The Body of Christ, which is the Body of this universal man, is the increase of Christ. The Body of Christ is simply the enlargement of Christ, Christ increased. In Genesis 2, after Adam had been created, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper as his counterpart” (v. 18). Then God brought all the animals and birds before him. As each of the living things created by God were brought before Adam, he looked at them and gave each one a proper name. He did not, however, find a counterpart among them. Then God put Adam to sleep, opened up his side, took a rib out of him, and made a woman for him. With the little piece that God took out of Adam, He made a bride, a wife for Adam and declared that this wife would be one flesh, one body, with Adam. When Adam awoke, he said, “This time this is bone of my bones / And flesh of my flesh; / This one shall be called Woman / Because out of Man this one was taken” (v. 23). Then the two became one. Originally there was just one bachelor. Eventually there was a couple—Adam and Eve. What was Eve? As Adam’s wife, she was the fullness of her husband. Eve was something taken out of Adam and was the same as Adam. She was the increase of Adam. In the same way, the church is the increase of Christ. The church is something that has come out of Christ. In fact, the church is exactly the same as Christ—nothing more, nothing less, and nothing different.
I once attended a meeting in my native city. While we were in that meeting, fellowshipping in a free way, an elderly brother came into the meeting. When he entered, another brother said, “Brother So-and-so just came in.” When he said this, the elderly brother answered, “No, just half came in.” When he said this, everyone wondered what he meant. Then his wife came into the meeting, and he said, “Now the other half is here.” This is a picture of Christ and the church.
Our physical body is another illustration of the relationship between Christ and the church. Today experts are able to make artificial limbs for people who have lost an arm or a leg. However, is an artificial limb a real member of a person’s body? It is not, because it is not something that comes out of the person but has been added. It is something foreign to the body. An artificial limb does not grow out of a person’s body but is something that is fitted on. As a result, it is not the same as the person who wears it. A genuine part of the body has blood flowing to it, but an artificial part does not. My nose, arms, and ears are exactly the same as I am. The blood in all of my members is the same as the blood that is in me. In fact, it is not only the same as my blood, it is my blood. These physical illustrations should help us to realize what the church is to Christ. The church is the Body of Christ, the increase of Christ. The church is something that has come out of Christ and is exactly the same as Christ is.
In these days many dear children of God have been enlightened by the Lord and are seeking the church life, the real expression of the Body of Christ. Thus, we should consider, what is the real church life? Some people would say that we have the real church life when everyone is humble, gentle, and meek. This, however, is not the church life. In China and India there are quite a number of people who live together. They love each other and are so humble and meek, and as a result, their living is very attractive to others. You would be surprised at how nice they are to each other. However, they do not know God and they do not know Christ. Some of them even worship idols and images. Is this the church life? It is no doubt that the genuine church life is full of love, humility, gentleness, and meekness, but the genuine church life is more than simply loving each other. The real church life is the life of Christ; the real church life is Christ Himself. All the humility, gentleness, and meekness in the church life must be the manifestation of Christ. It is not enough merely to have humility, gentleness, and meekness; we must have the manifestation of Christ.
How then can we tell the difference between Christ as meekness and meekness that is apart from Christ? Allow me to illustrate. In 1947 I returned from Shanghai to Nanking. When I arrived there, the responsible brothers came to the station to meet me. On the way from the station to the meeting hall they said, “Oh, Brother Lee, there is a sister among us who came from such and such a place who is very spiritual.” The brothers did not realize it, but I already knew this sister. Before she had come to Nanking, she had gone to Shanghai and had stayed there for a few days. After the brothers finished telling me about this sister, I asked them what they meant when they said that she was so spiritual. They replied, “We have never seen a person who is as meek and gentle as she is.” Because these brothers were very good brothers and I was very familiar with them, we could talk frankly and freely, so I said, “Brothers, if this is the sign of spirituality, then the statue of Mary in front of the Catholic church is more spiritual than this sister. Look at that statue. How meek and gentle it is. This statue will never become angry with you. Regardless of what you do to it, it will continue to smile.”
When a person has Christ as his meekness, his main characteristic is not meekness or gentleness but Christ. He is meek and gentle, but neither of these is his main characteristic. His main characteristic is Christ. When you meet him, you sense the fragrance of Christ. This is not the case with those whose meekness is not Christ as meekness. Furthermore, those whose meekness is not Christ will always be conscious of their meekness. They may have an outward expression of meekness, but inwardly they are saying, “Look at how meek I am.” When you have this kind of meekness, gentleness, and love, it is you who are meek, gentle, and loving, not Christ; Christ has not become meekness to you. If Christ is meekness within you, you will be very meek, but you will have no consciousness that you are being meek. If you were to hear others saying of you, “This person is so meek,” you would think that they were speaking of someone else. You will have no sense that you are meek. In the same way, when Christ is love to you and you love others through this love, you will not feel that you are a person who loves others. You will simply love them without feeling or sensing that you are doing so. When you feel that you are loving others, this is not Christ; it is you. When Moses’ face was shining, others saw this, but he did not. When Christ is truly manifested through us as meekness, gentleness, or love, we will not be conscious of this. In addition, our main characteristic will not be any of these things but will be Christ Himself.
We have to realize that it is one thing to be good or gentle and another thing to live out Christ. The church life is not a life of goodness, meekness, gentleness, or love; the church life is a life of living out Christ. The members of the Body of Christ are not members of love but of Christ Himself. We are not simply filled with love; we are filled with Christ as love. There is a big difference. To express love itself is something of our natural man, but to express Christ as love is something of the spiritual new man, which is the increase and enlargement of Christ. This is the real church life.