«　WEEK 3　DAY 4　»

　　Eph. 2:18 For through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.

　　22 …You also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.

　　The Spirit is for many positive items of the Christian life, but ultimately the Spirit is for the Body. The Spirit is for regeneration, sanctification, transformation, life, power, and so many spiritual items, but all these items are altogether for one issue—the Body….If we miss the Body, we miss everything. If we miss the Body, we miss the mark and the goal of God's economy.

　　The Spirit is for the Body, so 1 Corinthians 12:13 says that in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, and Ephesians 4:4 says, “One Body and one Spirit.” The one Spirit equals the one Body, and the one Body equals the one Spirit. Thus, it is absolutely correct to say that the church is the reprint of the Spirit. “No Spirit, no church. More Spirit, more church.” This is because the church is the reprint of the Spirit. The Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God, and the church is the reprint of the Spirit, the corporate expression of the processed Triune God. (CWWL, 1975-1976, vol. 2, “The Church—the Reprint of the Spirit,” p. 452)

　　If we would have the proper church life, we must drop all ordinances and concentrate on the mingling of the divine Spirit with the human spirit. Only in this mingling can we enjoy the genuine church life.

　　Ordinances are particularly related to religion. Without ordinances, it is impossible to have religion, for religion is composed of ordinances. But Christ does not want a religion. What He wants is the new man. Therefore, He abolished the ordinances on the cross. Some may prefer shouting in the meeting, whereas others prefer silence. But to be either for shouting or for silence is to have an ordinance. We should not be for either one or the other, but for the Spirit. However, according to our nature and upbringing, we are prone to have ordinances of one kind or another. But as long as there are ordinances, we do not have the reality of the church life. The church life does not consist of ordinances, but of the living Spirit.

　　In Ephesians 2:13-22 we see a contrast between ordinances and the Spirit. Christ on the cross abolished the ordinances in order to produce the church. Now that the ordinances have been abolished, the Spirit comes in to replace them. If we have ordinances, we do not have the Spirit. But if we have the Spirit, we shall not have ordinances. The cross abolished the ordinances in order to give place to the Spirit in whom we have access unto the Father. Hence, the Spirit is the replacement of all ordinances. In the meetings we should not have an ordinance regarding shouting or quietness. As long as we are not in the Spirit, anything we do is an ordinance.

　　The church is neither an organization nor a religion, but the Body of Christ produced by the mingling of the divine Spirit with the human spirit. In the meetings we should not have rules and regulations; we should simply care to be in the Spirit. Do not be concerned about the arrangement of the chairs or about whether or not the sisters wear a head covering. To arrange the chairs in a particular way or to wear a head covering may be fine when done in the spirit. But to insist on these things is to make them ordinances. Anything we do in the meetings becomes an ordinance if we are not in the Spirit.

　　When Christ abolished the ordinances, He broke down the middle wall of partition (2:14). Now the separating wall of ordinances no longer exists. When I was young, I was strong in the matter of ordinances. But today I realize that God cares only for the divine Spirit in our human spirit. In 2:18 Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit and in verse 22, of the human spirit. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 581-582)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1975-1976, vol. 2, “The Church—the Reprint of the Spirit,” chs. 1-2