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Most of the saints among us really love the Lord, but the problem is with their seeing of the divine vision. In the recovery we need not merely the knowing but the seeing of a revelation, which has to become a vision to us. The apostle John was the first one who saw the New Jerusalem. In our life-study we pointed out that all the predicates in the book of Revelation are in the past tense. John says, “I saw” (1:12; 17:3; 21:1-2). He uses the past tense because he received visions of accomplished facts. In the eyes of God, the New Jerusalem has been consummated. We know that it has been consummated because John saw it. Year after year in our ministry, we have insisted that we need to see the vision, not just to know it. The problem today among us is that thousands of saints, lovers of Christ, have come into the recovery, but they are short of sight. There is no seeing. We talk about the Body, but we have never seen it.
Brother Nee began to speak about the Body from 1939. That was right after he came back from a long visit to Europe. He went there in 1937. Then he came back in 1939. Right after coming back he called an urgent conference. I was traveling in the north, and he cabled me to come to this conference, which began in September 1939. He spoke on the Body of Christ and continued to minister on this subject until 1942.
In 1940 Brother Nee began a training in Shanghai, which I attended. There were just a little over forty trainees in his training. In addition to this training he held a conference about every two months on the Body of Christ. In the training he did not speak much. Instead, he tested the trainees by asking them to give testimonies about their seeing of the Body of Christ. After someone gave a testimony, Brother Nee would criticize it, telling the person that he had never seen the Body. He would tell those who testified that they may have thought that they had seen the Body, but based upon what they said, he would show that they had not seen the Body. He told them that what they had received was mere “head knowledge” instead of a real seeing of the Body of Christ. Through all those criticisms I was helped to see a lot.
The Body of Christ is very abstract. Where is the Body of Christ, and what is the Body of Christ? How can we see it? It is difficult to find many in church history who really saw the Body.
We also need to point out that the Lord Jesus did not touch the Body of Christ in His earthly ministry. This is because the disciples at His time could not bear it. In John 16 the Lord told His disciples that He had many things to say to them that they could not bear, but when the Spirit of reality would come, He would disclose and declare these things to them (vv. 12-13). To whom did the Spirit of reality disclose the Body of Christ? It was to Paul. Among the several writers who wrote parts of the New Testament, only one uses the term the Body of Christ—the apostle Paul. Peter, John, James, and Jude do not touch the Body.
Paul, however, touches it not just by chapters but by books. The first book in which he touches the Body of Christ is Romans. It is not until chapter 12 of this book that he speaks directly of the Body of Christ. In verse 5 he says, “We who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” He speaks more about the Body in 1 Corinthians. Chapters 12 and 14 of this book are two long chapters concerning the Body of Christ in detail. He does not say anything about the Body of Christ in 2 Corinthians, nor does he touch it in Galatians. But he touches the Body of Christ once again in Ephesians.
In chapter 4 of Ephesians the Body of Christ is disclosed in a marvelous, wonderful way. Verses 4 through 6 speak of one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father. This is a divine and human, organic constitution. The believers are the Body, the frame. Within this frame there is the Triune God as the very essence, element, and source for His divine constitution with humanity. The Triune God—the Spirit, the Lord, and God the Father—has been constituted organically with His chosen people in their humanity. This divine-human constitution becomes the universal Body of Christ. Verses 7 through 16 of Ephesians 4 go on to reveal the functioning of the gifts to perfect the saints to do the work of the ministry, that is, to build up the Body of Christ, and they unveil the growth and building up of the Body of Christ.
The human body is a picture of the Body of Christ. It is hard for us to know what the Body of Christ is, but it is easier, in a sense, to know our physical body. Medical doctors can tell us that in the whole universe among God’s creation, the most wonderful, marvelous, and excellent thing is the human body. The human body is an organism. It is not something organized but something constituted with life. One top medical doctor told me in 1938 that the human body is so complete and complex that no one can understand it thoroughly. Our human body is a marvelous organism, a picture of the Body of Christ as the organism of the Triune God.
When we use the terms organism or organic, we come to the matter of life. In the Greek text of the New Testament, there are three kinds of life. Bios refers to our physical life, and psuche refers to our soulish life. Then there is the Greek word zoe. The New Testament uses this word to denote the divine life. We did not have zoe before we were saved, but we had bios and psuche, the physical life and the psychological life. The Body of Christ is an organism constituted with the divine life, the life of the processed and consummated Triune God.
Some Christian teachers said that our human body is real and that the Body of Christ is just a figure of speech. They were wrong. Actually, our body is a picture, a figure, and a type of the real body, which is Christ’s Body (Rom. 12:4-5). For us to understand what the Body of Christ is, God created a human body. The human body is a figure. It is not the real body. The real body is Christ’s Body. The Body of Christ is not a figure or a type but a reality. Since our human body is a mystery, how much more is the Body of Christ a mystery! No one can fully explain it. The five problems among us that we covered in the previous chapter are due to the shortage of sight concerning the Body of Christ.
Have you noticed that today in the entire realm of Christianity, including Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, the word economy is not being used? The worldly people use this word to refer to the monetary economy, but this is not the way the Holy Scriptures use this word. The word economy is anglicized from the Greek word oikonomia. Oikos means “house” or “household,” and nomos means “law.” Thus, economy means a kind of household law, or administration. Only the apostle Paul uses this word. It is used in Ephesians 1:10; 3:2 and 9; 1 Corinthians 9:17; Colossians 1:25; and 1 Timothy 1:4. The word oikonomia in these places is translated as either “economy” or “stewardship.” With God His economy is His eternal administration, His eternal plan. But with Paul it became a kind of stewardship, a dispensing service. God’s economy is His house law, His household administration. This household administration refers to God’s divine plan with a certain arrangement for His administration. Now we have to ask what God’s plan is for. For soul-winning? For people to be spiritual? This is far off.
I began to speak for the Lord in 1932, and the next year I got caught by the Lord to give up my job and serve Him full time. I have spent much time, over half a century, with much labor and energy to study the Bible. The notes in the old Bibles that I have show how much I have labored in the Word throughout the years. Many of these notes have been incorporated into our Recovery Version and our Life-study of the New Testament. One of the notes in the first English Bible that I used when I came to the United States says, “The central thought of God is to have Christ as His expression through the church. Christ as God’s expression through the church which is His Body is the central thought of the whole Scripture. The record of the first two chapters of the Scriptures is the blueprint of God’s plan, and that of the last two chapters is a picture of God’s work through all the generations according to His plan.” Another note in this Bible in the first chapter of the book of John says, “The Lamb is for delivering us from sin, for separation from sin on the negative side. The dove is for joining us to God for union with God on the positive side. A dove on the Lamb is a spiritual picture comprehending the full interpretation of the whole Scripture.” My point is this—the accumulation of the knowledge of this divine book has remained with me for sixty-eight years, and this is the source of today’s life-study. Our Life-study of the Bible has still not been exhausted. Eventually, our study has brought us to the revelation of God’s economy.
We need to see that God’s economy as God’s plan, His administration, is to create, to constitute, and to produce a Body for His Son. This is the major purpose of God’s economy. Christ gained this Body, which is a part of Himself, His counterpart. Adam living alone typifies Christ being alone before He had gained His counterpart, His Body, the church. God said that it was not good for Adam to be alone. So God made him fall into a deep sleep, opened his side, and took out a rib. Genesis 2 says that God built a woman with that rib (v. 22). This indicates that Eve came out of Adam. After being built up, Eve was brought back to Adam, and God made these two into one flesh. Ephesians 5 tells us that this is a type of the great mystery of Christ and the church (vv. 31-32). This type will be fulfilled in the New Jerusalem, which is the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:2). This is the goal of God’s economy.
The sixty-six books of the Bible all consummate in one city. Every book has its conclusion, and the conclusion of the entire Scriptures is a city, the New Jerusalem. Every crucial point concerning the New Jerusalem was mentioned already in the Bible. At the end of Ezekiel there is the city of Jerusalem with a river flowing out of the house of God. Thus, the river that we see flowing in the New Jerusalem is not something new. The golden lampstands are mentioned in Revelation 1 and 2, and the New Jerusalem is the consummate lampstand. The lampstand is first mentioned in Exodus 25 and again in Zechariah 4. All the positive things in the Old Testament and the New Testament will eventually be collected and condensed together in one entity, the New Jerusalem. This is what God wants. The Triune God is embodied and crystallized in the New Jerusalem, and this is the consummation of the Body of Christ, the counterpart of Christ, the wife of Christ, the organism of the Triune God.
The New Jerusalem is constituted with the Triune God, so we can see the Triune God there. God the Father is there as the shining One (Rev. 22:5), Christ is there as the tree of life (v. 2), and the Spirit is there as the river of water of life (v. 1). God is the shining One, Christ is the growing One, and the Spirit is the flowing One. This is the Triune God flowing to saturate, to soak, the entire New Jerusalem. This soaking, this saturating, carries out the divine constitution with the redeemed humanity, and this divine-human constitution is the Body of Christ. This is the purpose of God’s economy, positively speaking.
God’s economy does have another aspect on the negative side, and that aspect is the destruction of God’s enemy. God has a unique enemy whom He could destroy by Himself, but He would not do it. He desires to do it through His redeemed people. Therefore, the redeemed humanity should cooperate with God to destroy Satan. The book of Revelation shows that, on the one hand, the overcomers will become the consummated New Jerusalem, and on the other hand, all the overcomers will be used to destroy Satan. These are the two aspects concerning the Body of Christ in the fulfilling of God’s desire for His expression and the destruction of Satan.
In the recent turmoil some began to teach different things other than God’s economy (1 Tim. 1:3-4). They were teaching that the local church should be autonomous. This wrong teaching comes from G. H. Lang’s book The Churches of God. In the spring of 1988, certain ones worked together to spread this book. How can the local churches of the Body of Christ be autonomous? Just as no part of our human body can be autonomous in relation to the other parts, none of the churches of the Body of Christ can be autonomous in relation to the other churches.
The ones who took the lead in the recent turmoil also taught that after the apostles established the churches and set up the elders, they kept their hands off the churches and elders that they established. This is a wrong and different teaching. The Bible tells us that Paul established the church at Ephesus. Then he visited the saints there and wrote letters to them for their perfecting. Acts 20 tells us that Paul once stayed with them for three years and that he taught them publicly in the meetings and from house to house day and night with tears (vv. 20, 31). Surely Paul did not keep his hands off the churches that he established or the leading ones whom he appointed. In his book entitled Church Affairs, Brother Nee points out that the workers need to give help to the elders by teaching them and training them, based upon the apostle Paul’s example (ch. 1). For some to say that the apostles should keep their hands off the churches and the elders means that they have not seen the Body of Christ.
Actually, the ones among us who rebelled were bothered because they wanted to achieve something. This meant that they wanted to be somebody in the recovery. We have been selected by God and called out by God from the world, and we have given up everything for Christ. We do not want to be somebody or to achieve something for ourselves. To us all things other than Christ are dung, dregs, rubbish, and dog food (Phil. 3:8).
We need to be the overcomers, the ones who overcome all the negative things. The Lord has been delayed because He still needs some who will pay the price to be His overcomers. He told us clearly that He would come quickly. Of course, to Him one thousand years are like one day (2 Pet. 3:8). But still the Lord has not come back, because we have delayed Him. He needs the overcomers to carry out the economy of God to have a Body and to destroy His unique enemy. This is exactly why the book of Revelation was written.
First, we need to see the economy of God. Then we have to see the Body of Christ. Strictly speaking, what God is seeking is a Body for Christ. The twenty-three verses of Ephesians 1 issue in the church as the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Christ as the One who fills all in all needs the church to be His fullness for His complete expression. Christ is not only the all-inclusive One but also the all-extensive One because He fills all in all. Such a Christ needs a Body as His counterpart for His expression.
Ephesians tells us clearly that the church, the gathering of God’s called-out ones, is not an organization but an organism, the Body of Christ. We have to see this. The Body is universally one. It has only one God who is of three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Ephesians 4 reveals that all three have been constituted into this organism.
On the one hand, the Body is a constitution, but on the other hand, it is a building. This building is built up not by stones or bricks, which cannot grow. This building is built up by the increase of the organic Triune God in the believers who grow up into Christ the Head in all things (Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15). The Body is constituted with the Triune God and is built up by growing (v. 16). We all have to grow into our Head, Christ, in everything. Ephesians 4:16 says that the Body builds itself up by growth. All the Body causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.
If we see the Body, we will not be able to make any trouble in the recovery. We will not be concerned about who is wrong or who is right. Actually, if we make trouble, we are automatically wrong. We have been forced to quarantine certain divisive ones who have caused trouble among us. Anyone who knows the Body would never do the things that these ones have done and are doing.
Turmoil after turmoil has transpired because of our not knowing the Body. The only remedy that can cure us of this kind of illness is the seeing of the Body. When Brother Nee taught about the Body, he said that with whatever we do, we have to consider how the churches would feel about it. When we do something, we must not forget that we are members of the Body, and the Body is not only a local church. The local church is not a “local body”; if it is, it becomes a local sect. The Body is the Body of Christ, constituted by the Triune God with all the believers on this earth, with all the local churches.
Both the ministry and many churches in the recovery made a decision to quarantine certain divisive ones. Some did not accept this decision and have even joined these divisive ones. They have disregarded the feeling of the Body. How we behave ourselves depends upon the degree of our seeing of the Body.
The Body has its proper order. Some may not be happy to be under the “eyes.” They may want to be above the eyes, but this is their design, not God’s design. In 1 Corinthians 12:18 Paul says, “God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He willed.” No one can change the position of any member of the Body. The little finger is under the hand, the hand is under the arm, and the arm is under the shoulder. This is the order in the Body of Christ. If we consider ourselves to be more than what we actually are, this is not according to the Body. If someone says that he is an apostle, we need to ask what church was established by him. An apostle must be one who preaches the gospel to save sinners, who forms and establishes churches, and who discerns and teaches the truth.
We are the Body, and in the Body there is an order. Brother Nee once used the order in a family as an illustration. A family has the father, the mother, and the children. A child in the family knows the order in his family. He knows who is above, or before, him and who is below, or after, him. In like manner, the Body has an order. Humanly speaking and spiritually speaking, we should fellowship about the Lord’s interests with the ones who are more mature than we are and who are ahead of us. Then we may say that we know the Body.
I believe that this fellowship is the proper diagnosis of our situation. The remedy is only one—we need to see and know the Body, and we have to honor the Body. We cannot be healed by any other way. In order to practice the truth, we need to see the Body. We stand on the ground of the church because of the Body. There is only one Body in the universe. Therefore, the expression of this one Body must be a unique local church in a city. There cannot be more than one expression of the one Body in a locality. This is the truth that we must practice.
There was a big debate among the Brethren concerning the receiving of the saints. This is why there are today’s closed Brethren and open Brethren. Both the closed and the open Brethren are partially right. On the one hand, we can accept and we should accept the real Christians, but we cannot strengthen or justify their denominations. This was, has been, and still is our attitude. We say that we love all the dear saints in the denominations, but we cannot confirm or justify the denominations. Denominations are wrong, and there are many evil things there. Any kind of hierarchy is an evil thing in the Lord’s sight. To build up the clerical class and thus annul the functions of the members of the Body of Christ is evil in the eyes of God.
Our attitude depends upon our seeing of the Body. The only remedy is to see the Body of Christ. It is not a matter of yes or no, good or bad. It is a matter of whether or not something is of the Body or not of the Body. We must be Body-conscious to the uttermost. What the Lord wants is the Body. But today not many really care for the Body.
When we accept someone at the Lord’s table, we have to consider the Body. According to the principle of Romans 14, we accept all of the Lord’s children, but according to Romans 16:17, we have to mark those who make divisions and turn away from them. We cannot receive division-makers who have been quarantined by the Body. Furthermore, we have to realize who has the function and qualification as the priest to discern leprosy among the Lord’s children. Again this is a matter of practicing the Body life. If a local church receives someone who has offended the Body to the uttermost, that local church is obviously not going along with and not one with the Body. We have to take care of the Body.
In a sense, we may say that a local church is autonomous only to a certain degree in practical and business affairs. Whether a local church should buy a piece of land to build a hall or rent a hall is according to their discernment. But receiving a person who has made trouble in the recovery and who is still making trouble involves the Body very much. If we behave ourselves properly, we are okay in the Body. But if we commit something that is condemned by the New Testament, the Body has the right to say something. The Body surely will check with a local church if there is a division-maker among them whom they have not disciplined. If they do not discipline such a one, they are wrong and are offending the Body.
To know the Body is the proper recovery of the Lord. If we are for the recovery, we need to realize what the recovery is. The Lord desires to recover the missed Body of Christ and to recover the neglected oneness of the Body of Christ. This is the Lord’s recovery.
We need to put aside all our natural relationships when it comes to practicing the truth of Romans 16:17, that is, turning away from those who make divisions. If a relative of ours is making divisions or living in sin, it would be wrong to allow him to participate in the Lord’s table. What if a brother’s father is living with a concubine? He may say, “How can I reject my father?” Surely he still needs to respect and honor his father, but he cannot bring this family regulation into the church life. He still has to practice the truth by taking care of the Body of Christ.
The book of Acts tells us that Barnabas made a mistake because of his natural relationship with Mark, his cousin (Col. 4:10). He wanted to take his cousin, but Paul would not agree with this (Acts 15:35-39). Barnabas was wrong. He should have gone along with Paul. After Barnabas separated from Paul in Acts 15, his name is no longer mentioned in the record of God’s move.
Regardless of how much help we have received from a certain one in the past, if he does something that offends the Body, we must practice the truth. We must know the Body and trust in the Body. The churches in California wrote an open letter because they felt burdened and responsible to let the churches on this globe know the damage certain ones caused in California and the loss that had been suffered. In this open letter they said that they had made the decision to quarantine these ones. Should we listen to the churches or take care of our own personal observation of the situation? If we put the notification of so many churches aside and go to investigate the situation for ourselves, this is an offense to the Body. Do we respect the Body, or do we respect ourselves?
It is not a matter of whether someone is right or wrong. He might be right, but he still offended the Body. We need to see the Body. What the Lord wants is the Body, not a bunch of saved souls. Soul winning is right; soul winning is good; but soul winning should not be for soul winning. The Lord wants souls for the building up of the Body of Christ. We must see the Body.
