Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Matt. 16:18, 23-24; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:15; 4:16
Ⅰ
The Body of Christ is the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ—1 Cor. 12:12-13:
A
In 1 Corinthians 12:12 the Christ refers not to the individual Christ but to the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ.
B
The corporate Christ is composed of Christ Himself as the Head and the church as His Body with all the believers as His members—Eph. 1:22-23; 5:30.
C
All the believers in Christ are organically united with Him and constituted with His life and element and have thus become His Body, an organism to express Him—Rom. 12:4-5; Col. 3:4, 11.
D
Christ is both the Head and the Body; Christ in Himself is the Head, and Christ constituted into all of us is the Body—1:18a; 1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 1:22.
E
The Bible regards Christ and the church as one mysterious Christ—Acts 9:4-5:
１
Christ is the Head of this mysterious Christ, and the church is the Body of this mysterious Christ; the two have been joined to become the one myste-rious Christ—Eph. 5:32.
２
All the saved ones in all times and all space added together become the Body of this mysterious Christ—v. 30; 1 Cor. 12:12-27.
F
The unique mystical Body of Christ is the means for God to carry out His administration—Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 1:22-23; 1 Cor. 12:12-13, 25, 27; 11:29:
１
Apart from the mystical Body of Christ, God has no way to carry out His administration.
２
The mystical Body of Christ is for Christ's move on earth; the Head is now operating God's administration through the Body—v. 3; 12:12.
G
The revelation of the Body of Christ will cause a revolution in our spiritual life—Acts 9:1-18; 22:6-16; 26:12-19:
１
This revelation will cause us to see that it is only Christ in us, not any-thing of ourselves, who constitutes us the members of the Body—Col. 1:27; 3:10-11.
２
We will be broken under the vision of the Body, and we will realize that the only way for us to be in the reality of the Body is to be broken—Acts 9:3-6.
Ⅱ
The Body is versus the self; the enemy of the Body is the self—Col. 2:18-19, 23:
A
The self is the soul being independent of God; the self is the independent "I."
B
The self is the soul plus the satanic mind, the satanic thought; thus, the self is the embodiment of Satan—Matt. 16:23-24.
C
The hindrance to seeing the vision of the Body and to practicing the Body is the self—Col. 2:18-19, 23:
１
The greatest problem, the greatest frustration and opposition, to the Body is the self; the self is the real division, the real sect—Matt. 16:18, 21-26.
２
When we have the self, we do not have the Body; when we have the Body, we do not have the self—vv. 18, 24.
３
If we would be built up in the Body, the self must be condemned, denied, rejected, and renounced—Luke 9:23-24.
４
Only when the self is renounced will we have the reality of the Body and be genuine members of the Body—Matt. 16:24; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 4:16.
D
The blending of the Body requires the self to be crossed out—1 Cor. 12:24.
E
If we deny ourselves and identify ourselves with the Body, the life that we live will fully be the Body life, and the Lord will gain the expression of His Body— Matt. 16:24; 1 Cor. 12:27; Col. 1:18a; 3:15.
Ⅲ
We need to see a vision of the cross and understand the significance of the cross—Matt. 27:33-56; Col. 1:20-22; 2:11-15; Gal. 2:20; 3:1; 6:14:
A
In His economy God gives us one person—the all-inclusive Christ—and one way— the cross—1 Cor. 2:2; Phil. 2:5-11; Gal. 6:14.
B
The cross is the center of God's government and His way to accomplish His economy—Col. 1:20; 2:14-15.
C
In the New Testament the primary meaning of the cross is not to suffer but to be terminated—Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 5:14; Gal. 2:20; 6:14.
D
In order to progress spiritually and have the proper church life, we need to experience the cross—Matt. 10:38; 16:24; Luke 14:27; Col. 3:12-15.
E
We experience the cross in a particular way when we come to the altar at the center of God's building—Ezek. 43:13-27.
F
In our fellowship with the Lord we are eventually brought to the point where we touch the cross in a definite way and realize that God will no longer allow us to live in our natural man; this causes us to have a major breakthrough and an absolute submission to the cross—Gal. 2:20; 5:24; 6:14.
Ⅳ
The cross leads us to the Body, consummates with the Body, and operates within the sphere of the Body—Eph. 2:15; 4:16; 1 Cor. 1:18; 12:12-13, 27:
A
The knowledge of the cross brings us the knowledge of the Body of Christ—Rom. 6:6; 8:13; 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 1:18, 23; 2:1-2; 12:12-27.
B
The Body of Christ is the realm within which the cross works—Col. 1:20; 3:15.
C
All of God's dealings with us have been with a view to prepare us for the Body; all of His work in us is a process of elimination so that we can become functioning members of the Body—Rom. 6:6; 8:13; 12:4-8.
D
If we would enter into the reality of the Body of Christ and live in this reality, we must experience the cross, being one with the Lord Jesus, who, "finding one pearl of great value," went to the cross and "sold all that he had and bought it"— Matt. 13:45-46; 16:21, 24; 17:22-23; 20:18-19; 26:1—27:52.