We have seen that the vision in the Bible which governs and controls us is the economy of God. We have also seen the crystallized significances of the various steps of God’s economy. I hope the brothers and sisters will be able to see that our expressions are absolutely different from the traditional expressions used in Christianity. We have been enlightened by the Lord to have the new expressions; we must learn all these new expressions and new utterances. Even when we knock on doors to visit people, we should begin our speaking with God’s economy. Whether one receives it or not, it is up to him; but the speaking is up to us. We should not speak the same old things which people have already heard; we need to speak the crystallized significances of God’s economy. Only these things can thoroughly save people; so we need to learn to speak them.
Now, we would like to see the crystallized significance of the Body of Christ. In the entire Bible, only the apostle Paul spoke concerning the Body of Christ. In Matthew 16 and 18 the Lord Jesus clearly referred to the church, but He only spoke of His Body in a hidden, implied way without explicitly using the expression the Body of Christ. The writers of the other Epistles, including the apostles Peter and John, never used this expression; it was used only by Paul.
Every one of the fourteen Epistles of Paul refers to the church, but only four are concerned with the Body of Christ: Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians. Among them, Ephesians touches the most central, basic, and fundamental matters. Ephesians 1 says that Christ in His ascension poured out the Holy Spirit and thus produced the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all (v. 23). This is a simple definition of the church. Then in chapter four Paul, based on the revelation in the preceding three chapters, exhorts the saints, saying, “I beseech you therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called” (v. 1). The first thing in Paul’s exhortation is the keeping of the oneness of the Spirit (v. 3). Then verses 4 through 6 go on to mention seven items of the oneness of the Spirit. “One Body and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling”—these three items form one group. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism”—these three items form another group. “One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all”—this is the third group. Ephesians 4:4-6 is the crystallized speaking of the apostle Paul concerning the Body of Christ. These three verses show us that the Triune God and we, the redeemed, are mingled into a constitution, and this constitution is the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is a constitution of the Triune God and His redeemed that the Triune God may be constituted with His redeemed as one entity.
Verse 4a says, “One Body and one Spirit.” The Body of Christ takes God’s chosen and redeemed people as its framework and the Spirit as its constituting essence. Just as our body has a framework and also has blood and flesh, so the Body of Christ has its framework and constituting essence. The framework of the Body of Christ is the God-chosen and Christ-redeemed people, with whom the consummated Spirit of the Triune God mingles Himself to constitute the Body of Christ. The believers were chosen by God and redeemed by Christ; this is something known generally by Christians and stressed particularly by the Brethren. However, perhaps even the Brethren did not see anything concerning the Spirit as the constituting essence to be mingled with the believers.
Verse 4b says, “Even as also you were called in one hope of your calling.” Here, hope refers to the transformation of the redeemed. Since the day we were called, we have had the hope that we will be transformed. The Old Testament portrays us as maggots and worms (Job 25:6). Paul also said that he was the foremost among sinners (1 Tim. 1:15b). The Lord has saved us, and what is our hope? Our hope is that we will be transformed! Who will transform us? The Spirit. The Spirit comes first to regenerate us; then He sanctifies us, renews us, transforms us, conforms us to the image of God’s Firstborn, and eventually glorifies us that our body may be saturated with glory, thus shining forth the divine glory. This is our hope. The process from regeneration to glorification is a process of transformation; this transformation is our hope.