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In this chapter we will continue to fellowship concerning service that builds up the church. If we would have a part in the service that builds up the church, we must clearly see Christ and the church, including the relationship between Christ and the church. A clear view concerning Christ and the church is a fundamental prerequisite for the building up of the church. If we do not have a thorough understanding of Christ and the church, our concept concerning the building up of the church will not be accurate, and our service, at the most, will consist of bringing people to salvation and leading them to pursue the Lord.
A person needs only to be saved in order to be in the church, the Body of Christ. If such a one pursues spirituality, it is even better. However, being built up is a further step. It is possible to be saved and to pursue the Lord without being built up in the church. This is also true with regard to service. We may be involved in much work related to the salvation of souls, but we may not be participating in any work related to the building up of the church. It is also possible to lead others to love the Lord, to pursue Him, and to live a sanctified life but still not take part in the work of the building up of the church. Although every believer is in the church and although those who pursue the Lord may be more attached to the church, this does not mean that they are being built up into the church. Being saved and pursuing the Lord are one thing, but being built up in the church is quite another thing. It is paramount that we see this distinction.
Under normal circumstances these two things should be one. When a person is saved, he should immediately begin to build up the church. It is not normal for a person who is saved to be unrelated to the church. Nevertheless, it is possible for someone who pursues the Lord personally, who loves the Lord very much, and who lives a sanctified life to have no regard for the church.
Many people know that a person who is saved is in Christ, but few know that a person who is saved is also in the church. Believers are not only in Christ but also in the church. Nevertheless, an abnormal situation exists among believers today; that is, many believers who are in Christ are not related to the church practically. I say this from practical experience. According to doctrine, every believer is in the church; however, according to the real situation of believers in general, some people are saved but do not live in the church and have no concept or consciousness of the church. The church has no place in their being, and it makes no difference to them whether or not they are in the church. This means that in actual experience, they are in Christ but not in the church; they have Christ, but they do not have the church.
This situation applies not only to those who are merely saved but also to many who pursue the Lord, love the Lord, and live a sanctified life. Even ones such as these do not have an understanding of the church, and the church is a matter of little consequence to them. This is a great problem. Although God’s Word shows that a believer is in Christ, it also shows that the purpose of being in Christ is to be in the church. We are in Christ so that we may be in the church. A believer should endeavor to love the Lord and be sanctified so that he can live the church life. Our salvation and growth in life are for the church. Regrettably, the church does not have much ground in many believers. Many Christians do not even have a concept of the church. Even many who serve the Lord and work for Him have no consideration of the church. This lack of consideration is the result of having a limited understanding of the relationship between Christ and the church. Therefore, we need to speak concerning who Christ is, what the church is, and the relationship between Christ and the church.
First, we must see who Christ is. Christ is God mingled with man. This is the simplest description of Christ. To speak of Christ as being only God is not accurate, and to speak of Him as being only man is also not accurate. Christ is God mingled with man and man mingled with God. This is a most practical and simple utterance.
In the universe there is God, and there is also man. Before Christ came, the two were separate and distinct. Although there was a Creator and creatures, the two were not mingled as one. It is not until Christ came that God was mingled with man. Some people may ask, “Who exactly is Christ?” The simplest answer is to say that Christ is God mingled with man. Christ is neither just God nor just man; Christ is the mingling of God and man.
Many do not have an accurate understanding of this truth concerning Christ. This has been a great issue in theology. Nevertheless, we must put theology aside and not consider Christ merely from a doctrinal perspective. The facts concerning Christ are simple. Christ is God and man mingled as one. In the person of Christ, God entered into man, and man entered into God. In Christ, divinity has been mingled with humanity, and humanity has been mingled with divinity. Christ is the mingling of two natures—divinity and humanity—as one. In the past we used the term hybrid. A hybrid refers to things of different natures being mingled together to become one entity. Christ is a hybrid of God mingled with man, because Christ is not only God but also man. Christ is God mingled with man.
Next, we must see what the church is. The church is the enlargement of this hybrid, the enlargement of God mingled with man; this is the simplest description of the church. The church has been produced through the mingling of God and man. Christ is the hybrid of God mingled with man, and the church is the enlargement of this hybrid of God mingled with man.
The mingling of God and man occurred in the person of Jesus the Nazarene. He is the mingling of God and man. We need to ask how many such hybrids of God mingled with man are there in the universe today? Is there only one, or are there many? Is God mingling Himself with men, one by one, beginning with the Lord Jesus? Did God mingle Himself with Jesus the Nazarene and then with Peter, John, James, and Paul? Is He still being mingled with believers one after another? In other words, how many hybrids of God mingled with man are there in the universe? Is there only one, or are there many?
God has mingled Himself with man only once, not twice or even many times. In the universe there has been only one mingling of God and man. This principle can be seen in the redemption of Christ, which was accomplished once for all (Heb. 7:27). Christ’s one redemption means that there is no need for a second redemptive act. The Lord Jesus died for sinners once, and He accomplished redemption for our sins once for all. He did not accomplish redemption for Peter and then another redemption for Paul. Neither did He accomplish redemption once for you and then once again for me. In the entire universe there has been only one redemption for sins. Although sinners’ experiences of the Lord’s redemption take place at different times, the Lord’s accomplishment of redemption on the cross occurred once for all. Hebrews 9:12 clearly says that Christ “through His own blood, entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, obtaining an eternal redemption.” The Lord’s redemption for our sins is once for all.
Even the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was accomplished only once. Although believers may experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at different times, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit occurred only once. In the same principle, the mingling of God and man occurred only once. God was mingled with only one man; God did not mingle Himself with one man and then another man. Since this is the case, when was God mingled with us?
According to our experience, we realized this mingling at the time of our salvation. According to the divine fact, however, our mingling with God occurred at the time of the Lord’s incarnation. The Bible says that the Lord was born as a man and that the people would call His name Emmanuel (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23). This means that God entered into man to be with man. The man whom God entered was an inclusive man. This inclusive man includes Jesus, Peter, Paul, you, and me. Thus, the term man does not refer to many separate individuals but to one great corporate man. You are a part of this man and so am I; all the descendants of Adam are a part of this man.
When the Lord was incarnated, He was God entering into man, an inclusive, corporate man. From the time of the incarnation, God has been mingled with man. However, the incarnation was only the beginning; the enlargement and development of the incarnation in redeemed humanity is a further step. This can be likened to a doctor injecting a shot of medicine into the arm of a patient. In the beginning the medicine is present only in the arm, but after a period of time the medicine will spread throughout the patient’s body. Hence, a doctor does not need to give a patient additional injections in other parts of his body. It is sufficient to give one injection in the arm. The incarnation was an “injection” of God, given by God, into man. God gave one injection of Himself into man, and now this “injected” God is spreading into many believers and being enlarged gradually.
God did not mingle Himself with two men; He mingled Himself with only one man. The mingling of God with man occurred only once, not many times. In other words, there is only one hybrid of God mingled with man in the universe; there are no other hybrids. Christ is the Head of this hybrid, and the church is the Body, the enlargement, of this hybrid. In the universe this man is a great corporate man, whose Head is Christ and whose Body is the church.
I hope that the Lord will deeply impress us with this point. In order to be those who have a part in the service of the church, we must see this point. If we do not know Christ so accurately and do not know the church so thoroughly, sooner or later there will be a problem in our service for the building up of the church. How we build up the church depends entirely upon our knowledge of Christ and the church. Hence, we must see that God has mingled Himself with only one man, not two, and this mingling produced only one hybrid, not many hybrids. Christ is the Head of this hybrid, and the church is its Body.
Finally, we must have a deep impression that Christ and the church are one; the only difference is that Christ is the Head, and the church is the Body. Nevertheless, the two are joined together as one. If we see this point, we will see the relationship between Christ and the church. We will see that these two are so intimately related that they are inseparable. The only way to distinguish between them is to speak of Christ as the Head and of the church as the Body.
When we say that Christ is the Head and the church is the Body, we do not mean that only the Head has the element of God and only the Body has the element of man. Instead, the element in the Head is the same element in the Body. Just as the Head is the mingling of God and man, the Body is constituted of the same mingling of God and man. The relationship between Christ and the church is so intimate that the two are completely one and can never be separated.
Based on the three points presented above, we can now speak of some basic principles regarding the building up of the church. In order to take part in the building up of the church, we must know these three principles and hold fast to them.
The church is not just divine, and neither is it merely human. If the church were merely divine or merely human, it would lose its true nature. The mingling of God and man manifests the true nature of the church.
When I was young, I had curious thoughts related to spiritual matters. On the one hand, I wanted God to speak to me directly. I felt that if God spoke to me personally, I would surely prostrate myself and worship Him. On the other hand, I was not particularly enthusiastic about listening to brothers who would speak to me. I did not even feel very uplifted when I listened to a brother giving a message. I wanted only God to speak to me directly from heaven.
However, God does not speak directly to us in the church; rather, He speaks through man and from within man. When someone is speaking in the church, God is speaking. A direct speaking from God is not in the principle of the church. We must grasp the principle of the church—the church is God mingled with man. When God speaks to people today, He does so by being mingled with man.
The entire New Testament was written based on this principle. Although we speak of Paul’s Epistles as being God’s word, these words were written by Paul, a man. He even said that what he wrote was only his opinion; nevertheless, he also said, “But I think that I also have the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 7:40). Paul’s writing was according to the Lord, and his speaking was also the Lord’s speaking. This is the principle of the church. The church is the mingling of God and man. When the church speaks on God’s behalf, it means that some have allowed God to be mingled with them in their speaking. If only God is speaking, the church is not involved, and if only man is speaking, the church is not involved either because the Holy Spirit has no outlet, and God has no ground. If man is independent from God and separated from God, speaking only from himself, then the church will not be manifested. God without man is not the church. God and man must be mingled in order for the church to be manifested. This is a great principle. God has no desire for our humanity to be annulled in order for us to be spiritual.
When I was young, I also had the strange thought that those who are spiritual would act more like a spirit than a man. However, even if this were possible, the church would not be manifested. According to the principle of the church, no matter how spiritual a person is, he is still a man. God’s desire is for a spiritual man, not a spiritual spirit. God will never annul our humanity. If our humanity is annulled, the church will not be manifested. However, if only our humanity is manifested, this is not the church either. A church that completely annuls humanity is not the church, but a church that has only humanity is also not the church. Only the mingling of God and man, the mingling of humanity with divinity, results in the church.
Some teachings in the Bible seem to indicate that we should shun many things that are regarded as human. On the one hand, the Bible says that God’s children should not love the world (1 John 2:15), should not love their parents, wife, or children above the Lord (Matt. 10:37; Luke 14:26), and should not love outward adornments (1 Tim. 2:9). These teachings are quite good, but on the other hand, this does not mean that God has no regard for our humanity. The Bible never speaks of dressing sloppily or of forgetting about our parents, wife, or children. God wants us to be human and even to uplift our humanity. It is not easy for us to be balanced; we tend to veer from one extreme to another.
Our thoughts are often bizarre and strange. A brother once asked, “Brother Lee, do you love your children?” I said, “How can I not love my children?” He responded, “I thought that people who are serving the Lord would be very cold and indifferent toward their children.” Then I said to him, “If that were the case, I would not have a heart, and I would not be a human being.” When another brother saw that I was dressed neatly, he said, “Brother Lee, I am rather amazed that you dress so neatly.” I responded by asking, “Must I dress sloppily in order to be spiritual?” Another brother once sat next to me and said, “Brother Lee, I am amazed that your shoes are always polished and shining.” I then asked him, “According to your thought, what should be the condition of my shoes?” He replied, “I thought that you would not have the time to polish your shoes since you are very busy working for the Lord.” Then I asked him, “If I only polished my shoes once a year, would I be a proper human being?”
There are two sides to every matter. Being fashionable and adorning ourselves are one thing, whereas conducting ourselves properly and dressing neatly are another thing. Loving our children above the Lord is one thing, whereas loving our children before God is another thing. God does not annul our humanity. A church should not be so spiritual that it forsakes what is properly human in order to be like angels. Such a church is not the church. A church should be filled with humanity as well as divinity. The church is both divine and human, human and divine. If we do not grasp this basic principle, there will be problems in the building up of the church.
Some may ask why we are speaking of the principle of God being mingled with man in relation to the church. The main reason is that this principle eliminates many problems. I know of a group of brothers who pursued spirituality to such an extent that they acted as if their humanity was annulled. They were very earnest in seeking the Lord, and they loved the Lord very much. However, they encouraged people to be spiritual to the extent that they despised what was human. If they saw someone behaving as a normal human being, they would despise him and speak of him as being in the flesh or even devilish. I must admit that their love for the Lord was genuine and that they pursued the Lord, but their idea of spirituality resulted in a grave mistake of neglecting the principle of the building up, which is the principle of God being mingled with man.
We should never think that annulling our humanity is the way to be spiritual or to be the church. The mingling of God with man does not make us spiritual by annulling our humanity. I hope that all of God’s children will see this basic principle: the church is the enlargement of this hybrid of God mingled with man. Without divinity there is no church, but without humanity there also is no church.
The problem with the group of brothers who pursued so-called spirituality is that they tried to completely annul their humanity. When they spoke of having no use for humanity and of humanity having no ground before God, I thought, “This speaking does not make sense. If there is no use for our humanity and no ground for our humanity before God, why are you speaking? You should let God do the speaking. How can you explain the Bible if you have not been educated? You can explain the Bible because you have gone to school and received a human education. How can you say that there is no use for humanity and no ground for humanity?” The church does not annul our humanity.
In contrast to these brothers, there are also groups who pay attention only to human factors. Such ones say that everything is up to man and depends on man; as a result, they put God aside. Although they acknowledge God and worship God, they limit God to the heavens. They say that God remains in heaven and does not involve Himself with human affairs. They also think that in order to live in the twentieth century, we must be modern and up to date with the trends of this age. This poses a problem in the building up of the church.
If we want to build up the church, we must see this principle: the church is the enlargement of this hybrid produced through the mingling of God and man, man and God. The basic work of the church is to open a way for God to enter into man. It also brings man into God in all things so that man can grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things. The more our service causes the mingled element of God and man to increase, the more the church will be built up. If our service results in people focusing on annulling their humanity in order to be spiritual, we will tear down the church instead of building it up. However, if we lead people to focus on humanity and put God’s divinity aside, separating the two elements, we will also tear down the church instead of building it up. The basic principle in the building up of the church is to bring God into man and to bring man into God.
Whether we are giving a message, administrating in the church, visiting people, fellowshipping with others, or functioning in the meetings, we must grasp this principle. When we are about to pray, we should check with ourselves to see whether our prayers are coming out of God being mingled with us. This is a big matter. Although we want to render help to the saints with families, how do we teach them? If we tell them to pay attention to being spiritual while annulling their humanity, there will be problems in their family life. However, if we put aside the divine life and teach them only about being a husband and a wife, there will also be problems. Hence, in everything, whether in the church, in our homes, or in our personal life, we must grasp the principle of God being mingled with man so that God can have a way to enter into man and so that man can be brought into God.
The main reason there are so many divisions in the church today is that the principle of God being mingled with man has been lost. If God’s children would keep this principle, I believe that there would be oneness in the church. When we ignore this principle, we tear down the church and damage the church, and the church becomes divided. The only way to build up the church today is to build according to the principle of God being mingled with man. In everything we must give God the way to enter into us and to bring us into God. I hope that we are all deeply impressed with this principle and will apply it in our service practically.
