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Scripture Reading: Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:15; John 1:12-13; 1 Pet. 1:2a; Luke 15:8, 17; John 16:8-11; 3:5-6; Rom. 8:19; 1 Cor. 6:15; 12:27; Col. 3:4a; 1 John 1:2; 5:11-12; John 3:36a; Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 12:13a; Col. 2:9; John 1:14a; Heb. 2:14a, 17-18; John 14:16-17; 7:39; Rev. 22:17a; 1 Cor. 15:3-4, 45b; John 15:1, 5; 17:21a, 23a
Prayer: Lord, we offer our worship to You. We thank You that You always take care of us and gather us, that You even gather us into Your holy name. Lord, we again gather into Your holy name tonight. May Your blood cleanse us, may Your Spirit be with us, and may Your Word be opened to us. Lord, we deeply believe that at this very moment You are present with us. You know that we are nothing and can do nothing. What we are looking to and depending on is You Yourself and Your blessing. Lord, lead us tonight, and guide every one of us. Do give each one of us a word which will touch the depths of our being so that we would be supplied. Enlighten us that we may receive Your sustenance within. Lord, may You give us the utterance, the instant word, the fresh light. And we pray that You will release Yourself more and more so that we may be satisfied, and Your Body may be built up. Lord Jesus, grant us a clear sky. Through simple words reveal to us the mystery of Your Body. Grant us a thorough vision so that we can see Your precious Body clearly. Be with us in an extraordinary way, and may Your all-pervading Spirit be upon us to touch us and possess us. Amen.
I have not been back here for a long time. I have come back, but this time I will not be staying too long, and after I leave, I will not return very soon. So I treasure these four meetings very much. I have had much consideration before the Lord and felt that I needed to speak some messages that are basic and crucial that will be sufficient for you for a year. If you know how to use them, they can even be adequate for your whole life.
The topic of the messages I am going to speak to you this time is “A Thorough View of the Body of Christ.” I use the expression thorough view to talk about this matter because, concerning the Body of Christ, you have heard enough already. You all know that the Body of Christ is the church. This is not wrong, but this realization is too shallow. The Body is a mysterious matter. Not to mention the Body of Christ, just our little body is extremely mysterious; its mystery lies in its being organic. Look at me standing here. Because I am a living person, whether I am speaking or moving, regardless of what my body is doing, there is an organic expression. If our little physical bodies are like this, the Body of Christ is like this so much the more. Christ is the One who fills all in all (Eph. 1:23). He is such an immeasurable and boundlessly great Lord. He needs a Body of fullness to express Him even more than we do. From this you can realize how mysterious His Body is. It is not something that we can study thoroughly. Nevertheless, I am looking to the Lord that in these four days I may do my best to give you a thorough view of the Body of Christ.
In this first chapter we will see the history of the Body of Christ, or the origin of the Body of Christ. In the second chapter we will see the elements, essence, and reality of the Body of Christ. In that chapter we will really be seeing a thorough view of the Body of Christ. In chapter 3 we will see the living in the Body of Christ. This is the living we ought to have. Of course, we do not live the life of a sinner, nor do we live the life of a natural person, nor do we merely live the life of a moral person or of an ordinary citizen; we live the Body life. When we talk about the church life, it is better to speak of the Body life. This word church has the denotation of a congregation, and a congregation, superficially speaking, does not have anything to do with life; but when the Body is mentioned, it clearly refers to a living organism. Finally, in the fourth chapter we will see the service of the Body of Christ. After we have seen the living in the Body, we will see the service of the Body.
Now we must see the origin of the Body of Christ. We all know that everyone who is sitting here was born, not manufactured, into being. The idols in the temples are manufactured, not born. We human beings with our organic bodies are born into being from parents who are human beings like us. This birth is our origin. The Body of Christ is a totality of all the members of Christ, and we are the members in His Body. Therefore, in talking about the Body of Christ, we are all included, both you and I. When I speak about the Body of Christ, I am speaking concerning you and also concerning myself. So when we talk about the origin of such a mysterious matter as Christ and His Body, you and I are both included. When we speak about the origin of the Body of Christ, we are speaking about our own origin.
The Body of Christ is similar to our human body; it was born into being, not manufactured. Its origin and source are the Triune God. And this Triune God has a name; He is called the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The Body of Christ came from Him, and He is our origin. According to the flesh, our source is our parents. Every one of us has a genealogy, a record of our origin. If we trace back our origin generation by generation, at the end the last generation is Adam. Regardless of our nationality or of our race, we all have a common source, that is, Adam. And Adam is from God; he was the son of God (Luke 3:38). Spiritually speaking, we who are the members of the Body of Christ came from the Triune God. The Triune God is the source of the Body of Christ.
The Triune God is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Yet these three—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit—are one God. First, this Triune God is the Father, who is the source of us believers. Galatians 4:6 and Romans 8:15 show us that we who are regenerated and have a life union with God are the children of God; hence, we call God “Abba Father.” This God who has become our Abba Father is the source of you and me and is also the source of the Body of Christ. This Father God who has become our source has begotten us that we might become His children (John 1:12). Therefore, we have two births; one was our physical birth from our parents; the other was our spiritual birth from God our Father (1:13). According to the flesh, we are the children of our parents; hence, we have last names like Cheng, Lee, or Wang. But spiritually speaking, we were born of God the Father and are the children of God. Therefore, God becomes our common last name; our last name is God. God is our source. We are all the children of God, the members of the household of God (Eph. 2:19).
God the Father regenerated us in time, but in eternity past, long before the beginning of time and the creation of all things, He exercised His foreknowledge to select and predestinate us (1:4-5), marking us out from among myriads of people. Then in time, at the right moment, God the Spirit, following the changes in the world situation and the environmental arrangement, sanctified us (1 Pet. 1:2a). This is what is recorded in Luke 15 concerning the Triune God saving sinners. There God the Spirit is likened to a woman lighting a lamp and sweeping the house to finely seek after the lost coin. Both you and I had this kind of experience when we were saved. While we listened to the gospel, the Holy Spirit was going along with the word of the gospel to enlighten and seek within us that we might be awakened (Luke 15:8, 17) and convicted concerning sin (John 16:8-11). Then we believed in our heart, confessed with our mouth, and called on the name of the Lord Jesus. Thus, we were saved and were regenerated to be the sons of God (Rom. 8:19), the members of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 6:15; 12:27).
We became the members of the Body of Christ because the Holy Spirit, when we repented and believed in the Lord, entered into us so that we received the life of God and became regenerated. Actually, this Holy Spirit who has entered into us is the life of God becoming life within us. From that day on, there has been something additional within us. Sometimes this something within us rebukes and regulates us. This is not merely the functioning of our conscience. Rather, we have something more within us, the Lord who has become our living person. This is tremendous. My burden is to show you that the source of the Body of Christ is the Father; He is the source of life. Through His Spirit He has sanctified us and regenerated us that we might become the sons of God, the members of Christ. I hope that all of you sitting here will be clear concerning this matter. Today we do not believe into a religion, nor do we join a religion. We believe into a living and true Triune God. As soon as we repented and believed into Him, this Triune God as the Spirit came into us to be our life, to enliven us, and to make us a part of the organic Body of Christ. For this reason, many young people who believed in the Lord, although they were persecuted greatly and faced opposition from their parents, still stood firmly. Regardless of the situation, they still believe in the Lord, not because they are strong but because they have a life within them that is strong. This life is the Triune God Himself; it includes God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.
Now that we have obtained this life, we are no longer individual persons but members of the Body of Christ. Hence, we must not be disconnected from the Body. No member must be disconnected from the Body; once disconnected, the members are finished. Today every one of us is a member, a member of the Body of Christ. This Body of Christ is the church. Why do I say the Body and not the church? I say it because the church is a gathering, but the Body is an organism. A congregation can be dismissed, but a body cannot be disconnected. You may stop coming to the meetings, but you must not be disconnected from the Body. It may be possible to sometimes miss the meetings, but once the Body is disconnected, it is finished. But I can tell you that those who are in the meetings may not be in the Body, but those who are in the Body are definitely in the meetings. Those who do not come to the meetings are not necessarily disconnected from the Body, but those who are disconnected from the Body will definitely not come to the meetings. Therefore, being absent from the meetings may be somewhat risky; if you are not careful, you may soon be disconnected from the Body. Not coming to the meetings is close to being disconnected.
Let me repeat that the church is a kind of congregation, but the Body is a matter of life. All of us have life, but if we say that each one of us has been joined to the church, it is not so accurate. The real significance is that we have become the members of the Body of Christ, possessing the same one life and needing one another. This is to be members one of another. Therefore, whatever we do must be in the Body, joined to the Body, and regulated by the Body, because we are one Body. This is a wonderful matter.
We, the members of the Body of Christ, have God the Father as our source, God the Spirit as the One who sanctified and regenerated us, and God the Son as our life (Col. 3:4a). While it is true that we were regenerated by the Holy Spirit, according to the truth, it is God the Son who has become our life. Of course, the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—cannot be separated. If you have the Son, you have the Father; and if you have the Father, you have the Spirit. But according to the clear word and revelation of the Bible, when the Holy Spirit regenerated us, He brought Christ to us. This Christ becomes our life within so that we, the members of Christ, may have the uncreated, eternal life of God (1 John 1:2; 5:11-12; John 3:36a). At the same time this life causes us to have an organic union with the Triune God so that we can enjoy all the riches of the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). This is like the union brought in by electric current. Our meeting hall and the power plant are joined together through the electric current. When the electric current comes to the meeting hall from the power plant, the meeting hall and the power plant are connected and joined together. Thus, the meeting hall receives all the benefits of the power plant, by which we enjoy air conditioning, lights, the sound system, and so on. Today’s modern living depends especially on the union between the power plant and every place that electricity is applied. If this union is cut off, our life is also finished. Just imagine what it would be like if the electric current here suddenly stopped; we would all be in darkness.
Today within each one of the members of Christ, there is something that connects and joins him or her to the Triune God; this is the organic union of the life of God. We have all been regenerated, Christ has become our life within, and this life causes us to have a union with the Triune God. Therefore, now we are in the Triune God. The Triune God and we are connected together and joined together. All the riches of the Triune God become ours.
We have already seen that the Father is the source, that the Spirit came to regenerate, and that the Son came to be life so that we and the Triune God may have an organic union. This is the “inside” story of the members of the Body of Christ. There is also an “outside” story; that is, the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—having become the consummated Spirit, came to baptize the members of Christ into the unique Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13a). God’s essence is Spirit, and the last person in His Divine Trinity is also the Spirit. Not only so, the totality of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit eventually also became the consummated Spirit to baptize the members of Christ, those who have been regenerated by the Spirit and who have the Father as the source and the Son as the life, into one Body.
You and I have been saved. Through regeneration we have the Spirit, Christ, and life within. Also, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit once outwardly, we all have been baptized into the Body. Inwardly, we were regenerated to have life; outwardly, the Spirit was poured upon us so that we might be baptized into one Body. This completes the origin of the Body.
Now we have to see how the Triune God became the ultimate and completed Spirit. First, the Father was embodied in the Son (Col. 2:9) through incarnation (John 1:14a; Heb. 2:14a). The Son experienced human life (vv. 17-18), was crucified and resurrected, and was realized as the Spirit. Before the Son was realized as the Spirit, the Spirit was there already. However, He was not yet completed. It was not until the Lord Jesus was resurrected from the dead and realized as the Spirit that the Spirit was completed (John 7:39). This completed Spirit is the ultimate completion of the Triune God (Rev. 22:17a), which implies that the Son through death and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:3-4) became the all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, and compound Spirit (v. 45b), to baptize all the sanctified, regenerated persons into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), so that they and the Triune God could become one (John 17:21a, 23a) and be baptized into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13a).
Therefore, every time we preach the gospel and bring people to be saved, we baptize them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as soon as they confess the Lord’s name. Their outward expression corresponds to an inward fact; that is, by being baptized into the Triune God, the saved ones and the Triune God have been made one. By their becoming one with the Triune God, they become members of the Body of Christ.
Finally, I must tell you the story of this Body of Christ. Simply speaking, it is the story of the Triune God mingling as one with us, the chosen and predestinated ones. Long before time began, in eternity past before all things were created, God by His eternal foreknowledge selected us and also marked us out. Then in time the Holy Spirit came to work, to seek us and regenerate us. This regeneration is the beginning of the mingling between the Triune God and us, and it is also the first step of the Triune God being life to us after coming into us. This happens in our spirit. From then on, if we cooperate with Him, love Him, and fellowship with Him, He will have the opportunity to spread outward from our spirit to our soul so that our mind can be renewed and transformed. This indwelling Spirit is like a dove, gradually and gently occupying and saturating us. He also will spread from our soul to our body to give life to our mortal bodies (Rom. 8:11). In this way the Triune God and we, the tripartite men, will be completely mingled as one.
At this point we can clearly see that we have not only the Spirit within but also the Spirit without. This Spirit who has come upon us causes us to have the feeling of the Body. The Spirit inwardly is the Spirit of life; the Spirit outwardly is the Spirit of work. The inward Spirit of life is essential; the outward Spirit of work is economical. In actuality, these two are one Spirit. On the one hand, within us He is the essential Spirit; on the other hand, upon us He is the economical Spirit. Within us we have Him; outside of us we also have Him.
All the people along the lower Yangtze River in China like to drink tea in the morning to fill their stomachs with water. They say that this is wrapping water with skin. In the evening they like to soak themselves in the bathtub; they say that this is wrapping skin with water. They wrap water with skin in the morning and skin with water in the evening. I feel that this is quite meaningful. If today all the Christians were like this, filled with the Spirit in the morning and receiving the outpouring of the Spirit in the evening, we would surely be members who are not disconnected but who are meeting and living in the Body. In the New Testament there is a verse that speaks of the two sides of this matter. This is 1 Corinthians 12:13, which says, “Also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” To drink the Spirit is to wrap the “water” with “skin”; to be baptized into the one Body is to wrap “skin” with the “water.” On the one hand, there is the Holy Spirit filling us within as the essential Spirit that we may have the life supply; on the other hand, there is the Holy Spirit poured out upon us outwardly as the economical Spirit to baptize us into the Body of Christ. Therefore, we may say that the origin of the Body of Christ is entirely a matter of the Spirit. There is the Spirit within, regenerating, transforming, and supplying us with life; this is the essential Spirit. There is also the Spirit without, being poured upon us; this is the economical Spirit.
All the problems taking place today in the church are due to neglecting the inner, essential Spirit for life as well as the outward, economical Spirit for work. Now since we have seen the origin of the Body of Christ and have also realized that everything related to the Body of Christ is entirely a matter of the Spirit, we should not pay attention to other things; we should only take care of the inward, essential Spirit for life and also the outward, economical Spirit for work that we may be normal and proper members in the Body of Christ. Hence, when we all follow the inward, essential Spirit for life and cooperate all the time with the outward, economical Spirit for work, and when we all live in the Body of Christ, we will be the organic Body of Christ. This is what we should see and what we should remain in.
