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Scripture Reading: Col. 2:7a, Col. 2:19; 3:10-11; 1 Cor. 3:6, 9; 6:17; Eph. 2:21; 4:13b, Eph. 2:15-16
In reading or studying the Bible, it is easy to take things for granted. We may read a verse such as 2:7, which speaks of having been rooted in Christ and of being built up in Him, and we may assume that we understand it, when actually our understanding is very superficial. The same may be true even of verses such as John 3:16. On the one hand, we have some understanding of this verse. But, on the other hand, we may take very much for granted. Furthermore, in reading the Bible we may have the tendency to avoid difficulties. We may prefer not to dig into certain verses, pray about them, and ask the Lord to open them to us. As we consider a number of verses from Colossians, 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians, we should not take things for granted, and we should not avoid any difficulty presented by these verses. In particular, my burden is for us to see the implications in these verses.
In 2:7 Paul speaks of having been rooted and being built up in Christ. The word rooted is very rich in its implications. To be rooted is altogether a matter of life. A plant that has been rooted in the soil grows in the earth and even into the earth. It is a living organism which grows in the soil. If, on the contrary, a dead stick is thrust into the earth, that stick cannot be said to be rooted in the soil.
As the roots of a plant spread into the soil, they absorb the riches from the soil. The nourishment that is absorbed into the plant becomes the very element by which the plant grows. In order for a plant to grow, it must receive through the roots a certain substance or element. It is by this substance that the plant increases in size.
As believers, we have been rooted in Christ. This implies that we are living organisms, not lifeless and rootless sticks thrust into the soil. Because we have been rooted in Christ, we now may absorb the riches of Christ into us. These riches, absorbed from Christ as the soil, become the very element which enables us to grow.
Col. 2:7 speaks of having been rooted in Christ and of being built up in Him. The more a plant grows, the more it builds itself up. A tree, for example, builds itself up by absorbing into itself nourishment from the soil. This implies organic activity. Through this activity the nourishment from the soil is absorbed into the tree.
It is significant that in 2:7 Paul puts being rooted and building together. The reason for this is that being rooted is for growing, and growing is genuine building. Growth is not only for building, but is actually the building itself. As a tree grows, it builds itself up. The same is true of human beings. As all mothers realize, the more their children are nourished with healthy food, the more they grow, and by growing, they are built up. The organic activity that takes place within them causes them to grow. This growth is the building of their physical bodies.
Being rooted brings in the growing, and the growing is the building. If we do not grow, we cannot have any building. We grow by absorbing the rich, nourishing element of the soil. Having been rooted in Christ, we now are being built up in Him. We have been rooted in Christ, and we grow by absorbing His riches into us. This leads to growth, which is the building up of ourselves in Christ.
In 2:19 Paul speaks of “holding the Head, out from Whom all the Body, by means of the joints and bands being supplied and knit together, grows with the growth of God.” Holding the Head is equal to abiding in Christ. Of course, to hold the Head implies that we are not detached, or severed, from Him. At the time Paul wrote to the Colossians, they had been somewhat detached from Christ by their culture. Culture can be a form of insulation which keeps us from Christ. To hold the Head is to remain in Christ without any insulation between us and Him.
The words “out from Whom” in verse 19 indicate that something is coming out from the Head to cause the Body to grow. The growth of the Body depends on what comes out of Christ as the Head, just as the growth of a plant depends on what comes into the plant from the soil. If a plant does not absorb nutrients from the soil, the plant cannot grow. Likewise, if we do not receive what comes out from Christ as the Head, the Body cannot grow. Holding the Head is, therefore, equal to being rooted in Christ as the soil.
In 2:19 Paul says that the Body “grows with the growth of God.” With God Himself there can be no growth, for He is complete and perfect eternally. Nevertheless, the Body still needs to grow with the growth, the increase, of God in us. The more God is added into us, the more we grow. This is what it means to grow with the growth of God.
In order for any living organism to grow, there must be some element which causes it to grow. We must have something with which and by which to grow. For example, if children do not eat, they cannot grow. The way we grow spiritually is to have God added into us. This means that we grow with the addition, with the increase, of God, by having God added into our very being.
The little word “with” in 2:19 is important. With what does the Body grow? Does it grow with doctrine or Bible knowledge? No, the Body grows with the growth of God. We grow with the increase of God within us. God in Himself is perfect and complete, but there is still the need for Him to increase within us.
As I was praying over 2:19, the Lord showed me that although He is eternally perfect and complete, I did not have that much of Him within me. I realized my need for God to grow in me, to have Him added into me. At that time I was enlightened to see the meaning of Paul’s expression in 2:19, “grows with the growth of God.” We all need God to be added into us more and more. We need to have Him grow in us, to increase in us.
As we consider 2:19, we must realize that the word God is not merely a term, and God Himself is not simply the object of our worship. God is rich in every way. He is rich in glory and in all the divine attributes. He is rich in love, kindness, mercy, light, life, power, and strength. Oh, God’s riches are endless! Now this rich God is adding Himself into us. This is implied by the phrase, “grows with the growth of God.” God’s riches are the element and substance by which we grow.
In 3:10 and 11 Paul speaks of the new man, where there “cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” In the new man Christ is all the members, and He is in all the members. There is no room for the natural man. There is no room for Americans or Chinese, for British or French, for you or me. In the new man Christ is all. In the church as the new man, Christ is everything. This implies that He is every brother and every sister. This also implies that every brother and sister must be constituted of Christ. In the new man there cannot be Jewish members and Gentile members; there can only be Christ-members. If we would be constituted of Christ, Christ must be added into us more and more. We must be permeated with Christ, saturated with Christ, and have Christ organically wrought into our being. Eventually, we shall be replaced by Christ. Then, in reality, He will be all and in all. He will be every member, every part, of the new man.
The new man does not come into existence by taking Christians from various countries and bringing them together. That would be a new organization, not the new man. The new man comes into being as we are saturated, filled, and permeated with Christ and replaced by Him through an organic process. The new man is Christ in all the saints permeating us and replacing us until all natural distinctions have been eliminated and everyone is constituted of Christ.
Christ as all and in all in the new man should not be mere doctrine. Rather, the rich, substantial Christ must actually be wrought into us organically until He replaces our natural being with Himself. This can take place only as we remain rooted in Him and absorb His riches into us. These riches will then become the substance, the element, which will saturate us organically. Then Christ will become us, and we shall become constituted of Christ. This is not only to grow with Christ, but it is also to be built up in Christ.
Both the growth and the building depend on being rooted. This is why Paul uses the perfect tense to say “having been rooted.” Christ, the good land, is the portion, the allotment, of the saints. As the good land, He Himself is the rich, fertile soil. Having been rooted in Him, we must daily absorb the rich nourishment of Christ into us to be the element that causes us to grow. All day long tender roots should absorb the riches of Christ as the soil. The more we absorb these riches, the more we shall be saturated by Christ and organically replaced by Him. This is to grow and to be built up in Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 3:9 Paul says that the saints are God’s farm (Gk.). In 1 Corinthians 3:6 he says, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the growth” (Gk.). These verses indicate that the believers are God’s plantation and that Paul was a helper of the divine Husbandman. God is the real Farmer, and Paul was one of His co-workers (2 Cor. 6:1). Working together with God, Paul planted the believers into Christ. Christ is the soil. The context of 1 Corinthians indicates this. In 1 Corinthians 1:9 we are told that we have been called into the fellowship of the Son of God, and, in verse 30, that of God we are now in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom. He is righteousness for the past, sanctification for the present, and redemption for the future. To be put into Christ is to be planted into Him. Through Paul’s preaching of the gospel and ministry of the Word, many were planted into Christ. Thus, Paul could say that he planted. Later, Apollos came to water what Paul had planted. Although Paul planted and Apollos watered, it was God who gave the growth.
Now we must go on to ask in what way God gives the growth. He gives the growth by getting into us. The more God is added to us, the more growth He gives. As we have seen, without the increase of God within us, there cannot be any growth. The growth of the Body depends on the growth of God, the addition of God, the increase of God, within us. Therefore, God gives the growth by giving Himself to us in a very subjective way.
Since God gives growth in this way, we need to take time to absorb Him. A well-known hymn exhorts us to “take time to be holy.” Actually, our need is to take time to absorb God. As we daily take time to eat food, we should daily take time to absorb the Lord, take time to assimilate the riches of Christ. Our contact with the Lord should not be rushed. If we are in a hurry, we shall not be able to absorb much of His riches. We need to allow adequate time for prayer. This will enable us to absorb more of the riches of our God.
As we have pointed out, God is not simply a term nor an object of worship. He is real, rich, and substantial, and we need to absorb Him. Our God today is the processed, all-inclusive Spirit, and we have a spirit with which to absorb Him. Thus, we must exercise our spirit to stay in His presence to absorb Him. This takes time. Although we all have experienced absorbing the riches of God, our experience is not yet adequate. For this reason, we must spend more time to absorb Him. Do not spend so much time in your mind, emotion, and will, but spend more time in your spirit to adore the Lord, to praise Him, to offer thanks to Him, and to speak to Him freely. As you fellowship with Him in this way, you will absorb His riches, and He will add more of Himself into you. The more God is added into us, the more growth He gives to us. This is the way God gives the growth.
Only God can give growth. In my ministry the most I can do is to plant or water. I cannot give growth to anyone, for I cannot give God. Only God can give you Himself. Without Him, we cannot have growth. God Himself is our food, and we need to seek Him at His dining table, where we need to take time to eat Him slowly. Then more of Him will be added into us. This addition of God into us is the growth He gives. For God to give us growth actually means that He gives us Himself.
One of the greatest verses in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 6:17, says, “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” The implications of this verse are marvelous and far-reaching. We, the believers, are one spirit with the Lord. How tremendous! This implies that we are in Him and that He is in us. It also implies that we and He have been mingled, blended organically, to become one in life. To be one spirit with the Lord implies that we and He are a living entity. We simply do not have words to explain the significance of this verse. To say that we are one spirit with the Lord definitely does not mean that we are deified. However, it certainly does imply the mingling of divinity with humanity. In the words of #501 in Hymns, “God mingled with humanity lives in me my all to be.” To be one spirit with the Lord means that we are blended with Him organically and mingled with Him in life. We urgently need more experience of this. We need to remain rooted in Christ and absorb all that He is into us. Then we and He, He and we, will be blended together in life organically to be one spirit. How profound! How wonderful!
When we are one spirit with the Lord, we cannot be affected by anything negative. Sin, the world, Satan, and Hades have nothing to do with us, for we are one spirit with the Triune God. This should not merely be a doctrine. In our experience this must be living and organic. Our spiritual being, our inner man, the regenerated spirit, must be permeated with the Lord and mingled with Him to form a single, living entity. This will result in growth and building.
In Ephesians Paul also speaks of growth and building. In Ephesians 2:21 he says, “In Whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.” This verse refers to the universal church. In the eyes of God, the universal church is a building. This building is growing by absorbing the riches of Christ.
In Ephesians 4:13 Paul speaks of arriving at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Christ’s Body is His fullness. This fullness has a stature, and the stature has a measure. Thus, the fullness of Christ is the Body of Christ, His expression. We arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ by growth and building which come through the eating of Christ. As we eat Christ, more of Christ is added into us for growth and building. Eventually, we shall have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This measure is the full growth of the new man. For this reason, Paul speaks of arriving at a full-grown man.
In Ephesians 4:15 and 16 Paul goes on to say, “But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, Who is the Head, Christ, out from Whom all the Body, fitted and knit together through every joint of the supply, according to the operation in measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” The concept here is similar to that in Colossians 2:19. We must hold to the truth in love so that we may grow into the Head in all things. Out from the Head in whom we have grown we have nourishment, as indicated by the word supply. Through the supply which comes out from the Head, the Body grows and builds itself up in love. Much is implied here. The focal point of the implications of Ephesians 4:15 and 16 is that we should be rooted in Christ and absorb His nourishment into our being to become the element and substance with which we grow and are built up.
First, we grow individually, then corporately. Individual growth becomes corporate growth. Hence, not only are the members built up individually, but the Body is built up corporately. Our physical bodies illustrate this. Your body is built up through the growth of the individual members. If the members do not grow, the body cannot grow. Without growing, the members of the body cannot build themselves up. This would make it impossible for the body as a whole to be built up. Therefore, the building of the body depends on the building up of the individual members of the body. If all the members grow and build themselves up individually, the body will be built up corporately.
After a church has been in a locality for a certain period of time, friction may develop between the saints, even among the leading ones. How can the church be built up if there is such friction? Along with the friction, there must also be growth. This growth will nullify the effect of the friction. I can testify that throughout the years in the church life, there has been considerable friction caused by the enemy. But the growth in Christ has canceled out all this friction. Therefore, we can be happy together and truly one. The shortages among us are filled by the riches of Christ. Then we grow both individually and corporately. This is the genuine building of the church. The building up of the church is based upon the building up of the individual members. Furthermore, the building of the members depends on their growth, which, in turn, depends upon being rooted in Christ and absorbing the riches of Christ to become the very element with which the members grow.
