The church as the Body comes out of Christ. In the Bible God uses the type of the building of Eve in Genesis 2:21-24 as a clear and definite illustration of how the church as the Body of Christ, the fullness of Christ, in Ephesians 1:22-23 is brought forth in 5:30-32. These verses show that Adam and Eve are a type of the relationship between Christ and the church. Just as Eve came out of Adam, the church also comes out of Christ. Just as Adam and Eve are one flesh, Christ and the church are also one. Although Eve came out of Adam, she was not separate from Adam. She belonged to Adam, because she was a part of Adam. This also applies to Christ and the church.
Today people have a poor view of the church. They think that the church is merely an organization or an association for a multitude of people. This concept is absolutely wrong. We need to see that the church is something that came out of Christ. When God wanted to build a counterpart for Adam, He opened Adam’s side, took out a rib, and formed Eve. Hence, Eve came out of Adam. Likewise, when the Lord was nailed to the cross, His side was also opened and out came blood and water (John 19:34). Blood is for redemption; water is for life-impartation. The life that the Lord released and imparted into us produces the church.
As believers, we all have Christ within us. If we do not have Christ within us, then we do not belong to Christ, and we are not saved. Since we are saved, we all have Christ within us. The church is the Christ within you and me. When the Christ within you, the Christ within me, and the Christ within others is added together, that is, when the Christ within all who belong to Him is added together, this equals the church. The church is the new man, and in this new man there cannot be Greek, Jew, or any other kind of people (Col. 3:10-11). In the church as the new man, there is only Christ. The church is not you plus me plus others; the church is the Christ within you plus the Christ within me plus the Christ within others. This is the church.
We cannot bring our natural man into the church because there is neither you nor I in the church. In the church there is neither Chinese nor Japanese. In the church there is only Christ. In the Chinese Union Version of the Bible, Colossians 3:11 says, “There is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man.” However, the original text does not say “no distinction”; rather, it says, “there cannot be.” In the church there cannot be this or that; there can be only Christ.
If the new believers have such a realization of the church, the following subjects on the ground of the church and the way of the church will be easily understood. People are not clear about the ground and the way of the church because the things of man have been mixed with the church. Through the cross of Christ, we must eliminate the things of man. A brother rightly said that though the cross looks like the mathematical sign of addition, the work done by the cross for the church on the believers is always one of subtraction. The cross eliminates man’s old creation so that it has no place in the church. If the element of Adam was put off from the saints and only the element of Christ within them was present, the result we would see would be the church. Hence, the church is only that which comes out of Christ.
Although the church comes out of Christ, the church and Christ are not separate. Just as Eve came out of Adam, returned back to him, and became one flesh with him, so is the church in relation to Christ (Eph. 5:31-32). We should never consider that after coming out of Christ, the church is separate from Christ. No, we are still one. Christ and the church are one. Even though this is incomprehensible to man, if we have God’s revelation, we will realize that this is true.
The church comes out of Christ and returns to Christ; hence, Christ and the church are one. Any condition, action, or work in the church that is apart from Christ is not the church. Whenever we touch the church, we need to test it by asking whether Christ is in it. Is it something out of Christ? Is it something in Christ? Is it something joined to Christ? This is a serious test. If a church cannot pass this test, it is not the church, not the Body of Christ, but it is merely an organization in Christianity. As the Body of Christ, the church comes absolutely out of Christ and also returns to Christ, being joined to Him as one and becoming one entity with Him.
First Corinthians 12:12 clearly speaks of the church as the Body of Christ; however, it does not say that this Body is the church but that this Body is Christ. Actually, the church is the enlargement of Christ. Christ enlarged is the church. Therefore, the church is Christ. A proper determination of the ground of the church and the way of the church must be based on this understanding.
The church on the earth today is Christ Himself. This is a sobering matter. If a person has this light and this vision, do you think that he will still bring elements other than Christ into the church? Absolutely not! A person who has this vision touches the cross whenever he touches the matter of the church and the things concerning the church. The cross separates the things belonging to Adam from the things belonging to Christ and the things that are of Adam from the things that are of Christ. The cross keeps the things that are of Adam and all things that belong to Adam apart from the church, allowing only the things that are of Christ and the things that belong to Christ into the church. As a result, everything of the church is just Christ Himself.
If we have this light, we cannot acknowledge that the Catholic Church is the church, and neither can we acknowledge that the Protestant denominations are the church. No denomination is the church; rather, they are Christian organizations or religious groups. Although there may be some who belong to Christ in these denominations, these denominations, groups, or organizations do not belong to Christ. These are of man and of the world.
We did not leave the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, or any of the other denominations in Christianity simply because they were unscriptural, but because they were not of Christ. I can testify that when I left the denominations thirty years ago, my feeling was simply that there were errors among them. However, after seven or eight years I saw that even if there were no errors in the denominations, I would still leave because their ground was wrong. Their sectarian ground was the ground of division. Slowly, after a few more years, I saw that the Protestant denominations were not only wrong related to their ground, but their organizations were not of Christ and did not have Christ. Yes, there were some among them who were saved, and these saved ones had Christ in them. However, there was no Christ within these denominations. Christ had no ground in these denominations. The organization of these denominations was full of man’s arrangements and worldly things. Hence, around 1935 we frequently said that we left the denominations, the sects, of organized Christianity not only because they were not according to the truth but also because there was no Christ in them. They were not the Body of Christ, not the organism of Christ, but mere organizations.
We need to see that the church is Christ Himself and that it is also the Body of Christ, an organism of Christ. In the church we can neither depend on organization, arrangement, nor on methods and regulations. Rather, we depend only on the living Christ. If a condition in the church prevents us from being spiritual and manifesting our spiritual function, that church is wrong and is degraded. In the church there should be opportunities for us to manifest our spiritual measure and function. Even though there should be coordination, there should not be any restriction. The Holy Spirit must have absolute freedom, and the saints must be able to manifest their spiritual condition and function. Such a situation proves that the church is an organism, not an organization. This organism is the Body of Christ and also Christ Himself.