Ephesians 1:22-23 says that God “gave Him [Christ] to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His body....” Hence, there is a marvelous Person in this universe: Christ is the Head, and the church is the Body. Paul in his Epistles, especially in Ephesians and Colossians, speaks much of this divinely human Person in the figure of a complete man, the Head with the Body. Just as in a normal human being, the body shares the same life and nature with the head; so in the relationship of the church with Christ, the church partakes of the very divine life and nature of Christ. Otherwise, she could not be His Body. Verses such as Ephesians 4:15-16 and Colossians 2:19 further substantiate the fact by showing how all the Body is built up by the life supply flowing from the Head.
To the speaker who has recently said that “we cannot participate in God,” we answer, “In His Godhead, no; but in His life and nature, most assuredly and blessedly.” To the Scripture already presented, we add 2 Peter 1:4, which says in plain words, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature...” What could be more clear?
In addition, the Scriptures tell us more. Christ is not only the Head, but also the Body. Very few Christians have seen this revelation in Scripture. Yet it is not obscure. I need not interpret, but only read 1 Corinthians 12:12, “For as the body is one, and hath many members and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” Paul is speaking of the body with its many members, and says that although the members are many, they are one body. Then he makes a startling statement: “So also is Christ.” We would have said, “So also is the church.” But the inspired writer said that this one Body with its many members is none other than Christ. To God’s Word we say, “Amen.” But in the figure of our physical body, is it not so? Is my body not me, just as my head is me? When anyone touches my body, he touches me. When anyone hurts my body, he hurts me. The way my body is treated is the way I am treated, for my body is no less me than my head. The head certainly holds a distinct and unique place in the body, yet it is so absolutely identified with the body that the body together with the head bears the same name. So it is with Christ and the church. This is the inspired word in 1 Corinthians 12:12.
Therefore, it is perfectly scriptural to assert that Christ is no longer merely the individual Christ, although He holds alone His lofty and distinct position as Head of the Body, but is now the corporate Christ as the Body with all its members. Through His death and resurrection, He gained the church, His Body, as His fullness, His corporate expression. Where the church is practically expressed, there He is in practical, corporate expression. The speaker at Melodyland said, “There is no corporate Christ.” But the author of these words is ignorant of the revelation in Paul’s Epistles.
The Lord’s word in John 12:24 reveals more concerning this matter: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” The metaphor is clear. A grain of wheat, by being sown into the earth, germinates and rises in resurrection, producing many more grains of identical life and nature. The one grain has been multiplied from one to thousands of grains like itself, both inwardly and outwardly. The speaker said that, “Jesus Christ has not expanded into thousands and thousands of persons at all.” Again, the author of these words does not know the Scriptures, for the Lord Jesus likened Himself to a grain, that through death and resurrection would be multiplied, expanded, many times. Paul in Romans goes on to tell us that we will all “be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). We will be fully like Him; He will have many brothers just like Himself. This is the marvelous grace of God’s salvation.
The obvious conclusion, then, is that since Christ is embodied and expressed in so many members as His Body, and since Christ is God, then the church is none other than God manifest in the flesh. This, the speaker said, is “the last great heresy of Mr. Lee.” But, again, the author of these words is destitute of sight.
Consider 1 Timothy 3:15-16, which speaks in plain words concerning God manifest in the flesh. “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” Verse 16, we acknowledge, refers to Christ, for He undoubtedly is God manifest in the flesh. Christ also was the One who was justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. But we say also that this verse refers to the church as well. Allow us to prove it. The context of the whole passage is the church. Verse 15, the preceding verse, is speaking of the house of God, the church. The context of the whole chapter is the qualifications of the overseers and deacons in the church. Then this chapter on the church with its offices is concluded with verse 16: “Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.”
Moreover, the order of the items following “God was manifest in the flesh” further substantiates our affirmation. If this verse were speaking only of Christ, the last item, “received up into glory,” should precede “preached unto the Gentiles,” for Christ was received up before He was preached. Since it comes last, it coincides with the history of the church, for the church at the last, just like her Lord at the first, will be received up into glory. Hence, both Christ and the church, or we should say, Christ with the church, is God manifest in the flesh.
The apostle Paul said, “Now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:20-21). Surely this means that God as Christ was manifest in his flesh. It does not mean that Paul became deity, as we have been charged with promulgating concerning ourselves. He did not mean that, and neither do we. When we speak of the church being God manifest in the flesh, we mean, as Paul, that God as Christ is manifested and magnified through us.
Finally, consider the case of the meeting described in 1 Corinthians 14:24-25. “But if all prophesy, and there come in one unbelieving or unlearned,...the secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you indeed” (ASV). This is none other than God manifest in the flesh. We often have the experience of this kind of meeting with this kind of issue in the local churches.
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