Outline

«　WEEK 3　DAY 4　»

　　1 Cor. 12:18-20 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He willed. And if all were one member, where would the body be? But now the members are many, but the body one.

　　Since knowing the Body is such a practical thing, how may we ascertain whether or not one knows the Body as yet? We can prove it in at least three ways.

　　The first proof of knowing the Body is that we cannot be individualistic… Before one knows the Body, he is an individualist and can be individualistic. His life, his actions, his work, and his service are all individualistic. Outwardly, he appears to be one with the brothers, but there is no real coordination or knitting together. Not until he grows deeper in life and knows the Body to a certain extent does he see that being a Christian is a corporate matter and that he cannot go on without fellowship in the Body, nor can he depart from the coordination of the members. The Body of Christ becomes a practical matter to him. In the church life he can no longer serve alone. In the innermost part of his being, he feels that he needs to be a Christian together with others… He cannot work without the coordination of the brothers and sisters, and he cannot live without the support of the church. It is at this stage that he is being knit together spontaneously with all the saints to become one Body, no more to be separated. All those, therefore, who can still be individualistic do not know the Body, and all those with a true knowledge of the Body definitely cannot be individualistic. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” pp. 489-490)

　　The second proof of our knowing the Body is the ability to discern whether others are in the Body or not. One who has come to know the Body not only lives in the Body in a very practical way but also can clearly discern whether or not others are living in the Body.

　　This discerning ability after one knows the Body is absolutely due to the extent of the deep degree of fellowship he has in the Lord. Our fellowship with the Lord grows in depth in proportion to our experience of life, beginning with the initial stage of our spiritual life and continuing through the fourth stage. The degree of depth of fellowship differs greatly as we progress in the experience of life. When two people in different degrees of fellowship in the Lord come together, the one having the deeper experience can go on with the one who has the shallower experience and have fellowship with him, but that fellowship is limited in proportion to the experience of the latter. Should this fellowship go beyond the limit, it will become rather incongruous and incomprehensible to the latter. The one having deeper experience, therefore, can go on with the one who has the shallower experience, but the shallower one cannot go along with the deeper one. This is a great principle in spiritual fellowship.

　　The third proof of our knowing the Body is the recognition of authority. Whether or not one knows the Body depends upon whether or not he recognizes authority. Those who do not recognize authority do not know the Body. Knowing the Body and recognizing authority are inseparable.

　　Authority is simply the authority of Christ the Head, which is revealed in the order of the Body…When we speak of authority, we mean the authority of Christ manifested through the order of His Body. Since we are all members of the Body of Christ, we naturally have our right position and order. If we have been taught in our spirit and have been indeed led by God to recognize the flesh, if we have had the self dealt with and the natural constitution broken, we will immediately recognize our own order when placed among brothers and sisters…This kind of authority is not assumed, nor is it by election, but it is the natural order in life, which Christ the Head has manifested in all the members of His Body. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” pp. 490-493)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” ch. 15