We must offer ourselves in the body to the Lord, we must not be conformed to this present age, and we must be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Fourth, we have to discern, know, and test what the best will of God is (v. 2c). If we have all these practical matters, we will then attain to the point where we are able to realize the Body life, the life of the Body of Christ. We may talk about the church life, the Body life, and the Body of Christ, but the realization of the life of the Body of Christ depends on the above four practical matters, three positive and one negative. If we have the practical experiences of offering ourselves in our body to the Lord, of not being conformed to the present age, of being transformed in our old nature, and of having the discernment of the best will of God, we will have the ground to realize the Body life. At this point, we will realize that as people who are regenerated and transformed by the Holy Spirit, we are members of the Body, and as members, what we must experience is something not of this world or of ourselves but something absolutely of Christ Himself. It is at this point that we will know what it means to say, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20) and, “For to me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). We will realize what it means to live not by our self but by Christ as our life, not in the way of doctrine but in the way of life and practical experience.
Today there is the urgent need of this teaching concerning the Body life, but we must realize that the teaching is not for the teaching; it is for life, for the church, for Christ. If the teaching is for its own sake, it will not work. What good is it to have the teaching only for the teaching’s sake? All the teaching must be for the church and for Christ. We can have the Body life in no way other than to consecrate ourselves in a practical way, to offer ourselves as a practical people in the body, not as a people “in the air.” Moreover, we must not conform ourselves to this present age. We must be separated, sanctified, and different from this age as a particular people, and we must be transformed. Then we will realize the Body of Christ as a life that is absolutely not independent, individual, and not of the natural self, but a life which is Christ Himself to be experienced by us in a corporate way.
This Body is the ultimate intention, goal, and desire of God’s heart. What God is seeking in this universe is simply this Body. In Genesis 1, God had two intentions in His creation of man. One is to express Himself, and the other is to deal with His enemy. God created man in His own image for the purpose that man may express God. In this creation, God committed His authority to man to deal with the enemy. The image is for the expression, and the authority is to deal with the enemy of God. These are the two intentions in God’s creation of man, one on the positive side and the other on the negative side. Both the positive side and the negative side of God’s intention are a matter of a corporate Body. To express God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, strictly speaking, is not a matter of individuals but a matter of a corporate Body.
More than thirty years ago I received the knowledge that God is seeking a Body, but I did not know how to realize and explain this. It seemed that there were no human words to express, define, or explain such a divine matter, but I gradually realized more concerning the Body. We are all persons with a body. As such, we are all a very good figure or type. As persons we need to be expressed. Can our person be expressed by separate, individual members? It is true that we have ears, a nose, lips, eyes, and fingers; we have many members, but they cannot express us in a separate, individual way. We cannot cut off our ears or nose and present them as our expression. Our person must be expressed by our whole body in a corporate way. The whole body is needed to express a person. We are not bodies; we are members of the one Body. In the whole universe Christ has only one Body, and it is through this one Body that He is expressed. God in Christ through the Holy Spirit is expressed in the one Body.
God needs a Body, not merely many members. Why is the church so weak among many Christians? Why do we sense weakness, confusion, many negative things, and things other than Christ Himself in every kind of Christian group? It is because they are like a body whose members have been separated and scattered in an individual way. We cannot see a person but only separated and scattered members. To have separated and scattered members is an awful condition which causes many troubles and things which need to be cleared up. This is the real situation of Christians today. We may meet group after group of Christians, but they are separated and scattered members. When we come among them, we do not sense the reality of the Body. We do not sense that there is a Body which always expresses Christ. Rather, we can only realize separated and scattered members. Moreover, even though the members are separated and scattered, they are still able to fight one another. It is as if they are good for nothing but fighting, not with the enemy of God but with one another. This is simply because there is no realization of the Body life.
Home | First | Prev | Next