If we did not have the ministry of Paul, we would not know God’s eternal purpose or His economy. Although Peter was a leading apostle, he does not tell us anything about the Body of Christ. The highest word in Peter’s writings concerns the partaking of the divine nature: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). In Paul’s writings many terms are used to show that Christ is all-inclusive and extensive, that He is the life-giving Spirit, that He is everything in God’s economy and everything to us. In his Epistles Paul also reveals that the church is the Body of Christ, the fullness of Christ, the dwelling place of Christ, the bride of Christ, and even the new man. Furthermore, in his ministry Paul tells us that we are in Christ, that Christ is in us, and that we are joined to Christ as one spirit. In Paul’s ministry, the completing ministry, there is a central vision. This is the vision that Christ, the ultimate expression of God, has become the life-giving Spirit so that He may impart Himself into us as our life to make us living members of His Body to express Him organically. This is the central vision of Paul’s completing ministry. Paul is the only one to make this tremendous matter clear to us.
The Lord’s recovery today is the recovery of the central vision of Paul’s completing ministry. The primary goal of the Lord today is not the recovery of doctrinal truths. During the past centuries, the Lord has recovered many truths. For example, the truth of baptism by immersion has been recovered. According to the Bible, baptism must be by immersion. However, this is not the central goal of God’s economy, and neither is it an aspect of Paul’s completing ministry. In fact, in 1:17 Paul declares, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in wisdom of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void.” Paul was sent not to baptize people in a formal way, but to preach the gospel, ministering Christ to others for the producing of the church as an expression of Christ. Nevertheless, certain believers treasure the truth of baptism by immersion and even take it as the basis to form the Baptist denomination.
Other doctrinal matters have been recovered which also are not elements of the central vision of Paul’s ministry. For example, the truths regarding presbytery, divine healing, and holiness are according to the Scriptures, but they are not the focus of the Lord’s recovery today. In His recovery the Lord is seeking to recover the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit who imparts Himself into the believers and makes them His living Body. In other words, the center of the Lord’s recovery today is Christ and the church.
Whenever people come to me with the intention of arguing about doctrine or practices, I do not have the heart to say much. Some have tried to dispute with us about baptism or head covering. Regarding the sisters’ head covering, some have inquired, “Why do so many of the sisters in your meetings not wear a head covering? Don’t you know and believe what Paul says about this in 1 Corinthians 11?” To this I have replied that we certainly know and believe what Paul says about head covering. Furthermore, we do practice this matter according to the Bible. However, we do not force any sister to wear a head covering. Yes, we practice this truth, but not in a formal, legal way, as is done in some Christian groups. We realize that today what the Lord is seeking to recover is not head covering or any other doctrine or practice as a central thing. Rather, the Lord is recovering Christ as life and everything to us and the church as His Body, His fullness. We agree that immersion and head covering are aspects of the recovery, but neither of these things is the center. To repeat, the center of the Lord’s recovery is Christ and the church: Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the expression of Christ. This is what God is seeking today, and it is crucial that we all see it.
If we would fulfill the Lord’s desire to have the proper church life on earth as His expression and as a preparation for His coming back, we must exercise our spirit to know the things of man, and we must also trust in the indwelling Spirit to know the things of God. Then we shall know that what God wants is not speaking in tongues, healing, or miraculous gifts. The Lord has recovered these matters, but they are not the center or the goal of His recovery. What the Lord wants is not tongues-speaking, healing, or the lengthening of legs; He wants a church composed of believers who are filled, saturated, and infused with Himself to be His Body for His expression. For this, we need the real experience of the indwelling Spirit, not merely the outward gifts of the Spirit.
God wants us to realize that the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—has passed through a process involving incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. By crucifixion, Jesus Christ terminated the old creation. By resurrection, He germinated us in the new creation. By ascension, He was glorified, exalted, enthroned, appointed Lord, and commissioned with the divine government. Following this, He came down upon the church as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Today, as this Spirit, He is waiting for people to receive Him by believing in Him. As soon as a person calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, Christ will immediately come into him, regenerate his spirit, indwell his spirit, and mingle Himself with his regenerated spirit to cause him to become truly one with Him. Then this new believer must come to know his spirit and also the life-giving Spirit, the ultimate expression of the Triune God, that he may be transformed and built up with others to be the Body, the organism to express the Triune God for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. This is God’s goal, the center of His recovery today.
We in the Lord’s recovery, therefore, should not care for insignificant things or be distracted by doctrines or practices. We should care only to become a living testimony by having the Triune God dispensed into us to make us members of His organic Body to express Him.
We do not expect that the majority of Christians will see this vision or take this way. But we do believe that it is of the Lord that a minority of His chosen people, who love Him and seek Him, will be brought into this central vision that they may grow in life and be transformed by the Spirit to become parts of the living Body of Christ. Eventually, this living Body will become Christ’s loving bride, who will prepare the way for His coming back.
In the first two chapters of 1 Corinthians Paul paves the way for us to see the central vision of His completing ministry. In these chapters Paul helps us to see the position, condition, situation, and destiny of the believers. If we are clear about these matters, we shall drop all natural things— our philosophy, wisdom, and culture. We shall not care for our attainments, but only for our position in Christ and our condition, situation, and destiny in Him. We shall also care for the genuine experience of the Triune God and for the enjoyment of Christ, the Son of God. By the Spirit in our spirit we shall know God and all the things of God, which are actually Christ Himself. We shall see that God’s power, and even His weakness, is Christ. When Christ was crucified, He became weak. If He had not become such a weak One, how could He have been arrested, tried, and put to death? Christ purposely became weak, but His weakness is powerful. Now Christ today is our power and wisdom from God. Furthermore, He is our daily righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We may even know Him as the depths of God. In this way we know all the things of God.
By our spirit we know the things of man, and by God’s Spirit we know the things of God. As a result, we can live in Christ, with Christ, by Christ, and for Christ. Then He will have the proper church life as His organic Body to express Him.
What a mercy that we can see this vision! What a grace and what a wonder that we may be brought into the realization of this vision! We are burdened that all the saints in the Lord’s recovery will see the same vision and then speak the same thing, having the same mind with the same opinion. Actually, Christ is our mind, opinion, and speaking. The same speaking, the same mind, and the same opinion are nothing less than our dear Christ Himself. Truly He is everything to us. How precious is the revelation in these first two chapters of 1 Corinthians!