The Church is the Pillar and Base of the Truth concerning Christ and the Church

Praise the Lord, the church is the pillar and base of the truth concerning Christ and the church, the eternal economy of God!

The church is the supporting pillar and the holding base of the truth, holding forth and testifying to the truth that only Christ is reality in the universe and the church is the Body of Christ. Amen!

On one hand, we need to enjoy and experience Christ as life; on the other hand, we need to be constituted with the truth and uphold the truth.

Some say that it is enough to just read the Bible and know the sound doctrines in God’s word; others emphasize the matter of life and neglect the word of God, seeking to enjoy Christ and experience Him but without much of the Word of God.

Both of these are extreme; we need to be balanced to know the Lord as the truth and enjoy Him as life.

Praise the Lord, Christ is the way, the reality (the truth) and the life (John 14:6)!

He is both the way to God and the reality of what God is, and He is also the life that brings us all the way into God and makes us one with God.

God doesn’t merely want us, the people created in His image, to know about Him or to know His works and worship Him reverently.

Even more, God wants to come into us and make His home in us, dwell in us, live in us, and be expressed through us.

So He came first in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God to live the life of a God-man and to redeem us.

Then, through death and resurrection, Christ became a life-giving Spirit to come into our spirit and regenerate us with the divine life.

When the gospel is preached and someone opens to the Lord, calls on His name, and repents, he is regenerated with the life of God.

The truth spoken in the gospel message comes into man, shines on his condition and situation, and brings in the divine life.

What saved us is the Lord Jesus Himself as the truth; He came to us as the Word of God, the truth in the Bible, and He regenerated us with His life.

Life and truth are very much related.

After being regenerated by God with His life, we become the church of God, which is built with the divine life of Christ.

Now we need to remain under the hearing of faith so that we continue to receive the life of God and be nourished by the Lord.

We can never graduate from reading the Bible with the exercise of our spirit, and we can never graduate from calling on the name of the Lord to enjoy Him and partake of His riches.

Both truth and life are Christ Himself – the divine life is the intrinsic and inward element, and the divine truth is the outward definition and explanation.

Praise the Lord for life and truth!

Raising the Standard of the Truth and Growing in Life to be Filled with Life in the Church life

Truth is not just doctrine; truth is the shining, the expression, of the divine light (John 8:12, 32, 36; 1 John 1:5-6).

The truth in the word of God is very high; our experience and condition, however, are not yet up to the standard of the truth.

Instead of lowering the standard of the truth to match our situation or fit our condition, we should constantly raise the standard of truth higher among the churches in the Lord’s recovery (1 Tim. 2:4; 3:15).

The truth is the truth, and as the church we need to speak the truth, be filled with the truth, be constituted with the truth, and testify to the truth.

We cannot remain in the shallow gospel truths that are out there in Christianity, such as believing into the Lord to have peace and prosperity, Christ being incarnated to save sinners, Christ’s crucifixion to accomplish redemption, and God’s love for the world.

All these are truths in the word of God, but they are quite elementary, basic, and beginning truths; we need to raise the standard of the truth and speak the high truth of God’s eternal economy.

Especially in the developed world today where people seek not just to be saved but even more, to know the highest truth in the Bible concerning God becoming man to make man God in life and nature but not in the Godhead, we need to be constituted with the truth and speak the truth according to the highest standard.

Today in the church life many young people speak the high-peak truths concerning the essential Spirit, the economical Spirit, the dispensing of the Triune God, and the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ.

These truths need to constitute us and we need to constantly raise the standard of the truth among us.

In our group meetings, home meetings, and one-on-one meetings, we need to get into the truth, allow the truth to constitute us, and speak the truth.

We need to perfect others and be open to being perfected to get into the deeper truths in the word of God, using the life-study messages and the Recovery Version Bible.

In this way, our understanding of God’s word will increase and expand, and our enjoyment and experience of Christ as life will increase.

The more we know the truth, the more we are freed from ourselves.

The more we know the truth, the more we will yearn to grow in life, be saved in life, be filled with life, and reign in life (Eph. 4:13-16; Rom. 5:10, 17).

Truth, the shining of the divine light on the truths in the Bible, has a lasting effect on us; it revolutionizes our being and it uplifts our experience.

May we be open to the Lord as we come to His word and to the meetings of the church so that we may be filled with life, be saved in life, grow in life, and reign in life.

May we progress with the Lord little by little and day by day as we get into the deeper truths in the word of God.

And may we never lower the standard of the truth but rather, raise the standard of the truth in the church life and be uplifted in our enjoyment and experience of Christ according to the truth.

As we grow older in the human life, there’s a tendency to close our being to new things and to think that we know it all, for we experienced so many things.

May we remain open to the Lord and constantly open our being to Him as the truth, the shining of light, so that He may infuse us with what He is and uplift our experience of Christ as life.

Lord Jesus, shine on us as we come to Your word. We want to be constituted with the truth as the shining of the divine light! Amen, Lord, infuse us with Yourself as the truth. We come to You as we come to Your word and to the meetings of the church. We want to be infused with the truth, be constituted with the truth, and be filled with the truth. May the deeper truths of God’s word constitute us. We want to constantly raise the standard of the truth among us in the church life today so that our experience and enjoyment of Christ may also be uplifted. Amen, Lord, we want to grow in the divine life and be saved in life day by day. We want to be filled with Your life and reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ! Keep us advancing with You. Keep us open to You. Save us from thinking we know and we have need of nothing. Oh Lord, go on in us and take us on with You in our enjoyment and experience of Christ as life according to the truth!

The Church is the Pillar and Base of the Truth concerning Christ and the Church

1 Tim. 3:15 tells us that the church, the house of God, is the pillar and base of the truth. This is one of the main functions of the church.

In the old days, a pillar would support the building, and the base holds the pillar.

Therefore, the church is a supporting pillar and a holding base for the truth.

What is the truth, and what does the truth here refer to?

The truth is the Triune God, having Christ as the embodiment, centre, and expression, to produce the church as the Body of Christ, the house of God, and the kingdom of God (Col. 2:9; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16; 1 Tim. 3:15; John 3:3, 5).

In other words, the truth is Christ and the church, the contents of God’s New Testament economy.

God’s economy is composed of two great mysteries which, combined, are the great mystery – Christ and the church.

God’s economy is concerning Christ as the mystery of God (Col. 2:2) and the church as the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4).

Christ is the Head and the church is His Body; Christ and the church – the Head and the body – are the contents of the reality of God’s New Testament economy.

The truth in 1 Tim. 3:15 refers to the real things revealed in the New Testament concerning Christ and the church according to God’s New Testament economy (Matt. 16:16, 18; Eph. 5:32).

The reality in this universe is Christ as the Head and the church as the Body of Christ; the church is the supporting pillar and the holding base of the truth.

In this modern age when many consider we’re “post-truth”, we as the church are bold to hold the truth, uphold the truth, and testify to the truth.

The church is the supporting pillar and the holding base of the truth, the reality concerning Christ and the church.

A local church should be a building that holds, bears, and testifies to the truth, the reality, of Christ and the church (Eph. 2:22).

We are not here to hold doctrines or speak doctrines from God’s word; we are here for reality, to hold the reality and testify the reality of all that God is.

The world is completely against God to the extent that they even deny the existence of God and replace God with many things, none of which satisfies them or is real.

We, however, are the church bearing Christ as the reality; we as the church testify to the whole universe that Christ, and Christ alone, is the reality (John 1:14, 17; 14:6).

We testify to the highest truth in the universe that God became man to make man God in life and in nature so that God and man, man and God, would become one corporate entity, the church in this age and the New Jerusalem for eternity, for God’s corporate expression and representation in the universe.

The church bears the truth of the Triune God with Christ as His embodiment, centre, and expression, to produce the church as the Body of Christ, the house of God, and the kingdom of God (Col. 2:9; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16; 1 Tim. 3:15; John 3:3, 5).

For this reason, for us to bear and uphold the truth, we need to be in the word of God with much prayerful consideration, and we need to dive into the truth to be constituted with the truth.

The church is the pillar that bears the truth and the base that upholds the truth; the church testifies the reality, the truth, of Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ.

This reality needs to grow from within us; we need to receive the living word of God and be constituted with the truth, the shining of God’s light on His word, so that we may grow with the growth of God.

Then, we will testify concerning the truth, for we have enjoyed the Triune God and now we uphold the truth concerning Christ and the church.

As we know the Lord as the truth and enjoy Him as life, we will become part of His enlargement and expression to testify to the whole universe that only Christ is the reality.

On one hand, this Christ is the only begotten Son of God who came to accomplish redemption; on the other hand, He is the firstborn Son of God who brought in the new creation for many men to become part of God’s species, His family, His kingdom.

The reality which we the church bear is seen in 1 Tim. 3:16, the great mystery of godliness, which is God manifested in the flesh.

We testify that Christ is God manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory.

And as we testify to this reality, we ourselves become part of the great mystery of godliness, for we are one with Him, we are in Him, and we become Him in this world, being the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh today.

Lord Jesus, cause us to see that the church is the supporting pillar and the holding base of the truth. May we be those who are filled with the truth and constituted with the truth of God’s eternal economy. Amen, Lord, may we see that the truth is the Triune God with Christ as His embodiment, centre, and expression, to produce the church as the Body of Christ, the house of God, and the kingdom of God. Unveil us, Lord, to see that Christ and only Christ is the reality in this universe. May we hold to the truth in love so that we may grow up into Christ in all things, who is the Head, out from whom all the Body grows together and is built up together. Grow in us, Lord. Expand in us. May the truth constitute us and change our inner constitution. Gain the church as the building that holds, bears, and testifies the truth, the reality of Christ and the church!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3671-3672 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 8, entitled, The Function of the Church (1) The House of the Living God and the Pillar and Base of the Truth.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The First Great Pillar in the Lord’s Recovery—Truth, article via, Living to Him.
  – What Is Transformation in the Bible? Read more via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The reality of the house of God being the reality of the Body of Christ, a portion from, A General Outline of God’s Economy and the Proper Living of a God-Man, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – The Progressive Issue of “Holding to Truth”—Four Great Pillars, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The church as the household of God in Ephesians, article in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The Pillar of the Truth, unto New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The pillar and base of the truth, a portion from, Life Messages, Vol. 1 (#1-41), Chapter 18, by Witness Lee.
  – Being Constituted with the Truth for the Church to be the Pillar and Base of the Truth with All the Saints Being Responsible to Uphold the Truth, outline via, The Local Church in Toronto.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – But if I delay, / I write that you may know / How one ought to conduct / Himself in the house of God, / Which is the church, / The church of the living God, / The pillar and base, / The pillar and base of the truth. / And confessedly, / Great is the mystery, / The mystery of godliness: / And confessedly, / Great is the mystery, / The mystery of godliness. (Scripture song)
  – Truth we must be holding, which is Christ Himself, / That we be delivered from the sects of self, / That in all things growing into Christ the Head, / Built will be the Body and to fulness led. (Hymns #832 stanza 4)
  – Thou art also called “Emmanuel”; / “God with us” Thou cam’st to be; / God in grace is wholly mingled / With our own humanity. / God in flesh is manifested, / Full of grace and truth therein; / We have seen in Thee God’s glory, / And in faith partake of Him. (Hymns #68 stanza 3)