We have seen that the formation of the universal church took place on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius and that this formation was accomplished by Christ the Head through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In this message we shall cover some other matters related to the formation of the church.
The formation of the church was with all the believers as the extrinsic form represented by the one hundred twenty believers at Jerusalem on the Jewish side (Acts 1:15; 2:1-4) and by the believers in Cornelius’s house at Caesarea on the Gentile side (Acts 10:24,44-48a). Therefore, 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” As the Spirit is the sphere and element of our spiritual baptism and in such a Spirit we were all baptized into one organic entity, the Body of Christ, so we should all, regardless of our races, nationalities, and social ranks, be this one Body. It is in this one Spirit that we were all baptized into this one living Body to express Christ. This is the formation of the church with all the believers as the extrinsic form.
The church is formed not only with all the believers as the extrinsic form but also with Christ as the intrinsic constituent. This means that the church is formed with two kinds of materials: the believers as the outward material to be the extrinsic form of the Body and Christ Himself as the inward material to be the intrinsic constituent of the Body.
The church is not an organization, and it is not merely a group of believers in Christ who have been forgiven, cleansed, and made righteous and who regularly gather together. The church is the constitution of Christ. It is Christ constituted into the very fiber of our being. The Christ constituted into us is the church. The church is the constitution of the resurrected Christ, who embodies the reality of the Triune God. Therefore, the church is a living constitution of the Triune God who has been wrought into our humanity. Yes, as believers, we are human beings, but in our humanity we have the constitution of Christ, for He has been wrought, constituted, into us. Hence, we are not merely human beings-we are also the church. We are the church because we have been immersed into the Triune God and have Christ constituted into our being.
Because Christ is the intrinsic constituent of the church, He is every member of the church as the new man. Speaking of the new man, Colossians 3:11 says, “Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” There is no natural person in the new man. There cannot be Greeks, who are for philosophical wisdom, and Jews, who are for miraculous signs (1 Cor. 1:22). There cannot be circumcision, those who observe Jewish religious rituals, and uncircumcision, those who do not care for Jewish religion. Furthermore, in the new man there cannot be barbarian, Scythian, slave, or freeman. A barbarian is an uncultured person, the Scythians were considered the most barbarous people, the slaves were those sold into slavery, and the freemen were those who had been freed from slavery. In the new man there is room only for Christ, not for any kind of natural person, because Christ replaces with Himself the natural life of every member of the church as the new man.
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