The universal church is the Body of Christ. Ephesians 1:22 and 23 reveal that the church as the Body is “the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” The Body of Christ is His fullness, that is, His full expression. The Body is the fullness of the Head, and the fullness is the expression of the Head. Christ, who is the infinite God without any limitation, is so great that He fills all things in all things. Such a great Christ needs the church to be His fullness for His complete expression.
First Corinthians 12:12 and 13 say, “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; for also 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.” These verses reveal that the church as the Body of Christ is constituted of all the believers baptized in one Spirit and given to drink one Spirit. First, Christ breathed the Spirit into the disciples and then baptized them in the Spirit. Now all the believers, as constituents of the Body, have been given to drink one Spirit.
Christ is the Breather of the Spirit, the Baptizer in the Spirit, and the Giver of the Spirit as our constant drink. According to the biblical principle, our spiritual food is in this drink, in this water. In Revelation 22 we see that the tree of life grows in the river. Therefore, when we drink of the river of water of life we receive not only the water but also the nourishment from the tree of life.
As the Breather, Christ breathed Himself as the essential Spirit into us to be the essence of our spiritual being and existence. Then, with this as the basis, He baptized us all into one Body. Now He continually gives the Spirit. “He gives the Spirit not by measure” (John 3:34).
The church as the Body of Christ is constituted with the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8, 10). All the riches of Christ are for the producing of the church. This takes place through the dispensing of these riches into the believers. The experience of the riches of Christ results in the fullness of Christ, the Body, as Christ’s expression. Therefore, the Body of Christ is constituted of the riches of Christ. As the riches of Christ are experienced and enjoyed by us, they become the fullness of Christ, the Body, for His expression.
Christ is the fullness of God, and the church is the fullness of Christ. Christ’s riches are so extensive that not only is Christ Himself filled with them, but these riches also fill up the members of His Body. As we are filled with Christ’s riches, we become His fullness. This is what it means to say that the universal church as the Body of Christ is constituted with the unsearchable riches of Christ.
The church is also the wife of Christ, His counterpart (Eph. 5:23-27). The church as the counterpart of Christ implies satisfaction and rest in love. Christ needs such a wife. To be the church is to render to Christ the adequate satisfaction and rest in love.
Home | First | Prev | Next