In this chapter we will consider the God-men and the Body of Christ.
The God-men as the children of God are the members of the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:5). For the God-men to be the members of the Body of Christ means that they are the constituents of the Body.
The God-men as the new man are for the building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12). They are not only the members of the Body of Christ but also the builders of the Body. The Body is built up by its members; that is, it is built up by itself (v. 16).
The God-men as the stewards (Luke 12:42; Col. 1:25) struggle for the growth and maturity of the Body of Christ (Col. 1:28-29). It is not sufficient for the God-men to be the builders of the Body. There is the need for some of the God-men to be stewards, like Paul, to struggle and strive for the growth of the Body of Christ. As members of the Body of Christ we need to grow, and as the builders of the Body of Christ we need not only growth but also maturity. It is not adequate merely to grow-we need to mature. For us to grow means not only that the members of the Body of Christ are growing; it also means that the Body itself is growing. The Body needs members; the Body needs the builders; and the Body needs some stewards to promote the growth and maturity of the Body itself.
These stewards struggle for the growth and maturity of the Body of Christ until the Body becomes a full-grown man, a corporate Christ, with the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13). Christ has a fullness, the fullness has a stature, and the stature has a measure. The fullness of Christ is the Body of Christ (1:23), which has a stature with a measure. As Christ’s fullness the Body is Christ’s expression. Christ’s fullness, the Body, has a stature, and with this stature there is a certain measure. To arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is to arrive at the full building up of the Body of Christ. It is to arrive at the full completion of the building up of the Body. This is our goal, and we must diligently press toward it until we all reach it together.
The stewards struggle for the growth and maturity of the Body of Christ so that no longer any of its members will remain as little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of divisive teaching (4:14). Any teaching, even a scriptural one, that distracts believers from Christ and the church is a wind that carries believers away from God’s central purpose. The waves stirred up by the winds of different teachings (1 Tim. 1:3-4), doctrines, concepts, and opinions are sent by Satan to entice the believers in order to carry them away from Christ and the church. It is difficult for infants in Christ to discern these. The only way to escape from the waves that are stirred up by the winds is to grow in life, and the safe way to grow in life is to stay in the proper church life with Christ and the church as the safeguard.
Unfortunately, millions of Christians remain in childhood. They are little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of divisive teaching. This is the situation of today’s Christianity. On a smaller scale it is also the situation among us, and some, who are still little children, have been carried away into divisions by the winds of dissenting teachings.
The God-men as the myriads of the multiplied reproduction of the Triune God consummate the Body of Christ as His increase (John 3:30) and fullness (Eph. 1:23) to be the corporate enlargement and fullness as the expression of the processed and consummated Triune God (3:19). In relation to the Body of Christ, the God-men are not only the members, the builders, and the stewards but are also the reproduction of the Triune God. As such, they consummate the Body of Christ as His increase and fullness. Eventually, this increase and fullness will become enlarged and will become the enlargement of the processed and consummated Triune God for His eternal expression.
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