As believers in Christ, we are being constituted of Christ to be His one Body. Not only are we baptized into one Body-we are constituted of Christ to be His Body. First Corinthians 12:12 says, “Even as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body being many are one body, so also is Christ.” In Greek Christ here is “the Christ,” referring to the corporate Christ, composed of Christ Himself as the Head and the church as His Body with all the believers as its members. All the believers of Christ are organically united with Him and constituted of His life and element to be His Body, an organism, to express Him. Hence, He is not only the Head but also the Body. As our physical body has many members, yet is one, so is this Christ.
The church can be the Body of Christ only as the members are constituted of Christ, possessing His life and nature. If we consider our physical body, we shall realize that anything that does not have our life and nature cannot be part of our body. Just as our body is part of us, so Christ’s Body, the church, is part of Him. As members of the Body, we are part of Christ, constituted of Him.
Because the reality of Christ is the Spirit, the way to be constituted of Christ to be His Body is to drink the Spirit. The Body has been formed by the baptism in the one Spirit. In one Spirit we have all been baptized into one Body. The baptism into the one Body has positioned us all to drink, and by drinking of the Spirit we are constituted to be the Body. By drinking the Spirit we experience the dispensing of the divine Trinity into our being. By drinking the Spirit we are constituted to be the Body.
The building up of the Body of Christ is a matter of constitution. The Body is an organic entity constituted of the divine element of the processed Triune God. It is through such a constitution that we become the Body of Christ. Therefore, what the Body of Christ needs is not organization but a unique constitution, a constitution which consists of the divine element wrought into our inner being through our drinking of the one Spirit. The more we drink the one Spirit, the more the divine element becomes our constituent to make us the one Body.
Like the vine tree in John 15, the church as the Body of Christ is the organism of the Triune God. Because the Body of Christ is an organism constituted of Christ, it cannot be damaged by anything or anyone. Not even the Devil can damage the Body, for it is God’s constitution, God’s organism. In the book of Revelation the church, the Body, as the embodiment of the Triune God, is illustrated by the golden lampstand, which signifies the embodied Triune God. The Body of Christ is a divine constitution, an organism constituted of the Person of the Triune God. We all need to see that we become the Body of Christ by being constituted of Christ.
In the Body we are being tempered together by God. In 1 Corinthians 12:23 and 24 Paul says, “Those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, these we clothe with more abundant honor, and our uncomely members have more abundant comeliness; but our comely members have no need. But God has tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked.” The Greek word translated “tempered” here literally means blended; hence, mixed, compounded, adjusted. The Amplified Bible supplies several words for the word tempered in this verse-adjusted, mingled, harmonized, and subtly proportioned the parts of the whole. God has blended all the different members of Christ together into one Body. We need much transformation (Rom. 12:2), from the natural life to the spiritual, by the Spirit for the practical Body life.
To be tempered together in the Body is to be blended, mingled. By this blending we have coordination, balance, and adjustment. To temper something is to make it balanced by dealing with the extremes. For example we cannot drink water that is either boiling hot or ice cold. But if hot water is tempered with cold water, the tempered water will be the right temperature for drinking. In the local churches there are many different saints, believers with many different dispositions. Some are very spiritual; others are not so spiritual. The spiritual ones need to be tempered with those who are not spiritual. Then the spiritual ones will be spiritual in a proper way. The weaker ones are necessary to test the genuineness of our spirituality.
We should not expect every saint in the church life to be a spiritual giant. This will never be the situation in the church. According to the Bible, we all must be tempered, the hot ones with the cold ones, the quick ones with the slow ones, and the spiritual ones with those who are not spiritual. In the proper church life there will always be the weaker members, the less honorable members, and the comely members. Nevertheless, because all are being tempered together, these are not three divisions.
The Body is built up with all the different members: the comely ones, the less honorable ones, and the weaker ones. This does not mean, however, that all the different members are arranged in distinct groups. No, all are blended together so that the Body may be tempered. When we are tempered, the uncomely ones share comeliness with the comely ones, and the weaker ones are nourished and supported by the stronger ones. Then we have the Body.
Without being tempered together in the Body, there is no way for us to be built up together. Without tempering, a quick person cannot go along with a slow one, and there cannot be any building between them. Without being tempered, we cannot be coordinated with others. A quick person and a slow person cannot be coordinated unless both of them are willing to be tempered. There is no way for two believers to be one in a practical way without being tempered. In our experience many times the tempering comes out of practical situations in working together in coordination. In practical work together such as this there are many lessons for us to learn. The church life is a life of being tempered all the time. God has not only set the members in the Body; He has tempered the Body together.
In the church life we have those of all colors, races, nationalities, and social rank. Nevertheless, we are one Body. This is possible only through God’s tempering of the members of the Body. God tempers us together by the inner life and through His indwelling.
Whatever the Lord does in the Body is a matter of His dispensing. Hence, the tempering of the Body is a matter of the divine dispensing of the divine Trinity. The more God tempers us, the more He adjusts us and balances us, the more He dispenses Himself into us. Balancing, adjusting, coordinating, tempering-all are related to the divine dispensing of the processed Triune God into our being.
In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul is tempering the Body. If we read this chapter carefully, we shall see that to temper the Body is to uplift the inferior ones and lower the superior ones, to encourage the weaker ones, and to adorn the uncomely ones with more honor. Furthermore, to temper the Body is to practice mutual care. In all the churches we need to uplift the inferior ones and somewhat limit the superior ones. We need to strengthen and encourage the weaker ones and to adorn the uncomely ones. If along with all this we practice mutual care, we shall have the Body in a practical way.
God has tempered the Body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacks so that “there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another ” (1 Cor. 12:25). In the Body life the same care should be given to all the different members. Differences in care cause divisions. Therefore, in the Body we need to have a mutual care for one another.
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