John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” According to this verse, the real meaning of regeneration is to be born of the Holy Spirit in our human spirit. Verse 29 of the same chapter says, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom.” Christ is the Bridegroom, the One who has the bride, and the bride is the church of Christ. Then verse 30 says, “He must increase.” He, that is, Christ the Son of God, must increase. In verse 29 we have the bride, and in verse 30 we have the increase. This indicates that the bride of Christ is the increase of Christ. In John 3, therefore, we see the bride, the increase, and the regenerated spirit. If we read this chapter carefully, we will realize that all the reborn, regenerated, believers composed together are the increase of Christ to be a bride, a counterpart, to match Him. The new birth, the bride, and the increase are three main items in this chapter. By the new birth Christ is increased, and this increase is a corporate bride who will marry Christ as His counterpart to match Him.
In John 12:24 the Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” In this verse much fruit refers to the many grains of wheat borne as fruit by the one grain of wheat. One grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, and when it grows up, it bears many grains. Originally, it was one grain, but after it dies and is resurrected, it becomes many grains. The one original grain is the Lord Jesus Himself, and the many grains are we, the Lord’s believers, who are the increase of the one grain. After dying and resurrecting, one grain becomes many grains. Thus, the one grain has been increased. The many grains are the increase of the original grain.
Ephesians 2:15 says, “That He might create the two in Himself into one new man.” The two refers to the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers. Christ created the Jews and the Gentiles in Himself into one new man. The next verse tells us what the one new man is: “And might reconcile both [the Jews and the Gentiles] in one Body to God through the cross” (v. 16a). According to this verse the one new man is the one Body, the church. Many Christians have a wrong concept, thinking that the new man here is not one but many. However, there is only one new man in the whole universe, and this new man is not an individual man but a corporate man composed of all the believers together as one. Because this one new man is the Body of Christ, the church, each believer is only a part, a member, of the unique new man. Thus, according to this passage the church, which is the Body of Christ, is a new man.
Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “Put off...the old man...and...be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man.” If we remember what the new man in chapter 2 is, we can understand the right meaning of putting on the new man in these verses. Since the new man is the Body, the church, to put on the new man is to put on the Body of Christ, to put on the church as our living, to practice the church life. To put on the new man is not merely to put on something new of Christ. If we read the book of Ephesians carefully from chapter 1 through chapter 4, we will know that to put on the new man simply means to put on the Body of Christ, to put on the church as our living.
In order to have the church life, that is, to put on the Body of Christ, the new man, we need to put off the old man. The secret to putting off the old man and putting on the new man is to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. How much we put off the old man and put on the new man depends on how much we have been transformed by being renewed in the spirit of our mind (Rom. 12:2).
Colossians 3:9b-11 says, “You have put off the old man...and have put on the new man,...where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.” In the new man there is nothing but Christ. There is no Greek or Jew, no circumcision or uncircumcision, no barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free man, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, strictly speaking, the new man is Christ Himself. The Body of Christ, the church, is Christ Himself. This corresponds with 1 Corinthians 12:12, which says, “For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.” This verse, using the human body to typify the mystical Body of Christ, indicates that Christ is the Body.
In the previous chapter we covered the first aspect of the realization of the eternal purpose of God. To realize the eternal purpose of God, we need to know Christ as our life. God’s eternal purpose is to work Christ into us, to have Christ wrought into us, and to make Christ life to us. The first aspect is for the second aspect. If we experience Christ as life, automatically we will have the church life; we will realize the life of the Body of Christ, the church. The more we experience Christ as life, the more we will desire to be related with other believers. If we love the world or live in sin, we will have no desire to see the believers or fellowship with the brothers and sisters. But the more we live by Christ, take Christ as our life, and experience Christ as life, the more we will desire to have fellowship with the brothers and sisters and to be related with other Christians. Therefore, the more we take Christ as our life, the more we will have the church life.
The church is not an organization. The church is the realization of Christ as life to us. If you do not live in Christ, and if I do not take Christ as my life, we may come together to form a church based on certain conditions and terms, and we may hold a conference to elect some leaders. However, the result will not be a church but a human, religious organization. A genuine church is Christ Himself realized and experienced by His believers. The more we experience Christ, the more we long to be related to others, and the more we live by Christ, the more we desire to be built up together with others. If everyone lives by Christ, there will be a common desire to be related to one another. We will come together in the name of the Lord and in the Lord Himself to have Christ as our center and as everything to us. Then we will have a new church as the realization of Christ. This church will be Christ Himself mingled with a group of believers as one. It will be an organism constituted of Christ and those who experience Christ as their life. In this way the church will be just Christ Himself.
The church comes into being by regeneration. One day the Holy Spirit entered into us, bringing Christ into us to regenerate us. This means that Christ was born once more, in us. Whenever a sinner receives Christ as his Savior, the Holy Spirit brings Christ into this person to be born once more, in him. In regeneration, not only are we born again, but Christ also is born once more, within us. From that day forward there is something of Christ in us. Hence, there is something of Christ in every regenerated person. This is sufficient for the new birth, for regeneration, but it is not sufficient for the church to come into existence. To have the church in reality, every regenerated one must deny himself, reject the old man, and live out Christ, allowing Christ to be expressed through him. Then the reality of the church will come into being.
Therefore, the church is Christ born within us and expressed through us. If Christ were to come down from heaven and stand among us, this Christ would not be the church. Only the Christ who enters into us and is born in us to be our life, only the Christ who lives Himself out and expresses Himself through us—only this Christ is the reality of the church. The church is Christ born into us and lived out and expressed through us.