In Colossians 2:17 Paul says that the body, the reality, of all the shadows is of Christ, but in verse 19 he speaks not of Christ but of holding the Head. The reason for the change in terminology from Christ to the Head is that our enjoyment of the Lord causes us to become conscious of the Body. If we enjoy Christ continually, we will not continue to be individualistic. The saints who are individualistic are those who do not consistently enjoy the Lord. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we become Body-conscious. We should touch the Lord in the morning, but in the evening we should come to the church meetings. It is not normal to enjoy the Lord during the day and neglect the meetings of the church, which is His Body. Even if our environment does not allow us to attend all the meetings, inwardly we should have the sense that our whole inner being is with the saints in the church meeting. This consciousness of the Body comes from the enjoyment of Christ.
What we enjoy of Christ day by day is actually something of Him as the Head. This is the reason that when we enjoy Christ, He causes us to become conscious of the Body. The more we enjoy Christ, the more intense is our desire for the Body. However, if we fail to contact the Lord for a period of time, we will automatically neglect the church life or lose interest in the meetings. The less we contact the Lord, the more we become critical of the church or the saints. We have an eye for the faults and shortcomings of others. This shortage of the enjoyment of Christ opens the door for the enemy, Satan, to come in to make us critical of other members of the Body. But if we begin again to enjoy the Lord, the door will gradually close. Eventually, if we continually enjoy Christ, the door will be completely shut. Then, instead of criticizing the church, we will praise the Lord for the church life, and we will testify how much we love it. What brings about such a change is not admonition or correction but the recovery of the enjoyment of Christ.
The dear, precious One whom we enjoy as our food, drink, and breath is the Head of the Body. Because Paul had a thorough realization of this, he could leap from Christ as the reality of all positive things for our enjoyment to the matter of Christ as the Head. Since the Christ we enjoy as our everything is the Head of the Body, the more we enjoy Him, the more we become Body-conscious. This indicates that the enjoyment of Christ is not an individualistic matter. It is a Body matter. We need to enjoy Christ as members of the Body in a corporate way.
In 2:19 Paul speaks of “all the Body.” The enjoyment of Christ keeps us one as members of the Body. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we love the other members of the Body. The enjoyment of Christ causes us to love everyone in the church life. Even those whom we find difficult to love become dear and precious to us. However, if we do not continue to enjoy Christ, we will despise certain ones in the church. Actually, the church and the saints remain the same; it is our attitude that changes. But if the supply of Christ is ministered to us and we begin to enjoy Him again, all the members of the Body will once again become lovable to us. We will have the pleasant realization that, as members of the Body, we love all the other members.
It is the enjoyment of Christ which causes Him to be the Head in our experience. Christ cannot be our Head subjectively and experientially unless we enjoy Him. We may be told again and again that Christ is the Head of the Body, but we will not have any consciousness of Him as the Head unless we enjoy Him regularly. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we will realize experientially that the Christ whom we enjoy is the Head of the Body. This realization will make us conscious of the Body and cause us to love all the members of the Body.
Colossians 2:19 speaks of the supply and of the Body being knit together. When the Body is supplied and knit together by holding the Head, the Body grows with the growth of God. The phrase out from whom in this verse indicates that the Body grows out from the Head, for all the supply comes from the Head. In one sense, Christ is the Head; in another sense, He is the soil (v. 7). As we absorb the riches of the soil, we hold the Head. Likewise, to receive the supply from the Head is to absorb the riches from the soil.
When we enjoy Christ in the heavens and in our spirit, we hold the Head and absorb His riches. Then out from the Head something will proceed to produce the growth of God in us. This means that more of the element of God is added into our being and thereby into the Body. This causes the Body to grow with the growth, the increase, of God.
In order to have genuine growth, we must first be rooted in Christ, our good land. We are plants rooted in Christ as the soil. As a tree grows, it absorbs water and nourishing elements from the soil in which it is rooted. As these riches are absorbed by the tree, they become the increase of the tree. The tree grows with the increase of the riches from the soil. In like manner, we are living plants rooted in Christ as our soil. What we absorb of Christ into us—the element of the riches of Himself as the soil—becomes the increase of God within us. Our land is Christ, and Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God. Therefore, the land is the Triune God. This means that when we absorb the riches of the soil, we absorb the riches of the Triune God. Actually, we absorb the Triune God Himself. Through this absorption, we take more of God into us. This increase of God within us is what we mean by the growth of God.
The genuine growth in life is to grow with the growth of God, that is, to grow with the increase of God, the addition of God. In Himself, God cannot and does not need to grow. He is eternal, perfect, and complete. However, there is the need for God to grow in us. We all need more of the increase, the addition, of God within us. We need to grow with the growth of God; that is, we need God to increase, to grow, in us.
God is rich in every way. He is rich in glory and in all the divine attributes. He is rich in love, kindness, mercy, light, life, power, and strength. God’s riches are endless. Now this rich God is adding Himself into us. God’s riches are the element and substance by which we grow. God is real, rich, and substantial, and we need to absorb Him.
Our God today is the processed, all-inclusive Spirit, and we have a spirit with which to absorb Him. Thus, we must exercise our spirit to stay in His presence to absorb Him. This takes time. Although we all have experienced absorbing the riches of God, our experience is not yet adequate. For this reason, we must spend more time to absorb Him. We should not spend so much time in our mind, emotion, and will, but spend more time in our spirit to adore the Lord, to praise Him, to offer thanks to Him, and to speak to Him freely. As we fellowship with Him in this way, we will absorb His riches, and He will add more of Himself into us. The more God is added into us, the more growth He gives to us. This is the way God causes the growth.
In summary, to hold Christ as the Head is to enjoy Him as the body of all the shadows continually, to be in the heavens, and to remain in our spirit. Through holding Christ as the Head, we become conscious of the Body because the Christ whom we enjoy as our real food, drink, Sabbaths, new moons, and feasts is the Head who causes us to become conscious of the Body. Experiencing the Body life, we absorb the riches out from the Head. These riches are the elements of God, which become in the members of the Body the increase of God by which the whole Body grows. Therefore, the growth of the Body is the product of enjoying Christ, holding Him as the Head and absorbing His riches.