罗六6　知道我们的旧人已经与祂同钉十字架……。

　　八13　……你们若靠着那灵治死身体的行为，必要活着。

　　十二5　我们这许多人，在基督里是一个身体，并且各个互相作肢体，也是如此。

　　十字架工作的终点乃是召会，十字架的工作是达到基督的身体，并终极完成于基督的身体。因此，认识十字架，带我们认识基督的身体。十字架的工作就是把人带到软弱的地步，带到不能的地步，好叫人对旧造彻底地失望，这样人就能实际地脱离旧造，进入新造里。在旧造里的一切都是被定罪的，旧造的一切都要借着十字架的工作被了结。基督的身体乃是新造，与旧造无分无关。我们对召会的事情，若仍然用人以前的办法、手段、技能……等，所带来的结果就是糟糕，因为神绝不称许旧造的事物，也绝不容留旧造的事物在新造里。旧造的一切都该经过十字架，留在十字架那里。召会根本用不着这些旧人里的东西；召会里只要出于基督的一切（倪柝声文集第二辑第二十四册，六八至六九页）。

　　Rom. 6:6 "Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him…"

　　Rom. 8:13 "…If by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live."

　　Rom. 12:5 "So we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another."

　　The consummation of the work of the cross is the church. The work of the cross goes as far as the Body of Christ and consummates with the Body of Christ. Hence, the knowledge of the cross brings us to the knowledge of the Body of Christ. The cross brings a man to a state of weakness and inability, one in which he totally loses hope in the old creation. When he is brought to this point, he is delivered in a real way from the old creation and brought into the new creation. Everything in the old creation has been condemned and terminated by the cross. The Body of Christ is the new creation; it has nothing to do with the old creation. If we resort to human methods, tactics, and skills (which we have used in the past) to deal with the affairs of the church, the result will only be disastrous. God does not approve of anything that is from the old creation, and He will not allow anything from the old creation to remain in the new creation. Everything of the old creation must pass through the cross and remain on the cross. The church has no use for anything that comes from the old man. The church only takes that which issues from Christ. (CWWN, vol. 44, pp. 790-791)

　　人类第一次的堕落就是因着人自己的看法、选择、断案。因此在新造里，神不容许从人旧造里出来的一切得势。一个天然的人，必须被神打断他的脊骨；他的大腿窝要被神摸过，瘸了，爬不起来了，才会顺服神，这就是神在新造里所作的，祂要把一切出于旧造的打碎，神要把出于基督的一切作在我们身上，好使我们实际地成为基督的身体。……神要除去人一切出于肉体的。神的儿女需要先对付天然的生命，而后才能自然而然的进入身体，因为基督的身体乃是一切出于基督的；在这身体里，旧人的一切都不存在。什么时候人经过了罗马五至八章，什么时候就能进入罗马十二章。

　　今天召会不能合一，乃是因为基督徒生活的范围错了，境地错了；基督徒没有生活在新造里，没有生活在基督身体的实际里，只在道理的外表上活，那不过是人的天然、人的老旧。如果每一个基督徒都受对付，脱离天然、旧造，生活在基督身体的实际里，一切的分门别类就自然消除了。求神怜悯我们，使我们真看见什么是基督的身体，并接受十字架的工作，进入基督的身体。

　　罗马十二章说到召会是基督的身体，但是没有解释召会如何是基督的身体。我们若要知道召会如何成为基督的身体，就需要明白罗马五至八章。五章说到所有的人都是与亚当联合的，人的生命乃是由亚当来的；因着亚当的堕落，众人都成了罪人，并且变为旧人。六章就说，这旧人需要受对付；旧人需要被钉十字架，旧人需要与基督一同死了。现在我们因着基督的救赎，由死而复活了。所以七章说，人现今不能再凭肉体而活，乃要凭圣灵而活；八章就是说到凭圣灵而活。……我们若要认识基督的身体，就必须对付我们天然的生命（倪柝声文集第二辑第二十四册，六九至七○、六八、七二页）。

　　参读：倪柝声文集第二辑第二十四册，第九十七篇。

　　When man fell, he fell because of his own concepts, choices, and judgments. Therefore, God will not allow anything that issues from the old creation to gain the upper hand. The “backbone” of the natural man must be broken; the hollow of his thigh must be touched. Before he will submit to God, he must be crippled and fall flat on his face. This is what God is doing in the new creation. He is smashing everything of the old creation, and He is constituting us with everything that issues from Christ so that we can become the Body of Christ in practicality.…God wants to remove everything in man that is from the flesh. God's children must first deal with the natural life. If they deal with their natural life, they will be in the Body spontaneously, because the Body of Christ is composed of everything that issues from Christ. Nothing of the old man can remain in the Body. As soon as a man passes through the experience in Romans 5 through 8, he can enter into the experience of Romans 12.

　　Today the church is divided because Christians are living in the wrong realm and the wrong sphere. Christians are not living in the new creation or in the reality of the Body of Christ. They are living only in the superficiality of doctrines, which belongs to man's natural life and is part of man's oldness. If every Christian was willing to be dealt with and to leave the natural things and the old creation behind, and if every one of them was willing to live in the reality of the Body of Christ, there would be no more divisions. May the Lord be merciful to us to see what the Body of Christ is. May the work of the cross usher us into the Body of Christ.

　　Romans 12 tells us that the church is the Body of Christ, but it does not explain how the church becomes the Body of Christ. In order to understand how the church becomes the Body of Christ, we have to understand Romans 5 through 8. Chapter 5 tells us that all men are joined to Adam and that man derives his life from Adam. Through Adam's fall, all men have become sinners and have been joined to the old man. Chapter 6 tells us that the old man has to be dealt with; it has to be crucified with Christ. Through Christ's redemption, we have died and resurrected. Chapter 7 says that a man should no longer live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Chapter 8 goes on to explain how we live according to the Spirit.…In order to know the Body of Christ, we have to deal with our natural life. (CWWN, vol. 44, pp. 791, 790, 793)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 44, pp. 790-793