the type of Adam and Eve. Strictly speaking, God did not create a man and a woman; He only created one man. Then how did the woman come into being? The wife was just a part of the husband. God put Adam to sleep, broke his side, and took out a rib. This was a part of Adam, and this part became his wife.
What, then, was Eve? Eve was only a part of Adam. Therefore, it is absolutely right to say that Adam was Eve, because Eve was a part of Adam. We all know, according to Ephesians 5, that this is a type. Christ was the last Adam, and God put Him to sleep on the cross. His side was broken, and out of His side came blood and water (John 19:34). Blood signifies redemption, and water signifies life. Both are needed to produce the spiritual Eve, the spiritual bride, which is the church.
We need this vision and revelation to see what the church is. The church is simply the counterpart of Christ. The church is a part of Christ, a product of Christ. She is something that came out of Christ, something produced of Christ, and something which is a part of Christ. The Body can never be separated from the Head. A complete person has both a head and a body.
Today the church is simply the Body to Christ, a Body that is produced out of Christ and a Body that is part of Christ. This is why Ephesians 1:22-23 tells us that the church is the Body, and the Body is the fullness of Christ. Christ is the One who fills all in all. He is universally great, and this universally great Christ needs a Body to be His fullness, His expression.
In Ephesians 1:23, we have “the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” This means the fullness of Christ. Then in Ephesians 3:8 we see “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” What is the difference between the fullness of Christ and the riches of Christ? It is not difficult for us to realize the meaning of the riches of Christ. This must be all the items of what Christ is. As God He is the Father, the Son, the Spirit, the Lord, the Christ, and other items. As man Christ is the Apostle, the Teacher, and the Leader. He is really much more than this. He is our light, our life, our air, our water, our food, our clothing, and our lodging. He is all of this and more to us. There are countless items of the riches of Christ.
What then is the fullness? The fullness is the issue of the enjoyment of all the riches of Christ. When all the riches of Christ have been enjoyed and assimilated by us, then we will have the issue of the enjoyment of Christ’s riches. The issue is the fullness of Christ.
I have used the riches of America to illustrate this many times: the milk, the cows, the eggs, the chickens, the peaches, the plums, and many other things are the riches of America, but the fullness of America is the issue of enjoying these riches.
For example, consider some men who are physically very large. In a sense they are not the riches of America but the fullness of the riches of America. How could they be so large? It is because they are composed of so many American chickens, cows, eggs, milk, and so forth.
All of you are the fullness of the riches of America. If you did not feed upon the riches of American food, you would all be greatly reduced. But since you are full of the riches of America, you all become the fullness of America. The fullness is the product of enjoying the riches. The more we enjoy the riches of this country, the more we become the fullness of this country.
What then is the church? The church is the fullness of Christ. This means that the church is the result of the enjoyment of the riches of Christ. We all must enjoy Christ. This is why we hate dead teachings and doctrines and prefer the enjoyment of Christ through pray-reading the Word. If we only learn the teachings and doctrines, it is just like learning the recipe and the menu without enjoying the food. It is better to forget the recipe and the menu and enjoy the riches of Christ. How rich He is, and how richly we can enjoy Him day by day! The more we enjoy Him, the more we will grow and become His fullness.
This is the expression. The fullness is the expression of Christ. We can never express Christ just by learning doctrines. We can never express Christ only by knowing the Bible. The adequate way for us to express Christ is to feed upon Him, eat of Him, drink of Him, and be filled with Him as our nourishment. We must take Him in and assimilate all that He is into our being. Then spontaneously, we will be His fullness, and this fullness is simply the expression of Christ.
This is the way for us to have a living expression of Christ. If the brothers and sisters in any church do not know how to feed upon Christ, how to enjoy Christ, and how to assimilate all that Christ is into their being, it is impossible to have a proper expression of the church in that locality. Teachings alone can never bring forth a proper expression of the church in any place. We must realize how much we need to feed on Christ, to enjoy Christ, to eat of Christ, and to drink of Christ. Then spontaneously, a proper expression of Christ will come into existence in our locality.
A local church is an expression of Christ, and this expression can only exist by taking Christ as our enjoyment. This is why I say again and again that we must enjoy Christ in such a practical and living way for ourselves. Then we can help others to enjoy Christ in the same way. Only in this way will we become the fullness, the expression, of Christ.
The essence, or substance, of the church must be Christ Himself assimilated into our being. This is very basic. If you do not know how to enjoy Christ, how to drink of Him, how to feed on Him, and how to take Him into your spirit and assimilate Him into your being, it is not possible for a proper local church to be produced in your locality.
Oneness is the first essential factor of a local church. If there is no oneness, there is no possibility of having a local expression of the church. Can we have oneness only by teachings? It is not possible to have oneness through teachings alone because throughout the centuries the more people learned just teachings, the more they were divided. We must pay more attention to the enjoyment of Christ than to the teachings. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we will be one. The more we feed upon Him, the more we are united.
I like what the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 3:8: “To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” The apostle Paul did not preach the teachings or the doctrines, but the unsearchable riches of Christ. What is the purpose of the unsearchable riches of Christ? If we read verses 8 through 11, we will see that they are for the producing of the church. All the riches of Christ are simply for this one thing: to produce the church.
The more we partake of the riches of Christ, the more we realize that they are exceptionally rich. We all must learn day by day to enjoy these unsearchable riches; then we will know what we must minister to others. It should not be our intention to pass on teachings; we must be burdened simply to minister something of the riches of Christ to others.
I can never forget the lesson I learned in 1933 with Brother Watchman Nee. He did not talk with me about teachings and doctrines, but he helped me to enjoy Christ. He did not even use the word enjoy, but he helped me to enjoy Him. One day he asked me, “What is patience?” His question was so practical. I did not dare answer, for such a common question out of his mouth must be quite meaningful. But he forced me to tell him what I thought patience was. I then said that patience is the enduring of suffering or ill-treatment. When he told me that this is not patience, I was much bothered. If this is not patience, I thought, then what is patience? I asked him to tell me, but he would not, and we were together for a considerable length of time. When I asked him what patience was, he said, “Yes, what is patience?” This really disappointed me. I returned to the place where I stayed, and with tears I knelt down to ask the Lord to show me what patience is.
Within those days my eyes were opened. I saw that patience is Christ. Christ must be my patience. That was the key. Not only must my patience be Christ, but everything for me and to me must be Christ. It was through this one lesson that I learned how to take Christ as my patience, my humility, my love to others, and my everything. It was a real help to me.
Brother Nee did not give me any teaching. He ministered Christ to me as patience in a practical way, and it was not just one item, but one lesson which was the key to open the whole realm to me. By such a short, common sentence, he helped me eternally.
This is all we need. We do not need the mere teachings. Before I met Brother Nee, I received many teachings and doctrines from others. Though I sat at their feet for several years, it was not till that day when Brother Nee spoke with me that my eyes were opened. I saw that what I needed was not the teachings but the riches and the enjoyment of Christ.
Only the enjoyment of the riches of Christ can produce the church. The church is not the product of teachings but something born of Christ. The church comes out of the enjoyment of the riches of Christ. It is part of Christ.
I have told people in many places that mere doctrines mean nothing as far as the church life is concerned, and in so doing, I have offended some. But I must say it. We must all be turned from doctrines to the riches of Christ in the Spirit, and we must be willing to be turned. If we are going to have a proper expression of the church in any locality, we need the real enjoyment of the riches of Christ.
We are told in 1 Corinthians 12:12 that the Body is Christ. Christ is the Body. The church is not composed of Americans, Japanese, Chinese, French, Germans, or British. The Body, which is the new man, has no Greek, no Jew, no circumcision, no uncircumcision, no barbarian, no Scythian, no civilized people, and no uncivilized people, but Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11).
In the church there is only Christ. Christ is all in all. We all must be swallowed up by Christ. If there is only Christ, how can we have any opinions? If there is only Christ, how can we have any self-exalting factors? The divisions come from the different peoples, not from Christ.
In the Body, the expression of the church, there is only one person—Christ. We must enjoy Him and let Him swallow up all the different peoples. This is why in the church there is no Greek and no Jew, no cultured, and no barbarians. All are swallowed up by Christ, not by being taught but by being nourished with the riches of Christ.
We all need to see this clearly. When we go to any place, we must never try to correct or adjust others but only feed them with Christ. It is so easy to correct others, because we are so religious and trust so much in the teachings. But this will never work. We must guard ourselves from any temptation to correct others and simply show them how to enjoy Christ.
Suppose I am a person who is naturally very swift in all my actions, and I go to a certain place where all the people in the church are slow. I will immediately be tempted to correct them. Perhaps in the first two or three days I will exercise some patience, but it is only natural, human patience. After three days my patience will be exhausted, and I will utter something about their being so slow. This is not the way. We must only minister Christ to feed them. If Christ is the quicker One, Christ will do a quick job. If Christ is not so quick, then we must leave the matter to Christ. We should not adjust or correct but feed and nourish them with Christ. People do not need correction but the nourishment and the enjoyment of Christ.
First Timothy 3:15-16 tells us that the church is the house of the living God. Only Christ Himself could be this house. Therefore, the church must be Christ. When we say that the local church is the house of God, we must realize that this house must be Christ. This house must not be a group of people but Christ alone. Only Christ can be the house of the living God.
In Ephesians 1:17-18 Paul says that our eyes must be opened so that we may see the hope of God’s calling. This hope is Christ, and the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance are simply the riches of Christ. The more we enjoy Christ and partake of Him, the more we will have the riches of the glory of Christ among us. This is the inheritance. God is going to inherit the Christ that is assimilated by the saints. The riches of Christ assimilated by the saints are God’s inheritance, and this is the church. The church must be filled with the enjoyment of the riches of Christ; then we will have the riches of glory for God to inherit.
When Christ Himself is enjoyed by us, we will have the church as the real house of God and the pillar and base of the truth, the reality. Reality is Christ. Nothing on this earth or in this universe is real. Only Christ is the real One, the reality. So the church bears Christ as the reality. The church is the pillar and base to bear Christ and to show to the whole universe that everything is false but Christ. Everything is empty, but the reality is in the church. If you would know real love, come to the church. Christ is here as real love. If you would know real life, come to the church. Christ is here as real life. Christ is the reality. If you would see what faithfulness is, come to the church. The church has Christ as the real faithfulness, because the church bears Christ as the reality. If the church is not filled with Christ, how can the church bear Christ as the reality?
The church is also the manifestation of God in Christ. Here God is manifested, and this is the mystery of godliness. The church is a real mystery of godliness. Outwardly, the people may be of several races and nationalities, but inwardly, the church is Christ. Christ is in the church as the manifestation of God, and this is the mystery of godliness. This is the church.
The key point is that we all must enjoy Christ so that Christ can swallow us up. Then all that we are and have will simply be Christ. This is the essence and the substance of the church life. In the church we are the members of the Body (Rom. 12:4-5). We can never be independent or separated from the church. We must realize that we are a member of the Body wherever we go. How could we be a Christian without the Body, the church? As members of the Body, we do need the church life, and the church life is nothing but Christ Himself enjoyed by us and expressed in a corporate way.
