In 2:22 we see that the church is God’s dwelling place. God’s Spirit dwells in our spirit. Therefore, the dwelling place of God is in our spirit.
Finally, in chapter six we see that the church is a warrior to defeat God’s enemy, the Devil. In order to fight the spiritual warfare, we need both the power of the Lord and also the whole armor of God. The church is a corporate warrior, and the believers are parts of this unique warrior. We must fight the spiritual warfare in the Body, not individually.
In his subtlety, Satan will allow Christians to do things that are scriptural and spiritual, as long as they do not have the Body or the new man. Most Christians do not even realize that the church is the new man, a corporate man. They may speak a little regarding the church as the Bride of Christ or as God’s family, but they have no concept that the church is God’s present kingdom or God’s dwelling place.
Can you find these seven aspects of the church in Christianity? Concerning the church, Christianity has missed the mark. We in the Lord’s recovery are not here for soul-winning, for Bible study, or for spirituality. We are here for the expression of the Body on earth. We are also here to be the new man and the Bride.
At present, Christ is preparing us to be His Bride. One day the wedding will come. That will be the fulfillment of Revelation 19. As we are preparing for that day, we are the church in the aspects of the family, the kingdom, the dwelling place, and the warrior. Praise the Lord that we are His family! When we came into the church life, we had the sense that we had come home. Furthermore, the church is God’s kingdom, for here we are under God’s authority. Moreover, as God’s warrior we are fighting against His enemy. We are here for the Body, the new man, the Bride, the family, the kingdom, and the warrior.
As the Body, the church needs life. Without life, our physical body would become a corpse. The same is true of the Body of Christ.
Some opposers argue that the Body is just a symbol, a figure, not a divine reality. It is utterly wrong to say that the Body of Christ is merely a symbol. Our body is a symbol and a figure, but the Body of Christ is a reality, for our body symbolizes Christ’s Body. To say that the Body of Christ is merely a symbol indicates a lack of a proper understanding of the church. Those who hold this view do not see that the church is actually the Body of Christ. Surely Christ is real. How can such a real One be expressed through a symbolic Body? How ridiculous! In order for Christ to be expressed, He must have a real and living Body.
We do not express Christ by endeavoring to correct or improve ourselves. Through such efforts we can express only our own character. If we would express Christ, we need the life of Christ. We need Christ as the living Spirit to live Himself out from within us. This is not outward correction or improvement; it is the experience of Christ as our inner life. Christ is the life-giving Spirit living within us and lived out from within us. This makes us His Body for His expression. What we express as the Body of Christ is not our character, but Christ Himself as life.
As the new man, the church needs not only life, but also Christ as the person. A tree has only life, not a person. But a man must have a person as well as life. The church not only possesses Christ as life, but also holds Christ as the person. Hence, today the Lord Jesus is not only the life of the church, but also the person of the church. In order to have the church life, we all must take Christ as our person. But if we each hold to our own person, we shall be through with the church life.
Colossians 3:10 and 11 reveal that in the new man “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” This indicates that in the new man there is just one person—Christ. There is no room for Chinese, Japanese, American, British, German, or any other nationality. This should not be a mere doctrine, but should be our practical experience in the spirit. As a part of the new man, we all have Christ as our person. We need to pray, “Lord, make this real to us. We cannot be satisfied with knowledge or with the doctrine that the church is the new man with Christ as the person. We want this to be experienced in our daily life. O Lord, help us to take You as our person.” If we do this, the church will be truly one, and the enemy will be subdued. Whoever comes into the meetings of the church will see a number of people who take Christ as their person. How marvelous!