The fellowship in this book concerning the building up of the Body of Christ may be considered as a continuation of our fellowship in the book entitled The Organism of the Triune God in the Organic Union of His Divine Trinity. In the New Testament, there are many teachings concerning the building up of the church, which is the Body of Christ. In Matthew 16:18 the Lord Jesus referred to the building up of the church for the first time. In Paul’s writings there are many portions related to this matter. The most crucial passage is Ephesians 4:11-16. Verse 16 in particular is a crucial verse in the New Testament concerning the Lord’s desire to build up His Body. After much study and consideration of the Greek text, we feel that a better translation of this verse is as follows: “Out from whom all the Body, fitted and knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” All the Body causes the growth of the Body through two categories of things: through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in measure of each one part.
The building up of the Body of Christ is the building up of the one organism. An organism is different from an organization. A table is something organized; pieces of wood have been organized together to become an item of furniture. It is lifeless and has nothing to do with life. But our human body is altogether organic. Therefore, it is an organism. The parts of our body are not organized together. Each part is organically related to the others in life, and each part participates in the one circulation of the same blood. Our physical body is organic because it is full of life.
It is true that the church is a congregation, an assembly, of God’s called out people. But if this is all that we see concerning the church, we may be led to believe that the church is a human organization like other social bodies. In Ephesians Paul shows us that the church was something in God’s heart in eternity past since God chose us before the foundation of the world, predestinating us unto sonship (Eph. 1:4-5). To carry out His heart’s desire, God was incarnated to be a man living on this earth. He died on the cross for our sins, was raised up from the dead, and ascended to the heavens. According to Ephesians 1, God’s great power was wrought in Christ to raise Him from the dead (v. 20a), to seat Him at His right hand in the heavenlies (v. 20b), to subject all things under His feet (v. 22a), and to give Him to be Head over all things to the church (v. 22b). What God wrought in Christ with His great power is transmitted to the church.
If I had written the Epistle to the Ephesians, I might have stopped with verse 22. However, Paul continued with one more verse to describe what the church is. Verse 23 does not say that the church is a congregation or the assembly of God’s chosen people. Rather, Paul says that the church is Christ’s Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. This should cause us to realize that the church is something organic. It is not something organizational without life, but it is organic and full of life.
The Body of Christ is particular and special because it is the fullness of the Triune God (Eph. 3:19). The Christ who fills all in all is the embodiment of the very Triune God. The Body of Christ, the organism of the resurrected and ascended Christ, is the organism of the One who fills all in all. Ephesians 3:18 speaks of “the breadth and length and height and depth” of Christ. These are the measureless dimensions of Christ. The One who fills all in all is measureless. His dimensions have no end. They are the dimensions of the universe. The church is the Body, the organism, of such a One. When we speak of the church rather than the Body, our thinking may become narrow. We may consider the church to be merely the assembly of the called out ones, the congregation, or an organization of saved human beings. According to the Bible, however, the church is much greater and much higher than a congregation. It is an organism, the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.
It is difficult to comprehend the Body of Christ, but God in creation made our human body as a figure of the Body. Consider how wonderful our body is. The eyes, the ears, and every part are marvelous. Every part of my body participates when I am speaking. My speaking does not only come from my vocal chords, tongue, and lips. My eyes, my ears, my nose, and every part help me when I speak. Our body is not like that of a robot. It is living, full of life, and organic. Likewise, the church is organic. If we desire to know what the church life is, we must have a clear vision from the heavens that the church which God redeemed is not an organization but an organism. The church is a matter of life, not of organization. Over ninety percent of the problems and troubles that arise in the church life are due to the understanding that the church is an organization. If we drop the thought of organization and receive a heavenly vision of the church as an organism, most of our problems in the church will be solved. The church is an organism. It is altogether organic and full of life.