THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Body of Christ
Message Two
The Crystallized Significance of the Body of Christ
Scriptures Reading: Eph. 4:4-6; 1:23; Rev. 21:2; 22:17
I. The goal of God's eternal economy is to create, to constitute, and to produce a Body for Christ; Christ is to gain this Body, which is a part of Himself, as His counterpart, His bride, ultimately becoming the New Jerusalem—Eph. 1:23; Rev. 21:2; 22:17: (1997 ST, msg. 10)
A. The all-inclusive and the all-extensive Christ (the One who fills all in all) needs a Body as His counterpart for His expression—Eph. 1:23; 5:23. (1997 ST, msg. 10)
B. The Body of Christ, as the organism of the Triune God in His move, is the accomplishment of God's economy according to the good pleasure of His will—1:5, 9, 11. (1997 ST, msg. 10)
C. The Body of Christ, a constitution of the processed and consummated Triune God with the regenerated and transformed tripartite men, is the issue of the dispensing of the Triune God and of the transfusing of the ascended Christ and the consummation of the ministering of the riches of Christ—4:4-6. (1997 ST, msg. 10)
II. Ephesians 4:4-6 is the crystallized speaking of the apostle Paul concerning the Body of Christ: (2002 ITERO-Spring, msg. 2)
A. The Triune God and His chosen and redeemed people are constituted into one organic entity, which is the Body of Christ; this is the crystallized significance of the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:3-4a. (2002 ITERO-Spring, msg. 2)
B. The intrinsic constitution of the Body of Christ is the union, mingling, and incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God with a group of tripartite men whom He has redeemed judicially and saved organically—vv. 4-6; Rom. 5:10: (2001 WT, msg. 7)
1. The believers who are redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, renewed, and transformed by God are this divine-human constitution's outward framework. (2001 WT, msg. 7)
2. The processed and consummated Triune God is this divine-human constitution's inward source, element, and essence—vv. 4-6: (2001 WT, msg. 7)
a. The Father of the Triune God is the source of the inward element—v. 6. (2001 WT, msg. 7)
b. The Son of the Triune God is the inward element itself—v. 5. (2001 WT, msg. 7)
c. The Spirit of the Triune God is the essence of the inward element—v. 4. (2001 WT, msg. 7)
d. All three are dispensed, transfused, and built into God's redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, renewed, and transformed believers. (2001 WT, msg. 7)
e. These believers and the redeeming and transforming Triune God are constituted into one entity as the organic Body of Christ, being God yet man and man yet God—vv. 3-4a. (2001 WT, msg. 7)
f. These four—the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and man—blended and built together become the Body of Christ. (2001 WT, msg. 7)
B. The Spirit as the essence of the Triune God is the essence of the Body of Christ—v. 4: (2001 WT, msg. 7)
1. The essence of the Body of Christ, containing the divinity of the Triune God, has the capacity to supply the divine life—Phil. 1:19. (2001 WT, msg. 7)
2. The essence of the Body of Christ, containing the excelling humanity of Jesus, has the capacity to supply this excelling humanity—Acts 16:7. (2001 WT, msg. 7)
3. The essence of the Body of Christ, containing the all-inclusive death of Christ, has the capacity to put to death the negative things—Rom. 8:13b. (2001 WT, msg. 7)
4. The essence of the Body of Christ, containing the surpassing resurrection of Christ, has the surpassing capacity of resurrection—Phil. 3:10. (2001 WT, msg. 7)
C. "The essential, crystallized significance of the Body of Christ is that the Triune God is constituted with His chosen and redeemed people to become a constitution, a constituted entity. Unless we see this crystallized, essential significance of the Body of Christ, there will be no way to carry out what we are trying to do in the church today. If we see this essential significance, there will be no problem whatever." (The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible, pp. 28-29). (2002 ITERO-Spring, msg. 2)
III. The reality of the Body of Christ is, the corporate living by the perfected God-men, who are genuine men but are not living by their life, but by the life of the processed God, whose attributes have been expressed through their virtues—Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:10; 1:19-21a; Rom. 8:4: (1997 ST, msg. 10)
A. It is a corporate living of the conformity to the death of Christ through the power of the resurrection of Christ—Phil. 3:10; Eph. 1:19; John 6:57. (1997 ST, msg. 10)
B. It is also the mingling living, in the eternal union, of the regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite God-men with the Triune God in the resurrection of Christ—1 Cor. 15:10; Eph. 2:6. (1997 ST, msg. 10)
IV. The Body of Christ is built with Christ’s life as its element, the Spirit of reality as its essence, and the person of God as its source—Eph. 4:4-6: (1997 ST, msg. 10)
A. The Body of Christ is built up by the perfected saints who are perfected by the gifted members—vv. 11-12. (1997 ST, msg. 10)
B. The Body of Christ is built up with the mature believers as its constituents through their growth in the life of Christ unto maturity—vv. 15-16. (1997 ST, msg. 10)
C. The Body of Christ is built by itself in love—v. 16. (1997 ST, msg. 10)
V. God has blended the Body together; the local churches, though necessary for practicality, are not the goal of God's economy but the procedure to reach that goal, which is the unique Body of Christ—1 Cor. 12:2; Eph. 1:23; 1:9-10; Rev. 21:2, 10: (1997 ST, msg. 10)
A. The Lord blended the seven churches in Asia by writing them one epistle composed of seven epistles to each of them respectively—chs. 1—3. (1997 ST, msg. 10)
B. Such a blending is not social but the blending of the very Christ whom the individual members, the district churches, the co-workers, and the elders enjoy, experience, and partake of—Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12, 27. (1997 ST, msg. 10)
C. This blending is for the building up of the universal Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem as the final goal of God's economy according to His good pleasure—Eph. 1:23; Rev. 21:2; Eph. 1:9-10. (1997 ST, msg. 10)
VI. The Body of Christ is an organic building of the God-men who are perfected in life as the representatives of a local church, as Zion within Jerusalem, which will consummate the New Jerusalem in the millennial kingdom; this consummation will become the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth as God’s increase and expression for eternity—Eph. 1:23; Rev. 20:6; 21:2, 10. (1997 ST, msg. 10)