Second, Ephesians 1:23 tells us that the church is the Body of Christ. Some Bible expositors have said that Body is a metaphor, an illustration. This is incorrect. The Body in Ephesians is a fact. The church is a Body, the Body of Christ. The Body may appear to be an organization, but in actuality it is not. A table assembled together from twenty interlaced pieces of wood is an organization. A mere pile of wood, however, is not considered an organization. It is only when we organize this pile of wood piece by piece that it is an organization, such as a table or a bookshelf. Our body may look like an organization, but it is not; it is an organism. An organization does not have life and activity, but our body has both life and activity. If life ceases, all our members can no longer move. When life is gone, there is no activity. The church is not an organization. The church is an organism in the divine life of God. It is joined and knit together as an organism.
Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “The church,...the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” This Christ is the One who fills all in all, and the church is His fullness. We may illustrate fullness with a cup of water. There may be water in a cup, but people cannot see it. If the cup is not full, the water is hidden in it. When the cup is filled with water to its limit and the water overflows, there is the fullness of the water, which is also the expression of the water. Now what is in the cup can be clearly seen by all. Similarly, the church is the overflow of Christ, and the overflowing of Christ is the fullness.
Fullness is the expression of the overflow of the riches. Fullness is not something an organization can express. Rather, fullness is a condition of life. When life grows to a certain extent, there is an expression. We may illustrate this with a newborn babe. A newborn is small, short, and very thin; this is its expression. However, when he grows unto the fullness of life, he is expressed in his tallness and strength. This is the expression of his fullness. The Chinese express the riches of China, while the Americans express the riches of America. When many American brothers were young, they were small and thin, but now they have all become very big, being filled with American eggs, chicken, steak, oranges, and so forth. All this food passed through them in digestion, producing organic changes and becoming their constitution. Now they are the aggregate of all these riches, and this aggregate is the expression of the riches of America. The more we eat Christ and enjoy Christ, the more we become His overflow and expression. This is the church.
If we have this light and see the church according to this light, we will realize that the church cannot be found in Christianity. The church is not merely the accumulation of all the baptized ones. This is an organization, a gathering, but not the church, the Body of Christ. Today in the Lord’s recovery we do not want an organization or merely a gathering. Instead, we need an organism. For this reason, we are hoping to change the big meetings, because it is easy for the big meetings merely to be a gathering, an organization, which lacks the element of life. We want to have many small home meetings to allow life to grow from within. This is not a matter of work but of growth. As life grows, it produces a condition—the fullness of Christ to express Christ. This is the called-out assembly of God, the church.
Third, the church is the house of God. We should not understand the meaning of house completely according to our human concept. House can refer both to a dwelling place and a family. The family is a house, and the dwelling place is also a house. In the Greek language these are the same word with the same meaning. The house of God is the dwelling place of God, His family, and also the members of His household. The church is not only the house of God, but also the household of God. The church is this group of family members as a household.
What is the function of this household, this house? Paul said that the church is the pillar and base of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15b). This word is based on the architecture of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, the land of Judah and of ancient Greece. Jewish and ancient Greek constructions began with a base, pillars were built on top of it, and then the rest of the building continued upward. Therefore, the entire construction was supported by the pillars on this base. This is what it means to be the pillar and the base. To God, the church has this kind of function to bear all that God is as the reality, the truth, of the universe. The word reality is better than truth in conveying the proper meaning, because truth can be misunderstood as doctrines. This may cause people to think that the church holds doctrines. No, the church is not for holding doctrines but for holding the reality of all that God is. In the universe, only God is reality; all that He is is reality, which is borne by the church. We are here as the church, the house and household of God, holding the reality of all that God is.
First Timothy 3:16 says, “Great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh.” This word refers not only to Christ but also to all the elements in the church. In other words, not only is Christ the great mystery of godliness, but in principle the church is the same; the church is God manifested in the flesh. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, God was manifested in His flesh. Today God is also manifested in the flesh in the church on the earth. We can prove this from the sequence in these verses. The end of this portion says, “Preached among the nations, / Believed on in the world, / Taken up in glory.” If this mystery refers only to Christ, then Christ’s being taken up in glory should precede His being preached among the nations. Here, however, being taken up in glory is after being believed on in the world. This proves that the great mystery of godliness includes the church.
This gives us a comprehensive understanding and knowledge concerning the church. In application, however, we need to lead the new ones item by item according to their condition. We have to let them know that the church is the called-out assembly of God; the church is the Body of Christ, the fullness of Christ as His expression; the church is the house of God, which holds all that God is as the reality; and at the same time the church is the manifestation of God in the flesh. Perhaps they cannot fully understand all this, but after a while they will know it spontaneously. This is similar to learning mathematics. In the beginning we learn addition, finding it very easy. Then we learn subtraction, feeling that is a bit more difficult. After that we learn multiplication and division, and we may find memorizing the multiplication table to be even harder. At the time we are learning all these things, we do not thoroughly understand them, but through more learning, we gradually come to understand. Our leading the new ones is in the same principle. At the beginning they may not understand, but gradually they will. We simply should sow the seeds into their being and teach them. One day these seeds will blossom and bear fruit.