林前十二12　就如身体是一个，却有许多肢体，而且身体上一切的肢体虽多，仍是一个身体，基督也是这样。

　　罗十二5　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。

　　在新约里，关于基督有两面的说法：一是拿撒勒的耶稣基督，这是个人的基督；二是基督加上召会，这是团体的基督。这就是林前十二章十二节所说的：“肢体虽多，仍是一个身体，基督也是这样。”在基督之外的一切，都不是召会。在基督徒的里面只有一样东西是召会的一部分，就是基督；召会就是团体的基督，在召会中只有基督。在擘饼聚会里，我们的手从饼拿下的那一点就是基督身体—召会—的一部分。召会并不是从外面摆进去多少，乃是从基督身上拿出来有多少。……召会乃是所有的信徒与基督合为一所成的，召会乃是团体的基督（基督的奥秘，四至五页）。

　　1 Cor. 12:12 "For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ."

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

　　In the New Testament there are two ways to look at Christ. On the one hand, He is Jesus Christ the Nazarene—this is the individual Christ. On the other hand, He is Christ plus the church—the corporate Christ. First Corinthians 12:12 refers to the second aspect when it says, “All the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.” Anything apart from Christ is not the church. There is only one thing in a Christian that forms a part of the church—Christ. The church is the corporate Christ. In the church there is only Christ. During the bread-breaking meeting, the portion that we break off from the whole still signifies the Body of Christ, the church. The church is not what is added to Christ but what issues out from Christ.…The church is the composition of all the believers with Christ. The church is the corporate Christ. (CWWN, vol. 44, “The Mystery of Christ, “p. 787)

　　作基督徒是个人的，而作肢体是团体的。作基督徒是为着自己，而作肢体是为着身体。圣经中有许多的相对辞，如清洁与污秽、圣别与平凡、得胜与失败、圣灵与肉体、基督与撒但、国度与世界、荣耀与羞辱，这些都是相对的，而“身体”乃是与“个人”相对的。父如何与世界相对，圣灵如何与肉体相对，主如何与魔鬼相对，照样，身体也与个人相对。人看见了基督的身体，就脱去了个人主义，不再为自己，乃为身体。当我蒙拯救，脱离个人主义，我就自然在身体里面。

　　 基督的身体不是一个道理，乃是一个范围；基督的身体不是一种教训，乃是一个生命。许多基督徒教导身体的真理，但少有人认识身体的生命。基督的身体乃是另一个完全不同的经历。人可以明白罗马书，却未被称为义；人也可以明白以弗所书，但不一定看见基督的身体。我们所需要的不是知识，乃是看见启示，认识基督身体的实际，进入基督身体的范围里。唯有从神来的启示，能把我们带进基督身体的范围里，这样，基督的身体对我们才能成为经历。

　　我们如果认识，一个基督徒不过是一个肢体，这样，我们就没有骄傲了。这件事在于看见。一个看见自己是肢体的人，定规宝爱身体，看重其他的肢体，也不再只看见自己的好，乃是看别人比自己强。

　　就着人的身体来说，只有一个肢体不能行动。一个身体，若只用一只手，或一只脚，是不行的；另一面，身体上若失掉一个肢体，也不完全。基督的身体乃是由所有信徒合起来而成的；每一个信徒都是基督身体上的肢体，都是不可少的。

　　基督的身体是一个实在的东西，所以召会生活也是实在的。圣经不是说召会好像基督的身体，乃是说召会就是基督的身体。身外任何东西都不能成为身体，身体可以穿衣服，但衣服并不能因此成为身体。照样，出于我们自己天然的任何东西，都不能成为基督身体的一部分。在基督的身体里，基督是一切，又在一切之内（西三11）。任何非基督的东西，只能拦阻我们里面认识基督，人有罪，就不能看见基督，人有天然生命，就不能看见基督的身体（基督的奥秘，一五至一六、一三至一四页）。

　　参读：基督的奥秘，第三篇。

　　Being a Christian is something individualistic, whereas being a member is something corporate. Being a Christian is something one does for himself, whereas being a member is something for the Body. In the Bible there are many terms with opposite meanings, such as purity and uncleanness, holiness and commonness, victory and defeat, the Spirit and the flesh, Christ and Satan, the kingdom and the world, and glory and shame. All these are opposites. In the same way, the Body is in opposition to the individual. Just as the Father is versus the world, the Spirit is versus the flesh, and the Lord is versus the devil, so also is the Body versus the individual. Once a man sees the Body of Christ, he is free from individualism. He will no longer live for himself but for the Body. Once I am delivered from individualism, I am spontaneously in the Body.

　　The Body of Christ is not a doctrine; it is a realm. It is not a teaching, but a life. Many Christians seek to teach the truth of the Body, but few know the life of the Body. The Body of Christ is an experience in a totally different realm. A man can know the book of Romans without being justified. Similarly, a man can know the book of Ephesians without seeing the Body of Christ. We do not need knowledge; rather, we need revelation to know the reality of the Body of Christ and to enter the realm of the Body. Only a revelation from God will usher us into the realm of the Body, and only then will the Body of Christ become our experience.

　　If we realize that a Christian is nothing more than a member, we will no longer be proud. Everything depends on our seeing. Those who see that they are members will surely treasure the Body and honor the other members. They will not see just their own virtues; they will readily see others as being better than themselves.

　　Consider our human body. No member of our body can act independently. It is impossible for a body to depend on one hand or one leg. However, if the body loses a member, it will not be complete. The Body of Christ is composed of all the believers. Every believer is a member in the Body of Christ, and every believer is indispensable.

　　The Body of Christ is a reality. The church life is also a reality. The Word of God does not say the church is like the Body of Christ; it says the church is the Body of Christ. Nothing external can become part of our physical bodies. We may clothe our bodies, but the clothes do not become part of our bodies. Nothing that is of us can ever become part of the Body of Christ, because “Christ is all and in all” in the Body (Col. 3:11). Anything in us that is not a part of Christ frustrates our inward knowledge of the Body of Christ. Sin hinders us from seeing Christ, and the natural life hinders us from seeing the Body. (CWWN, vol. 44, “The Mystery of Christ, “pp. 794-795, 794)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 44, “The Mystery of Christ, ” ch. 98