Having been rooted in Christ, we now are “being built up in Him” (Col. 2:7). Paul’s words being built up in verse 7 do not directly refer to the building up of the Body of Christ. Rather, this expression denotes an increase in our spiritual stature, which can be compared to a person’s increase in stature as he grows physically. The only way that a child can grow physically is by assimilating nourishing food. In the same way, we grow spiritually by assimilating the rich nourishment of Christ. This is what it means to be built up in Christ, as mentioned in verse 7. Paul first tells us that we have been rooted in Christ; then he goes on to say that we are being built up in Christ. No tree can grow up without first being rooted. The growing up of the tree is the building up of the tree. By absorbing the riches from Christ as the soil into our being, we are being built up with these riches. What we absorb into us becomes the material with which we are built up. He is the material, substance, and element with which we can have a greater spiritual measure so that we may be built up personally and with others as the Body of Christ.
We are plants, and Christ is the soil to us; we also are the building, and Christ is the material with which we are built. In much the same way that an American child is built up by eating the produce of America, our spiritual measure is built up by our feeding on Christ. At present we may have a small spiritual measure. We need to grow to a greater measure of Christ, and the way to grow is by feeding on Christ, taking Him in, and digesting Him. Then He will be added to us more and more. We will have Christ increased within us, and our measure will grow. Christ is the material for the building up of our spiritual measure.
If we are lacking in spiritual stature, we cannot be built up as the Body of Christ. In Ephesians 4:13 Paul says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” The Body of Christ has a stature, and this stature has a full measure. We all need to grow until we arrive at the full measure of the stature of the Body of Christ. For us to be built up does not first mean that we are built up as the church, the Body; rather, it means that we are built up in the Lord and experience an increase in stature. Hence, in Colossians 2:7 to be built up actually means to grow in life. First, we are rooted in Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit, and then we grow up into Him. We build ourselves up by growing up. Our being built up depends on our assimilating the riches of Christ as the soil into our being. Having assimilated these riches into us, we will grow and be built up. When we are fully grown, we will be built up. Therefore, to be built up simply means to grow. In order to grow, we need nourishment. Our growth depends on how much nourishment we assimilate into us by being rooted in Christ. Because we are rooted in Him, we absorb into us the riches of the all-inclusive Spirit. Then we grow with the nourishment that we derive from these riches.
The building up of the Body depends upon the individual and personal building up of all the members. If a particular member has not been built up, it will not be possible for him to be built up in the Body. To be built up in the Body we first must be built up in ourselves. When we have become built-up members, we will then be able to be built up with others in the Body.
In keeping with this, Paul in Ephesians 4:15 and 16 says, “Holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” The concept here is similar to that in Colossians 2:19. We must hold to the truth in love so that we may grow up into the Head in all things. Out from the Head in whom we have grown we have nourishment, as indicated by the word supply. Through the supply which comes out from the Head, the Body grows and builds itself up in love. Much is implied here. The focal point of the implications of Ephesians 4:15 and 16 is that we should be rooted in Christ and absorb His nourishment into our being to become the element and substance with which we grow and are built up.
First, we grow individually, then corporately. Individual growth becomes corporate growth. Hence, not only are the members built up individually, but the Body is built up corporately. Our physical bodies illustrate this. Your body is built up through the growth of the individual members. If the members do not grow, the body cannot grow. Without growth, the members of the body cannot build themselves up. This would make it impossible for the body as a whole to be built up. Therefore, the building of the body depends on the building up of the individual members of the body. If all the members grow and build themselves up individually, the body will be built up corporately. The building up of the church is based upon the building up of the individual members. Furthermore, the building of the members depends on their growth, which, in turn, depends upon being rooted in Christ and absorbing the riches of Christ to become the element with which the members grow.
We should not be distracted from Christ and the church. The Colossians had been rooted in Christ, but they still had to go on to be built up in the church. In order to be built up corporately, the Colossians had to forsake the Judaistic observances and the heathen ordinances and philosophies. Otherwise, they would have been transplanted from Christ and rooted in something else. Furthermore, they would have been led astray from the church life. Whenever we take in some kind of philosophy, ordinance, observance, or practice in place of Christ, the church life is annulled. We are divided from those believers who have different opinions concerning these matters. Those who are preoccupied with such things will eventually cease to care about the church life, and it will no longer be possible for them to be built up in a corporate way. How crucial it is to be rooted in Christ and to be built up in Christ and in the church! In this way we experience Christ as the mystery of God.
In summary, we have received Christ as the mystery of God. Now we need to walk in Christ, that is, live, move, act, and have our being in Christ. If we would walk in Christ, we need to absorb His riches by being rooted in Him and built up as individual members of the Body. We need to sink our roots deeper and deeper so that we may absorb more of His riches. Then we will grow and be built up in Him. When we are adequately rooted in Christ and are personally built up in Christ, we will become the expression of Christ. This expression of Christ, Christ lived out of us, will eventually become corporate. This is the church as the Body and the new man. When the church becomes in reality such a new man, that will be the time for Christ to come back.