The church is not an organization but an organism, a body—the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18). As such, the church has the divine life. Although the church has the divine life, the life of the church must be healthy. For example, it is not enough for our physical body to simply have life. Many people have life in their body, but their body has lost its health and is sick. In addition to having life in our body, we need the life in our body to be healthy. Our physical body is a picture of the church, the Body of Christ. The way for the life of the church to be healthy is for the church to be filled with the experience of Christ as life. Without the experience of the life of Christ, the church has no health or reality. The reality of the church is the life of Christ; the life of the church is Christ as life (Col. 3:4).
We can never overstress the fact that the reality of the church is Christ Himself as life to every member of the Body. However, if we study the situation of Christianity, we will find that although this truth is so critical, it has been almost entirely ignored. I have studied church history and have read a number of biographies of believers from the past centuries. In addition, I was born among Christians and was brought up and educated in Christianity. I have learned much concerning the Scriptures from other Christians, and I have visited Christians in China and in many countries outside of China. Through all of this I have discovered that it is very difficult to find anyone ministering on the matter of Christ being life to us. In many places you will find groups of Christians who meet on the Lord’s Day, and among these Christians there will be some who minister the Word and give messages. However, although one may be able to hear many messages, it would be very difficult to find one message on the subject of Christ as life. There would likely be a great amount of teaching, doctrine, and knowledge but very little concerning knowing Christ as life in a practical way.
If you visit the churches in the fundamentalist movement, you will discover that they are for the most part fundamental in knowledge but not in life. If they were fundamental in life, they would be more living. With life there is always an impact. This is true with all forms of life. The Lord said in John 12:24 that when a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it grows up and bears much fruit. Fruit-bearing is the impact of life. However, if you visit the fundamentalist churches in the United States, there is for the most part no fruit and no impact. From this we can conclude that these churches are fundamental in their teachings but not in the experience of life.
Many dear believers in the United States have the Scofield Reference Bible in their hands. I am not against the use of this Bible. In fact, when I was young I took a correspondence course with the Moody Bible Institute that used the Scofield Reference Bible, and I received much help from it. This Bible has greatly helped some to know the Scriptures. However, for most of them this knowledge has not resulted in the real experience of Christ in their daily life. They have used this Bible to acquire knowledge with their minds, but they have remained on the line of knowledge. As a result, most of the believers in this country are very weak.
Whereas the believers in the fundamental churches are focused on knowledge, those in the Pentecostal movement are preoccupied with something other than knowledge. They are focused on power and release, but these things are not life. Thus, their experience of life is also very limited. Their mistake is that they confuse power with life.
We should never neglect the history of Christianity, because this history contains the facts. We need to study this history and observe the present situation in an objective way. We should not be too subjective in studying and observing the present situation. If we visit the Assemblies of God or other branches of the Pentecostal movement, we will realize that although they have much release, they have very little life. They have much power but very little reality of Christ as life. We need to face this fact.