We need to know the Body in practice so that we may realise there’s one universal Body of Christ and there are many local churches, one church in one city, as the local expression of the Body of Christ in oneness, and we need to do the work of the Body, the work of the economy of God to build up the Body.
Lord Jesus, grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation for us to see Christ and also the Body of Christ. May we be enlightened today to see the Body of Christ in practice. Thank You for the one universal Body of Christ! Hallelujah, there’s one Body in this universe and we express it here on earth! Praise the Lord for the many local churches! Amen, Lord, may we realise that the unique Body of Christ is expressed as the local churches in oneness for God’s corporate expression! Amen!
We need to know the Body in life and also in practice. In the aspect of life, the Body of Christ is formed not merely by many believers in Christ coming together because they love the Lord and believe in the Bible; the Body of Christ is formed by Christ as life in us.
Because we have the life of Christ in us, this life mingles us to become the Body of Christ. What each one of us has is not just a member life, that is, the life of Christ flowing in us as members; we have a Body life, the life of the Body of Christ flowing in us as members of the Body of Christ.
We all are one in this life. This means that, the more we grow in life and experience Christ as life, the more we know the Body in life. If we are not properly developed and advanced in life, it is not easy to know the Body in life.
If we still live in the flesh habitually, if we do the desires of the self, and if we still behave according to our natural constitution, it is difficult for us to see the Body and live in the Body, for the Body is beyond such a realm.
To be in the realm of the Body, we need to deal with all these negative things and be in spirit, for the reality of the Body is in our mingled spirit. Sadly, many Christians today don’t know the Body because they still did not deal with their flesh, they did not abandon their self, and their natural constitution was not yet broken.
But when we grow in life and experience Christ as life in dealing with all these things, we will not be able to be individualistic anymore; we will discern the Body, and we will recognise the authority of Christ the Head revealed in the order of the Body.
We need to Know the Body in Practice: One Universal Body is Expressed in the Local Churches
It is not enough to merely know and see the Body in life; we need to know the Body in practice.
We may think that we know the Body in life, we depend on the Body, but we may not meet with the saints in the local church in the locality where we live; this shows that we don’t know the Body in practice.
May we come to the Lord to see and know the Body in practice (1 Cor. 12:20, 27; 15:58).
There is one Body in this universe, which is spiritual and universal, and there are many local churches; what is the relationship between the Body and the churches?
The universal church is the Body of Christ, and this universal church is the sum total of all the local churches. If we add up all the local churches, the total is the universal church, which is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23).
For us to know the Body in practice, we need to see that in this age, the New Testament age, God wants to establish the church in every place in order to express His eternal intention.
God wants to have local churches all over the earth, that is, one church in each locality, for the local churches express the Body of Christ to testify on behalf of Christ in their respective localities.
In the times of the early apostles, there was the church in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1), the church in Antioch (13:1), the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2), and many other churches – one church in each locality.
When John wrote to the seven churches in Asia, he wrote to the church in that city, one church in one city (Rev. 2-3). The church in a locality is the local expression of the universal church.
The universal Body of Christ can be quite abstract, for it is a spiritual reality; however, the Body of Christ is made real and practical as the local church.
Thank the Lord that He has placed us, each one of us, as members in the Body of Christ universally, and we are also living in a particular locality, where we meet with the saints in that locality as the local church!
A local church is an expression of the Body of Christ in a particular locality (1 Cor. 1:2; 10:32b; 12:12-13, 20, 27).
The one universal church—the Body of Christ—becomes the many churches—the local expression of the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:4-5; 16:1).
This is what the Bible shows us; it does not present this to us as a doctrine but as a reality in practice. Furthermore, the nature and principle of the universal church are the nature and principle of the local church.
The nature of the universal church is of God; the nature of the local church is also of God. The church is of God; both universally and locally, the church is of God (see 1 Cor. 10:30; 1:2).
The universal church is one, for there is one unique church, the Body of Christ; in the same way, the church is one locally.
This is the oneness of the universal Body of Christ being expressed in the local churches as the local expression of the Body.
For example, if we live in Tokyo, in God’s eyes there is only one church in Tokyo, and that church is one, being the local expression of the one universal Body of Christ.
If we live in New York City, there is one church in that entire city; the church may meet in many places, but the church is of God and the church is one, being the local expression of the one unique Body of Christ.
The local church is a miniature of the universal church. Just as the Body of Christ, the universal church, expresses Christ in full, so the local church, as the miniature of the Body of Christ, expresses Christ locally, on a smaller scale.
The church in the locality where we are is a local expression of the universal Body of Christ, and the local church is the local expression of Christ.
May we see that every local church is a representative of the universal church, representing the universal church in its locality by living out the proper life of the Body of Christ and thus expressing Christ.
May the Lord grant us to see the Body in practice so that we may see that the local churches are the procedure for the producing and gaining the reality of the Body of Christ.
What the Lord is after is the living out of the Body of Christ in reality and practicality; we need to know the Body in practice, and we need to exercise our spirit to be the local expression of the Body of Christ for the building up of the Body so that Christ may gain an expression of Himself through us.
Lord Jesus, grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may see and know the Body in practice. Amen, Lord, may we see the one universal Body of Christ and may we see the local churches! Hallelujah, there is one unique universal church, the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all and in all! Amen, Lord, may we see that a local church is an expression of the Body of Christ in a particular locality! Praise the Lord, we are in the local churches today to be the local expression of the universal Body of Christ! Amen, Lord, just as there is one Body universally, so there is only one church in each locality for the keeping of the oneness! May we see that the local church is a miniature of the universal church to express Christ locally! May we exercise our spirit and live in spirit, one with the Lord and one with the saints, to express Christ corporately in the locality where the Lord has placed us! Praise the Lord for the one universal Body of Christ and the local churches as the local representation and expression of the Body of Christ! Amen!
Doing the Work of the Body, the Work of God’s Economy to Build up the Body of Christ
Thank the Lord for being so clear in His word concerning the Body of Christ both in the aspects of life and of practice.
The Body of Christ is not something abstract, in the heavens, or something in the air; the Body has a practical expression, being practically expressed on the earth as local churches.
All the genuine local churches are part of the unique expression of the one Body of Christ. We cannot just say that we live in the Body of Christ, we are for the Body, yet we don’t go to any meetings of the local church.
We have to be in the practical church life, even give ourselves to serve in the church life.
However, we need to have a full realisation that the church we serve in is a practical expression of the one Body of Christ that is comprised of all the genuine local churches.
We should not think that the local churches are autonomous and independent of each other; rather, the churches together are the Body of Christ.
We need to ask the Lord to give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see what the apostle Paul saw concerning the church (Eph. 1:17; 3:3-4).
As we live the church life and the Christian life, we need to do one work, the work of the Body of Christ, which is to live Christ and express Christ in the local churches for the building up of the Body of Christ.
As we live the church life in the locality where the Lord has placed us, we are full of realisation that, yes, we are in a particular local church, but our living and work is for the building up of the Body of Christ. We do not live or stand only in the local church but in the Body of Christ.
We minister life to the saints for the building up not only of the local church but of the entire Body of Christ. If we know the Body, in our consideration the Body will be first, and the local church will be second (Rom. 12:4-5; 16:1, 4, 16).
Of course, this doesn’t mean that we ignore the local churches or downgrade the importance of the local church. Rather, we love the local church, we live in the local church, and we pay attention first to the Body of Christ, which is the reality of the local church.
As we live the church life, serve in the local church, and meet with the saints, we do all things for the building up of the Body of Christ.
In the Lord’s recovery, there’s only one work – the work of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 15:58; 16:10; Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:4, 12, 16).
What we are doing today is not our own personal work but the work of the economy of God, which is the building up of the Body of Christ. Some may be full of zeal and may move to a locality, preach the gospel, gain some people, and set up the local church there.
Unless they are in the fellowship of the Body of Christ with all the other local churches in that area and that country, it is easy for such a person to set up their own empire, their own little spiritual empire where he is the leader.
We need to be saved from such a situation, which damages the Body of Christ. We need to have the consciousness of the Body of Christ and do the work of the economy of God to build up the Body of Christ.
We need to learn to visit other churches, blend with other localities, and come out of our comfort zone to be blended in the Body.
God has blended the Body together, and we cooperate with His blending work. All the things we do and even our daily living as Christians are for the work of God’s economy, the building up of the Body of Christ.
May we see and know the Body in practice and may we do the work of building up the Body of Christ, based on the truth in God’s word.
Lord Jesus, thank You for saving us and for bringing us into the church life. We love You, Lord, and we love the local church! Thank You for gaining a local expression of the universal Body of Christ in the locality where we live! Amen, we stand one with You and with all the saints to express God in Christ in oneness in the locality where we are! Praise the Lord for the local church! Oh Lord Jesus, may we see and know the Body in practice. May we know the Body in reality so that we may have the Body first in all our considerations, and the local churches second. Hallelujah, we live the church life in the local church the Lord placed us in for the building up of the Body of Christ! Amen, Lord, may we do the one work in the Lord’s recovery, which is the work of the Body! May we know the Body, live in the Body, and do the work of the Body! May we live the Christian life and serve in the local church for the building up of the Body of Christ!
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 on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1957, vol. 2, “The Testimony and the Ground of the Church,” pp. 153-157, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Ministry of the Word and God’s Dispensing for God’s Economy (2026 March ITERO), week 3, “Ministering Life for the Body” – day 5.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Serve and work within the Body, / This the Lord doth signify; / For His purpose is the Body, / And with it we must comply. / Serve and work within the Body, / Never independently; / As the members of the Body, / Functioning relatedly. (Hymns #913 stanza 1 and chorus)
– There is one Body in this universe, / And we express it here on earth; / We stand as one in each locality / For all to see, for all to see. (Hymns #1107 chorus)
– One Body universal, / One in each place expressed; / Locality of dwelling / Her only ground possessed; / Administration local, / Each answ’ring to the Lord; / Communion universal, / Upheld in one accord. (Hymns #824 stanza 6)
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