In the Bible “Christ” sometimes refers to the individual Christ, the personal Christ, and sometimes to the corporate Christ, to Christ and the church (1 Cor. 12:12). The Bible considers Christ and the church as one mysterious Christ. Christ is the Head of this mysterious Christ, and the church is the Body of this mysterious Christ. The two have been joined together to become the one mysterious Christ, a universal great man. All the saved ones in all times and in all space added together become the Body of this mysterious Christ. Individually speaking, we, the saved ones, are particular members of the Body (1 Cor. 12:27). Corporately speaking, we are the mystical Body of Christ. Every saved one is a part of the Body of Christ.
First Corinthians 12:12 says, “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.” Christ here is not the individual Christ but the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ. In Greek “Christ” in this verse 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 become 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.
As a vine includes not only the stalk but also the branches, so the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ, includes not only Christ Himself but also the members of Christ’s Body, who are the members of Christ, parts of Christ. According to our natural constitution, we cannot be members of Christ’s Body. Christ Himself is the element, the factor, that makes us parts of Him. Therefore, in order to be parts of Christ, as members of His Body, we must have Christ wrought into our being.
In order to become the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ, Christ had to pass through the steps of a process. First He, the very God, became flesh for our redemption. Then in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit to come into us and work within us. In this way He becomes the Body-Christ. Now in the church life we enjoy not only God, the Redeemer, and the life-giving Spirit but also the Christ who is the Body.
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 parts 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 (1 Cor. 12:13). 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 and are constituted to be the Body.
The building up of the Body of Christ is altogether 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, the corporate Christ.
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