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We need to follow in the apostle’s footsteps to bring all the saints into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ; the apostle brought us into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ by recommendations and greetings in order that the God of peace may crush Satan under our feet, and we may enjoy the rich grace of Christ—Rom. 16:1-16, 21-23, 20:
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The purpose of the blending is to usher us all into the reality of the Body of Christ; we need to be in the local churches as the procedure to be brought into the reality of the Body of Christ as the goal.
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The highest peak of the Lord’s recovery that can really, practically, and actually carry out God’s economy is for God to produce not many local churches in a physical way but an organic Body to be His organism.
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Paul’s thought of the church being one bread (1 Cor. 10:17) was not his own invention; rather, it was taken from the Old Testament with the meal offering (Lev. 2:4); every part of the flour of the meal offering was mingled with the oil—that is the blending.
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Hardly anyone speaks about blending because this is not only very high and deep but also very mysterious; it is not a physical matter; the significance of our blending is the reality of the Body of Christ.
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The blending is for the building up of the universal Body of Christ (Eph. 1:23) to consummate the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2) as the final goal of God’s economy according to His good pleasure (Eph. 3:8-10; 1:9-10).
Morning Nourishment
Rom. 16:1 I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a deaconess of the church which is in Cenchrea.16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
20 Now the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
The last three chapters of Romans show that we need to reign in life particularly in two crucial matters. The first matter is in imitating the apostle to bring the local churches into the fellowship of the Body of Christ (14:3; 15:7-9, 25-33); the second matter is in following in the apostle’s footsteps to bring all the saints into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ (ch. 16).
The last three chapters of Romans show the blending and fellowship of the Body life brought forth through the apostle’s receiving according to God and Christ; such an explanation was not seen by the Bible expositors throughout the generations. Romans 16 gives us an excellent pattern of the apostle in bringing all the saints into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ. It is in such a life that we can truly reign in life. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Experience of God’s Organic Salvation Equaling Reigning in Christ’s Life,” pp. 513, 515)
Today’s Reading
We must follow in the footsteps of the apostle. He brought us into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ by recommendations and greetings in order that the God of peace may crush Satan under our feet and we may enjoy the rich grace of Christ (Rom. 16:1-16, 21-24, 20). In Romans 16 the apostle Paul greeted the saints one by one, mentioning at least twenty-seven names…. Moreover, he greeted the saints generally. This shows that he had a considerable amount of knowledge, understanding, and care with regard to every one of them. Such recommendations and greetings show both the mutual concern among the saints and the mutual fellowship among the churches. It is by the churches’ fellowship in the Body that the God of peace will crush Satan under our feet and we will be able to enjoy the rich grace of Christ. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Experience of God’s Organic Salvation Equaling Reigning in Christ’s Life,” p. 516)According to Ephesians 1:22-23, the goal of God’s economy is the church, which is Christ’s Body. The highest peak of the Lord’s recovery that can really, practically, and actually carry out God’s economy is for God to produce not many local churches in a physical way but an organic Body to be His organism. We all have a physical body, but our body actually is not the reality of our being…. Likewise, the churches set up around the globe are a physical frame, but among the churches there may be no reality of the Body of Christ.
The thought of blending is very strong in the Bible. In the Old Testament there is a type of the blending for the fulfillment of God’s economy…. This type of the blending is strongly referred to by the apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 10:17 Paul says, “Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread.” Paul’s thought of the church being one bread was not his own invention; rather, it was taken from the Old Testament. The meal offering in Leviticus 2:4 consisted of cakes made of fine flour mingled with oil…. That is blending. Paul tells us that the church is a bread, a cake, made of fine flour. This fine flour comes from wheat grains, and the wheat grains come from the one grain of wheat, which is Christ [John 12:24]…. We are the many grains so that we may be ground into fine flour for making the cake, the bread, of the church.
The truth of blending is in the holy Word, [but] hardly anyone speaks about blending because this is not only very high and deep but also very mysterious. It is not a physical matter. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “The Practical Points concerning Blending,” pp. 103-104, 111-112, 116)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Problems Causing the Turmoils in the Church Life,” chs. 3-4